WS - Chapter 155
Chapter 155
"Seven!"
"Seven bunnies reunited!"
"Eight now, eight!"
"Eight bunnies throw a feast!"
"Hahaha, can you guys even? When you were kids making up clapping songs, did you just bullshit like this? From one bunny so lonely, two bunnies boxing, three bunnies missing one... singing all the way to eight bunnies throwing a feast! Can you even keep making this up?"
"I can! As long as Song Shiyue keeps catching, I can keep singing!"
"Hahaha, me too, we all can!"
"Nine bunnies brew old wine! Hahaha, you guys kept arguing and didn't count properly — the naming rights for nine bunnies are mine!"
"Ahhhhh!!! Poor me, I had already thought of nine bunnies doing tai chi!"
"LOL, pounding the floor, can we not with the tai chi? None of them will survive tonight, better to go with the old wine!"
"If you believe, you can achieve. Believe that Song Shiyue can make your tai chi reach ten bunnies!"
"No! I object, I've already thought of it: ten bunnies stew in one pot! Tai chi my ass! Just eat them all, no tai chi! If they're this cute, how can we eat them properly!"
"Hahaha, right. Bunnies are for eating; cuteness is Dog's job. Dog, who latched onto a golden thigh, was on fire today. The rabbits were pretty fat, and he'd snatch them up right on command. He's already made several rounds."
"Sister Song, keep catching bravely, and we'll keep the nursery rhymes coming! But I wonder if Dog can keep up. I could see him panting a bit when the camera panned to him, haha!"
"One after another, Sister Song catches in the wild. No bunny squeaks are heard, only Dog's panting. Ask Dog why he pants — one after another, too many to carry back..."
"It's been so many days since we've seen the danmaku this cheerful. We're just missing fireworks and champagne to celebrate. Sister Song is truly a joy to the people!"
"I don't understand happy or not; I'm just an emotionless counting machine! Ten! Ten now! What was the line for ten bunnies again?"
"Ten bunnies kick Dog!"
"??? Tai chi..."
"My stew-in-one-pot! So I have to wait for twenty to get my pot again?"
"Hahaha, so what did Dog do wrong this time!"
......
The varied counting games on StarNet went on endlessly, and so did Song Shiyue, digging into rabbit burrows on the hillside of Wilderness Planet.
Song Shiyue had eaten all the remaining food in the camp. On her back lay the hopes of the whole "village"; behind her lurked the unknown — whether another bout of blackout coma would strike again. The only thing she could do now was hold onto that beautiful vision: "If I catch fast enough, the coma can't catch me." So she dug faster and faster, caught faster and faster.
In the end, Song "mechanized bunny-fainting machine" Shiyue's assembly-line output came to a temporary halt because of Yu Nianbing's intervention — the two backpacks Zhuang Jiachuan and Yu Nianbing had brought were already stuffed full of rabbits...
Who would have thought? Song Shiyue had been on this hillside, including the time they'd spent talking, for less than ten minutes, and had already caught sixteen rabbits. Even with large hiking packs, eight rabbits in each had them bursting at the seams...
When Yu Nianbing went to talk to Song Shiyue, Zhuang Jiachuan, left far off watching the two backpacks, was truly so nervous he could barely stand it.
Part of his tension was because watching a girl harvest wild rabbits like a reaping machine was a first in Zhuang Jiachuan's life. But more than that... these rabbits were only knocked out! Just unconscious!
The image of Dog being kicked in the face until it swelled the previous day was still fresh in his mind. Now Zhuang Jiachuan was alone minding two bags of rabbits, and he was super terrified that they might suddenly wake up, okay!
You two over there chatting — hurry back and watch the rabbits with me, will you! Zhuang Jiachuan clutched the backpack straps tightly and let out a silent cry. Mm... as the only man in the team, his dignity wouldn't let him actually shout it out.
But how could those two have any time to pay attention to his restless heart?
"The backpacks are full? No problem. They won't wake up any time soon. Just tear some vines and tie their hind legs; we can carry them back later." Song Shiyue didn't see any issue at all with what Yu Nianbing said. She casually tore two vines from a nearby tree, carefully ran them through her hands to smooth out the fuzzy prickles, and handed them to Yu Nianbing.
Yu Nianbing: "..."
