Chapter 25
The sub-adult black wolves did not know their chief was about to arrive. After playing around with the sub-adult snow wolves for a while, the whole group of young wolves was driven by Lang Shuo to work overtime.
The work at night was similar to the work during the day. However, because it was colder now, the task of picking up branches did not continue. The young wolves in charge of gathering branches had to break the branches they had thrown around messily during the day into roughly equal lengths, then stack them together.
Sub-adults were strong, and their work efficiency was much higher than that of half-grown teenagers in their teens. It was just that they were truly careless when working. They had directly dragged back branches taller than a person. There was no way those could be used as they were.
Sub-adults had one characteristic: they were fine with tasks that required strength, but when it came to work like breaking branches, which required them to calm down and slowly work through it, they quickly lost patience, as if the stone they were sitting on was full of needles stabbing them.
They had not even broken a third of the messy pile of branches before the sub-adults lost patience and negotiated with Lang Shuo. “Can we switch jobs? We can go play—do that thing?” Several sub-adults pointed at the group of sub-adults in the mud pile as they asked.
Lang Shuo turned his head. Once he saw the situation over there clearly, his vision instantly went dark.
Black ones and white ones had all become muddy ones.
He had only left for a few minutes to come supervise the work here. How had that group of sub-adults gone from making mud bricks to flinging mud at each other?
The members who had originally been nearby had already hidden far away. Around the mud pit, only the sub-adults of the two tribes remained.
Lang Yu watched everything expressionlessly, unable to find a place to start. He wanted to beat wolves, but if he acted now, he would absolutely end up covered in mud himself.
Lang Shuo looked at the scene that had turned into a chaotic mess.
No, this was worse than a pot of porridge. At least porridge could be eaten.
Lang Shuo patted his chest and calmed himself before asking in a complicated mood, “What are you doing?”
Hearing this, the young wolves who were playing around instantly trembled. They turned to look at Lang Shuo, then looked at the sub-adults opposite them and themselves.
Covered head to toe in mud, they could no longer tell which tribe anyone belonged to.
Lang Shuo turned and asked Lang Yu, “Brother, can they go wash up?” Lang Shuo rubbed his temples. With that much mud on them, if they could not wash it off in the river, they could only roast it dry and pat it off afterward.
If this had been during the first few days after he woke up, he definitely would not have asked this. At that time, he had still been viewing these wolves through the lens of a human’s physical constitution. But after spending this period of time with them, he clearly realized that beastmen’s bodies were far tougher than he had imagined. So with this bodyful of mud, if they could wash, it was still cleaner to wash it off.
Lang Yu glanced at the sub-adults, who already looked no different from having bathed. “They can. In any case, they don’t mind the cold.”
The muddy water had not frozen like the river, but it was still bone-piercingly cold. Since this group of sub-adults liked playing, they could go rinse their brains in the water.
Lang Shuo immediately pointed in the direction of the river. “Go wash up. If you don’t get clean, you’re not allowed to eat tomorrow morning.”
This threat was more useful than a beating. The group of young wolves immediately became serious and ran in the direction Lang Shuo pointed.
Downstream in the nearby river, there was a section where the water flowed relatively slowly. This was where everyone usually bathed. Usually, everyone washed quietly, but after the group of sub-adults jumped into the river, they immediately began thrashing around inside. Before long, the originally crystal-clear river water turned murky.
Lang Yu did not let his younger brother, whose legs were inconvenient, follow to the riverside. He personally followed the sub-adults. After seeing the color of the river water, he exhaled and comforted himself: They came to work, they came to work, they came to work.
After silently repeating it several times in his heart, he raised his head again and saw the sub-adults who still did not forget to play around after entering the water. He wished he could hit each wolf with a stick.
Using violence was wrong, but sometimes, using violence seemed more effective. Lang Yu looked at the sub-adults thrashing around in the water and truly found it hard to believe that these people were the same age as Lang Shuo.
If only they could be averaged out a little.
Immediately afterward, Lang Yu threw that thought out. The sub-adults of their tribe had been fairly reliable before encountering the Black Wolf Tribe’s sub-adults. But now, mixed together, they were completely indistinguishable.
Coming into contact with sub-adult black wolves would not average them out. They would only be assimilated.
Lang Yu personally watched a group of filthy sub-adults bathe.
When the sub-adults first entered the water, they were quite happy. After all, they had eaten not long ago and had run around playing for a while, so they were not cold at all. Only when the warmth on their bodies gradually disappeared and the coldness of the river water became obvious did they begin walking toward the shore.
