Chapter 13

Today, the weather was indeed clear and sunny.

The river surface was also very calm, extremely still, with no wind. A few days ago, the water by the riverbank would still rush onto the shallow banks in waves, but today, there was no such situation.

It was too calm, almost eerie.

The river water was not clear. The shallow areas were fine, but just a meter further out, where it was slightly deeper, one couldn't see what was happening underwater.

In a world fraught with danger, where things often defied common sense, one couldn't underestimate any detail; overlooking anything could mean death. Moreover, the river was considered by the tribe to be as dangerous as the Black Swamp. The fact that they had been able to fish successfully in the past few days didn't mean it was safe.

Seeing Shao Xuan's expression, the children, who had been eagerly engaged, stopped their actions and stepped back, puzzled. They were greedy and not particularly smart, but they weren't foolish; everyone valued their lives. Besides, the recent events had increased their trust in Shao Xuan. After stepping back, they all looked at him.

Shao Xuan stood by the riverbank, looking at the calm river water, deep in thought.

The river surface remained calm, with no significant difference from usual. The water hadn't changed color, and there were no suspicious objects.

Was he being too paranoid?

Suddenly, several white, translucent creatures appeared before him. They looked like inverted shuttlecocks with many tentacle-like appendages. They moved by waving their tentacles.

From previous experiences, Shao Xuan knew that such a situation didn't occur without a reason. There must be these creatures in the water, and they were dangerous.

Shao Xuan threw a grass rope with a stone bug tied to it into the water. The stone bug landed about two meters from the shore. After the stone bug hit the water, Shao Xuan didn't feel the intense pulling that would indicate a piranha biting the bait through the grass rope.

The black object floating on the water surface was trembling slightly. If one didn't look closely, they might think it was the stone bug struggling below. However, after several days of fishing, Shao Xuan was familiar with how the stone bug struggled. The fact was that the black object on the surface was trembling less than usual and showed a trend of trembling even less.

Shao Xuan pulled the grass rope back. When the children, who had been watching closely, saw the state of the stone bug, they all gathered around.

The stone bug wasn't bitten, but its entire body had turned white and shrunk, and it was stiff, maintaining the twisted shape it had while struggling underwater.

Placing the altered stone bug on the ground, Shao Xuan used the back of a stone knife to tap the bug's body with some force.

Crack!

With a slight, crisp sound, the stone bug broke, snapping cleanly, completely different from the soft body of a normal stone bug.

The children standing nearby looked terrified. If a person went into the water, would they also become shriveled, stiff, and break easily?

No one dared to try, not even touching the water, and they all stayed far away.

Shao Xuan threw a few more stone bugs into the water, and each time, the same thing happened. After a few seconds, the stone bugs turned into brittle, dried bugs, and no fish bit the bait even after a long time in the water.

"It's not that the fish are uninterested in the dried bugs, or that there are no fish around today. There's something terrifying in the water, and the fish have probably fled. They might return after that creature leaves," Shao Xuan said as he reeled in the grass rope.

"Then... when will the fish come back?" a child asked. Now, they weren't afraid of the fierce-looking piranhas; instead, they were eager to see them, missing them after just one day.

"I don't know, let's check again tomorrow," Shao Xuan shook his head. He then went to the two warriors guarding the riverbank and briefly told them to prevent the tribe members from entering the water, leaving a dried bug for them to study.

"Let's go back and make more grass ropes for next time," Shao Xuan suggested. If the grass ropes weren't well-made, they wouldn't be sturdy and would break after just a couple of uses, so the consumption was high. Today was a good day to rest, and Shao Xuan thought it would be best for them to gather enough grass and sit in the cave to make more grass ropes.

Although the sight of the stone bug scared the children, they felt more frustrated.

If they could fish normally today, how many fish could they catch? Four, at least? If Caesar could dig up more stone bugs, they might catch even more. For the sake of their lives, they couldn't fish today. According to Shao Xuan's words, they would check again tomorrow. But what if it was the same tomorrow? The day after, or even later, if they couldn't fish at all?

Just thinking about it was terrifying!

The children in the cave were anxious and couldn't focus on making the grass ropes.

Shao Xuan sat at the cave entrance, basking in the sun while recalling the creatures he had "seen" earlier and thinking about the approaching winter.

