Fierce Wild Chickens

Jin looked steadily at the concerned female before him. He clenched his fists, regulated his breathing, and maintained his usual calm and composed demeanor. He turned his face away and said, “... Aren't you planning to raise those chickens? I brought a few live ones for you.”

Aside from the game that had been confiscated for the tribe's storage, there was still a green-horned beast weighing over a hundred catties, three long-haired beasts, and five wild chickens left in Jin's possession.

Among the wild chickens, three were alive, one was barely hanging on and about to breathe its last, while the final one was already dead.

“Sorry, I didn't control my strength well and accidentally bit two to death.” Jin looked at the two chickens that had become dinner and murmured, his gaze lowered.

“It's alright, it's alright. Three is enough! We have time now. Let's find some stones and wood to build a simple chicken coop.”

While speaking, An Yao rolled up her sleeves and extended her arms, ready to catch the chickens.

Wild chickens in the beast world weren't domesticated, they were full of wildness, comparable to small predators.

Flapping their wings and pecking at her eyes, An Yao screamed involuntarily, almost falling backward. Right behind her head was a large wooden stake meant for chopping wood.

In that split second of life and death, when An Yao was about to be injured, Jin's long legs swiftly took a few steps forward.

One hand firmly held the long neck of the clucking wild chicken, while the other graceful hand steadied her falling figure.

A voice filled with concern and worry came from above, “Female Master, are you alright?”

“I'm fine, I almost—”

An Yao glanced at the wooden stake behind her, her heart still pounding. She crawled out of the youth's embrace and dared not approach the wild chickens barehanded again.

“These beasts nearly injured you!” Jin applied pressure to his wrist, ready to strangle the wild chicken to death.

“Wait! Be more merciful!”

An Yao quickly spoke up, saving the wild chicken from death. She then rushed back into the stone house, grabbing a bunch of grass vines.

She had Jin tie up the wings of the three wild chickens, pressing their heads against a wooden stake.

Then, imitating her grandmother's method from her childhood, she trimmed the tips of the chickens' beaks.

After that, she trimmed the tips of their wings. She picked up a few medium-sized stones from the ground, securing them with a sturdy vine. The other end of the vine was tied to the chickens' legs to prevent them from running around.

“Alright, this way they shouldn't run around anymore. I didn't expect them to be so fierce!” An Yao reassured.

“Don't worry, I've trimmed off the sharpest part of their beaks, so they shouldn't harm me. Let's see what will happen raising them for a while.”

Though the idea of raising chickens sounded absurd, Jin followed her thought and nodded in agreement.

Afterward, he found a pile of flat stones from the forest and set up a courtyard area. He built four walls about half a person's height and attached smoothed wooden boards to the top. The boards were secured with stones to prevent the untamed wild chickens from flipping them off.

By the time he finished everything, it was already dusk. He clapped his hands and turned to look into the house, where the female was sitting on a stone bench by the doorway, weaving strands of green vines.

“What's this?” He walked over curiously.

The item she was weaving in her hands had a strange pattern. He had never seen anything like it before.

“Sandals, shoes for wearing on your feet!”

An Yao showed him the vine sandals she was almost done weaving, then lifted one foot and playfully wiggled it in front of him.

“Look, if I don't wear shoes, there are many stones on the ground, and sometimes insects bite my feet. I already have several blisters!”

The female's feet were slender and beautiful, with a hint of calluses and blisters on the soles. Her nails had a faint pink tint.

As she spoke about insects, her delicate toes curled subconsciously...

Jin observed her without realizing that his throat had tightened. He hurriedly lowered his head, made a soft sound of acknowledgment, and fell silent.

An Yao didn't notice the change in his expression and continued to weave the vine sandals with a focused expression.

Finally, she completed her task and put on the sandals. She joyfully walked several laps around the yard.

“By the way!”

She slapped her forehead and went back into the house, returning with a pair of vine sandals that were several sizes larger than her own. She handed them to the slightly dazed Jin.

“I made another pair. Try them on, see if they fit. If they're too big or too small, I can adjust them.”

“Are these... for me?”

His eyes widened slightly, his face showing disbelief, and his throat felt a bit sour.

“Of course! I didn't have time to measure precisely, but I made them roughly based on your height.”

According to ergonomic standards, a man around 1.8 meters tall should have feet that were around 28 centimeters long.

However, there was often some variation from reality. “Try them on and see if they fit. If they don't, I can adjust them.”

The youth's heart thumped wildly, he tightly gripped the vine sandals in his hand, and his lips said, “I'm a male, I don't need this. I also don't need it for hunting in beast form.”

But he quickly put on the shoes, walked around the yard several times in straw shoes, and then carefully took them off.

“They fit well, no need to adjust.”

A smile appeared on his face.

“Nonsense.”

An Yao had him put the shoes back on, and then she extended a finger to press on the front of the shoe—it was definitely too tight!

She had him take off the shoes again, and after increasing the size by a centimeter, she handed them back to him.

“Okay, this way they won't feel tight!”

An Yao noticed a white mark appearing on the final petal of his little gray heart above his head.

Jin flicked his fingers and bent down to take off the shoes, carefully placing them in a wooden box.

Then... An Yao never saw him wear those shoes again.

The next morning, as soon as An Yao woke up, she saw that Jin was already up and working. He had taken two long-haired beasts, laid them on a stone slab, and begun to eviscerate and skin them.

The meat of the long-haired beasts was tough and scarce, so the beastmen generally didn't eat them.

However, their fur was very white, soft, and thick, making them suitable for crafting warm fur dresses for females before the cold rainy season arrived.

Jin discarded the bones, meat, and entrails of the long-haired beasts, retaining only a relatively intact piece of fur. He placed the bloody pelt into a water barrel with salt, washing it thoroughly three or four times to remove the bloodstains.

Next, he picked up a somewhat dull stone knife and began to scrape away the remaining bits of meat and fat on the inside of the pelt.

When only a thin layer of stubborn fat remained, he grabbed a handful of ash from a stone jar and rubbed the pelt vigorously with a practiced technique.

This process was incredibly slow, and when the particles of fat on the pelt were completely dissolved, he washed the pelt in the water barrel twice more.

An Yao was truly amazed by this skilled primitive tanning technique as a modern person.

It took Jin two or three days to finish tanning these two pieces of fur. He then hung them on a rack to air dry for several days.

Finally, one piece of fur, which remained relatively soft, was completely finished!