Chapter 08
The White Snake
Claire returned not only with prey, but also with some basic daily necessities and fresh animal hides.
A male in the middle of courtship naturally wanted to show off his abilities.
Taking advantage of the market being open today, he traded some of his prey for various supplies, including bone needles and thread for sewing animal hides.
He wanted to demonstrate his sewing skills.
He also exchanged for some salt.
The animal hides had been skinned from his prey and had not yet been tanned.
He planned to process them after breakfast.
For now, making sure Su Yuzhi didn’t go hungry was his top priority.
Today’s catch was a Biya Beast.
The meat of the Biya Beast was exceptionally tender.
Because it grew up eating fruit, its roasted meat carried a naturally sweet aroma, almost as if it had been glazed with honey.
It was one of the favorite foods among females.
Once the meat was roasted, Claire estimated Su Yuzhi’s appetite and cut off the fattest and most tender portion.
He sliced it into bite-sized pieces, wrapped them in washed leaves, and placed them into Su Yuzhi’s hands.
The leaves resembled lettuce.
Wrapping roasted meat in leaves was also a common way of eating it.
Su Yuzhi took a bite.
The fresh, crisp leaves balanced out the richness of the roasted meat so well that she felt she could finish the entire serving in one sitting.
Noticing that Su Yuzhi was eating the meat together with the leaves, Claire guessed that she was an omnivorous beastman.
He quietly made a mental note.
Next time, I should bring back some edible plants too.
I wonder what flavors she likes.
I’ll ask Witch Doctor Gwen later.
The Biya Beast wasn’t particularly small, so the remaining meat was just enough for Claire.
He ate remarkably quickly.
By the time Su Yuzhi was slowly chewing the last two pieces of meat, he had already finished eating and begun cleaning up.
Seeing that Claire was preparing to leave, Su Yuzhi hurriedly swallowed the last bite and called out.
“Wait, Claire.”
“What is it?”
Claire turned around, his voice calm and steady.
“Can you take me with you?”
She looked at him pleadingly.
Her bright, watery eyes made her resemble a young cub acting spoiled.
To Claire, though, even the cutest cub couldn’t compare to Su Yuzhi.
He simply couldn’t refuse her.
“Of course. But I’m going to process the animal hides. Won’t you get bored just sitting there?”
“I won’t. I also want to take a look around outside.”
After all, she wasn’t familiar with this place yet.
She felt safer staying close to Claire.
Claire used the oil-tanning method.
Since processing hides produced a strong smell and required smoking them over a fire, he chose an open area.
It wasn’t far from the Leopard Tribe.
In fact, it was near the same stream they had seen yesterday.
Claire skillfully rubbed freshly rendered oil into the hides on a large stone.
Meanwhile, Su Yuzhi was thinking about her system mission.
A beginner mission probably wouldn’t be too difficult.
Finding some wild fruits should be enough to complete it.
She was especially tempted by the Seasoning Gift Pack in the System Shop.
And the rice seeds.
Once she had those, she could cook all kinds of delicious dishes.
There was also the map.
With a map, she would be able to understand this world much better.
Searching the nearby area, Su Yuzhi found some red Meimei Berries growing on a low shrub.
She casually picked a few and held them in her palm.
The Meimei Berries were bright red and about the size of her fingernail.
They had a sweet and sour flavor that tasted remarkably similar to pineapple.
The taste immediately reminded Su Yuzhi of the pineapple stir-fried beef that Ms. Su used to make.
The sweet and tangy pineapple coated in rich sauce, paired with tender marinated beef, was the perfect dish to eat with rice.
She tried submitting the mission.
The mission progress immediately changed from (0/3) to (1/3).
Great!
Now she only needed to find the seeds of two more edible plants to complete the mission.
She picked the rest of the Meimei Berries as well and wrapped them in a large leaf.
Once she completed the mission and exchanged her points for the seasoning pack, she wanted to see if she could recreate the flavor of pineapple stir-fried beef.
After eating roasted meat for two consecutive meals, she was beginning to miss stir-fried dishes.
Roasted meat was delicious.
But it still couldn’t compare to Chinese stir-fries.
Just as she was carefully searching for more edible fruits, she suddenly felt something tickling her ankle.
At first, she thought it was simply the grass brushing against her leg in the breeze, so she paid it no attention.
But gradually, something cold and soft began wrapping itself around her ankle.
Her body froze.
Slowly, she lowered her gaze.
A white snake’s tail was loosely coiled around her ankle.
It almost looked as though it were greeting her.
The tip of its tail even swayed gently from side to side.
“Claire! Help!!”
