Chapter 9
Today, Lang Shuo sat in the same spot as yesterday. The first thing he asked about was the long-eared beast.
“Has the long-eared beast eaten?”
He guessed that the long-eared beast’s diet was probably similar to a rabbit’s. Yesterday, based on experience, he had asked Lang Nuo to dig up some grass roots and put in some dry grass. He just was not sure whether long-eared beasts would be temperamental like sparrows and other animals, refusing to eat after being caught.
Lang Nuo answered this question. “It ate. It finished all the grass roots we gave it yesterday.”
The tribe had never raised prey before. Lang Nuo and the other wolves around his age had been curious, so that morning they had specially moved the stones aside to take a look.
Hearing that the long-eared beast had not gone on a hunger strike, Lang Shuo felt relieved.
The prey animals here were all undomesticated and full of wildness. He had originally been worried that this long-eared beast would refuse to eat and require a few days of adjustment. It seemed there was no need to worry.
Thinking of the long-eared beast’s condition, Lang Shuo gave a few more instructions. “Put in more dry grass today. Find some soft grass.”
When rabbits were about to give birth, they would build nests for themselves. The long-eared beast should be the same. If there was not enough bedding prepared, it would most likely pluck its own fur. He was counting on this long-eared beast to begin his great farming enterprise, so naturally, he had to take good care of it.
This small matter could be finished very quickly. Lang Nuo agreed readily and patted his chest, promising that he could do it well.
Only then did Lang Shuo start paying attention to his surroundings.
With the hunting party and gathering team absent, the area outside the cave looked much emptier. What surprised Lang Shuo was that in the place where they had put the baskets yesterday, there was actually a pile of vines—and they had already been processed.
Lang Yun followed his gaze and looked over, then explained, “The gathering team sent them back just now.”
During the snow season, finding food was slow, but cutting vines was relatively easy. After all, no beastmen had lived here before, and there were few prey animals, so vines grew in patches everywhere. The gathering team had many members. Not long after they went out, they cut a pile and sent them back after cleaning them up before leaving again.
Looking at the vines in front of him, Lang Shuo felt that yesterday’s plan could be moved ahead.
So after he and the cubs finished breakfast, Lang Shuo asked Lang Yun to call over a few idle members.
These members had all learned to weave baskets yesterday. Basically, they could all form a shape. The only difference was that some wove neat shapes, while others produced crooked, uneven results.
Lang Shuo grouped them according to skill. Those with better craftsmanship were responsible for weaving, while the rest helped with miscellaneous tasks. Then he drew out the size of the basket they needed to weave, and together they worked on an extra-large, heightened version of a basket.
This size would be able to hold all the cubs, and the height would ensure that the cubs could not climb out.
Yesterday, everyone had only woven small ones. Even the baskets used by the gathering team were only about a quarter of the size Lang Shuo described. On top of that, the gathering team had still been present yesterday. Today, only these few people remained, and they had to weave such a large basket. The few people entrusted with this important task were somewhat at a loss over where to start.
But very quickly, under Lang Shuo’s guidance, the group of wolves found the method and began cooperating.
After Lang Shuo waited until they got the hang of it, he handed the task of weaving the basket over to them. Then he began searching the surroundings for materials that could be made into needle and thread.
Needles could be ground from bone or stone. Between the two, Lang Shuo chose bone. Conveniently, they had just finished eating a horned beast over the past two days. Lang Shuo patted Lang Nuo, who was beside him polishing a bamboo bowl.
“Help me find something.”
“What do you need?” Lang Nuo stopped what he was doing and set the bamboo bowl aside.
Bamboo was very convenient for making rice bowls. Compared with wood, it saved the trouble of hollowing them out. They just had to polish the edges smooth, otherwise it would prick the mouth.
“Find a few thin bones.” Lang Shuo measured with his hand. “About this thin.”
If they were too small, they would easily crack when he drilled holes. If they were too big, polishing them would be troublesome. Lang Shuo decided to prepare a few more to increase the success rate.
Grinding bone needles was similar to grinding bone knives. Lang Shuo described the length of the bone needles. “About as long as a finger. One end needs to be very sharp, sharp enough to pierce animal hide. The other end only needs to be polished smooth.”
Lang Nuo looked childish, but he was very obedient. After Lang Yu told him yesterday to listen to Lang Shuo, today he did whatever Lang Shuo asked him to do. Although he did not understand why Lang Shuo wanted him to grind such a thin “bone knife,” he still did it according to the request.
