Chen Lan lifted her head and gazed out. The boundless snowfield was draped in white everywhere, like a world from a fairy tale. A hint of red in the distance, covered by the heavy snow, was so vibrant and beautiful against the snowy peaks. The distant mountains, hazy through the veil of snow, appeared like a fairyland.
Looking back towards home from afar, the roofs of the five detached houses were covered in thick snow, transforming them into snow mushrooms and snow houses. They stood in the vast snowy wilderness, like a realistic snowscape painting, full of poetic charm.
Due to an important mission to complete, Chen Lan had no time to admire the picturesque northern scenery. She quickly withdrew her gaze, not wanting to waste any more time, and continued to look at the system screen. Following the system's suggested route, she slowly walked step by step towards the target prey.
Although the route displayed by the system wasn't very far, only a few hundred meters, the snow was incredibly thick and deep, making the path very difficult to navigate.
Chen Lan trudged through the snow, her feet sinking deep with each step, for nearly half an hour. She was sweating profusely. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she looked up and finally saw a long trail of animal tracks on the endless snowy ridges. The tracks led forward, and she had no idea what kind of animal had left such a long "footline."
Chen Lan had no experience hunting in winter and didn't know what kind of animal had made these tracks. However, her intuition told her it wouldn't be a ferocious carnivore.
She continued to walk forward with effort, following the line of tracks. She was confident she would soon find out what animal it was. After another estimated half an hour of walking, the system screen indicated that she had reached optimal shooting range.
Chen Lan stopped behind a large tree. By this time, she was gasping for breath and drenched in sweat. However, she dared not take off her thick cotton coat, fearing she would catch a cold if the wind blew. She just took a few breaths behind the tree, calming her breathing slightly. She took out a dry towel from the system's storage and wiped the sweat from her face and neck.
Once she had tidied herself up, Chen Lan could finally see the animal's specific appearance clearly: "The animal wasn't very large, with big eyes, about 1.2 to 1.3 meters in length, estimated to weigh only sixty to eighty catties. It had light brown fur. Some had horns, others didn't. It looked like a sheep but wasn't a sheep, and like a deer but wasn't a deer."
Chen Lan recalled her memories from her previous life and thought that this must be what northeasterners often called a "silly roe deer!"
Chen Lan thought to herself that roe deer meat was delicious and juicy. It would be perfect to hunt one and bring it home. Then, during the Minor New Year, everyone could make dumplings with roe deer filling. Just thinking about it made her mouth water!
Roe deer were common herbivores in the Changbai Mountain region. They were naturally timid and had no aggressive tendencies. Roe deer often moved in groups of three to five. Upon sensing danger, they would scatter and flee, returning to their original location once the danger had passed.
With this thought, Chen Lan didn't delay any further! She decided to act quickly! She worried that if she accidentally made a sound and scared away the "silly roe deer," it would be a huge loss.
Casually, she put the twenty small steel balls, which she had prepared for hunting pheasants, into her large cotton coat pocket. Using her mind, she opened the system and retrieved six carbon steel arrows from the system's storage. She nocked the arrows onto the bowstring, adjusted the infrared scope, and prepared to hunt.
Chen Lan locked onto the target with the infrared scope. She remembered reading in many books from her past life about the characteristic curiosity of roe deer: "When encountering danger, roe deer don't run away immediately like other animals. Instead, they will turn back to look."
Chen Lan decided to test this today to see if roe deer were truly that curious.
Without further hesitation, she took a deep breath, channeled her energy to her dantian, and suddenly let out a roar. At the same time, as the roe deer turned back, she pressed the bow's launch button. Six roe deer instantly fell to the ground. The other roe deer scattered and ran far away, occasionally turning back to look as they went.
Seeing the roe deer looking back, Chen Lan couldn't help but chuckle. No wonder roe deer were called "silly roe deer!"
However, Chen Lan found it somewhat strange. Why did so many intelligent animals go extinct in the end, while the roe deer, called "silly roe deer," had not gone extinct? This could only mean that roe deer were not silly at all.
In her previous life, she had read many articles and stories describing the rich and abundant wild animal resources in the northeastern region. The general content was always the same, describing scenes like: "robbing roe deer with sticks, scooping fish with ladles, and pheasants flying into one's bed." At the time, she had been extremely envious.
However, Chen Lan knew that wild pheasants and rabbits were indeed very numerous in the forests of Changbai Mountain, so much so that the word "rampant" could be used to describe them. She wasn't sure if there were as many fish.
Chen Lan didn't dawdle any longer. She quickly walked forward, forcefully pulled the six carbon steel arrows from the roe deer, wiped them clean with the accumulated snow, and then stored them along with the six roe deer in the system's storage.
As she continued walking, Chen Lan used the system's search function to look for pheasants. Her main objective for going up the mountain today was to catch live roosters.
After walking aimlessly for another twenty minutes or so, a small red dot finally appeared on the system screen. Chen Lan excitedly followed the route indicated by the system screen and quickly walked towards the target. At this point, she no longer felt cold and was sweating profusely.
After about another twenty minutes of walking, she reached the optimal shooting range for her bow. Chen Lan stopped and looked up. It was a flock of wild pheasants, likely a family.
Chen Lan silently breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, thanking heaven that she had finally found live roosters, and not just one, but three. Chen Lan carefully counted and saw that there were a total of eight pheasants in the flock: three roosters and five hens.
She immediately decided to catch them all in one go. She took out the small steel balls from her pocket and adjusted the magazine. As it was her first time using steel balls, she wasn't very proficient and fumbled for a long time before finally loading them. Fortunately, the flock of pheasants was still scratching the thick snow for food and hadn't moved far.
Nimbly adjusting the infrared scope, she pressed the launch button. All eight wild pheasants fell to the ground simultaneously, still struggling and squawking. Chen Lan quickly rushed forward, grabbing one by each hand and quickly capturing them one by one. She took out a large backpack with a lid from the system's storage and quickly threw all eight pheasants inside before closing the lid.
She didn't linger any longer and quickly moved towards her next target.