*Crackle, pop…* In the dense primitive forest, a large circle of fire pits were burning, emitting sounds of dry wood being consumed by the flames. Wisps of smoke drifted towards the sky, and the orangish-red firelight kept flickering.
Since it was night, the firelight from the pits appeared even brighter. At this time, over sixty people were seated around the fire pits.
Among them were two familiar figures – Sha Hong and Sha Lan, Mother and Daughter, who had successfully escaped from the jaws of the Sharp Fanged Leopard.
“Mother, is your leg alright?” Sha Lan was particularly worried, her delicate face filled with concern.
They had stayed up in the tree for over an hour yesterday, until the enraged Sharp Fanged Leopard finally left. As soon as it departed, the Mother and Daughter pair quickly climbed down the tree and hurried towards their Tribesmen.
Sha Hong waved her hand, took a big gulp of water, and said, “It’s nothing, I’ll be fine after resting for a day or two. Getting injured is normal.”
Her leg was already covered with some mashed up green plants, which Feng Cao had helped apply.
Feng Cao was a young girl from the Flame Dragon Tribe, not much older than Sha Lan. She had medium-length orange hair tied back with vines. Her face was round and chubby, with a dimple on only one side. Her orange eyes were very round, making her look like a Barbie doll.
“Aunt Sha Hong, don’t let it touch water for the next two days, and avoid any strenuous movements.” Feng Cao’s crisp voice rang out.
Back in the Tribe, she often learned about plants and their uses from her Mother. Of course, this knowledge was mainly about which plants were beneficial to the body. For example, how to treat injuries when Totem Warriors go out and get hurt without wasting Shaman Bone Tablets. Or, what to do when someone eats something ‘dirty’ and gets a stomach ache but does not want to waste a Shaman Bone Tablet.
In these situations, such knowledge could come in handy. For example, which plants to mash and apply to one’s’ wounds, which plants to eat to relieve stomach ache and diarrhoea, which berries were edible and which were not, and so on.
Feng Cao had learned most of this knowledge from her Mother, and would help her every day. Unfortunately, due to the Black Snake Tribe’s attack, Feng Cao’s Mother sacrificed herself to save her and was taken by the Black Snake Tribe.
“Don’t worry, I’m used to getting injured. This small wound is nothing to me.” Sha Hong said, smoothing her short blue hair.
She had never taken such injuries seriously. In her mind, it was all too common for Totem Warriors to get injured. Moreover, once these wounds scabbed over, they would represent a Warrior’s honour. That was why Totem Warriors all had scars of various sizes on their bodies.
“Even though it’s a small wound, Aunt Sha Hong, you should still be careful. We don’t have any Shaman Bone Tablets.” Feng Cao cautiously added. After all, she was not like her Mother, who had completely mastered knowledge about plants, so she had to be extra careful.
“That’s right, Sha Hong. Listen to Feng Cao and don’t go hunting for the next couple of days,” Tu said seriously.
Tu was an Early-Stage Totem Warrior, standing at two metres tall and looking quite burly. His build gave people a chilling feeling. With some stubble on his face, brown hair, and brown eyes, he looked rather simple-minded.
Tu got his name because of his tall stature and his favourite weapon – a huge stone embedded with many Beast Bones. Searᴄh the NôvelFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
“Alright, I understand. Then you’ll be responsible for our food for the next two days. I’ll keep an eye on our people.” Sha Hong could not argue with them anymore.
Among the sixty-plus people around the fire pits now, only she, Tu, and one other person were Totem Warriors. There were seven Warrior Trainees, and the rest were ordinary people.
When Sha Hong was evacuating her Tribesmen, they had not gone far. They had at most a hundred people when their group was discovered by the Black Snake Tribe.
The Black Snake Tribe had attacked their group. To protect them, she had engaged in a fierce battle.
In the end, only these sixty-plus people were left out of the hundred or so. Now, they were completely separated from the rest of the Tribe. They’ve been searching for their Tribesmen while trying to survive.
Since leaving the Tribe, the three of them had been taking turns Hunting, and resting at night to prepare for the next day’s activities.
“Leave it to me. I’ll hunt a big Bear and bring it back. It’ll be enough for us to eat for a few days, so we won’t need to keep going out to Hunt.” Tu confidently promised.
“Good,” Sha Hong nodded.
Suddenly, Sha Lan kept staring blankly at the sky. The countless stars reflected in her blue eyes, looking exactly like a calm lake.
A vast expanse of blue lake, with occasional shooting stars streaking across. Her curled eyelashes blinked from time to time.
“What’s wrong, Sha Lan?” Sha Hong noticed her Daughter’s unusual behaviour.
Sha Lan slowly lowered her head, forcing a smile, and said, “Nothing, I was just thinking how beautiful the starry sky is.”
Sha Hong reached out and hugged her Daughter. The usually bold woman became gentle and softly asked, “What is it? Are you missing the Tribe? Missing Yan Hua and the others?”
“…” Sha Lan was silent for a while. She originally wanted to deny it, but eventually nodded and said in a muffled voice, “En!”
She had been thinking about how many people had escaped, but no one here had said anything about it. After all, once they started talking about this topic, everyone would get emotional.
The young girl naturally understood this and had always kept quiet, silently suppressing how much she missed home.
However, seeing her Mother injured, coupled with this quiet night with only the crackling sound of burning wood, she could not help but miss the Tribe.
“Me too.” Sha Hong softly said, her face reddened by the firelight.
Sha Lan slowly raised her head and asked, “Mother, do you think the Tribe will be fine?”
This was something the young girl had been worrying about, after all, the Black Snake Tribe had come at them so fiercely, and had caught the Flame Dragon Tribe completely off guard.
“The Tribe will definitely be fine. Yan Huo must still be waiting for us to return.” Sha Hong resolutely said.
She did not know why, but she had always felt this way in her heart. She always believes that one day, they would definitely be able to return to the Tribe.
Sha Lan suddenly sat up straight, blinking her blue eyes, and asked, “Mother, should we go look for the Tribe?”
“Haven’t we been searching the whole time?” Sha Hong asked, puzzled.
“I mean, we should leave this place. We’ve only been searching nearby. That hasn’t yielded any results, right?”
Sha Lan became more animated as she spoke, continuing, “We could go to a more distant location. Who knows, we might find something unexpected?”
When they were looking for the Tribe before, they always used their current fire pit as the centre point and had searched outwards. However, they have never gotten very far from their fire pit.
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