Chapter 28 (1/2)

Chapter 28 Stench

“I’m sorry, but this is the only way we can separate your socks from your feet.” Chang sighed.

He knew just how much it would hurt to rub salt on a wound, not to mention soaking her feet in salt water. Moreover, because there were more sensory nerves at the bottom of the feet, the pain that she was enduring was amplified even more than if this were a normal wound on her limbs.

In less than a moment, Jing’s face paled. However, Chang didn’t look at her face; instead, he paid attention to the socks on her feet.

The hardened blood on the sock slowly softened in the salt water, and the adhesion between the sock and the wounds on her feet began to loosen up. After a while, Chang lifted her feet and carefully peeled off her socks.

“Pour some alcohol onto her feet. We don’t need to wrap her feet in bandages, since those blisters need some fresh air to dry up.” Qing shui continued to guide Chang behind him.

“I see.” He nodded and gently put her leg on the bedpost so that her feet wouldn’t touch the bed. Chang then took out some antibiotics from his backpack. He gave Jing a pill, and then he took another one.

“I’m really sorry you had to experience this…” Chang dropped himself on to the bed and covered his eyes with his arms after he disinfected Jing’s feet.

“How was it today?” Qing shui returned to the pile of plants to sort them.

“It was hard; hunting was extremely difficult.” Chang stared at the base of the upper bunk bed and said. “The animals were too vigilant. I didn’t even get close to them before I was discovered.”

“If hunting was that easy, there wouldn’t have been a large number of human hunters that starved to death in ancient times.” Qing shui chuckled and said, “If hunters were able to get a large prey, the money they could get from trading its fur and meat would be sufficient to cover their living expenses for a month or more. They could’ve been millionaires if every hunt was successful.”

“In fact, the hunter occupation isn’t stable in the least; they often face hunger, and many die from starvation.” Qing shui kept his hands busy and continued to explain. “It’s not only human hunters; the top predators on this planet also face these difficulties. For example, of all land animals, leopards have the highest chances of acquiring prey, yet they only have a success rate of less than 1 in 7. Moreover, after each hunt, regardless of whether it’s successful or not, they have a period of time where they can’t consume any food because they burnout, which creates a significant burden for their body.”

“Therefore, even if they have the highest success rate in hunting, they often get robbed of their food.” Qing shui picked out a strange gra.s.s from the pile of plants, sniffed it a few times and said, “What I was trying to say is, it’ll be hard to find food in nature even if you are a good hunter or a top predator. Animals lacking escape abilities or survival mechanisms have long been eliminated by the cruelty of nature. The ones who’ve survived are skillful and as you said, extremely vigilant. I’m going to hunt with you tomorrow. Anyways, I think the plants we picked today are enough to last for a few days.”

“Sure, that’s good,” Chang rolled over in his bed and happened to see Qing shui sniff at the plant. He asked, “Mr. Li, are you sure they’re edible?”

“I don’t know, they should be.” Qing shui’s eyes revealed a look of skepticism. “These plants were definitely edible before the red fog, but now they seem to have developed some unique abilities.”

“What unique abilities?” Chang frowned.

“The ability to prevent themselves from being eaten by other organisms.” Qing shui walked in front of Chang and squeeze some juice from the stem of the plant and smiled, “smell it.”

“Ahh! Get it away from me please.” The juice from the stem spurt on Chang’s face and made him feel nauseous. “What is this? It smells worse than s.h.i.+t, are you really sure this is edible?”

“I’m sure of it.” The choking smell caused Qing shui to sneeze a few times. “The composition of these plants should be the same as before the red fog, but they’ve just become stinky. We’ll boil them for longer, so at least we have something to eat.”