Chapter 2 of 20

Chapter 2

16 min read3,896 words

In the cave, about twenty children lay sprawled out in all directions. A thin, tattered animal skin, with a few holes, covered seven or eight of them. The others, not covered, either had their own animal skins or huddled to one side. Whether they were covered or huddled, they all slept soundly.

Because it hadn't been cleaned for a long time and there were so many people sleeping, the cave had a foul smell. Sunlight filtered through the ventilation holes around the cave, barely illuminating the dark interior.

Near the edge of the cave, below a ventilation hole, a child dressed in tattered animal skin was sleeping. Unlike the other children, a large dog, almost as long as the child, was sleeping beside him.

Shao Xuan opened his eyes, looked at the sunlight that had already reached his shoulders, rubbed his eyes, and got up to tidy the dry grass he had been lying on. Seeing Shao Xuan's movements, the large dog, which had been lying with its eyes closed, quickly stood up and obediently squatted to the side, allowing Shao Xuan to gather the dry grass that had been pressed down.

After bundling the dry grass, Shao Xuan held it in one hand and the dog's leash in the other, and walked out of the cave.

Mysteriously transported to this place, which resembled a primitive tribe, Shao Xuan became a child in a tribe located in a remote mountainous area. The body he now inhabited was very weak, probably due to illness. It had been about half a year since Shao Xuan woke up in this body. No matter how uncomfortable, he had to grit his teeth and endure; living was the most important thing.

Shao Xuan had never imagined he would end up in such a place. The people here were very different from the primitive tribes he had learned about in the Stone Age. They didn't look particularly special, but their essence was different.

Have you ever seen an ordinary person lift a stone as big as a water vat and still stroll down the street without any trouble?

Have you ever seen an ordinary person jump three stories high without any tools and land steadily after jumping from a tree ten meters high?

Shao Xuan hadn't seen such things in his previous life, but in this life... he saw them every day!

The cave he had just come out of was originally called "Funiu Cave" because it looked like a beaten-down ox. The name was given by the tribe's "shaman" back then. However, after nearly a thousand years, as the tribe grew and built houses outside, the cave was used to house the tribe's orphans and was thus called "Children's Cave." The children living there had no family to take care of them, and the tribe was unwilling to take them in. In short, "Children's Cave" was the tribe's orphanage.

After arriving here, Shao Xuan had never seen anyone from other tribes. He heard that this mountain range only had their tribe, "Yanjiao."

An isolated tribe, living a self-sufficient life.

Shao Xuan walked slowly, leading the dog.

Soon, he saw various wooden houses of different sizes, some of which were made of wood, stone, and mud. Compared to the purely wooden houses, the wooden and stone houses were slightly larger and more solid, and could be considered the mansions of the area near the foot of the mountain.

To Shao Xuan, whether they were wooden houses or wooden and stone "mansions," they were all incredibly crude. However, after living here for a while, Shao Xuan began to yearn for a wooden house of his own, though it was currently impossible.

At this time, people were already out and about. The men were polishing their stone tools to prepare for the next hunt, and the women were busy sewing animal skins and drying food.

As Shao Xuan passed by, many people glanced over, not at him but at the creature he was leading, their eyes filled with greed and desire, swallowing their saliva. In their eyes, Shao Xuan was leading a large piece of meat, enough for several meals. The early risers, who were still hungry from their morning work, had green eyes. However, when they saw the object around the creature's neck, they reluctantly suppressed their urge to snatch it. It was the shaman's emblem, indicating that the creature belonged to the shaman. They didn't dare to touch it. In their eyes, Shao Xuan was just helping the shaman take care of the wolf.

Yes, the creature following Shao Xuan was actually a wolf, born in the mountains. When it was a cub, it was found by a warrior from the tribe during a hunt and brought back for Shao Xuan to eat. Coincidentally, the shaman passed by and left an emblem with the shaman's mark, then left. Shao Xuan named the wolf "Caesar," the same name as the dog he had in his previous life. He raised Caesar like a dog, and it had been with him ever since.

The people here had a strange mindset. Despite their great respect for the shaman, their attitude toward Shao Xuan didn't change much after the shaman gave him an emblem. The only difference was that they didn't try to kill and eat Caesar. As for the rest, they treated Shao Xuan as they always did, since the shaman hadn't told them to help him. The shaman, a great figure, had no time to care about a child. Over time, everyone got used to having a child with a wolf. The shaman hadn't appeared since Caesar was a cub.

What puzzled the people near the foot of the mountain was why Shao Xuan called Caesar a dog.

What was a dog?

This question didn't last long because no one cared. They were too busy with more important things—food.

Shao Xuan was already used to the gazes around him and continued walking with Caesar without any concern. The people in the tribe wouldn't dare to snatch the shaman's property, as Shi Qi had said, the shaman held a high status in the tribe. As for why the shaman, who lived in the "noble area" on the mountain and held one of the highest positions in the tribe, gave Shao Xuan, who slept in "Children's Cave" and had little presence, a valuable emblem, it was because of a word Shao Xuan had mentioned—“raising.” At the time, Shao Xuan had said he would raise the young wolf a bit before eating it. The shaman, who happened to pass by, told Shao Xuan to raise it and left an emblem to prevent the tribe from taking it. The emblem was placed around Caesar's neck.

The shaman was very interested in raising, but he hadn't appeared in the past half a year. So, Shao Xuan's impression of the old man was that of an irresponsible old fraud. Was raising a wolf easy? Every day, he was stared at by people with green eyes, and without a strong mental fortitude, he would have gone insane long ago.

In short, raising Caesar was entirely due to a coincidence.

Life was so hard! Although the tribe provided food for the Children's Cave, they were still often hungry.

Shao Xuan sighed helplessly, looked ahead, and his eyes twitched.

In front of him, a man was carrying a stone club, about two meters long and much thicker than a baseball bat. It was heavy, and by Shao Xuan's standards from his previous life, it would be quite difficult to carry, but the man carried it as if it were a regular hoe, yawning and walking slowly up the mountain, probably to discuss hunting with the hunting team.

This was the norm for the people here. As for Shao Xuan, he was part of the weaker group who had yet to awaken their totemic power. Once he grew to around ten years old and awakened his totemic power, he would be considered a regular warrior capable of going on hunts. The totemic power was the only standard for determining whether someone could become a hunting warrior in the tribe.

As for what exactly totemic power was, Shao Xuan didn't know, but he might understand it when the time came.

At that moment, the man in front of Shao Xuan, who was carrying the stone club and looked half-asleep, didn't notice that his leather shorts made from animal skin were about to slide down to his knees. He was casually walking around in broad daylight. The people around him didn't react at all.

Shao Xuan held back for a moment but then called out, "The man in front with the club, your shorts are falling down!"

The man in front of Shao Xuan only turned around after he called out for the third time, yawning and glancing at Shao Xuan. His gaze lingered on Caesar for about half a minute before he looked down at his sliding shorts, calmly pulled them up, tied the leather belt, and continued walking up the mountain with the club.

Shao Xuan didn't say anything more.

To the people in the tribe, propriety and shame? What were those things? Could they be eaten? If not, why even mention them!

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