Chapter 8: The Corpse in the Tree Hole.
It was midday, the sun blazing.
From the shore of the forest lake came a series of slapping sounds, carrying an inexplicable atmosphere. For a moment, the once silent and deserted Soul Beast Forest felt a surge of life.
A silver-haired youth, stripped of his shirt and bare-chested, was handling a soul beast corpse at the downstream edge of the lake. He had brought a flat stone, roughly fifty centimeters long and wide, from somewhere and placed it on the shore.
On top of it lay a peeled and washed deerskin. On the other side lay a piece of driftwood, two men long and one man wide. It had been cut in half, and several vines had been threaded through a hole to secure it to the shore. Stones were piled underneath to prevent it from drifting. On top of it were piled numerous pieces of cut flesh.
An entire morning had passed, yet he had merely separated the skin and flesh, not even carefully separating the tendons from the bones. Having never done anything like this before, he was a complete novice and clumsy.
Meat couldn't be kept for long in this weather. If not salted, fresh cuts would begin to stink and rot within a day at the latest.
For Uchiha Uranium, who was short on food, this was unbearable. Who knew where he'd encounter fresh food next? It might even be that he'd never encounter it again.
After all, his inherent radiation would drive away all living creatures, unless they stumbled upon him by chance, as they did yesterday. This meant he couldn't capture prey through normal means.
"Ugh, this thing's making my waist ache, ahhh!"
Straightening up, Uchiha Uranium stretched his waist and shoulder blades. The tingling sensation made him roll his eyes. After crouching for over an hour, he stood up in an instant, almost completely unraveling his plan.
After washing the meat, he began the next steps: rubbing it with salt, lighting a fire, smoking it, and then hanging it to air-dry.
Only then would it be considered properly cooked. The salt was easy enough; he'd brought plenty with him. The only problem was starting the fire, and whether it would attract spirit beasts or something.
Although his campsite was already in a heavily irradiated area, and spirit beasts wouldn't normally venture in, it was still safer to avoid a fire. However, he couldn't smoke the meat without a fire, which put him in a difficult position.
"Forget it, just start a fire. The longer I hesitate, the faster the meat will stink. Spirit beast or not, I don't believe anyone dares approach."
He only had to think about it for a moment before deciding. He glanced at the scorching sky and figured he could probably go back to the forest again that afternoon.
While the forest held no treasure or loot, sitting around in camp wasn't an option. He didn't have a hammer or an axe. The dry wood he'd prepared, though peeled and cleaned, wouldn't work for the foundation, so he'd just leave it there.
Uchiha Uranium quickly brought several thin vines, each as thick as a pinky finger, from the rainforest. After peeling and washing them, he threaded them through the meat.
He then used a machete to cut some branches as thick as his forearm, erecting a barbecue pole in the middle of the camp. He started a fire underneath and tied the vines holding the meat to it.
He had plenty of firewood to keep the fire burning during his trip to the forest. However, since there was so much meat, he quickly built three more grills for smoking. After setting up two improvised spirit skill traps, he headed east with his package.
There were many paths through the forest, and today he'd take another.
The sky was a brilliant blue, and overhead, branches crisscrossed.
As he advanced, Uchiha Uran felt the temperature drop slightly in the forest. He looked up and saw that the sunlight had been obscured by the dense foliage, no longer the intense heat it had been.
The wind was picking up.
The trees rustled, and he thought he smelled something strange, a sour, fishy odor, like two pounds of pork left out in the sun on a hot summer's day.
The stench was far away, though, and by the time it reached Uchiha Uran, it was no longer as strong. But it still caught his attention. If he was right, it was the smell of rotting meat.
If it was meat, he'd be intrigued. Regardless of whether it was rotten or not, at least the fur, bones, and teeth were all valuable. He was still short of a lot of materials, and a sharp tooth would be a good choice for a dagger.
Intrigued, he quickly set out, following the scent. Since he wasn't walking normally, but following the scent, he'd inevitably take detours and bump into things. But he was prepared.
He intentionally or unintentionally left his mark along the way, sometimes slashing a tree with his blade, or arranging a pattern with stones.
He didn't have a dog's nose; he couldn't smell a location directly. So, he simply sniffed around, heading for the direction with the strongest smell. While this method was incredibly unreliable, it was still a solution. He had nothing else to do, so he decided to waste some time.
Along the way, he also set a spike trap. His soul power regenerated quickly, and while it wasn't at full strength yet, it was enough to set two traps. However, he only set one, as he needed to keep some soul power in reserve. The feeling of being drained of soul power wasn't exactly pleasant.
Soul power regenerates naturally, like a cooldown for a skill. Uchiha Uranium understood it this way: when the cooldown is full, he'd just use it, much like Teemo planting mushrooms.
About an hour later, a gentle breeze blew, bringing the fresh scent of grass and trees, mixed with the overpowering stench of corpses.
This scorching weather was no time to store fresh flesh and blood. Once the expiration date had passed, the smell of fresh flesh and blood would quickly be transformed by microorganisms into a pungent, foul odor. If left unchecked, scavenging soul beasts would soon arrive and feast.
Strangely, the odor lingered, as if no soul beasts cared. Uchiha Uranium sensed he might be approaching. Out of caution, he quickly set a spike trap around him. Though a bit timid, he prioritized safety.
What if he encountered someone? And if they saw a six-year-old and immediately became murderous, wouldn't he die right there and then?
After all, humans weren't soul beasts, and wouldn't be scared away by his heavy nuclear radiation?
Soon, he found it. He saw the location where the smell was the strongest. It was surrounded by open trees.
In front of him was the remains of an old tree with a large hole in the middle. It didn't seem deep, but a strong stench was fermenting and emanating from it continuously. The smell he smelled was coming from here.
"Is this the place?"
Uchiha Uranium did not approach rashly. He first lit a ball of fire, wrapped it with leaves, and threw it into the tree hole from a distance. In the firelight, he saw a human corpse with a tragic death in the tree hole.
"Oh, it turns out to be a human. It seems that he has not been dead for a long time. The flesh is not rotten." Before he could act, Uchiha Uranium felt that the sky had darkened a little.
A huge shadow blocked the sunlight. The huge shadow was cast at his feet, completely covering Uchiha Uranium's shadow.
A giant creature stood behind him.
"Damn it!"
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(End of this chapter)