The kill

The stalemate on the frozen ground lasted several long minutes.

The wild dog's struggles beneath him visibly weakened. Its initially frenzied kicks, violent twists, and savage tosses of its head slowly dwindled into faint spasms and feeble writhing. Already wounded, its body had nearly exhausted its stamina through unrestrained exertion.

Lu Heng did not rush to act.

A dying beast often had one last frenzied counterattack left in it. A moment's carelessness could reverse the situation in an instant.

He kept his full weight pressed down, firmly pinning the wild dog's torso without letting up at all. He held it there a while longer, confirming that the body beneath him showed no further sign of explosive resistance and had gone completely limp with exhaustion, before adjusting his position little by little.

He moved extremely slowly, every shift of his weight utterly steady, leaving no room for mistakes.

Lu Heng slowly moved his arms from their bracing, pinning position, lowering and drawing them together until they crossed tightly around the wild dog's neck.

The instant their flesh touched, a thick, pungent stench struck him in the face. Mingled with the chill of the frozen earth, the beast's sweat, and the bloody smell of clotted wounds, it rushed into his nostrils, choking and stifling him.

The wild dog's limbs trembled faintly, and broken, hoarse breaths came from its throat, but it could no longer muster the strength to struggle. Its head drooped, its body lay limp on the frozen ground, and it had completely lost the ability to fight back.

Once he confirmed that it was utterly spent, Lu Heng felt slightly steadier.

He still did not dare rashly release the arm restraining its neck, keeping a firm lock on its breathing and room to move. Then his fingertips shifted slightly as he slowly freed his right hand, which had been gripping the stone.

His entire arm was already stiff, aching, and numb. Prolonged tension and exertion had impeded his circulation, making the movement noticeably sluggish.

Enduring the aching tightness, he steadily brought the stone out and held it in the air.

The stone was rough and heavy, with sharply defined edges, aimed at the most vulnerable spot on the back of the wild dog's neck.

At that moment, the wilderness beast that had posed such a threat just moments earlier was completely at his mercy, powerless to fight back.

The wild dog seemed to sense the killing intent overhead. Its remaining instincts made it nudge its head weakly and scrabble lightly at the frozen earth with its paws, trying to evade the stone.

But its neck was tightly locked in place, and his full weight pinned its body down. Every movement was futile.

There was no ferocity, no growling, only a faint struggle to survive as the end approached.

Lu Heng did not relent.

There was no kindness in this wasteland. Had he let his guard down for an instant earlier, he would have been the one with an arm bitten through, the one knocked to the ground.

He held his breath, steadied his aching, trembling arm, and drove the stone down hard with a snap of his wrist.

Dull impacts struck across the frozen wasteland.

Once, then again.

After several blows, the body beneath him went completely slack, without so much as a twitch.

The tension abruptly drained from his long-taut nerves. Lu Heng went limp, most of his strength vanishing in an instant. He slowly loosened his arms and slumped sideways onto the frozen ground, gasping for breath, his chest heaving violently and cold sweat soaking the fresh clothes he had just changed into.

Those few short minutes of confrontation and restraint had exhausted him more than working through the night.

He raised his hand and removed the stone wedged between the wild dog's teeth.

Its surface was covered in fine tooth marks, the hard stone gnawed into pits and dents. Without that desperate, improvised gamble, his palm would undoubtedly have been mangled by now.

Lu Heng braced himself against the ground and slowly stood, his legs trembling slightly.

He lowered his head to look at his hands.

Dried blood and grime filled the spaces between his fingers, dark red fragments lodged beneath his nails, and veins bulged across the backs of his hands, which still trembled faintly beyond his control.

These hands had been scrolling on his phone just a few hours ago.

Now they were covered in another living creature's blood, the bloody smell on him mingling with the wild dog's rank stench.

Finally, he could no longer hold it back. A surge of acid rose abruptly in his stomach.

Lu Heng bent over and retched twice, but nothing came up-he had barely eaten anything to begin with. His throat burned painfully, and tears welled up uncontrollably, smearing his face.

He did not know whether he was crying from pain, from fear, or because of that muffled sound from the wild dog's throat as he brought the stone down again and again.

That sound had been too human.

Like some garbled, despairing plea for mercy.

Lu Heng gritted his teeth and forced his gaze away from the corpse. He crouched on the frozen ground, his forehead against his knees, taking great gulps of air as he waited for the churning to slowly subside.

After he had rested for a while-perhaps a few minutes, perhaps longer-his hands finally stopped shaking.

He stood again and looked down at the wild dog's corpse.

His heart was still pounding wildly, but the look in his eyes had changed.

This was the first true fight to the death in his life.

In his former world, whenever he encountered a dog this large on the street, he always avoided it if he could, taking a detour and never daring to come anywhere near it.

His old life had been uneventful and secure. He had rarely even cooked, much less grappled to the death with a thoroughly savage beast.

But things were different now.

On his first day in this frozen land, there was no way back, no room to give ground, and no one else to rely on.

Danger had come straight at him, impossible to avoid. Retreat meant death.

His former timid, dutiful self, who had only ever drifted passively through life, could never survive in this wilderness.

Lu Heng wiped his face roughly with his sleeve, wiping away both his tears and his cold sweat.

He lowered his head for one last look at the wild dog's corpse and remained silent for a moment. Then he tightened his grip on the stone axe, intending to butcher it himself and gather materials. The band on his wrist suddenly glimmered, and a notification appeared before his eyes: a wild creature killed by the host had been detected. He could butcher it manually or activate the system's gathering function; choosing gathering would deduct a portion of the materials as payment.

Seeing the option on his wristband, Lu Heng activated the gathering function without a moment's hesitation. He knew that butchering the corpse himself would inevitably release a heavy smell of blood. In this danger-ridden wasteland, such a strong scent was no different from deliberately inviting trouble.

The gathering function activated in response, and the wild dog's corpse on the ground slowly dissolved and broke apart. At the same time, a new notification appeared on the wristband: the storage function was now unlocked, with ten storage slots inside. Dog meat, bones, and canine teeth entered the storage space in succession. The total yield was reduced compared with the intact body, but Lu Heng did not mind.

He took out the hide, already prepared to face its rank, foul stench, but it felt dry to the touch. When he brought it closer and sniffed, there was not the slightest odor. Presumably, preliminary working and treatment had been completed during gathering.

Lu Heng immediately draped the dog hide over himself. It was just the right size, wrapping snugly around his torso. In this bitterly cold place, an extra layer of cover and warmth meant another measure of assurance that he would survive.

Once everything was in order, Lu Heng lingered no longer and headed down the slope. After walking for a long time over the hard, frozen ground, he finally saw an expanse of forest stretching along the edge of his vision.

The trees stood interwoven at varying intervals, their branches swaying gently in the cold wind, and the depths of the forest stretched beyond sight. He stared at that greenery, his jaw tightening slightly. He knew that the forest offered shelter from the wind and plentiful supplies, but also harbored unknown dangers. Whether entering it would bring fortune or disaster was impossible to tell.

But looking around now, the open wasteland offered no cover at all. He could not remain there for long. If he wanted to survive, his only choice was to head toward the forest.

After briefly weighing his options, Lu Heng tightened his grip on the stone axe and started toward the forest.