Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 13 A Clever and Beautiful Little Pig

Yun Ce, who was once a violent person, has now truly calmed down.

The calm Yun Ce was not his true self; the raging fire still burning in the distance was his true self. Now that the fire had been cut off by the river, a corner of the raging flames in Yun Ce's heart had slowly died down.

Thanks to the fire, there was no life on the grassland, but there were many round things in the stream, about the size of coconuts. Some were carried away by the water, while others remained in the backwater, bobbing up and down like human heads.

Yun Ce did not cross the river easily. After the river turned a bend, he paused for a moment and then looked at the creature in his line of sight with great interest, arms crossed.

It is a little pig with black skin and white fur.

This pig was clearly raised in the wind and sun, with black skin under its white fur. Yun Ce didn't understand why a black pig would grow white fur, but what truly pleased him were its pair of clear, crystal-like eyes, which looked so obedient and lively, like an elf of the world, unrelated to any cruel things.

At this moment, it was using its pink snout to push the coconut-shaped ball on the riverbank up the hillside. Coconuts are naturally round, but this little pig had a superb skill. No matter how unwilling the coconut-shaped ball was to go uphill, driven by its snout, the thing that was similar to a coconut eventually made it up the hill.

Just as Yun Ce was about to celebrate that the little pig had finally gotten the coconut-like thing up the hill, the little pig suddenly let its snout leave the coconut, allowing the coconut-like thing to roll down the hill.

There were many stones by the river. The coconut-like thing bounced down the slope and finally crashed into a stone, which then cracked it open.

The little pig dashed down the hillside like the wind, came to the coconut-like thing, and with its nimble snout, it quickly and thoroughly peeled off the cracked shell, revealing the white flesh inside.

The little pig ate greedily, slurping and splashing juice everywhere.

As Yun Ce watched, he scooped a coconut-shaped object out of the water, crushed it, and put a handful of the white paste into his mouth.

This stuff is surprisingly delicious; it's a bit sweet, but mostly has a nutty aroma, somewhat like walnuts.

Normally, what pigs can eat, humans can eat too. Yun Ce hadn't eaten for two days and two nights, and those two days and two nights here felt exceptionally long...

He thought that after eating the dragon eggshell, he would be able to use energy as food. However, after trying it, he found that no matter whether he meditated, entered a state of deep concentration, or practiced breathing exercises in front of the sun or moon, no energy entered his body.

In addition, the half-pound nanobots and the walnut-sized Dragon Ball in his stomach always weighed him down, making him feel no hunger.

Although he didn't feel hungry, Yun Ce still had a vague feeling that this couldn't go on. The reason he didn't feel hungry was probably because he was depleting his body.

After eating seven or eight coconut-shaped nuts in a row, Yun Ce still showed no sign of stopping. The more he ate, the hungrier he became. Just as he was cracking open the ninth nut, the white-haired pig nudged his leg with its pink nose.

This time, the little wild boar nudged a round ball covered in weeds. Yun Ce casually pinched it and found the texture was wrong, so he untied the weeds that were wrapped around it. Then, a pale human skull appeared in front of him.

This is a very complete skull. Although there is not much flesh and blood, it is still relatively fresh. The jawbone is still there, and not only the jawbone, but also the two rows of teeth on the gums are still there.

The teeth weren't well-formed or very white, but they weren't worn down much. He pulled one out forcefully, and it fell into his palm. After examining it carefully, Yun Ce was certain that it was a young man's skull.

The skull was covered with teeth marks. Yun Ce picked up the skull, pried open the little wild boar's mouth, and compared the teeth marks on the skull with those on the skull. After the comparison, Yun Ce was certain that the teeth marks on it belonged to the little wild boar.

There's a hole at the top of the skull; the brains must have flowed out of this hole or been sucked clean by the wild boar.

The skull on top of the skull was very thin, and the internal cavity should be about the same size as the human brain. Thinking of this, Yun Ce breathed a sigh of relief and casually buried the skull.

The little wild boar was very dissatisfied, so Yun Ce found a large nut, cracked it open, and placed it on the shore. The white-haired little pig then began to feast on it.

Later, Yun Ce simply sat by the river and waited for the pig to nugget the nuts over so he could crush them and eat them together.

Sometimes the wild boar would bring nuts, and sometimes it would bring skulls. When it brought nuts, Yun Ce would crack them open and share them with the wild boar. When it brought skulls, he would examine them carefully and then bury them.

However, when Yun Ce looked at the little wild boar again, the tenderness in his eyes had disappeared.

