An Ling quickly returned to the same cave as before, casually picking up a stone from the ground and tossing it inside.
This time, surprisingly, no swarm of bats flew out. Who knows where they’d gone?
She skirted around the small hill and continued forward. Soon, the surrounding vegetation began to thin out, and the terrain underfoot became more and more like a barren, stony desert.
For such a small island, the variety of landforms was truly impressive.
Along the way, An Ling also saw some small animals—squirrels in the forest, rabbits on the grass, and birds flying overhead.
But these animals were too small to be worth targeting, and An Ling lacked any real hunting skills. Basically, the moment she spotted them, they also noticed her and bolted away in a panic.
Trying to hunt such small creatures with just her bow and arrow would be difficult; she’d have to be extremely patient.
She couldn’t be bothered to chase after them anyway. Without any way to keep the meat fresh, there was no real use in catching them.
Besides, her chest still had plenty of meat left uneaten.
An Ling’s real goal was to come across something bigger.
It would be easier and more efficient.
But just when she thought she was about to enter that barren stretch of land, the vegetation around her suddenly became dense again. Truly strange.
The soil was no longer hard-packed sand and stone, but had turned into a softer, dry mud.
Given the temperature of the island’s daytime sun, this land shouldn’t be this moist.
Sweeping her gaze into the distance, An Ling actually spotted a black bull munching on the plants.
Her eyes instantly gleamed with excitement. She pulled her antler bow from her back and tucked her pistol into her hoodie pocket ahead of time.
She hadn’t expected to actually find a big one. If she could bring down this bull, she’d be set for meat for a good while.
Though she couldn’t keep it fresh for long, at worst, she could trade it away—better than letting it rot.
An Ling crept closer cautiously, afraid of making any noise that might startle it. Estimating the antler bow’s range, she felt she was close enough to take a shot.
Meanwhile, the black bull kept chewing the plants on the ground, completely oblivious to the hunter sneaking up nearby.
Drawing the bow and nocking an arrow in one smooth motion, An Ling closed one eye, tilted her head, and carefully aimed.
She didn’t have perfect accuracy now; if she missed the first shot, she’d definitely startle the bull.
If it were a gentle-natured cow, it would probably just run, but the sight of those menacing, icy horns told her this fellow was not one to mess with.
Whoosh! The wooden arrow shot off the string, flying straight into the black bull’s body.
But with the distance and the wooden arrowhead, the shot was much less effective against the thick-skinned, muscular bull.
By her estimate, the arrow only pierced a few centimeters in. Nowhere near enough to deal a fatal blow.
Moo!
The black bull let out an angry roar, immediately raising its head and spotting the enemy who had attacked it not far away. Its eyes turned blood-red, and it went completely berserk, just like a Spanish bull seeing a red cape.
Snort—the heavy sound of its breathing came as the bull pawed at the muddy ground with its forehoof. The next second, it charged straight at An Ling.
At this moment, the terrain around her was flat, and there was nowhere to hide. But An Ling hadn’t planned on dodging at all.
After all the supernatural events she’d been through, she wasn’t even afraid of those bizarre monsters—why should she fear a wild bull?
She calmly drew her bow again, nocked an arrow, and as the bull drew closer, her accuracy increased. In an instant, three more arrows shot into the black bull’s body.
The pain only drove it crazier. Seeing that the antler bow wasn’t causing much damage, An Ling frowned.
“Am I really going to have to waste a bullet on this bull?” She didn’t want to waste a bullet on it. “Wait, why am I even using a bow?”
An Ling promptly put away the antler bow and pulled two wooden arrows from her backpack. With a flick of her fingers, the two arrows floated up, and with a forward motion, shot out like lightning.
Thunk—the sound of arrows sinking into flesh echoed, and at the same time, she darted to the side, narrowly dodging the bull’s charge.
Under her power’s control, it was just like using her own hands—extremely handy and incredibly precise.
She knew her ability was still at the basic level, so it wasn’t any more powerful than using the antler bow. But with the extra precision, she could use her power to strike the bull’s weakest spot—its eyes.
Blinded, the bull was now far less of a threat to An Ling.
At this point, it was left entirely at her mercy.
After a tremendous struggle, An Ling finally brought the black bull down. Her testing showed that the antler bow still packed more punch than her power alone.
But at least her power was precise. Still, once her power improved, wouldn’t that make all those “hundred shots, hundred hits” blessings pointless?
But this was no time to think about that. An Ling got to work butchering the wild bull.
[Obtained Beef50, Beef Tendon1, Beef Bone10, Cowhide1, Bull Horn*2.]
The black bull on the ground was instantly dismembered, blood and innards spilling everywhere. Although the organs didn’t show up in the info display, she could actually bring them back too.
The butchered beef was soaked in blood. She didn’t grab it by hand, just eyeballed the weight—there had to be several kilograms.
Even a grown adult couldn’t eat this much beef in one sitting. If she could store it, who knows how long it would last her.
An Ling didn’t care much for offal, so she just packed the dismembered black bull parts into her backpack.
As for the rest, she left it behind.
After a short rest, she hoisted her pack and set off again.
Arriving at the spot where the wild bull had been grazing, she felt a sense of familiarity looking at the leaves. When she saw the broken potatoes nearby, An Ling suddenly understood.
“There are actually potatoes here!”
Ever since arriving in this ocean world, other than packaged food, meat, and fish, this was the first time she’d found fresh vegetables.
This was great—her meals could finally have both meat and vegetables.
And as a girl who loved cleanliness, there was no way she’d dig up potatoes by hand—time to put her power to use again.
“Wait, why did I just say I’m a girl?” An Ling felt her thoughts starting to get strange, actually beginning to subjectively think of herself as a girl.
That couldn’t be a good sign.