Chapter 10: Making Fire, Roast Meat
Su Ran stood under one of the trees, stood on tiptoe and reached out to grab a hanging branch, wanting to break off one to take a look at it.
In the end, after expending half a day’s effort, she only managed to make a crease in the branch.
This branch had very good toughness.
Su Ran looked at the branch that was ultimately cut off with the tactical knife, or perhaps called leaf. She felt that just by appearance, it really looked very much like a willow branch.
Only this branch had no leaves on it, and overall it was smoother too. It was very suitable for weaving things, or making rope.
Su Ran decided to name this kind of tree willow tree.
She threw away the half branch in her hand, then bent down to pick up some fallen leaves and branches from the ground.
Probably because it was at the edge of the forest, these fallen leaves could be exposed to sunlight, so the fallen leaves here were a bit drier than those inside the forest.
She stacked the collected branches together, put a handful of dry leaves on top to prepare for kindling, then clamped the whole stack of branches under one arm and picked it up.
As a result, when she turned around, she saw the werewolf standing behind her, gray-black wings half-spread, drooping tail restlessly swishing back and forth behind it, its whole body revealing a kind of impatient feeling: What are you doing? Why haven’t you gone back yet?
Seeing her turn around, the werewolf’s eyes seemed to brighten for a moment, but immediately after, they were drawn to the branches she was holding.
It pulled Su Ran’s arm, raised one finger pointing at the branches and “Ao wu”ed nonstop, as if saying: “What are you picking this thing up for? This can’t be eaten!”
Su Ran ignored it; it was no use talking anyway, better to just let the werewolf see the whole process directly.
So during the entire time Su Ran was busy starting the fire, the werewolf kept circling around her “Ao wu, wu wu”ing nonstop, until with a “pa” sound, the sound of the striker and stone fragment rubbing rang out, a spark splashed onto the dry leaves stuffed at the bottom of the branches, a wisp of black smoke rose, and after a few seconds, a small cluster of flames rapidly spread under the branches.
The fire rose up.
The werewolf finally stopped its clingy cries.
After the flames rose, Su Ran quickly surrounded the campfire with a few stones she had picked up by the riverside, then placed the stainless steel mug already filled with water on a stone relatively close to the campfire, waiting for the water to boil.
Only then did she turn her head to look at the werewolf that had been silent the whole time.
It would be fake to say she wasn’t nervous; the werewolf’s acceptance of fire not only represented the high or low quality of her life later, but would even influence the werewolf’s current attitude toward her.
If because of creating fire she turned into a monster that could turn into fire in the werewolf’s mind, then her fate would either be getting driven away from the current residence by the werewolf, or becoming the werewolf’s food.
Su Ran even felt that becoming the werewolf’s food would be a bit better than being driven into the forest to live alone, at least she wouldn’t have to live in constant fear.
She turned her head uneasily to look at the werewolf beside her, and upon seeing the expression on the werewolf’s face, she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, yet also found it a bit funny.
That angular face was currently showing a dazed expression. The pale green eyes had black pupils dilated to the maximum, the red lips slightly parted in surprise, faintly revealing white gleaming sharp teeth.
After being stunned for a moment from the surprise, the werewolf cautiously glanced at Su Ran, slowly walked to the campfire edge and squatted down, reached out to draw out a burning branch and stared at it intently for a while, then suddenly looked at Su Ran and “Wu~”ed.
Su Ran smiled at the werewolf, doing her best to release friendly emotions toward it.
It seemed the werewolf had seen fire before, perhaps a wildfire or something.
But its lack of rejection or fear of fire made the stone in Su Ran’s heart settle slightly, although she didn’t know why it wasn’t afraid.
After the fire rose up, Su Ran began preparing roast meat.
She first used stones to respectively smash two pre-selected Y-shaped branches into the opposite sides of the campfire. Then found a slightly thicker branch, scraped off the bark with the knife, sharpened one end, rinsed it with river water, then skewered it into one end of the leg meat.
The white-headed sheep’s leg meat was very thick, but surprisingly very tender and easy to pierce; Su Ran almost effortlessly skewered the entire leg with the branch herself.
She placed the branch skewered with leg meat across the two Y-shaped branches inserted into the ground, then began using the tactical knife to score cuts on the leg meat.
With no other seasonings, she could only crush the sweet leaf vein tree leaves she had picked and smear them on the leg meat.
Just treat it as eating honey-glazed roast lamb leg; it’s still better than having no flavor.
And just as she was smearing the crushed sweet leaf vein tree leaves and juice onto the leg meat, in her peripheral vision, from her side suddenly a branch with a chunk of meat skewered at the tip slowly extended toward the campfire.
She turned her head to look and saw the werewolf holding that branch, constantly twitching its ears, glancing once at the leg meat she had racked over the campfire, while sending the meat chunk in its hand toward the campfire.
That serious yet clumsy appearance made Su Ran chuckle; she hurriedly stepped forward to snatch the branch from the werewolf’s hand, muttering: “Too close to the fire, it will burn!”
Then under the werewolf’s intense gaze, she tilted the branch and inserted it into a gap in the stones surrounding the campfire, letting the meat chunk at the tip of the branch hang right above the campfire.
“Ah wu?”
The werewolf watched Su Ran’s actions, swished its tail, the wings behind it trembled along, looking very happy.
This beastman must have eaten cooked food before, right?
Su Ran looked at the obvious drooling expression on the werewolf’s face toward the roast meat, becoming more and more certain that this werewolf had seen fire and eaten cooked meat. And it probably liked eating cooked meat too, but perhaps because it couldn’t make fire, or some other reason, it couldn’t make cooked meat itself.
The branches on the campfire gradually burned out; Su Ran added a few more on top, and as she slowly turned the racked leg meat, a fragrant aroma of oil-dripping meat gradually wafted out.
“Wu~”
The werewolf squatting to one side imitating Su Ran’s actions looked at the roast meat in front of it, getting restless.
The palm-sized chunk of meat it had skewered seemed to be the fattiest part; as it was roasted by the fire longer, fat oil began to drip down from the meat chunk onto the ground.
Su Ran looked at those oil drops continuously dripping down, thinking that the meat from one white-headed sheep, if used to refine oil, should be able to produce enough animal oil to last half a month.
She also flipped the werewolf’s chunk of meat; as she turned the branch, the aroma of the roast meat wafted even more richly, and the anxious “Ao wu” sounds from the werewolf beside her grew louder.
But the meat wasn’t fully cooked yet.
No way around it; Su Ran looked at the sharp claws grabbing her clothes, and to preserve her only coat, she reached into her pocket and pulled out two pieces of beef jerky, tore open the packaging of one, and held it to the werewolf’s mouth, saying: “Eat this first…”
