Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

The depression returned to its deathly silence. Only the thick, pungent stench of blood lingered in the air, mingling with the earthy smell of the mud, creating an atmosphere that was both nauseating and unsettling.

The piglets and sow in the mud had long since disappeared without a trace.

Wei Chen appeared from behind the mountain ridge like a ghost and quickly descended to the depression. Without delay, he bled the three giant wild boar kings, the two dead large boars, and the six medium-sized wild boars, collected the arrows, and finally put them into his spatial backpack.

The depression was instantly emptied, leaving only a few shocking pools of blood and messy hoofprints, silently telling the story of the brief but deadly hunt that had just taken place.

This trip into the mountains yielded a great harvest. Including what I had left over from before, I currently have 3 wild boar kings (weighing over 300 jin), 5 large wild boars (weighing over 200 jin), 8 medium-sized wild boars (weighing over 100 jin), and a full 20 deer, enough to last me for a while.

Besides, roe deer and pheasants have already appeared in the game, which can be obtained by pretending to be prey. There are also endless fish to catch in the game, so I won't have to worry about not being able to complete the purchasing tasks in the future.

Having done all this, Wei Chen didn't linger. He turned around and quickly left this bloody place, his figure soon disappearing into the dense forest.

Wei Chen didn't go straight back to Beijing. He arrived in Changping before dark. He hadn't been to the ghost market he visited in a long time. He planned to dress up again that night and sell some meat to exchange for some money and tickets.

The pigs in the game all look like top-quality domesticated pigs, with no known origin; they can only be sold in the Ghost Market. Later, when the opportunity arises, we can cooperate with the Ghost Market and sell a suitable amount.

In a secluded spot not far from the ghost market, Wei Chen flashed into the game world, cleared out the newly spawned "monsters" of the day, gained a batch of experience points, returned to the hunter's hut to cook and eat, and then rested, waiting to go to the ghost market at night.

Night fell as dark as ink, once again enveloping the earth. After midnight, at the foot of the forgotten, dilapidated city wall outside Changping County, the ghost market quietly "came to life."

The dim, flickering light of the kerosene lamps, like will-o'-the-wisps, appeared and disappeared in the darkness, barely outlining the silhouettes of people.

Whispers, suppressed coughs, and the soft scraping of objects mingled together, creating a buzzing background sound, yet all shrouded in an unspoken silence. This was the "Ghost Market"—an underground trading place that stubbornly survived in the cracks of scarcity during a special era.

Wei Chen's figure appeared at the edge of the market, like a pebble thrown into water, causing no extra ripples. He was still wearing the same outfit he had worn when he last visited the ghost market, with an old hat pulled low over his head and a plain gray cloth covering his face. He had also used his internal energy to slightly alter his figure and appearance, revealing a pair of eyes that appeared exceptionally calm in the dim light.

He carried a large basket, about half his height and covered tightly with thick coarse cloth, and walked steadily to a relatively secluded corner where the lights were dimmer.

He put down his basket and, instead of shouting like other vendors, silently lifted a corner of the coarse cloth covering it.

An extremely fresh and unadulterated rich meaty aroma, like a drop of boiling oil, exploded in the stuffy air with a "sizzle"!

The aroma was so powerful! In these days when even oil is precious, such fresh and abundant meat instantly captivated the olfactory senses of everyone nearby.

The middle-aged woman, who was closest to the camera and wore an old headscarf, sniffed sharply, her cloudy eyes flashing with disbelief, and she involuntarily moved closer.

She leaned closer to the opening of the basket, and in the dim light of the stall next to her, she saw the neatly stacked, bright red, clearly textured, and even slightly elastic pieces of wild boar meat inside. Her breathing quickened: "Comrade... this is meat, with so much fat, how much is this meat?" Her voice was very low, trembling with longing.

"One yuan and sixty cents a pound. No coupon required." Wei Chen's voice was equally deep and hoarse, concise and to the point.

"One dollar and sixty cents?!" The woman seemed taken aback by the "exorbitant" price, but her eyes remained fixed on the tempting chunk of meat, her throat bobbing.

This price isn't outrageous on the black market, especially for such rare fresh meat. She quickly mentally calculated the few sweaty bills in her pocket, gritted her teeth, and said, "Give me...give me three catties! This one with thick fat!" As if afraid someone would snatch it away, she quickly pointed to a piece with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, covered with a thick layer of fat.

Wei Chen didn't speak, but nodded. He magically produced a gleaming old scale, deftly hooked the piece of meat the woman specified, and adjusted the weight: "Three pounds, four yuan and eight jiao."

The woman, relieved yet overjoyed, shakily pulled a tattered handkerchief from her bosom, unfolded it layer by layer, counted out a few small bills and cents, carefully counted them, and then cautiously handed them to Wei Chen.

Wei Chen took the money, stuffed it into his pocket without even looking at it, wrapped the meat in a rough piece of yellow paper, and handed it to her. The woman took the meat as if it were a rare treasure, quickly stuffed it into the cloth bag she had brought, looked around warily, and disappeared into the darkness in a flash.

