On a sunny day, Wen Qian was digging for wild vegetables between her home and the pasture. Upon returning, she discovered that the furthest vegetable patch from her home had been disturbed.
This was the first time she had seen footprints of a large wild animal. Apart from yaks, Wen Qian couldn't think of any other species that could leave such massive footprints.
But this was peculiar. Wild yaks migrate following water and grass, and their natural habitat should be around lakesides, vast grasslands, and expansive mountain valleys. It was unlikely that they would compete for grazing lands with other herbivores.
Besides, who could compete with yaks?
The area where Wen Qian was located was not known for lush vegetation and water sources, even less so now than before. If the environment was truly favorable, people would have put their animals to graze here long ago.
Wen Qian guessed it must have been a lone stray yak that happened to pass through the area.
There were no signs of dung at the scene, only partially damaged green vegetables. She couldn't spot anything in the distance either.
Wen Qian was perplexed. Based on her usual vigilance range, the yak did not come in her direction while she was digging for vegetables.
It was unlikely for the yak to have wandered into the barren lands in the middle. The only possibilities were that it went up the mountain or westward, with the former being more likely as the latter led to a desert.
After carefully surveying her surroundings, Wen Qian dashed back home.
From a distance, the vegetable patches around her home appeared undisturbed. Once inside the walled area, it was even more evident that nothing was amiss.
It seemed as if a yak had come down from the mountain, encountered a patch of land, chewed on it briefly, and then returned.
Wen Qian felt uneasy and revisited the site the next day, but found no further changes, indicating it was a one-time occurrence.
Due to this incident, she even halted her wild vegetable digging project.
If it were truly a wild yak, its temperament would be extremely poor, potentially resulting in human casualties if provoked.
Previously, when researching, Wen Qian had paid close attention to safety warnings regarding such animals. However, she had never encountered wild yaks before, only the semi-wild ones kept by herders.
Wen Qian speculated that due to global cooling and a descending snow line, many yaks might have stopped migrating upwards in search of grass and instead descended from the mountains.
However, in that case, yaks should have headed to the sunny slopes, specifically the protected areas on the southern side of the Jade Mountain Range. Why would they come to this shaded slope?
Could it be because of hunters in those areas?
Wen Qian's guess was not wrong. With global cooling affecting even agriculture, what could the livestock industry rely on for sustenance?
After killing a wave of animals for meat, people quickly preserved or consumed what they could, realizing that meat production would become scarce in the future.
Especially for commonly consumed meats like beef, mutton, and pork – the previously canned meats could last a while, but they had to be consumed slowly.
In this situation, the meat of wild animals became highly appealing. As a result, areas that were once wildlife sanctuaries became hunting grounds for people.
It was possible for a few animals to stray to this side occasionally.
After seeing the footprints, Wen Qian felt conflicted.
On one hand, she hoped to never encounter wild yaks again. On the other, she couldn't help but imagine how wonderful it would be to acquire the meat of a whole yak!
With the fantasy of harvesting yak meat in mind, Wen Qian considered digging a pitfall trap to try her luck. However, to trap a yak, the pit would have to be incredibly deep.
Just digging such a pit would take her an eternity!
But now, time was plentiful. Wen Qian thought to herself, besides digging for wild vegetables, what else could she do?
There were no wild chickens to catch here, and the eagles soaring high above were certainly inedible. So she began digging a pit in the middle of the vegetable patch.
Based on the size of a yak, she needed to dig an extremely deep and narrow pit.
From the news she had seen before, pits or holes that trapped cattle or elephants were always narrow, preventing the animals from moving or exerting their strength.
Wen Qian knew her idea was far-fetched, but she decided to use this small patch of green vegetables as bait and give it a try. Even if it was fruitless labor, she could consider it as a way to pass her time. Besides, how would she know if she didn't try?
For her, this was a completely new endeavor.
Wen Qian even considered planting more vegetables in this area. With more vegetables closer to the mountain range, if any wild animals were attracted by the crops, they might come here first instead of near her home.
This was the original reason behind her scattered planting of crops and vegetables.
Wen Qian spent over two days digging the pit, or rather a well, as water even started seeping through at the bottom.
She dug a narrow opening at the top that expanded into a larger space below, with straight walls.
After setting up a ladder to climb out, she erected an iron sign warning of danger near the vegetable patch.
However, she did not place any sharp bamboo stakes at the bottom of the trap. Wen Qian's goal was to confine her catch, and she couldn't guarantee she would check the situation every day, so it was better to keep the animal alive.
She was also concerned that someone might ignore the warning and fall into the trap, which would be disastrous if it resulted in a casualty.
After digging the pit, Wen Qian laid thin bamboo strips across the top, camouflaging it as flat ground. She then covered the bamboo with a thin plastic sheet and planted a few shallow-rooted green vegetable seedlings on top, with soil and all.
The bamboo could support a certain weight, making it appear as if the same vegetables were growing there as the surrounding area. However, a large wild animal stepping on it would fall through.
Wen Qian was pleased with her work and returned home.
For her, this was an experiment, and simply digging the trap was good enough. As for the outcome, she didn't have high expectations, though she harbored a slight sense of anticipation deep down.
After that, she didn't notice any other traces of wild animals like yaks in the vicinity of the vegetable patch.
The distant patch with the trap didn't show any further disturbances or footprints either.
Nevertheless, Wen Qian didn't give up. Even when it was time to harvest the vegetables in that patch, she would leave a ring around the trap undisturbed while collecting the rest.
Until one day in August, originally she had no plans to check the trap, as she had just replaced the fresh vegetables the day before.
But for some reason, she woke up that morning with a feeling that there might be prey inside the trap from the previous night. So Wen Qian decided to take a look, and sure enough, she heard noises coming from within.
Without even checking what was inside, she immediately summoned a massive and heavy concrete slab from her spatial storage.
She had always thought this slab could be used to crush people, and in a critical moment, one swing could turn someone into a meat patty.
Upon hearing the dangerous sounds, her first reaction was to take it out and cover the opening of the trap.
The concrete slab was quite large, sealing the trap securely.
Wen Qian didn't know what was inside, but she was certain it wasn't a person. Listening through the cracks, the sounds resembled pig squeals.
Could it really be a yak? According to the information, yak vocalizations were also similar to pig squeals.
Wen Qian came to her senses and examined the surroundings. These footprints looked just like those of a pig. Her family used to raise pigs, and while the prints weren't as large, she was confident they belonged to a pig.
There were also signs of rooting around the area.
Were there wild boars on the plateau? What should she do next?
