Chapter 1071 - 90: Footsteps

Everything was ready; they were just waiting for dawn tomorrow to go hunting.

After resting for a whole night.

Early the next morning, the two got up early, ate, took some dry rations, and started heading into the forest.

Morning is when the prey are the most active.

Chen Wen planned to follow the lakeshore and make a sweep through the forest beside it, ready to ambush some prey coming to Baikal Lake to drink.

Hua Yun naturally had no objections to this.

She carried a stone spear in her hand, a bow and arrows on her back, and walked in front to scout the path.

The Golden Eagle scouted in the sky, while Chen Wen kept watch in the rear.

The two of them searched for prey along the forest by the lakeshore like this.

In less than half an hour, the Golden Eagle in the sky made a discovery.

It let out a somewhat long cry to alert Chen Wen.

Chen Wen immediately said, "There’s prey ahead, right under the Golden Eagle. Might be small game like Siberian Roe Deer."

Hearing this, Hua Yun immediately crouched down.

The distance was very close!

Since she and Chen Wen had already used pine needles in advance to eliminate their body odor, they weren’t worried about the prey smelling them.

Hua Yun patiently waited and kept observing the forest ahead.

Soon, she saw some swaying shadows.

Hua Yun lowered her voice and said, "It is Siberian Roe Deer, but not many, seems like only two. Do we make a move?"

Hearing that, Chen Wen said, "Let’s give it a shot. We’ll get a bit closer and see if there’s an opening."

Siberian Roe Deer were already on their hunting list.

If they could hunt enough Siberian Roe Deer, the two of them could also meet their hunting goal.

Led by Hua Yun, they slowly threaded through the forest, closing in on where the Siberian Roe Deer were.

But as they drew closer, Chen Wen frowned.

He felt their footsteps were really a bit too loud.

Although Hua Yun was mindful of her steps and tried to place her feet on clear ground as she walked, the sound of her footsteps was still quite loud. After all, there had been no human activity in this area; the trees were very dense, and there were a lot of fallen branches and leaves on the ground.

And Chen Wen didn’t have any way to eliminate the sound of their footsteps.

With every step he took, he could hear the noise beneath his feet.

This time he didn’t have any "entry" that could remove footstep noise; hunting animals like Siberian Roe Deer was still fine, but if they went after those with very sharp hearing, it would be troublesome.

Chen Wen mulled over this issue.

Meanwhile, they had already closed in beside the prey.

Hua Yun got a clear look at them: the two Siberian Roe Deer had already walked out of the forest and were drinking.

She found a position off to the side and crouched down together with Chen Wen.

"Two of them. You take the big one, I’ll take the small one. We move together."

Hua Yun said in a low voice as she drew her bow and arrow.

Chen Wen didn’t have the luxury of worrying about the footstep issue anymore. He picked up his spear and locked onto the larger Siberian Roe Deer.

Hua Yun also set the arrow to the string and said quietly, "Are you ready?"

Chen Wen grunted in acknowledgment, tensing his muscles and getting ready to attack.

Hua Yun also began to draw the bowstring.

Acting as the commander this time, Chen Wen started giving quiet orders: "I’ll count to three. After three, we strike together!"

"Three, two, one! Hey!"

Chen Wen exhaled with a shout. With the sharp "hey," he suddenly hurled the spear.

At the same time, Hua Yun took aim at the body of the smaller Siberian Roe Deer and loosed her arrow.

The spear and arrow were like two bolts of lightning, flashing out from the brush and shooting at high speed toward the two Siberian Roe Deer drinking by the water in the distance.

Almost at the same moment, Chen Wen’s spear pierced through the side of the larger Siberian Roe Deer’s chest. The force was so great it even lifted the deer off the ground for some distance before the spear plunged into the lake, pinning it there.

Hua Yun’s arrow likewise pierced through the side of the smaller Siberian Roe Deer’s chest, embedding deeply.

The smaller Siberian Roe Deer didn’t die on the spot, but after it ran only a short distance, it weakened and collapsed to the ground.

Clearly, Hua Yun’s strike had also pierced its internal organs, achieving a quick kill.

The two stepped out from their hiding spot, both feeling a bit pleased.

This attack could be called near perfect, and their coordination had been very much in sync.

"Come on, let’s check the prey!"

Hua Yun said, unable to keep from quickening her pace as she went over to the two Siberian Roe Deer.

Chen Wen followed with a broad grin.

Both Siberian Roe Deer were already on the verge of death.

Chen Wen slit their carotid arteries with his knife to drain the blood. This could reduce the gamey and musky smell of the Siberian Roe Deer as much as possible.

"Speaking of which, you know deer blood is really nourishing, right? And you’re just wasting it like this?"

Watching the blood of the Siberian Roe Deer flowing into the lake, Hua Yun couldn’t help saying.

Chen Wen was speechless. "What’s the use of ’nourishing’? Putting aside whether we need it or not, in our current situation, aren’t you afraid of getting overheated from drinking deer blood? If that really happened and we ended up with mouth ulcers or some kind of inflammation, with our current conditions, the whole team would be affected."

Fair enough.

Hua Yun didn’t say anything else, just felt a bit sorry about the deer blood.

After draining the blood, Chen Wen didn’t immediately process the Siberian Roe Deer.

He and Hua Yun first cleaned the blood off their weapons, then prepared to continue exploring.

But before they set off again, Chen Wen called out to Hua Yun.

He told her what he had noticed earlier, and when she heard his concern about their footstep noise, Hua Yun frowned.

Figuring out how to eliminate the sound of their footsteps was indeed a problem.

But she didn’t really have any good ideas.

"Got any ideas?"

Hua Yun looked at Chen Wen and asked.

Since Chen Wen had brought it up on his own, he probably had some thoughts.

Sure enough.

Chen Wen said, "I do have one, but I’m not sure if it’ll work."

"Say it and let’s hear it. Whether it works or not, as long as it sounds plausible, we can try. No big deal."

Hua Yun didn’t really mind. "We’ve got plenty of time anyway."

Hearing that, Chen Wen no longer hesitated and said directly, "My idea is to soften the soles of our shoes. I’ve noticed that most of the time, our footstep noise comes from the soles being too hard. When they tread on fallen branches, leaves, and the ground, they make that cracking sound."

Soften the soles?

How were they supposed to soften them?

Hua Yun was puzzled. "But these soles were specially made for survival in the forest. They’re really sturdy. Unless you dismantle them, but dismantling our shoes just for hunting feels like too big a loss, doesn’t it?"

Chen Wen was exasperated. "Why are you so hot-tempered? How do you jump straight to tearing the soles off?"

He took off his shoes and held them up between them. "What I’m thinking is, we take that roe deer hide we peeled off before, cut it into a piece a little larger than the shoe... what’s that thing called again, the one that covers the shoe..."

As he spoke, Chen Wen suddenly got stuck.

He abruptly forgot what that thing that covered shoes was called.

At that moment, Hua Yun’s eyes lit up.

She seemed to have thought of the same thing as Chen Wen and immediately said, "Shoe covers?"

"Right! Shoe covers!"

Chen Wen slapped his thigh. "That’s it, shoe covers! We make two shoe covers, then stuff some moss between the covers and the shoes. I feel like this method can minimize the sound of our footsteps."

Listening to his idea, Hua Yun couldn’t help nodding. "The way you describe it, I can almost picture it. Worth a try. Even if it doesn’t work, we’re not really losing anything."

The two quickly reached an agreement.

Since they weren’t too far from the camp, they simply hoisted the roe deer and headed back to camp to modify their shoes.