Kapitel 13: Farmer and Snake
Redakteur: Atlas Studios
Perhaps within every qualified lumberjack, lived the soul of an amateur carpenter.
Hence, this logging hut before him was made to be rather solid, and rather functional.
It was built in the middle of three giant trees forming the shape of a triangle. Using the trunks of the three trees as support, it maintained a one meter tall gap from the ground, ensuring the logging hut's ventilation and dryness at the maximum extent. In addition, this formation also helped in avoiding a portion of poisonous insects and snakes.
The main body of the logging heart was formed by stacking up and tying sticks of round logs. They used no nails, but it appeared to be extremely sturdy.
The roof was also a layer of round logs, covered with thick hay and laid with a layer of mud that was more than 10cm thick. Finally, items like rocks and tree barks piled on top, to prevent the mud from being washed away by the rainwater.
To be blunt, this was of way better quality than the wooden house in the territory, and naturally would also be more comfortable.
As expected, after Li Siwen walked in, he found that it was very dry and rather spacious inside. There was even a cooker made from piling up rocks with a heap of firewood beside it. Currently, a fire was lit there, and its design made it such that the smoke swiftly dissipated, only leaving behind warmth.
The three lumberjacks were either seated or lying down to rest, while that militiaman was very conscientiously using a slab of whetstone to polish his long spear. There were actually a few hints of murderous intent present.
Li Siwen squatted down in the corner by the door, looking like he was a newbie.
No one spoke. Only until the militiaman finished polishing his long spear did he begin slowly, "Regardless of whether or not the Feudal Lord is able to return tonight, we have to make a trip back tomorrow morning. We have no choice even if there are wolves. Without eating, we'll all be hungry tomorrow. Moreover, the village has been flooded, we have to go help. Only by keeping the village will we have hope."
"But we've—— never killed wolves before. We only, only know how to fell trees." Amongst them, a lumberjack in his thirties protested softly.
"Then can you find food?" The militiaman turned back and glowered at him.
The lumberjack was instantly muted.
"Perhaps the Feudal Lord would return early the next morning?" Another lumberjack asked with hope.
The militiaman kept silent at this point. He did not want to think, or even imagine the consequences of the Feudal Lord not being able to return.
"Ptui, cowards. Liu Er, Cao Da, you guys are just cowards. To me, a wolf's head isn't as hard as wood, if we can chop wood, why can't we kill wolves? In any case, I want to eat. Even getting eaten by a wolf is better than starving to death!" The lumberjack who gave Li Siwen pointers earlier raged.
"That's right, we need to eat. Besides, we have six of us." The last lumberjack said. His voice was very soft, but very determined.
"Six? You're referring to this little chick that only knows about farming?" The lumberjack called Cao Da showed a scornful smile as he pointed at Li Siwen. "I can fight 10 of him with one hand on mine."
"Exactly, I can send him flying with one kick." The younger Liu Er was even more unbridled in his disdain.
"Shut up all of you. He can fell a tree, perhaps his strength is lacking, but he has endurance, he's already much better than those little chicks." The militiaman spoke up. Clearly, he'd observed the process of Li Siwen's tree chopping. As for the 'endurance' that he spoke of, it was probably the Stamina attribute.
At this point, the militiaman looked towards Li Siwen.
"Kid, that axe is temporarily yours. Sharpen it now, if you can land one strike on the gray wolves tomorrow, we take it that you earned everything."
Li Siwen quietly moved the whetstone, while the four other lumberjacks had all stopped talking, each closing their eyes to rest. These fellows fell trees all year round, they knew how to rest and preserve stamina more than the farmers. But the rumbling sounds from their stomachs were still very awkward.
On the contrary, Li Siwen wasn't hungry. Even up till the present moment, his Stamina Points had been slowly rising back up. The tens of kilograms of fish that he'd stuffed himself with previously were still taking effect. This was the benefit of high protein food.
As he picked up the rusted axe and gently polished it, he hesitated a little about whether to tell these people about the big fishes or not. But he ultimately decided not to. This was because so long as they take the path by the wheat fields tomorrow, they'd definitely spot the big fishes in those ponds—provided they did not get eaten by the wild wolves tonight.
It suddenly began to pour outside, thunder rumbling in the distance. The logging hut was in complete pitch darkness. The cascading sound of rain covered the sound of Li Siwen's polish. Such a unique environment had him completely relaxed instead, nor did he stop polishing because of the darkness. Gradually, he closed his eyes, his mind completely tranquil, like he was enjoying a melodious serenade.
At some point in time, Li Siwen seemed to gain a certain spark in his heart and he instinctively withdrew some Spirit Points to add to his soul.
This time, there wasn't even any great reaction, just like a raindrop blending into the rainy night, drop and drop, sheets and sheets. He even somewhat forgot who he was, only feeling that he was a thread of rain, a cool breeze in this night rain, dancing with this darkness.
"Pit pat, pit pat!"
The patter of the rain went on and on, sounding outside of the logging hut, and also in sync with Li Siwen's heart.
This world, like a puddle with ripples, dim starlight could be seen.
"Starlight?"
Li Siwen was startled and abruptly woke up. He then realized that his surroundings were still pitch darkness. The four lumberjacks and that militiaman let out snores that differed in heaviness, but the rain outside had stopped.
Where was the starlight?
Only, when he opened up his Attribute Bar, was he suddenly taken aback. The 14 points of Spirit Points fully stored in the small yellow orb were all gone. There was only a change in the stat behind his Spirit attributes.
"Spirit development —— 15%"
Then he looked at stamina, already 15 points full. Then, he wasn't dreaming earlier?
But that kind of feeling of turning into a raindrop and dancing with the darkness gave him an endless aftertaste. It felt ten thousand times better than going on a date with his girlfriend.
So right now, he actually had a kind of irrepressible urge. He wanted to go outside and not remain in this little hut with a narrow space and stale air. The outside was his world.
Standing up quietly, he leaped down nimbly from several pieces of logs. Who knew that militiaman actually woke up on extreme vigilance. He immediately questioned in a low voice. "What are you going to do?"
"I, I wanted to test whether the axe is sharp or not?" Li Siwen answered rather awkwardly. With this disruption, the feeling he had earlier shattered like a dream.
"Idiot!"
The militiaman cursed and no longer bothered with him.
Li Siwen embarrassedly took a few steps and revealed a bitter smile. It seemed like he'd really been dreaming earlier, how was he able to see stars——
An icy raindrop fell from the leaf and made him quiver. Taking a few more steps, facing him directly was a puddle. A hint of starlight stood out within it. What a striking similarity it had with the scene he had dreamed of earlier.
In a twinkling, Li Siwen's prior feeling that had shattered seemed to be pieced back together. He stared at the puddle. The puddle reflected the stars, pit pat, pit pat, the raindrops fell, the water surface was covered in ripples. Accompanying these ripples, everything in the surroundings suddenly became quiet, no, they faintly emerged in his heart.
The big trees, the hut, the snores, the breeze, the weeds, the dewdrops, everything seemed just a breath away, well within reach.
If it was said that all of these were within the waves of the ripple, then Li Siwen himself was right in the centre of this ripple. He didn't dare move, afraid of disrupting and breaking this wonderful dream. Mm, he still thought this was a pleasant dream.
Until rustles were heard and something approached in the dark. Li Siwen did not even think, turning back, his axe swung down.
He wasn't roused from the beautiful dream, but he saw a black snake as thick as a fist, and several meters long. Its body still maintained the meander of an attack posture but the head had fallen off.
-- Geschenk
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