Blood mingled with the damp air. It had an unsettling odor.
Su Xuan turned his head and saw a teenager, about thirteen or fourteen years old, holding a short knife in one hand and a wild rabbit weighing five or six pounds in the other. Fresh blood was dripping from the rabbit.
The youth possessed a maturity, coldness, and wildness that was utterly unlike his peers. He stood there like a merciless young leopard. His very presence was intimidating.
"Little Fang, you've gone hunting rabbits again?" the old village chief said hastily to the youth. "We have guests! Hurry up and get that cleaned up, don't scare them!"
The youth didn't speak. He just glanced at Su Xuan and the others, then carried the rabbit to a tree in the yard. He hung it up and, with a few deft strokes of his knife, skinned the rabbit cleanly... Su Zimo quickly turned her head away.
