Last Totem Novel - Chapter 21
Chapter 21 Gerbil
Gerbils are the most common creatures in semi-desertified wilderness. In this harsh environment, rodents once again proved their supremacy.
Food is scarce on semi-desertified land. In most places only weeds and shrubs grow. Fortunately, there is a tuber called “salad” in the wilderness. Sali’s roots are full of nutrients, but humans and most creatures can’t eat them, while gerbils can use it as a staple food.
In the wilderness far from the Rock Bridge, a motorcycle was moving slowly. The headlights at the front of the car shot out an incandescent beam, illuminating the vast land ahead.
Tie Zha was paying attention to the prey that might appear in front of him while explaining to You Ge how to hunt gerbils.
When he was very young, his foster father would often bring him to catch gerbils in the middle of the night. Gerbils sleep in their burrows during the day and come out to look for food at night. They are timid, cautious, and especially agile. As a result, most people in Tieshan Town were unable to catch gerbils.
Tie Zha’s foster father taught him that if he wanted to catch the gerbil, he had to be calm first. He quietly lay near the rat hole, waiting for the gerbils to come out and feed. Secondly, when you discover gerbils, you must attack quickly, accurately, and ruthlessly!
“It’s as quiet as a virgin and as moving as a rabbit. Is that so?” You Ge asks.
Tie Zha frowned and thought for a while before asking, “What is a virgin? A bald rabbit is a bald rabbit, right?”
You Ge doesn’t answer his question and instead sighs, “Little scum’s foster father must be a very great person.”
“Perhaps. I don’t know either. Anyway, everyone in town says that Old Man Tie is very powerful.” Tie Zha grinned. Because You Ge praises his foster father, he unconsciously filters the first sentence automatically.
“If I can see him, I must shake hands with him.”
Tie Zha involuntarily raised his head and looked up into the sky. At this moment, stars were flickering in the night sky, as if pairs of bright eyes were looking down at all the living beings in the wilderness. After a while, Iron Slag took a deep breath and said, “He … he’s already dead.”
You Ge hugs him tightly from behind and whispers in his ear, “Sorry, I brought up your sad matter.”
“Old Man Tie said that he would look at me from the sky.” Tie Zha pointed at the sky and said.
The girl clasped her hands even tighter when she heard his words.
“What’s there to be sad about? People will die every day in Tieshan Town. Perhaps I killed them.” Said Tie Zha.
At this moment, a black shadow suddenly appeared in front of him and flashed past his line of sight. Tie Zha quickly adjusted the front of the car, and the beam of light from the headlights immediately caught up with the black shadow. In front of him, a fat gerbil fled in panic under the illumination of the light. Tie Zha tightened the throttle and accelerated to catch up.
Although the gerbil’s speed was not as fast as the motorcycle, it relied on its agile body to jump left and right, bringing the motorcycle around in the wilderness. For a moment, Tie Zha was unable to get close to him. Thus, he adjusted his speed and chased after him calmly.
After a while, the gerbils began to feel a little weak. After all, the motorcycle wouldn’t be tired. Its body began to shake, and its running speed slowed down significantly. At this time, Tie Zha’s accelerator was fully open and he rushed over at full speed!
The front wheel of the motorcycle was getting closer and closer to the gerbil, and just as it was about to catch up, the gerbil suddenly sank down and disappeared from the ground.
Tie Zha stopped the car and jumped down where the gerbil had disappeared. He took out the flashlight and looked around above his head. A few seconds later, he found a hole the size of a bowl and squatted beside it to observe. After confirming that this was the gerbil’s cave, he signaled for You Ge to come over and instructed, “Give me the pistol and a 9mm cartridge.”
After saying that, Tie Zha took out two red shotguns from his body, skillfully dismantled the warhead, and poured the steel balls and gunpowder into the exit of the underground hole. Then, he took the 9mm bullet from You Ge’s hand, also dismantled the bullet and poured all the gunpowder and lead into it.
Soon, the exit of the underground hole was filled with bullet casings. Tie Zha dug up the sand beside him and stuffed it into the hole, completely sealing the entrance. Afterwards, he pulled You Ge ten meters away. Immediately afterwards, he raised Youge’s pistol to aim at the hole and reminded, “Cover your ears.”
