Chapter 6

Lying on the side, Sai wiped his face, not caring about the swelling and the blood flowing from his nose, and glared at Shaoxuan who was picking things up. From his current angle, he couldn't see clearly what Shaoxuan had picked up, but it was definitely good stone material, enough to exchange for a few days' worth of food.

Shaoxuan could sense Sai and Zhan's gazes, but he was already used to it. After selecting some items and checking the sky, he saw that it was past noon and it was time to go back. Today's harvest was already sufficient. Although there were still some good stones here, Shaoxuan, being young and weak, couldn't carry too much, as it might not be a good thing to carry too much and risk losing it.

His current strength was not enough; he would have to wait until the so-called totem power awakened...

Calling Caesar back, Shaoxuan confirmed that the child named Ye, who had been dragged away by Caesar, was still safe, then left with the stones wrapped in animal skin.

When Ye, who had been dragged away from the battlefield, staggered back to this place, he saw Sai lying on the ground, his face covered in blood and gritting his teeth, and Zhan crouching beside him.

After catching his breath, Sai ordered Ye and Zhan to quickly check if there were any good stones left to exchange for things, while cursing and shouting that next time he would definitely beat them up and take all of Shaoxuan's things.

However, they didn't know that not far from them, some warriors had witnessed everything that had just happened. After Shaoxuan left, these warriors also gradually left.

"Who was that kid just now?" a young warrior asked curiously, turning to the person next to him.

"You mean the one with the wolf? His name is Xuan, from the cave at the foot of the mountain. As for that wolf, it belongs to the shaman, don't even think about it!" the older warrior warned. He didn't know why the shaman did this, but he didn't delve into it. All he knew was that the shaman's things couldn't be taken. As for the kid Xuan, he was just helping the shaman raise the wolf in his eyes.

The young warrior scratched his messy, stone-dust-covered hair. "I wouldn't dare to take the shaman's things, hehe. I just find the kid interesting. Once he awakens his power, he won't be bad, and he can join our hunting team."

"It's too early to say that. We should wait at least two or three years. I think the kids on the hillside are better. As for those kids from the caves..." the older warrior shook his head, leaving the rest unsaid, but the meaning was clear.

The tribe was roughly divided into three layers, with the more powerful warriors living higher up, closer to the mountaintop. The mountaintop was the center of the entire tribe. It was said that the tribe's fire pit was on the mountaintop, the coldest part of the mountain.

In the eyes of many warriors, the kids from the caves awakened later and had poorer potential than those living at the foot of the mountain. Even if those kids reached the age and awakened their totem power to go hunting, the warriors were unwilling to let them join their hunting teams. Hunting teams emphasized teamwork, and any weak link could lead to unexpected and disastrous consequences.

Shaoxuan, on his way back, didn't know about the warriors' conversation or their opinions of him. However, he had long guessed that there were people around. He had heard many things and made some inferences.

Although the warriors in the mountains didn't care about their surroundings during training, they were very sensitive to the surroundings when resting. The commotion here would definitely attract a few warriors. When Ye was shouting for help, there were probably several warriors nearby, but they wouldn't intervene easily.

Shaoxuan also knew that as long as things didn't get too serious, the warriors would only watch and not intervene. Just now, when Shaoxuan hit the ground with the stick, if it had hit a vital spot, Sai and Zhan might have been in danger, and the warriors would have intervened. Shaoxuan's image in their minds would have worsened, which would be detrimental to his future survival in the tribe. So, that hit was just a warning and a deterrent to Sai and Zhan.

Shaoxuan returned with a full load. The patrolling warriors and the guards at the edge of the residential area only asked a few questions when they saw Shaoxuan's bulging animal skin bag, but they didn't try to take his harvest. They didn't even care much about what Shaoxuan had.

Returning to the gravel field where he practiced boxing in the morning, Shaoxuan picked two stones from today's collection and buried the rest. He didn't have time to process these stones, and it was impossible to bring them back to the cave. The cave was full of "wolf cubs" who would grab anything they saw and bite any meat they found, so Shaoxuan never hid food or items to exchange for food in the cave.

After hiding the stones, Shaoxuan sat on the ground to rest, having expended a lot of energy climbing the mountain and fighting.

Shaoxuan looked at the distant mountains, then turned to look at the tribe's residential area, the houses near the foot of the mountain, and looked at his fist, still stained with dried blood. In just half a year, he had become a savage like the natives, and the pressure of survival had indeed accelerated this assimilation.

