First Hunt (Traps)

The hope of sowing seeds was like a warm ember, continuously spreading comfort through Chen An's heart, yet it could not completely dispel the increasingly pressing chill of reality—the remaining beast meat was nearly gone. The dried meat hanging in the ventilated area would last two or three days at most. The seeds in the garden had only just been planted, and harvest was still a long way off. A stable food source, especially protein, had become a sword hanging over his head.

Passively waiting for small animals to wander into the Safe Zone was no different from waiting idly for a rabbit to run into a tree stump; the odds were slim, and the outcome was full of uncertainty. He had to take the initiative, at the very least securing himself a chance to obtain meat at the edge of the Safe Zone. Hunting, that primitive and brutal word, was officially added to his survival agenda.

Walk straight out of the Safe Zone and fight the Demonic Beasts? That would be suicide. The only possibility was to use tools and intelligence to set traps.

The thought made Chen An uncomfortable. In civilized society, hunting was a concept far removed from everyday life. But here, it was the most direct and ancient law of survival. He took a deep breath and suppressed the hesitation in his heart. In the face of survival, sentimentality was a luxury.

He did not act rashly. Instead, he spent the entire morning like a patient hunter, lurking behind the courtyard gate and carefully observing the area dozens of meters outside through the gaps.

He needed to understand the "prey's" patterns of activity. Soon, he noticed several kinds of small creatures. One was a gray-brown beast, swift in its movements, shaped like a squirrel but with a short, thick tail. It often leaped among several fruit trees on the right, gnawing on some kind of red berry. Another was the timid, rabbit-like creature he had captured before. They preferred the dense grass along the edge of the woodland on the left, and were especially active at dawn and dusk.

He also had to avoid dangerous areas: the giant python's territory directly ahead and the terrifying insect nest beneath the cliff on the right. In the end, he chose the edge of the woodland on the left, near a patch of berry bushes where the grass was relatively dense, as the location for his first trap. It was close to a water source—a small stream—and had abundant vegetation, making it an ideal area for herbivorous beasts. It was also far from the insect nest, so it was relatively safe.

The trap he designed was the simplest type of spring snare. It used the elasticity of a branch to yank the snare upward in an instant, catching the prey by the leg or neck. It required an elastic branch, a tough cord, a sensitive trigger mechanism, and a fixed anchor point.

Inside the courtyard, he found a short shrub with exceptional flexibility. He cut down several branches as thick as his thumb and about a meter long. When he bent them with force, he could feel their powerful recoil.

It was still those tough vine fibers. He carefully twisted several vine cords of uniform thickness and sufficient length.

This was the soul of the trap. He needed a small mechanism that could instantly release the taut branch when touched by prey. He tried several methods before finally using a small Y-shaped branch and a thin cross-pin to make a simple balance-trigger mechanism. When the cross-pin was lightly knocked loose, the Y-shaped branch would lose its support, and the spring branch would snap upward instantly.

He needed a sturdy sapling or tree stump to anchor the other end of the trap.

All afternoon, he repeatedly practiced making and triggering the trap inside the courtyard. He used stones to simulate prey, setting, triggering, and adjusting the trap again and again. He failed many times: the cord's knots came loose, the trigger mechanism was too sensitive, going off when the grass stirred in the wind, or too sluggish, showing no reaction when a stone pressed on it; the branch lacked sufficient spring...

Sweat soaked through his clothes, and the rough vines rubbed blisters into his fingers. But he did not give up. Like an obsessive craftsman, he continued improving it. He adjusted the way he tied the knots, polished the contact surfaces of the trigger mechanism, and tested the spring of different branches. Failure, adjustment, another failure, another adjustment... By sunset, he was finally able to skillfully and steadily produce an effective spring snare.

The next morning, at first light, the roars of beasts outside the courtyard had just subsided. It was precisely when small animals began to stir. Chen An knew the time had come.

He took a deep breath and checked his equipment. A stone ax hung at his waist, while he carried the prepared trap components and a long wooden spear with a sharpened tip, to defend himself and finish off prey if necessary. He gently pushed open the courtyard gate. A gust of Primordial Wilderness air, mixed with morning dew and a faint fishy odor, rushed toward him, instantly quickening his heartbeat.

