Era-C87

Chapter 87: Setting Traps, Hunting Snakes

“Xiongba, come here. See if you can jump over this,” Lin Heng said, pointing at a one-meter-high firethorn tree after parting ways with his wife and arriving at the foot of Red Maple Mountain.

“Woof!”

Xiongba barked, sped up slightly, and leaped over it effortlessly.

“Woof!”

It looked back at Lin Heng, seemingly unimpressed by the challenge.

“Alright, here’s a taller one.” Lin Heng pointed at another tree, about two meters high, wanting to test Xiongba’s limits.

Xiongba glanced at the firethorn tree, then accelerated and leaped over it again with graceful ease, leaving Lin Heng stunned.

“Try this one now.” Lin Heng pointed at a firethorn tree about two and a half meters tall.

This time, Xiongba stood still on the ground, looking at Lin Heng with a look that seemed to say, “Why don’t you try it yourself?”

“Alright, I admit it’s a bit much. You’re not even a year old yet,” Lin Heng said with a chuckle.

Still, he thought Xiongba had great potential. While intelligent, it needed consistent training—jumping trees, running, swimming, and staying active—to avoid turning into a lazy, overweight dog.

As for commands, Lin Heng didn’t feel it was much of an issue. Xiongba was so perceptive that it almost instinctively understood everything he asked.

“Woof, woof!”

After being cooped up at home for several days, Xiongba was full of energy and began playing around the area, running and frolicking with unbridled excitement.

Soon, Lin Heng arrived at the spot where he had planted Dendrobium orchids and watered them again using the ladle he had left there yesterday. After that, he led Xiongba further down the path, focusing on teaching it to obey commands. Recently, its intelligence had made it a little too unruly—much like a Border Collie that would ignore you if it sensed you weren’t “in charge.”

By the time they reached the Three-Way Gorge at noon, Xiongba had become much more disciplined—partly because it was tired.

Back at the shelter, Lin Heng didn’t see anyone around. He left some food he’d brought and headed out again.

“Don’t run off today. We’re heading to the wetlands,” Lin Heng warned, patting Xiongba’s head.

On the way there, he figured the wetland marshes in the gorge might have more prey. His plan was to set up “King’s Noose” traps and scatter some corn nearby in hopes of catching badgers, rabbits, or maybe even wild boars.

With Xiongba by his side, they made their way toward the wetlands. The path was rough, and to avoid alarming any prey, Lin Heng deliberately didn’t clear the way with his machete.

“There’s definitely prey here,” Lin Heng murmured after noticing traces of animals rooting through the ground.

“Let’s start here.”

He chose a sturdy willow tree as thick as his wrist and began setting up a King’s Noose trap. This trap was effective because once prey was caught, it would be suspended in the air, unable to bite through the rope. However, it required living trees to provide tension, which limited its use.

In addition to the nooses, Lin Heng also set up simple rope snares along paths frequently traveled by animals.

Suddenly—rustle!

A gray rabbit bolted out of a bush, startled by Lin Heng’s presence, and sprinted into the distance.

Lin Heng wasn’t surprised to find rabbits here. In fact, catching them was one of his main reasons for bringing Xiongba.

Before Lin Heng could give a command, Xiongba sprang into action, launching a thrilling chase. The experienced wild rabbit skillfully used its small size to make sharp turns whenever Xiongba got close, evading capture and sprinting away.

But Xiongba remained focused, adjusting quickly to the rabbit’s movements. It missed twice, but on the third attempt, it anticipated the rabbit’s turn, leaped forward, and bit down, catching it.

The rabbit let out a final screech before falling limp. Xiongba proudly carried it back in its mouth, looking as majestic as a wolf king returning from a hunt.

“That was amazing!” Lin Heng exclaimed, patting Xiongba on the head to encourage it.

The chase had showcased Xiongba’s athleticism and hunting prowess—it was ferocious.

“Woof, woof!”

Xiongba dropped the rabbit at Lin Heng’s feet, panting happily and lifting its head as if to demand praise.

