There was a whooshing sound of wings flapping, followed by a wave of rolling heat.
Hearing the wind fading away, the jackals, who had not been attacked, dared to look back. They found that the sika deer had vanished, and the predator that had stolen its prey was now a strange bird.
The jackal, having lost its chance to feast, was inevitably disappointed, but it quickly turned towards the riverbank.
It needs water and it also needs to catch prey. Although catching live prey requires a lot of energy, it feels lucky compared to dying.
As herds of herbivores gradually reached the riverbank, the river, which had been baking in the sun all day, seemed to come alive with activity.
The herbivores stood closely together warily, their eyes and ears constantly alert as they drank water. As the number of ferocious beasts appeared gradually increased, they had to be on their guard at all times.
Knowing that coming to the riverbank would expose them and put them in danger, the herbivores had no choice but to replenish their water supply every day, otherwise they would die from the heat before being killed by predators.
The tigers did not participate in the "feast" on the riverbank; the tiger fathers no longer needed to hunt cautiously.
As the sun set behind the mountains, Lin Qian and his companions were butchering their prey to make new jerky.
Their jerky production was successful, and they already had two bags of stock. However, this was far from enough. With animals dying from heatstroke in the forest, not only Lin Qian felt a sense of crisis, but even Tiger Dad and the others sensed that something was wrong.
"Chirp—" A familiar chirp rang out, followed by the dropping of prey.
The golden pheasant abandoned its prey and left without lingering, continuing to patrol the riverbank in preparation for "picking up the scraps".
This sika deer wasn't given to Lin Qian by Jin Diao; rather, he wanted Lin Qian and his companions to help him make it into jerky. In return, the animal hide and other materials would belong to Lin Qian and his group.
Even without payment, Lin Qian wouldn't have any objections; after all, it's the same whether he's herding one sheep or a flock.
The request to leave behind the meager animal hides was simply to gradually establish the impression among the Jin Diao that tigers wouldn't give things away for free. Although this might seem somewhat inhumane, Lin Qian felt it was necessary.
After all, they are allies, not like the giant pandas who are subordinates. As people become more aware of this, the concept of trade needs to be established.
The gold-plated creatures didn't find anything wrong with it. The spirit beasts were straightforward and lacked "human sentimentality." After understanding the concept of trading, everyone thought it was very reasonable.
The salt consumed is not included in the reward. The reward for the animal hide is only for processing. Jin Diao also has a share of the salt. Just because the Jin Diao leader hasn't asked for it doesn't mean Lin Qian can keep it all for himself.
Two days ago, the leader of the Golden Eagles discovered that many animals in the forest had died from the heat, so it came looking for them. The premonition of danger made it very anxious.
When they heard that Lin Qian was preparing to store food and had taken out dried meat, the leader of Jin Diao joined in without hesitation.
Although they planned to store food, Lin Qian did not intend to hunt animals indiscriminately. He suggested that the Jin Diao first scavenge for animals that had died from the heat in the forests and grasslands and bring them back to make jerky.
This wasn't because Lin Qian was kind-hearted, but rather because he was considering the long term; as the weather gets hotter, it's inevitable that the animals will suffer from heatstroke.
As water levels drop and water sources dry up, it's inevitable that the animals in the basin will migrate again, but they won't need to stockpile large quantities of dried meat.
Because once they migrate, Lin Qian and his group will definitely follow the herd, and the migrating animals along the way will be their food, so they won't have to worry about going hungry.
Furthermore, storing too much jerky is useless. Chipmunks only have so much space, and it's unrealistic for them to carry it themselves even if they made a bundle. Under the scorching sun, the jerky would spoil relatively quickly, unlike the chipmunks whose space is generally kept at a temperature of around ten degrees Celsius.
Lin Qian didn't make dried meat to eat every day, but for emergencies. In case of any unexpected situations, if he got trapped in danger or couldn't find food for a while, dried meat would be the best emergency food.
During this time, Lin Qian and the Golden Eagles kept a close eye on the forest's movements. If anything happened, they would leave immediately!
Tiger Dad and the others had no objections to Lin Qian's preparations. The changes in the forest and the severity of the weather indicated that they were likely to migrate again.
Lin Qian also made a preliminary plan: if they were to migrate, they would definitely head south, because there are many rivers in the south.
Although it was based on the human map he had found before, Lin Qian guessed that even if the surface changed drastically, the rivers would not shift too much. At most, underground rivers would become above ground, and above ground rivers would become underground, or some rivers would change course. But their specific locations would not change much, because the source of the water would not disappear out of thin air.
Of course, if he encountered a crack like the one he fell into, that's another story.
However, the chances of that happening are slim. After all, according to the map, going south from this direction would involve passing several major rivers, as well as many smaller ones. It's impossible to cut off every single one of them.
However, Lin Qian had no hope for the small river, as it was likely to dry up by now; the real purpose was the great rivers and streams.
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Shanfeng leaned against a block of ice, his hands expertly slicing meat; he was now a seasoned "meat processor."
The weather is fine for Lin Qian and the others now that there's no ice; they won't get heatstroke or anything. But the mountain winds are a different story.
Two days ago, the boy was having a great time playing with the red panda when suddenly his face turned red and he fainted.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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