Lang Shuo, meanwhile, experimented with the outer bark of several plants. All the vines that could not be used immediately yesterday had been soaked in water. After one night, their outer skins had already softened. Lang Shuo took several different plants, scraped off the surface layer, and tried twisting them into rope.
The longer the fibers, the easier they were to make into rope. However, some broke easily after being twisted and were directly eliminated. In the end, he selected two suitable kinds and twisted them into several ropes of varying thickness. He had Lang Nuo test them. If they could not be snapped with ordinary force, they could be used. As for making rope that would not break even under a beastman’s full strength, that was rather difficult right now.
Grinding bone needles was even more troublesome than grinding bone knives. Beastmen were strong, but when making relatively small objects, they were somewhat helpless and always had trouble controlling the angle. In the end, with the help of several more experienced members, they finally ground the bone needles Lang Shuo needed.
There were seven bones in total. Six were successfully ground. When drilling holes, two cracked. In the end, there were four finished products. The thickest one was not drilled with a hole. Lang Shuo planned to use it as an awl.
He found a branch as thick as a thumb and split it open with a stone knife. Then he dug out a groove in the middle, placed the needle without a hole inside, and tied the outside tightly with rope.
He made an awl because he was afraid some hides would be too tough and the thin needles would not be able to pass through. Even if they could pierce through, they would break easily. It would be much easier to punch holes with an awl first.
Lang Shuo threaded a suitable rope through a bone needle, then looked around, wondering whose animal hide he should test on.
Because of the long journey, most members only had one or two pieces of animal hide left. The set on his own body was fine, probably because he had not worked these past few days. Overall, it still looked complete. Most of the hides worn by the other members were tattered. Beastmen were rather rough. Wherever something tore, they would tie a dead knot or bind it with a vine. As long as it did not fall off, it could still be worn.
In the end, Lang Shuo chose a child around ten years old. He could not remember the child’s name, but the other had been curiously looking this way the entire time. Lang Shuo directly beckoned.
“Come here.”
The child’s first reaction was to look left and right. Seeing that there was only himself in the direction Lang Shuo was pointing, he raised a hand uncertainly, pointed at himself, and looked puzzled.
Lang Shuo nodded. “Yes, you.”
When the child came closer, Lang Shuo saw his appearance clearly and remembered who he was.
The child was named Lang Hui. His father had died before he was born, and not long after his mother gave birth to him, she had been bitten by a poisonous snake and died from the venom. There were many children in the tribe with similar experiences. The mortality rate of beastmen was much higher than in modern times. Nearly half the cubs in the tribe had no parents.
Orphans around ten years old held a very awkward position in the tribe. Children at this age needed to eat more food to supplement their nutrition. If the tribe had little food, the food distributed to them was far from enough. Without parents to provide food, they spent most of the day hungry.
Smaller cubs were fed collectively by the tribe. Older ones, such as Lang Nuo and the others, could do everything except hunt and could also search for food nearby on their own. But at Lang Hui’s age, he would have trouble keeping up with the gathering team, and searching for food alone was unsafe. He could only wander around near the cave and do simple work, such as picking up firewood, tending the fire, or helping cut meat.
Lang Hui had just turned twelve this year and was very thin and weak. But the fact that he had not transformed into cub form proved that his constitution was not bad. Perhaps because he spent all day scrambling and crawling around, the animal hide on his body had already torn into several pieces and was messily tied together.
Lang Shuo handed him the animal hide covering himself. “Hui, take off the hide you’re wearing.”
Lang Hui’s eyes widened in shock, and he desperately shook his head. “No! The chief will get angry!”
Lang Hui remembered that when he was very small, someone in the tribe had snatched Lang Shuo’s things. After Lang Yu found out, he had beaten those three people until their heads were bleeding. The scene had been so brutal that even after several years, Lang Hui still remembered it clearly.
“It’s not for you. I’m letting you wrap yourself in it for now. I need the hide on your body for something,” Lang Shuo explained.
“Oh!”
So he was not giving it to him, but asking for his.
Lang Hui immediately breathed a sigh of relief and removed the animal hide from his body.
With only the single piece of hide that came with his human form left, Lang Hui immediately shivered from the cold.
Seeing that he would not take the hide from his hand, Lang Shuo raised his hand and draped it over him. When Lang Hui struggled, Lang Shuo said sternly, “Don’t move.”
Lang Hui immediately looked left and right, then shouted toward Lang Nuo beside them, “Shuo gave it to me.”
He had not asked for it.
Lang Shuo: “…”
Lang Shuo was somewhat helpless and could only repeat, “I gave it to you. Wear it without worrying. Nuo won’t report you either. Be good. Stay here for a while and don’t run around.”
