In the silent forest, bare trees stretched everywhere.
A few Red-billed Finches pecked at the ground.
Tang Wen quietly approached, hiding behind a large tree not far away.
He bent down, his arm gently pulling back, then suddenly swung forward, as if skipping a stone!
Whoosh!
A sharp cry rang out.
A fist-sized Red-billed Finch flapped its wings, tumbling on the ground.
He hit it!
Without wasting time to celebrate, Tang Wen immediately ran over and grabbed the still-twitching Red-billed Finch.
The little creature, with its sharp beak, struggled and twitched, causing pain in his palm until its neck was twisted, finally losing all vitality.
Meat!
Tang Wen swallowed his saliva and stuffed the Red-billed Finch into the cloth bag at his waist. Then, he pulled out another stone from his waist.
"Chirp, chirp."
The remaining Red-billed Finches flew to a nearby tree.
They chirped noisily, standing on the branches, flapping their wings at Tang Wen.
Tang Wen smiled. The harsh environment had taught these birds to conserve their energy.
This made things much more convenient.
Whoosh!
Crack!
The stone hit the branch—a miss.
The Red-billed Finches were startled again, taking flight and soaring into the distance.
Tang Wen sighed.
Chasing them was out of the question; it would waste energy.
The experience panel showed a change:
[Skill: Stone Throwing, Proficiency (0→17/1000)]
17 experience points?
Hitting a living creature really made a difference!
Feeling a bit excited, he continued to explore the forest quietly.
The number of Red-billed Finches in the forest was limited. Outside, on the blackened grass, more Red-billed Finches were feeding on grass seeds.
But there were also many people there—people from the camp and Scavengers.
Tang Wen preferred to stay in the forest and search slowly, not wanting to expose his stone-throwing skills.
Crunch, crunch. His feet stepped on thick layers of dead leaves, and the smell of earth filled his nose.
"Chirp."
After walking for a while, a familiar call drifted in with the wind.
He stopped, quietly identified the direction, and headed toward the right front.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp."
Four or five Red-billed Finches chirped on the branches.
For the first time, Tang Wen thought their red beaks were so vibrant and beautiful, and their chirping was so melodious.
Even the fragrance of Seven Miles couldn't compare!
Whoosh!
The stone interrupted the birds' calls, followed by a more delightful cry.
The experience panel flashed by.
[Skill: Stone Throwing, Proficiency (17→33/1000)]
Thud.
The Red-billed Finch hit by the stone fell to the ground, but Tang Wen didn't pick it up immediately.
He stared at the other finches flapping their wings and flying away, scattering and quickly landing on different trees.
The distance wasn't far, and they were now spread out.
Tang Wen smiled, picked up the dead bird on the ground, and walked toward the next tree.
Even if these Red-billed Finches didn't make a sound, their bright red beaks stood out in the desolate, dark-brown forest more conspicuously than the sparse hair on his former boss's head.
Whoosh, thud.
A Red-billed Finch fluttered down and soon stopped moving.
[Skill: Stone Throwing, Proficiency (33→51/1000)]
This didn't disturb the birds on the other trees.
Bending down to pick it up, Tang Wen pulled out a new stone and quietly approached another tree.
Whoosh, crack!
The stone hit the branch, producing a crisp sound.
"Damn!"
Before Tang Wen's frustration could settle, the nearby Red-billed Finches flew away.
Holding the stone, he took aim and threw it into the air.
As expected, the attempt was futile.
In the jungle, darkness fell even faster.
He couldn't help but quicken his pace in his search...
After more than half an hour, the sun had completely set.
Tang Wen hurriedly made his way back toward the camp. There were no streetlights here, and the night was synonymous with danger.
Along the way, many people were rushing back just like him. A few individuals holding sticks squatted by the roadside, eyeing everyone intently.
Their thieving eyes scanned everyone from head to toe.
Tang Wen's bulging waist naturally caught their attention.
Fortunately, Tang Wen also noticed their ill intentions.
What kind of world is this!
He cursed inwardly but didn't quicken his pace. Instead, he suddenly stumbled, and the heavy cloth bag at his waist jingled with the movement.
It was just stones!
This unlucky kid!
He thought he had dug up something edible.
The people squatting by the roadside heard the noise and, seeing Tang Wen's thin frame, immediately knew he hadn't had many full meals.
