Chapter 3
The stove was set to low heat, and the porridge in the small pot emitted a rich aroma of rice. Shi Nuo poured the marinated meat strips into the frying pan and stir-fried them.
There was very little meat. Once cooked, it filled only half a small bowl. The sauce gave off a savory aroma, which, combined with the smell of cooked meat, made his mouth water.
Half a bowl of meat, a bowl of rice porridge, and a large plate of boiled wild vegetables made up his lunch.
After a large mouthful of vegetables, Shi Nuo picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and chewed it slowly.
His food supply was dwindling daily. He had gone from eating a little meat every day to eating it once every three days, and the portions were small.
Even so, only three of the five pieces of meat remained.
From the fortieth day, when he realized he had been abandoned, until now, he had lived alone for nearly another twenty days. Fortunately, he had started rationing early on.
By being frugal, the meat should last for another month.
Unlike vegetables, replenishing his meat supply was difficult. He had tried catching small animals, but he couldn’t keep up with them. The small traps he dug yielded nothing.
When he heard birds chirping in the woods, he tried climbing trees to steal some bird eggs, but most of the trees where birds nested were tall and straight, and he couldn’t reach any branches to help him climb.
His hands, unaccustomed to manual labor, became red and raw against the rough bark. His legs and feet couldn’t find the knack for climbing, and in the end, he could only trudge back in defeat.
Fortunately, there were plenty of wild vegetables to fill his stomach.
He went out around eight o’clock every morning to search for and dig up various wild vegetables. If the location was close, he could return in about an hour with two small buckets. He would then sit on the small stool outside the door to clean the vegetables before taking them inside.
Wild berries were scarce near the house. He only occasionally found edible red berries in the grass.
When the meat was gone, Shi Nuo scooped a few spoonfuls of rice porridge into the meat bowl, mixing it with the remaining sauce. It was delicious.
After the meal, nothing was left in the bowls or plates.
After washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen, Shi Nuo opened the pantry. He thought for a moment and took out a small bag of dried vegetables, pouring them into a bowl to soak for dinner.
The wild vegetables were filling and had a unique flavor, but after eating them for more than ten days straight, even with different seasonings, the taste became bland and unappealing.
After the dried vegetables had soaked, Shi Nuo picked up the two small buckets from the kitchen floor and placed them by the front door.
Glancing at the bright sun outside, he saw that it was very hot, and the wild grass looked wilted. He turned and went back to his bedroom for a nap.
Before, he would go out once in the morning, dig up enough wild vegetables for a day or two, and then return. Sometimes, he would make another trip, taking advantage of the midday sun to dry some vegetables. But the night before last, while sleeping, he suddenly noticed the night air had become cooler.
Perhaps this planet was entering the next, cooler season, possibly autumn.
The change in seasons brought a sense of urgency. The intelligent system only monitored the immediate surroundings; it hadn’t yet begun a planet-wide survey, so he didn’t know what seasons existed here.
The weather had been relatively pleasant for the past two months, warm enough to wear summer clothes outside. Sometimes, after it rained, long pants and a jacket were sufficient. He thought it must be summer.
If there were four distinct seasons, perhaps it was now late summer or early autumn. The arrival of winter or a period of food scarcity would be a serious matter. He had to stockpile food, and the easiest to obtain right now were dried wild vegetables.
Since yesterday, Shi Nuo had been going out to dig up wild vegetables both in the morning and afternoon.
Exploring the surroundings had gradually eased his worries. There were no wild animals nearby, only some cautious small creatures that would run away at the slightest sound, and no aggressive birds.
Coupled with his urgent need for food, he was no longer afraid to go out in the afternoon, as long as he returned before sunset.
The hottest part of the day had passed. Shi Nuo woke up, washed his face, and went out with his buckets.
Unlike the night, the daytime heat lingered. The occasional breeze dispelled the heat, bringing bursts of refreshing coolness.
To avoid the sun, Shi Nuo walked towards the woods, sticking to areas where the grass was shorter.
In all his time searching for wild vegetables, he hadn’t encountered any snakes or rats, only some insects.
Insects with shells were fine; even the larger ones weren’t too disturbing. But the wriggling, soft-bodied worms, some of which emitted a foul odor, truly frightened him. Every time he saw them, his limbs felt weak, and his scalp tingled.
Fortunately, birds were the natural predators of these worms. He had seen them more than once, swooping down and carrying off worms exposed in the grass.
The birds were fluffy and round, their blue feathers particularly beautiful. In Shi Nuo’s eyes, the insect-eating birds were even more adorable.
He pulled up wild vegetables by the roots, one by one, shaking off the soil before tossing them into the bucket.
If the roots were too developed and required too much effort, Shi Nuo would give up after a try. He figured that these larger vegetables must be old and tough.
He always carried two small buckets when he went out, a blue one and a green one. A narrow knife was attached to the outside of the blue bucket with a sturdy fastener.
In some places, the soil was hard, and the vegetables were difficult to pull up. Loosening the soil with the tip of the knife made it much easier. He also carried the knife for self-defense.
