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“The tribe originally had several caves prepared for visitors, but the rain was too heavy this year. When I went to check today, those caves are seriously flooded, with a risk of collapse, so they can’t be used.
This news is undoubtedly another setback for Wen Ze, making things even harder.
Yin He also stood by helplessly, his face filled with concern.
Noticing his expression, Wu Ye turned to look at Zhuo Mu and suggested, “Zhuo Mu’s cave has two levels. The first level is specifically for sick beastmen, and he doesn’t live there.
“There are no other patients right now, so I was thinking, could you and your brother stay at his place for a while? When the weather clears up and a new cave is dug, you can move out.”
Wen Ze obviously wouldn’t have any objections to this. The issue, however, is that Zhuo Mu is known for not getting along with others, and the caves are dug in the most remote part of the tribe. Would anyone be willing to take them in?
In order to avoid sleeping in the wild, Wen Ze asked gently, “Is this okay, Zhuo Mu? We are not going to stay here for free; we will pay you with supplies. Or if you need any other kind of compensation, as long as we have it, we will provide it to you.”
Yin He also said pitifully, “Brother Zhuo Mu, I can help you with work. My brother’s injury isn’t fully healed, please, let us stay for a while.”
For a moment, everyone’s eyes fell on Zhuo Mu.
The tall, cold man with sharp features remained calm but his red eyes and silver lashes and brows made him look pretty unreal.
He turned to Wen Ze and said casually, “Before your injury heals, you couldn’t leave anyway. As for the supplies, we’ll talk about it once you’re able to gather them.”
Wen Ze secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said sincerely, “Thank you, Zhuo Mu.”
Although Zhuo Mu didn’t immediately ask for supplies, Wen Ze knew that he couldn’t really avoid the issue.
However, he wouldn’t be able to gather anything for a while, so how could he repay the favor?
Before he could come up with anything, Yin He jumped happily, and the two thick bear ears on his head shook.
“Thank you, Brother Zhuo Mu!” He then turned to Wen Ze and cheered, “Brother, we have a place to stay! This is great!”
The moving black bear ears were fluffy and made Wen Ze’s hands itch.
After resolving the housing issue, Wu Ye told Zhuo Mu, “If it doesn’t rain tomorrow, the tribe will work together to repair the caves where everyone is staying. Come early the next morning.”
Zhuo Mu: “Okay, where do we start?”
Wu Ye: “The Yang family in the far east.”
Zhuo Mu: “Mm.”
As they were talking, the rain started falling again, and the wind carried the smell of earth.
There was a stone slab on the stove, and the fire inside flickered faintly.
Wu Ye frowned, “This rain is really frustrating. You’re the last family I need to informed. I’m heading back now, see you tomorrow.”
Zhuo Mu nodded.
Without anyone to escort him, Wu Ye walked outside in a hurry and turned into a majestic grizzly bear!
He wasn’t fully standing up, but he was still about five or six meters tall. His huge body looked like a little mountain.
The grey, prickly bear fur looked shiny and healthy and as the rain hit his fur and it slid down without stopping.
With a low growl, the strong grizzly bear spread out its thick big paws and ran away into the distance.
Wen Ze felt the ground shake slightly and soon, only a small gray dot remained in his field of vision.
The sheer weight was terrifying… and he ran so fast. No wonder the beastmen ruled this world.
Zhuo Mu and Yin He, were used to this. Yin He even went to smooth out the huge claw marks left by the grizzly bear.
Zhuo Mu stood up and walked into the cave.
“Wait,” Wen Ze stood up and called out.
Zhuo Mu turned. Wen Ze pointed to the slope behind the cave and asked, “Can I cut some small vine leaves? I want to weave a few baskets.”
Zhuo Mu’s red eyes examined him, as if assessing whether his physical condition could handle it.
After a moment, Zhuo Mu said, “I’ll go cut them.”
Wen Ze was startled and waved his hands embarrassedly. “I can ask Yin He to do it…”
But Zhuo Mu had already grabbed his tools and walked away.
The beastmen are very strong, and in no time, Zhuo Mu carried over a large bundle of small vine leaves.
The vines hit the ground with a loud “clang.”
“Is this enough? If not, I can go somewhere else to cut,” Zhuo Mu asked.
“Enough, it’s enough!” Wen Ze noticed that he had cut the vines carefully.
It seemed that, even in ancient times, the beastmen understood that plants have a role in preventing soil erosion and that cutting them all could lead to landslides.
This was probably the wisdom passed down through generations of beastmen living on this land.
“Thank you so much,” Wen Ze said repeatedly, then called Yin He over to help with the leaves.
Seeing Zhuo Mu was about to sit down, Wen Ze immediately said, “You’ve worked hard all day, go and have a rest. Yin He and I can handle this.”
He already felt guilty for taking food and shelter; there was no way he could ask Zhuo Mu to help with work as well.
Zhuo Mu stared at him with his red eyes for a few seconds, then finally gave a soft “Mm” before turning and walking away.
His figure disappeared at the entrance of the cave, and then Wen Ze heard the faint sound of crawling.
Although he knew Zhuo Mu meant no harm, just thinking of his terrifying giant python body made Wen Ze feel a chill run down his back.
He shook his head, dismissed the distracting thoughts in his mind, and concentrated on working with Yin He.
