Before we knew it, we had walked a long way, and ahead we could see the stream next to my house and the kiln I use to fire pottery.

A few minutes later we finally got back to our lodgings, and I stuck a torch in a crack in the rock for light.

I don't know what time it is, but my stomach knows perfectly well. I think I forgot to eat a meal today, and it's rumbling in protest right now.

I carried some firewood from a crevice in the rock where I stored dry firewood to the earthen stove. I arranged the firewood on a raised platform to allow air circulation, and then used the torches on the stone wall to start a fire.

We're out of cooking oil, but that short-faced bear had plenty of fat. But using that thing for cooking is something I'll probably only consider when I've lost my mind.

It's not a matter of whether I'm picky or not; it's just that the fat on a short-faced bear is completely inhuman. The smell is like the stench of a skunk, with a natural urge to vomit.

It's not that it smells particularly bad or disgusting; it's just that some of the substances inside are unbearable to swallow. It simply makes you feel nauseous, and to some extent, it has nothing to do with being disgusting.

As usual, I used the same old method to cut off a large piece of liver and heart. I didn't rush to remove the bear bile because I needed to use it to nourish my liver for the time being.

In the past, when people in rural areas slaughtered pigs for the New Year without refrigerators, they would keep the gallbladder and liver together, which would greatly extend the liver's shelf life and prevent it from spoiling.

There are just too many livers to eat all at once. Adding in all the other ingredients, it probably weighs around twenty or thirty pounds.

I set up the remaining offal on a rack next to the earthen stove to let the smoke waft through it, which also helped preserve it to some extent.

The snake meat we brought back needs to be processed as soon as possible; if it's left overnight, it will taste completely different the next day.

While it won't be completely spoiled, its freshness will definitely be greatly reduced. The snake meat will become somewhat mushy, tasting like sugarcane pulp with added paste.

The firewood inside the earthen stove crackled, and next to it were large chunks of snake meat, liver and heart covered in black frost, as well as some taro and other food.

At this moment, the fire was almost completely surrounded by food, leaving no extra space even for a needle to be inserted.

Top sat on my bed, probably tired from running around all day, and was dozing off against the stone wall.

Pat had finished eating and was now standing on the wooden shelf with his eyes closed, clearly having fallen asleep.

After a while, the liver and heart were roasted until they were slightly dry, but you could still smell a faint aroma if you got close.

They say bears have heart and leopards have guts, so today I'm going to have a good taste of bear heart and liver. Seeing Top still dozing off, I called out towards the bedside.

"Top, come down and dinner is ready."

Top went out in the morning, and I guess it hasn't eaten all day. When I called it to eat, it immediately snapped out of its drowsy state and came back to normal.

He walked over to me in a few steps and sat down on the stone that I had used as a stool.

Top's hand was injured, making it difficult for him to move around. I handed him a peeled taro.

Top was probably starving, because he grabbed the taro with his uninjured hand and started stuffing it into his mouth as if it were the first time he had ever eaten taro that day.

Judging from Top's ferocious eating habits, he's probably not so much stuffed as he's about to choke to death.

Just as I expected, Top stopped eating after only a short while. Suddenly, it squatted down, covered its neck with one hand, and stretched out its other hand to me for help.

I was enjoying my grilled liver, which had been marinated with some fine salt beforehand, when Top, just as I had predicted, choked.

Fortunately, it only ate roasted taro, which had stuck in its throat. As long as Top drinks some water to moisten its throat, the taro will slowly go down.

I used a wooden ladle to scoop some water out of the water tank and gently fed it to Top by holding its mouth.

With the lubrication of the water, Top's face, which had been flushed red, gradually calmed down, indicating that he had swallowed the taro.

I patted Top on the back again, and after a while Top had fully recovered. But as soon as it recovered, it started eating voraciously again, only this time it didn't eat as fast.

I urged him from the side, "Eat slowly, eat slowly. No one is going to take it from you. Why are you eating so fast?"

It has to be said that Top did listen to advice; it did eat a little slower, probably because it was almost full.

I shook my head helplessly and let it go.

After a day of hard work, plus the late-night struggle with a massive beast weighing a ton, our bodies were at their limit.

After dinner, Top and I went back to bed and fell asleep immediately.

The next day I slept until I naturally woke up, as I had been worried that there wasn't much food left.

Now we don't need to worry anymore. This food is more than enough for us to enjoy for a while longer. Life is so carefree when you have enough food!

Actually, if this incident hadn't happened, I was planning to take Top and Pat to explore the hilly area to the east.

However, Top is currently injured and cannot walk for the time being. We can only consider this issue after it has recovered.

Dragging an injured body into the perilous jungle is tantamount to increasing the chances of death.

Of course, besides gaining some food, there were other gains from this incident.

This morning I noticed that Top and Pat's relationship had improved considerably; at least I didn't see Top using its stick to intimidate Pat today.

Top might be embarrassed, or he might feel ashamed of his previous behavior.

I saw Top secretly place a piece of meat next to Pat's wooden shelf, as if he was afraid I would be embarrassed if I found out.

After doing all this, it cautiously looked around and left only after finding nothing amiss.

This wait is estimated to be a few days, and I want to use this time to further strengthen my personal defenses.

My experiences these past few days have constantly reminded me that the species here are on a completely different level from those back home, and I can't afford to take any chances if I want to survive in the long run.

However, there is one problem that has been bothering me: bamboo should be found in tropical regions, but I haven't seen a single bamboo plant since I came here.

My previous idea was to replicate the method of making thorny rattan armor in my hometown in this land, but now the most crucial raw material is gone, so how can I replicate it?