Chapter 6

After the dry season began, it had been a long time since it rained. Most of the numerous swamps on the grassland had dried up, and the grass that grew to half a person's height during the rainy season was now short and withered.

Under the scorching sun, Gao Yang was searching for the tracks left by prey, diligently tracking a large antelope.

Indeed, Gao Yang did not die. His luck was remarkably good. With the physical condition of an urbanite, he managed to survive for three years in a place where the grassland and tropical rainforest meet, far from modern civilization. Not everyone has such good luck.

This was the third dry season Gao Yang had experienced in Africa, which meant he had been stranded in Africa for three years.

Here, survival had nothing to do with the skills one possessed or the items one had; it was purely a matter of luck, or rather, how tough one's fate was. At least, that was the case for Gao Yang.

It must be said that Gao Yang's fate was indeed tough. When bitten by a venomous snake, even though he had used all the methods he knew, he would still have died without help. However, Gao Yang was fortunate enough to encounter a primitive tribe on the move, and he survived.

Later, Gao Yang learned that if someone in the primitive tribe was bitten by a venomous snake, they would use traditional methods to treat the injury. Gao Yang was lucky and was cured, but he was left with a large scar on the edge of his left hand.

What methods did the primitive tribe use? Besides using some unknown herbs, they relied on the blessings of their deities. It was said that under the protection of the deities, the snake venom was not a threat to Gao Yang. Instead, the deep wounds he inflicted on himself to let the venomous blood out almost cost him his life.

Gao Yang, in his panic, had cut himself too deeply to let the venomous blood out quickly. It was a miracle that he survived, especially since, according to the tribe, out of ten people treated, only one might survive.

However, the most dangerous moment for Gao Yang was not when he was bitten by the venomous snake, but about a month after he was saved, when he finally contracted malaria. He took all the anti-malaria medication he had, but it had no effect. He suffered from fever for over ten days, becoming extremely thin, yet he miraculously did not die.

Over the three years, Gao Yang had contracted malaria four times, almost experiencing all the types of malaria one could get, but he always managed to survive. It was unclear whether he had developed immunity after contracting malaria or for some other reason, but this year, he had not had malaria, seemingly freeing himself from this nightmare.

Of course, the main reason Gao Yang survived was that he was saved by the primitive tribe. Without the help of these kind-hearted people, he would have died many times over.

The primitive tribe that saved Gao Yang was very small and quite primitive, consisting of only seventeen people, essentially one big family, living a nomadic life by foraging and hunting.

Gao Yang did not know which ethnic group the tribe belonged to; he only knew that the tribe was called Akuri. He had asked the chief of the tribe, who was the oldest person, but the chief did not know which ethnic group they belonged to.

The concept of ethnicity did not exist in the Akuri tribe. They could only marry people from other tribes when they encountered similar tribes.

The extremely primitive lifestyle of the Akuri tribe meant a high mortality rate. In the three years Gao Yang had been with the tribe, four children were born, and three people died, the oldest being about five or six years old, and the youngest just two days old. The oldest person in the tribe, the chief, seemed to be around forty years old.

It was not that Gao Yang had not asked about the chief's age; the chief himself did not know how old he was, only that he had lived through more than forty rainy seasons.

Gao Yang had a good ability to learn languages, and the language of the Akuri tribe was very simple with a very limited vocabulary. It took him only three to four months to be able to communicate without any problems. However, the information he could obtain from these primitive people was very limited.

Gao Yang still did not know which country he was in or where he was. He only knew that he was at the intersection of the tropical grassland and tropical rainforest. Walking north for two to three days would lead to the savanna, and walking south for two to three days would lead to the tropical rainforest. Gao Yang was not familiar with the geography of Africa and could not determine his location based on the terrain.

For three years, Gao Yang had been thinking about going home, but in those three years, he had never encountered any signs of civilization.

