The camp was bustling with activity.

Meanwhile, Hua Yun was moving with caution and care.

With her cooper’s hawk, she bore the responsibility of finding food for the camp.

But in the vast and barren Great Sand Desert, not to mention large prey, even small prey were extremely rare.

Therefore, despite the cooper’s hawk having a high-altitude view.

Their yield was absolutely nothing.

The cooper’s hawk perched on the stand Hua Yun had prepared for it, somewhat doubting its life as a hawk.

Before meeting Chen Wen, it had always lived in the Sonora Desert.

Compared to the Great Sand Desert, the Sonora Desert could completely be called vibrant!

In the Sonora Desert, rabbits and roadrunners, such medium and small prey, were too many to count.

There were also large mammals like bighorn sheep and mule deer.

Food was not a concern at all.

But the Great Sand Desert was truly different.

Apart from the abundance of dromedary, prey here were extremely scarce!

And Hua Yun was not confident enough to hunt a dromedary.

Thus, the stalemate between the person and the hawk continued.

"After going back today, I have to tell Chen Wen about the situation here. I can’t even use my bow and arrow,"

Hua Yun muttered to herself, headache rising.

She felt as if she was back on a deserted island.

As for shooting birds, Hua Yun tried as well.

The birds flying in the sky were hard to hit, and the ones drinking water on the ground drank so briefly that before Hua Yun could act, they had finished drinking and left.

Moreover, approaching the bird flocks was extremely difficult.

The terrain was open, and Hua Yun would be detected by the birds before getting close, which would then alert others.

No opportunity for hunting!

After trying to shoot birds again, Hua Yun sighed after missing her shot.

She could now understand why previous survivors rushed to the first oasis after slaughtering camels.

Lack of food!

Without going to the first oasis to collaboratively hunt camels, food was virtually nonexistent!

Having given up hunting, Hua Yun began walking back to the shelter.

This time, survival might not be able to draw from past experience.

...

Over where Chen Wen was.

He approached the flock of birds he saw yesterday.

This place was a small oasis, with the oasis center being an emerging underground water source, seemingly coming from renewed underground resources after the end of the rainy season, forming a seasonal oasis.

Come dry season, the underground water resources here would subside, turning back into a desert.

Chen Wen did not approach rashly.

The bird flock was very alert, and any approaching animals would immediately trigger warning calls.

So Chen Wen maintained a safe distance, observing this group of birds.

"This should be a flock of parakeets, might as well give it a try. Although parakeets are mainly kept as pets, they can still be eaten. Can’t return empty-handed after coming out."

Chen Wen said as he took out his slingshot.

There were quite a few parakeets in this flock, he roughly estimated there were a few hundred.

Parakeets flew very fast, and they drank water quickly too.

Each bird spent less than five seconds drinking, and after five seconds, would flap its wings and fly up.

Under such circumstances, aiming at a single target was pointless.

Chen Wen held the slingshot and moved closer to the bird flock.

When the distance was about fifty meters, the parakeet flock was already wary of Chen Wen.

Quite a few parakeets were peering over, seemingly observing Chen Wen.

He couldn’t get any closer; fifty meters should be enough.

Chen Wen thought as he raised his slingshot.

He took a deep breath, aiming at the bird flock, loading a stone missile, and pulling back the slingshot into an exaggerated arc.

Then, the slingshot shot out forcefully.

Many people had experience with slingshots in childhood.

Chen Wen was no exception.

Although he wasn’t accurate, given the dense gathering of the bird flock, accuracy was irrelevant.

Whoosh!

The stone shot out from the slingshot, shooting toward the bird flock at high speed.

The parakeets seemed not to have anticipated a sudden attack.

They couldn’t react to the stone flying at them.

One parakeet was hit, its wings shivering, and it fell straight to the ground.

Seeing the parakeet he hit, Chen Wen scratched his head awkwardly.

His aim definitely needed practice; how did he miss by so much?

The parakeet he aimed for was at least two meters away from the one he hit.

Seems like I’m not a genius, can’t master whatever at a go.

Chen Wen sighed lightly, putting away the slingshot.

The distant bird flock was startled by this attack and gave up drinking water, whirling like a whirlwind to the edge of the small oasis and perching densely on treetops, watching the scene.

They wouldn’t be back soon.

Chen Wen thought, just about to collect the dead parakeet, to later gain an entry in his field notes.

Suddenly, with a sharp screech, a bird slightly smaller than a cooper’s hawk swooped rapidly from high above.

Its speed caught Chen Wen off guard.

He watched as the bird stretched out its strong claws, snatched the dead parakeet from the ground.

"Damn! Stealing my prey?"

Chen Wen was immediately displeased.

He took out his slingshot and aimed at the bird flying up, quickly firing a stone.

But the distance was too far!

If close, Chen Wen’s slingshot accuracy was manageable, but at a distance, it was disastrously ineffective.

The bird screeched loudly with a taunting tone, leisurely flapping its wings into the distance.

Watching the bird fly away, Chen Wen wasn’t angry.

Instead, he had a thoughtful look on his face.

"This should be a kite."

Judging by the bird’s feather color, Chen Wen roughly identified it.

"Kites are raptors, scavengers, famous birds of prey. But their fame was tarnished by domestic media."

Chen Wen shook his head, thinking of the videos he had watched.

Many media outlets blame Australia’s frequent bushfires on kites, even dubbing them ’firehawks.’

Even Australia wasn’t exempt from this.

But in reality, the primary reason for Australia’s bushfires was the uncontrollably dense eucalyptus trees.

The role of kites was limited.

On the contrary, these scavenging, rabbit-catching birds were beneficial to Australia’s ecosystem.

Currently though, Chen Wen wasn’t fond of this so-called beneficial bird.

Few animals dared to grab food in his presence, this kite was the most brazen he’d encountered.

Meanwhile, Chen Wen noticed the kite bore an inscription on its head.

[Wisdom]

A special animal with wisdom as its trait?

Interesting!

Just wait!

Chen Wen squinted, exuding a murderous aura.

He already had three or four ways to deal with the kite.

The simplest, summon the cooper’s hawk to let the young kite experience what being overpowered feels like!

The second, directly kill it with a long spear.

At fifty meters, Chen Wen had a seventy percent chance of shooting the kite with a spear.

The closer the distance, the higher the chances.

However, right now Chen Wen wasn’t keen on killing it.

For one, the number of parakeets was large, losing one didn’t warrant anger.

On the other hand, Chen Wen wanted to witness the kite’s [Wisdom], how wise it truly was.

Taming it would be better than killing it.

As for the third and fourth methods, trapping the kite.

This could be attempted.

Having noted the kite’s nest location, Chen Wen left for now.