Chapter 64: The Old Guy Over Thirty Years Old

“You hold the flashlight, I’ll catch it.”

Lin Heng handed the flashlight to Xiulan and rolled up his pants before stepping into the water.

The water was only about thirty centimeters deep, and it was still warm in the evening.

He quietly approached the spot where the old turtle had burrowed, and he could still see the outline of its rear half.

Reaching out, he grabbed it by the rear, pulling the old turtle out of the water.

“My God, it’s huge, must be around eight or nine kilos!”

Lin Heng was shocked by the size of the old turtle in his hands. It was much larger than the one he had caught before.

The turtle struggled wildly in Lin Heng’s hands, flailing its limbs, its long neck twisting around to try to bite him. But due to its physical limitations, it couldn’t reach its own rear no matter how hard it tried.

All its efforts were in vain.

“It’s as big as a wash basin. This is definitely an old turtle.”

Xiulan’s eyes widened as well. She hadn’t noticed how big it was in the water, but now that it was on land, the size was truly impressive.

“Let me see how old this guy is.”

Lin Heng pressed the turtle onto the ground and began counting the concentric circles on its shell. Each circle represented one year of age. The concentric rings on this old turtle’s shell were tightly packed.

“30, 31, 32, 33 years, my goodness, this turtle is at least 34 years old!”

Lin Heng was stunned. He was only making a rough estimate, but it was clear that this was an extraordinarily old turtle.

“Born around the 1950s, an old turtle older than us,” Xiulan said, also in disbelief.

But then both of them realized it made sense. This area was remote, the water was clear, and there were plenty of creek fish. In such a place, it was normal for a turtle to live for over thirty years.

“What a pity. Even though you’ve seen over ten thousand sunrises and sunsets, it ends today.”

Lin Heng shook his head and placed the turtle into a cloth bag.

As for the creek fish they had caught earlier, they were already lying on the ground, completely unworthy of being mentioned in comparison to this giant turtle.

“How much can this sell for?” Xiulan asked excitedly. This trip had been a big success.

“I don’t know, but thirty yuan should be fine. It mostly depends on who buys it,” Lin Heng grinned.

They opened the bag and stared at the turtle for a while to calm down before starting to kill the creek fish.

Lin Heng carried a small knife and began to gut the fish, threading them onto a stick to cook.

“Alright, let’s walk further up, maybe we’ll find more turtles.”

Lin Heng, still a bit greedy, wanted to explore more.

“Okay!” Xiulan agreed, following Lin Heng.

They had very little money, so Lin Heng couldn’t let any opportunity to make some pass by, and this wasn’t anything that would harm the world.

Unfortunately, after walking another five or six hundred meters, they found nothing.

Lin Heng sighed, “Forget it, let’s head back and catch some cicadas to roast the fish.”

“Sure, we’ve already collected enough for today. No need to force it,” Xiulan nodded.

There were plenty of cicadas in the forest, and it was easy to catch forty or fifty of them.

“Here!” Lin Heng tossed a cicada to Xiong Ba, their dog.

“Woof!”

Xiong Ba leapt up, swallowed it in a couple of bites, and then looked at them expectantly.

“There are more on the trees, go catch them yourself,” Lin Heng patted the dog on the head.

“Awoo~” Xiong Ba seemed disappointed and walked away.

As soon as Lin Heng turned around, Xiong Ba immediately rushed over to Xiulan, licking her hand to ask for more food.

“This silly dog, is it turning into a spirit?” Lin Heng shook his head in disbelief at the dog’s overly emotional behavior.

“Woof!”

Xiong Ba seemed to respond to Lin Heng’s remark, wagging its tail and looking back at him as if saying, “I’m just your loyal ‘lick dog’.”

Xiulan, however, was very fond of Xiong Ba because it had helped her find many mushrooms that day.

It had become a useful dog.

When they returned to the shelter, the deer was untouched.

They started a fire near the cave, Lin Heng roasted the fish, and Xiulan roasted the cicadas.

The meat of the creek fish was so tender that it became mushy and couldn’t be cooked after just a few minutes on the fire.

“Eat.”

Lin Heng tore the fish along its spine and handed half to Xiulan, keeping the other half for himself.

The creek fish had no fishy smell and had a slightly sweet taste. Compared to deep-frying it to a crisp, roasting it brought out a different flavor.

Dipping it in a bit of chili powder made it so tasty that they wanted to lick their fingers.

“Awoo~~”

Seeing Lin Heng and Xiulan enjoying their meal, Xiong Ba rubbed its head against Lin Heng’s arm, whining pitifully, clearly wanting a taste as well.

“Here, here!” Lin Heng, feeling helpless, gave the dog a fish.

After eating it, the silly dog looked puzzled. It seemed like it didn’t find it tasty or chewy enough.

“You don’t know how to appreciate food. Go lie down,” Lin Heng gave Xiong Ba a glare, clearly dissatisfied.

“The cicadas are ready,” Xiulan handed over a stick with roasted cicadas.

Lin Heng dipped one in some chili powder, took a bite, and immediately gasped.

“My god, that’s so hot!”

The roasted cicada was completely different from a deep-fried one. Its outer shell was hard, but the protein inside had liquefied. With one bite, juice exploded out, and it was scalding hot.

After cooling down, Lin Heng shook his head. “Looks like cicadas are better deep-fried. They don’t taste as good when roasted.”

“Yes, deep-fried ones taste much better,” Xiulan agreed.

After dinner, they leaned by the fire and watched the moon for a while before lying down to sleep. Xiong Ba curled up at their feet.

The night passed without incident, and early the next morning, just as the sky was beginning to lighten.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!!”

Xiong Ba suddenly barked loudly and charged out. A yellow figure dashed away from under the deer.

In the blink of an eye, Xiong Ba caught up with the yellow figure and bit it.

Psst!

The yellow weasel, failing to escape, sprayed a foul-smelling substance from its glands.

“Woof! Woof!!”

Xiong Ba, startled, let go of the weasel and froze in place, clearly shocked. This was the first time it had encountered something like this.

Seeing the weasel try to escape, Xiong Ba quickly chased after it and bit its neck.

Although Xiong Ba was still not fully grown, it weighed over twenty kilograms, while the largest yellow weasel didn’t exceed three kilograms.

The huge weight difference left the weasel with no chance of fighting back.

“What’s going on? Ugh, it stinks so much!” Lin Heng rushed over.

By the time he arrived, Xiong Ba had already released the weasel, and the dog was clearly repulsed by the smell, shaking its head repeatedly.

As for the weasel, it was already dead.

“Woof~”

Xiong Ba trotted over to Lin Heng, looking uncomfortable from the smell.

“Don’t come near me, I’ll take you to the water to wash it off,” Lin Heng quickly used his foot to block the dog.

Xiong Ba looked up at him, a trace of resentment in its eyes.

Even after being washed in the water, the stench was still unbearable.

“We’ll just wait until we get home and wash it with soap.”

Lin Heng shook his head helplessly. The smell of the yellow weasel was even worse than that of a farting bug; it was so strong that it made him want to vomit.

“Woof~”

Xiong Ba lowered its head, clearly regretting catching the weasel. It wouldn’t catch anything like that again.

“Alright, alright, I’ll peel the skin and give you the meat,” Lin Heng patted the dog’s head. The skin of the weasel was also valuable, worth about eight yuan, so it was a nice unexpected gain.

(End of Chapter)