Thick smoke billowed out.
Chen Yang and Wang Bing, the two honey thieves, looked at the beehive with great anticipation.
Sure enough, as soon as the smoke surrounded the hive, a large number of bees flew out, and soon all the bees inside the hive had flown out.
The two were surrounded by a buzzing sound, but Chen Yang was holding a smoking fireball in his hand with tree bark, which kept the bees away.
Wang Bing quickly climbed to the beehive, picked up a bamboo tube, and dug inside.
The bamboo tube was filled with crystallized honey, its glistening sheen making Chen Yang swallow hard. He quickly took the tube, wrapped it with leaves, and tied it tightly with a rope woven from tree bark to ensure no honey leaked out.
Wang Bing handed over another bamboo tube filled with honey.
"I got stung. I need to finish this quickly and dig out another section of bamboo tube; there's not much honey left inside."
"good."
Chen Yang wrapped the three bamboo tubes tightly with leaves and rope. Then Wang Bing wiped the honey off his hands and rolled them in the sand to make sure there was no honey smell.
"run!"
The two took off running, glancing back as they went to make sure no bees were chasing them before stopping.
"Here, Brother Wang, have a bite."
Chen Yang opened a bamboo tube, dipped his finger in it, and handed it to Wang Bing.
"So sweet, so refreshing!"
The sweetness always invigorates, and Chen Yang and Wang Bing returned home laughing and chatting. Although they hadn't caught any prey or discovered any cultivable plants on this long journey, the honey in the three bamboo tubes was already a huge harvest.
"Let's hurry up and get back before dark so we can take out the dried venison we stored earlier, spread some honey on it, and my mouth is watering just thinking about it."
Wang Bing laughed loudly.
Chen Yang was also getting impatient; he could already imagine the two girls' surprised and delighted expressions when they saw the honey.
Men mostly see honey as just a sweet treat, but girls see it differently. Pure wild honey is a treasure for every girl, as its skin-moisturizing, whitening, and wrinkle-reducing effects are what every girl craves.
Just as they were chatting and laughing, a fleeting shadow in the jungle suddenly caught Chen Yang's attention. He stared intently, and his whole body stiffened instantly.
"Brother Wang, don't move."
Wang Bing was taken aback; he noticed that Chen Yang's voice was trembling slightly.
"There are tigers in that woods on the left."
Upon hearing the word "tiger," Wang Bing paused for a moment, then, like Chen Yang, became extremely nervous.
Tigers, the kings of the forest, are at the top of the food chain. A single adult tiger can dominate a wolf pack. Ordinary humans have no hope of winning against tigers. Chen Yang and Wang Bing are not Wu Song (a legendary Chinese hero known for his bravery and skill in martial arts), and they do not have firearms. Their chances of winning against tigers are not high.
"Don't look down, don't bend over, and don't expose your back," Wang Bing said.
“When I was a child, a poacher in our village was killed by a tiger. Tigers are very smart, and we can’t act like their prey.”
Chen Yang nodded, then gripped the spear tightly in his hand, while Wang Bing also held the stone axe firmly in his hand.
They were at least a hundred meters away from the tiger. At that distance, the tiger was not strong enough to launch a surprise attack. As long as they had weapons, they still had a chance to survive.
"We have mud on us, which covers our scent, so it might not be able to smell us. Let's walk slowly and not turn our backs on it."
Chen Yang said.
He has recently read a lot of survival knowledge and knows how to deal with some wild animals.
If there were fire, fire would be the best defense, but they had already extinguished it and hadn't preserved any embers, so restarting a fire now was absolutely impossible.
The tiger poked its head out of the bushes and looked over from a distance.
"The tiger in the micro-world has never seen a human before, and it is also wary of us."
This is good news; at least the tiger hasn't treated them as food yet.
Chen Yang had seen many tigers when he visited the zoo before, but this time was different. This time, he was facing a large carnivore that was not fed or confined in a cage.
Tigers are almost defenseless creatures; they are fast runners, can climb trees, and swim—they're practically incapable of flying. Hence the saying "like a tiger with wings," meaning that if you gave a tiger wings, it would be invincible.
The only ones who can surpass tigers are humans, but humans with weapons and high-tech products, not Chen Yang and Wang Bing, who are wielding wooden spears and stone axes.
The two men placed their hands on their chests, gripped their weapons tightly, faced the tiger, and slowly moved towards the hut.
They could feel their hearts pounding; Chen Yang hadn't been this nervous even when facing a pack of wolves.
At that time, he had fire, Li Su'er had a bow and arrow, and wolves weren't as intimidating as tigers. Most importantly, Chen Yang knew he had to protect Li Su'er and not let a girl be afraid.
Now that Wang Bing is beside him, he is not as courageous as he was when facing the wolf pack.
The tiger and the two men faced off for about ten minutes, when the tiger seemed to give up and slowly turned and walked into the woods.
The two breathed a sigh of relief, but still dared not let their guard down until the cabin came into view and there were no trees nearby to hide large creatures like tigers. Only then did they finally relax.
The two grown men exchanged a glance, both seeing the relief of surviving a close call in each other's eyes.
“I’ve never been this scared in my life. I thought being chased and beaten with a stick by my dad when I was a kid was the scariest thing. Compared to this, it’s like night and day,” Wang Bing said.
Chen Yang nodded: "Tigers truly deserve to be called the kings of the forest. I've never been this afraid even when facing a pack of wolves."
Li Su'er and Jiang Yining saw Chen Yang and Wang Bing from afar and came out to greet them.
"So, did you find anything?"
"I almost managed to get you guys a tiger skin," Chen Yang said with a laugh.
"Keep bragging," Li Su'er said disdainfully.
Seeing their smiles and still pale faces, Jiang Yining realized something was wrong. "Did you really encounter a tiger?"
"Holy crap, really? Where is it? I'll go get the bow."
Li Su'er exclaimed in surprise, then Jiang Yining smacked her on the head. "Su'er, stop fooling around. Brother Wang, Brother Yang, tell us what happened."
"Before I begin, I have a gift for you," Wang Bing said with a smile, then he and Chen Yang took out a bamboo tube filled with honey.
The two women curiously unwrapped the leaves covering the bamboo tube and exclaimed in surprise.
"Honey!"
"Are you happy?" Chen Yang said with a smile.
"So happy!" Li Su'er rushed up and gave Chen Yang a big hug. After a pause, she also gave Wang Bing a hug.
Chen Yang felt somewhat embarrassed, especially after seeing Jiang Yining's ambiguous smile.
Back in the cabin, the two recounted their journey, including their encounter with the tiger.
“We’ve faced two wolf packs before, what’s there to be afraid of with just one tiger?” Li Su’er said dismissively.
Chen Yang smiled wryly and said, "It's different. The feeling that tigers give people is very different from that of wolf packs."
"We need to strengthen the construction of the base. From now on, Su'er and Yining, you two will also carry weapons with you. If you go far away, someone must accompany you. Try to stay only around the cabin."
“Okay.” Li Su’er nodded obediently, which surprised Chen Yang.
This experience made Chen Yang realize that the Microworld was not his backyard; it was full of unknowns and risks. But this also excited him even more; such a world was much more interesting.
(End of this chapter)
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