This first order was like opening a floodgate. The rich aroma of meat was its most resounding advertisement. Soon, a second, a third... figures, like sharks smelling blood, converged on this inconspicuous corner from every corner of the ghost market.

There were people dressed decently but looking haggard, who looked like cadres; there were people in work clothes who were obviously city workers trying their luck; and there were people wrapped in tattered cotton-padded coats who looked like they came from nearby rural areas hoping to make some money.

"Comrade, give me five jin! I want the hind leg meat!"

"I want two pounds of pork ribs! Can you make it cheaper? My elderly relative is sick and really wants some..."

"Is there any more? Give me some too! Something fatty!"

The sounds of inquiries, ordering meat, and paying echoed around Wei Chen in a suppressed yet urgent manner.

Wei Chen moved with astonishing speed, like an emotionless machine. The scales swung precisely up and down in his hands as he counted, collected money, cut the meat, and wrapped it up—all in one fluid motion.

The meat in the basket was dwindling at a visible rate, but whenever it was almost empty, Wei Chen would use the pretense of bending down to tidy the basket, and with a slight thought, another batch of freshly cut wild boar meat would appear out of thin air, filling the basket halfway again. To outsiders, this was simply a sign that he had "ample reserves."

Time flew by in the midst of the hustle and bustle. When Wei Chen felt the crowd thinning out and the gazes cast by the nearby vendors carrying a barely perceptible hint of scrutiny and greed, he knew it was time to stop.

He calmly cleared out the remaining wild boar meat from his basket, sold it all in a few bites, and then hoarsely told the people still queuing behind him, "That's all, sold out."

After saying that, ignoring the disappointed sighs and complaints that followed, he quickly covered the empty basket with a coarse cloth, hoisted it onto his back, lowered his head, and hurriedly left the corner, soon disappearing into the deeper shadows of the ghost market.

In another, relatively empty and sparsely populated area of ​​the ghost market, Wei Chen's gaze swept across the area like a searchlight. Soon, he locked onto his target—the figure huddled in the corner, its eyes darting around, its body as thin as a monkey's—Rat.

The mouse spotted Wei Chen immediately, carrying a large basket on his back, clearly having just finished a big deal. Its small eyes lit up, and a fawning smile spread across its face as it rubbed its hands together and greeted him: "Hey! Guy! You're here again! I knew you were a big customer! Had a good day, huh? Need a receipt? I just got a batch of really good stuff!"

Wei Chen ignored his flattery and lowered his voice, saying, "Same as always, take out all the coupons. Cloth coupons, cotton coupons, take as many as you have."

"Alright! You're so generous!" Mouse's eyes lit up even more. He deftly pulled a small package wrapped tightly in oil paper from the inner pocket of his body, and then, as if by magic, pulled out several loose bills from his pockets, cuffs, and even shoe uppers. He carefully unfolded the oil paper package, inside which was a thick stack of tickets of different sizes and colors.

"Look," the mouse pointed as if showing off a treasure, "the nationwide cloth coupons, three feet, five feet, ten feet, they have them all! Adding them up in total... um, let me calculate, it's twenty-three feet! This is hard currency! And these cotton coupons, issued by the Beijing municipal government, three jin, five jin, totaling... twenty-eight jin!"

He then pointed to the loose coupons, "Two industrial coupons, soap coupons, match coupons, cigarette coupons... oh, and two snack coupons, those are rare items!"

Wei Chen's gaze swept quickly across the list, focusing on the cloth and cotton coupons. Building houses, making furniture, and crafting bedding—these items consumed enormous amounts of money and were exactly what he urgently needed. Without haggling, he asked directly, "I'll take them all. How much?"

Mouse's eyes darted around, and he quickly did some mental calculations. He held up two fingers in his sleeve and gestured to Wei Chen, "Sir, you're a big customer, so I won't beat around the bush. Cloth coupons and cotton coupons are the main items, the rest are just add-ons... a total of seventy-two yuan, how about that?" He asked tentatively.

Wei Chen didn't say anything, but took out a stack of money from his pocket (actually his spatial storage), counted out seventy-two yuan, and stuffed it into Haozi's hand.

Mouse took the thick wad of money, quickly counted it while spitting on his fingers, and grinned from ear to ear: "Great job! You're really something, man!" He gave a thumbs up, quickly sorted out all the tickets and handed them to Wei Chen.

Wei Chen carefully put away the tickets, said nothing more, simply nodded to Haozi, turned and left, his figure quickly disappearing into the darkness at the edge of the ghost market. Haozi, clutching the money, watched his retreating figure, clicked his tongue, and quickly shrank back into his corner, disappearing like a groundhog.

Far from the hustle and bustle of the ghost market and the possible prying eyes, Wei Chen walked to a completely deserted riverbank with only the chirping of insects and the night wind among the rocks. With a slight thought, he and the empty basket on his back vanished instantly, entering the absolutely safe game space.