Food and Warmth

"Calm down, Fang Zhixing."

The little puppy panted, tilted his head, stuck out his tongue, and put on the serious face of a husky.

"We have to pull ourselves together, or we'll really starve to death."

He sent over feebly, "You don't want to become the first transmigrator to starve to death, do you?"

Fang Zhixing sneered. "You adapted pretty fast. You've already accepted that you're a transmigrator? Skinny Dog!"

The little puppy looked at his four paws, then helplessly licked his fur. "You think I fucking wanted to transmigrate into a dog? And why did you get to transmigrate into a human? I really don't understand."

Fang Zhixing spat. "How many rotten things have you done? Don't you have any fucking idea? Hmph, Heaven is fair. You fucking don't deserve to be human, got it?"

The little puppy retorted indignantly, "You've never done anything rotten? Did you pay off your bank loans?"

Fang Zhixing answered with perfect righteousness, "I bought an unfinished building. Why the hell should I still repay the loan?"

After saying that, Fang Zhixing inexplicably felt much lighter.

He thought for a moment, then said slowly, "Let's sort out the situation. We died together, then transmigrated together into this unfamiliar world. I became Big Ox, and you became Skinny Dog."

The little puppy said angrily, "Don't just give me a nickname. I'm Zhang Changji. Wherever I go, my surname is Zhang."

Fang Zhixing shot the little puppy a vicious glare and snapped, "Skinny Dog, Skinny Dog—you're the skinniest Skinny Dog there is!"

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle~

The man and dog's stomachs growled again.

Hunger swiftly dragged them both back to reality.

Fang Zhixing no longer had the strength to be angry. He rallied himself and continued, "According to the memories of this body's original owner, this world is extremely backward, just like a distant ancient feudal dynasty. There's an emperor and county magistrates. The mountain village we're in is called Crouching Ox Village. The people here live by farming and hunting. But these past few years, natural disasters and human calamities have come one after another. Harvests have been meager, and everyone is starving."

Skinny Dog analyzed as well, "According to my original body's memories, Crouching Ox Village has two latrines, one at the east end of the village and one at the west end. The latrine at the east end has been occupied by the village chief's big yellow dog. The latrine at the west end has also been occupied by the village chief's big yellow dog."

Then he sighed with feeling, "Ah, in times like these, only strong dogs that are both fierce and vicious can get a bite of something hot."

Fang Zhixing rolled his eyes repeatedly and summed up, "In short, there's a famine right now, the people can barely survive, and our understanding of this whole world is extremely limited."

Skinny Dog suddenly said, "Maybe this is an immortal cultivation world, with spiritual energy between Heaven and Earth. Hurry up and try breathing exercises."

Fang Zhixing pondered briefly, took several deep breaths, then let them out in a long exhale.

Skinny Dog perked up his ears and asked excitedly, "How does it feel?"

Fang Zhixing said speechlessly, "I'm fucking even hungrier now."

Skinny Dog's ears immediately drooped. He grumbled, "We're transmigrators, for crying out loud. Where's our golden finger? Say, don't you have a system? What about some old grandpa?"

What golden finger could Fang Zhixing possibly have? He asked in return, "You got a cheat?"

Skinny Dog replied, "I think the fact that we can communicate telepathically might be our golden finger."

Fang Zhixing curled his lip. "What fucking use is that?"

He stood and looked beyond the fence. "We need to figure out how to get something to eat."

Skinny Dog quickly said, "Every household in the village has run out of food. Aside from the village chief's family, which can still get a pot boiling, all the other villagers have to go out hunting."

Fang Zhixing nodded. "We'll hunt too."

Skinny Dog asked, "Can you hunt? Did you inherit this body's hunting skills?"

Fang Zhixing looked himself over. He was just over five foot seven, thin-framed, with skinny arms and legs, his face yellow and emaciated at a glance from long-term malnutrition.

