Chapter 4

That’s why I told her to leave here quickly. Hamoyin squatted on the ground and sighed, then reached out to touch the blood that had become sticky on the layer of fallen leaves. Besides the large pools of blood near the tree hole, there were scattered bloodstains extending southward from the tree hole. He wondered if Nagu had been attacked by a wild animal and fled in this direction while injured or if the bleeding corpse had been dragged back to the animal’s nest. Considering the situation, the latter seemed more likely. After concluding that Nagu had been killed, Hamoine didn’t immediately leave the vicinity of the tree hole. Although he usually didn’t hunt at night, Hamoyin wouldn’t give up on prey that came to him, especially since there were clear tracking marks.

“I should have brought my bow,” Hamoyin thought as he stood up and quickly followed the bloodstains. Judging by the bite and claw marks around the tree hole, the animal that attacked Nagu was at least medium-sized, and it was likely a saber-toothed leopard, a highly valuable animal for its fur. Not just the fur but its teeth and bones could be brought back to the tribe, saving Hamoyin from having to gather seeds for the season.

As he walked forward into the broad-leaved tree area, the bloodstains became harder to find because the large, dense leaves blocked almost all the cold blue moonlight. Even with Hamoyin’s different vision from humans, he began to struggle to distinguish the ground marks in the dim light.

Going further would be dangerous. Hamoyin gripped his bone knife and stood on a protruding tree root, looking into the depths of the broad-leaved forest. However, if the saber-toothed leopard was carrying a corpse, it wouldn’t be able to return to its nest quickly. Besides, he hadn’t caught anything to bring back to the tribe for three days.

What should he do? Should he take a risk and continue searching or retreat?

While Hamoyin was pondering this, he heard a rustling sound from the forest ahead. It was very light as if something was deliberately moving quietly.

“?” What is it? Hamoyin gripped his bone knife tightly and crouched down, staring in the direction of the sound. But it was too dark to see anything clearly except the swaying leaves and bushes. Unfortunately, he hadn’t brought any bait, so luring the prey into a bright area was impossible. He could only wait for it to appear and follow it until it let its guard down, then find a way to get close.

Finally, the rustling sound stopped after a while, and Hamoyin crouched, ready to follow. But this time, he was wrong again. It wasn’t a saber-toothed leopard or any other animal that emerged from the broad-leaved forest, but Nagu, crawling on the ground and barely alive.

So, she wasn’t dead.

Hamoyin straightened up, tucked his bone knife back into his belt, and hurried towards Nagu, who was lying on the ground.

Covered in blood, Nagu heard footsteps approaching and panicked. She thought she had barely escaped from the jaws of a wild animal, only to be picked off by another predator. But before she could panic for long, she heard a familiar voice asking, “Are you okay?”

It’s Hamoyin! Nagu coughed and slowly lifted her head. It was too dark to see clearly, but she could barely make out the faintly glowing golden pupils in front of her. “I… cough, I…”

“Don’t talk.” Hamoyin squatted beside Nagu, gently turned her over, and began to examine her wounds.

There were two shallow scratches on her left arm, several abrasions on her waist, and the most severe injuries were on her legs. Both ankles were severely torn, and there were three or four deep gashes on her thighs. Crawling out of the forest had attracted many insects to her bleeding wounds. If left untreated, she probably wouldn’t survive until dawn.

Hamoyin took the bandage he used for small prey from his wrist and wrapped it around the largest wound on Nagu’s leg. “You should be grateful I came out to check on you again.”

“If you had left this morning, none of this would have happened. So why did you stay around here?” Hamoyin asked, shifting his attention from Nagu’s wounds to her face, only to find she had already fainted.

Well, it’s about time she fainted. Staying conscious with such injuries would be strange. Hamoyin resignedly picked up the unconscious Nagu from the ground and adjusted her onto his shoulder.

Hamoyin didn’t immediately return to his place but carried Nagu deeper into the broad-leaved forest.

Following the direction Nagu had crawled from, he soon found a saber-toothed leopard lying in the bushes. Its eyes had been gouged out, with small branches still stuck in its right eye. Besides the eye injuries, its neck had been pierced through by a larger pointed branch. But the saber-toothed leopard wasn’t completely dead yet. It was still breathing weakly but was close to death. Hamoyin stepped on the leopard’s front leg to hold it down, then pulled out the branch from its neck. The leopard struggled in pain, and Hamoyin, not wanting to damage its fur, stabbed its neck again with force.

