Chapter 3
Beastmen were easily satisfied. All Lang Shuo had done was change the way their food was cooked, yet they could be happy about it for a long time.
Lang Shuo had worked many part-time jobs. He had learned several different series of barbecue recipes alone, not to mention other cooking methods.
As he recalled the tools in the tribe, the first things that came to mind were stone knives and bone knives of various sizes. These two tools were the most common, and their methods of production were relatively simple. Almost everyone in the tribe had one or two, including him.
Suddenly, Lang Shuo remembered something. He looked at the unfinished meat skewer in his hand and asked Lang Yu, “Brother, how did you cut these?”
At dusk, he had only been thinking about reminding Lang Yu to cut the meat into small pieces, overlooking one important thing. Stone knives and bone knives were far less sharp than modern knives. But looking at the remaining meat skewers, both their size and shape were fairly neat.
Lang Yu said, “I cut them with a bone knife. The ones you’re eating were all cut by me, and roasted by me too.”
Of course, Lang Yu would not tell his younger brother that he had cut up an entire horned beast leg before picking out the pieces with the best shape and the closest size to what his brother had described. Then he had practiced with other skewers for most of the evening. Only when everyone else had nearly eaten their fill and he could finally roast skewers without black spots did he start roasting these few. In the end, he successfully produced the most tempting-looking skewers of the night.
Lang Nuo had wanted to eat one after seeing them, but Lang Yu had chased him away.
Although Lang Shuo did not know what Lang Yu had done behind the scenes, he did know how troublesome it was to cut meat into evenly sized cubes with bone and stone knives.
Only one thought remained in his mind: Lang Yu was worthy of being his brother. To be able to cut meat this well with an ordinary bone knife—he had underestimated beastmen. Beastmen had plenty of strength.
Seeing the admiration in his brother’s eyes, Lang Yu instantly felt that all his hard work that night had been worth it.
He promised, “I’ll roast more for you tomorrow!”
Lang Yu decided that from now on, he would make all of his brother’s food himself. Just look at how happily his brother had eaten today. He had never been this happy before.
After finishing the meat skewers and drinking another cup of water, Lang Shuo began explaining to Lang Yu how to improve the roasted meat. Next time, they could cut the meat into whole slices and skewer them, but roasted meat slices would be better supported with two branches. That way, the meat could be spread flat and heated more evenly.
Lang Shuo wanted to improve the tribe’s meals as soon as possible.
As for whether saying these things would make people suspicious, Lang Shuo was rather open-minded about it. He had already decided that if anyone asked, he would say he had dreamed it while unconscious from his injuries these past few days. That would not exactly be a lie. If no one asked, then never mind. In any case, he would just let things happen naturally.
From the moment he woke up, Lang Shuo had never intended to hide much. He knew quite a few skills, but pretending to be the original person based on those skills was something he truly did not know how to do.
One lie required countless lies to cover it up. Moreover, his memories were currently limited. His own past in this body consisted only of a few blurry fragments. Rather than worrying every day that he would be exposed because his acting was unconvincing, it was better to be honest from the beginning.
Lang Shuo was open and at ease.
As for Lang Yu, who was listening, he did not suspect him at all. Regarding why his younger brother had thought of these things, Lang Yu had his own explanation.
Lang Yu believed that when his younger brother used to stay alone, he must have been thinking about important matters. Roasted meat was the result of his thinking. In his heart, his brother would always be perfect. It was only normal for him to know anything. The old priest had once said that Lang Shuo was the smartest beastman he had ever seen.
So when Lang Shuo finished speaking and looked at his brother’s reaction, all he saw was a face full of encouragement, silently urging him to continue. Lang Yu’s eyes held only pride, without the slightest trace of suspicion.
Lang Shuo immediately felt even more satisfied. His brother in this life was truly good. For the first time, he felt what it was like to have family by his side.
Neither brother knew what the other was thinking. Yet perhaps because of their blood connection, both of them felt, at the same time, that they had become closer to their brother.
After saying all this, Lang Shuo remembered the injuries on his body and asked Lang Yu to help lift the animal hide. He wanted to check his wounds. In the morning, the only people he had been relatively familiar with were Lang Yun and Lang Nuo. But the former was a girl, and he did not trust the latter’s personality. There were still several wounds he had not properly examined.
There were four injured areas on his body: his head, right leg, left arm, and waist.
His head had been struck. The bleeding had already stopped, but he still occasionally felt dizzy. He did not know whether this was an effect of recovering his memories or a lingering symptom of a concussion. What Lang Shuo could do now was minimize mental exertion as much as possible. As long as he only thought about simple matters and did not deliberately try to recall those vague memories, he would not feel too terrible.
His leg injury was from a fall. Externally, there was only some bruising, but Lang Shuo felt that the level of pain was wrong. It felt somewhat like a fracture. Compared with the leg injury, the bite wound on his left arm and the scratch on his waist could be directly ignored.
