Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 54 Meaningless Close-ups

After the campfire was extinguished, Du Yi took out the mud ball that had been buried in the ground.

With his long tail wrapped around the boulder, Du Yi cracked open the hardened clay shell. Then he picked up a large mammoth bone that he had left over from a previous meal, split it open, and revealed a sharp broken end—although it was still a bit small for him at the moment, it was still usable as a bone knife.

As the bone knife, made from the mammoth bone, scraped away the leaves covering the giant eagle, the increasingly rich aroma of meat wafted through the air.

The aroma alone was enough to make Du Yi's mouth water.

After getting used to grilled meat over an open flame, this juicy eagle meat is simply an unparalleled delicacy.

The aroma of oil mixed with the sweetness of honey was the sauce he had brushed onto the giant eagle. The spices stuffed inside the eagle's body served to remove any fishy smell and enhance the aroma. Of course, Du Yi had already cleaned the spices off the moment he dug the giant eagle out, as he didn't want them to affect the eagle's taste.

As for the method of eating...

This time, however, Du Yi chose to swallow it whole.

Although his body is indeed that of a snake, Du Yi rarely eats in the same way as a snake. Whether it's mammoths or saber-toothed tigers, he usually dismembers the meat and roasts it. This way, he can better appreciate the differences in texture between different parts of the meat and experience the flavor.

But this time, facing the giant eagle that should have been dismantled, Du Yi didn't think about anything else.

The ingredients before him were so top-notch that his appetite even surpassed his reason. Although no matter how he thought about it, the more top-notch the ingredients, the more he should savor them, the tempting aroma made him impatient to swallow the entire giant eagle whole.

If it were still a human, this would definitely be impossible. After all, the human mouth has its limits. No matter how wide you open it, you can't stuff a whole chicken inside. At most, you can eat chicken without spitting out the bones, which is already the limit.

But if it were a snake...

"I really can do it."

By the time he realized this, the enormous eagle, as large as a small mountain, had already been half-swallowed by him.

No chewing is required, only continuous swallowing, and no bones need to be spat out. Everything will be completely digested—this is undoubtedly the most complete form of eating, a form of eating without any waste. Everything will be swallowed into his stomach and transformed into nutrients to nourish his body.

"What a pity, perhaps I should have said something about my impressions after eating it..."

Du Yi even felt a little regretful. The overwhelmingly delicious taste made him regretful. At this moment, he only regretted that he hadn't studied hard when he was still human. Otherwise, he might be able to use more words and more vivid descriptions to appreciate the deliciousness of the giant eagle and feel the happiness of the moment.

"However, some feelings... are hard to describe in words, aren't they?"

Du Yi thought to himself.

He had once heard that language itself can only carry 15% of the information of a complete message, and writing can carry even less, perhaps only 7%.

In other words, once it comes down to the level of description, it becomes very difficult to capture the complex feeling itself.

Just like now, Du Yi is almost in tears.

It wasn't because he was too full, but because of the emotion brought by the food. Even though he had swallowed the giant eagle whole, the sweetness and freshness still lingered in his mouth.

"Being able to eat your fill is truly a blessing."

Du Yi, who had swallowed the giant eagle whole, lay on the ground with his eyes slightly closed.

However, he quickly got up again, because this method of forcing himself to swallow food ultimately had some side effects—he needed to keep his body moving to truly complete the digestion process. This made Du Yi feel sad once again.

"Such good stuff, and it's going to be digested so quickly...sigh."

Thinking of this, Du Yi couldn't help but sigh.

Can he really find another giant eagle as good as this?
An opportunity to grow such a large eagle, and to taste so good, is probably not something that will come around again for thousands of years.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have eaten you."

Looking down at his swollen belly, Du Yi even began to miss the giant eagle.

"If you hadn't attacked me back then, and we hadn't fought, I might have treated you to a meal... We would have become friends, I would have shown you what real cooking is, and you would have laid eggs for me, and even hatched more giant eagles..."

Although he said that, after thinking about it, Du Yi still felt that he shouldn't do such a shameless thing to his animal friends.

Having eagle eggs to eat is enough; there's no need to have a baby eagle as well.

However, it's too late to regret it now, since the giant eagle is already inside him. Moreover, he didn't even notice whether it was a male or female eagle, so he can't determine whether the eagle can lay eggs.

"Life is always full of regrets..."

While taking a walk to digest his food, Du Yi shook his head repeatedly.

He now regrets that he was a bit too hasty in the process of cooking the giant eagle. Although the preparation work itself was quite complicated, after savoring the taste, he still thought of optimizing the space.

"Eagle meat is actually a bit dry. I should have wrapped it in mammoth caul fat to allow the fat to fully soak in, which would have made the meat juices more flavorful."

However, it's too late now, no matter how much he regrets it. After all, he has already eaten the eagle meat. Even if he wanted to change the cooking method, he could only wait for the next giant eagle to appear.

"If only I could turn back time..."

Du Yi couldn't help but start thinking like this.

However, as he thought about this, Du Yi realized that he was starting to feel sleepy—perhaps because he had eaten too much and consumed too much nutrition, or perhaps because he had been woken up by noise.

In short, he could sense that he was about to fall into a deep sleep.

That is, another molting.

"We still need to find a quiet place..."

Despite his sleepiness, Du Yi found another mountain peak, dug a cavity in the mountain, and then crawled inside.

This time, however, Du Yi specifically instructed the savages before going to sleep to tell them roughly where he would sleep and that they should not go over and wake him up.

"I should be able to sleep in until I naturally wake up this time, right?"

Thinking this, Du Yi gradually drifted off to sleep.

(End of this chapter)