You Ge immediately covers his ears with both hands and looks behind the iron slag.
The next second, Tie Zha pulled the trigger. With a “bang”, the bullet shot into the pile of dirt and instantly detonated the gunpowder buried at the entrance of the cave. With a loud “boom”, a semi-circular dent appeared on the ground. The explosion was about as powerful as a shattered grenade.
In an instant, the air was filled with the smell of smoke. After the smoke and dust dissipated, two fat gerbils crawled out of the cave entrance one after another. From the looks of it, they were about one kilogram in size. They staggered and crawled, as if they were drunk. Tie Zha rushed over and grabbed the slower gerbil and flicked its head with its thumb and middle finger. “Pa!” With a crisp sound, the gerbil was knocked unconscious.
Immediately after, Tie Zha pulled You Ge and rode on the motorcycle to track down another gerbil. Not long after, this gerbil recovered from the dizziness of the explosion and quickly escaped to the next gerbil’s burrow …
Next, the iron slag used the same method to catch five gerbils of different sizes.
“Can rats eat?” You Ge frowns and asks. She looked at the bunch of gerbils and felt her scalp go numb.
“Eating gerbils in autumn is the happiest thing.” Tie Zha said with a smile. Then he took out a parcel from the motorcycle’s canvas bag and put it on the ground.
Opening the package, there was a sharp knife, some seasonings, and a dozen sheets of silver-glittering tin foil.
Tie Zha picked up his knife and cut open the gerbils’ throats. Then, he held their tails and hung them upside down to bleed. When the blood was drained, he removed the gerbils’ heads and tails, peeled them, opened them, and removed their organs. After that, he washed them with a small amount of drinking water, sprinkled them with various seasonings, and wrapped them in tin foil before placing them on the ground.
Next, the iron slag gathered some withered yellow weeds and dry shrubs around it and wrapped them in tinfoil. After doing all of this, the iron slag sliced open the lighter with a’miso ‘sound and lit the firewood pile.
In this quiet, dark wilderness, a pile of bright flames slowly lit up.
You Ge looks at the crackling fire and leans lazily against Tie Zha’s body. Although this place was desolate, cold, and filled with danger, as long as she leaned against him, she would feel warm and safe at home. Perhaps he wasn’t strong, but he would definitely sincerely do his best to protect her.
The tinfoil wrapped in the flames scorched and emitted a sizzling sound. As the sound echoed, the fire emitted a fragrance of meat.
“Yeah ~ ~” You Ge smells the fragrance of the barbecue and can’t help but cry out. She picked up a small shrub branch and tried to unpack the tin wrap in the fire.
The iron slag quickly stopped her and said, “Don’t worry, roast all the oil out of the fat. This way, the meat will taste the best.”
“So hungry.” The fragrance of meat permeates the air, and You Ge feels even more hungry.
Tie Zha scratched his head and thought for a while. Suddenly, he slapped his thigh forcefully and raised his head to say, “I can’t eat hot tofu in a hurry!”
Hearing this, You Ge is instantly stunned as if he was struck by lightning. It took her a long time to regain her senses. She touched her forehead and asked, “Is this what it means to eat?”
“That’s right, that’s what it means to eat.”
You Ge rolls her eyes and takes a deep breath. Then she turns around and asks Tie Zha, “Who taught you?”
“Is there a problem with what Lena said?” Tie Zha asked with a puzzled expression.
You Ge turns his back again, rolls his eyes fiercely, and curses in his heart, “Great Goblin!” Then she turned around and put on another expression. She smiled and asked Tie Zha, “Do I look good or does Big Sister Lena look good?”
“None of them look good.” Tie Zha replied straightforwardly.
Hearing this answer, You Ge is delighted. This phrase’none of them look good ‘meant that their appearances were on the same level in Iron Slag’s aesthetics.
“Then who is uglier?” You Ge asks.
“Is there a difference?” “How old is Sister Lena?” “It seems to be twenty this year.”
“It’s two … ten … years old ~ So old ~ They’re all aunts now.” You Ge exaggeratedly sighs.