That day, many people who had gone to the riverbank to fish were driven back by the guards.

A few days ago, the people living near the mountain foot had noticed that the children who usually ate and slept in the cave, rarely leaving and often stealing things, had become industrious! These children went out every day and returned from the riverbank in the afternoon when it was time for dinner, dragging back long, strange fish with sharp teeth and large heads using grass ropes.

Some curious people followed them to learn how to fish, but they found it difficult. First, they couldn't dig up stone bugs and had nothing to use as a substitute; just throwing the grass rope didn't catch any fish. Second, even if they managed to catch stone bugs or use other substitutes, they couldn't easily catch fish like Shao Xuan and his group. Sometimes, they caught unknown creatures that caused swelling when they touched them.

Eventually, these people noticed that Shao Xuan used a black, floating object. Their fishing equipment lacked this item compared to Shao Xuan's. Without it, their results were not ideal.

Shao Xuan analyzed the reason: the piranhas didn't like to stay at the bottom of the water. When the bait tied to the grass rope sank, the stone bugs, once touching the bottom, could easily escape into the mud and sand. These two factors combined led to poor results.

In the past few days, Shao Xuan had Caesar help catch some bugs from the Black Swamp, making many small black pieces. He traded these for some meat and fur with the people near the mountain foot. The meat wasn't much and was distributed to the children in the cave on the same day. The fur, even if not of high quality, would help them survive the coming winter.

Therefore, besides the children in the cave, some people near the mountain foot who weren't on hunting trips also started fishing. No one complained about having too much food, especially with winter approaching. They needed to stock up to feel secure.

However, today was disappointing for everyone.

Shao Xuan watched as another group of people returned from the river, their heads hanging low, and sighed.

Suddenly, Caesar, who had been lying beside him, stood up and stared in one direction.

Shao Xuan looked over.

About twenty meters from the cave, there were a few large rocks. On sunny days, children often lay on them to bask in the sun, but now, with something to do, no one went there. At that moment, no one was on the rocks, but Shao Xuan noticed a corner of fur peeking out from the side.

Even a small corner was recognizable to Shao Xuan. It was Sai, who used to steal from him and was beaten by him a few days ago. Usually, Sai was accompanied by Ye and Zhan. They were back again today.

A few days ago, when Shao Xuan and Caesar were catching bugs near the Black Swamp, these three had blocked him in the rocky area, trying to steal the black, floating objects. They had a fight, but the children from the cave came, and Sai and his group quickly ran away. Today, they hadn't given up and were planning to steal something.

They didn't dare to steal the fish, as the tribe had a rule against stealing food from the children in the cave, but other fishing tools were not considered food.

Shao Xuan stroked his chin, patted Caesar, and told it to wait. He then turned and entered the cave.

"Everyone," Shao Xuan said to the people in the cave, "you've all done well recently and caught a lot of prey. This is great. If we continue like this, with the food provided by the tribe, we won't go hungry this winter. But what if someone comes to steal our things?"

Initially, the children, who had thought they could go fishing, perked up at Shao Xuan's voice. But when they realized it wasn't about fishing, their spirits sank. However, after hearing the whole sentence, their eyes blazed with anger.

Steal things?

Fight!

Steal tools instead of fish?

No way!

But what is "steal"? If you take something without permission, isn't that the same as stealing? Fight!

Shao Xuan had said that for these children, "eat" was the most beautiful and melodious word in the world, and food was its concrete embodiment. Anyone who tried to take their food was touching what they cared about most, and they would fight to the death.

At that moment, Sai and his two followers were hiding behind the large rocks outside the cave, discussing how to steal the black pieces without being noticed. They were talking in low voices when Caesar suddenly leaped down from above and pounced on them.

Caught off guard, the three jumped back in fright.

Sai, still shaken, gripped his wooden stick tightly and stared at Caesar, ready to swing it if the wolf took another step.

Lost in thought, Sai didn't notice his surroundings until Ye and Zhan poked him.

"What are you poking for? Can't you see I'm—"

Sai turned to yell, but before he could finish, he followed Ye and Zhan's gaze and saw over twenty children standing at the cave entrance, holding sticks and stones, their eyes filled with anger and hostility.