Chapter 12

Just like how a person who has been poor for a long time would remain excited after suddenly becoming rich, these days, the children in the cave have been in a state of extreme excitement.

The result of this excitement was fighting.

Outside of fishing time, fights in the cave happened frequently.

In the past, they fought over food, but now they fought to protect their food. Sometimes, when someone brought back the wrong fish, there would be no second thoughts—just a fight!

Now, it wasn't one-on-one anymore. After Shaoxuan instilled the idea that a group was another form of a hunting team, these children now gathered in groups of five. Fights were now between groups, making them more intense than before.

Shaoxuan sat to the side, sighing with his head bowed. This was self-inflicted!

After seeing a fight break out between two groups because one child dragged back the wrong fish, Shaoxuan looked at the mess in the cave, thought for a moment, and then his gaze fell on a smooth stone wall near the cave entrance.

A long time ago, when everyone in the tribe lived here, they had polished the cave walls and carved words on them. Later, when children moved in, the walls were rarely inscribed with new words. Even if the children were bored or had a sudden urge to draw, they would only carve near the ground. Higher up, only the traces from many years ago remained.

The time and method of carving varied, with some using plant pigments and others using stone knives. Many of the marks had become blurred and discolored, making it hard to see the original images. It was a waste.

Shaoxuan called the overly excited and energetic children over and had them pick up stones to polish the cave walls.

There were some larger stones deep in the cave. They worked together to move them out, and to polish the higher parts of the wall, they had to stand on these stones, as their height was insufficient.

With something to do, the children became much more obedient. Plus, this was Shaoxuan's order, so no one objected. Even those who were reluctant would pick up a stone and grind a few times.

Since the cave walls had been polished before, they only needed to remove the surface marks. Once it felt right, Shaoxuan took a branch charred from incomplete combustion, stood on the stones below, and wrote the numbers one to five on the wall, representing the five groups. He explained who was in each group, and for safety, he also wrote the names of the group members below each number.

The tribe sent people to the cave periodically to teach the children basic things, like counting and some commonly used words. Shaoxuan learned the script this way, but the children in the cave were unwilling to listen and learned very little. Each time someone came, only Shaoxuan listened attentively.

Each child in the cave wore a stone tablet around their neck with their name on it. Even if they couldn't write or recognize many words, they could recognize their own name.

With the names written and the groups divided, the fish they brought back also needed to be recorded. Initially, Shaoxuan only wanted to write numbers to record how many fish each group caught, but the children were unsatisfied. Looking at the fish hanging above, Shaoxuan used the charred branch to draw simple, abstract fish on the wall—one stroke per fish, as long as it looked like a fish.

This finally satisfied the children. They even had the best counter in their group verify that the number of fish Shaoxuan drew on the wall matched the number of fish they had.

Each fish took only one stroke, and there were only a few dozen in total, so it didn't take much effort. Besides, the cave was large, and the walls were wide enough to draw a thousand fish if needed.

Opposite where Shaoxuan drew the fish, there was a ventilation hole high on the wall. During the day, sunlight would shine through, illuminating the wall and making the words and drawings very clear.

Thus, every day outside of fishing time, the children would sit in the cave in groups of five, weaving grass ropes. They would look up at the wall from time to time, counting the fish in their group and the fish hanging above their "territory." Because of this, their counting skills improved rapidly.

Children who were unwilling to count even when hit with a stone stick now counted dozens of times a day without being urged.

"Axuan, is it twelve after ten?"

"It's eleven!"

"Oh... eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen... Wait, Axuan, why do we only have fourteen fish? There are fifteen on the wall! One is missing! Who took our fish?!!" The child, along with the other four in his group, picked up wooden sticks and stones, their eyes dark and menacing, looking at the other children in the cave.

Shaoxuan took a deep breath and pointed at the wall with the branch. "Don't you see the thick line drawn on the first fish? That means it has been eaten. You ate it yourselves last night! Do you want to vomit it out to confirm? I—can—help—!"

"…It seems so." The child tilted his head, thought for a moment, and the menacing aura dissipated. He threw the stick and sat down with the other four to continue weaving grass ropes, as if nothing had happened.

"Axuan, Uncle Ge said it will be a good day tomorrow. Are we going to the river again?" a child asked hopefully.

The other children perked up, their eyes fixed on Shaoxuan, as if a single "no" from him would shatter their hearts.

"Sure, as usual," Shaoxuan said, stepping outside to look at the sky.

Now, the more than twenty children in the cave acted together. They were greedy, hoping to fish all day by the river, but they knew it was best to act together. They had to, for two reasons: they couldn't get stone worms.

Shaoxuan had tried many kinds of worms found in the tribe, but only stone worms were effective for fishing. For those who acted on their own without permission, Shaoxuan wouldn't give them stone worms.

Want stone worms but won't listen? Fine, go dig them yourself. Without Caesar, you might not dig up even one after half a day. Stone worms move much faster underground than earthworms. If you can't catch them immediately, you'll come back empty-handed. These past few days, wasn't it Caesar who helped dig up the stone worms?

The second reason they had to act together: they couldn't get the small black blocks that float on water. To get those, they needed to catch a bug that lived in the Black Swamp. Unfortunately, only Caesar could approach the Black Swamp.

Because of this, Caesar's status in the cave also improved. At least now, the children didn't look at Caesar with hungry eyes. Some of the more clever ones even learned to flatter him. They had seen Caesar gnaw on animal bones and offered him fish bones, but Caesar had no interest in them.

Regardless, the relationship between the children and Caesar improved, and Shaoxuan no longer had to worry about them teaming up to roast Caesar.

The next day, Shaoxuan was woken early by the children and went to the gravel area to dig for stone worms. Caesar dug one, and Shaoxuan gave one to each group's appointed leader.

A stone worm could be used two to three times. After digging it up, it was cut in half, and within a few minutes, the two halves could move independently, turning one into two. If given more time, they could grow back to their original length.

With everything prepared, Shaoxuan led the group to the riverbank.

The warriors guarding the riverbank had been replaced, but they quickly got along with Shaoxuan. They had watched him bring the children from the cave to fish every day and even received a fish each day. They had a good impression of Shaoxuan, and this extended to the children from the cave.

Seeing the river, the children couldn't contain their excitement and rushed to throw the bait. But Shaoxuan suddenly stopped them.

"Back! Everyone back! Don't touch the water! Don't throw the bait yet!" Shaoxuan grabbed the child at the front and threw him back, frowning as he looked at the river.

Something was off today.