What was it like in the civilized era? Shaoxuan had dreamed about it a few times, but the images were becoming increasingly blurry, even though it hadn't been a year yet.

Although, compared to the uncivilized, cannibalistic savages that Shi Qi had described, this place was a bit better, but not much.

In the past, even if he saw a child being beaten by their parents, Shaoxuan would go up to mediate. If the beating was severe, he would even fight with the adults to protect the child. But now?

Of course, the environment was different, and the children in the tribe were not the same as those he had encountered in his previous life. Even at the same age, their personalities were vastly different. The children in the cave, even if they were scared this time, would still come to fight for food next time, and they would be even more ruthless. When they were angry, they wouldn't hold back like Shaoxuan, using stones to throw and sticks to swing. If you couldn't fight them, you would suffer. For example, even though Zhan was trembling in fear just now, next time he would still swing a stick or throw a stone at Shaoxuan, following Sai to rob him.

When Shaoxuan first woke up in the cave, it was the time when food was distributed. Facing the wolf-like gazes of the children around him, Shaoxuan thought he had fallen into a wolf den. The oldest child was only thirteen, and there were many six- or seven-year-olds.

Savagery was contagious.

After resting, Shaoxuan took two stones of good quality and exchanged them for four palm-sized pieces of dried meat from a stone tool maker, two without bones and two with bones. He gave the ones with bones to Caesar, ate the one without bones himself, and exchanged the remaining piece of dried meat for a small, cheap animal skin. Winter was coming, and he needed to prepare more things in advance.

When he returned to the children's cave, it was the tribe's daily food distribution time. The person responsible for transporting the food had already prepared today's food, which was stored in large stone jars. Only warriors who had awakened their totem power could lift such large stone jars.

The tribe would be responsible for the food in the children's cave until the children awakened their totem power. Once awakened, the children would leave the cave and build their own homes.

The food provided usually included meat, but not much, just enough to maintain the basic living standards of the children in the cave, as hunting meat was difficult. Besides meat, more often than not, the food was plant-based, like the red-haired fruit that Shaoxuan saw now.

It was the tuber of a tree, brownish-red, with many fine roots on the outside, resembling fur. The larger ones were about the size of a pumpkin from Shaoxuan's previous life, and the smaller ones were about the size of an adult's fist. The texture was similar to potatoes and was filling, but the most troubling thing for Shaoxuan was the after-effects of the red-haired fruit.

Medically speaking, the red-haired fruit had the effect of regulating gastrointestinal function and promoting intestinal gas. To put it bluntly, it made you pass gas. If you only ate the red-haired fruit and no meat, the effect was particularly noticeable, resulting in a lot of flatulence. However, if you ate some meat, the effect was less intense.

Most of the children in the cave ate and slept, and their daily food came from the tribe's distribution. Very few people went out to find additional food, which led to the air quality in the children's cave plummeting every time they ate the red-haired fruit, making it quite unbearable.

Shaoxuan's face turned green.

"Hey, Xuan!"

Ku, who was responsible for distributing the food, saw Shaoxuan and ran over, handing him a large piece of cooked red-haired fruit, which was clearly bigger than the portions given to the other children in the cave.

Ku was one of the oldest in the cave, thirteen years old. Besides Ku, there were two others who were thirteen, but they weren't as strong as Ku. Therefore, Ku was appointed to manage the cave, assisting in the daily food distribution. The benefit was that he could get more food, which made him stronger and healthier, unlike the other children in the cave.

However, Ku didn't often talk to the other children in the cave. He spent most of his time outside and only came back for meals. He hadn't spoken much to Shaoxuan either. Why was he coming over now with a large piece of food?

Shaoxuan looked at Ku and took the red-haired fruit.

Ku seemed to be in a good mood and a bit excited.

"Xuan, I'm going to the hillside tomorrow and will stay there for the whole winter. The cave will be left to you," Ku said.

Shaoxuan almost dropped the red-haired fruit when he heard this. If Ku wasn't managing the cave, it should have been taken over by the other older children. There were two other thirteen-year-olds and several twelve- and eleven-year-olds. Why choose him, who was not yet ten?

The decision of who would manage the cave wasn't up to Ku, so Shaoxuan asked, "Who said that?"

Ku pointed to the person responsible for transporting the food, who was leaning against the stone jar at the cave entrance, casually picking his teeth.

Looking at the fierce children in the cave, Shaoxuan really wanted to grab the person responsible for transporting the food and ask, "Delivery guy, are you messing with me?!"