Live Strong in the Wilderness-Chapter 141: There’s Something Strange About the Knife
"So much fat, huh? I thought this Bone Wolf had a lot of muscle," Lu Ke said, sounding quite surprised as she noticed the pile of fat Xu Yi had beside him after hanging up the Tree Sheep meat.
"Yeah, the amount of fat and muscle seems about even, which is kind of unexpected," Xu Yi commented as he sliced a piece of fat and casually tossed it aside.
"Then I’ll go render the oil. There’s a lot of it, so it’ll take some time," Lu Ke said, picking up the fat and heading to clean it. After washing, Lu Ke began rendering the Bone Wolf oil.
Xu Yi managed to strip about 30 pounds of fat from the Bone Wolf, leaving the rest as lean meat.
Fat was fat, and lean was lean. It was the first time Xu Yi had seen such a situation.
"Lu Ke, bring a plate over here. I want to slice some thin meat strips for a late-night snack," Xu Yi decided, thinking that the Bone Wolf’s meat was so tender it would probably taste great grilled.
"All right." Lu Ke put the fat in the pot and brought Xu Yi a large plate.
After slicing the thin meat strips, Xu Yi continued cutting more slices.
"This wolf’s skeleton is really huge. No wonder it’s called a Bone Wolf," Xu Yi commented after slicing the meat, estimating that the skeleton might weigh over 70 pounds, which explained why the lean meat only amounted to about thirty or forty pounds—less than a Tree Sheep.
The Tree Sheep meat had already been smoked. Xu Yi strung them up and hung them from the top of the shelter, then began smoking the Bone Wolf’s meat slices.
"Xu Yi, would you like some crackling? It tastes great—crispy and very fragrant," Lu Ke said, bringing over a bowl of cracklings.
The aroma had already reached Xu Yi, but he had been too busy to satisfy his craving.
Now that Lu Ke brought a bowl over, Xu Yi wasn’t going to miss out.
This Bone Wolf’s cracklings were exceptionally crispy and more fragrant than pork cracklings.
"These taste great; they could be a snack," Xu Yi quickly ate over twenty pieces and then stopped.
The cracklings tasted good, but they could cause inflammation. Therefore, he needed to restrain himself a little.
"They soften so easily, though. Otherwise, you could make more cracklings with all that oil," Lu Ke remarked a bit regretfully, knowing that by the next morning, the cracklings would soften and lose much of their texture.
"It’s fine. Once they soften, you can fry them up. They make a delicious dish too," Xu Yi said, handing the bowl back to Lu Ke, controlling his appetite.
"Okay, I’ll continue rendering the oil," Lu Ke replied, turning back to her task.
Xu Yi grabbed a handful of ash and rubbed his hands before taking out a spare Hunting Bow from the house.
While shooting the Bone Wolf today, Xu Yi noticed something off about his Hunting Bow—it had lost a lot of power.
Hence, it was time to replace it.
Fortunately, Xu Yi had three spare Hunting Bows, so there was no need to worry.
After removing the bowstring from the Hunting Bow, Xu Yi attached it to a new one.
After the replacement, Xu Yi put the Hunting Bow away.
Next, he took out the arrows he had used today.
The tips had become somewhat blunt, so they needed sharpening.
"Looks like it’s time to consider making some Bone Arrows," Xu Yi thought, glancing at the skeleton not too far away. The Bone Wolf’s bones were very sturdy, and if he could make them into arrowheads, they might rival iron arrowheads.
The premise was being able to craft them into arrowheads and sharpen them adequately.
Looking at the machete in his hand, Xu Yi approached the skeleton. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
With a focused breath, he swung forcefully.
The bone was cut off instantly, with hardly any resistance felt.
Looking at the machete in his hand, Xu Yi muttered, "You’re really a cheat code. If I hadn’t found you, life would have been a lot harder for Lu Ke and me."
This knife’s sharpness exceeded Xu Yi’s expectations.
Not just Xu Yi, even the ’Observer’ was surprised.
He really wanted to confiscate Xu Yi’s machete, but since Xu Yi acquired it through non-violating means, he couldn’t do that.
Besides, he was just an ’Observer’, and he didn’t have the right to do so.
His task was to observe each group of challengers and determine whether they violated any rules.
After all, the system was more easily exploited.
Xu Yi picked up the bone on the ground that he had chopped off and lifted it.
The cut was so smooth it looked like it had been made with professional cutting equipment.
Xu Yi then brought the bone over to the triangle horse area.
He wanted to see if he could carve it into a Bone Arrow.
With one hand holding the bone and the other gripping the machete, Xu Yi began to carve.
"Whoa, this knife is amazing."
"This is seriously overpowered. How are other teams supposed to compete?"
"Did he pay for this? If I’d known it was this sharp, I would’ve gone straight to carving arrows from bone. It’s ten times harder than wood."
"There’s no comparison, honestly. This knife is too much. Shouldn’t the organizers intervene at some point?"
"Is this really metal? It’s too sharp. Can bones really be carved this easily?"
"I used to not believe the ancient claim of cutting through iron like mud. How exaggerated is that, right? But now, I believe it. Xu Yi’s knife carves bone like it’s wood."
"It’s a good thing we saw Xu Yi find the metal and personally cast the machete, or I’d think he was cheating."
"This kind of overpowered tool is unfair to other teams."
"Wait, why did Xu Yi stop?"
"Look, look at Xu Yi’s hand, his palm is all bloody."
Xu Yi’s right hand was shaking uncontrollably, the pain excruciating.
"Xu Yi, what’s wrong?" Lu Ke heard Xu Yi suddenly cry out and rushed over, seeing Xu Yi clutching his wrist.
"The knife, there’s something strange about this knife. It tore open my palm," Xu Yi explained quickly, then added, "First aid kit, get me the first aid kit."
Lu Ke was startled but quickly turned and went into the house, retrieving the first aid kit.
When she came back out, Xu Yi was rinsing his hand with cool boiled water.
"How is it, Xu Yi? Are you okay?" Lu Ke asked nervously.
Could that really be called a knife?
It tore open his palm; could that even be metal?
"I’m fine, it’s just a small cut," Xu Yi replied calmly after glancing at his palm.
Then Xu Yi sprayed some pain reliever onto the wound and wrapped it with some gauze.
"Will our knives and machetes still be usable?" Lu Ke had never thought her knife had any issues, just that it was unusually sharp and nothing seemed able to withstand it.
Without such sharp knives and machetes, their quality of life would drop dramatically.
Should they continue using them?