Beastmen recovered quickly. External injuries would heal before long. What needed attention now was his head and leg.
Lang Shuo stretched out his uninjured right hand and pressed his lower leg a few times.
The pain instantly made stars burst before his eyes.
“Shuo!” Lang Yu was shocked.
He had only lowered his head for a moment, and his younger brother had actually started striking his own wound. Beastmen only did this when they were in so much pain that they could not bear it anymore. Attacking the wound until they fainted from pain could bring brief relief. But the consequence of this method was often that the wound grew worse and worse until it could never recover.
Lang Yu never could have imagined that his younger brother, who had just been happily eating and discussing roasted meat with him, would suddenly start poking at his wound.
Understanding Lang Yu’s concern, Lang Shuo exhaled coldly and waved to tell him he was fine. After estimating the degree of the fracture, he said, “Brother, help me find some branches. They need to be straight. The straighter, the better.”
Lang Yu looked at him warily, afraid that the moment he turned around, Lang Shuo would start clawing at his wound again.
Lang Yu did not say it aloud, but Lang Shuo already understood what his brother meant. Knowing that Lang Yu would not leave unless he explained clearly, he opened his mouth and explained, “The bone in my leg is probably broken. If we don’t pay attention to it, the two broken sections of bone may shift out of place. Even if it heals, the bone will be crooked. So we need to use branches and animal hide to bind this leg in place and stop it from shifting. Once the bone grows back together, we can remove them.”
Just now, Lang Shuo had already judged his injury. It was a fracture. If it was not fixed, even if he kept lying down, the bone might still shift, so they had to take measures. If it did not recover properly this time, then unless he was ruthless enough to break it again and heal it once more, he would limp forever.
After Lang Shuo explained it piece by piece, Lang Yu immediately understood.
In the past, there had also been tribe members who injured their legs while hunting or fighting other tribes. Bleeding wounds were generally easy to recover from. What they feared most were members who kept saying it hurt even though there was no bleeding. Often, after some time passed, that person would suddenly become disabled. Either their walking posture would be wrong, or their speed would slow, and they could no longer participate in hunting.
After thinking through his brother’s words, Lang Yu immediately nodded and agreed.
“All right. I’ll go get branches and animal hide. Don’t move around. Stay right here.”
Lang Shuo almost laughed and cried at the same time. Even if he wanted to move, the conditions had to allow it. With only one good arm and one good leg, it would be hard for him to move around recklessly.
Lang Yu moved quickly. Before long, he returned with a pile of branches.
Lang Shuo picked out a few of similar thickness and handed them to Lang Yu.
“Brother, strip the bark off these and chop them to the same length. This long is enough. Wrap one layer of animal hide around my leg, place the branches all around it, wrap another layer of animal hide on the outside, and finally tie it up with long strips of hide.”
There was no precedent in the tribe for fixing wounds this way. Fortunately, Lang Yu was clever. Lang Shuo explained and gestured at the same time, and he soon figured it out.
After Lang Shuo finished explaining the steps and waited for Lang Yu to prepare the branches, he took a deep breath, fully prepared himself mentally, and said, “Brother, do it.”
After saying that, he picked up a wooden stick and bit down on it.
Lang Yu froze for a moment. Then he remembered his brother’s words—“if we don’t bind it, the bone will grow crooked.” Gritting his teeth, he began.
Everyone else in the cave had been driven out by Lang Yu. He was afraid that if someone spoke nearby, he would be distracted and cause his brother to suffer more.
Needless to say, beastmen were strong.
Following Lang Shuo’s instructions, Lang Yu bound the leg firmly. By the time he finished, Lang Shuo had broken into a cold sweat from the pain, even in the freezing snow season.
Lang Yu’s heart ached at the sight and he was just about to help wipe away the sweat when Lang Shuo removed the wooden stick in his mouth, now snapped into two pieces.
“Pah, pah, pah—”
Lang Shuo spat out the wood chips. Just now, he had only been thinking about not biting his tongue, so he had used the wooden stick as a barrier. He had completely forgotten how good this body’s teeth were. The wooden stick was useless. One bite and it had crumbled into bits.
Next time, he would have to change tools.
But it would be best if there was no next time. Lang Shuo did not want to experience this kind of pain again.
After spitting out the wood fragments, Lang Shuo finally looked at his injured leg. It was already wrapped tightly, so he could not see anything. All he could feel was pain.
Pain was normal. It would be a problem if it did not hurt. After hurting for an entire day, Lang Shuo had already grown accustomed to it. He pointed at his leg and said to Lang Yu, “Brother, in the future, if there are injured people who break their legs from falling like me, you can do this. Before binding the hide, you must set the bone first. That means pushing the bone back to its original position.”
At this point, Lang Shuo felt somewhat fortunate. His leg was only fractured, not displaced. Otherwise, it would have been a bit troublesome. He was not a professional doctor. He had only helped out under a barefoot doctor before, read a few books, and understood a little simple medical knowledge. Anything too difficult was beyond him.
