Chapter 85: Zhao Wenwu Is Missing
Once the water in the pot was warm, Zhao Wendong scooped some out and offered it to the Golden Roc in its cage.
"Wendong, don’t waste your time. We tried to give it water before, and it wouldn’t drink. If you ask me, we should just stew it. Or, if you want to be wasteful, you could just let it go. We definitely won’t tell our family."
Zhao Wenjun had barely finished speaking when he was forced to eat his words. The Golden Roc hesitated for a moment, but its body’s instinctive thirst ultimately triumphed over its pride. It lowered its head and began to drink the water Zhao Wendong offered.
"How is that possible?!"
Zhao Wenjun shot to his feet in disbelief, watching as the Golden Roc drank every last drop of water Zhao Wendong had given it.
Holding Xiaobai, Zhao Wenwu also stood up to watch the spectacle. Zhao Ergou, in between stoking the fire, kept glancing back to see what was happening with Zhao Wendong and the others.
’Still thirsty.’
Zhao Wendong smiled and gave it another spoonful. After the Golden Roc had drunk three consecutive spoonfuls, its inner voice changed.
’Hungry. Want fresh meat.’
Watching Zhao Wendong patiently feed the bird spoonful by spoonful, Zhao Wenjun couldn’t take it anymore. He went over, snatched the spoon, and said,
"I don’t believe this! I’ll feed it!"
Zhao Wendong shot his older brother an amused glance before turning his attention to the plumpest wild rabbit they had caught that day, starting to slice it into strips of fresh meat.
Zhao Wenjun held the spoon up to the Golden Roc’s beak several times, trying to entice it to drink, but the bird completely ignored him, turning its head away to avoid the spoon.
"Hey! This is just bizarre. Wendong, why does it drink your water but not mine?"
’It’s not thirsty anymore, obviously,’ Zhao Wendong thought. But what he said was, "Probably because you’re too ugly!"
"Hahaha!"
Zhao Wenwu happily laughed at his big brother.
"Fuck!"
Zhao Wenjun, who rarely swore, cursed in frustration. He dejectedly handed the spoon back to Zhao Wendong. Seeing that Wendong was cutting the rabbit meat into strips, he shook his head again, still skeptical.
"Wendong, you’re going to feed the Golden Roc meat? Don’t think it’ll eat your meat just because it drank your water. Once it accepts food from you, it’s not far from being tamed. And there’s never been a recorded case of a wild adult Golden Roc being tamed!"
"That’s because they didn’t understand Golden Rocs as I do. It was they who failed, not that the task itself is impossible. You have to know what a Golden Roc is thinking and cater to its desires. Only then can you get close to them."
With that, Zhao Wendong poured the water out of the spoon, placed a freshly cut strip of rabbit meat on it, and offered it to the Golden Roc.
’Rabbit meat. Smells so good.’
’Can’t resist anymore.’
Zhao Wendong listened to the Golden Roc’s ceaseless inner thoughts, knowing it was having an internal struggle. He wasn’t in a hurry. It wasn’t just animals; humans had the same survival instinct. Even an ant will cling to life; he refused to believe the Golden Roc wouldn’t take the bait.
Sure enough, after a fierce internal battle, the Golden Roc—which had been starving for two or three days and was reaching its physical limit—finally lowered its head slowly. It snatched the rabbit meat from Zhao Wendong’s spoon, then tilted its head back to swallow. After eating, it squinted its eyes with a satisfied expression.
’Want more.’
Zhao Wendong pressed his advantage, feeding it several more pieces of meat until its inner voice said it was full. Watching this, Zhao Wenwu was itching to try. He put Xiaobai on the ground and attempted to feed the Golden Roc himself, but it just turned its head away, giving him the same cold shoulder.
"Third Bro, what did you say to it? I didn’t hear it make a sound."
Zhao Wenwu was incredibly jealous. Zhao Wenjun was dumbfounded. ’Did Third Bro really just tame an adult Golden Roc?’
Zhao Ergou, who was adding wood to the fire, looked at Zhao Wendong with eyes that were practically sparkling. ’Brother San is so damn awesome! He can even do this!’
Having drunk his water and eaten his meat, the Golden Roc was clearly much more amicable toward Zhao Wendong. When he reached out to pet it, the bird didn’t shy away. Seeing this, Zhao Wendong smiled. ’This is going way faster than trying to win over Lin Zhiyin.’
