A Guide to - 3

Unedited chapter


3. Someone Sends a Prey


As the weather turned cold, Shu Shu weaved the grass skirt a bit longer this time. In the end, he weaved a piece of grass blanket that was more than a meter in length and width.

The grass blanket was wrapped around his body and secured with a grass rope. This time, Shu Shu got the idea to wrap the grass skirt around his chest so it covered his whole body and could protect him better from the wind. Of course, this grass blanket also had some flaws. The sun-dried grass was very soft to touch when he piled it up inside his nest, but once he weaved it together, it somewhat became prickly.

Previously, Shu Shu had had fur on his body and had not been afraid of getting pricked. But nowadays, this grass skirt has made a lot of small holes on his body. Fortunately, he was not that delicate, so he could endure it.

Having done with the grass blanket and wondering if it was already afternoon, Shu Shu once again pushed open the blockade at the cave mouth, intending to go out. However, he unexpectedly discovered that it was drizzling outside. The drizzle quickly became heavy rain.

It's raining.

In the past two months, Shu Shu had encountered rain several times. He had stopped going out then and just kept on digging into a small crack at the cave mouth while constantly paying attention to the situation outside.

The rain was trickling down, drip drip drip, sometimes big, sometimes small, but it didn’t stop. Feeling the heavy wetness in the air, Shu Shu was a bit fretful.

The rain apparently wouldn’t stop in a while. If it kept on raining, then he could not go out to find food!

Although it would take some time for winter to come, he always liked to stockpile food. In case the food was not enough, then he would feel uneasy….

Shu Shu’s dug out cave was not big at all. He could stand straight inside the cave, but he couldn’t run to ease the anxiety in his heart here. Ultimately, he could only go around in circle fretfully, then go to the cave mouth from time to time to take a look outside.

If only there was a running wheel!

As time went by, the sky slowly became dark, and the rain was still falling. Shu Shu bit his lip, and then he blocked up the cave mouth again and got into his grass-lined nest.

As a new day arrived, Shu Shu ran to the doorway and hurriedly opened a small hole to look outside. He’s hoping he could see a clear and boundless sky, but it was still raining outside.

Shu Shu's ears drooped a little; even the whole person was spiritless. But soon, he looked outside the hole again with precaution.

There’s a smell that was not his own.

What animal had come to his cave mouth? Shu Shu stuck his head out to check. He didn't expect to see that not far from the underbrush, there was a prone, soaking wet… fowl? That should be a pheasant, right? It’s multi-colored, but it’s actually bigger than the fowls that humans raised….

Shu Shu looked at the fowl and immediately drooled. His former owner had fed him boiled chicken breast before; it was so fragrant! Of course, the most fragrant was the fried chicken that his owner had eaten, but unfortunately, his owner had not let him eat it.

How could a fowl suddenly appear here? Shu Shu stared at the fowl for a while and finally decided that he didn’t care where the fowl had come from. He’s going to grab it to eat first!

Shu Shu scuttled out and pounced on the fowl only to find that its wings and legs were broken, making it unable to move a single step. And the wings and legs seemed to have been broken deliberately?

As a hamster with only a few hundred years of experience surviving in the wild, Shu Shu was certain that this fowl couldn't be stupid enough to mess with itself like this.

Moreover, there’s a smell on the fowl’s body that did not belong to the fowl.

Someone had captured this fowl and hurt it, and in the end, still let it escape? Or maybe that person had deliberately released the fowl outside his cave, giving it to him as a present? Shu Shu rolled his eyes and swiftly brought the fowl into his cave.

Shu Shu’s goal has always been to cultivate and turn into a human. Thus, he also demanded himself to try hard to use human standards. Not speaking about other things, but at least he didn’t eat insects and worms as staple food.

Since he didn’t eat insects and worms, it’s only natural that this fowl had to be cooked before he ate it.... Unfortunately, he had never cooked any food....

Since Shu Shu had arrived in this forest, he had been eating all kinds of fruit. He was used to eating raw nuts, even if their aroma wasn’t as good as the aroma that came out of roasted nuts. As a matter of fact, he could accept it, so he had never made a fire until now....

Shu Shu thought about giving it a go and decided to try the hand drill fire starting method—he’d had an owner who really liked to watch wilderness survival program. He’d also learned a bit from TV the method of starting a fire.

Although Shu Shu couldn’t use his magical power now, but in any case he was still a daemon spirit. He didn’t have other skills, but there were still his inbornr claws. Extending his hands out in a flash, he watched his claws sprout out from his hands. Shu Shu spread several enormous leaves on the ground and started to deal with the fowl.

He wrung the fowl's neck, skinned it, and then cut open its belly to scoop out all the viscera. After Shu Shu was done with all this, he used the big leaves on the ground to wrap the fowl’s skin, feathers, and other refuse. Then he took off his grass skirt and rushed into the rain naked.

