Chapter 42: A Nest of Bamboo Rats
An hour later, Jiang Xuan and his companions passed through the dense grass and finally found the place they saw on the tree.
Chishao squatted down and observed carefully, and found that several places on the ground had been dug and many young shoots of Miscanthus had been nibbled.
"The wounds on these young shoots are still fresh. They must have been gnawed last night or today. The soil dug out from these shallow holes is also very fresh."
Chishao stood up and said, "Look around to see if there is a hole. The bamboo rat should be nearby."
Jiang Xuan and Gou Teng bent over and continued to drill into the nearby Miscanthus bushes. Fortunately, there were still many gaps under the tall Miscanthus bushes, otherwise it would have been difficult to drill into.
Jiang Xuan had not walked far when he suddenly found a path. The path was about fifteen centimeters wide and very smooth. There was not even any moss or gravel on the ground. It was obvious that wild animals often walked there.
“This should be the path that the bamboo rat walked out, right?”
Jiang Xuan continued to move forward along this small path. The further he went, the more holes he found in the ground, and the more traces of young Miscanthus shoots being gnawed.
This made Jiang Xuan very excited. He felt that he was getting close to the giant bamboo rat's nest.
After drilling about five or six meters, Jiang Xuan suddenly saw a pile of granular soil on the ground, but he couldn't see where the hole was.
The upper layer of the soil is relatively fresh and moist, while the lower layer is relatively old and dry.
Next to this large pile of soil, the traces of bamboo rats' activities were more obvious. There were many fallen Miscanthus grasses, and their bottoms had been eaten.
"Sister, come here quickly."
Jiang Xuan shouted, and the red peony root and Uncaria rhynchophylla pushed aside the Miscanthus and came to Jiang Xuan's side.
Jiang Xuan pointed at the pile of dirt and said, "Sister, take a look and see if this was dug by a bamboo rat? But I don't see any holes on the ground."
Chishao walked over, trampled down the nearby Miscanthus with his feet, cleared a space for activities, then pulled out a newly withered Miscanthus from the pile of mud and took a look.
Although the Miscanthus appears to be still growing on the ground, its roots have actually been eaten away long ago and will fall off if pulled out. No wonder it withers.
Chishao also pulled out other Miscanthus in the pile of soil, but the result was the same: the roots had been eaten away long ago.
"Yes, it is here."
When Uncaria heard that the giant bamboo rat was here, it excitedly searched around on the ground, hoping to find the rat's cave.
Unfortunately, he searched for a long time but couldn't find it, so he wondered: "The soil is piled here, why can't I see the big bamboo rat's hole?"
Chishao said: "The bamboo rat is a very smart beast. After it enters the cave during the day, it will dig soil and cover the cave to prevent predatory beasts from discovering it."
"Look, I just need to dig up all this dirt, and I should be able to find the real hole of the bamboo rat."
Chishao pulled out all the rootless Miscanthus, then used a bone hoe to quickly dig up the large pile of soil and cleared it aside.
Sure enough, when the real ground was exposed, the giant bamboo rat's nest was revealed.
Chishao dug away the loose soil and used a bone hoe to dig twenty to thirty centimeters deeper. An oval hole suddenly appeared in front of the three people.
There were quite a few Miscanthus stalks in the cave. All the red peony roots were pulled out, and some were still oozing with juice, apparently the big bamboo rats had just been gnawing on them.
Chishao continued to dig with the bone hoe. After digging about half a meter, he had cleared out a lot of soil.
Fortunately, Chishao was a warrior and very strong, because digging so much soil with primitive tools like the bone hoe was very tiring.
"Sister, let me do it."
Jiang Xuan volunteered to take the bone hoe from Chishao's hand and continued digging inside.
Unexpectedly, not long after he started digging, the hole split into two branches.
"this……"
Jiang Xuan was dumbfounded. He thought he could dig the giant bamboo rat out by just keeping digging. No one expected that the giant bamboo rat actually dug two holes. Where should he dig?
Chishao said: "The bamboo rat is very cunning. The place where it sleeps and the place where it actually hides are separate."
"It usually sleeps in a nest made of soft grass, with a granary next to it to store food. Even if it encounters natural enemies blocking it outside, it can survive inside for seven or eight days with the food."