"Now the problem is this? Isn't the problem that you knocked out sixteen rabbits in less than ten minutes? If you keep going, can you still be seen as a normal person in Zhuang Jiachuan's eyes?"
"This many... it's about enough, right..." Yu Nianbing tilted her head to glance at Zhuang Jiachuan in the distance. She felt like from where she stood, her words could still be heard over there, so she could only hint delicately.
"Not enough. There'll be consumption on the road ahead. We don't know what the next camp will be like, and it'll be troublesome if they leave us too little food." Song Shiyue spoke, but glanced at Yu Nianbing's face, which seemed to be holding back some words. She paused, then added, "Uh... I know, bunnies are so cute, and eating bunnies is a bit... but we don't have a choice, right? We have to survive first. Besides, Feng Qianqian said earlier that the route to the Old Castle was cleared by the production team. We don't know if we'll run into another such food source that wasn't completely cleared... Oh, I mean, this kind of opportunity might not come again later. If it makes you uncomfortable, why don't you and Teacher Zhuang head back first? I'll return soon. There probably won't be many more left."
Yu Nianbing understood every word Song Shiyue said.
But now the question was: did this person even understand what she meant!
Still... if there really weren't many more left...
Once again, Yu Nianbing was deftly persuaded by Song Shiyue's light touch.
And then...
Another ten minutes later, Yu Nianbing had used up the last piece of vine Song Shiyue had given her. Her fingers, busy tying knots, were nearly stained green by the fresh vine sap...
At her feet were two bulging backpacks. Through the unclosed tops, you could see the fur-filled insides at a glance. Next to the backpacks, it was even more impressive... two strings of furry creatures lay flat on the ground.
"Seriously, what the hell was I thinking..." Yu Nianbing rubbed her slightly green knuckles, wishing she could conjure up a little fireball and ping it at the forehead of Song Shiyue, who was still wandering around on the hillside.
"You call this 'not many more'?"
"Another sixteen, okay?"
"Thirty-two rabbits total, can this even be okay?"
"Oh, not thirty-two..."
Dog came again, hobbling along... The initial excitement of revenge and face-slapping had been quickly worn down by the weight of one fat rabbit after another. Now what sustained Dog was duty, trust, and the boss's golden thigh...
Plop. A rabbit dropped at Yu Nianbing's feet. Dog slowly turned around and trudged back toward Song Shiyue, without even the energy to wag his tail cutely.
Don't ask; ask and it's just a working dog, no emotions.
Yu Nianbing was also somewhat amused and exasperated by this drama-filled dog. Could it just be normal? If it can't keep up, then stop.
However, the drama wasn't limited to the dog.
"Teacher Yu, Teacher Yu, look, I found a lot." Zhuang Jiachuan came running out from the woods below the hillside. From a distance, he was already waving the long vine bundle in his hand and shouting.
Yu Nianbing didn't even want to muster a standard, formulaic smile for Zhuang Jiachuan.
Originally, she had worried that if Song Shiyue performed too well, Zhuang Jiachuan would get suspicious watching. But this guy... his head was all about food, and he didn't find anything wrong with the current situation at all.
Earlier, while tying the rabbits, Zhuang Jiachuan was too clumsy to tie them securely, so Yu Nianbing ended up doing them all herself. Once Zhuang Jiachuan was idle, he wasn't just worried about whether the rabbits would suddenly wake up; he also started rattling off dish names...
From Kung Pao rabbit cubes to boiled rabbit slices... Heaven knows how he managed to shove the word "rabbit" into those dish names.
Yu Nianbing felt she had worried for nothing. It seemed Zhuang Jiachuan was less perceptive than the dog — probably a bit of a simpleton.
It seemed like everything changed after Song Shiyue woke up that morning.
Teacher Zhuang, who had been mature and steady just a few days ago... now looked as happy as a...
"Ah..." Yu Nianbing reached out to steady him.
But Zhuang Jiachuan was still three or four steps away and couldn't be caught. He went splat in a face-plant.
"It's nothing, nothing." Zhuang Jiachuan scrambled up, checking the vines in his hand. "They're all fine, not broken."
Yu Nianbing: "..."
Mm... happy like a three-year-old simpleton.
But this was really... quite nice.
