Chapter 495 - 159: [Big Cat] (8,000) Part 3
But generally speaking, two-thirds of it remained.
Especially since the limbs were still relatively intact.
Chen Yan simply pushed the thing forcefully off the rock, letting it freefall from over ten meters high.
Then he climbed down himself and dragged the beast’s carcass away from the ground.
The axe for chopping wood was still there, and with it, he removed the four legs of the beast and put them into the tattered climbing bag.
The weather was too cold; the blood had already solidified, so there was no bleeding when chopping. The carcass was frozen stiff.
After encountering the group of hunting beasts and the white big cat, Chen Yan realized this cave could no longer be used—it wasn’t safe.
Chen Yan thought for a moment, discarded a bundle of firewood to empty a climbing bag, and put the remaining supplies inside, carrying it on his back, while holding the climbing bag with four beast legs in his left hand and an axe in his right.
Chen Yan set off, walking along the edge of the forest and the mountain ridge, heading far away...
After walking for more than two hours, Chen Yan estimated that at his pace, he must have covered at least seven or eight kilometers from where he started before he stopped.
The boundary between the mountain ridge and the forest monster’s forest was a snowfield, as if the snow could only linger here and could not enter the forest monster’s area.
Chen Yan picked a forest monster tree at the edge and climbed up, hung the climbing bag on the trunk and hid it, then climbed down again.
He lit the alcohol stove, used a small pot to fill some snow, melted and boiled it on the stove, then took out a knife to cut off fist-sized pieces of meat from the beast’s leg and tossed them into the pot to cook.
The beast meat, without rinsing out the snow, soon released a rather disgusting scum on the water after being thrown in to boil.
Chen Yan bore the disgust to scoop out and discard the scum.
He smelled the pot of broth, and the smell was very fishy!
Yet, Chen Yan forced himself, scooping out a small piece, cautiously tossed it into his mouth to chew.
The meat was tough and not tasty, with a particularly strong fishy odor.
"Next time, I’d better be careful when chopping trees," Chen Yan sighed.
However, after two bites of steaming hot meat, his body unexpectedly warmed up quickly, which excited Chen Yan!
The meat of this beast seemed to have a potent heating effect, warming his body soon after being eaten.
Chen Yan found that this meat was quite filling; after a few bites, he felt about one-third full.
Moreover, Chen Yan could clearly feel his lost strength slowly being replenished.
"This stuff is actually quite nourishing?" Chen Yan was somewhat delighted.
Although he couldn’t test it, Chen Yan roughly judged that this beast meat was definitely more nutritious than beef, perhaps with higher energy and protein.
Chen Yan was surprisingly full after only eating half of the fist-sized meat in the pot of broth. He forced himself to drink a few sips of the broth.
At this moment, he felt his body heated, as if there was a small heater in his abdomen continuously emitting warmth.
He suddenly realized, no wonder those fierce beast race creatures were so resistant to cold—they probably ate this kind of beast meat regularly!
When he was a slave, the Wooden Bowl gave him those suspicious black dough balls containing animal hairs—maybe that stuff had bits of this beast meat mixed in.
During his slavery, he could survive in such cold weather wearing only a tattered leather jacket, most likely due to the food.
After filling his belly, Chen Yan packed everything, put the tools back into the climbing bag, climbed up the big tree, and sat on a trunk seven or eight meters above the ground, leaning against the main trunk to rest and recover his strength.
He also used a rope to secure himself to the tree trunk to prevent slipping off while resting or dozing.
The warm feeling inside his body seemed to shield the chilling moisture outside, and Chen Yan felt no coldness at all; instead, he felt soft and comfortable.
Gradually, his eyelids closed.
He didn’t know how long he slept but was suddenly awakened by a series of "clucking" calls!
He snapped his eyes open and looked around hurriedly.
In the dark forest, he saw several pairs of eyes glowing like lights, gazing intently.
Then a dozen figures emerged among the trees below, moving around the base of the giant tree where Chen Yan was, sniffing back and forth.
Chen Yan immediately recognized that it was still that group of hunting beasts!
The hunting beasts either tracked Chen Yan here or stumbled across him again in the forest.
However, this time, the hunting beasts seemed to have discovered Chen Yan’s location and gathered under this forest monster tree.
Some of the beasts were anxiously climbing under the tree, striking the tree trunk hard with their sharp tusks.
Others raised their heads, vigorously emitting "clucking" calls towards Chen Yan sitting on the trunk.
Chen Yan’s face turned serious; he knew these hunting beasts had found him and regarded him as prey!
Two hunting beasts struck the tree base a few times, but fortunately, the forest monster tree was sturdy, and the canopy only swayed slightly.
Yet more beasts gathered around, roaming and nudging below the forest monster tree.