Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 56

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈

Chapter 56: Tigers Die and Leave Their Stripes (3)

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The heart was the most important organ in every animal.

You could live without one kidney, and even if one lung was destroyed, you could survive as long as your heart was fine.

But if the heart was damaged, even if only part of it was affected, the chances of death rose sharply.

Blood was essential to every organ. The heart supplied that blood.

Even the brain, which governed all thought, was nothing more than a squishy lump of jelly without blood.

Had it kept bleeding despite losing so much blood because the heart was still alive?

Every organ, including the brain, was dead, yet the heart alone felt “alive.”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

“...”

A heart bigger than my head proudly showed off its vitality.

Even though its owner and all the other organs had stopped, it alone was still going strong.

‘Fuck. What the hell is this?’

It felt like all my common sense had been turned upside down.

Its head had been cut off, yet its heart was beating?

And it had been dead for at least six hours?

Was this bastard of a Saber-Toothed Tiger actually a zombie rather than an ordinary tiger?

No, even zombies at least walked around as corpses.

There was absolutely no reason for its heart to still beat, yet it pulsed as though it were alive. My mind went blank.

‘F-first, let’s deal with the other organs.’

Rigor mortis... Anyway, I figured it was something like that.

My common sense told me rigor mortis generally only happened to muscles.

Screw that. This was a world where the common sense I knew didn’t apply.

Butchering came first, so I decided to finish what I had to do before sorting out my thoughts.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Somehow, I removed all the innards until only the heart remained.

I debated whether I should cut it out separately, but eventually decided to do it.

The arteries and veins were so tough that even my aura-infused dagger struggled to cut them.

On top of that, blood spurted out every time I cut, making it a complete pain in the ass.

“Phew.”

Only after removing the heart could I finally catch my breath.

I held the heart, much bigger than my head, with both hands.

Despite having torn away every blood vessel around it, the heart still thrashed as if it were alive.

‘Is this... possible? Can a heart beat on its own?’

Even as I wondered, I carefully carried the heart away.

I put it in the box where I had stored the Golden Mushroom before.

The heart was so big that even the box felt small.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The box shook every time the heart beat.

The heart showed no signs of stopping. I stared at it with mixed feelings before moving again.

‘Let’s finish what needs doing first.’

I still had to finish butchering the tiger and dump the organs into the river.

If the heart was still beating by then... I didn’t know. I’d ask the gallery.

I washed out the Saber-Toothed Tiger’s interior.

Then, following the gallery’s instructions, I separated the meat by cut.

Just in case, I checked for any signs of decay, but found nothing wrong.

‘Do I... have no choice but to smoke it?’

I looked at the neatly butchered piles of meat and thought it over.

Before, I had given up because I was worried predators would smell it and come over.

Still, giving up this much meat was an idiotic choice too.

Should I risk an uncertain future, or prioritize my immediate safety?

Even after throwing out all the difficult-to-eat parts, there was still an enormous amount left.

‘...Yeah. I’ll smoke it. When you think about it, lack of food is the biggest danger.’

Fighting the Saber-Toothed Tiger had taught me something. At least I could fight and defeat beasts.

But food? Could I really endure a food shortage?

I had Fasting Pills for emergencies, but they were Fast Sloth’s staple food now.

Considering the gallery could cut off at any time, smoking the meat was the best option.

‘I should ask the gallery.’

Maybe there was another way to preserve it.

Before the meat could spoil further, I made a post on the gallery.

[Post title] Anyone know how to preserve meat for a long time?

[Author] Wild Grylls

[Post] I butchered a tiger, and there’s a ridiculous amount of meat. I want to preserve it if possible, but smoking is the only method I know.

[Post] Does anyone know another way?

└ [Starlight Princess]: Can I tell you?

└ [Wild Grylls]: I’d appreciate that.

└ [Starlight Princess]: First, you need a lot of salt. Salt draws the moisture out of meat. That lets you preserve it longer.

└ [Wild Grylls]: Is it okay to smoke it afterward?

└ [Starlight Princess]: It’s even better! I’ll make a post explaining it shortly, so just follow that.

└ [Wild Grylls]: Thank you so much. But how do you know this stuff?

└ [Starlight Princess]: Some of it came from books, and some of it is from my own research. Since I stay at home all the time, I’ve picked up a lot of knowledge here and there.

└ Didn’t you say you only stayed in bed?

└ [Starlight Princess]: Yes. So?

└ Then could that knowledge perhaps be...

└ Oh my. How naughty.

└ So that’s what it was...

└ Ah lmao, I get it lmao

└ [Starlight Princess]: You people really are idiots.

I could trust and follow Starlight Princess’s advice.

First, I bought a large amount of salt. It was fairly expensive, but I was happy to spend the money.

‘Let’s store the meat in jars.’

As it happened, there were jars in exactly the shape I wanted at the Auction House.

I bought five jars of a suitable size. All I had to do was put the meat and salt in them.

I didn’t put the meat in whole. I cut it into bite-sized pieces so I could coat it evenly with salt.

It was tedious work, but I was willing to put up with it to preserve the meat.

‘Cut off the fat too.’

After repeating the process, one jar was filled to the brim with meat.

The other jars were the same, filled with meat coated in salt.

That eased my worries somewhat. As Starlight Princess had said, the meat should decay much more slowly now.

Once I moved the jars to the relatively cool cave, I was done.

‘Before I prepare for smoking, I should get rid of the waste.’

I wiped away the sweat dripping down my face and turned toward the box.