After Zhuang Jiachuan steadied himself, Yu Nianbing averted her eyes and looked again at Song Shiyue, still circling the hillside, and an unconscious faint smile touched her brows.
Really, quite nice.
In the past few days, not just Zhuang Jiachuan, but the other three as well — no matter how they cheered each other on or masked their unease, the anxiety about the uncertain road ahead had always lingered in their hearts, somber and unresolved.
Today's meal was eaten, but where would tomorrow's come from?
Could they still move forward, or would they stay here forever...
Many things they never spoke of were actually worries they all secretly understood.
And now...
Song Shiyue didn't just work like a whirlwind; she herself had become that crisp breeze that scattered the gloom in their hearts.
She was freedom, vitality, hope.
Mm, and also meat.
How could one not be drawn to such a person...
Yu Nianbing suddenly sensed her straying thoughts and quickly pinched her palm with her fingertip, cutting off that sudden notion.
In stark contrast to the bountiful harvest was the hillside now stripped bare of every rabbit.
Forget sustainable development in nature for now. If they could get out alive, this hillside could have as many rabbits as they wanted — as long as they could breed them.
Hearing Dog's bark, Ning Chuyang stacked the firewood she had gathered onto the pile outside the fence and turned to look toward the sound.
With Song Shiyue taking the lead, Ning Chuyang had long since predicted that they wouldn't return downcast and discouraged like Yu Nianbing and Zhuang Jiachuan had that morning.
But... the people and dog who returned were not quite what Ning Chuyang had imagined.
In Ning Chuyang's imagination, if not all radiant with joy, at least everyone should be grinning cheerfully.
But now, what was going on...
Song Shiyue was clearly carrying two long strings of rabbits in her hands, yet she was the only one looking happy.
Yu Nianbing didn't have much expression, just a hint of helplessness. Well, that Ning Chuyang could understand. Whenever Song Shiyue was around, Yu Nianbing usually wore that expression — that "I can't do anything with you but can't bear to hit you" look.
But what was up with Zhuang Jiachuan... what was he holding, a nest of little bunny babies? Why did he look terrified, as if carrying a bag of bombs...
And Dog...
When they went out, Dog had that smug, bootlicking face going off to get revenge. Why was he walking slowly with his tail drooping on the way back? Even though they came back laden with spoils, he looked worse than when they'd returned with nothing that morning.
Zhuang Jiachuan could shed light on all of Ning Chuyang's doubts.
The moment they returned to camp, seeing Song Shiyue lay down the two long strings of rabbits, Zhuang Jiachuan immediately, with lightning speed, shoved the little bunnies he was holding into Song Shiyue's hands. In an instant, he was freed of that ticking bomb. He turned and eagerly, with vivid detail, began telling Ning Chuyang and Feng Qianqian, who poked her head out of the tent, the story of the little bunny reaping machine.
"Let me hold them." Yu Nianbing put down the two rabbits she was carrying and reached to take the little bunny babies from Song Shiyue's hands.
"It's fine, I can manage." Song Shiyue carefully evaded Yu Nianbing's hands and walked toward the two tents outside the fence that hadn't been taken down yet and were just used for storing odds and ends.
You've got to be kidding — even after noticing Zhuang Jiachuan's terrified state on the way, Song Shiyue hadn't let the two of them switch. It was precisely because she was afraid that if Yu Nianbing held them, she might grow attached.
Though they hadn't planned on eating these little bunnies anyway, little rabbits and big rabbits are all the same species. Song Shiyue felt that with the camp out of food and only rabbits to eat, it was best not to give Yu Nianbing any chance to bond with the rabbits.
They'd spent about half an hour on that hillside altogether. After counting, they had harvested fifty-two rabbits: eighteen large and sturdy, thirteen medium-sized and also robust, nine smaller ones that looked like they could grow bigger, and twelve that were still little baby bunnies...
If Song Shiyue hadn't carried one pack herself and lugged two strings, they probably couldn't have gotten all these rabbits down the mountain in one trip.
On that hillside they'd visited, only empty rabbit holes remained. The whole family, young and old, had been caught, so there was no talking about further development.
As for these captured rabbits, if they could find other food later, keeping some for sustainable development would be a good idea.
Not to mention, those little bunnies could at least grow bigger.
So the next question was.
Tonight, which one to eat?
Oh...
Tonight, which ones should they eat?
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