Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 107 - 40: Four Dishes and One Soup_2

The flock of birds resembling wild geese visits the riverbank every three to five days to catch fish and shrimp. Near noon, they usually rest in the grass, leaving only one or two birds to keep watch.

Frequently traveling up and down the mountain, Chen Zhou has become quite familiar with the habits of the bird flock.

It's just that he usually doesn't carry ranged weapons, which has allowed these creatures to roam freely until now.

After long avoiding electronic products, Chen Zhou feels his eyesight has grown increasingly sharp.

His slight nearsightedness and eye strain have completely improved, and he even has the illusion of returning to his youthful peak.

He carefully watches the swaying dense grass and leaves, looking for the precise location where the birds rest.

Raising the crossbow, he quietly picks up a stone and tosses it to the edge of the grass.

Gah!

The sentry of the bird flock is very diligent, immediately sounding the alarm after the stone falls.

The flock of birds takes off with a clatter, their cawing incessant, circling in the sky once before landing back in the grass, having found no threat.

Estimating that the bird flock has just adjusted their posture to rest, Chen Zhou tosses another stone out.

Gah gah!

The sentry once again sounds the alarm, and the bird flock takes off once more, but again finds no threat, and soon they return to the grass.

Chen Zhou doesn't do this for amusement.

He once heard a story from a Mongolian elder about a flock of wild geese.

It is said that when wild geese rest during migration, they always leave a vigilant goose as a lookout.

When other geese relax their guard, it's this "sentry" that ensures the safety of the flock. At the slightest stir, it will sound the alarm, often causing ill-intentioned hunters to come back empty-handed.

To deal with this sentinel, old hunters devised a method similar to "crying wolf."

They repeatedly create small disturbances to torment the sentry, causing it to sound the alarm repeatedly, preventing the entire flock from resting normally.

Geese are clever, socially-aware birds, and when most of the flock believes the sentry is incompetent, the sentry will be ostracized.

To regain its status within the group, the sentry will then ignore minor noises and not raise alarms, effectively blinding and deafening the entire flock.

By that time, hunters can slowly approach the flock and draw their bows for an easy hunt.

It is said that later the khan learned surprise harassment tactics from the hunters' experiences, striking hard against enemies.

When Chen Zhou was younger, he didn't believe this story, always thinking bird society wasn't that complex, and wild geese weren't that smart.

After coming to the island and witnessing Lai Fu failing to catch birds over a dozen times, he gradually realized that there truly was a 'sentry' like presence in the bird flock.

The closest Lai Fu came to success, he quietly and slowly walked or crawled, barely getting within twenty meters of the flock before the sentinel bird discovered him, ruining the hunt.

For a large, upright creature like Chen Zhou, getting close to the flock is even more difficult. At most, he could get within fifty meters before the flock would fly away.

To increase the success rate of his hunt, he used the hunters' tactics from the story to dull the birds' vigilance, hoping for a successful strike.

It wasn't just about eating bird meat; he wanted to prove to Lai Fu—

The master is still the master, achieving heights you can never reach in your lifetime.

After several times "startling the birds", Chen Zhou heard intense cawing from within the grass, followed by the sound of flapping wings and body collisions.

Estimating that the flock had become dissatisfied with the sentry, he remained still.

Once the grass returned to calm, he threw another stone—this time, the familiar "gah" didn't ring out.

"No matter how cunning you are, you're still going to be eaten with my hot pot broth."

Grabbing Lai Fu's mouth, indicating for it to stay silent, Chen Zhou quietly got up and approached the grass.

Usually, the flock would react from sixty or seventy meters away, but this time he got as close as thirty or forty meters, and still the sentry hadn't sounded the alarm.

Spotting a large bird resting on the dirt outside the grass, Chen Zhou first lit the matchlock gun, set it aside, then raised the crossbow.

Aim and shoot!

With frequent practice over the past three months, Chen Zhou's accuracy had greatly improved, and he wouldn't miss such a stationary target.

This shot directly hit the target's body, piercing one of its wings and pinning it to the dirt.

Gah!

The shot bird shrieked, but the flock seemed dumbfounded, taking more than a second to respond and prepare to take off.

By this time, Chen Zhou had already put down the crossbow, squatting and setting up the matchlock gun, aiming above the grass, waiting for the 'lucky one' to eat a lead bullet.

With a flutter, the sentinel was the first to take flight.

Before leaving the ground, it turned its head slightly, glancing at its struggling kin in the grass, not knowing whether it was pitying their plight or mocking their suspicion and ostracism.

But it rejoiced too soon.

The metal protrusion on the matchlock barrel quietly aligned with its lower abdomen.

"Bang!"

The gun fired.

A wisp of black smoke rose, the sentinel in mid-air was pierced by a lead bullet, its feathers scattered, and its body, driven by inertia, fell diagonally into the river.

The frightening sound of gunpowder's explosion was far more effective than the cries of its kin.

The grass was in chaos, the large birds scrambled to take off, not even circling in the air, and directly left the riverbank.

Chen Zhou did not feel regret for their departure, knowing the flock would return in a few days.

He extinguished the matchlock and leisurely walked toward the bird pierced by the crossbow arrow in the grass.

As for the 'sentry' that fell into the river, Lai Fu had already gone to deal with it.

The first phase of the hunting mission was over-completed, and regardless of future success, tonight's dumpling filling was secured, putting Chen Zhou in great spirits.