“Impressive. I’ll make sure you get something special to eat tonight,” Lin Heng said, ruffling the fur on Xiongba’s chest. Watching its graceful, powerful movements as it hunted made Lin Heng look forward to seeing it chase down bigger prey, like badgers.

Lin Heng picked up the rabbit and estimated it weighed about seven or eight pounds. Xiongba had bitten through its spine in one go, a testament to its powerful bite force.

After placing the rabbit in his basket, Lin Heng continued setting traps. By the time he finished, he had placed over thirty rope snares and a dozen King’s Noose traps, especially in areas where he had previously seen signs of badgers.

“Come on, let’s go take a bath.”

The midday sun was relentless, and after setting all the traps, Lin Heng was drenched in sweat. He led Xiongba to a nearby creek to cool off.

Stripping down, he slipped into the icy water and immediately felt refreshed.

“Woof, woof!”

Xiongba happily swam around.

“Don’t splash me!” Lin Heng warned, lying in the water with his head resting on a stone in the shade. The creek was the perfect escape from the oppressive heat.

However, the water was too cold to stay in for long. After a short while, Lin Heng got out.

“Let’s head back to White Rock Beach.”

Returning to the shelter, Lin Heng found it still empty.

“Let’s set up a hammock here,” he said to himself. Using some vines, he spent half an hour weaving a hammock and took a nap while Xiongba rested beneath it.

At midday, Lin Heng had given up on hunting since his past experiences told him it was almost futile during this time. Resting and recharging for the afternoon was the better option.

…

“Lin Heng, when did you get here?”

Lin Heng had been sleeping for about an hour when a voice woke him. Xiongba stood up, alert, and stared at Li Baiquan, who was approaching from a distance.

“I came around noon, set up some traps, and decided to rest here for a while,” Lin Heng replied with a yawn, climbing off the hammock.

“Uncle-in-law, where were you guys this morning? Did you go hunting? Any luck?” Lin Heng asked.

Li Baiquan shook his head. “No luck. But we did find signs of wild boars—there’s fresh boar dung all over the place. We tracked them all morning but couldn’t find them.”

“How did you not find them? Doesn’t Tian Baishun have a hunting dog?” Lin Heng asked, puzzled.

“That dog’s useless—it just ran in circles. We set up a few King’s Noose traps there, and I came back to grab more rope. We’re heading back this afternoon to keep searching and set more traps along the way,” Li Baiquan explained, clearly disappointed.

“I’ll join you,” Lin Heng offered, thinking Xiongba could help track the boars.

“Sure, more people means a better chance of finding them,” Li Baiquan agreed readily.

After grabbing supplies from the shelter, Lin Heng shared some of the dry rations Xiulan had prepared with Li Baiquan.

“Honestly, it’s lucky you brought food. If not, we’d have nothing to eat this afternoon or tonight,” Li Baiquan said while chewing on a cornbread roll.

They walked two or three kilometers to the spot Li Baiquan had mentioned.

“See? That’s wild boar dung. It was definitely left here last night,” Li Baiquan said, pointing to the ground.

“This wild boar is not small,” Li Heng said as he looked at the dung on the ground. “This size definitely suggests it’s a two or three hundred-pound pig.”

“Yeah, but we’ve been searching for a long time and haven’t found much,” Li Baiquan shook his head.

“Xiong Ba, give it a try.”

Lin Heng patted Xiong Ba’s head and pointed at the wild boar dung on the ground.

“Woof woof!”

Xiong Ba lowered his head, sniffed the ground, and soon identified a direction.

“Can your dog do this?”

Li Baiquan felt that Xiong Ba was quick to identify the direction. It was his first time seeing this dog hunt, and he didn’t have much confidence in it.

“I don’t know either, it depends on how clear the scent trail left by the wild boar is,” Lin Heng shrugged, not boasting about Xiong Ba’s abilities.

Tracking can be tricky; once the scent fades, it’s hard to continue.

After about seven or eight hundred meters of tracking, Xiong Ba stopped.

“It seems we can’t find it anymore,” Lin Heng shook his head.

