Live Strong in the Wilderness-Chapter 74: Settled with One Slash

"Don’t panic."

Xu Yi said, then threw out a piece of meat.

Then, Xu Yi grabbed his machete.

"Meow"

The wild cat lunged at Xu Yi, its speed incredibly fast.

Drawing the blade, slashing.

Xu Yi struck the wild cat directly, nearly slicing it in two.

"Amazing."

Lu Ke hadn’t expected the wild cat to be dealt with in a single blow.

"This should be the wild cat from last night; I didn’t expect it to be so bold." Xu Yi glanced at the twitching body, surprised himself that he split it with one stroke.

Xu Yi knew that the blood scent from dealing with the goat would be strong today, attracting many animals.

But the whole afternoon went by without incident until a wild cat appeared as he and Lu Ke were eating lamb leg in the evening.

"Xu Yi, do you think there could be leopards around here?" Lu Ke asked worriedly, looking at the wild cat’s body, feeling the lamb leg in her hand lose its taste.

"Probably not; if there were, we would have encountered them by now. After all, these animals have a strong sense of territory. We’ve been here for 13 days; if there were any, they would have shown up earlier." Xu Yi picked up the wild cat from the ground, hesitating over whether to deal with its body.

The cut was near the stomach, the fur ruined, making it meaningless.

As for the meat, Xu Yi figured it might yield around a pound of it.

Xu Yi now wouldn’t bother with a pound of meat.

After all, they had over fifty pounds of goat meat.

Thinking about it, he decided to use it as bait for hunting tomorrow.

"So that’s how it is. Are we in the territory of a wolf pack here?" Lu Ke was surprised to learn such information.

"Yes, it’s likely their territory." Xu Yi nodded; the wolves were the most formidable creatures around, seemingly without any stronger creatures nearby.

So, as long as the wolf pack was dealt with, unless other large predators appeared, he could dominate this area.

"If we handle the wolf pack, does that mean we don’t have to worry about other large predators around here?" Lu Ke excitedly asked, realizing the key point.

After all, she had fought off a wolf pack with Xu Yi once, so she wasn’t very afraid of wolves.

"There will certainly be a period of safety, but no one knows how long. Eventually, a new predator will come here to make it its territory." Xu Yi hadn’t targeted the wolves yet because he wasn’t strong enough. If a leopard or tiger appeared after eliminating the wolves, it would be troublesome.

"Oh, I didn’t expect it to be like this?" Lu Ke was surprised things weren’t as she thought.

"That’s the theory, since without hunters, other animals in the area will reproduce in large numbers and inevitably attract other predators." Xu Yi explained, then continued to eat his unfinished lamb.

"But there’s no need to worry too much; even the strongest predators can be handled by us humans. After all, they can’t make weapons or set traps. We are the apex predators." Xu Yi said with a smile, encouraging Lu Ke.

Lu Ke nodded in agreement, they indeed had a big advantage.

Like today’s small wild cat, it was just killed with one blow by Xu Yi, wasn’t it?

"Once we’ve cut down some of the trees around here, I’ll set up some traps for large predators to increase the camp’s safety." Xu Yi felt that as long as he had enough time, he wouldn’t fear these wild animals.

If they could find iron, they could make a batch of traps, and tigers and wild boars would become dishes on their table as well.

"Yes, that’s our advantage. As long as there are enough traps, we’re not afraid of any beasts coming." Lu Ke felt that teaming up with Xu Yi was definitely the right choice; if it were anyone else, they probably wouldn’t last three days before giving up.

"Exactly, so relax and enjoy the meat and soup; no matter what beast comes, it’s just another dish on our table." Xu Yi said boldly.

Lu Ke squinted her eyes with a charming smile, then bit into the lamb leg in her hand.

With Xu Yi around, she felt safe.

"I’m so full; I didn’t expect I could eat this much." Lu Ke said somewhat embarrassed, looking at the lamb leg she had cleaned off.

Xu Yi stuffed a piece of lamb into his mouth, responding to Lu Ke with his actions.

"How do we make soap?" Lu Ke put the lamb bone aside; Xu Yi needed it tomorrow to throw it away in a remote area.

"First, soak wood ash in hot water, then let it sit for a few days and filter it. Mix the resulting lye with oil, stir, and it will solidify into soap." Xu Yi explained, as traditional soap-making wasn’t difficult.

"Sounds easy." Lu Ke said with a smile, taking the metal pot to heat water.

"It really isn’t hard. Once we make it, we can collect some flowers to make scented soap." Xu Yi wiped his mouth, the feeling of being full was satisfying.

"Great, then we can use scented soap to bathe and soap to wash clothes." Lu Ke said happily, looking forward to making soap by herself.

After eating, she took a Pottery bowl and filled it with some wood ash.

Once Lu Ke finished heating the water, she poured it into the bowl.

She set it aside to let it sit, with no more need to worry about it.

"Xu Yi, aren’t we dealing with the wild cat’s body?" Lu Ke glanced at the wild cat’s corpse and asked Xu Yi.

"No need, I’ll take it tomorrow to use as bait to see if we can hunt other animals." Xu Yi spoke as he placed wood on the sawhorse, preparing to cut it.

"Okay, then I’ll continue making Pottery." Seeing there were no other tasks, Lu Ke resumed her Pottery work.

"Mhmm, don’t overexert yourself." Xu Yi said, then began sawing the wood.

Each piece of wood was about 1.5 meters long; Xu Yi sawed ten pieces in total.

After sawing, Xu Yi started splitting the bowl-thick wood pieces.

Once split, Xu Yi laid them flat on the ground.

He was preparing to make a table, a very rough one.

With limited tools, it had to be crude.

After laying it out, Xu Yi planned to dig a groove on the back, one on each side. This way, the table could be secured.

Once the tabletop was done, and after making four table legs, the square table could take shape.

In the evening, Xu Yi thought getting one side’s groove done would be quite good.

The groove needed to be square, so it wasn’t easy, it counted as rather delicate work.