They quickly categorized him as someone easy to bully but with no real value.
If there's no value, why bother bullying?
Seeing them look away, Tang Wen subtly adjusted his pace and walked calmly toward the camp without changing his expression.
Only after entering the camp did he secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Safe!
The ten pounds of foxtail millet were worth it.
Passing by his own shack, he didn't stop but headed straight for the market.
On the eastern side of the camp, there were several rows of stone-built houses.
The road here was wide, and people were setting up stalls on the ground.
Most of the stalls displayed items dug up from who knows where.
As Tang Wen walked by, he quickly realized that these were things even scavengers on Earth wouldn't give a second glance.
After all, this was the outskirts of the camp, and the people living here were only slightly better off than the scavengers outside.
He walked further in until he saw a stone wall with an iron gate in the middle. On either side of the gate were stone houses resembling bunkers, and he stopped there.
From his memories, Tang Wen knew that inside the iron gate was called—the city.
In the mouths of those living on the outskirts of the camp, the city was a place where one could eat foxtail millet to their fill every day.
Everyone wanted to live there, but they didn't have the qualifications.
Li Ge, who collected rent in the camp, had said, "The city isn't a place you can just move into by paying a few extra pounds of grain!"
Tang Wen peered inside the iron gate for a while, curious.
The original owner had wandered here with his parents and had lived in the camp for several years, but it seemed he didn't know anyone from the city.
The thick stone walls before him made Tang Wen wonder: These massive stone blocks must weigh hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds. Could such neatly stacked walls really be built by human strength?
By people who, like him, could barely get enough to eat?
Or perhaps the city still retained some remnants of civilization?
Gurgle, gurgle...
His stomach growled.
Tang Wen chuckled self-deprecatingly: Why am I worrying about this when I can't even get enough to eat?
He turned to look to his right, where a stone house hung a triangular flag with the character for "rice" embroidered on it.
The rice shop.
It was said to be owned by a big shot from the inner city.
"Get out if you're empty-handed!"
Tang Wen had barely taken two steps inside when he heard an impatient voice.
A man appeared at the corner of the doorway, clad in leather armor, wearing a leather cap, and holding a loaded crossbow.
The steel arrowhead gleamed coldly.
"Yes, yes, I have a Red-billed Finch."
Tang Wen hastily pulled a dead bird from the cloth bag filled with stones.
"Go on in."
"Alright, alright."
Turning the corner, a long table several meters long stood there, with a scale on top.
The courtyard was filled with large black pottery rice jars, each about half a person's height and as thick as two people could embrace. At a rough count, there were more than twenty of them.
All filled with grain?
Tang Wen, who had been starving for two days, breathed heavily, his eyes red.
If I had this much, no, even just one jar of grain, I could survive this winter!
"The Red-billed Finch is quite rare, let me see."
Behind the long table, an old man lying on a recliner slowly pushed aside the animal skin covering him and stood up.
Tang Wen handed over the Red-billed Finch.
"Oh, caught alive? Did you twist its neck after catching it?"
Before he could finish, Tang Wen gave a thumbs up: "Boss! You're spot on! How much foxtail millet can I get for this bird?"
The old man smiled slightly, tossed the bird onto the scale: less than 2 taels.
That's about 80 to 90 grams.
"After plucking, it's just about one tael of meat, but it's quite intact, with heart, liver, and brain all there. I'll give you three catties of foxtail millet for it!"
"Uncle, could you give a bit more? I haven't had a full meal in a long time." Tang Wen smiled ingratiatingly. He had heard about the exchange rate of meat for foxtail millet, roughly 1 to 10, one catty of meat for ten catties of millet.
"Anything else in the bag?"
"Yes, two more."
Tang Wen pulled out two more Red-billed Finches from his pocket.
"Wow, quite the skill!"
"Just luck, pure luck."
"Heh, both quite intact," the boss looked at Tang Wen: "You're almost a skeleton, kid. I'll give you one
and a half catties per bird. Next time you catch more..."
"Next time I catch any, I'll bring them straight to you! Thank you, boss! Thank you, uncle!"
"Alright, quite sharp." The boss gave him another glance.
Scooping the millet, weighing it...
Tang Wen tucked the coarse cloth rice bag into his chest, thanked the boss again, and turned to leave the rice shop.
(End of Chapter)