Yin He mainly helped him by removing the leaves, passing the tools, and so on.
The weaving was done by Wen Ze himself.
Before he traveled to this world, he dealt with crops all day long and knew how to weave baskets, but he had hardly ever put it into practice.
Fortunately, the weaving technology of this era were quite good, as evidenced by the grass skirt Wu Ye wore.
The original owner’s memory held many basket-weaving methods—round, long, and even gourd-shaped ones—and he could do them all.
Using his memory, Wen Ze quickly got the hang of it and began weaving faster.
Lost in his work, time passed quickly, and when he came to his senses, it was already dark.
Yin He yawned and asked, “Brother, we only needed two baskets before to gather, why are you making five now?”
Wen Ze was thankful that the half-beastman’s eyesight was pretty good. He used the faint light to finish the basket in his hand.
“I’ll need them tomorrow. You go ahead and sleep, I’ll finish up soon.”
“Alright, sleep early then,” Yin He said sleepily and walked away.
After Wen Ze finished cleaning up everything, he was very sleepy. After a quick wash, he returned to the cave and fell asleep on the animal hide.
The cave was dark and well soundproofed. His nose gradually got used to Zhuo Mu’s smell, and he slept very soundly.
When he woke up the next day, he felt nothing unusual except that his whole body was damp.
Even his mind became clearer, and he was full of energy.
As Wen Ze crawled out of the cave, he found that Zhuo Mu and Yin He had already gotten up and even made breakfast.
A large bowl of boiled roots, a small bowl of boiled bird eggs, and several pieces of roasted meat, glistening with oil.
“Brother, you’re awake! It’s time to eat!” the handsome Yin He cheerfully called to him.
He was still young and cannot perfectly control his transformation, so his ears and tail are always exposed.
Today, his animal skin skirt was tied a little too low, and as he turned, Wen Ze saw his fluffy tail.
The swaying round tail and the swaying bear ears seemed to be saying to him: Come and touch me, come and touch me…
Wen Ze suddenly remembered that Yin He’s animal form was a giant panda.
He, who really liked fluffy things, felt his eyes light up little by little.
Wow, the “national treasure” is his brother, and he can raise a giant panda!
He had never dared to dream like this before!
Thinking about it this way, traveling to the ancient world of beasts, where food and clothing were scarce, doesn’t seem so hard to accept.
“Wait a minute, I’ll be right back after I wash my face!”
There is a stream not far from Zhuo Mu’s home. The water is clear, and you can see small silver fish swimming in it.
He washed his face, broke off a branch to make a toothpick, and brushed his teeth.
For breakfast, he had roots and boiled eggs. Wild bird eggs were okay; they didn’t have a strong fishy smell.
The roots is a gray root commonly seen in the tribe. It tastes like a bad variety of sweet potato. They were full of fibers, which made them scratchy to eat, and they were dry, starchy, and nearly flavorless.
As for the barbecue, the heat was just right and it was quite tender, but it was only seasoned with salt and had a very strong wild smell, so he didn’t touch it much.
It had rained all night, and everything outside was damp and foggy outside.
The three of them had breakfast in the straw shelter and washed the dishes before dawn.
Zhuo Mu stood up, his long legs tensed, looking like they were full of power.
He lowered his silver-white eyelashes and looked over: “Let me check the wound on your head.”
Wen Ze raised his head obediently, revealing his handsome face.
He had a wheat-colored complexion, but his face was a bit fairer than his body, with softer, more defined features.
When not smiling, the corners of his lips naturally curled up, with a small cupid’s bow, making him look gentle and easy to get along with.
His pure black pupils and upward-turned lashes made also his eyes particularly lively.
Zhuo Mu, however, thought of the time yesterday when he returned from hunting. He stood outside the cave and saw his beast form.
His eyes were wide open with fear, his breathing stopped, and he dared not move.
… He wasn’t a cub from the tribe, yet he’s afraid of his beast form.
While he was lost in thought, he had already checked Wen Ze’s wound.
“It’s recovering well. You can move around today, but you can’t do heavy work. You also don’t need to apply medicine from now on. Just wait for the wound to heal on its own.”
“I understand.” Wen Ze agreed, but he was really shocked inside.
As soon as Zhuo Mu left, he walked to the stream and looked at the wound on his forehead under the water’s light.
The terrifying wound was really gone! In its place was a dark red scab!
He touched it with his fingertips, and it didn’t hurt that much.
“The beastmen physical condition is really impressive…”
While he was thinking, Zhuo Mu’s low, magnetic voice came from behind, “I’m leaving.”
He turned around quickly, but only saw a white snake tail disappearing into the thick grass.
The grass leaves, which were as tall as a person, were swaying, and there was no trace of him at all.
“…I want to go as well,” Wen Ze said helplessly.
After checking the tools he needed to bring, he ran over and strapped a stack of baskets to his back and called out to Yin He, “Let’s go!”
Yin He ran over, “Where are we going?”
“The tribe is reinforcing the cave, so we should go help too.”
Yin He has a lively personality and enjoys being part of the excitement. “Okay, okay! But brother, why do you bring so many baskets? There’s not much to gather in the mountains.”
Wen Ze smiled mysteriously, revealing his sharp canine teeth: “Who says there isn’t? Today, I’ll take you to dig up something everyone’s overlooked.”
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