"The place where it actually hides from its predators is much deeper than where it sleeps. Some will even dig into other caves and escape directly."
Chishao walked over and observed the locations of the two caves. Then he used a bone hoe to dig a hole on the left side first. Not long after digging, he found a "granary" which contained a large number of inch-long Miscanthus rhizomes and young shoots.
After digging for a while, Chishao finally dug out a nest woven with soft grass leaves. This nest was obviously where the bamboo rat usually slept.
The cave ends here. Obviously, the giant bamboo rat has hidden in a deeper cave.
Chishao found a nearly two-meter-long Miscanthus and poked it into the undug hole, and found that it was quite deep.
Chishao said helplessly: "Keep digging. Fortunately, the soil here is thick and there are not many rocks. Otherwise, we might find that the bamboo rat's hole is hidden under a big rock and we can't dig it out at all."
"Uncaria, clear the Miscanthus in front and pay attention to the ground. If the bamboo rat's hole is facing upwards, it may dig through the ground and escape."
"good!"
Uncaria rhynchophylla immediately and vigorously cleared the Miscanthus in the direction of the cave, and then stood there and listened carefully to the movements underground to prevent the giant bamboo rat from escaping.
Jiang Xuan and Chi Shao took turns digging. As they dug deeper and deeper, they finally heard some movement in the cave.
“Gurgle gurgle…”
There were sounds of soil rolling in the cave, as well as the sound of bamboo rats digging the soil.
Chishao was in high spirits and said, "We are almost at the bottom. The big bamboo rat is trying to dig a hole to escape!"
Hearing this, Jiang Xuan dug faster. He was a warrior and had eaten many fruits from the whip trees, so his strength increased greatly. Even though he was using a bone hoe, he was still digging very quickly.
"stop!"
Suddenly, Chishao asked Jiang Xuan to stop and stare at the cave.
She found that a furry head had popped out of the cave. It was a small bamboo rat.
This little bamboo rat is about the size of an adult's fist. It obviously has no way to escape, so it simply drills outside to see if it can escape.
When the little bamboo rat left the cave and tried to crawl out, Chishao quickly pressed down its head with a wooden stick. She did not dare to use too much force for fear of crushing the little bamboo rat to death.
With her other hand, she grabbed the little bamboo rat's tail and lifted it up.
“Blubber…”
“Ka-ka-ka…”
The little bamboo rat is not big but very fierce. It makes threatening sounds from its mouth and its pair of large front teeth collide rapidly, trying to scare people away.
However, it looks so small that it is cute and not scary at all.
"Put it in the animal skin bag first. Such a deep hole could not have been dug by this little bamboo rat. There must be something else inside."
Chishao asked Jiang Xuan to take down a hide bag, put the little bamboo rat into the bag, and then continued to stare at the cave.
After waiting for a long time, no other big bamboo rats came out of the hole. On the contrary, the sound of digging in the hole continued.
Chishao immediately picked up the bone hoe and continued digging.
Not long after digging, two more little bamboo rats came out. They were also caught by Chishao and put into the animal skin bag.
Chishao continued digging, and not long after, the big bamboo rat found that it could not escape. Finally, it gave up digging the hole reluctantly and chose to crawl out like the previous three small bamboo rats.
Chishao used a bone hoe to pin down the giant bamboo rat, then grabbed its hairless tail and lifted it upside down.
“Ka-ka-ka…”
This big bamboo rat was much bigger than the bamboo rats Jiang Xuan had seen in his previous life. It weighed at least 20 to 30 kilograms and was very ferocious.
Its two large front teeth kept colliding with its lower teeth, making a threatening sound. At the same time, it turned its head and tried to bite Chishao's hand.
Unfortunately, after being lifted upside down, it was unable to bite Chishao's hand that was holding its tail.
Chishao put the big bamboo rat into a sturdy animal hide bag and said with a smile, "We are lucky to have dug up a big bamboo rat with cubs. We can take it back and domesticate it."
Jiang Xuan also smiled and said: "Thanks to my sister's rich experience, otherwise we wouldn't be able to catch them even if we found this place."
Chishao said: "I also learned this from the experience of working with the hunting team before."
"We've been out for a long time today. Let's go home."
The three of them set out on the journey back to the tribe with joy.
(End of this chapter)
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