Following Qin Tian’s line of sight, he saw the injured Tusks Boar hiding in a corner of the bamboo forest, curled up. However, there were no signs of other boars around.
Looking closer, Qin Tian understood the situation.
The back half of the Tusks Boar’s body was soaked in blood, fresh blood flowing continuously from a one-inch-long wound. If he guessed correctly, the boar had suffered heavy bleeding from the injury due to intense exertion, which forced it to stop.
You should have stayed still with your injury instead of chasing around and ending up covered in blood like this.
Not daring to move again, Qin Tian froze there, maintaining the posture of picking up the Stone Axe, silently hoping the Tusks Boar wouldn’t bother him any further.
Unfortunately, Qin Tian’s wish was doomed to fail.
Though slow, the Tusks Boar did move. It slowly got up, its eyes fixed firmly on Qin Tian.
Ye Lin, standing at a distance, saw this too. Her heart instantly tightened, and she covered her mouth, afraid of making any sound.
Swallowing hard, Qin Tian could clearly hear his own heartbeat pounding in his chest. He cursed his inability to speak the language of beasts, unable to communicate his lack of hostility to the Tusks Boar.
But no matter what Qin Tian was thinking, the boar’s snorts grew heavier, and its hind legs began pawing the ground, signaling a ready-to-charge posture.
A lone wild boar in a frightened state can easily become uncontrollable and ferocious. Once it feels threatened, it will fight to the death.
The injured Tusks Boar before him was even more sensitive to external stimuli. Qin Tian’s accidental approach had already triggered it, marking him as a threat.
Seeing the boar’s movements, Qin Tian cursed inwardly, “It’s over.”
Without hesitation, he grabbed the Stone Axe and hurled it at the Tusks Boar with thunderous force. At the same time, he shouted at Ye Lin, “You head back to camp the way you came!”
Before the words even finished, Qin Tian turned and ran, just as the Stone Axe struck the boar’s head with unerring accuracy.
Though not as sharp as an iron axe, the Stone Axe still packed a punch. An adult hit by it would surely end up writhing on the ground and in the hospital.
But that one blow barely fazed the Tusks Boar—it only scratched the surface of its skin without drawing any blood.
Instead, the boar was enraged by the hit. It snorted and charged straight at Qin Tian.
Originally, the distance between Qin Tian and the boar was only about a dozen meters, but Qin Tian had started running early, increasing the gap to over twenty meters. Within a minute or two, he wasn’t worried about being caught.
This was a matter of life and death, and Qin Tian was running for his life. The Tusks Boar followed closely behind, chasing with all its might. In the blink of an eye, both man and beast disappeared from Ye Lin’s sight.
The incident was so sudden that Ye Lin had no time to react.
A few seconds later, she snapped back to reality, staring blankly in the direction Qin Tian had gone, unsure of what to do.
***
Meanwhile, Qin Tian was scrambling through the bamboo forest, glancing back at the pursuing Tusks Boar, and he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He had deliberately angered the boar with the Stone Axe, aiming to lure it away and give Ye Lin a chance to escape.
Of course, Qin Tian valued his life greatly, and before taking such a risk, he had already prepared an escape plan—more accurately, he was confident he could get away.
Despite the bleeding, the boar was still fast. In less than a minute, it was almost upon him.
Seeing this, Qin Tian’s mind flashed, and the electronic screen appeared before his eyes.
He opened his Personal Warehouse, where the Experience Card for Swift Cheetah blinked on the screen. Below it were two options: Use and Store.
If not now, then when?
Qin Tian immediately chose Use.
“Ding—”
A crisp sound rang out as the phantom of a cheetah shot out of the Experience Card, directly entering Qin Tian’s forehead.
At that moment, Qin Tian could distinctly feel his legs becoming stronger. Though his outward appearance remained unchanged, a terrifying burst of power surged within.
By now, the distance between Qin Tian and the Tusks Boar had shrunk to less than three meters.
Just as the boar was about to gore Qin Tian, his speed suddenly increased, widening the gap again.
Like a ghost in the forest, a trailing afterimage followed Qin Tian as he left the boar far behind.
Two minutes later, Qin Tian ran out of the bamboo forest. As for the Tusks Boar, it had long since vanished.
Shocked by his own speed, Qin Tian didn’t stop running and planned to head back to camp.
However, no sooner had the thought formed than a heavy pressure weighed down on his chest, as if someone was standing on it, making him extremely uncomfortable.
Reluctantly, he had to stop and lie down on the ground, breathing heavily.
Several minutes later, Qin Tian finally caught his breath, but his legs twitched uncontrollably, making it difficult to stand.
After carefully surveying his surroundings to confirm there was no danger, Qin Tian staggered to a spot and sat down, unwilling to move anymore.
