Top had to admire me at this moment, for I always managed to find so many strange and unusual things that even monkeys wouldn't dare to dream of.

The key is that I can make these things taste really good. Take taro, for example; if you didn't know how to use fire, you'd never know it could be eaten, let alone taste so good.

Clearly, the taste of bamboo fungus has once again won over Top. I reckon that for the next few days, this kid's eyes will be glued to bamboo fungus.

I took a sip of the chicken soup, and it still had that intoxicating feeling.

The soup melts in your mouth, making you feel like you're floating on clouds. The delicious chicken soup, combined with the fragrance of bamboo fungus and bamboo shoots, makes this soup not greasy at all. Instead, it has a gentle and pleasant feel, like a breeze blowing through a bamboo forest.

The chicken inside is already deboned; the meat will slide off the bone with just a gentle tear.

I deliberately didn't damage the structure of these chicken fibers before, and now every single chicken fiber here locks in the essence of the concentrated broth.

With one bite, the fibers snap, and the essence inside explodes in your mouth. The feeling is beyond words.

The bamboo fungus tasted great, soft yet slightly chewy, with a refreshing aroma that seemed to blend the flavors of shiitake mushrooms and bamboo. No wonder Top's eyes lit up as he ate it.

It's been so long since I've had such fresh and delicious food. Top and I finished the whole pot, soup and vegetables, right off the bat.

In the end, not even the broth at the bottom of the pot was wasted. I licked half of it, and when Top saw me licking, it copied me and licked the other half of the pot clean.

You know what, the pot that's been washed with my tongue is really shiny, much cleaner than when I washed it by hand. But I think it's better to rinse it with water again, not because I'm a clean freak, but because I'm worried about it getting moldy.

...

After a hearty meal, we all felt much more refreshed. With the sun shining and visibility quite good, Pat once again took to the skies, circling and acting as a scouting drone.

After walking for a while, the sound of the water flowing in the canyon became much quieter, indicating that the water flow had slowed down.

Now that we're closer to the river, we can see it more clearly. The rising water has made it murky, so we can't tell how deep it is or what kinds of creatures might live in it.

Just as I was in a daze, a dark-colored animal that looked like a seal suddenly dove into the water and then dived back in.

If I'm not mistaken, that should be a seal. But aren't seals supposed to live in the sea? How could it suddenly appear in freshwater?

However, I didn't dwell on this issue for too long, because in my world, such examples are not uncommon and are not isolated cases.

Take Lake Baikal, the world's largest lake, for example. The basin of Lake Baikal was formed 20 to 25 million years ago by the collapse of strata.

The lakebed valley has an asymmetrical topography on both sides, and there are 27 islands in the lake, the largest of which, Olkhon Island, covers an area of ​​725 square kilometers.

The area surrounding the lake has a temperate continental climate, with cold winters and hot summers, and a large annual temperature range.

Lake Baikal is home to approximately 1,200 species of aquatic animals and 600 species of plants, including various mollusks, sponges, and rare animals such as seals.

Since seals can live in freshwater in my world, it's not unusual for one or two seals to appear in the rivers in this place that's even more amazing than my own.

So, what should I call this thing I'm seeing now—a seal or a river seal?

When I saw this black figure, I couldn't help but think of the lake monster I had encountered in the big lake back in my hometown.

I wonder if this river, being so vast, harbors any amphibious beasts the size of that lake monster from before.

As if the heavens were trying to answer my question, we hadn't gone far with Top when we heard Pat's eagle cry, coming from directly in front of us.

At that moment, a large, dark brown body on a rocky beach ahead caught my attention.

This is something I've been wary of ever since I arrived here, but I've never encountered it.

With a body over six meters long, a body covered in rough, hard leather armor, and a mouthful of sharp, cone-shaped teeth, what else could this thing be but a saltwater crocodile?

I never expected to see a crocodile near such a large river when I hadn't seen any in those other bodies of water before.

At that moment, it was unaware of my arrival and was still lying lazily on the rocky beach, basking in the sun.

It seems I'll have to be careful around the river from now on. If a ferocious beast weighing over a ton were to successfully ambush me near the water, my chances of survival would be practically zero.

I don't want to provoke this beast now. Since it's quietly sunbathing and doesn't threaten me, let it continue sunbathing. Anyway, I'm just passing by.

After a brief encounter with the saltwater crocodile, we walked a long way northwest.

The terrain ahead was no longer so narrow; instead, it suddenly opened up considerably. The cliffs near the canyon began to lower, and some mountain ridges and rolling hills reappeared before my eyes.

I know that the resources here will be much richer than those I have been to before, at least as diverse as the hills where I hunted wildebeest.

But at this moment I felt no excitement. Instead, I gripped the shotgun tightly and kept scanning my surroundings.

I started to feel a little nervous. This place was close to a water source, and the surrounding terrain was suitable for large animals to roam.

This area is suitable for animal activity, and as humans are at the top of the food chain, it is highly likely that they would also be active here. It is even very possible that the indigenous people live nearby.

My current actions constitute unauthorized trespassing on someone else's territory. If these natives discover me, I wonder what they will do to me.

At that moment, I looked up at Pat, who was still patrolling the sky. Seeing that it did not utter any warning cries, my restless heart calmed down a little.

After walking for a while longer, Top and I passed through a small patch of bushes, and what we saw confirmed my suspicions: there really were people living here, and it seemed to be more than just a few.

What's in front of me right now, I'm absolutely certain, is not a product of nature.

I looked at the fence made of mud and a fence that was no more than three meters high. If it wasn't made by humans, what other animal could have created such a fence?

Although this half-wall is not high and has been neglected for years, I can judge its quality by the craftsmanship of the half-wall and some scratches on the fence.

These natives are far more intelligent than ordinary animals; they are already skilled at using tools.