43: Chapter 43 Wild Boars and the Python

Before even reaching the stream, the sound of grunting drifted into his ears. Once he got within a hundred meters, the situation by the stream appeared on the Detection Function window, and his mood instantly soured. A large group of wild boars, both big and small, were frolicking by the flat, open bank. The once crystal-clear water had been churned into a muddy mess, and the bank was practically barren of grass, covered everywhere in pig manure. While this stream water would be very nutritious for irrigating the orchard, it was no longer fit for drinking.

The population of this wild boar sound was simply too large. Aside from dozens of piglets, there were over fifty adults. According to the data from the Detection Function, the largest one weighed over three hundred and twenty kilograms. Perhaps because there were no natural predators in this area, the sound had been able to multiply to such a massive scale. It was unknown how many years that large boar had lived to reach such a gargantuan size. The largest wild boar ever discovered was hunted by a father and son abroad, weighing nearly five hundred kilograms, but Cao Xiao felt that was unreliable—it was more likely they had found one that died of old age. For now, Cao Xiao didn't dare make a sound. He quickly climbed a large tree before letting out a sigh of relief. Wild boars have a keen sense of smell; if he were discovered and dozens of boars charged at him, he couldn't guarantee he'd emerge unscathed, even with the powerful Spatial Cutting Ability attached to the industrial mother machine's Collection Function.

A typical wild boar sound consists of two to three sows and a group of piglets; boars only join the sound during mating season. There were quite a few boars here, so it seemed to be mating season. A scale of nearly a hundred was already quite formidable. Wild boars are omnivores and cause serious environmental damage. These boars roamed over a large range, otherwise they wouldn't be able to sustain such big eaters. If the sound continued to grow like this, it could lead to an imbalance in the food chain. Even large predators wouldn't dare provoke such a large sound. Wild boars have a strong reproductive capacity, and the living space of other animals would be constantly squeezed. When food is scarce in winter, they would even come out of the mountains to destroy crops in the fields.

Tianxing Garden wasn't very far from here. If Cao Xiao carved out a stream to Tianxing Garden, these wild boars might follow the flow down. Therefore, Cao Xiao had the idea of hunting some of the boars to artificially suppress the population explosion. Although wild boars are a Class II protected species, because their reproductive capacity is too strong and their damage to crops is too great, a portion is approved for culling every year.

Safe from boar attacks up in the large tree, he raised his voice and made a lot of noise to attract them. Perhaps because they were used to being the kings of these mountains, the boars didn't take the noise seriously. Only two boars ran over, while the others continued playing. How could Cao Xiao let them have their way? Without even a grunt, the two boars had their heads sliced off and were silently stored into the space. Cao Xiao carefully climbed down and approached the stream. Once he had all the boars within a hundred-meter range, he quickly used his Spatial Cutting Ability to decapitate all the adult and sub-adult boars. He didn't spare the sows either, eventually leaving only three pregnant sows. These three adult sows leading dozens of piglets would be enough. If the sound wanted to multiply again, they would have to wait until these piglets reached maturity. But there were quite a lot of piglets; once the sows gave birth and the piglets matured, the sound would be overrun again. After some thought, he stayed his hand. It felt a bit cruel to kill them now. At worst, he could come back and thin out the sound if they ever threatened the orchard.

Due to the sudden and mysterious disappearance of the other boars, the remaining three large sows became uneasy. They let out piercing squeals and led the piglets into the dense forest. Hearing the squeals fade into the distance, Cao Xiao realized how much panic he had caused the sound. However, looking at the forty-seven wild boars in his space, his mood turned pleasant again.

He didn't plan to convert these boars into energy; that would be too wasteful. Wild boar meat is a rare delicacy, and wild boar stomachs are excellent medicinal ingredients for stomach ailments. He didn't need to process them personally either. He gathered some nearby trees and used the universal machine tool in the Manufacturing Space to make some large wooden barrels, then used the universal machine tool to clean the boars. The universal machine tool possessed a certain level of intelligence, and processing the wild boar meat according to his orders was no problem.

