Following Jin Yi's direction, Shi Lin saw a small, grayish-black creature peeking half its head out from behind a nearby small tree, looking at him with a wary expression.

Jin Yi (Golden-ringed Hornet), flying in the air, buzzed its wings and stared intently at the little creature, hoping to drive it away with its buzzing warning sounds.

However, the little creature completely ignored it, still looking at Shi Lin with a wary expression.

Shi Lin was a bit speechless,

"Why are you looking at me? If I knew I'd meet you today, I would have brought a slingshot first."

The small, grayish-black creature before him was not an ordinary small animal, but a well-known valuable commodity in this big mountain—a Sable.

Even in this era, a single pelt of this thing could sell for a high price of over a hundred yuan, equivalent to two or three months' salary for an ordinary worker,

and it also had collection value, becoming more expensive in the future.

In the past two days, their honey-gathering range was in the outer areas of Daxing Mountain, and Shi Lin had not expected to encounter a Sable here.

If he had known earlier, he would have definitely brought a slingshot.

For hunting this kind of small creature, a slingshot was the most suitable; hitting it wouldn't damage the pelt, whereas using a gun would basically ruin the Sable fur.

"Too bad I didn't bring my gear today, consider yourself lucky, hurry up and scram, why are you always staring at me?"

Shi Lin casually picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it towards the Sable.

This stone wasn't meant to hit the Sable; it was just to scare it away, saving Jin Yi (Golden-ringed Hornet) from being so scared all the time.

However, what he didn't expect was that as the stone flew closer, the Sable reacted as if facing a great enemy, emitting a sharp, high-pitched squeaking sound, and then dodged the stone with a flash,

And just then, it seemed to have suffered some injury, its cries became even sharper, and it suddenly fell from the tree branch, hanging in mid-air, squeaking incessantly!

"Ah, this..."

Seeing this scene, Shi Lin was also stunned for a moment, and immediately understood what was happening—it turned out to be a Sable caught in a trap.

He had hit the jackpot!

Coming out to gather honey, he actually encountered a Sable that someone had set a trap for and caught.

That's over a hundred yuan!

At this moment, Shi Yuying had also finished the follow-up work and walked over to see the Sable hanging in mid-air, squeaking wildly. She was a little surprised.

"Wow, is that a Weasel?"

The appearance of a Weasel is somewhat similar to a Sable, and the pelt of a Weasel is also quite valuable, selling for dozens of yuan per pelt.

Shi Lin chuckled and said, "This thing is much more valuable than Weasels, it's a large-pelt Sable."

"Ah?! This is a Sable?! The very valuable kind?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Yuying's pupils widened in shock as she stared at the little creature hanging in the air, looking left and right,

"It is a bit different from a Weasel, but shouldn't a Sable be purple? This little fellow is black and gray, and a bit yellowish."

"Sables aren't originally purple; only under the refraction of sunlight will their bodies show some purple sheen. Normally, they look like this."

Shi Lin explained with a smile.

In his previous life, he had also seen Sables, but by then, Sables had become animals that would land you in jail, so he didn't dare to have any thoughts about them.

But now... hehe.

"Let's take it with us!" Shi Yuying spoke first.

It really wasn't appropriate to just leave such a valuable Sable hanging here.

Even if Shi Lin and the others didn't take it, it might attract others later and be taken by them.

There was also a greater possibility that it would attract other carnivorous animals, and then the Sable would become their meal.

Hunters who set traps in the mountains often encounter this situation: they set the trap today, come back tomorrow, see the trap triggered, but there are only bloodstains and animal fur at the scene.

"I'll go over and check the situation first."

Shi Lin put his cloth gloves back on, picked up a forked branch from the ground, and walked towards the Sable.

Seeing Shi Lin approach, the Sable cried out more vigorously, twisting its body hard while hanging in the air.

Walking closer, Shi Lin also saw clearly,

The position where the Sable was caught was on its hind leg; the wound was very deep, a scab had already formed, but now it was bleeding again.

First, using the forked branch, he pressed the Sable against the tree trunk so it couldn't move randomly or attack him. Afterward, Shi Lin easily reached out and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck.