’Sleepy.’
’Human, hurry up and let me sleep.’
Zhao Wendong stood up and covered the cage with a piece of clothing, making a point to promptly satisfy all its needs.
’This human is so nice.’
After that, he heard no more inner thoughts from the Golden Roc. Zhao Wendong figured it had fallen asleep. But that last thought made it clear to him: the Golden Roc had accepted him.
A wild animal’s dependence on humans is like a first romantic encounter—it’s either never or forever. The first day in the mountains had been quite fruitful, and he’d made a breakthrough with the Golden Roc. So for dinner, besides the cabbage, potato, and mushroom stew, Zhao Wendong opened a can of preserved food to celebrate.
"Third Bro, eating it now is such a waste! We should save it for the New Year!"
"It’s fine. If we want to eat it, we’ll eat it. Who wants to eat this crappy Japanese stuff for the New Year? When the New Year comes, we’ll be eating big cans of yellow peaches!"
"Really? Third Bro!"
Zhao Wenwu’s eyes lit up. He had heard of canned yellow peaches but had never tried them. People said they were delicious.
"Yup, really!"
"Yay! When is the New Year? Is it tomorrow?"
Zhao Wenwu spun around happily. Xiaobai, thinking he was playing, started spinning around with him.
The three dogs glanced up, then went back to their food. Zhao Wendong had given them extra portions as well, and each one was eating heartily.
After a hearty dinner, the four of them laid out their quilts and went to sleep. With the quilts brought from home, their sleep quality improved dramatically. The night passed peacefully, and when everyone woke up the next day, they were all full of energy.
The only downside was that inside the cave, you couldn’t tell when it was morning; they could only rely on their internal clocks to wake up. By the time Zhao Wendong got up, Zhao Ergou had already boiled a pot of water.
Well-fed and hydrated, the four of them set out again full of confidence, only to meet their Waterloo. After a whole day, the dogs had only managed to catch a single rabbit, and Zhao Wendong and the others had only shot one pheasant. On the bright side, Zhao Ergou had learned to shoot through real-world practice, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
With such a meager harvest, everyone’s spirits were low. Fortunately, on the way back, under Zhao Wendong’s direction, they raided another poor squirrel’s winter stash. They collected a good amount of nuts, which made up for the day’s poor haul.
That evening, while feeding the Golden Roc, Zhao Wendong was pleasantly surprised when it responded with two squawks. His mood improved instantly. Once the Golden Roc was completely accustomed to being fed by him, he could start letting it fly.
Early on the third day, just as everyone finished breakfast and was packing to try their luck deeper in the mountains, Zhao Wenwu suddenly clutched his stomach.
"Oof, I gotta take a crap."
With that, he hurried out of the camp. Zhao Wendong and the others just shook their heads, used to Zhao Wenwu’s blunt nature. He, their second brother, was usually quick about his business, so it wouldn’t be a long delay. This time, however, something was different. Five minutes passed, and Zhao Wenwu still hadn’t returned.
"Er Gou, go see what your second brother is doing, taking so long."
"You got it, Brother San!"
Zhao Ergou put down the bag he was holding and quickly went out to find Zhao Wenwu. A moment later, the sound of frantic footsteps returned. Zhao Ergou ran back, panicked.
"Brother San, Second Brother is gone!"
"What?"
Zhao Wendong immediately sprinted outside.
Outside the camp, on a sheltered slope they used as a temporary latrine, Zhao Wenwu’s fresh droppings were still there, but he was nowhere to be found. Only a single set of footprints remained, leading toward the deep mountains.
Zhao Wendong examined the footprints. They belonged to his second brother alone, which meant he hadn’t been coerced or attacked. Judging by how far the snow had been kicked up around the tracks, Zhao Wenwu had been running fast into the mountains.
"It’s okay, he probably took off after some prey. Maybe he saw a rabbit or a pheasant!"
"We’ll follow his tracks. We’ll find him soon!"
Zhao Wendong felt slightly relieved. As long as he wasn’t ambushed by a person or a beast, that was the best possible outcome.
After following the tracks for a few hundred meters, Zhao Wendong stopped short.
In the snow, besides Zhao Wenwu’s footprints, several other sets of messy tracks were now intertwined. There were at least three or four other people.
"Fuck!"
Zhao Wendong swore viciously. Things had just gotten complicated.
People were more dangerous than beasts, especially deep in the old mountain forests during the dead of winter.