The surging underground river swept it here, then crashed onto the shore, and was eventually buried by the increasingly cold wind and snow, where it remained buried for more than ten days.
If the tigress hadn't discovered its tuft of ear hair, it would probably have remained buried and frozen in the snowdrift, eventually rotting and decaying.
Well, the situation doesn't seem to be much different now, except that the decay is happening earlier.
…………
A small town somewhere.
A flock of pheasants with long tail feathers pecked rapidly at the snow, delighted by the sudden appearance of food, completely unaware of the danger lurking behind them.
Eight pheasants were intently eating the pine nuts scattered on the snow, completely absorbed in their task.
They are covered in brownish-grey feathers with chestnut-brown horizontal stripes, have round heads, and very long, mottled tail feathers. Their originally short and round wings have also grown many long, slender feathers.
These pheasants are hazel grouse, a type of pheasant that is not good at flying but is good at walking and digging for food. Their nostrils and feet are covered with feathers to adapt to the cold.
Clearings in the forest are one of the pheasants’ favorite foraging spots in winter. Although the dense thickets of dead grass and the bushes in the ditches make it easier for predators to hide, the dead grass and bushes have long since disappeared under the heavy snow.
As a result, the hazel grouse, which in previous years could always find seeds and fruits to eat under the snow in early winter, is suffering from severe hunger this year.
Don't be fooled by their round, plump bodies; they're actually just thick, newly grown down feathers that barely keep them warm.
They live a hand-to-mouth existence, and the fat they gained in the autumn is almost completely gone.
However, on the snow slope not far away, the humans who had scattered the bait were unaware of what was going on. The boys, dressed in thick down jackets, kept swallowing as they looked at the plump pheasants.
Just by looking at those plump, round birds, you can tell that these pheasants must eat very well on a daily basis.
But the boys were very patient. They watched intently as the hazel grouse pecked at the pine nuts on the snow, waiting for their final harvest.
Before all the pine nuts had been pecked away, a hazel grouse suddenly shook its head. Under the tense and expectant gazes of the boys, its plump body finally fell to the snow with a "plop," its fate unknown.
Seeing that their bait had worked, the boys were so excited they almost jumped for joy.
But they held back; they were no longer the carefree, laughing, joking, and shouting teenagers they once were on campus.
Under the expectant gazes of many, one by one, the hazel grouse began to sway their bodies and then collapsed to the ground. As more of their companions fell, the hazel grouse panicked. They flapped their wings to fly away, but ultimately could not escape their fate of collapsing drunk.
Seeing all the pheasants fall, the boys cheered and ran away quickly, undeterred by the cold.
The boys picked up the drunken hazel grouse and each got one.
"Give this extra one to Ah Feng. He soaked these pine nuts in baijiu (Chinese liquor)."
The older boy handed the extra hazel grouse to a boy wearing glasses.
The boy's face was cracked from the cold, his lips were split with dried blood, and his down jacket was worn and dirty.
But you could still tell from his eyes that he was a very young child, probably just a junior high school student before the disaster.
"Thanks…"
The hoarse voice was low and weak.
The boy nodded without saying anything and told everyone to head back.
The mountains are no longer safe. Many animals have mutated, and there have been countless incidents of animals injuring people.
If they weren't so eager to verify their hypothesis, they wouldn't have dared to go out looking for pheasants without their families' knowledge.
Although the disaster had only occurred half a month ago, the north was already cold, and now the temperature was dropping day by day. Not only were communications cut off, but electricity and heating had also stopped coming back.
As for rescue, they already knew there wouldn't be any.
Although their town is in the suburbs, it is not too far from the city center, so it has developed quite well. The houses are seven or eight stories high, there are one or two residential complexes, and all kinds of shops are readily available.
But when the earthquake struck, the densely packed houses crumbled into dust, just like tofu.
They didn't know about the quality of the houses, but after several days of massive earthquakes, even the sturdiest houses couldn't withstand such shaking.
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