Chapter 89

Early the next morning, Titus and Cloudy set out with their shoulder bags. Before leaving, she went to the backyard to water the plants and then stored the dried herbs in jars.

"It seems like there's a lot to do. Do you really want me to come with you?" Titus saw Cloudy busy in the backyard with the clay jars, not sure how to help with the storage. "Almost done!" Cloudy worked quickly, categorizing the dried items in the backyard within half an hour and taking them into the house. She wiped the sweat off her forehead, "Let's go."

She was looking forward to hunting with Titus, knowing she would learn a lot during the process. Titus didn't need many tools for hunting, but she was different. Before leaving, she grabbed some homemade spears to carry on her back. As they left the village, they didn't encounter many people on the road, probably because they had left so early that the sun wasn't even fully up yet.

Titus explained, "It's early, going to the damp areas of the rainforest, we can find lots of insects."

Cloudy, unfazed, knew insects were a crucial part of the settlement's food supply. She should speed up her acceptance and love for arthropods... probably.

After leaving the settlement, they headed south. Titus walked at a moderate pace, holding Cloudy's hand as he explained the day's hunting plan, "There's little prey around the settlement, I won't be collecting fruit plants, so our pace will be slower. No collecting today."

Titus emphasized this twice, knowing she might be tempted to start gathering fruits again, "Alright, no collecting today!"

"Cloudy can handle small prey, so I want you to move around within the area alone." Most of the large animals around the settlement had already been hunted, and any slightly threatening animals had fled deeper into the rainforest, making the hunting environment near the settlement relatively safe for Cloudy.

"Sure!" Moving alone in this area posed no difficulty for her; the rainforest terrain around the settlement felt as familiar as walking back home. "Can I go hunt near the caves?"

"There's nothing there anymore; I checked yesterday." Titus pointed in a few directions, "Not much on the ground, so I'll go catch birds in the trees. You can try catching birds, but..."

She decided to skip bird hunting, knowing her limitations. She could climb trees, but capturing moving prey while up there was too challenging. As Titus had taught her before, using throwing weapons to spear birds had some potential, as long as she practiced her aim diligently, "I'll go look for water and see if I can catch some fish." She felt like having fish; the barbecue feast from last night had been satisfying, but amidst her satisfaction, she started thinking, "Wouldn't it be great to have a bowl of fish soup after the meat?"

"Fishing is rare. Most of them go to the larger lakes."
"Here is the English translation of the text you provided:

"Bo, there's basically none here." Titus scratched his head. "But Cloudy wants to give it a try, that's fine."

At this point, the two had completely left the settlement's residential area and entered the rainforest. After walking about a thousand steps, they stopped in front of a crooked large tree. Titus raised his hand to examine the trunk, "We'll split up here. I'll keep going forward, quite a distance."

"Cloudy, you can go in any direction nearby. If you get tired or catch prey, come back here and wait for me. If it's dangerous, head back towards the settlement."

"No problem." Cloudy took out her bone spear, excited. It had been a long time since she went out hunting on her own, and today she had to catch something! After sorting out the details, Titus swiftly headed towards his target direction, while Cloudy wasted no time and continued towards the direction of the cave. There was a small pond not far from the cave where she had set up a simple fishing trap before, not knowing if it was still there or not...

Along the way, she resisted the urge to gather fruits around her, simply hurrying forward. Occasionally, she saw things on the ground that looked like animal droppings and stopped to observe. In most cases, it was just her mistaking dry hard soil, and the actual droppings were left a long time ago, having no tracking value.

"..." The prey around the settlement had indeed been hunted out. Whether it was a psychological effect or not, she just felt that the rainforest around the settlement was much quieter compared to the deep jungle of the previous two days. The frequency of bird calls and insect chirping couldn't be compared at all; it was much quieter.

It had only been about twenty days since the end of the rainy season. Could all the prey around be swept clean in just twenty days... The hunting speed was indeed too fast. The locals' appetite was many times larger than hers, with a very high demand for meat...

Speaking of which, had she seen people in the settlement raising small animals? Cloudy blinked and looked around. If she had to choose one animal to raise, it would definitely be the long gray rats she often caught during the cave dwelling period. Their meat was firm, and the fat roasted from them was very fragrant.

She was tempted again. Titus's backyard was so big, why not try to build a fence with wood to raise small animals? She believed that people in the settlement must have tried to raise animals, but either failed or the returns were not worth the effort.

However, taming wild beasts was not something that could be accomplished simply in a matter of days; it would take several years or even decades... Thinking of decades, Cloudy felt a sense of panic in her stomach. She still had to live here for decades.

"It's a long and arduous journey." Cloudy pursed her lips and began to mutter to herself in her native language. As long as she could live well, she shouldn't think too much now. She now regretted not just capturing something alive to bring back to Titus. As a novice hunter, she didn't have much confidence in capturing something alive. The moment she got hold of her prey, she would be afraid it might escape and end up killing it.

Capturing it alive... If it's not small..."
The heart, hands, arms, or any other place being scratched would be quite troublesome, isn't it? No one really wants to experience the hassle of wound infection. Perhaps she should consider making a leather armor before proceeding with her ancient farming plan. Just as Cloudy was contemplating her ancient farming plan, a noise came from the nearby bushes.

She immediately crouched down, her gaze fixed on the slightly swaying shrubbery. Judging by the frequency and amplitude of the swaying, it didn't seem to be a large animal; it was most likely a bug... but larger bugs tend to make strange noises when they move. She tightened her grip on her weapon, hesitant to advance.

After swaying for a few seconds, the bushes stopped. Instead, the sound of footsteps came from within, the kind of sound made by small feet on muddy ground. She took a step forward, but just that one step, and the sounds from the bushes immediately ceased alertly.

It was a very sensitive animal with keen hearing, already aware that there was a predator outside the bushes. Without hesitation, as any delay would allow the prey to escape, Cloudy quickly estimated a rough direction, the crouching movement instantly transitioning into a throwing posture. With her right hand gripping the bone spear, she rotated her upper body to the right and forcefully threw the spear into the bushes.

The heavy thud of the spear burying into the soil was accompanied by sharp, short sounds, and the footsteps in the bushes hurriedly moved away.

Unfortunately, she missed. She walked over, pushed aside the shrubbery, and pulled out the spear stuck in the ground... a bit disheartened, but there was nothing she could do. She had never trained for accuracy in throwing; perhaps she should practice a bit after this!