Li Baiquan wasn’t surprised. “That’s normal. We didn’t have high hopes anyway.”

The two set up a few traps nearby, then split up to search for smaller game.

Lin Heng, with Xiong Ba, moved through the forest. In this old mountain forest, the ground was littered with rotten wood, and Xiong Ba liked to jump over any fallen trees he encountered.

With Xiong Ba around, Lin Heng picked up some mushrooms, but most were too insect-infested to eat. A few edible species like the green-headed and yellow-headed mushrooms were found, and he picked four large Lingzhi mushrooms.

As for game, they didn’t encounter anything all afternoon and even came across two wasp nests.

One was in the treetops, the other in a crack in the rocks.

Luckily, Lin Heng noticed them early and avoided the nests. Wasps were one of the most dangerous things in the summer jungle. If provoked, they could send hundreds of them chasing after you.

Being stung by one or two wouldn’t be too bad, but if the number grew, it could cause severe injuries or even death.

Lin Heng immediately distanced himself upon seeing them.

Before long, the forest grew darker. Looking up through the gaps in the trees, half the sky had turned blood red.

“Good thing I brought Xiong Ba, a rabbit isn’t too bad for the day.”

Lin Heng shook his head, estimating that his hopes for the day were low. After searching the forest until dark, he hadn’t found much.

“Woof woof!!”

As Lin Heng was about to move forward, Xiong Ba suddenly growled in alarm.

“SSS!!”

Startled by Xiong Ba’s noise, a five-step snake slithered out from beneath the leaves, heading towards the distance.

“Damn! A five-step snake!”

Lin Heng was shocked, his heart racing. He hadn’t seen the snake at all. If it weren’t for Xiong Ba, today might have ended badly.

The Qinling Mountains don’t have many poisonous snakes, but the five-step snake is definitely one of the most dangerous.

“Such bad luck today, first wasps, now a venomous snake,” Lin Heng thought, his heart still pounding as he grabbed his bow and chased after it.

“That snake’s not getting away!”

Lin Heng aimed and fired an arrow, hitting the snake’s head and pinning it to the ground.

He watched as the snake writhed madly before finally relaxing, and only then did Lin Heng breathe easy.

He never let poisonous snakes go. If he had, who knows what could have happened if they bit him?

After the snake died, Lin Heng stepped on its head and removed the arrow.

He then chopped off its head with a machete and covered it with a rock.

“Let’s go back,” Lin Heng said, picking up the snake. Since the venom was stored in the head, the rest of the body was safe to eat.

He had hoped to find something on the way back, but unfortunately, nothing turned up. Lin Heng suspected that the animals here had already sensed their presence and fled.

Back at the shelter, Lin Heng saw the other three had returned.

“Woof woof!!”

The big spotted dog immediately charged at Xiong Ba, trying to teach him a lesson.

“Woof woof!!”

Xiong Ba didn’t back down and charged back. The last time it had been tied up, the spotted dog had bullied him, and Xiong Ba hadn’t forgotten it.

After a brief struggle, Xiong Ba bit the spotted dog’s neck. The dog whimpered, tail tucked between its legs, begging for mercy.

“Old Tian, your dog isn’t much use,” Li Baiquan laughed.

“Rubbish, he’s just hungry,” Old Tian refused to admit the truth.

“Xiong Ba, come here.”

Lin Heng called, and Xiong Ba reluctantly let go of the spotted dog and returned to Lin Heng’s side, chest puffed out proudly.

The spotted dog looked much worse than Xiong Ba, who appeared strong and fierce, while the spotted dog seemed like a mad dog, devious and sly, as if it might bite you from behind at any moment.

“Lin Heng, your dog is growing pretty fast,” Old Tian laughed.

“Of course, I feed him meat every day,” Lin Heng nodded.

“But I see he has courage but no brains. He’s no good at hunting. For that, you need a dog like mine.”

Old Tian patted his big spotted dog.

“Is this rabbit considered game? Xiong Ba killed it,” Lin Heng casually tossed a large wild rabbit to them.

