Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive – CH94

Chapter 94

One steel arrow was far from enough to kill the animal. Instead, it only enraged it.

Angry hoofbeats burst from the tall, dense grass. Seeing the dark shape struggle toward them, Shen Zheng, who had already had his hand on his pistol, pulled the trigger at once.

Several messy gunshots rang out, startling the birds roosting in the distant woods.

The black shape crashed heavily to the ground, flattening a patch of bluish-green grass.

The black wolfdog barked furiously and lunged over.

“Little Apricot!” Guanguan panicked the moment he saw the dog run over.

Wei Cheng quickly grabbed Guanguan’s hand. “Wait. Don’t go over yet.”

Shen Zheng was about to follow too, but Yi Qi stopped him. “I’ll go. You stay here with the kids.”

When he reached the patch of crushed grass, the tall, imposing black wolfdog had already circled the prey once. Only after confirming there was no danger did it finally relax a little and hang out its tongue, stopping its barking.

“Holy shit!” The moment Yi Qi saw what it was, his eyes lit up. His voice was filled with excitement and joy he couldn’t suppress. “Isn’t this that thing? Come over! All of you, come over!”

Wei Cheng first retied Elizabeth, who had frozen stiff in fright. Then Shen Zheng came running over with Guanguan. As they got closer, the thick smell of blood and the strong wild musk of the animal hit them so hard it made their scalps tingle.

Covering his nose, Shen Zheng said, “What is this thing? It looks so weird.”

It was a male, with coarse dark blue-black fur, as big as a young ox. Its two horns curved downward like two crescent moons, sharp and solid. If it rammed into someone, they would not die, but they would definitely lose a few ribs. Overall, it looked a little like a cow, and a little like a donkey.

Guanguan’s little face was red from running, still steaming with heat. He pinched his nose with two fingers. “Uncle, why is it so ugly?”

“Haven’t you heard the saying? The uglier the animal, the longer the sentence? The stranger it looks, the faster it gets judged? Just think of it as a wild cow.” Yi Qi didn’t mind the blood at all. He slapped the wild bovine hard. “Solid. Nice and fat too. Feels like at least three hundred jin. But in the apocalypse, when people are practically dying out, who still cares about all that? This animal has a fierce temper and thick skin. Its only natural enemies are leopards and tigers. If it had attacked us just now, and we hadn’t had guns, the four of us together might not have been its match.”

Wei Cheng walked over. “Uncle Yi, don’t animals like this usually live in steep, inaccessible mountain forests? Why would it run down to lower-elevation Wuqing Mountain?”

Shen Zheng guessed, “Either a zombie horde drove it here, or someone was hunting it and it ran this way.”

“Can this cow be cooked in a spicy pot?” That was what Guanguan cared about most.

Yi Qi laughed. “Of course it can. We’ve got electricity and a fridge. We won’t have to worry about meat this winter!”

Guanguan cheered and hugged his brother’s leg, laughing hard enough to show all his little teeth. “Brother, the little friends have meat to eat now!”

Wei Cheng patted Guanguan’s head and smiled. “You’ll have fresh meat too.”

“I never thought we’d go out to graze sheep and come back with a whole cow. We’re really lucky!” Shen Zheng laughed too. “This wild cow has to weigh two or three hundred jin. How are we supposed to haul it back?”

Wei Cheng said, “I’ll take out some woven sacks and wrap the body up. Then we can drag it back.”

“Yeah, that’s about the only way.”

Afraid the smell of blood would attract zombies, they had no choice but to hurry down the mountain.

On the way back, Shen Zheng and Yi Qi took turns dragging the wild bovine’s carcass. Wei Cheng carried a basket of sheep grass on his back, holding Elizabeth with one hand and Guanguan with the other.

The black wolfdog stayed close by their side, its dark, imposing eyes scanning the nearby grass with vigilant attention.

The little child was so excited that even his words came out in a jumble. “Brother, when I was little little, I was a little cow, right?”

Wei Cheng laughed. “When you were little, you were a tiny person, not a cow.”

Guanguan tilted his head in distress. “But Guanguan really, really likes eating cow.”

Because he liked beef so much, he felt like he must be a cow too.

“From what Uncle Yi said, this animal is neither a cow nor a sheep. Anyway, it’s some kind of herbivore. It has a proper scientific name, but he didn’t know how to explain it to us, so he just told us to treat it like a wild cow.” Wei Cheng said, “We’re not too busy lately. When the time comes, Brother will make you steak.”

Guanguan puffed out his cheeks and held up two fingers. “I want ten huge pieces!”

Wei Cheng tilted his chin toward him and chuckled. “No problem.”

This little brat had big eyes and a tiny stomach. One piece would already leave him clutching his belly and crying for Brother to save him.

It took them more than two hours, but they finally made it back to the farm.

Today, Ying Hui was the only one on watch. When he saw them dragging a bloody thing back, his legs nearly gave out. “Wh-what is that?”

“Something delicious.” Yi Qi was sweating his soul out, panting as he said, “Quick, go call Director Wang and the others over. Bring the cart from the house too.”

Ying Hui nodded over and over. “Okay, I’m going right now!”

The main gate slammed shut. Both uncles collapsed onto the grass, exhausted.

Gray Cub was the first to run over, its sleek fur bouncing with every step. From a distance, it looked like a gray mop with legs.

It happily pounced on the black dog, and the black dog warmly licked Gray Cub’s head twice.

Then Gray Cub sniffed at Brother and Guanguan. After confirming there was no blood smell on them, it finally began barking proudly at the wild bovine on the ground.

