Chapter 193 - 86: Extermination
Rabbits usually go out to forage after dark, and retreat into their burrows to rest when predators like wild cats and birds of prey become active late at night.
But this routine doesn't apply to all rabbits.
Just before dawn, when hunters return to their dens, either with prey or with empty bellies, some bold rabbits seize this brief period of safety to feed in the woods.
In most cases, these daring rabbits don't encounter danger.
But there are always exceptions.
When some restless rabbits provoke Chen Zhou, the entire rabbit family pays the price, with those still active first in line.
...
Lai Fu remembered the scent of rabbit fur and, without making mistakes, quickly helped Chen Zhou find the first rabbit.
The rabbit heard the rustling of grass from afar and took off running, with Lai Fu relentlessly chasing it.
Its loyalty is commendable, but because its physique is similar to that of a guard dog—strong, with powerful jaws, and alert—it can't compare to sprinting champions like greyhounds in speed and agility.
Unless the rabbit panics and runs into bushes or doesn't notice the trees ahead disrupting its escape rhythm, Lai Fu can hardly gain the upper hand in this "race against time."
The fierce barking and chaotic footsteps disturbed the tranquility of the forest.
Chen Zhou took out a lighter, lit the matchlock, and jogged in the direction Lai Fu indicated.
As the birds, busy all night, stuck their heads out of their nests, disturbed and angry.
Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot "bang" startled them into frantically flying away from tree holes and bird nests, flapping their wings like raising a dark sheet of leaves.
Smoke billowed, and Chen Zhou continued to reload.
In the early morning, in forestland fifty meters away, there were many obstacles and the view was obstructed.
Even a trained marksman would find it hard to hit a fast-moving small target with a single shot.
Especially since he was using a matchlock gun, this ancient weapon with poor accuracy.
This shot wasn't meant to kill the rabbit, just to announce his arrival.
...
From the morning of April 27th, the leisurely days of the rabbits were completely over.
An intimidating monster with a wide-brimmed hat, accompanied by a sharp-nosed dog, patrolled and purged the forest all day long.
It was manageable during the day, but the higher the activity frequencies of rabbits reaching feeding times, the more relentless this fearsome creature became, using various methods to hunt them down.
Most of the bushes that could have sheltered rabbits were cleared flat, and small tree holes and burrows were filled with cold water or directly dug open. Many baby rabbits in the nest drowned alive or were dug out and became snacks for the dog.
The booming sound of the matchlock gun echoed more frequently, and the blood-stained skinning rituals occurred with increasing regularity.
At the edge of the fields, rabbit flags, once barren, were covered once again with rabbit hides of various colors, like a wall built of bodies, deterring any rabbit daring to approach.
Near the forest area by the fields, rabbit activity significantly decreased, and the wild rabbits occasionally seen at dusk were no more to be seen.
For rabbits, who are not very smart and are timid and cowardly, the level of terror escalated to an extent unmatched even in the densest parts of the forest.
You see, in the forest depths, besides wild cats preying on rabbits, there are also venomous snakes, pythons, and birds of prey.
But now, even combined, they can't inflict such a massive, efficient slaughter on the rabbit clan's population.
...
By May 8th, Chen Zhou had eliminated nearly two hundred rabbits.
His methods included but were not limited to rabbit snares, pit traps, digging rabbit holes, pouring boiling water into rabbit holes, gun hunting, sending in the dog, and using a slingshot...
So many rabbit skins were skinned and hung that a putrid smell lingered around the fields all day, attracting many scavenging insects that buzzed around the rabbit skins.
Worried about wasting resources, once the rabbit skin flags were filled at the field's edge, Chen Zhou crushed the rabbit skulls, extracted the brains, and began tanning the rabbit pelts.
Even though he wouldn't need these pelts soon, it's never wrong to store more materials—waiting until they're needed would be too late.
The racks, matched to the size of the rabbit pelts, were neatly arranged on the platform for drying.
The skinned rabbit carcasses were also processed, with the heart taken out separately to feed the dog, and the parasite-risky offal was thrown into the latrines for composting.
The good quality meat was deboned, minced, turned into rabbit meatballs, and stored in wooden tubs in dark places.
During the first few days, Chen Zhou even added a bit of salt to the minced meat, carrying it as a snack in his chest.
Eventually tired of it, he simply molded the meat into strips, creating high-quality, "salt-free healthy" pure rabbit meat sausages for Lai Fu and others to use as cat and dog food to supplement their protein intake.
Xiao Huihui spent its days lying around the house, cluelessly enjoying an extra meal, and continuing to gain weight. It was already rounding out into a spherical shape, or rather, it now was half a sphere.
It puzzled him how raising a cat on a deserted island could result in a modern, plump feline.
Entering May, Chen Zhou began to consciously control Xiao Huihui's meals, driving it outside the cave to keep active and help lose weight, but with little success—
Outside the cave was warmer than inside during the dry season, so this little guy could sleep outside without any disturbance from Tizi or Lai Fu, probably resting even better.
Whenever he saw its lazy demeanor, Chen Zhou valued the preciousness of an employee as good as Tizi all the more.