Lang Yu listened, pressing his own leg a few times as though confirming the position of the bone. Then he touched his arm and looked at Lang Shuo.
“If an arm is broken, can it be bound too?”
Lang Yu would not ask this for no reason. Lang Shuo immediately guessed that someone in the tribe had injured their arm and quickly asked, “Whose arm is broken?”
For beastmen, the aftereffects of an arm fracture were more serious. If a leg was broken, the injured person could not move and was forced to lie down and rest. But with a broken arm, they could still walk around, making displacement and other problems more likely. If there was no timely intervention, the consequences could be severe.
Especially since beastmen had strong endurance. Many times, even after being injured, they did not take it seriously and did not properly rest. By the time aftereffects appeared, it was already too late to treat them.
Lang Yu called a name toward the outside. “Shi, come here.”
After Lang Yu called out, a burly young man ran in from outside.
Lang Yu explained to his younger brother, “After you were injured and fell unconscious, the primitive beasts still tried to attack the cubs. Everyone was anxious. When Shi fought one of the primitive beasts, he wasn’t careful and struck it on the head. His front paw suddenly stopped moving. It hurts whenever he moves it.”
Whether evolved species or primitive species, their skulls were very hard. Normally, when facing primitive beasts, beastmen would prioritize attacking vulnerable areas like the neck and heart. But the situation had been urgent at the time. That primitive beast had rushed toward the cubs. Lang Shi had attacked in too much of a hurry and failed to control his strength, which led to him getting injured too.
Lang Shuo looked up.
From the time he woke up until now, among all the members who had entered and left the cave, this young man named Lang Shi was the strongest. Just standing there, one could imagine the force behind his punches. If he transformed into beast form and struck with one paw…
That primitive beast was probably already gone.
Lang Shuo moved his gaze to the other man’s arm.
Unlike the bite wound on his own left arm, Lang Shi’s arm had no wound. It simply hung weakly at his side.
Lang Shuo made a sound of surprise. It did not look like a fracture.
He asked him to come closer. Then he grabbed the other man’s wrist and examined it.
Confirmed. It was not a fracture.
It was a dislocation.
A dislocation was easier to deal with than a fracture. Lang Shuo guided Lang Yu, telling him to grab Lang Shi’s wrist with both hands, rub and knead it for a while first, then pull and rotate it a few times. Once Lang Shi relaxed, he found the right angle and pushed sharply.
There was a crisp click.
Lang Shi moved his arm and discovered that it truly did not hurt anymore. His eyes widened round with shock.
“It’s fixed? It doesn’t hurt anymore!”
“It’s fixed.” Lang Shuo nodded and reminded him, “Don’t use too much force with this hand for the next few days. Rest it for a few days before hunting again.”
He still needed to be careful right after it was fixed. Otherwise, it could easily become a habitual dislocation.
“All right, all right, all right.” Lang Shi agreed repeatedly, shaking his wrist with an excited expression.
As one of the tribe’s top warriors, he was only a little short of the chief’s position in terms of brains. When it came to fighting, he was not much weaker than Lang Yu. Because his size gave him an advantage among their kind, he was often the one who rushed forward to hold down prey during hunts. He was used to using strength in everything he did.
After getting injured, Lang Shi often forgot that this hand could not move. Each time, only when the pain became unbearable would he remember. For the past two days, Lang Yun had not allowed him to work. Yet even after resting for two days, the pain in his hand had not lessened at all. It had even become worse.
In the past, there had been tribe members with the same condition. They had barely recovered after resting for a long time, but their front paw would suddenly lose strength from time to time. In the end, they could only leave the hunting party. Lang Shi had originally thought he would become like that too. For the past few days, his entire person had been extremely dejected.
He had never expected that with just a few words from Lang Shuo and a few movements from the chief, his hand would be fixed!
After thanking the two brothers, Lang Shi could not wait to share the good news with the other tribe members.
His arm was healed!
In a few days, he would be able to join the hunt again!
Soon, a wave of cheering came from outside.
Lang Shi was large. Once he pounced onto prey or jumped onto its back, the prey’s speed would slow, making it easier for the other members to attack its fatal spots. Without him, the hunting party had to spare two people to take over that task. In that case, the original positions of those two members would be empty, giving prey an easier chance to break through.
The more members there were in the hunting party, the higher the success rate of hunts, and the safer everyone would be.
They had already lost half their tribe members. They truly could not withstand any more injuries or deaths. So with Lang Shi able to join the hunts again, every member was delighted.
Listening to the commotion outside, Lang Shuo had only one thought in his heart.
Beastmen’s needs were truly very low.
Having a territory, finding a cave to shelter from rain, and being able to find food without starving—most members were already very satisfied with that.
But in Lang Shuo’s eyes, this was still far from enough.
There were still many areas in the tribe that could be improved.
For example, the cubs’ sleeping area was far too crude. They needed to find a place and reorganize it so the cubs could sleep more comfortably.
The empty space beside him was very nice.
