[Gathering Module LV2 (108/300)]
Even a mosquito's leg was still meat.
Su Wei didn't turn his nose up at it and kept going.
Cotton Candy followed behind him, occasionally sniffing the snow.
The little fox's senses were sharper than the system modules, especially when it came to finding living creatures.
The two traveled single file through the woods for over an hour.
Su Wei gathered a few more low-value plants along the way, slowly gaining 15 experience points for the Gathering Module.
His patience hadn't worn thin in the slightest.
Patience was vital to surviving in the wilderness.
Suddenly, Cotton Candy, who was walking ahead, stopped.
The little fox crouched with ears flattened low and let out a muffled whine.
A coat of snowy white fur made Cotton Candy almost invisible against the snow, but those blue eyes were fixed on a stand of spruce trees about fifty meters diagonally ahead.
Su Wei's heart gave a sudden leap.
He immediately dropped to one knee, lowering his profile as much as possible.
At the same time, he reached out and gently pressed a hand against Cotton Candy's back, signaling the little fox to stay still.
He trusted the little fox's instincts.
That reaction definitely wasn't from seeing a snowshoe hare or a squirrel.
He followed Cotton Candy's gaze.
The spruce trees grew thick there, their branches layered so densely that even the light was dimmer.
At first, he saw nothing.
Moving extremely slowly, he took the Browning rifle from his chest and released the safety.
Just then, a patch of shadow in the woods moved.
It wasn't a shadow.
It was a deer.
A black-tailed deer with grayish-brown fur and a black tip on its tail.
Its head was lowered as it scraped away the shallow snow with a hoof and nibbled at the moss beneath.
Judging by its size, it was probably an adult doe, on its own.
Su Wei's breath caught for an instant.
The target!
This was the target he'd been looking for all along!
The key to unlocking the Hunting Module!
The enormous debt of $160,000, the bank manager's icy demands for payment, and all his plans for the future converged on that deer at this moment.
His blood began to race, and a surge of heat swept through his body, carrying tension, excitement, and a primal urge.
But his hands held the gun steady as a rock.
He carefully surveyed the surroundings, making sure the deer really was alone, with no wary companions nearby, much less a brown bear lying in wait.
Good.
He gestured to Cotton Candy to stay low and keep quiet.
The little fox was quick to understand, immediately lying down in the snow and staying perfectly still, watching him anxiously.
Su Wei began his first true stalk.
At fifty meters, there were too many obstructions in the woods for him to be certain of his shot.
He needed to get closer.
Recalling the hunting documentaries he'd watched, he lowered his center of gravity as much as possible, almost crawling through the snow as he used every tree and rock for cover, inching forward bit by bit.
The snow was soft, and he made very little noise, but to his ears, the sound of his body brushing against it was magnified countless times.
Ten meters.
Twenty meters.
He drew closer and closer to the deer, until he could even make out the tiny movements of its ears as it flicked away the snow pellets that landed on them.
Black-tailed deer were highly sensitive to danger; a gust of wind or an unusual sound could send one vanishing into the sea of trees in an instant.
Su Wei stopped behind a thick spruce tree, only about thirty meters from his target.
He couldn't get any closer.
This was a good shooting distance.
He slowly leaned against the trunk, using it as a steady support, and gradually raised the Browning rifle in his hands.
The cold stock pressed into the hollow of his shoulder, and he laid his cheek against it.
Through the scope, he centered the black-tailed deer, which was still feeding with its head down.
The world in the scope drew close, every hair on the deer's body visible in exquisite detail.
The crosshairs moved slowly across the deer's body, finally settling steadily behind its shoulder blade, over the heart.
Right here.
Kill it in one shot, without giving it any chance to suffer or struggle.
This was respect for the prey, and an efficient way to hunt.
Su Wei's mind went blank.
There was no system, no module, only muscle memory practiced countless times in his mind, and his instincts at this moment.
He slowly breathed out half the air in his lungs, then held his breath.
The whole world disappeared.
The wind, the silence of the woods, Cotton Candy beside him, the debt in the distance... all of it ceased to exist.
In his world, only the crosshairs in the scope remained, and the patch of grayish-brown fur beneath them.
His right index finger rested lightly on the cold trigger.
He began to apply pressure.
A little.
A little more.
Chapter 18: The final end: this was a hunter's mercy
Under the pressure of his index finger, the trigger finally reached the end of its travel.
Bang!
The muffled gunshot exploded through the snowy woods, startling roosting birds into flight, their wings flapping as they fled toward the gray sky.
The Browning rifle's recoil slammed hard into the hollow of Su Wei's shoulder, numbing one side of his body.
The world in the scope jolted violently.
But the black-tailed deer did not fall at the shot.
"Yow!"
It gave a cry of pain, its body arching sharply as its hind legs buckled and it staggered to its knees.
But the next second, it sprang up again, its front hooves scrabbling wildly as it dragged a strangely positioned hind leg and charged desperately deeper into the woods.
It was incredibly fast.
In a few bounds, it disappeared behind the spruce trees.
Had he missed?
No.
His shot had gone wide!
Su Wei's head buzzed, and his mind went blank.
He remained in his shooting position, his body stiff against the trunk, until the deer vanished completely and only the distant echo of the gunshot remained in the woods.
Su Wei finally came to his senses and stared blankly as the black-tailed deer fled.
After a long moment, he finally squeezed a word through his teeth.
"Fuck!"
Su Wei snatched back the rifle, clenched his left hand, and slammed his fist into the spruce trunk beside him.
There was a muffled thud, and pain shot through his hand, but he hardly seemed to notice.