I propped up my fur coat with some tree branches and placed it by the fire to dry. Because fur doesn't absorb water as much as cotton, it dried very quickly.
Ten minutes later, I put on the fur coat that had been dried by the fire. It was still quite warm inside the fur coat after being baked by the campfire.
My body temperature had returned to normal, and I felt a bit hungry. Most of the day had passed since midnight, and Top and I still hadn't eaten anything.
There were still a few pieces of dried fish left in my basket, so I put them on the fire to roast. After eating this little bit of food, I was completely reduced from a wealthy landlord to a poor peasant.
This food is only enough for Top and me to eat until we're half full. Now we need to go look for something to hunt nearby.
If this had happened in the past, I might not have been so anxious, but things are different now.
Although the place I am in is relatively safe, it has become a barren wasteland, and the probability of finding food here is not so easy.
My crossbow and blowgun were all intact, but all the crossbow bolts were lost in the lake. Besides the shotgun shells, I only had about twenty blowgun arrows left in my bag.
Shotguns are too powerful, and I dare not use them unless absolutely necessary. So I can only use the blowgun that I made at the beginning for shooting birds.
Top and I walked along the quiet mountain path. Apart from the snow, the area around us was completely silent, and we couldn't even see a bird. It seemed as if they had been wiped out by the ants in an instant.
Reason told me not to keep chasing any miracles; the mountain was completely empty. The only way to avoid starvation was to turn back; I remembered there used to be a sugarcane field here.
I used to come here to cut some sugarcane for sugar production, but the warehouse was full and I never came back to cut sugarcane again.
I'm currently near the foot of the mountain, so returning to that sugarcane field wouldn't be difficult.
Along the way, there were bones left by various animals, and I saw some that looked like tigers or wild boars.
These ants are different from other ants; they are larger, so they can grind up and swallow any food they can bite, including bones.
Perhaps the only things they could no longer handle were the thigh bones of these large animals, which is why they gave up on them.
Along the way, I collected quite a few thigh bones and put them into my basket. These bones should still contain marrow.
Although we don't know how long these animals have been dead, these are extraordinary times and we can't afford to be picky.
Around 3 p.m., Top and I arrived at the place where we had previously harvested sugarcane. When we reached the depression and saw what was before us, we were dumbfounded.
The once fertile sugarcane fields now look as if they've been robbed by bandits. Large patches of sugarcane residue remain on the ground; if I had any spare meat, it would be easy to find ingredients for smoking it here.
It seems sweet things are on these guys' menus too. What a terrible day. Not only were their warehouses emptied and they went bankrupt, but now they've lost everything they owned at their outposts in the wild.
I had no choice but to keep moving forward.
The ants have now left, and the snow on the road has been trampled by them until it resembles a compressed white bed sheet.
Anyway, it's not the worst situation. At least we have some big bones on hand. We can crack them open and barbecue them tonight, which should be enough to fill us up for a meal or two.
Along the way, Top and I soon arrived at the place where I had set up the traps. Just like in other places, the ants had already left.
Such a large ant colony must need to feed constantly, and the time they spent waiting for me on the lake shore must have been long enough. These guys won't stay in a place without resources forever.
Now I don't have to worry about getting hurt by my own traps, because they've all been triggered by that swarm of ants.
Many of the bamboo raft spike traps still have a half-eaten skeleton hanging on them, which should be left behind after the sand monsters were hit by the traps.
I've also figured out how they managed to break through my trap before.
They discovered the weakness of the trap being connected by ropes, so instead of triggering the trap, they tried to bite through the ropes, causing the trap to spring open automatically. This can be easily seen from the bite marks on the ropes.
Without any hesitation, I chopped off their thigh bones and spines as I walked and put them into my basket.
Now I've gone from being a landlord to a scavenger. As long as I have food to eat and won't starve, I'll just live however I have to. At least I have fire to cook food and I'm not afraid of getting a stomachache.
There were quite a few of these sand monsters; in no time, my basket was completely full. It seems I'll have to come back and collect them all later.
I quickened my pace. I've been sleeping during the day lately, and I feel like I've reached my limit. I just want to find a suitable place to sleep.
After walking for a while, Top and I returned to our home.
From the outside, it looks no different from other places. If it weren't for the pile of ashes and the large number of dead ants in the middle of the road, no one would have guessed that this place was a hellish scene not long ago.
I went to the pile of dead ants, picked one up, and weighed it in my hand. Goodness, this palm-sized ant weighed at least an ounce.
If this were in my world, no one would believe that such a huge thing existed.
I wonder what it tastes like. I've heard that ants are a highly nutritious medicinal ingredient. The indigenous people of the Dai ethnic group use ants in their cooking, but I've never tried it.
In the past, I certainly wouldn't have considered this. But now I'm short of food, and anything edible has to be on my radar.
I'll take one out and grill it later. As long as it doesn't kill anyone, I'll consider putting them in my storage.
I went to check on the vegetable garden again. The ants didn't seem to care about the wild vegetables; they were still growing well in the ground. This was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.
That left me with nothing to do. Reluctantly, I turned my attention to my warehouse, which remained perfectly intact.
I climbed the tree, crossed the wooden bridge, and saw the warehouse clearly. It was just as I had expected. The ants had already cleaned up the empty baskets for me, so storing several hundred kilograms of food here wouldn't be a problem at all.
Forget it, it's best not to worry about these things too much, otherwise you might easily develop cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
I climbed down the tree, went inside the shed, and took out some wood to start a fire.
After smashing a few bones with the back of a knife, I stood them upright by the fire to roast; these would be my dinner tonight.
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