He busied himself for a while, constantly squatting or bending over, searching for wild vegetables. After clearing a small patch of round-leaf vegetables, he looked up from his squat and saw a large, multicolored spider dangling from a web about fifteen paces away.
His optical brain’s scanning range was only ten meters. He had scanned the area when he first entered the woods, but as he moved and dug up vegetables, he had become preoccupied and forgotten about time and distance.
The spider was as big as his palm, with vibrant colors all over its body, a clear indication of its venomous nature.
Shi Nuo made no sound, his face paling. He gripped the bucket handles tightly, stood up quietly, and carefully backed away. Seeing that the spider showed no signs of aggression, he dared to turn and run.
He ran out of the woods in one breath, his weak legs stumbling. He looked back and, seeing that the spider hadn’t followed, finally dared to take a deep breath.
Tears welled up in the beautiful Omega’s eyes as he breathed rapidly. Out of fear, his scent gland at the back of his neck involuntarily released pheromones.
The pheromone suppressant patches he usually wore hadn’t been taken away; they had come with him. He had forgotten when he had last applied one.
There was no one else here besides him. Even if his pheromones occasionally leaked uncontrollably, it wouldn’t bother anyone.
As for Hugh Elvis, he was utterly unreliable. Shi Nuo had explored the surrounding area for so long without seeing any trace of him, nor detecting any residual Alpha pheromones.
His intuition told him that Hugh Elvis had left a long time ago, at least several years. As for where he was now, Shi Nuo had no desire to find out.
A completely feral Alpha meant regression, losing the “human” part of being a beastman, eventually becoming no different from a wild animal.
An entire planet as a territory was too vast. Hugh Elvis had likely wandered far, far away from here.
After calming down, Shi Nuo raised his arm to wipe his tears. His hands were covered in mud. Seeing that both buckets were almost full, he started walking back.
Upon reaching the house, he took off his dirty shoes outside the door, patted his pants, went inside to wash his hands and face, and poured himself a glass of warm water.
After resting, Shi Nuo emptied the wild vegetables from the buckets and piled them outside the door.
The ground outside was covered with grass, so no creatures would steal his vegetables.
While it was still light out, he picked up the two empty buckets and went out again, this time avoiding the woods.
Outside, all six chairs from the dining room had been brought out.
Large plates and basins were placed on the chairs, along with metal sheets that Shi Nuo had found in the basement. About sixty centimeters wide and a meter long, they were perfect for drying the blanched wild vegetables.
The plates and basins were also filled with vegetables. These days, Shi Nuo had not only been digging up wild vegetables but also experimenting with drying them. Some could be dried directly after washing, while others needed to be blanched first, or they would be too tough after being rehydrated and cooked.
This had taken him several days, but he had finally figured out how to handle the few types of wild vegetables he had found.
The midday sun was strong. The vegetables would dry completely in two or three days and could then be stored in bags.
Some of the bags were ready-made cloth bags, others were synthetic material bags for storing items. He had washed them thoroughly and dried them for use.
When he realized he didn’t have enough bags, and there was nowhere to buy more, he dragged out the dust cover that had been wrapped around the large rug from the basement.
The dust cover was sturdy. He spent a lot of effort cutting and sewing it into several rough, large bags. There was plenty of space in the storage room and basement, so he wasn’t worried about where to put them.
He didn’t know when the cold season would arrive or how long it would last, so the need for food remained urgent.
Shi Nuo felt that even if all these bags were full, it wouldn’t be enough.
He opened a storage room and, after checking the built-in cabinets, decided to wipe them clean. They could all be used to store dried vegetables.
If necessary, he could even pile them on the floor of the storage room. He could just wash them before eating.
Standing in the room, he imagined the entire storage room filled with dried vegetables, enough to last through a long period of food scarcity.
Eating and seeing only green vegetables every day was too monotonous.
Shi Nuo’s experience in this area was limited. He had only recently remembered that some root vegetables were also edible. The soft, glutinous texture after steaming or boiling was something he really missed.
Even in the interstellar age, with all its advancements, the foods suitable for human physiology, and the basic native food types on every habitable planet, were still plants and animals, not much different from before.
There were some unique species in the universe that subsisted on directly absorbing energy, and others with peculiar diets.
Humans had tried, but their physiological functions were different. They couldn’t convert energy, and some special foods were either unpalatable or not cost-effective.
Shi Nuo had heard that the military had developed several types of high-energy foods, a small amount of which could satiate hunger for several days. These foods were undoubtedly expensive, and apart from military needs, neither ordinary people nor wealthy nobles had any use for them.
He wasn’t sure if it was the wrong season, but he hadn’t found any edible roots in the past few days, despite pulling up many types of grass and vines. He could only keep looking every day.
He had already filled several bags, large and small, with dried vegetables, adding more every few days. This accumulation brought him some peace of mind.
What Shi Nuo really wanted, more than root vegetables, was meat.
After being outrun by a rabbit-like creature once again, he remembered the river five miles away.
This planet was classified as a resource planet, so the river should be rich in fish. Even though it was a bit far, he decided to go and take a look.
