Vol 1 Chapter 4 (1/2)

THE LEGENDARY “GUARDING A TREE AWAITING A RABBIT”

Inside the forest, Tang En was gleefully tying up the wild pheasant using the vine ropes he made. After finis.h.i.+ng, he went around to collect the various equipments and items he use for the trap; a short wooden club and a net made from small branches.

That’s right, this trap was laid out by Tang En. Of course, it was all under the instruction of the Housekeeper.

The problem with the crossbow’s accuracy cannot be solved in a short amount of time, especially with such a crude weapon. That’s why, after teaching Tang En some small methods for hiding, the old butler taught him how to make some simple traps. The result spoke for itself. Tang En finally solved his most pressing problem when coming to this new strange world, his aching stomach.

Now that the meat had been acquired, he had to worry about turning it into food. The Housekeeper recommended him to cook it Beggar’s Chicken style (1). The meal was simple and quick, the taste wasn’t bad, and most crucially they didn’t have to waste time plucking the chicken.

After successfully making a fire and bringing over some water from the well, Tang En prepared to deal with the peasant who was lying still waiting for it’s fate. Before, he did say that he had never even killed a chicken, and this was the truth.

Tang En’s background was ordinary, but his parents spoiled him quite a lot during his youth and never let him do things like this. Furthermore, he just graduated and had not had the time to acc.u.mulate the necessary life skills, so he had yet to skin and cook his own chicken.

But, the hunger was real. The piece of rye bread before was the only thing he had since coming here.

Tang En sighed: “I must tell you, I am forced to do this. Chicken ah, today you fell into my hand so you must die, please quickly reincarnate and have a good next life…”

After gathering his resolve, he kneeled down beside the pheasant, his arms lifting up the short ax and sliced downward.

“Cuckoooo!” Fresh blood overflowing, the pheasant let out a final pitiful call.

Tang En could only feel his hands getting warmer. He looked down to see the pheasant blood covering his entire hand, a never ending torrent was streaming out non-stop. Who would had thought, the headless pheasant suddenly flapped its wings and ran away at high speed.

“Huh…”

Tang En’s body went stiff. How unscientific can this get?

He had heard of boiled ducks being able to flap their wings, but he had never seen a headless chicken ran.

After running for dozens of metres, the comical scene finally ended, the pheasant fell down on the ground and completely stopped moving.

After that unreal experience, everything went smoothly. Tang En was finally able to taste this legendary meal after grilling the meat for some time. The nutritional value of pheasants was very high, there was plenty of fat and the flesh was of the highest quality. However, without condiment, spices or herbs, the taste itself was quite bland. Tang En was of course too hungry to pay this any mind. Furthermore, this was food he had acquired with his own hands, and he felt an immense satisfaction when eating it.

After several more days like this, Tang En began to settle into the forest.

He still hadn’t come up with a future plan for his life in this foreign world. Tang En didn’t want to become an a.s.sa.s.sin. The danger was a part of it, but the main part was he was unable to get over his own self restriction. He was just a normal upstanding and honest student, even though he was just second cla.s.s at best, committing murder for money wasn’t something he can do.

Even though he didn’t want to kill, he still trained diligently inside the a.s.sa.s.sin s.p.a.ce. The Housekeeper gave him various tasks and he followed them obediently. This was mainly because he didn’t really have anything else to do, but also because he wanted to be able to defend himself.

The old butler did not try to push him against his wish. He only arranged several a.s.sa.s.sination like games and tasked him to complete them. Even though Tang En was hesitant about becoming a killer, towards these kinds of games he didn’t have any qualms.

Especially, the difficulty of these games were very high. Tang En trained for days but still had not pa.s.sed the first door. This made the self proclaimed gaming genius feel very ashamed, so he focused all of his efforts into solving the puzzles.

The first door of the game involved stealing a treasure sword of a n.o.ble. This goal didn’t seem to be very difficult from the outset, but everytime Tang En’s head peeked out nearby the n.o.ble’s mansion, the guard dogs would immediately discover him and barked non-stop. The guards would then come and kill him in one move, causing him to feel extremely frustrated. Luckily, this was only a virtual game, no mouse or keyboards to speak of, or else a countless number of them would have already been smashed by him.

Lunch time was coming.

“d.a.m.nit, again with the d.a.m.n dog, don’t let me have a chance to get to you, or I’ll cut you into pieces!” Tang En angrily carried his hunting gears as he searched for a place to set up the trap.

This was the first time he had successfully knocked a guard out. He even managed to climb over the walls and headed inside the room of the n.o.ble, but before he can celebrate, a rousing round of barking sounded out. Tang En once again became hunted to death by the guards. Your Mother, you are a guard dog, why did you wander to the back of the house?

–

Ooh, what a fat rabbit. Too bad I can’t catch it… Tang En drool was already flowing while staring at the hare hiding several tens of metres away.

Tang En unconsciously observed the four directions, even though he was at a disadvantage, the forest was dense and there was plenty of cover… Ah, what the heck am I thinking. Do you think you are the Housekeeper? Tang En quietly mock himself.

But in the end, he couldn’t help but step forward. Fine, let’s just give it a try, I wouldn’t lose anything if I failed anyway.

Tang En licked his lips and slowly crawled towards the hare.

Calm mind, still heart, breathe deeply and observe everything.

See when the hare is grazing, see when it looks up, see the trees that will cover you, the distance between them, see the dried twigs underneath your feet.

Slowly and surely.

At this moment, Tang En was quietly walking, his eyes did not waver, his mind focusing only in the method of movement taught by the old butler.

He was like a shadow of a ghost, steps after steps, the wild hare was completely unaware of his presence.

Inside the s.p.a.ce, the Housekeeper calmly looked at the events transpiring, the corner of his mouth slightly raising, “Not bad, you have already trained to this stage. However, would it be so easily caught?”

With over a dozen metres between them, Tang En had made it half way.

Suddenly, the hare’s two large ears shot up, it carefully examines the area in front of it.

There was only normal trees and plants, the forest breeze was blowing by pus.h.i.+ng the leaves around, causing many noises.

The hare used its nose to sniff several time, then pulling back its eyes and continue to eat.

Tang En stood behind a tree, his eyes frowning. Just then he had only took half a step before the rabbit had sensed him. Is it impossible to get closer? If it was, how did the old butler did it? I can’t figure it out…

Calm down, calm down. There had to be a way.

With this distance, the rabbit will continue to graze while I am behind wind. The problem might be related to sound. I can’t hear my own footsteps, but that doesn’t mean it can’t.

How do I make the rabbit hear the sound but remain unalert? d.a.m.nit, the more I think the harder it is to understand. Tang En breathe in quietly, this rabbit is not so simple…