Live Strong in the Wilderness-Chapter 239: Two Tigers

However, Xu Yi didn’t rush to cut down trees.

It took them only two and a half hours to walk here, and that’s without going very fast.

So, they could certainly explore a bit more before deciding whether to cut some trees today and bring them back.

"Xu Yi, isn’t the terrain here much higher than on our side? It seems like there’s no sign of flooding," Lu Ke felt there were no traces of water damage here, and the ground didn’t feel muddy at all.

The place where they found shepherd’s purse earlier still had traces of mud.

"Possibly, the traces are indeed rare here; maybe it flooded a bit, or maybe not at all," Xu Yi nodded and agreed as he had noticed this as well.

Luckily, there’s no water source nearby, or Xu Yi would have been annoyed.

After marking the area, the two continued to explore further.

Initially, Xu Yi hoped to find some other resources, like discovering potatoes.

But by a little past one in the afternoon, they hadn’t found any valuable plants.

However, they encountered several groups of animals.

The saying "seeing whales by the blue sea, sighting deer in the deep forest" held some truth.

Xu Yi and Lu Ke encountered two groups of deer, and they were of different species.

One type was reindeer, the other was spotted deer.

However, neither Xu Yi nor Lu Ke shot at them.

After all, they already had enough food supplies, and shooting herbivores didn’t earn points. Under such circumstances, hunting was meaningless.

"The vegetation here is denser, and the sunlight is abundant," Lu Ke said to Xu Yi as she walked through the woods, turning to him.

The trees in this forest weren’t very dense, and the leaves weren’t very thick, allowing sunlight to easily reach the ground.

"So, there should be more wildlife in this forest," Xu Yi said as he heard some movement.

Lu Ke nodded, although puzzled as to why Xu Yi suddenly changed direction, and followed him.

After walking a bit further, Xu Yi smelled a fishy smell.

Lu Ke also heard noises and instinctively raised her crossbow.

As they continued, they finally saw the source of the sounds.

Upon seeing it, Lu Ke’s breath stalled and her body froze.

Tigers, two large tigers, were ripping apart a reindeer.

"Let’s go," Xu Yi decisively chose to leave.

Two tigers, both appearing to be very large and fierce, were not something Xu Yi and Lu Ke could handle.

Even one would be tough for Xu Yi and Lu Ke, let alone two.

The two tigers glanced at Xu Yi and Lu Ke before continuing their meal, showing no intention of attacking them.

After they walked far enough, Lu Ke realized her back was soaked with sweat.

"I didn’t expect there really would be tigers; they looked so terrifying!" Lu Ke said, as it was her first time seeing tigers in the wild, feeling why they were called the king of beasts.

It was truly frightening, especially when they turned to look at her, causing Lu Ke to feel chills all over.

Seeing tigers in a zoo was completely different from seeing them in the wild.

"It really sends chills down the spine; we can’t provoke them now," Xu Yi remarked, glancing back at the place to ensure it was far enough.

"Luckily, they didn’t intend to attack us, or we’d be doomed," Lu Ke said, still shaken; she was ready to climb a tree at that moment.

"Yes, let’s return and cut some small trees to fix the fence," Xu Yi replied, quickening his pace.

Lu Ke nodded and followed Xu Yi, heading back towards their camp.

Upon reaching the edge of this cedar forest, Xu Yi started cutting down small trees about the size of an arm.

After cutting two large bundles, the two returned to their camp.

On the way, they passed through the area where the shepherd’s purse grew, but didn’t stop to pick any.

Firstly, due to time constraints; secondly, most of their salt had been used to make sausages the previous day, so they didn’t have enough to make pickled vegetables now.

Since these plants were growing well and weren’t far from the camp, they could wait until Xu Yi and Lu Ke brought back enough sea salt from the beach before making pickled vegetables.

Meanwhile, they could enjoy some fresh shepherd’s purse, without the need to pick too much.

Returning to the camp, it was not yet 5:30, so the two started digging holes, spacing them about 10 centimeters apart.

This not only saved time digging but also saved materials.

By past seven, Xu Yi and Lu Ke had buried all the fences, leaving just the gate unfinished.

Setting up the gate took more time, and they hadn’t had dinner yet.

In the pot, pork had been stewing for over an hour, and they had added water twice during the process.

Even with the slow simmering, a lot of the broth had evaporated.

After washing their hands, the two gathered around the fire, with Lu Ke holding a woven steam basket by Xu Yi, filled with cleaned shepherd’s purse.

Hot pot paired with shepherd’s purse is perfect; a quick boil followed by dipping in the meat broth makes the shepherd’s purse particularly delicious.

They put some into the pot, and the steam softened the shepherd’s purse instantly before it soaked in the meat broth.

The cooked pig trotters were already taken out, cooling on the side, ready to be gnawed on later.

However, Xu Yi and Lu Ke could only focus on the shepherd’s purse.

Besides pomelo skin and wood ear mushrooms, Xu Yi and Lu Ke hadn’t tasted other vegetables.

Now, having real vegetables, how could they not be eager?

"It should be ready; it doesn’t take long to cook," Xu Yi said as he picked up some shepherd’s purse, putting it into Lu Ke’s bowl before taking some for himself.

It was still too hot to eat, so Xu Yi put another batch into the pot to continue cooking.

"So tasty, I haven’t eaten vegetables this good in ages," Lu Ke exclaimed excitedly; a table without vegetables lacks soul.

Properly balancing meat and vegetables makes a real meal.

Xu Yi nodded vigorously; he had always thought of vegetables as optional, normally tasting bland.

But two months without vegetables nearly drove Xu Yi to tears.

Sometimes, he even considered trying the grass eaten by goats and rabbits boiled.

Hence, when Xu Yi ate the shepherd’s purse, he was almost moved to tears.

The two eagerly stuffed the cooked shepherd’s purse into their mouths before starting to gnaw on the pig trotters.

"I’m so full; humans really need to eat vegetables," Lu Ke said with satisfaction after burping.

"We still need to explore more and try to enrich our meals," Xu Yi patted his stomach, beginning to miss the taste of greens, cabbage, eggplant, cucumber, radishes, celery, and other vegetables.