This gift of cheetah speed came without the stamina of a cheetah. Under extreme exertion, his physical strength was rapidly depleting.
Doing the math, Qin Tian reckoned he could maintain this state for at most two minutes. If he couldn’t escape danger within that time, death was the only option.
“Hopefully, the Tusks Boar won’t track me down by scent,” Qin Tian’s chest heaved violently as he admitted to himself that he simply couldn’t run any further.
***
No sooner had he spoken than a series of muffled grunts reached his ears. Realizing something, Qin Tian swallowed hard and looked in the direction he had come from.
In the distance, a dark figure was growing larger. Qin Tian slapped himself hard across the face.
Continuing to run was impossible. He scanned left and right, quickly finding a nearby tree and climbing it.
The trees at the edge of the bamboo forest weren’t tall, only about three or four meters high—just enough for one person to wrap their arms around. Qin Tian quickly reached the branches.
One minute later, the Tusks Boar arrived, but with Qin Tian up in the tree, it was powerless. Frustrated, the boar circled below, occasionally ramming the trunk, hoping to knock the tree down.
Panting heavily, Qin Tian looked down at the boar below, speechless.
It had this much stamina chasing him all this way—didn’t it have enough to run away?
Qin Tian suspected the boar had been lying in wait for him all along, not because it felt threatened, but because it was forced into a fight to the death.
After pacing for a while, the boar gradually calmed down. It lowered its head and snorted softly. Whatever it was doing, Qin Tian was too tired to care and quietly began recovering his strength.
***
After more than ten minutes, Qin Tian suddenly felt the tree shaking. Looking down carefully, he saw the Tusks Boar had dug a large pit beneath the tree, exposing its roots.
At this moment, Qin Tian recalled the elders’ saying that a strong wild boar could topple a not-so-large tree.
He had always thought that was an exaggeration, but seeing this today, he realized it was no exaggeration at all.
The tree’s shaking grew more violent, leaves falling everywhere. Qin Tian had to hold on tightly to avoid falling.
At this rate, the tree would be uprooted in less than half an hour.
Yet there was no panic on Qin Tian’s face. After this rest, his strength had recovered considerably. He could still jump down and use his gift to shake off the Tusks Boar if it wasn’t paying attention.
But this was just a stalling tactic. Even if he escaped, the boar would definitely track him by scent, so he needed a permanent solution.
Just as he was thinking this, Qin Tian noticed the tree stopped shaking. Curious, he looked down to see the boar had stopped snorting and was returning the way it came, leaving a trail of blood behind.
It seemed the heavy bleeding had drained the Tusks Boar’s strength.
Frozen for a moment, Qin Tian immediately pulled out his dagger. Now, his thoughts no longer dwelled on escape, but on hunting.
***
This Tusks Boar must weigh at least two hundred jin. If he could kill it and turn the meat into smoked jerky, he and Ye Lin wouldn’t have to worry about food for the next month.
There’s an old saying: “Strike while the enemy is weak.”
The boar’s somewhat unsteady steps showed just how exhausted it was, making this the best chance to kill it.
Qin Tian didn’t rush. He knew the saying “a starving camel is bigger than a horse”—it meant you couldn’t underestimate a weakened opponent.
The boar looked weak, but who knew how much strength it still had?
As countless thoughts flashed through his mind, Qin Tian’s eyes lit up with an idea. Without hesitation, he jumped down from the tree.
Hearing the movement behind it, the Tusks Boar immediately stopped and turned around.
At the sight of Qin Tian, the boar shed its earlier weakness and instantly switched to attack mode, lowering its head and aiming its tusks at him.
Face-to-face at such close range, Qin Tian held his breath, his nerves stretched to the limit. Sweat dripped from his hand gripping the dagger.
The next moment, the Tusks Boar charged at Qin Tian—but Qin Tian didn’t move.
Ten meters.
Seven meters.
Five meters.
At three meters, Qin Tian finally sprang aside.
The boar grazed past him, its sharp tusks tearing a rip in Qin Tian’s clothing but missing his body.
Behind Qin Tian was the tree trunk. The boar’s speed was too fast to stop in time and it crashed hard into the tree.
“Thud!”
With a dull sound, the tree tilted backward, half its roots lifting out of the ground, showing the terrifying power of the boar’s charge.
But force acts equally in both directions. The boar was also heavily impacted, blood spurting from its nose and eyes. It staggered, swayed, and after a few seconds, collapsed onto the ground, convulsing.
Unsure if it was dead, Qin Tian cautiously stepped forward. Just as he was about to reach it, the boar kicked with its legs and struggled to get up.
Without hesitation, Qin Tian charged and raised his dagger, driving it forcefully into the boar’s body.
No matter how thick the boar’s hide, it couldn’t withstand the sharp dagger. White blade in, red blade out—the blood splattered in midair, glowing an eerie red in the sunlight.