Old Tian was silent.

“Looks like your dog’s not bad,” he said with a forced smile.

“Uncle, you didn’t catch anything today?” Lin Heng asked.

“Not nothing, we found some ginseng,” Lu Honghai laughed.

“Yeah, how is that ‘nothing’? Isn’t this yam and astragalus?” Old Tian pointed at the ground.

Lin Heng shook his head and laughed. “Just you guys didn’t catch anything, I’m the only one who had a real catch.”

“Little Uncle, you skin the snake, I’ll skin the rabbit.”

Lin Heng tossed the snake to his little uncle.

“Alright,” Li Baiquan grinned and accepted it.

Lin Heng skinned the rabbit and hung it out in the sun to dry, while he cooked the rabbit head and innards and fed them to Xiong Ba.

“Woof~”

Wherever Xiong Ba ate, the big spotted dog only dared to watch. After their earlier fight, it had learned its place and no longer dared to snatch food from Xiong Ba.

“Here!”

Li Baiquan cooked the snake and threw the innards to the spotted dog.

“Let’s roast everything tonight. It’s not really suitable for soup,” Lin Heng glanced at the two creatures and decided to cook the rabbit as Beggar’s Chicken.

He salted it and stuffed wild pepper flowers inside, wrapped it in leaves, sealed it with mud, and threw it in the fire to roast.

The five-step snake was roasted on a stick by his little uncle, Li Baiquan.

This way, whether it was snake meat or rabbit meat, the taste wasn’t great since they hadn’t used oil or any spices. The meat was lean, and both were quite tough, especially the rabbit meat.

Luckily, they had chili to dip in fermented tofu, making it more palatable.

“Lin Heng, how come you didn’t bring any wine? You’re just thinking about your wife. Eating meat with no wine really doesn’t feel right,” Old Tian lamented, always a fan of alcohol.

“If you don’t want to eat, you can put it down. No one’s forcing you,” Lin Heng shot him a look. At least there was food, and now he was complaining.

“Yeah, you’re really picky,” Li Baiquan teased with a smile.

Old Tian shook his head and sighed, “Ah, when you get old, this is what you get, these little pleasures. If you don’t enjoy them now, you’ll have nothing left when you’re dead.”

Lin Heng didn’t respond. After eating, he fed the bones to Xiong Ba.

“Howl~”

Xiong Ba crouched beside him, eyeing the rabbit bones with longing. When Lin Heng tossed them, Xiong Ba snapped them up eagerly, chewing loudly. Its golden eyes sparkled with contentment.

“Being a dog must be great. A single bone makes you so happy,” Lin Heng patted it, then lay back to look at the starry sky. The sky was beautiful, but without someone to share it with, he soon lost interest and went back to the shelter to sleep, calling Xiong Ba along.

With the dog beside him, Lin Heng didn’t need to cover himself with grass for warmth.

That night, the mountain wind howled, like hundreds of ghosts wailing, making it hard to sleep. Even in the middle of the night, Li Baiquan had to get up and block the wind with some tree branches at the shelter’s entrance to lessen the chill.

The next morning, Lin Heng woke up and found Xiong Ba licking his chin. Annoyed, he slapped it. “I’ve told you so many times, stop being a lick-spittle, can’t you understand?”

“Howl~”

Xiong Ba lowered its head in grievance.

Lin Heng got up and went outside. The wind was much calmer than at night, and the sun had just risen, leaving dew all over the grass.

“Hey, after that big wind last night, I wonder if any game got trapped,” Lin Heng worried, since he hadn’t had much luck the day before and was hoping for a better result with the traps.

“Who knows, let’s go see,” Li Baiquan shrugged.

“Uncle, take a look at the wild boar traps for me, I’ll check the snares by the marshlands,” Lin Heng said to Li Baiquan.

“Alright, don’t worry,” Li Baiquan nodded.

The four of them split up. Lin Heng took Xiong Ba to the marshlands, while Tian Baishun and Li Baiquan focused on finding that big wild boar. They hoped to find it again today.

(End of chapter)