However, just as they were about to climb up, Lang Yu stopped them. Lang Yu held a branch in his hand. Those who had not washed clean were not allowed ashore.
At a time like this, the sub-adults did not dare directly oppose Lang Yu. They honestly washed themselves clean, not missing even a single strand of hair.
Only after confirming that they were clean did Lang Yu let them return to the tribe.
The group of sub-adults wrapped themselves bitterly in animal hides and gathered around the fire.
Just now, they had only cared about being happy. Only now did they feel the cold.
Lang Shuo watched the sub-adults huddled together and shivering and had Lang Yun distribute hot water to them. As for meat soup, they absolutely could not be given any this time. If they were given some, they would play again next time.
Seeing that group of sub-adults holding bamboo cups to warm their hands, Lang Shuo turned back and looked at the few sub-adults breaking branches nearby. “Do you want to play too?”
Those sub-adults shook their heads like rattle drums. Not going, not going. Absolutely not going.
Only then was Lang Shuo satisfied. “Mm. Keep breaking them. These are the branches you brought back during the day. You can only finish work after all of them are cleaned up.”
Lang Shuo did not plan to have the sub-adults do the same work all the time. That would be too boring and monotonous. Sub-adults with little patience would get tired of it within two days. His plan was to rotate the groups every day. The sub-adults who picked branches today would change with another group tomorrow.
Since they would change jobs tomorrow, they definitely had to finish today’s work properly. Picking branches and stacking them neatly counted as one job. They could not leave after doing only half of it.
Compared to bathing in the river in this weather, sitting here and breaking branches suddenly became attractive. The few sub-adults became much more obedient than before. Since most of the tribe’s young cubs were beside them, Lang Shuo told Lang Hui, “Help me watch them. If anyone doesn’t work, call me. Tomorrow, I’ll give you an extra bowl of meat soup.”
Lang Hui immediately agreed.
Lang Shuo walked over to check the situation with the other group of young wolves. After soaking for a while in icy water, they had become much more honest. They just looked somewhat listless.
“Feeling unwell?” Lang Shuo touched Lang Nuo’s forehead, then touched his own. Only after discovering that their temperatures were about the same did he feel reassured.
“No.” Lang Nuo shook his head, a little guilty. “We didn’t finish the mud bricks.”
He did not know what had happened either. In any case, everyone had started fighting, so he had followed along and thrown mud too. By the time he realized it, it was already too late.
Lang Shuo was exhausted. “It’s not your problem. It’s mine.”
He had forgotten to take into account that sub-adults were unstable factors. A small number of unstable factors placed together was fine, but once unstable factors accumulated to a certain point, they would absolutely erupt.
Starting tomorrow, he definitely had to divide this group of sub-adults into several smaller groups and have them work separately.
Sub-adults were always the type to remember food and not punishment. Discovering that Lang Shuo did not intend to punish them, they immediately relaxed and began filling soil into the mud pit, continuing to make mud bricks.
Lang Shuo said nothing, seeing as they had taken the initiative to work.
After confirming that Lang Shuo was not angry because of this matter, the invisible tails behind the sub-adults lifted again. They were very happy.
This happiness did not last long.
When they saw the tribe chief appear in their line of sight with two hunting teams, the sub-adult black wolves thought they had only come to deliver raw ingredients. After all, yesterday’s delivery had been too little. Added together, it was not enough for the whole tribe to divide.
Several sub-adults turned their heads to look elsewhere, pretending they did not know the chief had come.
Lang Shuo, who personally witnessed them burying their heads in the sand: “…”
Lang Yan seemed to have long guessed the reaction the sub-adults would have and did not bother with them at all. He spoke to Lang Shuo. “These are the additional food and salt for today, along with some foods gathered during harvest season. Have the young wolves finished their work? I’m here to take them back to the tribe.”
“What?!”
Before Lang Shuo had time to speak, the sub-adult black wolves who were breaking branches, making mud bricks, or pretending not to see Lang Yan were collectively shocked. What did that mean? What did taking them back to the tribe mean?
The young wolves looked at one another, all suspecting that they had heard wrong.
However, it was impossible for so many of them to all hear wrong, so they really had to return to the tribe.
The young wolves seemed to be struck by lightning and froze in place.
Lang Shuo and Lang Yu exchanged a glance. The brothers both understood. No wonder the sub-adult black wolves had even brought their animal hides in the morning. It turned out they had thought they were coming to settle here long-term.