The little sow seemed quite used to Yun Ce's presence. In fact, when she was with him, she acted more like the master, making him do chores with such natural ease. She didn't remember how many nuts she ate or how many skeletons she buried, until there were no more nuts left in the backwater. Then, the white-haired pig went ashore, swishing its tail as it walked deeper into the green hills.

Yun Ce naturally followed. On the way, the pig dug into the soil and ate some exposed roots and stems. Yun Ce ate them too. The roots and stems tasted slightly bitter, had a strong grassy fragrance, and had a good starch content.

The little pig came to a bush covered with small red berries, about the size of ping-pong balls.

The little pig ate very greedily, plucking the fruit off the branches in one go and chewing it up along with the leaves.

Yun Ce ate some red berries. The berries tasted sweet and sour, but weren't particularly outstanding. Seeing how heartily and obliviously the little pig ate them showed that the sugar in the berries was a relatively rare thing on this planet.

The pig ate the whole way, and Yun Ce ate the whole way too; neither of them showed any sign of stopping. In short, at this moment, Yun Ce didn't consider himself human at all; he just wanted to learn as much as possible about the planet so he could live there for a long, long time.
Thinking that the little pig was a lone pig, after walking for a while, other wild boars followed. The other wild boars were not too surprised to see Yun Ce. It seemed that this group of wild boars had been well protected by their elders and had never suffered any losses.

Of course, this is also related to Yun Ce's keen observation skills. Whenever the little white-haired wild boar nudged its snout, he would immediately reach out the food that the little wild boar couldn't reach. Sometimes, he would even use his nimble hands to help the little wild boars gather some fruits that looked edible.

When it comes to caring for other species, humans are truly the best.

Yun Ce knew how to build a shelter for pigs in the wilderness, and he also knew how to make a comfortable nest for wild boars with dried wild grass. He could even use a long wooden pole to start a fire and drive away the insects in the burrow, giving the little wild boars an undisturbed sleep.

The first night was a little cold, but Yun Ce and the little wild boars huddled together to sleep, which was quite warm. However, one of the little boars, who was sleeping at the entrance of the burrow, was dragged away by something and disappeared without a trace.

On the second night, a crescent moon hung in the sky, and the night was extremely cold. Yun Ce had to have closer contact with the piglets in order to rely on the wild boars' high body temperature to get through the cold night. Of course, there was no price to pay for getting through such a cold night, and another little wild boar got lost in the cold wind.

After seven or eight days, Yun Ce had established his position in the pig herd and become their leader. During this period, only their herd of pigs grew relatively slowly.

Becoming the leader of a herd of pigs is not easy, especially in a wild boar herd. Even among a group of young wild boars, there are a few who are ambitious.

The process of vying for power is brutal, but fortunately Yun Ce is now relatively strong, and the wild boars are too small. In addition, the most threatening wild boars disappeared during the long night, making Yun Ce's struggle for power much easier.

Therefore, on the tenth day, Yun Ce identified himself as a pig herder.

Eighteen wild boars were trudging along on the lush green grass, their heads burrowing into the ground. Yun Ce followed closely behind, gripping a long wooden spear, occasionally picking up edible roots from the ground the boars had dug open.

Yun Ce had no objection to eating vegetarian food. In the past three days, he had already tasted many edible plants, including but not limited to leaves, roots, seeds, and fruits...

The best thing about searching for food with the piglets is that there's no risk of poisoning. In these three days, Yun Ce also gained a completely new understanding of the wild boars in this world—in terms of taste, the wild boars here are no different from those on Earth.

This gave Yun Ce great confidence that he might discover Homo sapiens civilization in this world. Perhaps, at the next crossroads, he would meet someone with whom he could have normal conversations.

On the fifteenth day, the pig herder Yun Ce brought as many as thirty-seven wild boars. It wasn't that he liked to be with so many piglets, but because the herd was too small for him to easily lead any pigs.

He initially thought these wild boars were just aimlessly searching for food on the grassland, but as the number of wild boar cubs that Yun Ce took in increased dramatically, he discovered that these wild boars were not wandering around, but were very purposeful.

After walking a full eighty kilometers through hilly terrain, we finally saw a large mountain after crossing a high hill.

The mountain is very tall and thin, like a stone pillar that suddenly rises from the flat ground, with its bare summit covered in snow.

As Yun Ce approached the solitary peak, he discovered even more wild boars.

Strangely, the large wild boars were mixed together, the small wild boars were mixed together, and the large wild boars were even divided into male and female groups, and all the pigs were advancing slowly and methodically towards the isolated peak.

After observing for a while, Yun Ce noticed that the way the wild boar herd moved was somewhat similar to that of human military organizations.

(End of this chapter)