Breathing hard, Yi Qi rubbed Gray Cub’s head. “Gray Cub, take Elizabeth back to the sheep shed.”

Gray Cub marched over proudly, bumped the old goat twice at the back of the legs, and the goat slowly began following it uphill, munching grass all the way.

By then, Director Wang had arrived with the others.

“You hunted this in the mountains? What kind of animal is this?”

Everyone here was from Huan City. None of them knew anything about the wild animals around Yu City.

Yi Qi carefully explained where the creature came from, then said with a grin, “Anyway, it’s rare good meat.”

Ying Hui helped Yi Qi up. “Brother Yi, Brother Shen, you guys are amazing. You went out and came back with a whole catch.”

Yi Qi waved a hand. “All thanks to Chengcheng. If he hadn’t spotted it first, the thing would’ve attacked us.”

Feng Xiaoli, leaning on his crutch, said, “Chengcheng is badass!”

“You’re not allowed to swear in front of the kids!” Ying Hui pinched Feng Xiaoli’s lips shut.

Director Wang was so busy circling the wild bovine and looking it over that if he had heard that, he definitely would have scolded Feng Xiaoli.

“This is wonderful, really wonderful. Dali, Xiangfeng, and the others won’t recover just by drinking supplements every day. With meat now, their wounds will heal faster, and Chengcheng and Guanguan can grow bigger and stronger too!”

The children were the happiest of all when they heard there would be meat.

Wang Xiaotiao wiped at his nose and struck an Ultraman pose. “Beef! Beef! We’ve got beef to eat!”

Even Xiao Yue, who had been gloomy these past few days, smiled at last.

It had been a very, very long time since they last had fresh meat.

The adults worked out how to butcher the wild bovine, while the kids swarmed around Guanguan and headed toward the core zone.

“Do you want to know who beat this big cow?” Guanguan lifted his fleshy little chin like a tiny king.

Mingming signed curiously: Who was it?

Xiao Yue blinked. “Was it Guanguan?”

Wang Xiaotiao shouted, “Guanguan, was it you who defeated that big cow?”

Guanguan answered honestly, “No, it was Brother and Uncle Shen!”

He raised his little fist and wobbled his head. “They did this, then this, and used the strength of a cow and a tiger to beat the cow!”

“That’s not right!” Wang Xiaotiao frowned and objected.

Guanguan planted his hands on his hips. “How is it not right?”

Wang Xiaotiao was extremely serious. “Uncle Yi was there too! He’s the tallest, so he definitely used the strength of a cow and a tiger too!”

Xiao Yue and Mingming exchanged a look, both thinking the same thing.

No wonder these two get along so well.

They were kind of dumb.

The important thing was the gunshot wounds, wasn’t it?

Guanguan thought back for a moment, then scratched his face. “Uncle Yi is very strong too.”

He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a flattened dragonfly. “Look, Uncle Yi made this!”

Xiao Yue carefully took the dragonfly. “Wow, Uncle Yi is so skillful. I want a dragonfly too.” She had only learned how to make grasshoppers so far, not dragonflies.

The adults were busy and had no time to weave dragonflies for them. Mingming signed: Let’s go play with the little cars!

“Okay!” Driving the little cars all over the grass was the kids’ favorite game right now.

Just then, a window opened in the core zone.

Xiao Yue cried out in delight, “Dad, you’re awake!”

A man in a down jacket stood by the window.

At the farm, everyone else was able to move around normally again. Only Sun Dali’s condition was still unstable.

He was wearing a thick winter down jacket, along with a padded hat and a mask, even though that was the sort of thing people only wore in deep winter. One sleeve hung empty.

Sun Dali had grown much thinner, his eye sockets sunken. He coughed twice and said, “Xiao Yue, what’s all the excitement outside?”

Xiao Yue replied, “Brother Chengcheng and Uncle Shen and Uncle Yi brought back a huge wild cow!”

Sun Dali smiled faintly. “Good. That’s really good.”

Guanguan scampered over to the window, stood on tiptoe, and looked up with his plump little face. “Uncle Sun, are you doing good good?”

Sun Dali instinctively wanted to pat Guanguan’s head, but the pain in his missing arm made him pause. A trace of disappointment crossed his eyes, but he still smiled. “Mm, Uncle is doing well.”

Guanguan said, “Uncle Sun, you have to get even better and better. Then you can take Guanguan hunting cows.”

Sun Dali said, “Okay. Uncle will get better as soon as possible. Then I’ll take all of you to hunt even more prey. Alright, you all go play now.”

When the children ran off again full of energy, Sun Dali looked at his empty left sleeve.

—

The wild bovine weighed more than three hundred jin in total. After removing the hide, horns, and bones, there were still more than two hundred jin of good meat left.

They set aside some to eat that day and put the rest into the cabin with the refrigerator.

Since they wanted to enjoy the meat in its natural flavor, for lunch they simply boiled ten or so chunks of bone-in meat, along with several large lean cuts and some fatty cuts.

On the big table, aside from meat, there were only a dish of soy sauce and a dish of black vinegar.

Even Sun Dali was helped over to sit down.

Director Wang brought the sliced meat over and placed it in front of him. “Dali, eat more meat.”

Sun Dali responded with a quiet, “Mm.” “Please, you sit down too.”

Then he looked around at everyone at the table. Not one person treated him differently.

Then he looked at his daughter and the other children, all happily swaying their little heads as they ate, mouths shining with grease. His eyes suddenly felt hot.

He had to pull himself together. Only by getting better could he protect his family and the farm.

Author’s Note:
Guanguan gnawed on the meat and practically cried from how good it tasted!

Stock Up For Natural Disasters And Cubs Survive