It was windy and rainy outside, and it was very cold, but fortunately, Shu Shu was a daemon spirit, he could tolerate it.

Running very quickly to the river bank, Shu Shu washed the fowl, and threw all the fowl’s skin, feathers, and so on into the river. These things had a smell, if placed in the hole, it was liable to attract some predators, better to just throw it away.

He really didn't want to wake up at night to see a big snake crawling along his side following the smell of blood!

Shu Shu ran out to the river very quickly and ran back very quickly too, however, his body was still soaking wet. He did not care about this though. From a distance, Edgar saw the little sub-beastman’s naked body running to the river bank to wash the fowl, and it’s like he’s being struck by lightning.

His beast core was shattered and he had turned into a snake; it was inconvenient to deal with prey, but he didn’t dare bringing back dead prey in case the little sub-beastman was afraid to eat it, so he’d chosen to send a live fowl. He did not expect that because of this live fowl, he unexpectedly could see this kind of scene in the end….

It turned out that the sub-beastman’s body was white and tender, and the short short little tail was even more cute....

Edgar coiled up his entire snake body then released it, then he repeated it several times. After a while, he finally moved away. Not long after, he once again returned to Shu Shu’s cave mouth, then he put down a small, square box that he’d held with his mouth.

Done with his task, he quickly left. The little sub-beastman was quite afraid of him, he couldn't let the little guy see him.

Shu Shu was now trying hard to drill wood to make fire.

When he’d watched people drilling wood to make fire on TV, it had looked very simple, but when it was his turn.... He had drilled the wood for a long time, but there was still no spark coming out.

How could that be, ah?

Shu Shu was sour, his attempt to light a fire didn’t succeed at all. He’s depressed that this method didn’t work in the least. He stopped working for the time being and went to the cave mouth to look outside one more time.

Once again, there’s something at the cave mouth; it was a very small metal box.

There was no such thing here before, which meant that someone had also delivered this small metal box.... Shu Shu looked around, but he didn’t see anyone. He hesitated a bit, but in the end, he still picked up the small metal box.

There was a smell on the small metal box that was the same as the one on the fowl’s body. It’s possible that it was delivered by one person. But, who would gift him things? In this forest, were there other people?

That person should not have evil intention to him, otherwise he would not have given him those things. Anyway, the fowl was for eating, what was the use of this small metal box then?

Also, this small metal box should be a human gadget, right? Was it actually a human like himself who had given him a couple of things?

Could it be... that there was an individual like himself who saw him and liked him so much that they sent him gifts?

Shu Shu laughed, showing two small dimples. On TV, so many  people liked daemon spirit; it was not strange at all that someone liked him now. It went without saying that Shu Shu was indeed loved by all, ah. Those owners who had kept him before had also liked him very much!

Shu Shu looked left and right but saw no one. He was a bit disappointed, but nevertheless he happily brought back the small metal box into his cave.

Sitting next to the log used for drilling wood to make fire, Shu Shu began to fiddle with the small metal box on his hand. He did not know where he pressed, but the small metal box on his hand suddenly produced a small flame.

Shu Shu jumped with fright and unconsciously threw away the small metal box. After throwing it, he suddenly realized—this was a lighter, ah!

That person knew that he had no food, so they gave him a fowl. They knew that he could not start a fire, so they gave him a lighter. They’re indeed a good person!

The lighter's flame was already extinguished. Shu Shu picked up the lighter and used it to ignite the firewood in front of him, then he put the firewood into the pit he had dug.

This lighter was very, very handy. Just light it for a moment, and the wood would catch fire right away. Feeling satisfied, Shu Shu hid the lighter, then he took out the fowl.

He stuffed the fowl’s cavity with peeled chestnuts, wrapped the whole fowl with leaves, and then covered the exterior with a layer of mud. After that, he put the mud-covered fowl into the bonfire; he was going to eat beggar’s fowl.

No pan to cook the fowl, and it’s said that roasting it would likely result in one burnt fowl. Still, beggar’s fowl was pretty good. There was mud as the barrier; it was unlikely that it’d turn into charcoal.... Shu Shu stared at the burning lump of mud, incessantly salivating.

On the other hand, a certain snake had just caught a small wild boar, and he was struggling to skin the wild boar with his teeth.

The sub-beastman should not deal with bloody prey, even if he could handle it better. It's just that... serpentine beastman had no claws, so it was really troublesome to handle prey.

Edgar spent a lot of effort to deal with the small wild boar properly. Finally, he took it along with him into the river, then he swam a few laps to wash it clean. After that, he slithered towards Shu Shu's cave.

TL's note:

1. 鸡 (jī) can be translated as fowl or chicken, and I chose fowl because I don't think that there's a chicken, which I understand is a type of domesticated fowl, in a jungle on an alien planet.
2. 叫化鸡 (jiàohuā jī) = Beggar's Chicken = beggar's fowl

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