After receiving a signal from her brother-in-law, Mu Xueli cleared her throat seriously.
Immediately following that, she began to vividly recount Da Hei's glorious deeds to Wang Shuai.
It had to be said that Mu Xueli being a hunter was absolutely a waste of talent; with her abilities, she was qualified to be a professional storyteller.
The way Mu Xueli bared her teeth and went "woof woof woof" to imitate a dog was not something an ordinary person could pull off.
This was because Mu Xueli's mouth truly had a knack for sounding like whatever she imitated.
Wang Shuai listened with absolute focus, finding the tale utterly fascinating.
The brothers Wang An and Wang Li also listened intently, neither of them interrupting Mu Xueli's "storytelling."
However, just as they were getting into the spirit of the story, the group arrived in front of Da Hei and the other two dogs.
At this moment, the three dogs were staring intently at the opening of a snow hollow.
Beside the opening of the snow hollow, four dead flying dragons were already lying there.
Seeing the flying dragons, the group knew they had hit paydirt.
Mu Xueli's eyes lit up as she ran toward the flying dragons, saying to Wang Shuai as she ran
"I'll tell you more when we get back, Brother Wang! My flying dragon soup is here, hahaha..."
Wang Li, who had been listening with great interest, complained dissatisfiedly to Mu Xueli
"Brother Mu, I swear, every single day you're like a starving ghost; the moment you see a flying dragon, you lose your soul."
Hearing Wang Li's words, Wang An was momentarily stunned and instinctively asked him
"Old Fifth, do you actually know what 'starving ghost' means?"
Wang Li widened his eyes, looking completely bewildered, and said
"Huh? I don't. I just heard my mother describe my father that way."
Wang An sucked in his teeth and said through gritted teeth
"Fuck, if you don't know what it means, don't just spout random bullshit. You're making us a laughingstock."
Wang Li scratched his head and blinked, saying very confusedly
"Uh-huh, I got it, Fourth Brother."
With a face full of smiles, Mu Xueli picked up the four flying dragons and stored them away, as if these four birds were his only hope for the day.
Seeing Wang An, Da Hei let out a few huffs and then used its snout to nudge the opening of the snow hollow upward a few times.
The entire motion was just like a human gesturing upward.
Wang An understood; Da Hei meant: there's something in this snow hole, figure out a way to dig it out.
Feeling that there were most likely more flying dragons in the snow hole, Wang An crouched down and reached his hand inside.
Sure enough, Wang An's hand felt feathers. Opening his large hand and grabbing, he pulled out a flying dragon.
Perhaps Wang An had hurt the bird, as the flying dragon began to kick, scratch, and screech wildly.
The flying dragon was about the same size as a "Silly Half-Jin."
Normally, they weighed a bit over half a jin.
Looking at the flying dragon in Wang An's hand, Mu Xueli said with a chuckle
"I didn't expect these things to still be burrowing into the snow even though the weather has warmed up so much."
Wang An said nonchalantly
"That's because the temperature is okay right now, but at midnight, it's still minus 20 degrees or so. Maybe since spring is coming, these things aren't as cold-resistant as humans anymore."
Handing the flying dragon to Wang Li, Wang An crouched down again and reached into the snow hole.
Just like that, he pulled out four more flying dragons in a row, emptying the snow hole.
By this time, Wang An and the others had harvested 21 Silly Half-Jins and 8 flying dragons.
However, both types of birds were quite light; combined, they weighed only about fourteen or fifteen jin.
And that was counting them whole; if they plucked the feathers and removed the innards, it wouldn't exceed 10 jin at most.
Although bird intestines could be used to feed the dogs, the birds themselves weren't large—how many intestines could there be?
Therefore, if every dog was fed at least one, the nine people still wouldn't get much meat to eat.
Although there were plenty of frozen mushrooms and they tasted great, they required a lot of water to clean.
Relying on one small iron pot to melt snow into water, it was fine if they washed a few and didn't mind a bit of grit, but wanting to wash them all was pure nonsense.
Damn it, after all this effort, was it really just for some soup?
Thinking of this, Wang An felt somewhat unwilling.
Thus, Wang An said to the other three
"Let's circle around one more mountain hollow to the east before heading back. With such a large group of us, eating this little meat isn't going to cut it."
As soon as Wang An finished speaking, perhaps because he heard the words "eat meat," Wang Shuai's stomach let out another "gurgle gurgle" sound.
Then, Wang An and the other two simultaneously looked at Wang Shuai.
In this situation, what now?
Wang Shuai said with a smile
"It's fine, Xiao An, I can hold out. We martial artists might eat a lot, but we can also withstand hunger. Don't worry."
Wang Shuai's words reminded Wang An of Zhang Shuya.
Back when Zhang Shuya escaped from that forbidden area, the people there had gone to eat while she was tied up.
When Zhang Shuya and Wang An's group finally got to eat, her manner of eating had terrified the three of them.
Mainly because, at that time, Zhang Shuya could eat way too fucking much!
The total amount of food Wang An and the other two ate combined was probably roughly equal to what Zhang Shuya consumed.
Wang Shuai looked like he couldn't beat Zhang Shuya, but who knew if he had used his full strength?
One had to remember that currently, Wang Shuai was constantly pondering how to date Zhang Shuya.
With Wang Shuai's emotional and intellectual intelligence, would he do something like beat up Zhang Shuya?
After thinking it over, Wang An said, "Uh-huh, then let's take one more lap. It'll be great if we run into something; if not, we'll go back."
After Wang An spoke, the four of them turned a corner and headed toward another mountain hollow.
Ten minutes later, the sky had turned dark, and visibility was limited to about ten meters.
Yet, the four of them remained empty-handed.
Actually, hunting was like this; it was normal to find nothing.
Therefore, Wang An and the others continued to chat and laugh in low voices, feeling no tension at all.
Wang Shuai, however, seemed a bit anxious. Finally, he couldn't help but ask
"Xiao An, we've been walking for so long, why is there nothing?"
Before Wang An could speak, Wang Li said with a laugh
"This is nothing. Those who hunt for a living often go days without catching anything; it's perfectly normal. Right now, we're mainly relying on the performance of Da Hei and the others. Relying on us is useless..."
Hearing this, Wang Shuai nodded thoughtfully, appearing indeed less restless.
In fact, Wang Li was right. If Wang An and the others hadn't had Da Hei and the other two dogs finding pheasants and flying dragons, their current harvest would have been impossible.
A few minutes later, Da Hei suddenly bolted forward without making a single sound.
Seeing this, Er Hei and San Hei followed close behind.
This time, all three dogs were silent; except for the sound of their running, their mouths remained shut.
Mu Xueli whispered with a smile, "Look, Da Hei must have found a rabbit, otherwise he would have barked a few times."
Wang Li also nodded and said, "Uh-huh, most likely."
(End of Chapter)