But their wish was destined to fail. The Snow Wolf Tribe could not let members of another tribe stay overnight with them, even if this group of sub-adults looked quite harmless. Their tribe currently only had one cave, and they definitely could not let fragile cubs live together with reckless sub-adults.
Even Lang Shuo, who trusted the sub-adults, did not dare take the risk right now. After all, he could not guarantee that among so many sub-adults, none would sleepwalk. Letting the sub-adults sleep outside the cave was even less acceptable. The best method was for them to return to the Black Wolf Tribe at night and come back in the morning.
After Lang Shuo finished counting the food the Black Wolf Tribe had brought this time, the young wolves finally recovered and negotiated with Lang Yan.
“Chief, can we not go back to the tribe?”
“If we go back, we’ll have to come back again tomorrow. That’s too troublesome. Staying here directly would be more convenient.”
Lang Yan looked at the sub-adults. “You think going back every day is troublesome?”
The sub-adults nodded collectively.
Lang Yan said, “Fine. Then you don’t need to come tomorrow.”
The sub-adults: “???”
No, that was not the sentence they wanted to hear.
However, there was no room for negotiation with Lang Yan. There were only two choices: either honestly follow them back today, come again tomorrow morning, and continue doing so in the future, or go back today and never come again.
Between the two options, the sub-adults reluctantly chose to return at night and come in the morning.
Lang Yan’s expression improved slightly.
Seeing that they had finished discussing, Lang Yu said, “In that case, from now on, every evening, have the sub-adults bring that day’s finished food back to the tribe. In the morning, they can bring over the food that needs to be added.”
This way, a group of adult black wolves would not keep appearing in their territory from time to time.
For his younger brother’s sake, Lang Yu could barely accept sub-adult black wolves appearing in their territory. After all, sub-adults had not yet developed the habit of marking territory, and adult wolves rarely felt hostility toward sub-adult wolves.
But adult wolves were different, especially when adult wolves of another tribe appeared in his own territory. Lang Yu had to use tremendous restraint to suppress the instinct to drive them away. Therefore, the fewer times adult black wolves appeared, the longer their cooperation could last.
Before Lang Yan could answer, the other young wolves all nodded.
Good, good, this method was good. They liked it.
Lang Yan swept a glance over the unusually excited young wolves. “If they bring food back, only half will remain.”
Saying half would remain was already overestimating them. After all, last time, they had eaten two-thirds on the walk from the border between the tribes to the Black Wolf Tribe’s settlement. Now, the number of sub-adults was much greater than last time. If the sub-adults transported food, there would only be less and less along the way. If they encountered something that tasted good, this group of sub-adults could eat while running, digest it, then keep eating. Not a single bit should be expected to make it back.
The sub-adults who had excitedly agreed guiltily retreated a little.
Lang Shuo was just about to agree with Lang Yu when he heard this. He discovered that Lang Yan’s concerns were not unreasonable. Letting sub-adults transport food was too risky. However, having the Black Wolf Tribe specifically run over every day was too wasteful. Moreover, every time Lang Yan and the others came, every member of the tribe aside from the sub-adults would grow tense once. This had nothing to do with whether the other side had malicious intentions or not. It was a reflexive response upon seeing adult beastmen who did not belong to their tribe.
Between the two, Lang Shuo naturally favored his own tribe more. Then they could only think of a way to stop the sub-adults from secretly eating the food halfway.
Lang Shuo thought for a moment. “How about when we weave the back baskets, we leave an extra length of vine. After putting the food inside, we weave the top shut and seal it completely. When you arrive at the tribe, you can dismantle it. Once a sealed back basket is opened, it will fall apart and can only be opened after returning to the tribe.”
This was similar to sealing takeout, preventing the possibility of the sub-adults touching it on the road. After being opened, the back basket would loosen because of gravity, and there would be no way to restore it. This way, the sub-adults would not even be able to taste it.
The sub-adults looked utterly disbelieving. They could not believe that such an evil method had come from Lang Shuo’s mouth. Only letting them smell it but not letting them eat it—this was worse than beating them!
Lang Yan did not care what the sub-adults thought. After hearing Lang Shuo’s description, he nodded and agreed. “That works.”
This matter was settled. Because they had not yet started processing food today, Lang Shuo first took a portion of their tribe’s jerky and dried fruit for the other side to bring back. In any case, he had recorded the food the Black Wolf Tribe had brought, and the raw ingredients were all roughly the same. It did not matter if they calculated them together.
