Chapter 120: It’s Better to Be Lucky Than to Trouble Yourself

Sha Yi looked like someone who often did this kind of thing, his movements in raiding the bird’s nest were incredibly skilled.

The first time was by the small lake on the other side—that was the first time she had seen him raid a bird’s nest. Back then, he had been thrilled upon discovering Pan Kuo’s burrow, eagerly pulling out a pile of small items with a flick of his arm. This time, however, he lacked the excitement of the first encounter, as if he had already known about this Pan Kuo burrow.

But his movements showed no hesitation. With a few more reaches, he pulled out another pile of items.

Compared to the spoils they had retrieved from the mother Pan Kuo’s burrow on the other side, this haul was clearly larger, and there were many things she had never seen before. Sha Yi’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.

The pile of loot was overwhelming—there were over a dozen bird eggs alone, including three or four unusually large ones, each bigger than Xi Yi’s palm. With eggs this size, the adult birds must have been enormous. Thinking of modern ostrich eggs, these weren’t much smaller. And considering the size of an ostrich, she wasn’t sure whether to be excited or worried. If these were raptors, they’d be in for trouble. She had no idea where this thieving Pan Kuo had gotten these eggs—was stealing everything really a good idea?

Aside from the eggs, there were also many animal hides, most of decent quality. One was particularly large, almost as big as she was. There were also small wooden containers of odd shapes, whose purpose she couldn’t discern. One of them held a clump of what looked like seeds, but they were soaked and stuck together.

Sha Yi recalled the spoils from their first raid on a bird’s nest—they had also found handfuls of unknown plant seeds. But because they had stumbled upon them during the rainy season, they had been left untouched until now, and they still had no idea what they were.

Xi Yi kept digging. This Pan Kuo burrow seemed quite prosperous. Before long, he pulled out a few more items.

It was a miscellaneous assortment, but Sha Yi immediately spotted the metallic glint among them. Without hesitation, she brushed aside the other items and picked up the irregularly shaped lumps. The moment she held them, she nearly jumped with excitement.

They were metal ores, just like the ones she had accidentally found on the slope while searching for mineral salt. Their color and luster were nearly identical to what she had picked up before, except for two or three pieces that had a golden-yellow or silvery-white hue—seeming like anomalies among the metal ores. Sha Yi examined them for a while but still couldn’t identify them. She wrapped them in small pieces of hide and set them aside.

Additionally, there were branches resembling bamboo, similar to the one she had found earlier. These were twisted together and not as well-shaped as the one she had picked up, but they were quite flexible and could probably be modified for use.

The most peculiar item was the last thing Xi Yi pulled out—a bundle of fibers as thick as hemp thread.

Sha Yi didn’t know what it was. It looked somewhat like the hair from a modern horse’s tail but was slightly thicker. It was long, light brownish-yellow, and elastic, though not overly so. It felt incredibly sturdy. There was a whole bundle of it, quite a substantial amount. It didn’t seem like plant material but rather resembled animal hair.

Glancing at the bow-like branches pushed aside earlier, Sha Yi had a sudden idea—this could probably be used to make bowstrings. When pulled taut, it would provide the necessary tension and elasticity, functioning much like the bowstrings she knew. It was worth a try.

However, she had left the bamboo-like bow-shaped object she had found earlier in the bathtub when entering the burrow. Testing it now was impossible—these would need reshaping first, so she had to let it go for the moment.

While she was deep in thought, Xi Yi was also sorting through the items. Seeing her inactivity, he made as if to toss the pile of “rejected” pseudo-bamboo branches back into the Pan Kuo’s burrow.

Those were raw materials for making bows—they couldn’t just be wasted like that. Thinking quickly, Sha Yi stopped him. “These are very useful. I need them. Don’t throw them away. Who knows, you might rely on them to hunt large animals in the future!”

“These?” Xi Yi pointed at the twisted, uneven branches on the ground, looking skeptical. But he didn’t voice his doubts. Instead, he paused briefly, took her hand, and gestured toward the woods on the other side. “There are branches like these in that forest—plenty of them, and they look better than these. If you need them, I can take you there.”

Sha Yi immediately nodded in agreement. But as soon as they turned around, they ran into the disoriented, plump Pan Kuo. At that moment, it was wobbling its round body, staggering back toward its burrow. When it spotted them, it angrily flapped its featherless wings and let out a fierce screech.

Sha Yi couldn’t help but cover her ears.

The Pan Kuo’s cry was as grating and exaggerated as ever—not only unpleasant but also piercingly loud.

Xi Yi, however, couldn’t be bothered. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and, with a single kick, sent the fat ball flying. The meaty thud of its impact left Sha Yi speechless. As they walked, she couldn’t resist asking the tall man, “Xi Yi, Pan Kuos seem easy to catch. Why have I never seen you hunt these flightless birds?”

“Nothing would choose to hunt them,” Xi Yi answered almost immediately. “They taste terrible.”

It was an unexpected answer, and Sha Yi nearly burst out laughing.

No wonder they were so brazen—they had no natural predators. But she was curious—just how bad was their meat that even Xi Yi, who could eat dirt without issue, would disdain them so much? It was bizarre.