“Is that so?” “The old woman doesn’t look good.” “But you’re only two years apart, okay?” “The difference of two years between women is equivalent to the difference of twenty years between men.”
“As for it?” The iron slag touched his forehead.
“When a woman grows old, her skin will deteriorate. From white to wheat, her breasts will also grow older …” You Ge began to analyze Lena’s problems from many aspects. At this time, she no longer felt hungry. Taking advantage of Lena’s absence from Tie Zha, she desperately tried to blacken her.
Hearing You Ge’s words, Tie Zha felt a little puzzled. He remembered that Lena was only seventeen when she first arrived in Iron Mountain Town. At that time, her skin was already wheat-colored. However, his chest had indeed grown larger.
Next, You Ge discusses this topic for half an hour …
Although Tie Zha had some doubts, he did not raise any objections. After all, he didn’t know much about creatures like women.
“Have you … have you ever … had that kind of thing happen?” You Ge suddenly asks.
“What is it?”
“It’s … it’s … it’s that kind of thing.” You Ge blushes and says awkwardly.
“I don’t understand.”
Tie Zha actually understood, but in front of You Ge, he did not want to answer this topic. After all, no girl didn’t mind such a thing. At this time, the gerbil meat was almost completely cooked. He quickly changed the subject and said, “You can eat now!” With that, he picked up a bush branch and pulled the tin wrap out of the fire.
Then Tie Zha took out a dark green canvas cushion from the motorcycle’s canvas bag and laid it on the ground. Then he took out a rectangular aluminium lunch box. This lunch box contained a small lunch box, and the small lunch box contained even smaller lunch boxes. There were a total of four lunch boxes stacked on top of each other, and the innermost lunch box was placed in two sets of exquisite knives and forks. This set of utensils was left behind by Tie Zha’s foster father, the only thing left behind.
These lunchboxes have been around for years. The surface of the aluminum foil is potholed and the four corners are slightly worn and yellowed. A wolf’s head was engraved on the lid of each lunchbox. This wolf head was painted in a simple and ancient manner, like an old wolf king, howling at Yue Changsheng with dignity and glory.
“Holy Wolf Badge!”
You Ge stares fixedly at the lid of the lunch box and cries out while covering her mouth.
“What?” Seeing You Ge’s reaction, Tie Zha asked in confusion.
You Ge doesn’t answer. She picks up one of the knives and carefully observes it with the light of the fire. The hilt of the knife was also carved with the head of a wolf like the lid of a lunchbox. Although the wolf’s head was carved very small on the small hilt of the saber, the precise saber workmanship had carved the small wolf’s head into a lifelike figure. The lines that made up the wolf’s head were extremely complex, but they were incomparably clear. This was definitely not an ordinary factory product, but a high-grade customized product.
After carefully examining it, You Ge takes a deep breath and says, “This is the symbol of the guardian of the temple, the Saint Wolf badge. The people inside the temple call it the Saint Wolf Totem.”
Although Tie Zha didn’t understand, he could feel that this was a’very powerful ‘thing from You Ge’s tone and attitude. He told You Ge that when Old Man Tie gave him the lunch box back then, he said that it was the most valuable thing he had picked up in the garbage dump and asked him to take good care of it.
You Ge thinks for a while and proposes to eat something first. She said she was hungry and told him a story about the back of the lunch box before she went to bed.
After that, Tie Zha tore open the tin foil and took out the steaming gerbils inside. He used a sharp knife to cut off thin pieces of gerbils meat and put them into the lunch box.
You Ge picked up a small fork and tied up a piece of light golden gerbil meat. In the midst of the flames, the slices of meat flowed with translucent and sparkling oil, making one’s appetite boom. You Ge opens her mouth, revealing a mouthful of white and neat teeth. She slowly stuffed the meat into her mouth, maintaining a rather elegant appearance.
Then, she gently took a bite and her mouth was immediately filled with gravy. The taste was incomparably sweet. This was almost one of the most delicious things she had ever eaten.
‘”Yeah ~” You Ge couldn’t help but cry out.
A cheerful voice echoed across the wilderness and traveled far away …