【Ding! Congratulations to the host for capturing one Sable, gaining 18 beast servant points.】

Wow, seeing this system notification, Shi Lin's mouth dropped open in surprise.

He didn't expect such a small creature could bring him 18 beast servant points.

This was the most beast servant points he had gained since activating the system.

Before he could be happy, the system notification appeared again.

【Contracting the injured Sable requires consuming 40 beast servant points. Do you want to contract it?】

This...

If he contracted it, it would be a bit of a financial loss.

Capturing it yielded 18 points, but contracting it required 40 points; there was still a difference of 22 points, and it was also a Sable with an injured hind leg...

Shi Lin held the Sable, feeling conflicted for a moment, unsure whether to contract this little creature.

"Huh, this Sable doesn't seem to have been caught here. Look at this, it dragged the trap here; the trap rope was bitten off long ago. It's just that the remaining rope got entangled on the branch here..."

Shi Yuying inspected the rope tied to the trap and concluded that this Sable had been caught, bitten off the rope itself, and escaped.

However, after escaping, it still had the trap attached to it, and it was unlucky enough to get entangled in a branch here.

If Shi Lin and the others hadn't found it now, the rope attached to the trap would have been bitten off again soon,

"Look here, it's almost bitten through. If it hadn't met us, this little creature would have run away again."

Shi Lin looked and agreed with Shi Yuying's point of view; this little creature had likely escaped after being caught in a trap.

He thought to himself, how could he encounter a Sable in the outer area of Daxing Mountain, and also have someone happen to set traps here?

It seemed that the Sable must have been caught in a trap deep within the mountain, and after being injured, it ran around the mountain with the trap attached, ending up in this outer area.

Looking at the little creature in his hand that was no longer struggling, its two front paws placed before it, and its large eyes full of spirit, Shi Lin said with a smile.

"I say, you little creature, you didn't happen to want to run down the mountain to find someone to help you remove the trap from your leg, did you?"

"You know, you might be right. This little creature looks quite intelligent, it's really possible."

Saying this, Shi Yuying reached out and stroked the Sable's head, saying to it,

"I'll help you remove the trap, don't make a fuss!"

Miraculously, this Sable really didn't move randomly and obediently let Shi Yuying remove the trap from its leg.

Even when the trap was removed, it squeaked twice, not with the sharp, high-pitched sound from before, but more like it was expressing gratitude.

Seeing this scene, Shi Lin also found it interesting, thinking that this little creature might really be trainable.

If he contracted it, maybe it could be like Jin Yi (Golden-ringed Hornet) and lead them to catch Sables.

That would be truly wonderful.

"Wow, it's so well-behaved, so cute, its fur is so nice to touch, and it even rubs its head against my palm, it's too intelligent!"

"Lao Liu, why don't we raise it first? And later, when we need to, we can sell it..."

Now that the Sable had become docile, truly few girls could resist its cute offensive.

However, thinking that this little creature was worth over a hundred yuan, Shi Yuying still didn't say anything about releasing it, only suggesting to raise it first.

Shi Lin also felt this suggestion was feasible and nodded, "Okay, then let's raise it first."

'Contract,' Shi Lin silently chanted in his heart.

【Ding! Congratulations to the host for contracting the beast servant—Sable.】

Instantly, a connection was established between the person and the Sable, and Shi Lin could clearly feel the Sable's emotional fluctuations.

At this moment, the Sable was excited and joyful, very close to Shi Lin, nudging its little head against him.

Then he opened the system panel.

【beast servant points: 20】

【Beast Servants: Jin Yi (Golden-ringed Hornet), Sable (Unnamed)】

The first beast servant was called Jin Yi, and now the second Sable, Shi Lin didn't show favoritism and directly named it Zi Er (Sable).

"From now on, you'll be called Zi Er (Sable). Go play by yourself. If you want to come back with us, just follow us later."

Saying this, Shi Lin directly released the Sable.

"Ah?! Why did you let it go?"

Seeing this, Shi Yuying was startled and quickly reached out to grab the Sable, not even afraid of being scratched.

This little fellow is worth over a hundred yuan!

Back then, how long would their family have to save to accumulate over a hundred yuan?

In Shi Yuying's simple values, money was still more important.