It was getting late. The Black Wolf Tribe members did not stay long. After discussing things, Lang Yan drove the reluctant sub-adults away.
Once they were gone, Lang Shuo turned back to count today’s results and suddenly remembered something. “Oh no!”
“What’s wrong?” Lang Yu looked over.
“I forgot to ask whether we could borrow the Black Wolf Tribe’s stone pots,” Lang Shuo explained.
“The Black Wolf Tribe’s stone pots?” Lang Yu was surprised.
Their tribe’s stone pot could be used because the old priest had had an easygoing personality. When he was alive, he had not cared about such things. Before passing away, he had even specifically reminded them, afraid they would not use it. Priests of other tribes were not so easy to talk to.
Hearing this, Lang Shuo was somewhat disappointed. It seemed they still could not take a shortcut. He sighed and said, “Then tomorrow, I’ll find some stones to carve.”
Lang Yu calculated the time. “The day after tomorrow. We won’t hunt the day after tomorrow. I’ll help you carve.”
“Okay.” There were many ways to make cooked food. These few days, they could first use other methods. A day earlier or later would not make much difference, so Lang Shuo agreed.
What Lang Shuo had not expected was that Lang Yong had always remembered this matter. After returning to the tribe, the first thing he did was go to the priest’s cave.
“Grandpa Priest? Grandpa Priest?”
Although they did not know what Lang Yong wanted to do, the sub-adults who had followed him shouted along. “Grandpa Priest, Grandpa Priest.”
Before long, the four words “Grandpa Priest” echoed everywhere inside the cave.
An old man with a very long beard and sparse hair ran out of the cave with his ears covered. “Stop shouting, stop shouting. I’m not Grandpa Priest. You’re my grandpas, all right?”
Priests held an extraordinary status on the Beast God Continent. To maintain mystery, priests’ caves were large and empty. When the priest Hu Yun had first stayed in the Black Wolf Tribe, he had been very satisfied. This vast, empty cave—every time he told others his demands, his words would slowly echo inside the cave, sounding mysterious and awe-inspiring.
However, starting from more than ten years ago, Hu Yun had deeply regretted his decision.
The Black Wolf Tribe’s new batch of cubs was absolutely the naughtiest he had ever seen!
When this group of cubs first transformed into human form, they displayed extraordinary personalities. When cubs of other age groups were brought into the cave, they were either extremely steady and quietly observed their surroundings, or they were cautious and did not dare look around. Only this group of cubs had overturned his cave on their first day inside. As long as something could be eaten, not a single bit remained.
At that time, Hu Yun had already been in the Black Wolf Tribe for more than ten years and could be considered someone who had watched the Black Wolf Tribe grow stronger. He understood how much the Black Wolf Tribe valued cubs. If he personally punished these cubs, the wolf race would not spare him. Therefore, after the cubs searched out all his food, he only asked the chief at the time—Lang Yan’s father—to make up for it.
In the end, things got out of control. From then on, the group of cubs treated this cave directly as a hunting ground and came once whenever they had the chance. And the priest truly did have a lot of food, so every time, they returned with full loads.
Hu Yun had no partner, no cubs, and no apprentice, but he liked hoarding food. If he could not finish eating it, he would still look at it. After encountering this group of nemeses, the compartment where he hoarded food had never been full again.
Only when the cubs grew to seven or eight years old and slowly became more sensible, knowing that the priest’s cave could not be entered casually, did the situation improve somewhat. However, good times did not last long. The grown cubs indeed no longer casually entered, but they would “politely” call for him.
Every time this happened, Hu Yun began to regret it. Why had he chosen the Black Wolf Tribe out of so many tribes? What had made him think that the abilities he learned from the high priest could make the entire Black Wolf Tribe obey him from top to bottom? He could not even handle a group of cubs.
What made him regret it even more was this cave. Whenever someone shouted outside, the sound would continuously echo into the deepest part of the cave. Before this batch of cubs appeared, when someone called him, they would only cautiously call once. Only this group of wolves, who had now become sub-adults, shouted at the top of their lungs every time and could wake him at any moment.
Today, during the day, he had heard that the sub-adults would not be in the tribe for the near future. Hu Yun had been so happy he almost cried. He could finally have a good sleep. In the end, the good news only lasted half a day. This group of nemeses had come again!
Running out and seeing that not a single sub-adult was missing, and that all their limbs were intact, Hu Yun sighed, momentarily unsure whether he should be happy or regretful.