The box holding the heart was shaking slightly. It seemed the heart was still beating.

“Seriously?”

I was so dumbfounded that I had nothing to say. The only thing more absurd had been the Golden Mushroom’s disappearance.

It wasn’t going to grow legs and disappear too later, was it?

I had said it as a joke, but the thought that it might actually happen made me laugh helplessly.

“Fast Sloth, get on my back. Let’s go dump this.”

“...”

It was time to empty the iron barrel full of blood and innards.

The barrel was large and heavy, making it awkward to carry, but I had a method.

I could use the leftover rope from the Auction House.

As long as I could wear the barrel like a backpack, I could carry it without much trouble.

“Can you hang on from behind?”

“...”

Instead of clinging to my back, Fast Sloth chose to ride on my shoulders.

It was a little, no, very uncomfortable, but I endured it, thinking I only had to put up with it this once.

The river wasn’t far anyway. Even if danger came up, Fast Sloth would deal with it.

After trudging along, I reached the familiar river.

Splash! Splash!

“Oh! I caught a lot?”

Quite a few fish had been caught in the Fish Trap I set yesterday. Three whole fish.

They were so large that just three of them filled the Fish Trap.

Feeling pleased, I dumped the innards and blood from the iron barrel into the river.

It felt like illegal dumping, but it wasn’t wastewater. It was just innards, so it should be fine.

Rushhh!

The moment I dumped the blood and organs, an enormous school of fish rushed in.

There were so many that I could probably walk across the river by stepping on them.

I hurriedly finished the job in case I got caught up in it.

It felt like they might eat me too if I wasn’t careful.

‘What kind of fish...’

Now I understood why I caught fish every day. There were simply that many.

The current was strong, but far more kinds of creatures lived here than I had expected.

‘I’ll collect the Fish Trap later.’

I still had things to do, so I decided to collect it later.

There was no way the fish could escape once trapped, so I wasn’t worried.

With the innards dealt with, I returned to the cave.

Jolt! Jolt! Jolt!

“...”

The heart was still beating after I came back. I was too dumbfounded to speak.

At the same time, I realized it.

That heart had some kind of special power.

Since I didn’t know the cause, all I could do was ask. I made another post on the gallery.

[Post title] Can a heart keep beating after death?

[Author] Wild Grylls

[Post] I killed a Saber-Toothed Tiger, but its heart is still beating.

[Post] It’s still beating even after I butchered it. I can upload a video if you don’t believe me.

[Post] Is that possible? I’m seriously curious.

└ [Heavenly Demon]: How long has it been since it died?

└ [Wild Grylls]: I think at least six hours.

└ [Heavenly Demon]: In that case, I do not know. I have seen a heart beating before, but only shortly after its owner had died.

└ [Wild Grylls]: That wasn’t a person, was it?

└ [Heavenly Demon]: It was. Is there a problem?

└ [Wild Grylls]: No.

└ [SwordTasteMaster]: What do you mean, only the heart is beating? I don’t understand.

└ [Wild Grylls]: Want to see? It might be a little gross.

└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Yes.

└ [Wild Grylls]: (Video of a beating heart) What do you think?

└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Whoa;; Is that even possible?

└ [Wild Grylls]: I don’t know either, that’s why I’m asking lol

└ Look at the size lmao Why is its heart so huge?

└ You’d understand if you saw a Saber-Toothed Tiger picture lol It’s just fucking huge

└ Was it huge down there too?

└ Why would you ask that, dumbass?

└ Fuck, I’m allowed to be curious

└ [Allfather]: What a curious phenomenon. A heart beating on its own is uncommon... Did you not feel any kind of energy inside it?

└ [Wild Grylls]: I don’t know. I’m not sensitive to that kind of thing...

└ [Allfather]: This is only my guess, but there may be something inside the heart that is sustaining its activity. An Inner Core, for example. Would you consider cutting the heart open?

└ [Wild Grylls]: What if there isn’t anything?

└ [Allfather]: I can guarantee there is. Nothing happens without a cause. Something inside the heart is making it beat.

└ [Wild Grylls]: I’ll think about it.

└ Grylls, did you find no signs of decay in the meat?

└ [Wild Grylls]: I don’t know much about this, but I didn’t see any discolored parts.

└ That makes sense. The heart is beating and circulating blood, so decay appears to have progressed slowly.

└ [Wild Grylls]: Ah. Is that how it works?

└ That is only my guess.

└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Eek! That’s gross! Excuse me, but may I hide that comment?

└ [Wild Grylls]: What happens if that comment is hidden?

└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: The video won’t disappear completely! Only that comment will be hidden!

└ [Wild Grylls]: If you judge it to be a disturbing video, that’s fine.

└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Thank you for your cooperation!

└ [Wild Grylls]: Do you know why it’s doing that, Head Mod?

└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: No! But as Allfather said, there is definitely something inside! Or how about grilling it? Heart meat is really chewy and delicious!

└ [Passing Dwarf]: That’s what I’m having with my drinks. Don’t touch it.

└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Ah! I’m sorry!

└ [Wild Grylls]: What are you on about now?;;

There was a brief commotion. It seemed best to cut the heart open as Allfather had suggested.

Even if there was nothing inside, that was fine. It wouldn’t harm me.

I lifted the heart stored in the box with both hands.

The moment I held it, the heart seemed to thrash even harder.

‘Blood might spurt out, so I should change first.’

I changed into the uniform that had been demoted to work clothes.

Then I placed the heart on a flat stone and stared at it.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Was there really something inside, as Allfather had said?