Day Ninety-One: A Captive Feast (Part I)

Dragging these enormous giant tortoises back consumed a tremendous amount of physical energy. The trip over had taken us less than twenty minutes, but the journey back to the treehouse lasted over an hour.

At first, the giant tortoises were exceptionally docile and offered no resistance whatsoever. However, as time wore on, the constant jolting and the sensation of being dragged perhaps made them uncomfortable, causing one after another to begin struggling.

A few even managed to wriggle free, stretching out their thick legs and attempting to make a run for it. Naturally, we could not allow that—how could we let our hard-earned food escape? So, after a brief chase and capture, these runaway tortoises were once again secured inside our fishing nets.

Although we managed to recapture them, the process took a considerable amount of time. This happened repeatedly, over and over again, which constantly dragged down our progress.

Furthermore, once the tortoises were bundled up in the nets, they could not be carried and had to be dragged along the ground. Tree roots and vines frequently crossed our path, catching on the fishing nets and driving us to distraction. Fortunately, the edge of the forest was already in sight; it would not take long to leave the woods and return to the courtyard.

Everyone was drenched in sweat. In particular, the men who had just been digging the pit had not yet rested and were desperately thirsty, yet we dared not linger in the forest. Wild boars frequently roamed these woods, and the very trail we were on had been beaten down by them. If we stayed too long and encountered a wild boar, the losses would far outweigh any gains.

The moment we re-entered the courtyard, Brother Qian, Ying Yuefeng, and Midakang collapsed into the shade of the trees, panting heavily as they began to recover their stamina. The giant tortoises inside the fishing nets all began struggling to get out, but we had reinforced every net securely along the way, making escape utterly impossible.

Yian Qingchen had just set down his fishing net and was about to sit down when I called him back. Everyone was thirsty, and he needed to help me fetch some water. Yian had not expended as much energy and possessed a naturally robust constitution, so he sprinted up to the treehouse, gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, and immediately rushed back out.

I heard Brother Qian ask him where he was going. He replied that he was going to retrieve the branches he had gathered earlier, and with that, he bolted out of the courtyard. I picked up a few bowls, and Yian Qingchen followed, carrying a basin of cool water.

Everyone was parched and drank voraciously, stopping only when their stomachs were bloated. The entire basin of water was polished off by the four of them. Fortunately, I had already drunk some before we set out, otherwise, I would have had to resort to drinking raw water straight from the bucket. Every night, I made it a point to boil a pot of water and let it cool in a basin for the following day's consumption. In a place like this, I did not dare drink untreated freshwater casually, fearing parasites. In an environment devoid of proper medical care and medicine, playing it safe was the surest way to guarantee a chance of leaving this place.

I brought out the straw mat Yian had given me from the treehouse, spread it out on the ground, and lay down. I was utterly exhausted and needed to rest for a while. Afterward, not only did we have to finish the trap, but we also had to fence off a living space for these massive giant tortoises.

Opinions were divided on whether to keep the tortoises inside the courtyard or carve out a separate enclosure outside. Ying Yuefeng favored keeping them in the courtyard by simply fencing off a small corner. He argued that setting up an enclosure outside would not only increase the workload, but also prevent us from noticing if beasts came by to steal and eat the tortoises.

Naturally, I disagreed with his view. The space within the courtyard was already limited given our presence, and housing these massive creatures there would inevitably make the area even more cramped. Moreover, I believed that restricting their movement too much would likely make them unhappy.

Fortunately, Brother Qian shared my perspective. He also felt it was better to keep the tortoises outside the courtyard. For one, we could make the enclosure larger, granting the tortoises room to move freely—after all, we were not in a rush to eat them; we were keeping them as a reserve food supply, ready to be slaughtered when provisions ran low or when we simply fancied a meat dish.

Additionally, keeping them outside meant there was an abundance of naturally occurring plants and wild grasses, meaning we wouldn't need to feed them ourselves for quite some time. More importantly, we could observe what they ate to determine which plants piqued their interest and what they favored most... After all, none of us had any experience in raising giant tortoises. Only through observation over time could we learn their preferences and adjust our feeding methods accordingly.

After resting for about half a minute—or rather, half an hour—Yian finally returned, looking travel-worn as he clutched a large bundle of slender branches. Thanks to his tall stature and long arms, anyone else would have struggled to haul such a massive pile.

With all the materials assembled, everyone stood up and plunged into a new round of labor. However, having all five of us work on the traps would be redundant. Consequently, Brother Qian had me help him cap the traps while the others set about fencing off a thirty to fifty square meter area for the tortoises. He repeatedly emphasized that these giant tortoises possessed a talent for jailbreaking, so we had to ensure the perimeter fences had no slopes whatsoever, were sufficiently dense, and lacked any large gaps.

At first, it sounded quite daunting. Creating a slope-free perimeter wasn't too difficult, but ensuring the absence of large gaps was a formidable task. Yet, seeing that none of the others raised any objections, I felt reassured; it meant they were confident in the plan, leaving no room for doubt.

...

Dividing the labor, Brother Qian had me sort out the arm-thick branches, carve the tips to a point with a knife, and hand them over to him. Using the Swiss Army knife I gave him, he dug a series of holes at the bottom of the pit and drove my sharpened branches into the ground one by one... Over an hour later, the bottom was bristling with dense thickets of wood, their sharp tips pointing skyward. Anyone unfortunate enough to fall in would be pierced right through, turning into a human beehive...

Finally, Brother Qian asked me to collect some stones. Since stones were scarce in this area, I gathered a few of the rocks I had previously collected for paving the ground. I watched as he wedged these stones firmly into the gaps between the branches, presumably to prevent the stakes from shifting out of alignment if a wild boar fell in and impacted them.

The remaining work was quite straightforward: layering the branches crosswise bit by bit, and finally topping the whole thing off with a scattering of fallen leaves. The trap was complete. If a wild boar were to return and stumble into this pit, it would undoubtedly be a one-way trip with no escape...