Timely Stat Allocation

In the biting wind, Zhou Ye trudged through the snow, one foot deep, one foot shallow. He was in an excellent mood—he had finished another job. For the rest of winter, he could grind like his life depended on it without a care... Huh?

Zhou Ye suddenly noticed quite a few hoofed-animal tracks in the snow. He drew a throwing spear and began striding after them.

But the moment he rounded a huge clump of bushes, he saw more than a dozen deer gnawing at grass roots beneath the snow. It had happened so suddenly that neither side had noticed the other beforehand. The herd was only thirty paces away. Startled by his sudden appearance, they all stared at Zhou Ye in unison.

Huh? His heart leaped with delight. There was such a good thing?

Without hesitation, Zhou Ye hurled the spear with all his strength. It whistled through the air and struck the nearest deer with precision. Basic Throwing EXP +8

Startled into motion, the entire herd scattered at once. The deer struck by the throwing spear staggered forward a few steps before suddenly collapsing into the snow...

To be honest, Zhou Ye did not lack food at all right now. But since he had come across it, he might as well not let the chance slip by. He had not expected his luck to be this good, either.

Still, Zhou Ye was a little embarrassed at the moment. The deer was simply too heavy—well over three hundred jin. There was no way he could carry it away himself.

After thinking it over, Zhou Ye first drained its blood, then removed all its organs and tossed them into the wilds nearby. Next, he chopped off the deer's head, keeping only its two enormous antlers. He had no need for the head as a decoration, so he discarded it all to reduce the weight.

After that, he cut down several small trees and made a simple sled. He moved the deer onto it and tied it down, then pulled it with a rope as he continued toward home...

More than four hours later, Zhou Ye had reached the vicinity of Little Homestead. Success was within sight. Though his body was exhausted, his heart was still filled with joy.

But just then, the wind faintly carried the howls of beasts. The cries rose and fell one after another. They sounded... like wild wolves? And there were quite a few of them. It was probably a wolf pack.

The moment he realized he had encountered a wolf pack, Zhou Ye tensed up. It would be far too much of a pity to abandon that deer.

Besides, the wolf pack was still quite far away, while Little Homestead was only a little over a quarter hour from here.

With that in mind, Zhou Ye gritted his teeth and decided to allocate some points. First, he added +1, then another +1 to Strength. After adding two points, it had reached the average level of an ordinary person. Then he added +1 to Constitution. Not only did it improve his constitution to the average level of an ordinary person, it also gave him a full recovery.

After allocating the points, Zhou Ye immediately felt his strength surge, while boundless energy welled up inside him. As he continued dragging the sled, his speed noticeably increased.

He raced onward with all his might, and in less than a quarter hour, he successfully dragged the sled into Little Homestead...

After closing the gate, Zhou Ye finally relaxed and let out a long breath. Those points had been allocated just in time, used at the most critical moment.

Not long after he shut the gate, a black speck emerged from the forest, then a second, then a third... It really was a wolf pack, six wolves in all.

But they had arrived too late. There was no way they could climb over the fence outside.

Zhou Ye ignored the wild wolves outside. As long as they could not find anything to eat nearby, they would leave on their own.

He moved the deer into the kitchen and expertly skinned it. Then he butchered it into pieces and carried the venison outside, piling it into a snowbank. With the temperature so low, it could serve perfectly well as a natural refrigerator.

But after finishing all that, Zhou Ye happened to glance outside and was startled to see that the wolf pack had not left. Perhaps food was scarce in winter, and the smell of deer blood had lured the wolves over. Unwilling to give up, they circled Little Homestead as if they had surrounded the place?

What, were even wild wolves this stupid? Zhou Ye found it amusing. With all the supplies stored here, it would not matter even if he stayed indoors for months, right?

Shaking his head with a smile, Zhou Ye fetched his throwing spear and bow and climbed atop the stone wall. Since you refuse to leave, I'll play with you!

Showing half his body above the wooden stakes, Zhou Ye drew his bow and took aim. With a whoosh, the arrow... still failed to hit its target.

With his increased strength, he could now fully draw this bow, and its range had increased considerably. But he still had no accuracy to speak of. All he could rely on was faith-based archery.

However, compared with other beasts, wild wolves were still quite cunning.

Seeing that the arrow had missed, they deliberately ran farther away, beyond the bow's range. Yet they still refused to leave, howling wildly at Zhou Ye.

Unable to do anything about the wolf pack, Zhou Ye could only give up helplessly. He took some wheat grains and prepared to feed the bamboo rats and the birds.

But when he reached the bamboo rat nest, he saw that two bamboo rats had frozen to death? The others were huddled in the hay, shivering?

The chicken coop and duck coop were the same. One pheasant had frozen to death, while the others were likewise squeezed into a tight cluster?

Zhou Ye hurriedly brought over an empty rattan basket and first moved all the pheasants and wild ducks indoors. Then he cleared out a large vat and moved the bamboo rats inside as well. It would be much messier, but at least it would keep them warm.

After feeding them, he realized there were still too many bamboo rats.

So he dealt with the dead chicken first, lit a fire, and began stewing chicken soup. Then he took the two dead bamboo rats, plus another one, skinned them and cut them into chunks, coated them in flour, and prepared to deep-fry them...

Thus, wild wolves howled outside the wall while rich food and drink filled the space within. The scent of food drifting out made the wolves leap and scamper about.

At last, after finishing his meal, Zhou Ye armed himself and walked into the courtyard with a grin, intending to check on the wolf pack outside again.

But the moment he stepped out the door, he saw a wild wolf rise onto its hind legs. It leaned against the wooden stakes and let out a wolf howl at Zhou Ye. "Awoo—!"

Zhou Ye jumped in fright. Reflexively, he threw the spear in his hand. To his surprise, he performed beyond his usual level this time—the spear slipped through the gap between two wooden stakes and drove viciously into the wolf's head. Basic Throwing EXP +10

The wild wolf's body went limp. It was clearly about to die, yet it remained hanging outside the wooden stakes.

Taking the bow and arrows from his back, Zhou Ye sprang up the stone wall in a few quick steps and looked outside.

Sure enough, the wolf pack had begun moving. They had already silently approached the outer wall. Perhaps hunger had driven them mad. Seeing that the wolf was dead, several wolves lunged toward it, intending to use their companion's corpse as food.

With such excellent live targets at such close range, Zhou Ye did not hold back. Aiming at the wolves, he fired arrow after arrow.

"Whoosh, whoosh whoosh..."