He had not always had such a good temper. Priests held a prominent status on the Beast God Continent, so naturally their tempers were not good either. If someone offended him, Hu Yun could make the other person hurt for several more days, or even refuse to treat them outright. But in the Black Wolf Tribe, he did not dare be so arrogant. After all, when the Black Wolf Race became ruthless, they could even kill their own tribe members, let alone him, who was merely the priest.
Hu Yun also knew that this group of sub-adults’ behavior was actually tacitly permitted by two generations of wolf kings. In the past, relying on his status, he had taken quite a lot of supplies from members. The old wolf king had always turned a blind eye. But after a long time, the old wolf king could no longer stand it. The cub incident had also been a warning for him.
It was just that so many years had passed, and they still came several times every year. There was not much food in the cave anymore. Shouldn’t they stop? Why were they still running here?
Lang Yong had no idea what old priest Hu Yun was thinking. Seeing that they had called the person out, Lang Yong said, “Grandpa Priest, we want stone pots.”
“We want five… no, six,” Lang Yong added. The old priest had seven stone pots. Leaving one was enough. They would take all the others for Lang Shuo to use.
Hu Yun’s vision went dark.
Seeing that he had no food left, they had started asking for other things?
He admitted that in order to improve his prestige in the tribe, he had deliberately made the tribe prepare more supplies. Even though he only used one stone pot, he had insisted they prepare seven. But they could not take them all away at once, right?
“No! Stone pots are needed to boil medicine!” Hu Yun stroked his beard and refused. “Different injuries need different stone pots. If you take the stone pots away, what will we do if someone in the tribe is injured?”
Lang Yong had an expression that clearly said, Keep making things up then. “Last time Qi was injured, the time before that Father was injured, and the time before that the chief was injured. You used the same stone pot.”
“Exactly. Can you even move the other stone pots?”
“Where are the stone pots? If you won’t give them, I’ll look myself.”
Hu Yun: “…”
Hu Yun was so angered by the group of sub-adults that he nearly lost his temper. However, although this group of sub-adults looked foolish, they were not easy to fool. They only recognized the benefits before their eyes, leaving him with no way to deceive them even if he wanted to. In the end, he gritted his teeth. “Take three. Leave me four.”
“Six means six,” Lang Yong insisted.
In the end, Hu Yun was defeated. After all, this group of young wolf brats had energy, but he was terribly sleepy. They were things he did not use anyway. If they took them, they took them. He waved his hand for Lang Yong to go get them himself. Once they finished taking them, he could sleep.
He was old and truly could not compare with young wolves. Sigh. Back when he was young, he had still yearned to become like the high priest, able to make the chiefs of all the large surrounding tribes tremble with a single sentence and submit supplies one after another. In the end, he could only think about it. Even trying to obtain more supplies required him to rack his brains. When he encountered unreasonable sub-adults, he even had to hand over stone pots.
Just as Hu Yun was sighing with emotion, Lang Yong’s voice came from the other side of the cave.
“Grandpa Priest, I want the stone bowls too.” Lang Yong’s form of address was extremely polite, but the meaning of his words was not polite at all.
Hu Yun: “…”
Hu Yun gnashed his teeth and angrily said, “Why don’t you just move the entire cave away!”
After saying this, he returned to rest in fury.
In another cave not far away, Lang Yan changed out of his animal hide and prepared to rest. Hearing the familiar rustling sounds not far away, he could not help frowning. It seemed tonight would not be peaceful again. He took out yesterday’s animal hide and covered his ears.
Lang Yan knew that after the sub-adults returned to the tribe, they had gone to harass the priest. That old man’s intentions were not very proper. In the early years, he had always kept in contact with the high priest of the Beast God Temple, tricking away a pile of supplies in preparation to take them for sacrifice. Later, they had been eaten completely clean by the sub-adults when they were still cubs. After that, his father had gone missing, and Hu Yun, who had quieted down for several years, had once again wanted to find a chance to contact the high priest. Lang Yan was too lazy to bother with him and simply allowed the sub-adults to go over and plunder him every so often. Without supplies, no matter how many thoughts he had, they were useless.
Like his father, Lang Yan could tolerate the priest taking extra food by using the chance to treat members. After all, the other side had indeed saved people. But he could not tolerate the priest deceiving tribe members out of supplies they had worked so hard to save, all to curry favor with that so-called high priest.
Recently, the old man had been quietly scheming something again. The sub-adults going over to interfere was just right.
As long as it was not excessive, there was no major problem. Thinking this, Lang Yan peacefully fell into a deep sleep.