He was extremely alert. Every step was as light as a civet's, his ears pricked up to catch the slightest sound. His eyes swept over the surrounding bushes and grass like scanners. It took him a full quarter of an hour to cover the twenty meters.

Once he reached the planned ambush site, he acted swiftly. He chose a sapling as thick as his wrist for an anchor point and tied one end of the vine cord tightly around it. Then he bent the spring branch with all his strength, nearly folding it in half, and carefully secured it with the trigger mechanism, keeping the branch loaded with immense potential energy. Finally, he tied the other end of the vine cord into a snare and arranged it above the mechanism, leaving the loop slightly open. Beneath it, he scattered several berry-like bait pellets he had brought from the courtyard. He had tasted them; they were nontoxic and slightly sweet.

The entire setup took less than three minutes, but cold sweat had already soaked his back. Every second outside the courtyard was filled with unknown danger. After one final inspection confirmed that the trap was sound, he immediately hunched over and retreated into the courtyard gate with the fastest speed and lightest steps he could manage.

"Bang!" The courtyard gate slammed shut, and he leaned against the door, panting heavily as if he had just returned from the gates of hell.

The time that followed became a long ordeal. He did not dare stray far from the gate, peering through the crack at the trap's direction every so often. Hope and fear intertwined. He hoped the trap would bring him food, yet feared it might attract some large creature he could not handle.

Time passed second by second. He saw several small birds hopping on branches near the trap, and a hedgehog-like beast slowly pass by it, even sniffing at it with its nose, but the mechanism was not triggered. Hope rose again and again, only to fall again and again.

In the afternoon, the sunlight grew scorching. Chen An began to feel discouraged, wondering whether his trap was not concealed well enough or whether the bait lacked appeal. Just as he was about to give up hope for the day—

"Snap!" A crisp triggering sound came from the distance!

It was followed by the whoosh of the branch springing violently upward, along with a burst of frantic, panicked struggling and short, pitiful cries!

It worked!

Chen An's heart began pounding wildly, and blood rushed instantly to his head. He forcibly suppressed the urge to rush outside. Instead, he carefully observed his surroundings, making sure no other large predators had been drawn over by the sound. After waiting several minutes, the surroundings remained peaceful. Only the creature's ongoing struggles grew weaker and weaker.

He no longer hesitated. Gripping the wooden spear tightly, he threw open the courtyard gate and hurried toward the trap.

Pushing aside the grass, he saw the trap's spoils: a rabbit-like creature slightly larger than the one from last time, with grayish-white fur. Its hind leg was tightly constricted by the vine snare, leaving it hanging upside down beneath the raised branch. It had stopped struggling, its body twitching faintly, its wide-open eyes filled with terror and despair.

A complex mixture of joy, relief, and faint guilt surged through Chen An's heart. He was glad to have succeeded, relieved that he was safe, and guilty for taking a life. But he quickly shook his head and suppressed those unnecessary emotions. Here, this was survival, not a game.

He stepped forward and used the wooden spear to end its suffering cleanly. Then he quickly untied the snare and lifted the prey, which still retained some warmth. After warily scanning the surroundings, he hurried back to the Small Courtyard.

After closing the courtyard gate and securing the latch, he leaned against the door and looked at the heavy prey in his hands. Only then did Chen An truly relax. It had worked! For the first time, he had relied on his own intelligence and preparation to actively obtain food from the Primordial World!

He was much more skilled at processing the prey now. He skinned it, removed the organs—carefully keeping parts that looked potentially useful, such as the heart and liver—and cut the meat into pieces. This time, he wasted nothing. The hide could be tanned and used for warmth or as a container, the bones could perhaps be made into tools or weapons, and he even carefully collected the tough sinews, which might serve as bowstrings or binding material in the future.

That evening, fresh beast meat roasted over the bonfire, filling the air with fragrance. As Chen An ate the roasted meat and drank hot water, his heart filled with a sense of accomplishment unlike anything he had felt before. This was more than a successful hunt; it was a leap in his mindset. He had begun transforming from a passive survivor who depended entirely on the Safe Zone's protection into an active survivor capable of utilizing his environment and planning his own actions.

He watched the leaping firelight, his gaze firm. Traps would become an important means of securing meat in the future. He needed to improve his trapping techniques and set up more varied and concealed traps.

He was gradually learning the survival laws of the Primordial World and trying to master them.

(End of Chapter Fifteen)