After lunch, Wu Jing and Zhang Shengnan had to get up and go hunting again. During their time on the island, they had realized that winter might come, and it might even snow. So they started preparing food for the winter; even if winter didn't arrive, having extra food wouldn't hurt. This time, however, they didn't go into the jungle, but instead planned to explore the grasslands to see if they could find any large, lone prey. After all, a large prey yields much more meat than several small ones. They hoped for good luck and that they could hunt a large animal.
The Liu sisters on the hillside were still following their plan, foraging for wild vegetables in the mornings as a precaution. However, because they had searched in many places over the past two days, they were now almost at the stream. Perhaps in a few days, they would simply search along the stream. Their harvest had been quite good; they had stockpiled two bundles of dried wild vegetables, all stored in the shelter. If the wooden cabin hadn't been under construction, most of it would have been kept there. Regarding campsite construction, the sisters had spent half a day reinforcing the campsite and another half a day building a wooden fence. It wasn't large, basically enclosing four trees near the shelter, but it was enough for basic living. Since they hadn't eaten meat recently, this afternoon, at Liu Ruoling's insistence and Liu Ruoxi's...
If no one objects, the two decide to first look for prey in the jungle today. If they find nothing, they'll continue cutting down trees and bring them back to build camp again tomorrow. If they have time, they'll go to the stream to see if they can find any small fish, shrimp, crabs, or the like.
The two, carrying bows and spears, with military knives at their waists, walked silently through the jungle, Liu Ruoling in front and Liu Ruoxi behind. Along the way, they encountered pheasants, but missed. They saw rabbit tracks, but found no rabbits. They saw sheep droppings and followed the tracks, but still couldn't find any goats. Later, Liu Ruoxi saw birds and said to Liu Ruoling, "Why don't you try shooting birds? There are plenty of birds in the forest." Liu Ruoling replied, "How can I do that? I'm good at shooting large prey." Liu Ruoxi said, "Alright then, but I guess we won't have any meat tonight." Liu Ruoling was speechless for a moment, and, forced by circumstances, she had no choice but to aim her bow and arrow at the birds in the jungle. She released the arrow, and it flew straight towards a bird perched on a branch. In an instant, the arrow was in front of the bird; a sharp-eyed person could see that it almost hit the bird. However, upon seeing the arrow coming towards it, the bird's first reaction was to spread its wings and fly away. To everyone's surprise, the moment it spread its wings, the arrow struck its right wing. Combined with the bird's tendency to take flight, it crashed to the ground. It struggled for a moment, but surprisingly, upon landing, it landed even closer to the two sisters. Upon seeing this, Liu Ruoxi's first reaction was joy; they would have meat for dinner that night! Even though the bird wasn't big, it was still meat, much better than boiled wild vegetables. Liu Ruoling, however, was startled. She thought to herself, "I'm used to shooting large prey; who knew I'd shot a bird, and hit it!" But before Liu Ruoling could dwell on it, Liu Ruoxi urged them to go and retrieve their prey.
Urged by her sister, Liu Ruoling retrieved the bird, killing it along the way. Surprisingly, the bird was quite heavy, probably over a pound, and even after molting, it would still weigh over half a pound. She placed it in the small basket on Liu Ruoxi's back, without removing the arrow, fearing the smell of blood would attract predators. Liu Ruoxi was delighted to see the bird, saying, "Why don't we shoot a few more? That'll be enough for us to eat for a while." Liu Ruoling rolled her eyes, saying, "It's not that easy. It was just a coincidence." Liu Ruoxi wouldn't listen and insisted Liu Ruoling continue shooting birds. Liu Ruoling couldn't resist her sister's insistence, so she had to agree. The two then moved to a different spot. When they had just shot the bird, the other birds had been startled and taken flight, making them harder to shoot.
After walking for more than ten minutes, they moved to another spot. There were still quite a few birds there, some perched on branches and chirping. Liu Ruoxi gestured for Liu Ruoling to shoot the birds. Liu Ruoling, somewhat reluctantly, drew her bow and aimed at a bird perched on a branch. She released the arrow, and it flew away swiftly. This time, the bird was very alert; hearing the bowstring, it spread its wings and flew away. The other birds also began to take flight. The arrow visibly pierced the branch where the bird had just been perched. If that bird hadn't escaped, it would likely have been hit, but it had already flown away. Liu Ruoling, seeing this, was about to say to Liu Ruoxi, "See, you were really lucky just now!" But then, a bird flying up from a branch below flew directly in front of the arrow, which pierced its chest. Both the bird and the arrow fell to the ground. Liu Ruoling was stunned. What happened? That bird, were you thinking of something? "If you don't want to live, then starve to death. Don't run into my arrows." Is this some worldly bird trying to scam someone? But I've never seen anyone risk their life to scam someone. This time, Liu Ruoxi didn't ask Liu Ruoling to retrieve the prey; she went to collect it herself, and then pulled Liu Ruoling to another spot.
The activity continued until almost four or five in the afternoon. The two emerged from the jungle, Liu Ruoling carrying five bird-shooting arrows and a bow, looking bewildered. For a while, she changed locations every ten minutes or so, aiming and shooting an arrow before collecting the bird. She moved on without hesitation. The only time she missed was when she saw a squirrel nearby and aimed at it. She changed locations six times, shooting five birds and hitting them all. This skill left not only Liu Ruoling bewildered, but even the viewers in the live stream were stunned. They initially thought Liu Ruoling was just being stubborn and lacked archery skills, but the seemingly hesitant Liu Ruoling was incredibly accurate when shooting birds. Seeing Liu Ruoling still looking bewildered, Liu Ruoxi patted her and said, "Wait here for me. I'll go get the pot, and we'll make a fire by the stream to deal with these birds before going back." Liu Ruoling nodded. Liu Ruoxi patted her again and said, "Snap out of it, be careful." Liu Ruoling finally came to her senses and said, "Okay, I know. By the way, where are you going?" Liu Ruoxi facepalmed. If they weren't twins, she would have doubted if they were even related. So she repeated herself. Liu Ruoling said, "Okay, I'll gather some firewood over there." Seeing that Liu Ruoling understood, Liu Ruoxi grabbed her military knife and headed straight for the shelter. After Liu Ruoxi left, Liu Ruoling also started gathering firewood by the stream. They would make a fire there later, deal with the five birds, and then take them back. After all, there was no running water above their shelter; they had to fetch water themselves, let alone use it to treat these birds. Of course, there are also safety reasons. If the blood is processed late by the stream, it can be cooked and eaten directly when you get back. There is no smell of blood near the shelter, so predators generally won't go there.
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