Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains

Aze had also noticed the cheetah in the distance and stepped forward to stand in front of Chen Qi. With Aze by him, Chen Qi was naturally not afraid of the cheetah. His eyes fell on the impala and he smiled at the cheetah. It seemed that his enmity with this cheetah from yesterday would be repaid in another way.

Actually, Chen Qi still liked this big cat, the cheetah, provided that the other wasn’t a danger to his own life. So, he certainly did not want to kill it. In Chen Qi’s impression, the cheetah, a big cat, still belonged in the category of protected animals. Of course, he was not clear on whether or not beastmen hunted cheetahs.

Chen Qi pulled Aze along by hand and walked slowly towards the cheetah. The cheetah was a creature that was very afraid of being injured. Generally, for them, getting injured was almost equivalent to death. Unless they were absolutely certain of their victory, cheetahs would not confront creatures stronger than themselves. This also led to the fact that even coyotes and vultures could sometimes bully cheetahs with their numbers.

The male cheetah definitely recognized Aze, and just yesterday it had left several paw prints on the female beastman’s neck when he was not paying attention. The cheetah’s throat uttered a few threatening growls in hopes of driving the two approaching beastmen away. It had just caught its prey and hadn’t had time to even take a bite. The cheetah cursed its luck.

Cheetahs actually weren’t very strong, since they gave up a lot of things for speed. So, there was no way it would be able to drag away the adult impala with its petite body. Reluctantly, the cheetah gradually let go of the impala. Then it roared provocatively at Chen Qi a few times, before it sped off into the tall grass nearby. Three to five leaps and jumps later, its figure could no longer be seen.

Chen Qi walked over to the impala and reached for it. The body was still warm. He smiled and said to Ka Luo and Ali who were following him, “Our lunch has been settled.”

Ali’s eyebrows twitched. This was his first time witnessing a male snatching food from a cheetah.

Ali took over carrying the stuffed backpack from Aze. Then, Aze threw the impala over his shoulder with one hand. After this trip, the four returned with a full load.

Upon returning home, Chen Qi gathered several large hides, laid them on the ground that had been cleared for building the house, and placed the golden lilies on them to dry. At the current temperature from the sun, it would be enough to leave them to dry for about two or three days.

Due to the addition of the impala, Chen Qi started to prepare lunch before Ake returned from hunting. Of course, the impala needed to be processed before preparing lunch.

Since Aze’s arm was injured, and Chen Qi was a sheltered modern man who had lived for nearly 30 years without even killing a chicken. Therefore, it was naturally Ali who ended up having to deal with the impala.

The few of them found an open space with not-too-high weeds outside the door and spread a worn-out animal skin on the ground to place the unnecessary viscera, and the like, in. Ali first cleanly skinned the impala. As he proceeded to dig out the internal organs, Chen Qi pointed out the parts he wanted and the ones he didn’t. Naturally, things like the sheep* liver, sheep heart and sheep kidneys should be kept. Chen Qi wanted to leave the sheep intestines too, but it was too far from the river and they would have to waste a lot of water from the pottery jars in order to clean them. Chen Qi could only reluctantly give them up. After Aze recovered from his injury, he must go to the river to process a sheep well.

*型黑斑羚 Xíng hēi bān líng Impala, is of the antelope family. Antelope = 羚羊 Língyáng. 羊 Yáng = Sheep. Thus sheep liver = Impala liver, sheep heart = impala heart etc.

Chen Qi roasted the whole impala for lunch. He seasoned it with salt, inside and out, then took out the last two apple-like berries, cut them with the knife, and smeared the juice over the meat. The rest of the viscera were fried with dandelions, while the golden lilies were directly cooked with a little water and some added salt. He wasn’t sure if it was going to taste good since he didn’t have any oil.

When Ake returned with a warthog on his shoulder, lunch had just been prepared, and Ake was accompanied by their acting chief, Azhang. As soon as he entered the door, Azhang sniffed and laughed heartily. “I can smell the roast lamb from a long way away, but why does it seem to be a little different from what I usually roast?”

“Uncle Azhang, you have a really good nose. It is roasted with salt processed by Chen Qi and red berries.” Ka Luo swallowed his saliva and replied to Azhang. He could not wait to tear off a piece of mutton and try it, but Chen Qi hadn’t said he could eat it yet so he was too embarrassed to do it and had to wait patiently.

“Processed salt? Red berries can also be roasted?” Azhang naturally sat down beside Ali and looked at Chen Qi doubtfully.

Chen Qi smiled politely. “Red berries have a lot of juice and are very sweet. Smearing a little bit of the juice on the roast meat can make it tastier.” After he finished explaining, he cut off a small piece of golden-brown roasted meat with the knife and offered it to Azhang. “Try it.”

Azhang accepted it and when he took a bite of it, his eyes lit up with surprise. “It tastes much better than what we usually make.”

“Chen Qi, you’re biased!”. Ka Luo yelled, with a pout.

Ake stared at Chen Qi too. Chen Qi’s face was full of black lines, he could only tell them that they could eat now. Ake immediately sliced a large piece off and stuffed it in front of Ka Luo’s face, who immediately took a bite while smiling. The roast was too hot. Ka Luo gasped around the meat and slurringly commented, “It’s delicious.”