Chapter 3

【New book uploaded, please give more recommendations and clicks, thank you.】

Li Wenjun, ignoring the pain in his thigh, struggled to stand up and limped toward the machete.

The wolf raised its head and saw Li Wenjun's movements. However, its brain, still reeling from the heavy blow, made its reaction somewhat sluggish, and it did not react immediately.

By the time Li Wenjun was very close to the machete, the wolf had fully regained its senses. It arched its body and charged forward like an arrow, determined to tear the human who had hit it into pieces.

It was difficult for Li Wenjun to bend down and pick up the machete with his injury. With the wolf pressing from behind, he suddenly lunged forward, fell to the ground, and grabbed the machete.

Before Li Wenjun fled, he had learned a few martial arts techniques from a镖师 (bào shī, a bodyguard) in the neighboring house. The bodyguard said he was not cut out for martial arts and could not grasp its essence, so he stopped teaching after two days. However, Li Wenjun always suspected that the bodyguard was just tired of his poor family and feared he would seduce their freckle-faced daughter.

In the moment of lunging for the machete, Li Wenjun thought of the bodyguard again. If he saw this lunge, would he say Li Wenjun was a once-in-a-century martial arts genius?

In the midst of his wild thoughts, Li Wenjun grabbed the machete, and at that moment, the wolf also pounced.

Li Wenjun swung the machete backward with all his might.

With a "pu" sound, Li Wenjun heard the machete slice into flesh. Something hot splashed onto his hands, face, and body.

He focused and saw that the machete had, by a stroke of luck, cut into the wolf's neck, lodging in the bone and even severing its windpipe.

With such a severe injury, the wolf could barely stand, its body swaying and its steps faltering. In a short while, it fell to the side, landing in the puddle of water.

Water splashed everywhere, and the little water that was left quickly drained away, leaving the puddle empty.

"No..."

Li Wenjun roared. He had risked his life, even with a broken leg, to save the last bit of water from the wolf, but it was gone. How could he accept this?

Somehow, Li Wenjun found the strength to hop over to the puddle, drag the nearly dead wolf out, and look down. The puddle was now just a mess of mud. Even if there was water, it was mixed with the mud.

Li Wenjun, without hesitation, lay on the ground, scooped up the mud, and put it in his mouth. The water in the mud drove him into a frenzy. His hands repeatedly reached out and pulled back, grabbing not only the mud but also the soil beneath it. Blood from his thigh flowed into the puddle, turning it a bright red.

In a daze, Li Wenjun seemed to grab something hard. Almost instinctively, he put the hard object, along with the mud, into his mouth.

The hard object dissolved as soon as it entered his mouth, sliding down his throat and into his stomach.

Suddenly, a green light emanated from his chest. Li Wenjun looked down, bewildered by the green light.

Could it be a monster?

More green light radiated from his body, and the bizarre situation made the already exhausted and injured Li Wenjun scream, "Monster!" before he fainted.

...

After an unknown amount of time, perhaps a day, perhaps just a few minutes, or perhaps just a moment, Li Wenjun opened his eyes. He looked at his chest, where there was no longer any green light.

Li Wenjun got up and was surprised to find that his thigh no longer hurt. The leg that the wolf had bitten off was completely healed, with no bleeding and even the flesh that had been bitten away restored.

What was going on? Was it all a dream?

Li Wenjun looked around. The wolf's body lay next to the puddle, the machete still lodged in its neck, blood seeping out. The wolf's mouth was still bloody.

Everything that had happened was real, but for some reason, his leg had healed on its own.

It was a miracle!

With little experience, Li Wenjun attributed it to an all-powerful god. Perhaps a legendary deity, seeing his suffering, had reached out to help him.

Li Wenjun knelt on the ground, bowed his head to the sky, and thanked the passing deity for saving him.

After praying, Li Wenjun pulled the machete out of the wolf's body and, lying on the wolf's wound, drank the gushing wolf blood.

The wolf's blood had a unique, unpleasant taste, but for the thirsty Li Wenjun, it was the best delicacy in the world.