With mixed feelings, Hamoyin dragged the leopard’s body and tucked it under his other arm. He had been wondering how Nagu managed to escape with such injuries. Predators don’t easily let their prey go, especially when they’re badly injured. So, Hamoyin thought, maybe Nagu killed the saber-toothed leopard to escape.

Unexpectedly, it really was. Of course, it’s hard to say who killed whom in this situation. It’s more accurate to say they both ended up badly injured, as Nagu’s condition is so severe that it’s uncertain if she’ll survive.

…

Her head felt dizzy and heavy, and a strong, fresh scent of plants filled her nose. Even without opening her eyes, she could sense the bright sunlight outside. Nagu frowned and barely managed to open her eyes. Her vision was still blurry, and she could only perceive the brightness in front of her. Her ears began to pick up the chirping of birds from outside.

There was no foul breath of wild beasts, no sharp teeth, no nauseating stench of blood and dirt. Her body felt much lighter, although her legs still hurt, with intense pain. She couldn’t sit up at all, so she could only lie down. Lie down? Wait, where was she?

Once she could see clearly, Nagu slowly turned her neck to look around. She was in a small wooden room with a square skylight above, through which she could see green leaves and vines swaying in the wind.

There was little that could be called “furniture” in the room, but the walls were adorned with many cleaned animal bones and various stone, bone, and wooden weapons. Some animal skins were piled on a stone platform in the corner, surrounded by stone bowls containing suspicious light green powder and a few with thick, bluish-gray liquid.

In the center of the wooden house was a shallow stone basin about a meter wide, filled with burnt wood. There were many wood shavings around it, like someone had been carving something nearby.

Someone?

Hamoyin!

Nagu’s muddled mind suddenly cleared. She remembered being attacked by a wild animal while hiding in the tree hole, and it was Hamoyin who had saved her.

So, this was Hamoyin’s home? But where was Hamoyin? Nagu wanted to sit up and look for him, but the intense pain in her legs stopped her. She then noticed a sticky sensation on her body. Lifting the animal skin covering her, she found that the “stickiness” was from a paste made of crushed plants, thickly applied to her wounds.

Nagu felt like crying with gratitude. Despite her current misfortune, meeting someone like Hamoyin, who provided food, shelter, and medicine, was a stroke of luck!

Lying motionless on the wooden bed like a dead fish, Nagu had already deified Hamoine in her heart. If he hadn’t come that night, she would have bled to death in the forest, her body eventually becoming food for unknown beasts.

Living in the rainforest was truly dangerous. With these hazy thoughts, the injured Nagu drifted off to sleep again. When she next opened her eyes, the light in the wooden house had changed from natural light to flickering firelight.

Hamoyin was sitting with his back to her, carving something in front of the stone basin with the fire. His broad, lean silhouette against the light was incredibly reassuring.

Watching Hamoyin carve so intently, Nagu hesitated before softly speaking, “Um…”

Hamoyin’s reaction was dramatic. He turned his head wide-eyed as if seeing a ghost rise from the grave.

Nagu later learned why Hamoyin reacted so strongly. She had been unconscious for almost fifteen days and had been feverish for the past few days.

“I thought you could die at any moment,” Hamoyin said, standing by the bed and still looking at Nagu with amazement. “Do you feel any discomfort now?”

Honestly, everything hurt—her legs, waist, and arms—but Nagu felt the most urgent issue was, “I’m a bit hungry…”

“Of course.” Hamoyin put down the wooden arrow he was carving, walked to the table with the animal skins, and scooped something from the small stone bowls into an empty bowl, mixing it. He also took a small wooden bucket of water from the wall.

Nagu watched as Hamoyin brought these things to the bedside, ready to feed her.

“No, I can do it myself,” Nagu struggled to sit up, but Hamoyin pressed her shoulder down.

“Don’t move.” He placed the water on the bed’s edge and brought the bowl of mush closer to Nagu. “I’ll feed you.”

It was one thing to be fed while unconscious, but needing Hamoyin to feed her while awake felt too much. Nagu tried to refuse, “I can eat by myself…”

“If you move and tear your wounds,” Hamoyin said sternly, holding the bowl, “I won’t take care of you anymore.”

This was really serious. Recognizing the situation, Nagu obediently lay back and opened her mouth, waiting for Hamoyin to feed her.