ccnovels Chapter 290: Extreme Cold 36
Chapter 290: Extreme Cold 36
Having learned their lesson, no one dared to put any unfamiliar plants or fruits into their mouths for the rest of the journey.
When the weather was nice, they would stop to relax, pull out the grill, and set up camp.
It was their way of making the best of a difficult situation.
Whenever they came across rivers or lakes, they didn’t dare get too close, terrified the ground might give way at any moment and send them plunging into the water.
This stretch of grassland was thick with shrubs, and animals began to appear more frequently. Most were wary and wouldn’t recklessly approach humans, but a few were bold enough to eye the group’s plump bighorn sheep.
The moment Ronan Kendrick spotted prey, his entire demeanor shifted. His eyes filled with a deadly focus as he aimed his crossbow at a distant roe deer and fired. The Crossbow Arrow landed a direct hit.
"Wow! Ronan Kendrick bagged another roe deer! I’ll go get it."
As Ronan Kendrick’s biggest fan, Quincy was always the first to rush out and retrieve the kill and the Crossbow Arrow whenever his idol made a successful hunt.
Evelyn Ford was a little worried. ’Can his caved-in skull handle all this excitement?’
By the time Quincy had dragged the roe deer back, Ronan Kendrick had already dealt with the young fawn that had been following it.
"Let’s have roasted meat tonight. I’m getting constipated from eating sweet potatoes every day."
Quincy ran over to ask for Ronan Kendrick’s opinion, since he was the one who had made the kill.
Ronan Kendrick looked toward Evelyn Ford, who just shrugged. "I don’t mind. I’ll eat anything."
Quincy yelled, "Oh yeah!" and walked off, carrying the roe deer.
At 9:30 p.m., the group stopped by a small river. After Evelyn Ford and Wendy got a fire going to boil water, Miles Vaughn, Quincy, and Peter Owens began butchering the roe deer while the others fed the livestock and prepared the rest of the meal.
Ronan Kendrick left with his bow and arrows. Half an hour later, he returned with a takin slung over his shoulder. The animal was huge, about the size of an ox, and everyone realized he had gone after the one that got away earlier.
The meat supply in the shipping container was running low, so this takin was a welcome replenishment.
The roe deer meat was already roasted. The whole carcass was lifted off the fire and placed on a bamboo plank. Officer Graham brought down a steamer basket, and everyone grabbed two steamed buns before sitting down to eat.
Ronan Kendrick washed his hands and sat down next to Evelyn Ford, his look of someone seeking praise couldn’t have been more obvious.
"Impressive. You did great." After Evelyn Ford praised him, Ronan Kendrick pressed his lips into a smile, finally satisfied.
"Ronan Kendrick, how did you catch up to that takin?"
"It was running pretty slow, and it tripped and fell. I barely had to lift a finger." After he spoke, Ronan Kendrick gave a particularly smug raise of his eyebrows.
Evelyn Ford snickered to herself.
"The temperature is definitely rising. All sorts of animals have been showing up lately. Still, Ronan Kendrick’s reflexes are the quickest. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be eating this delicious roe deer meat tonight." Quincy, the die-hard fan, was at it again.
"Yeah, Ronan Kendrick is just that amazing."
...
Back in their truck cabin, Evelyn Ford leaned close to Ronan Kendrick and whispered, "Kendrick is soooo amazing."
Ronan Kendrick gave her a deep look. "Tell me more. In what way, specifically?"
Evelyn Ford blinked. "You’re amazing at eating, amazing in a fight, amazing at hunting... You’re just amazing at everything."
Ronan Kendrick nodded with a straight face. "To prove you right, starting tomorrow, all the prey on these grasslands are mine."
"That’s not necessary. We have enough meat. Let’s spare them for now."
Ronan Kendrick shook his head. "Nope. You said I was amazing. I have to prove it to you."
The next day, Ronan Kendrick was true to his word. His ferocity terrified the animals of the grassland and the members of their group alike. That night, to escape his hunt, the animals fled the great plains.
Meanwhile, they began seeing smoke in more and more places, a sign that there were quite a few survivors camped out on the grasslands. However, to avoid trouble, the group always made a wide detour around them.
During this time, Mina and the other little ones were left to roam freely. Wendy’s two rabbits had multiplied to over a dozen. To avoid them becoming a burden, they had to butcher the larger ones. Wendy was reluctant at first, but as soon as she heard they were going to be braised, she immediately handed them over.
They were only four hundred kilometers from Crystell City. The grasslands were coming to an end; in about two days, they would enter the desert.
Everyone began to cut down shrubs and gather snow, making thorough preparations for a successful desert crossing.
Ronan Kendrick hunted a few more roe deer and even captured two takin alive—a male and a female, specifically for breeding.
Two days later, the group emerged from the grasslands and officially entered the desert.
Compared to the Vextan Desert in Westeria, the Tass Desert in Khoros had a far harsher climate and more treacherous terrain.
Although the Tass Desert was only one-fifth the size of the Vextan Desert, it contained vast stretches of quicksand. Much like the frozen ground of a marsh, once a person or animal became trapped, escape was nearly impossible. They could only wait where they were to die.
"We’ll camp here for the night. Everyone get plenty of rest. We officially enter the desert at seven tomorrow morning."
At the border between the desert and the grasslands, the group decided to rest for the night.
Looking at the rolling yellow dunes, everyone felt a surge of excitement.
"So this is what a desert looks like. It’s even more desolate than I imagined."
"There’s snow in the desert, too. But it’s true what they say—not a single blade of grass, not one tree."
"I’m just worried about sandstorms. We should try to move quickly and stick to the firm sand. Soft patches could be quicksand. If you get stuck, whatever you do, don’t panic and don’t struggle. The more you struggle in quicksand, the deeper you sink," Miles Vaughn began to explain.
"And anyone nearby shouldn’t rush in to pull them out. Throw them a rope first, then pull them to safety."
"Do you think we’ll run into any camels?" Quincy was still dreaming of riding one.
"And Pallas’s cats! If anyone sees one, help me catch it alive. I want to keep it as a pet."
Wyatt Vaughn sighed in exasperation. "We can barely feed ourselves, and you want to raise a Pallas’s cat? You must have a death wish."
Quincy looked at Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick. "Evelyn, brother-in-law, I want a pet."
Evelyn Ford flat-out ignored him.
Ronan Kendrick raised an eyebrow, clearly pleased by the title. "You can."
Quincy chuckled. "Ronan Kendrick, you’re the best."
Now Ronan Kendrick didn’t want to deal with him either.
Cooking in the desert was inconvenient; the slightest breeze would kick up yellow sand everywhere. The group decided to make extra steamed buns, which they could roast inside the truck cabins later along with sweet potatoes.
Evelyn Ford asked around and found that several people had lost their whistles, so she handed out new ones to everyone, Donovan Irving included.
"Evelyn Ford, just how many whistles do you have?"
"I brought a lot back from Westeria. Everyone take good care of them. I won’t be handing out any more after this."
After dinner, everyone turned in early. Evelyn Ford made one last round, checking that the sheep and horses were calm and all the truck wheels were undamaged, before finally heading into her cabin, relieved.
The next morning, before they set off, they tied numerous branches and logs to the tops of all the truck cabins and containers. Just before entering the desert, Evelyn Ford took care to measure the wind speed and direction.