The jackal was fully cooked after an hour of smoking. I've never eaten this kind of animal before, but it smells quite delicious, similar to the aroma of dog meat I've had before.
I cut off a piece with a knife and put it in my mouth to chew. Surprisingly, the meat was quite good. The taste was similar to dog meat, tender and not dry.
Next, I had to dry the meat, so I started tearing all the meat off the jackal's body by hand.
This time, instead of using branches to skewer the meat strips, I laid my basket flat on the rack and put all the torn meat strips into the basket to continue roasting.
While keeping the fire warm, I started gnawing on the roasted liver and heart in my hand. They taste pretty good when fresh, and by the end of the meal, my initially hungry stomach was full.
I kept roasting all the meat until it was completely dry before I realized I was actually losing money. This jackal looked big, but after deboning and roasting, the remaining meat was less than half of the dried fish I had brought.
This amount of food is only enough to last for one day at most, and I still need to find something else to eat along the way.
However, this is a blessing in disguise; having some food is better than having nothing at all.
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, the birds in the mountains began to chirp. I hadn't dared to lie down to sleep the night before, so I had only managed to doze off against the stone wall for a while.
I have to keep going today. The dangers on the road make me not plan to rest any longer. I put on my basket and continue walking.
Around noon, I could clearly feel that the mountains were getting hot and humid.
I know this very well. Generally, the humidity in the air increases when it's about to rain, so muggy weather is not a good sign.
I dared not stop along the way, and even ate while walking.
But fate still wasn't going to let me off the hook. The heavy rain arrived as expected, so I had no choice but to put on the leopard-skin raincoat and then put my armor over it.
Although traveling like this is very inconvenient, I have no other choice. Getting wet in the rain and catching a cold would only make things worse in this dangerous place.
The jackal skin that was peeled off can be used as a rainproof cover for my basket, ensuring that the meat inside won't get wet.
However, there's no need to worry too much about the meat getting wet, because I'll finish it quickly.
Although it's not easy to travel on a rainy day, there are advantages. Wild animals are generally too lazy to hunt at this time, so I am safe for the time being.
Perhaps because the rainy season was over, the rain came and went quickly. Soon the weather cleared up again, and a layer of mist filled the forest.
Seeing this, I started to feel a little panicked again; this fog was a bit troublesome. Wild animals also like to jump out and ambush their prey in such poor visibility conditions.
Perhaps because I was completely focused on my surroundings, I didn't pay any attention to where I was standing.
Suddenly, I felt as if I had stepped on something soft. Immediately afterward, I felt a sharp pain in my ankle.
My heart sank. Oh no!
I had been paying attention to the foggy places, but now my first thought is that I must have stepped on a snake.
I quickly bent down to check, and just then a small, bluish-green snake with a triangular head was about to run away.
I stomped down hard and rubbed the snake's head on the ground with my straw sandal. After a while, the snake stopped moving.
You can see that some dark blood is starting to seep out from the back of my foot, and two clear teeth marks, like those from an embroidery needle, are left on my ankle.
My heart sank even further. There was no doubt that the wound was from a venomous snake. And I recognized the snake; it was a white-lipped pit viper, a type of snake with a blood toxin.
Because its venom is a blood-circulating toxin, a bite can cause persistent, severe pain, swelling, and bleeding. Therefore, it is generally necessary to seek medical attention as soon as possible and receive antivenom.
I dragged my bitten foot to the nearest tree and sat down, quickly pulling out my razor.
I didn't have time to bother with starting a fire to disinfect it. I picked up a razor and, despite the pain, made a cross-shaped cut on the spot where I had been bitten on my ankle.
The blood flowed out even faster, all of it dark red. Without hesitation, I kept pressing down on my calf with my hand, and dark purple blood kept flowing out of the cross-shaped wound.
At that moment, I realized that the correct way to save myself was to keep squeezing the wound to expel the poisonous blood. As for the textbook advice to tie it up with cloth strips, that was complete nonsense.
Because you've tightened the blood vessels, the blood flow inside will be impeded, which could very likely lead to limb hypoxia and irreversible damage.
Therefore, if you are bitten by a snake, the first thing you should not do is tie it up.
It is also unbelievable that burning can destroy snake venom, as even the shortest fangs of venomous snakes are two or three millimeters long.
One bite, and it pierces the dermis to reach the blood vessels inside. At this point, the fire only burns the surface of the skin, while the blood vessels inside continue to circulate blood.
Even if the skin is charred, it cannot stop the spread of venom.
I kept squeezing the wound, my forehead was already soaked with sweat. After more than half an hour of squeezing, the blood flowing from the wound turned bright red.
I know this is just an emergency measure and cannot completely remove the poison, but at least I have minimized the amount of poison remaining in my body.
All poisons require specific dosages; only when a certain dosage is reached will they endanger life. Just as a drop of venom can easily kill a mouse, killing an elephant is much more difficult.
I need to hurry on my way and try to find a suitable place to rest and treat my foot before it swells up completely, and see if I can find some herbs to treat snake bites.
I shouldered my basket and continued onward, this time I was smarter. Before setting off, I would use my spear to probe the grass first, and only if there were no problems would I continue walking.
As time went on, I felt my ankle getting more and more painful, and the swelling became more and more intense.
But now the place is shrouded in mist, and there was blood left behind. Who knows, those wild beasts might follow the scent of blood and find their way here.
I need to get to a higher position as soon as possible, where the fog will be much thinner, and then quickly find a suitable campsite.
I don't know what will happen to my body next, so I can only prepare for the worst.
If fate intends to destroy me, then there's nothing I can do. I never imagined I wouldn't be threatened by those large wild beasts, but instead, I'd be defeated by a snake.
The excruciating pain made me sweat profusely. My ankle was swollen and hard, and I grimaced in pain with every step I took.
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