‘Laura Carter, let me tell you...’

‘Mom~ I know already~’ Logan Carter replied instinctively. After speaking, a thought flashed through his mind: ‘Huh~ I’m back on Earth?’

Logan Carter jolted awake and sat up in bed, looking around. But as soon as he moved his head, he felt a sharp pain on one side of his neck. He instinctively reached out to cover it, then looked around more carefully. The warm, fragrant bedding had turned into the pungent, bloody-smelling corpse of a bear, the golden sunlight from his dream had become a small campfire, and the apartment in his dream had become a dark, cramped bear cave.

A strong sense of loss surged in Logan Carter’s heart: ‘I disappeared so suddenly, my parents must be going crazy with worry. And grandma, she’s almost 80—she absolutely can’t find out what happened to me.’

His thoughts were still lingering in the dream, memories of life on Earth swirling in his mind, leaving him dazed for a moment.

“You’re awake?” A voice came from nearby—it was the huntress Annie.

Logan Carter snapped back to reality and looked over, seeing the tall and agile female huntress sitting at the entrance of the cave. She was holding a dagger, draining the blood from a wild rabbit.

She worked very carefully. To prevent the scent from spreading, she had dug a pit about 20 centimeters deep in the ground. The rabbit’s blood and innards were thrown into the pit, leaving only the rabbit skin.

Once the rabbit’s blood was drained, she filled the pit back in and even covered it with fallen leaves and twigs.

Logan Carter watched as Annie used a fresh branch to skewer the rabbit, then rubbed a handful of salt onto the meat, preparing to roast it over the fire. He said, “There’s flour in the bag—mix it with some salt water to make dough, wrap it around the rabbit meat and roast it together. When it’s done, the rabbit will be extra tender and delicious.”

Annie did as he suggested, then teased, “You really are a rich young master—even on the run, you don’t forget to bring good food. This fine white flour costs 10 Lante per pound!”

“Heh heh.” Logan Carter chuckled, not bothering to argue, and asked, “Annie, how’s your injury?”

Annie turned and gave Logan Carter a slight smile, the firelight illuminating her face, making her look radiant. “It’s healing well, it barely hurts anymore.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Logan Carter glanced at the sky outside the cave—it was still pitch black—so he asked, “How long did I sleep?”

“Not long, less than two hours. There’s still half a day before sunrise,” Annie replied.

“Two hours? That’s just right.” Logan Carter nodded. By his estimate, they only had three hours of safety. If the vampire Viken hadn’t given up the chase, he could show up at any time after one more hour.

There was one hour of safety left. After that, the vampire Viken could show up at any moment.

“Annie, do you still have any silver powder?” Logan Carter asked. After two hours of rest, he felt much better. Though his body hadn’t fully recovered, he was in far better shape than right after being bitten. His head was still a bit foggy, but it no longer affected his thinking.

“I still have some.”

“What about silver pellets?” Logan Carter asked again.

“No ready-made silver pellets, but there are plenty of silver wolves in the cash box. I can cut some pellets out for you with my dagger. What size do you need?”

“I’m not sure about the size yet,” Logan Carter said, gesturing with his hands. “I also need a straight bamboo tube, about this thick. It’s best if it’s from an old bamboo, at least three years old. There’s a bamboo grove just a few dozen meters from the cave entrance—can you help me cut a few pieces?”

“Of course, no problem. But are you planning to make a bamboo bow to deal with the vampire?”

Logan Carter gave a wry smile. “Do you think a bamboo bow would work?”

“Nope.”

Even so, Annie put down the rabbit, grabbed her sword, and went out of the cave. Three or four minutes later, she returned with several fresh bamboo stalks. “Will these do?”

Logan Carter picked them up one by one to inspect, finally choosing a tube with an inner diameter of about one centimeter. “This one is perfect—round, straight, and just the right size.”

Annie had no idea what Logan Carter was planning, but she knew time was tight. The only thing she could do was help this alchemist with whatever she could. “So, do you know what size silver pellets you need now?”

“Yeah, about this big. I’ll need over a hundred of them. If you can roll them into balls, that would be even better.” Logan Carter picked up a small stone from the ground to show Annie as an example.

Annie glared at Logan Carter. “Roll them into balls? Silver isn’t clay, you know. It’s so hard—how am I supposed to roll it?”

She wanted to help, but this was basically an impossible task.

“You can’t roll one into a ball, but you can roll a dozen or even a hundred at once. It’s best to mix in some fine sand to polish the surface of the silver pellets.” He didn’t need the pellets to be perfectly round. For an ordinary person, this would be impossible, but a mutant huntress had incredible strength—she could wield a 30-jin sword one-handed like it was a toothpick. Silver is soft, so roughly rolling them into balls shouldn’t be a problem.

“Really?” Annie looked skeptical.

“Just give it a try and you’ll see.”

Logan Carter didn’t sit idle either. He first held the bamboo tube over the fire to roast it a bit, evaporating some of the moisture so the tube would become much harder.