The bristles were scraped clean, and the skin was singed with a heating tool generated by the liquid metal mechanical arm. The pig blood was placed into dehydrated wooden barrels, and the internal organs were cleaned one by one and placed into separate barrels. The pork was butchered and stored. With ten universal machine tools working together, these wild boars were processed in less than ten minutes and then all placed into his personal space. His personal space had a function similar to time stasis, so food wouldn't spoil no matter how long it was kept there. Cao Xiao brought out the barrels of pig blood and added some salt and vegetable oil so that the blood would quickly congeal into a jelly-like state. If the person who invented the industrial mother machine saw him using the universal machine tool to process food, they would surely take it back and strangle him; it was truly an insult to the inventor's intelligence. Cao Xiao didn't feel embarrassed at all; tools were meant to be used, and he used them however was most convenient.

Walking along the stream, he encountered a small waterfall half an hour later with a drop of less than five meters. Cao Xiao estimated the flow rate of this stream to be about two cubic meters per second. Below the waterfall was a pool about half a mu in size. The water was very deep; this should be a good spot for fishing. It was already noon, so he decided to catch some fish here to make a pot of fish soup and roast some wild boar meat for lunch.

He had bought a set of fishing rods at an outdoor supply store last time. He just needed to dig up some earthworms nearby to start fishing. He hooked an earthworm and cast it into the pool. He didn't care if a fish bit or not; the rod was fixed in place, so if a fish took the bait, it wouldn't get away. He built a small hearth with stones, gathered some wood to start a fire, and took out a piece of wild boar meat. He cut off a lean portion, skewered it on a metal rod, and roasted it by the fire. He sprinkled on some salt and brushed it with soy sauce, adding no other spices or barbecue sauce. Roasting it like this to preserve the original flavor was the most delicious.

Suddenly, he heard a creaking sound. Looking up, the fishing rod fixed by the pool was instantly pulled into a sharp curve, looking like it was about to be dragged away. Cao Xiao rushed over and grabbed the rod, but the massive force transmitted through it caught him off guard, and his body was pulled into the water. He hadn't used the Detection Function to scan the pool when he arrived. Logically, there shouldn't be large fish in such a small stream, but the force just now wasn't something a five or ten-kilogram fish could exert. Even a fifty-kilogram fish wouldn't have such strength. Could it be a crocodile?

After choking on a couple of mouthfuls of water, he realized he had been pulled five meters underwater. His fishing rod was made of carbon fiber, and the line could withstand the pull of a fifty-kilogram fish. Under such immense force, it hadn't broken and was still dragging him deeper. He instinctively let go of the rod, not even thinking to use the Detection Function to see what was underwater. His survival instinct drove him to swim toward the surface.

Before he could surface, a dark shadow flashed before his eyes. Immediately after, something wrapped around his body, and he was carried rapidly upward, bursting out of the water. Only then did he see what creature had attacked him. It was a snake—a giant python. Its body was as thick as a small water bucket, and its hideous head still had the fishing line hanging from its mouth. It was now opening its massive maw to bite him, its jaws wide and filled with rows of long, sharp teeth. He didn't have time to think about why this was happening; he unhesitatingly used spatial cutting to sever its head. Even without its head, the python didn't die immediately. After falling into the water with Cao Xiao, its body still tried to coil around him. Cao Xiao then stored the snake's carcass into his space. The crisis was resolved, but he didn't let his guard down and immediately swam to the bank and climbed out.

Ignoring his soaking wet clothes, he began to scan the pool with the Detection Function. This incident was a lesson; he had almost lost his life. His sense of danger was still insufficient. To be so careless in a peril-filled primeval forest—he needed to reflect on himself. At the same time, he was very curious: why was a giant python in the water? If it was hunting, it should have discovered him when he arrived. It wasn't a water snake, so how could it stay underwater for so long?