"What's wrong?"
Deng Guang walked over from nearby, his expression shifting slightly when he saw the missing corpse on the ground.
"The body got dragged away? This is the right spot, isn't it?"
"This is the place."
"That was fast—gone in just a few hours."
"Judging by these marks, it was probably something big."
Deng Guang followed the trail's direction with his eyes. "Looking at the path, it seems like it went toward the river."
Qin Ziwen said, "Then it might have been the crocodile from the river."
Deng Guang was puzzled. "Does that thing really have such a sharp sense of smell?"
Qin Ziwen thought for a moment. "It shouldn't be too bad. Anyway, let's be careful."
The two families searched around but couldn't find a suitable spot for smoking meat.
Going too far from the residential complex was unsafe, while staying too close meant too many people around. With everyone currently outside searching for food, openly smoking meat in public would just attract unwanted attention.
So eventually, the two families decided to carry some wet wood to the rooftop of the building complex to smoke the meat.
Although the rooftop also had risks—like the giant birds in the sky—as long as they were careful, they could avoid them with advance notice.
Qin Ziwen took the opportunity to check his two snare traps. Both traps had been triggered, but there was no prey caught.
In one trap, he spotted familiar gray-brown short fur.
The other trap had been violently destroyed.
When Qin Ziwu saw the destroyed trap, he immediately got angry. "Who has such bad manners! This is just harming others without benefiting themselves!"
Qin Ziwen simply removed both traps entirely. He planned to find some time to set up snare traps again in a slightly more distant location.
The rooftop of the building complex wasn't locked. Previously, for the convenience of residents drying clothes, many clotheslines had been strung up there.
Looking at the clotheslines on the rooftop, Qin Ziwen suddenly had an idea.
He went home and brought up a large bedsheet, then spread it out over the ropes. Using clips to secure the four corners, he created a simple sunshade canopy.
"Those birds look down from above. If we cover this area, unless their eyes have thermal imaging, they won't be able to see us."
The group busied themselves all morning, and Qin Ziwen finally managed to smoke all his small meat strips into jerky.
He picked up one piece—after smoking all morning, the exterior of the small meat strips had become dry and hard.
Qin Ziwen took one and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly. The meat was cooked, with an exterior as dry and hard as wood, but upon careful chewing, the inside still had a moist, salty-sweet flavor.
"Try this—is it properly smoked?"
Qin Ziwen handed one to his brother.
Qin Ziwu put it in his mouth and chewed slowly, eventually swallowing it. "It tastes pretty good."
Qin Ziwen kicked him in the butt. "...I was asking if it's properly smoked, not how it tastes."
Qin Ziwu felt wronged. "How would I know? I've never smoked meat before."
Qin Ziwen thought of someone. "Looks like we need to consult a professional."
He brought a small bag—about half a pound of jerky—and went downstairs.
Arriving on the second floor, he knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
Qin Ziwen spoke humbly from outside the door. "Granny Li, I'm a resident from the fifth floor. I'd like to ask you for some advice."
"Oh~"
The door opened directly, and Granny Li let Qin Ziwen inside. "Come in, have a seat."
Qin Ziwen handed over the smoked small meat strips. "Granny Li, these are the meat strips I smoked. Could you take a look and see if they're properly smoked? About how long can they be stored?"
Granny Li took a piece of jerky from the bag, first sniffed it, then slowly broke it apart with some force. She asked Qin Ziwen, "I'll just taste a little bit to see if the inside is dry."
Qin Ziwen explained, "This whole bag is for you. Please feel free to eat it."
Granny Li quickly shook her head. "I still have food, don't be so polite."
She put a small piece in her mouth and chewed slowly. Granny Li said, "The flavor is fine, and the smoking is okay too. But if you leave them out directly, they might still grow mold because the inside is still wet."
"Back in our village when we smoked meat, after smoking it, we still had to hang it in a cool, ventilated place to air-dry, or just hang it above the stove. The smoke from daily cooking would keep smoking it—that kind of meat can be stored for a long time."
"When you break this jerky open and it's dry from the inside out, like a stick, and you can snap it with your hands, then it's ready. If you store that kind properly, it can last one or two years without issue."
Qin Ziwen pondered. "Would it work to continue air-drying it in a cellar?"
"A cellar? If it's ventilated, that would work. The underground parking level in our complex would be suitable, but don't put it there. Yesterday I heard someone say they saw snakes and rats inside."
Qin Ziwen thought of the food cellar in his home. The temperature inside was lower than outside, and it seemed ventilated—he had felt it when he went in before.
Qin Ziwen stood up to thank her. "Thank you."
Granny Li got up, found her clothes-drying rod, and took down a string of sausages hanging on the wall. "I still have some sausages I made before the New Year. Take these to eat."
Qin Ziwen politely declined. "I don't need them, please keep them for yourself. I still have quite a lot of meat at home."
Granny Li found a black bag, put the sausages inside, then grabbed Qin Ziwen's hand and insisted he take them. "Take them. I can't eat this much anyway."
Returning to the rooftop, Qin Ziwen moved all the smoked meat strips to the cellar. He set up a rack and hung all the meat strips on it.
By the time he finished, it was already past noon.
He cooked four packs of noodles, adding the smoked small meat strips and wild vegetables into the noodles. He and his brother ate heartily.
After laying out a cool mat on the floor, he lay down and took out the mountain plant guide fragment that was last night's settlement reward.
Though called a fragment, it was actually just two pages torn from some kind of illustrated book.
The paper had front and back sides, each side recording one type of plant, complete with images.
Altogether, the two pages covered four plants.
Moonlight Moss, Gray Sweet Potato, Stone Mushroom, and Yellow-leaf Big Wave Chrysanthemum.
After reading, the summary was: two edible, two inedible.
Moonlight Moss: Prefers growing in forests, usually covering tree roots in damp environments. Edible; long-term consumption can improve eyesight. But avoid direct sunlight—after sun exposure, Moonlight Moss turns bitter.
Gray Sweet Potato: Also known as "Mud Sweet Potato." A tuber plant that grows in muddy swamp environments. Its leaves are inedible and slightly toxic. Its sweet potato tubers are hidden in the mud below, edible, with a mild flavor and strong satiety. Harvests twice a year.
Stone Mushroom: Grows inside caves. Appearance plump and full, texture like rubber, difficult to chew, inedible, toxic.
Yellow-leaf Big Wave Chrysanthemum: Slightly toxic, inedible. Consumption causes dizziness and diarrhea. Petals can be used for dyeing.
The other three were hard to find, so Qin Ziwen focused on the Gray Sweet Potato.
Moonlight Moss needed to be searched for at night, while Stone Mushroom and Yellow-leaf Big Wave Chrysanthemum were inedible. Only the Gray Sweet Potato seemed reliable—it grew in muddy ground, and there were mudflats by the river. If he was lucky enough to find some, he could directly bring them back for cultivation.
Coincidentally, he had made plans with Old Deng to go fishing in the afternoon. He could take a look by the river while he was there.