After drinking for a long time, Li Wenjun burped. By then, he had almost drained the wolf's blood. He reluctantly moved his mouth away, wiped the blood from his lips, picked up the machete, and began to skin the wolf.

Li Wenjun's father was a leather worker who tanned various animal hides and made leather clothes for a living. Occasionally, he also skinned cattle and sheep. Li Wenjun had learned a few techniques, though his skills were not as good as his father's. However, he could still skin a wolf completely.

After skinning for a while, Li Wenjun felt hot. He looked up and saw that the sun was already high. Continuing to skin the wolf under the sun would consume a lot of energy and water, which was not worth it. He decided to drag the half-skinned wolf to a cooler place.

Suddenly, Li Wenjun's gaze fell on the puddle. After some time, the mud and water had separated, with a thin layer of water floating on top, less than half an inch deep. If Li Wenjun ignored it, the water would likely evaporate in a day under the sun.

Li Wenjun quickly ran to the riverbank, picked up the water bag, and broke off a thick reed. He lay next to the puddle, inserted one end of the reed into the water, and used it to suck the water into his mouth, then spat it into the water bag. He collected all the water in the puddle, barely filling the water bag.

Li Wenjun wiped the sweat from his head, dragged the wolf's body to a cool place, and fell asleep. He had been traveling all night, fighting the wolf, and skinning it, and was already exhausted.

The sun set, and the moon rose.

Li Wenjun woke up, picked up the machete, and continued to skin the wolf. The moon was a thin crescent, and the light was not as bright as before. However, Li Wenjun felt as if he were under a full moon.

Li Wenjun, somewhat clumsily, skinned the entire wolf and laid it out. He then used the machete to cut the meat from the wolf's body and hung it on the already dry shrubs to dry, planning to take it as provisions.

The wolf weighed over a hundred pounds, and Li Wenjun could not carry all the meat. He selected the fattest pieces, about fifty to sixty pounds, which would dry to about twenty pounds. Any more would be too heavy to carry.

Li Wenjun stayed at the site for two more days, surviving on roasted wolf meat. He also stripped the clothes from the bodies of the people the wolf had killed, finding a silver coin and several copper coins, which he carefully stored. As for burying the bodies, Li Wenjun could not help; he had neither the tools nor the strength to do so, leaving them to rot in the wilderness.

On the third day, after the wolf meat was mostly dry, he rolled the wolf skin and dried meat together, tied them with a rope made from old clothes, and put them on his back, setting out again on his journey to find a way to survive.

The encounter with the wolf, though dangerous, had a good outcome, rekindling Li Wenjun's nearly abandoned will to live.

With wolf meat to eat and water to drink, Li Wenjun's strength was somewhat restored, and he traveled faster at night.

After several more nights of travel, he stood on the riverbank and looked ahead. A line of green stretched across the horizon. Li Wenjun almost cried; he was finally leaving the drought-stricken area.

The saying "seeing the mountain but not reaching it" proved true. Li Wenjun traveled another night before he finally saw a field. The corn stalks were weak, and the ground was dry, but the stalks were still mostly green.

Li Wenjun took a deep breath, and the air seemed more humid.

The corn had not yet formed ears; some had not even developed husks, and those that had were flat and empty.

Seeing the corn, Li Wenjun knew there must be a village nearby. He resisted the urge to rush out and chew on the corn stalks. Instead, he planned to find the village, have a bowl of hot porridge, and eat some meat-filled buns to reward his stomach.

To determine the direction, Li Wenjun stood on the riverbank and looked ahead. To his surprise, the dry riverbed finally had water. The river wound like a silver snake lying in the riverbed.

Li Wenjun, who had not seen water for days, was overjoyed. He rushed down the riverbank, ran into the river, and drank greedily until his stomach was full. He then took out his water bag, washed it thoroughly, and filled it with clear water from a part of the river that had not been disturbed.

Li Wenjun looked at the river again, and an idea came to him. He looked around and, seeing no one nearby, stripped off his clothes and took a bath, changing into a relatively clean set of clothes.

He washed the clothes he had taken off and hung them on the shrubs by the riverbank. The sun was already up, and it would be a sunny day, so the wet clothes would dry quickly.

Page AD starts

Page AD ends