The reason he was far from civilization was that the Akuri tribe had migrated to avoid conflict and had moved away from areas with modern civilization.

The Akuri tribe had once been visited by people from the civilized world, who had brought them some modern items. However, later, war broke out, and armed people started killing anyone they saw, even for fun. After three people from the Akuri tribe were killed while hunting, the tribe began to migrate continuously.

Over the years, the Akuri tribe and Gao Yang had not encountered anyone else, and Gao Yang had lost all contact with the outside world. He had explored in four directions, walking for seven to eight days at a time, but found nothing. Now, it was impossible for Gao Yang to find the river he had followed to get there.

During the three years with the Akuri tribe, Gao Yang went hunting with the tribe every day. Including Gao Yang, only five people in the tribe could hunt, while the women and children collected all the edible plants and insects. If there was no harvest, the entire tribe would go hungry.

Thanks to their past interactions with the civilized world, the Akuri tribe had iron tools. They still had six short knives and four spears, which, though crudely made, were very useful. According to the chief, these were gifts from some very pale-skinned people.

However, the main weapon used by the Akuri tribe for hunting was the bow and arrow. The knives and spears were only used for the final blow, and even then, it was rare to need them, as the prey often died before the final blow was necessary.

Now, Gao Yang was tracking a poisoned antelope with the other four people from the tribe.

After the dry season began, most of the swamps on the grassland had dried up, leaving only a few large swamps with water. These large swamps became the water source for all the animals in the area, making hunting easier than during the rainy season. They just had to guard the swamps, where they could easily shoot prey with poisoned arrows.

The large antelope they were tracking had been shot near a swamp.

The power of the bow and arrow itself was negligible; the main effect came from the poison on the arrowhead.

The poison was extracted from the larvae of a certain beetle. Although it was lethal, it took some time to take effect. For larger prey, it would take at least two to three hours to kill, and for the antelope they had shot, which weighed about 200 pounds, it would take at least four to five hours to die, even with two poisoned arrows.

After being shot, the antelope would run wildly, and it was impossible for humans to catch up. Since the poison could not kill the antelope quickly, the hunting method of the Akuri tribe was to shoot the prey and then follow its tracks.

The distance they had to track could vary, and it was common to track for tens of kilometers. They would continue to track until they found the dead prey. Therefore, while the hunting skills of the Akuri tribe were not particularly advanced, their ability to track and their endurance in long-distance running were exceptional.

The people of the Akuri tribe could distinguish the tracks of their prey from a chaotic set of footprints and could determine the direction the prey had fled from a few broken blades of grass. They could even estimate how long it would take for the prey to fall from the information in the tracks or signs.

After living with the tribe for about three years, Gao Yang had also mastered the skill of tracking. However, when hunting with the chief, he had no chance to show his skills.

They had been tracking the antelope since early morning and were still running by noon. Although the pace was not fast, Gao Yang estimated they had run at least 30 to 40 kilometers. He was almost at his limit, but the four people from the Akuri tribe did not seem to be affected.

In the past, Gao Yang would have been exhausted after walking just three kilometers, let alone running 30 to 40 kilometers. However, the pressure of survival had unlocked his potential, and now he could run 30 to 40 kilometers without any problem.

Finally, the chief, who was leading the group, stopped and examined the ground, then pointed in a direction.

"It's almost done for. It's right there. Let's go find it."

Gao Yang was very happy to hear the chief's words because the pursuit was much shorter than he had expected, and it was always pleasant to finish early, especially since they would have to carry the meat back the same distance.

Gao Yang, panting heavily, followed the chief forward. After walking about one to two kilometers, they found their target.

About 200 to 300 meters ahead, a large antelope was standing, occasionally stumbling. Although it had not fallen, it was only a matter of time.

Gao Yang followed the chief, who was leading the way, and enthusiastically waved his hunting knife, rushing towards the antelope that was about to fall. They had to act quickly to prevent lions or leopards from taking the prey.