Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 65: Chapter 65: A Day’s Harvest

After tidying everything up, Xu Xin walked to the altar table and placed the other offerings in his hand onto the altar. A gust of ominous wind arose, and the blood-red color spread once more. The blood hue from the cat statue pillars and boar statue pillars began to climb from the base upwards, gradually dyeing the patterns on the pillars.

The blood color spread over most of the cat statue pillar, while it extended over only half of the boar statue pillar.

The rabbit statue pillar, however, was completely dyed in red. Compared to the patterns beside the altar, the patterns on the pillar resembled solidified blood and appeared bleak. The pillar stood empty, as if indicating that this part of the sacrifice was complete.

Xu Xin glanced at the sky—it was pretty much dark already, and nightfall was imminent.

Even though Xu Xin had night vision capability, his current physical exhaustion had reached its pinnacle, necessitating a return for rest.

Before leaving, Xu Xin caught a glance at the spot on the altar’s stone brick scratched by the Blood Pattern Rabbit’s ear and was startled to discover that it had already reverted to its original state, retaining its age-worn ruggedness, yet the deep scratch had vanished.

”Can this altar self-repair?” Xu Xin swallowed his spit in anxiety. ”Could it be a living entity?”

With a shake of his head, he immediately dismissed the thought, ”Impossible, impossible, how can stone be alive.”

Yet, the more he thought about it, the more unsettling it seemed. He quickly mounted Silver King and left the eerie altar.

From a distance, Xu Xin turned back for a look. Through the gaps in the forest, he could still see the pillar overwhelmed by dark red patterns, standing among the trees.

Despite the fatigue, Xu Xin was active on the road, as no one finds too many points superfluous. He shot and killed numerous small beasts along the way, finally reaching the front of the treehouse.

However, upon arriving in front of the treehouse, he was shocked.

A chaotic area was apparent around the treehouse, with a crossbow arrow stuck in the ground, another lodged in a tree trunk, and a third one lying beside scattered wooden materials.

On the trunk of a poplar tree, there was a large bird with black feathers pinned by a heavy crossbow arrow through its wing. Its wing was blood-stained, surrounded by scattered feathers, indicating a struggle it endured after being pinned by the crossbow.

Xu Xin mentally reconstructed the scenario at the time.

This large bird flew low over the treehouse and was immediately locked on by the heavy crossbow. Although it was too fast for a direct hit, the crossfire frightened it, causing it to crash into the forest. After several attempts to evade, it was eventually pinned to the tree trunk by a crossbow arrow, where it struggled fiercely but in vain, only to endure more pain and continuous bleeding, ultimately hanging there helplessly.

As Xu Xin rode the wolf forward and saw the full picture of the bird pinned to the trunk, he was a bit surprised, ”Oh, isn’t this an eagle? Was it trying to catch fish from the lake?”

The bird pinned to the trunk had jet-black feathers, except for its white head. Its bright yellow beak curved downward, extremely sharp, eyes closed, body motionless, with talons akin to hooks, one drooping and the other clawing into the trunk.

The trunk was marred with deep claw marks, with traces of blood within them, depicting the fierce struggle of this raptor.

The bald eagle, scientifically known as the white-tailed sea eagle, typically inhabits the river, lake, or seaside, preying on fish, waterbirds, and small mammals. This particular bald eagle was likely targeted by the crossbow while hunting at low altitude.

Xu Xin used a broken stone spear to tap the bald eagle’s head, yet it showed no response.

”Dead? Or just pretending?”

This bald eagle was indeed a raptor—if it could be tamed, what formidable assistance it would be. Though success was uncertain, attempting it while it was injured couldn’t hurt.

Keke suddenly leaped onto the trunk, tapping the bald eagle’s white head with its small paw, yet there was still no response.

”Come back!” Xu Xin grabbed the scruff of Keke’s neck and hoisted it back onto his shoulder.

After some consideration, Xu Xin gripped the crossbow aimed at the bald eagle pinned to the trunk with one hand, while the other firmly pulled out the crossbow arrow.

[Killed the White-tailed Sea Eagle, gained points: 30.]

Xu Xin: ”...”

What’s going on? Did pulling it out kill it?

Or was it already dead but not counted until he touched it?

No matter, dead is dead. At least he learned there were bald eagles active in the vicinity. If he could secure a similar contract later, he wouldn’t need to hunt small beasts himself.

Right there, Xu Xin pulled out a fillet knife and dismantled the bald eagle.

[Gained Feather (Green) *10, White-Tailed Sea Eagle Meat (Green) *7kg, White-Tailed Sea Eagle Bone (Green) *1]

”Ten feathers! Nice, alongside feathers collected from killing wild cats, finally attained crossbow arrow freedom. But oh boy, the amount of meat is really sparse.”

Despite the large size of a bald eagle, with a wingspan exceeding two meters, birds are genuinely light; otherwise, they couldn’t fly.

This one was relatively larger than those on Earth too. Raptors generally have larger female sizes, yet even female bald eagles weigh around five to six kilos, with even less meat once deboned.

After recovering crossbow arrows from the forest, Xu Xin searched all around but found only four arrows. The other one must have flown afar.

Returning to the treehouse, Keke and Silver King started playfully chasing one another, causing Xu Xin to smile wryly at their boundless energy.

He himself proceeded to appraise today’s haul.

Two blue-grade mutated rabbit ears, confirmed by him to have power enough to penetrate blue-grade iron armor, were definitely high-grade materials suitable for weapon crafting.

A collection of hides, yes, hide autonomy achieved, with a blue-grade hide acquired from the Blood Pattern Rabbit.

Also acquired many tendons—from the boar and Blood Pattern Rabbit, he obtained two blue-grade tendons each.

Also, one blue-grade beast bone, various small beast meats, healthcare-worthy deer antler, and most notably, the meat of a Mutant Rabbit.

The blue-grade hides and beast bones would be held until a sufficient quantity was gathered to make blue-grade leather armor.

Regarding tendons, Xu Xin planned to use one for a crossbow, the other for a heavy crossbow.

As for the green-grade crossbow he held...

Xu Xin messaged Li Wenxi: ”I want to trade for some iron blocks, exchanging with you for a crossbow.”

The technique remained in his control, using the product to trade for raw materials—typical of an old capitalist at heart.

A rapid reply arrived from the other side: ”Crossbow? You have a crossbow? You you you... I practiced archery for an entire day, barely honing the skill, only for you to tell me you have a crossbow!”

Xu Xin chuckled, ”Just say whether or not you’re trading.”

”Trade, trade, trade, I’ll do it when I get back, I’m still on the way home.”

Unlike him, Li Wenxi didn’t have a mount, requiring more time to return.

Xu Xin set up a grill, took out the bald eagle meat along with various mushrooms, and prepared for a grilled eagle meal.

Smelling the aroma, Keke and Silver King both gathered around. Xu Xin tossed several kilograms of beast meat to Silver King and gave Keke an apple.

Silver King gobbled up rapidly, while Keke sat by his side holding the apple, munching away while eyeing the meat on the grill.

”What now? Want roasted meat again?” Xu Xin asked with a smile.

”Ying!” Keke nodded, its small tongue licking its lips.