Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The existence of Ah Ow gave Li Du and his men honor. No one cared about their skin color or race anymore. They were accepted without further questions.
Some beliefs, such as the Mohican belief in the Holy Wolf, were difficult to understand for people who have been educated in a civilized society.
The chief’s attitude towards Li Du was more polite, and he housed them in the tribe’s largest and most ornate temple, which was dedicated to Mohican gods, including the Wolf.
Li Du was amused. How could a clever Wolf overcome the stubborn natives? This is weird.
After the chief made proper arrangements for them, it was almost evening.
Bonfires were lit, good food and wine were served again, and a great dinner began.
Li Du had not yet digested his lunch when they sat down to dinner, which was even more abundant, with roast whole sheep and calves.
The Markelov brothers ate with their mouths full and patted their bellies contentedly. “Damn, after nearly a year in the Appalachian mountains, where we have been treated as an enemy every time we met a native, it’s funny to be treated like kings. This is damn interesting.”
“Go on eating!” Godzilla encouraged them.
The dinner was held to welcome the arrival of the Holy Wolf, and it was attended by hundreds of people, almost everyone who lived in the village. The amount of food consumed was amazing.
The next day, when the tribe ran out of food, the chief organized several hunting parties and arranged for them to go out in search of game.
The Appalachian mountains were rich in trees, flowers, and animals. Nevertheless, it was not easy to find prey, because the mountains were so vast. The animals were scattered across the mountains and had many hiding places.
Having eaten much of the food, Li Du felt a little bad about the generous hosts running out of supplies. Seeing the chief arranging a hunting party, he said, “Let’s join in. My men and I are good at hunting.”
The chief laughed. “No, we can handle it. It’s not hard to hunt. It’s hard to find prey, though, especially herds.”
This kind of thing was easier for Li Du. He patted Ah Ow on the head and said, “Since you respect the Holy Wolf, let the Holy Wolf help you.”
Wolves were natural hunters in the mountains. They were best at finding prey, following the droppings and the fur shed by the animals.
Unlike humans, a wolf can always find the prey, but hunting was more difficult for them unless they had a pack. If a lone wolf chased an animal, it could easily escape.
When Li Du joined the hunting party and left the forest, he began to give orders to Ah Ow and Ah Meow.
Without saying anything, Li Du took out his mobile phone and showed them the animal in the picture. They ran out at once.
The most suitable one for this job was the Andean condor, which had sharp eyes and highly developed optic nerves, so it could always fly in the sky and spot dead animals on the ground.
However, the baby condor couldn’t fly yet, despite its impressive size. Li Du found a big basket for Godzilla in the village, and the young bird was now in the basket.
He has adopted the baby condor as a matter of course, probably because he saved it from captivity, and because he has been feeding him all these days, the young condor had a high opinion of him. It had been modified by the space-time bug, like Ah Ow and Ah Meow.
After wandering about in the mountains for more than an hour, the hunting party came back with a basket filled with some rabbits, pheasants and other game, all caught by Ah Ow and Ah Meow. Ah Meow also caught an owl. The owl was supposed to be sleeping in a cave, but it was unlucky enough to meet Ah Ow.
Li Du and the chief were talking and laughing when Ah Ow ran back to him, tilted her head and looked at the road she came from.
Seeing this, Li Du understood her meaning and said, “Everybody, pay attention, Ah Ow found a herd of animals. This time you should have a good haul!”
Ah Ow had caught a wild boar before and had taken care of that wild boar by herself. This time she ran back to lead the party, so it was obvious that she found the prey too numerous or too strong, so she could not deal with it alone.
There were no especially powerful animals in the Appalachian mountains, except wolves, so Li Du estimated that Ah Ow had found a herd of herbivores.
Sure enough, he and two excellent hunters assigned by the chief quietly followed Ah Ow and eventually found a herd of white-tailed deer in a mountain pine forest.
The herd was large, thirty to forty animals, and the fawns, about six or seven of them, were pawing at the ground with their legs for food.
This invigorated the hunters, who retreated and excitedly described their prey to the chief.
A hunt began, and the men, under the direction of the chief, dispersed, starting in the outer woods, finding a way to tie ropes and nets around the trees, and then hiding in pairs behind the trees, approaching the herd from other directions.
The natives walked barefoot, and their voices were very low. Besides, their faces and bodies were covered with green and red paint, so they were camouflaged.
Li Du and the others were outside watching the hunt, and Lu Guan observed the scene and said, “This is what the British and later the Washington army suffered. The natives were very good at raiding.”
However, deer were far more perceptive than humans, and though the native hunters have been wary, the deer sensed something was amiss.
Seeing this, the hunter team launched the raid under the leader’s command!
The attack came from three directions. Arrows were fired, and several deer fell on the spot. The deer that were hurt ran towards the hunters.
Most of the herd remained unharmed at first. They ran in fear towards the opening left by the ambush and then sped headlong into the trap.
A deer running at full speed was likely to be strangled, which would lead to heavy injury or death.
Other deer ran into the net, which was relatively loose, and the more they struggled, the tighter they were wrapped up in the net, which made it more difficult to escape!
However, some of the deer were in a better position. If the rope was tied high, the deer could escape from below, and the number of nets was little, making the chance of collision smaller.
In the end, the fawns escaped, while almost all the adults were caught. Only three or two were lucky enough to make it through the trap.
Li Du found that the hunting team deliberately let a deer go. A deer passed by the chief, who stood motionless and let it walk away, and the others did likewise.
Seeing that Li Du was careful with his approach, the chief smiled and said, “In your words, this is called sustainable development, right? We do not catch prey that is not yet grown unless we are in a desperate situation.”
