Chapter 565 - 218: A Mouthful of Meat Strips, Text Appears Overhead

He realized Xiaohong was pointing west.

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

At Shen Fei’s command, the party of three humans and one beast—a team that had traveled from the modern era into the past—immediately set out. Shen Fei and the other two all jumped onto the Black Tortoise’s back. Then, the incredibly durable Black Tortoise began to move, its four stout legs carrying it through the weed-choked shrubs as it lumbered forward. They walked for several hours.

* * *

They had to avoid all sorts of unknown dangers along the route, and the river Xiaohong had spotted from the sky was still a long way off. Consequently, Shen Fei’s party traveled for five or six hours straight without reaching their destination.

Having come to a halt, Xiaohong cautiously flew high into the sky again to scout. To avoid being attacked by Winged Dragons, she quickly returned and reported the details to Shen Fei. "About a third of the way to go!"

GURGLE...

Just as Xiaohong finished her report, her stomach suddenly started to rumble.

GURGLE...

GURGLE...

The sound from Xiaohong’s stomach was quickly followed by growls from Shen Fei’s and Number 0’s as well.

After traveling for the better part of a day, everyone was starving.

Back in the modern era when they had inherited game abilities, they still needed to eat. Even though their inherited Extraordinary Abilities were invincibly strong, none of them had reached the state of Fasting, where one could survive without food. In the modern era, however, they had [Inventories] inherited from the game. Whenever they wanted to eat, they could simply take food out. Therefore, aside from the chaotic early days of scarcity, the problem of hunger in the Great Xia had completely vanished once Shen Fei stopped laying low and unleashed his full power.

However, here in the Dinosaur Era, with all their Superpowers gone and their [Inventories] inaccessible, Shen Fei and his companions couldn’t get food on demand. So, after half a day of travel, their stomachs were all growling in protest.

"Let’s rest for a bit," Shen Fei said, waving his hand to halt the party’s advance. "Let me think."

Now that they were in this ancient Dinosaur Era with all their Superpowers gone, logic dictated that their first priorities were shelter and food. Right now, the sun was shining brightly, so things were still manageable. But when the wind and rain came—a true downpour—their team, completely devoid of Superpowers, might not be able to travel as quickly and easily as they were now. Moreover, the rain in the Dinosaur Era might contain all sorts of bacteria and acidic mists. Without their Superpowers, Shen Fei and the others might not be able to withstand it.

A team that had lost all its Superpowers would not find it easy to live a normal life in an era where the climate, creatures, and environment were all so radically different.

* * *

"First, we find something to eat," Shen Fei decided, his gaze sweeping over their surroundings. "We need to eat something."

The good news was that on their journey so far, they hadn’t encountered any more apex predators like the Tyrannosaurus. With her ability to fly, Xiaohong had guided the Black Tortoise to avoid most of the powerful dinosaurs along their route.

However, not knowing what lay ahead, Shen Fei didn’t dare let the party press on. He had to maintain the party’s stamina and combat readiness at all times. Otherwise, if they encountered a large dinosaur when they were weak from hunger and exhaustion, the situation would be disastrous.

"Okay," Number 0 and Xiaohong agreed at once.

At the same time, the Black Tortoise also came to an immediate halt.

* * *

A few minutes later, the halted party was once again stumped. "What do we eat?" Shen Fei murmured. "What’s safe to eat?"

Staring at the completely unfamiliar plants around them, they had no idea where to start. They knew nothing about the flora and fauna of the Dinosaur Era—which ones could fill their stomachs and which ones were highly poisonous.

If he could use his Summoning to call forth his Defense Towers, Shen Fei would have had many ways to identify all of this. Unfortunately, he couldn’t summon a single one right now. In his own time, Shen Fei couldn’t even identify all modern plants and animals. Asking him to determine the safety of organisms from the Dinosaur Era, he was completely in the dark.

As their stomachs continued to growl, Shen Fei, Number 0, and Xiaohong looked at each other. They all knew that none of them had any way of identifying safe food. Even though they had stopped to find something to eat, no one knew what was edible and what wasn’t.

"We could secretly watch the dinosaurs!" Xiaohong suggested, her eyes darting around. "See what they eat! We’ll eat what they eat!"

"That might not work," Shen Fei said, shaking his head. "A dinosaur’s digestive system isn’t necessarily the same as a human’s." Following what dinosaurs ate was one thing, but the dinosaurs themselves weren’t a reliable guide. Besides, and more importantly, Shen Fei wanted meat, not plants. Following herbivores to eat greens was not his goal.

Then, the gazes of all three of them fell in unison upon the Black Tortoise beside them.

Meeting its master’s intense stare, the Black Tortoise—unable to speak but possessing a fair amount of intelligence—could practically feel question marks popping up over its head. It understood. Shen Fei and the others wanted it to be their "poison tester"...

* * *

"Let’s go. This is the plan," Shen Fei decided, ignoring the Black Tortoise’s dark, innocent eyes. "Black Tortoise, your hide is thick. You can take it!"

The situation was what it was; eating was non-negotiable. Under the circumstances, the most efficient way to quickly determine the safety of a food source was to use the Black Tortoise as a test subject.

The party’s objective quickly shifted to the various dinosaurs, large and small, along their path. Previously, their goal had been to make good time by avoiding dinosaurs and moving quickly towards the great river. Now that their objective had become finding food, they proactively began to track any creature they encountered. Aside from the truly giant dinosaurs that were even bigger than the Black Tortoise, any other creature they met became a potential target.

Soon, commotions began to erupt in the jungle. No matter how careful they were, the act of killing small animals inevitably caused a disturbance. Under the protection of the Black Tortoise’s hard, thick shell, the party survived a few close calls and finally managed to test the meat of a dozen or so small animals.

* * *

"No problems at all?" Shen Fei wondered aloud after escaping the "pursuit" of a group of unknown small animals. He held more than ten different types of meat, feeding them to the Black Tortoise one by one. "What do we do now?"

After waiting for a while, he saw the Black Tortoise’s dark eyes looking innocently back at him. Shen Fei was baffled. The creature was completely fine after eating all the different meats he had fed it.

Is it because the food isn’t poisonous to begin with? Or is the Black Tortoise’s resistance just so high that even poison has no effect on it?

"I’ll do it!"

"I’ll do it!"

Just as Shen Fei was considering that they might have to test a small dose on themselves, Number 0 and Xiaohong shouted in unison. As their master, Shen Fei was the number one priority for them to protect. Now that the test on the tough-hided Black Tortoise had yielded no results, they both simultaneously volunteered.

WHOOSH!

WHOOSH!

Before Shen Fei could even react, the two of them snatched two strips of meat from his hands, opened their mouths, and swallowed them in one gulp.

"What the—!"

Shen Fei, with his pure Human Race bloodline, had no time to react before the two with Succubus and robot bloodlines snatched the meat from him. They immediately popped the strips into their mouths and quickly swallowed.

Just as Shen Fei was cautiously observing them, he saw both their eyes light up. Before he could react, they each grabbed a strip of meat and shoved it into his mouth.

A second later, Shen Fei shot to his feet, dumbfounded.

He saw that after taking a single bite of the meat, his personal panel had actually opened. As lines of text scrolled into view, an unexpected line of text also appeared above his head...