They hadn’t taken two steps before another coarse, unpleasant squawk sounded behind them. Without even turning around, the Pan Kuo charged at them again.

Sha Yi found it hilarious. These flightless birds weren’t particularly fast—their bulky bodies made them wobbly even when walking. Now, transformed into a knee-high punching bag, it was sprinting toward a two-meter-tall prehistoric man on stubby legs barely visible beneath its body. The sight was so absurd she could hardly keep from laughing. But the dumb bird showed no signs of giving up.

In the end, it was predictably pinned under Xi Yi’s foot. The latter hadn’t even moved—just lifted a foot and crushed it firmly into place.

Sha Yi couldn’t hold back her laughter.

These birds always had to exhaust themselves and suffer before learning their lesson. Just like the female they had encountered many days ago—it had to be beaten, thrown into the river, and soaked half the night before realizing its own limitations.

Xi Yi had no patience or affection for Pan Kuos, but he certainly enjoyed toying with them. After holding the stupid bird down for a while, he grabbed it by the neck and swung it in circles again.

Given the Pan Kuo’s thieving habits and inexplicable aggression, Sha Yi didn’t stop Xi Yi’s “bullying.” She simply stood by and watched. After all, she knew it was tough—Xi Yi wouldn’t kill it, just wear it out until it slunk away, too exhausted to cause more trouble.

But just as Xi Yi was about to toss the bird away, Sha Yi’s sharp eyes caught sight of the large, flame-like tail feathers on its rear.

Pan Kuos could swim—even dive without issue. Though called flightless birds, they were practically waterfowl. And those tail feathers would make excellent fletching for arrows.

Thinking fast, she stopped Xi Yi mid-throw and gestured for him to pluck the feathers from its rear.

Xi Yi was puzzled but complied, pinning the Pan Kuo to the ground. Just as he was about to yank them out, Sha Yi panicked and quickly handed him the bone knife from his waist.

If he pulled them out directly, the stupid bird would likely shriek loud enough to rupture eardrums. Besides, though the tail feathers were hollow, they had some thickness—plucking them would hurt. Cutting them would be less painful and allow them to regrow.

Recalling the blue-feathered female Pan Kuo, Sha Yi remembered it had no tail feathers. Its bare rear didn’t seem to hinder its movements, whether walking or diving into the river for shrimp. After some thought, she concluded that the current bird’s tail feathers were purely decorative—maybe to attract mates, but otherwise useless.

With that in mind, she cheerfully instructed Xi Yi to cut off all the fiery red tail feathers from its rear.

Once done, Sha Yi counted them—there were a surprisingly large number, over thirty in total, big and small. For the experimental phase, that was more than enough. If they needed more after refining the bow design, they could always find other birds. After all, they had discovered plenty of eggs in the Pan Kuo’s burrow.

Since it lived here, the sources of these items couldn’t be too far away. They could always search for more later.

As she tallied the feathers, Xi Yi lifted the fat bird for the third time. This time, he didn’t swing it—just hurled it straight out. It landed perfectly about ten meters away, right across from its little burrow.

It took several attempts for the bird to stand. Staggering a few steps, it kept rubbing its rear against the ground, as if annoyed or uncomfortable. By the time it reached the burrow entrance, it got stuck—unable to enter or exit due to its awkward posture.

At that point, the two of them ignored it. For one, it had already realized it was no match for Xi Yi and given up on revenge. For another, though stuck, it had no natural predators—there was nothing to worry about. Right now, the more pressing matter was finding bamboo-like trees for the bow.

The area wasn’t large, so they didn’t have to walk far before reaching the woods Xi Yi had mentioned.

But this forest didn’t have just one type of tree. On the contrary, there were many varieties, none taller than ten or twenty meters—nothing compared to the trees near the cave settlement. The giant that had collapsed onto their cave had been fifty or sixty meters tall. She had seen even larger ones—like the fruit tree near where she first met Saina, which seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky. Compared to that, the fallen tree was insignificant—one reached for the heavens, the other pierced the clouds.

Now, seeing these trees, she wasn’t impressed. But their species were unfamiliar—strange leaf shapes, odd colors, some even twisted into spirals or other bizarre forms. Countless dead plants littered the ground.

This wasn’t normal.

Trees generally followed a basic form—aside from differences in leaves, their overall shapes shouldn’t vary too much. But these had clearly deviated from their natural state. Within the same species, few looked normal—most were deformed. From afar, it wasn’t noticeable, but up close, the abnormalities were obvious.

Sha Yi suspected the soil or underground water here was problematic.

Yet the land was bordered by a river, and all aquatic life in it was normal—ruling out water contamination.

As for what might be in the soil, she had no idea.

This wasn’t the result of ordinary soil depletion or acidification. Based on her knowledge, it was likely due to heavy metal ions buried underground.

Anyone who had studied chemistry knew heavy metal ions were usually toxic—excessive amounts could be devastating. In modern times, heavy metal pollution was a major issue. Now, she wondered if there was a metal ore deposit beneath this land.