Chapter 23: A Bountiful Harvest, Entering Swan Lake

Su Yu walked over, cut off a thick section of the intestine, buried it in the mud to mask the scent, and then placed it into his back basket.

"Hey, Brother Yu, why do you need that? Are you going to eat it?"

This was the intestine of a blue sheep. Never mind the taste; the stench alone was unbearable.

"No, I’m taking it home to feed the dog. Did you forget? I have a blue wolfhound."

"Alright then, let's leave quickly. Otherwise, we might easily attract carnivores."

Huzi stepped forward to hoist the blue sheep, intending to put it into the basket, but once he actually lifted it, he realized that even without the internal organs, it weighed at least seventy or eighty pounds. It was clearly an old blue sheep; otherwise, it wouldn't have been part of a herd.

"Let me do it."

Su Dayong volunteered, taking the blue sheep and placing it into the basket. The basket was quite large, or it wouldn't have fit. Su Dayong was big and tall, standing nearly 1.9 meters, rivaling Su Sheng. Thanks to the good food provided by his third uncle, he wasn't as thin as Su Yu used to be, and he hoisted it up with ease.

"Let's go. Let's head to the other side of the reed marsh, shoot a few wild ducks, and take them back to make soup."

It was early spring, and the wild ducks were in their active period, hunting fish greedily. In less than a month, they could pack on significant weight.

"You two wait here. Don't run around. I'll go by myself. Too many people will only make things difficult, and besides, this place is dangerous. You don't have the experience; if you fall into the marsh, I’d have to save you. Remember, don't wander off."

After instructing them, Su Yu began to circle the reed marsh, looking for targets. Su Dayong put down the blue sheep and picked up his crossbow, also keeping an eye out. He didn't move around, as the area was entirely surrounded by reeds; he only needed to watch the lake, where wild ducks would naturally land to swim and hunt for fish.

Su Yu, however, kept moving, as he didn't want to wait.

The two of them stayed nearby and would be fine looking out for each other, while Su Yu poured all his experience points into "Tracking," raising it from level 3 to level 4.

Host: Su Yu
Age: 19
Physique: 10
Strength: 15
Speed: 10
Skills: Fishing Iv3+, Basic Archery Iv9+, Tracking IV+4
Skill Points: 0

"Whoosh!"

An arrow pierced directly through a wild duck as it took flight.

Su Yu walked over, retrieved the duck, and carried it back to the pile. He took a look; there were already two wild ducks.

Su Yu continued in another direction, ignoring any duck under two pounds.

"Whoosh!"

Another arrow cut through the reeds and plunged into the body of a wild duck.

Pushing aside the reeds, he found a nest near the duck, containing six wild duck eggs.

Su Yu was overjoyed. He picked up the duck, took off his jacket, wrapped the eggs in it, and headed back to continue the hunt.

Suddenly, Su Yu spotted a lone swan. That’s right—it wasn't the migration season for swans; they typically migrate from March to early April, and again from October to November.

Since it was only the beginning of February, it was clear this was a swan that had flown early and been left behind.

Su Yu didn't hesitate and let an arrow fly. With his Level 9 archery skill, he never missed a shot at such a distance.

He claimed the five-pound swan and kept moving.

And so, Su Yu went back and forth, either shooting wild ducks or encountering rabbits. There were plenty of rabbits in the reed marsh, but the reeds were so dense that they were hard to spot; by the time you saw them, they had already heard your footsteps, making them difficult to shoot.

Even using the sound of the wind blowing through the reeds as cover, it was hard to escape a rabbit's ears. That was a natural instinct that even his improved archery couldn't overcome.

Even so, Su Yu managed to bag two rabbits, one pheasant, and six wild ducks.

It was a bountiful harvest. It wasn't that Su Yu was exceptionally powerful, but rather that no one had entered Swan Lake in years, and the animals here had lost their vigilance.

It was just like an angler stumbling upon an untouched, primitive lake; the fish there weren't used to being disturbed, so they bit the hook easily. In contrast, in places where people paid to fish, the fish were clever and hard to catch, especially those that had been caught and released before.

The wild ducks, rabbits, and pheasants here were the same. Because they weren't disturbed, they had lost their caution, and when faced with an expert archer like Su Yu, they were caught off guard and harvested.

Seeing the sun beginning to set, Su Yu picked up the two rabbits, the pheasant, and the six wild ducks, and followed the path back to find Su Dayong and Su Xiaohu.

"Whoa, Brother Yu, what a haul!"

Seeing Su Yu carrying so much, both of them were stunned and ran over.

"Two hours—you were gone for such a short time and you got all this? Third Brother, did you go to a market?"

"Heh, it’s alright. Don't talk nonsense. What about you two? You didn't really just sit there waiting, did you?"

Su Yu wouldn't have believed it either. He hadn't brought them along simply because he didn't want to seem too shocking, and because more people meant more noise, which would hinder his performance.

"We didn't get as much, but we did shoot two wild ducks. Also, on the north side, we found a lot of wild duck eggs. Look, we brought them over, but we were worried about how to carry them back."

They pointed in the direction they had come from, and Su Yu looked over to see a small pile. Judging by the quantity, they had found a nesting ground.

"So many? You found a nesting ground?"

"We think so. But there were a lot of snakes there. We saw two, one of which was venomous. We didn't go deeper because we were avoiding the snakes, so we came back. The main thing is, we can't carry them. We don't know how to get them back."

"You did well. It's normal to find snakes where there are duck eggs. You did the right thing not to take risks. Let's take off our jackets and put the eggs inside; we should be able to carry them back."

Looking at the number of eggs, there were about ten pounds worth. It was the result of two hours of hard work—five pounds each. If they were at the nesting site, five pounds per person wasn't much.

As for Su Yu, he only had six duck eggs, which was pitiful, but his tally of wild ducks was significant—six in total, each weighing over two pounds.

"Hey, Brother Yu, you even shot a swan? Are there swans this time of year?"

"Yeah, it might have been an early migrant, or one that decided to stay."

Some swans get left behind and choose to stay put, as the places where they stop to rest usually have the food and environment they enjoy. It was quite normal for some to remain.

"Alright, let's go. Here’s the plan: Brother Yong, you carry the blue sheep, and Huzi and I will handle the rest of the game."

With that, the three of them happily hoisted their catch and began their descent. It was truly a massive harvest. If the villagers found out, people would surely flock to Swan Lake. But this place wasn't easy to reach; Su Yu could wander freely without fearing the marshes because his "Tracking" skill had leveled up, giving him an extraordinary sensitivity to the environment.

As for Huzi and Su Dayong, they had to poke the ground with branches at every step to test it. That was the difference.