84: Chapter 84 Stealth Hunting in the Snowfield

On the morning of the second day, the wind finally died down.

It was still snowing, but it was no longer slamming horizontally against the cliff face.

Lin Ye woke up and first checked the fire pit, then inspected the Water Pool.

The reservoir walls had no leaks, and a thin layer of ice had formed on the water's surface.

He used a stick to break the ice and confirmed that water could still be drawn.

Zhao Mengmeng sat up wrapped in her animal-hide cloak, her hair as messy as a bird's nest.

"Are we really going out today?"

"Yeah."

Lin Ye stuffed the dried venison into his leg pouch and began checking the crossbow and wooden arrows.

"The snowfall is lighter than yesterday. If we miss this window, the snow might get deeper later and block our path entirely."

Zhao Mengmeng rubbed her face and quickly woke up.

She rolled out of bed and fastened the bone buttons on the front of her cloak.

Pulling her hood up, only half of her face remained visible.

"How many arrows should I bring?"

"Twenty."

"That many?"

"It's normal not to be able to retrieve arrows in the snow, so don't be stingy."

Zhao Mengmeng immediately turned to grab her quiver.

Lin Ye hung the Fire Axe at his waist and strapped the dagger to the outside of his thigh.

The Dark Weaver arm guard was strapped tightly to his right arm, with no visible protrusions on the surface.

He walked to the corner and pressed the wooden board on top of the refrigerator back into place.

"Leave embers in the fire pit, close the door panel tight, and we'll add more wood when we get back."

Zhao Mengmeng stood at the cave entrance and patted her animal-hide cloak.

"Let's go, let's go. Let's get back early; I don't want to spend the night in the snow."

Lin Ye pushed open the wooden door.

Cold air flooded in.

The two of them squeezed out through the ice crack beneath the eaves.

The Ice Waterfall outside the cave had fully formed, freezing into a thick wall of ice; through the ice, one could even see the dark patterns of the water flow before it solidified.

The eaves they had hastily repaired yesterday barely held up a narrow gap, which had now become their only exit.

They had to turn sideways and force their way out.

Zhao Mengmeng crawled out of the passage and looked back.

"This dog hole actually looks quite endearing now."

Lin Ye raised his right arm.

"Down the cliff."

The Nano-wire from the Dark Weaver shot into the rock crevice above, locking two side lines diagonally.

Lin Ye led the way.

He stepped onto the frost-covered rock face and steadily descended step by step to the middle section of the cliff.

Zhao Mengmeng stood above, raising the Wind-Chasing Claw and aiming at a protruding rock.

"I definitely won't fall this time."

"Don't jinx it."

"Shut up."

The grappling hook flew out and latched onto the rock protrusion.

Zhao Mengmeng retracted the rope and slid down.

Halfway down, the ice under her feet slipped, and she swung a large distance to the right.

In her panic, she adjusted the rope retraction speed and finally slammed straight into a snowdrift at the bottom of the cliff.

Her head exploded with white snow.

Lin Ye stood to the side and watched her.

"You're not dead; that's a big improvement."

Zhao Mengmeng spat out the slush from her mouth.

"That was a tactical cushion."

The two of them headed toward the Water Pool.

Half of the pool's surface was frozen, and the once-broad flow of water had shrunk into a strip of black water in the middle.

Lin Ye didn't look much further and plunged straight into the jungle.

The accumulated snow was deeper than their knees.

Every step required force to pull their legs out, consuming a great deal of stamina.

The branches overhead were bent by the thick snow; if they brushed against them even slightly, entire chunks of snow would come crashing down on them.

After walking less than fifty meters, Zhao Mengmeng's breathing became heavy.

"The snow is too thick; I can't even run."

"That's why you shouldn't disturb any big things."

Lin Ye walked very slowly.

The snow buried animal tracks, claw marks, and droppings; in the cold wind, they couldn't even smell the scent of any beasts.

Zhao Mengmeng looked around.

"I can't see anything; it's all just a blank slate."

Lin Ye didn't respond.

His left eyelid twitched slightly as he instantly activated the Eye of Destiny.

His mental energy consumption spiked, and the reflection from the snow intensified the stinging in his retinas.

In his field of vision, the stark white faded away.

Scattered patches of dark green light lit up in the distance.

As for the further northeast, that massive green light occupying most of his field of vision was still dormant, its outline becoming increasingly blurred through the curtain of snow.

Lin Ye blinked, deactivating his ability.

His temples throbbed twice.

Zhao Mengmeng noticed his pause.

"Did you find something?"

"Front right, behind the fallen log."

"How far?"

"Thirty meters."

Zhao Mengmeng stood on tiptoe to look ahead, but apart from snowdrifts and tree trunks, she couldn't even see a single animal hair.

"I swear these eyes of mine are just for show."

Lin Ye raised his hand and pressed it downward, signaling for silence.