He clenched his rough hands and shook his head. "What impressive hunting skills could the original owner have had? At most, he fished by hand in the water and climbed trees for bird eggs."

Skinny Dog looked at the quiver hanging beneath the eaves and asked, "Can you use that?"

Fang Zhixing's mouth twitched. "I'm so hungry I can barely walk. Where would I find the strength to draw a bow and shoot arrows?"

Skinny Dog thought that made sense.

The man and dog swayed out of the house.

By then, the other villagers had also gotten up one after another, left their homes, and headed into the mountains, scattering in search of food.

Fang Zhixing carried a battered bamboo basket on his back. Following the mountain path from his memories, he crossed a stretch of woodland and arrived two or three li away, soon hearing the rush of flowing water.

"You're going to catch fish?" Skinny Dog was doubtful. "You don't have a fishing rod or a net. How are you going to do it?"

Fang Zhixing replied, "When the original owner was little, he saw his father catch fish in the river. There are lots of holes along the bank where you can dig out crayfish and ricefield eels."

Skinny Dog immediately perked up and took off running on all fours. "I'll find the holes, and you dig them out. By the way, you can swim, right?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

Fang Zhixing walked to the bank and looked at the river. The current was a little swift, the water muddy and turbid, with dead branches and fallen leaves drifting on it.

He took off his straw sandals, tied them together with wild grass, hung them around his neck, then carefully stepped into the water.

Though it was a sweltering September, the river water was still somewhat cold.

Fang Zhixing adjusted for a moment, then walked upstream along the riverbank, occasionally prodding the mud with his toes.

Luckily, this was ancient times. There were no shards of glass or anything like that.

Before long, he bumped into something. His expression changed. He bent down and felt around underwater for a while, then pulled it up and could not help showing delight.

"A river snail!"

Fang Zhixing had picked up a river snail the size of a fist, alive, with milky-white flesh visible inside.

A little later, he dug a clam out of the mud, as large as his palm.

"There's quite a lot of good stuff in this river."

Fang Zhixing grinned, suddenly filled with energy.

"Woof woof woof!"

In the distance, Skinny Dog began barking.

Fang Zhixing could not understand what he was saying. Their telepathic communication had a range; once they were too far apart, no matter what Skinny Dog said, it only sounded like woof woof woof.

He walked over.

Skinny Dog was staring at a small hole by the riverbank and sent over, "There's a hole here. There should be something alive inside."

Fang Zhixing asked in surprise, "Can you see through things, or did you smell something?"

Skinny Dog said smugly, "Look carefully. Isn't the mud around the entrance very loose? I suspect this is a crayfish hole."

Fang Zhixing fell silent briefly, shifted position, crouched down, and reached his right hand into the hole.

Skinny Dog cried, "Be careful! Don't let the crayfish pinch you."

"Like you needed to tell me that." Fang Zhixing was naturally extremely careful. His whole body tensed as he slowly reached farther in.

Suddenly, his fingers touched something. It immediately shrank deeper into the hole.

Fang Zhixing jolted, first pulling his hand back, then pressing forward again. Soon, he touched that thing once more.

"Not a crayfish..."

Fang Zhixing suddenly grabbed it and yanked it out.

Skinny Dog watched nervously, turning left and right in frantic agitation.

Splash!

Fang Zhixing straightened up, pulling out something long and thick. It was a huge ricefield eel, over a meter long.

The huge ricefield eel thrashed wildly, slick and slippery.

Fang Zhixing could not keep hold of it, so he simply flung it onto the bank, where it landed in the grass.

The huge ricefield eel immediately twisted its body and burrowed downward.

"Watch me!"

Skinny Dog ran over and bit the huge ricefield eel's tail, only for it to suddenly whip around like a divine dragon swinging its tail and smack him across the face.

"Awooo~"

Skinny Dog yelped in pain.

"Useless." Fang Zhixing rushed onto the bank, stomped on the huge ricefield eel, and used both hands to pin its neck down hard.