Chapter 316 - 207: Deer God Bartel (2)

Chapter 316: Chapter 207: Deer God Bartel (2)

Lin Chen wasn’t about to give it a chance to escape. He whipped a sharp military knife from his pocket, pinning its neck down with his left hand and holding it fast. With his right, he aimed the tip of the blade at its neck and plunged it in.

Almost instantly, the black-tailed deer arched its body and struggled violently for a few seconds before slowly collapsing, its movements growing weaker.

Without Lin Chen to support her, Erica’s body slumped to the side, and she fell with a THUD at the entrance of the shelter.

Splattered with warm deer blood, her eyelids fluttered. Her long eyelashes trembled a few times before she slowly opened them.

The moment she opened her eyes, she saw Lin Chen kneeling on the ground, one hand pinning the neck of some creature while the other held a military knife plunged into it.

?

Erica thought she had to be dreaming. She blinked, pushed herself into a sitting position with her right hand, and finally got a clear look at the creature.

It was a black-tailed deer!

’I must be dreaming. How could a black-tailed deer just show up at my shelter’s entrance? This can’t be real. Black-tailed deer are native to the North American Forest.’

?

Hearing her voice, Lin Chen turned his head in confusion.

’Okay, so it’s a dream, but isn’t it a little too realistic?’

’The warmth under my hands, the salty, metallic taste of blood at the corner of my mouth, the alluring cleavage outlined by Erica’s sexy tank top, and those eyes of hers, wide with disbelief.’

"HEY!!!!"

Suddenly, a man’s cry of alarm came from not far above their heads.

"Damn you! What did you do to my prey?!"

The two looked up, confused, to see an unfamiliar face peering over the edge of the slope above them, glaring down fiercely.

"Whoa, he’s dark!"

Erica blurted out instinctively.

Seeing the Black man who had suddenly appeared above, Lin Chen slowly came back to his senses. He felt the small deer beneath his hand; it still had a pulse.

’The warmth under my hand, the soft fur, the faint twitching.’

’This is all way too real. A dream could never have this much detail.’

’So this isn’t a dream?’

’But wait, I was sound asleep. How could a deer just serve itself up on a platter like this?’

Not far away, Andre, who had witnessed the entire event, stood with his mouth agape, his jaw nearly on the floor.

After a long moment, he finally managed to force out a word.

"Fuck!"

’That works too?’

For a moment, he couldn’t help but regret not making a move himself.

With his skills, he was confident he could have hit the black-tailed deer if he had thrown his knife like a dart.

But the thought was fleeting, vanishing as quickly as it came.

He’d already bagged two grouse before reaching the coast, while Lin had nothing. Knowing the production team, these kills were surely worth a certain number of points.

A black-tailed deer was bigger than a grouse, but the points awarded for it probably wouldn’t be excessively high, or it would unbalance the game.

’Looked at that way,’ he thought, ’it seems Lin and I are finally on a level playing field.’

’This is fine. From now on, it’s all about catching prey with real skill.’

He was in no hurry to leave. Since a new contestant had appeared, he should go and introduce himself.

The Black man on the slope watched as the black-tailed deer in Lin Chen’s grasp slowly went still, the earth beneath it gradually turning red with blood. He was so frantic he nearly leaped straight down.

But the drop was a little too high for him. He stood, took one look, and immediately abandoned the idea of jumping. He sensibly jogged down the slope for a bit before sliding down from a turnoff.

"Hey!"

He started shouting aggressively from afar the moment his feet hit the ground.

"I’ve been tracking that black-tailed deer for two whole days! I barely managed to wear it out using the storm. How can you just steal it?"

"How was I supposed to know it was your prey? I was napping here, and when I opened my eyes, it had rolled right in front of me. Of course I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity like that."

Lin Chen, not to be outdone, retorted. When it came to debating, the Da Xia People had never been known to back down.

"It only collapsed because I chased it to the point of exhaustion! This is highway robbery!"

"Proof?"

Lin Chen spread his hands and gestured to the black-tailed deer at his feet. "Does it have your name carved on it?"

The Black man froze, then shook his head instinctively. "No."

"Then how can you prove it belongs to you?"

"Hey! What’s that supposed to mean? You think I can’t recognize my own prey after tracking it for two days?"

Hei shouted, displeased.

"No, no, no, that’s not what I meant," Lin Chen said, holding up a hand to calm him down. "Don’t get worked up."

"What I mean is, before you actually capture it, what gives you the right to call it your prey? Isn’t it a free animal? Or did you catch it once and then let it go?"

"Yo, bro, you’re just robbing me in broad daylight now," Hei said, laughing in exasperation. He rolled up his sleeves and pointed to the camera on his chest. "My viewers in my stream can prove everything I’m saying is true."

"I’m not saying you’re lying."

Lin Chen gave him a strange look. "Are you having trouble understanding? I said that prey doesn’t belong to anyone until it’s been captured. Do you disagree with that?"

"Of course I do! That’s just in theory. In practice, once a Hunter has laid claim to a quarry, other Hunters aren’t supposed to interfere unless they’re invited to join the hunt!"

"Are you a Hunter?"

"That’s right. I’m a licensed Hunter. Every year, I’m invited to government-organized hunts to help control the population of certain wildlife species in specific regions and prevent overpopulation."

"He’s right."

Just then, Andre ambled over with his bamboo basket on his back. His eyes landed on Hei’s face, and he gave a nod to Lin Chen and Erica.

"The U.S. government does organize various hunts every year to control wildlife populations. It’s mainly for different kinds of deer, as well as wolves and wild rabbits, and sometimes even Black Bears."

"But, my friend, you may have overlooked one fact."

Before Lin Chen could speak, Andre cut in. "What you’re describing are the unspoken rules of the hunting trade. If it had been me you ran into, I would have abided by that rule by default. In fact, that’s exactly what I did."

"It ran into me before it headed this way, which is why it suddenly changed direction and fled."

"But!"

His tone grew heavy as he pointed at Lin Chen. "Lin is not a Hunter. He doesn’t have a license, and he’s never been on a hunt. He’s just a chef. The rules of Hunters don’t apply to him."

?

The Black man froze, looking as if he’d been struck by lightning.

Only then did he realize what he had overlooked. No wonder this guy had been harping on about all those technicalities from the very beginning.

’He’s not a Hunter at all! No wonder he doesn’t care about the rules!’

"Then... then what was my two-day hunt for? I even risked hiding in an unfamiliar cave to ride out the storm just to catch it!"

"That’s impressive, I’ll give you that."

Lin Chen gave him a thumbs-up. "Surviving that storm without any real protection and then picking up the trail again... sounds like you’re a really skilled Hunter."

"Lin’s right," Andre added. "As a Hunter, you’re very good."

Andre stared intently at the Black man and extended a hand. "Let’s introduce ourselves. I’m Andre. I’m a..."

"I know who you are," the Black man said, glancing resentfully at the lifeless black-tailed deer in the pool of blood before shaking his hand.

"My name is Bartel. Freelance Hunter from America."

"Bartel? You’re *the* Bartel?"

Andre had clearly heard of him. He clapped him on the shoulder in surprise. "It’s great to meet you. I can’t believe I’m running into you here on a beach in Panama. It must be fate."

"You know me?"

"The name ’Bartel the Deer God’ is pretty famous in American Hunter circles. Of course I’ve heard of you. No wonder you were able to find the black-tailed deer’s trail after the storm and keep on it. You really live up to your name, Deer God."

"Give me a break," Bartel said, rolling his eyes in frustration. "What’s the use of being a great tracker if all I’m doing is delivering a prize to someone else’s doorstep!"