The two lowered their bodies and crept forward, sticking to the blind spots behind the tree trunks.

Only when they got within fifteen meters did Zhao Mengmeng clearly see a piece of dead wood lying across the snowdrift.

The roots of the dead wood had collapsed to form a hollow, half-buried under the snow.

Lin Ye leveled the crossbow.

A line of text slid across his right retinal display.

[Snow Cave Hog]

The exotic beast in the hole was only the height of a lower leg, its gray-white fur pressed against the dead leaves.

Its nostrils twitched slightly, sniffing out an unusual disturbance in the air.

Its frozen body hindered its reaction speed, and it only managed to lift its head halfway.

"Whoosh!"

The wooden arrow cut through the wind, piercing directly through the artery on the side of its neck.

The Snow Cave Hog twitched twice, and its head slammed into the pile of dead leaves.

[Killed low-level exotic beast Snow Cave Hog, points +2]

Zhao Mengmeng lunged forward and used her dagger to quickly scrape away the snow.

She picked up the dead Snow Cave Hog and weighed it in her hand.

"Not much meat, but enough for a pot of soup."

Lin Ye took the carcass and scanned it with his left eye.

The green light was pure, with sparse spots.

"Good stuff, hang it up."

Zhao Mengmeng tied the knot deftly.

"A good start."

"Don't get happy too soon." Lin Ye tightened the rope. "Where there's little prey, there's no shortage of pitfalls."

The two continued deeper into the snowy forest.

Lin Ye specifically chose the leeward forest line, deliberately avoiding open areas.

Beneath the flat snow surface, piles of rotting leaves and deep trenches were often hidden.

Zhao Mengmeng's feet broke through the snow layer twice, nearly trapping her in a snow pit.

It was all thanks to Lin Ye using the Dark Weaver to forcibly pull her back.

Zhao Mengmeng kicked away the snow at her feet.

"This shitty place is biased against short legs!"

Lin Ye glanced at her.

"That's why you're in danger."

Zhao Mengmeng gritted her teeth.

"You'd better not get hurt, or the first thing I'll do is sew your mouth shut."

The bullet comments in the Great Xia Live Stream rolled by at the right moment.

[Once the cloak is on, Mengmeng's combat power and trash-talking are both back.]

[Hunting in the snow is basically prison; there are no tracks at all.]

[Did Brother Eye use his X-ray vision again?]

[He didn't use X-ray vision; this is maxed-out dynamic vision.]

Lin Ye stared intently at the tree line ahead.

The forest was too quiet.

No insects chirping, no birds flying; it was so quiet that one could only hear the rustling sound of snowflakes hitting the ground.

After walking for another ten minutes, he spotted a patch of green light pressed under some low shrubs.

A nest of frozen, gray-feathered Snow Chicken.

Lin Ye pierced two with a single arrow.

The rest flew up in a panic, but just half a meter off the ground, they were swept by the cold wind and slammed back into the snow nest.

Zhao Mengmeng pounced like a tiger, her dagger slashing repeatedly to harvest them.

She hung the Snow Chicken at her waist and clapped her hands.

For the next stretch of the journey, Lin Ye didn't move closer to the northeast.

The source of that massive green light remained hanging far in the distance, its size astonishing and its sense of oppression extremely strong.

Zhao Mengmeng saw him frequently glancing that way and couldn't help asking: "Is that the good place you were talking about?"

"Yes."

"How far away is it?"

"We can't reach it."

"Then what are you constantly looking at?"

Lin Ye stepped on a dead branch, snapping it.

"I'm checking if it has moved."

Zhao Mengmeng's face stiffened.

"That thing is alive?!"

"I'm not sure." Lin Ye withdrew his gaze. "So don't go throwing your life away just yet."

Crossing a small slope, Lin Ye harvested the biggest prey of the day in a blind spot behind some rocks.

Two Green-furred Snow Cave Hog.

The large one was shot in the head on the spot, and the small one ran out in a panic, only to have its throat slit by Zhao Mengmeng.

Zhao Mengmeng tied up the last two carcasses.

Five pieces of prey.

In the wasteland during the extreme cold, this was a bumper harvest that one wouldn't even dare to imagine.

Lin Ye glanced at the sky.

The clouds were as thick as lead, and the light in the forest began to dim.

"Let's go back."

Zhao Mengmeng couldn't have wanted anything more.

"Let's go, let's go; my legs have already gone numb."

The two headed back along the path they had come.

Their original footprints had been mostly covered by the newly fallen snow.

Lin Ye relied on the orientation of the tree trunks and the terrain to judge their direction, walking very steadily.

When they reached the top of a gentle slope, Lin Ye suddenly stopped.

Zhao Mengmeng couldn't brake in time and slammed into his backpack.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Ye raised his hand, pressing his knuckles downward.

Deep in the snowy forest ahead, a large patch of flat snow collapsed without warning.

Accompanied by a violent, muffled sound, the ground faintly trembled.