The animal hide on his body still carried Lang Shuo’s warmth. Lang Hui could not help wrapping it a little tighter around himself. It had been so long since he had felt this warm. Since he had not truly wanted to struggle in the first place, he followed Lang Shuo’s words and found a place not far away to sit down. Then he could not help secretly looking at Lang Shuo.
For some reason, talking to Lang Shuo made his heart feel warm.
Lang Shuo did not notice Lang Hui’s little movements. He untied the messy knots in the animal hide and discovered that these pieces of hide were not small at all. They were just tied together haphazardly, causing the hides to twist into a bunch and look tight and cramped.
It would be strange if wearing it like this was warm. Not only did wind leak through, it was also uncomfortable.
Lang Shuo smoothed the hides flat. First, he pieced the three largest pieces together, marked the places where holes needed to be made, and asked Lang Nuo to use the awl to punch holes. Without another word, Lang Nuo picked it up and began stabbing the hide with the awl, his movements extremely swift.
Lang Hui only saw Lang Nuo holding his animal hide and cutting at it with a bone knife. His heart ached at the sight, but he did not dare object. Of these two, one was someone he could not beat, and the other was someone he could beat, but after beating him, he would only end up even worse off. So he could only sulk by himself.
He was also a little sad. He had thought Lang Shuo was different from those beastmen who liked bullying children. In the end, he was still bullying him, only in a different way.
Lang Shuo handed the task of punching holes over to Lang Nuo and began looking through the remaining pieces of animal hide for something suitable to make sleeves.
Lang Nuo was strong, and the awl had been ground sharp. In a short while, he had finished punching the holes according to Lang Shuo’s request. Lang Shuo took them and used the bone needle to sew several pieces of animal hide together. Any gaps in the middle were also stitched closed.
Lang Hui, who had been secretly observing from the side, was so shocked that he did not even dare blink.
His animal hide had turned into one whole piece?
Even Lang Nuo did not understand how the hide had changed shape after he had only looked away for a moment.
Lang Shuo used an overlapping seam. The edges of two pieces of hide were overlapped, and the overlapping part was sewn tightly. Considering that beastmen moved around a lot, he sewed over it two extra times. The rope and the animal hide were very close in color, so after being sewn together, it did not look much different from a whole piece.
After piecing it together, he sewed it into a vest according to Lang Hui’s body size. Only then did he beckon to Lang Hui.
“Come here.”
Lang Hui had been secretly watching this side the entire time. Hearing him, he immediately stood up and ran over.
Lang Shuo said, “Put it on and let me take a look.”
Lang Hui put on the greatly changed animal hide. As soon as he wore it, his eyes lit up.
This was warmer!
Lang Shuo helped him tidy it. It was slightly loose, but this was the first time he wore this kind of clothing, so if it was too tight, he would not be used to it. Lang Shuo noted a few places that needed minor adjustment and nodded. “Take it off.”
Lang Hui was a little reluctant. “I still have to take it off?”
Lang Shuo nodded, picked up the other two smaller pieces of animal hide, and pointed at his arms. “Aren’t your arms cold? I’ll sew sleeves for you.”
“Oh!”
Lang Hui did not know what sleeves were, but seeing Lang Shuo point at his arms, he understood that they were probably something placed over the shoulders. But when he saw Lang Shuo sew those two pieces of hide into tubes, his eyes also widened into two circles.
This time, Lang Shuo did not let him put it on by himself, but helped him slip it on.
The new clothing covered more areas than the previous messy way of wearing animal hides, and it was very smooth. It did not poke or rub against him and was even more comfortable.
“Is it warm?” Lang Shuo helped him fasten the buttons at the front.
The buttons were very simple. They were made from small wooden sticks. Once the stick was passed horizontally through the buttonhole on the other side and then turned upright, it would not come loose. Taking the clothes off was also easy. Turning the stick the other way and passing it through the buttonhole would undo it.
Lang Hui nodded desperately.
The new animal hide did not let in any wind at all! It also did not press uncomfortably, and even his wrists were no longer cold.
“Go play.” Lang Shuo rubbed Lang Hui’s face, then turned back to look at Lang Nuo. “Do you want to change yours?”
“Yes!”
Without another word, Lang Nuo began taking off his animal hide.
He had slept in the grass nests Lang Shuo taught them to weave and eaten the food Lang Shuo taught them to make. Lang Nuo now trusted Lang Shuo very much. Besides, even Lang Hui said it was warm. If Lang Shuo did not perform well this time, then at worst, he simply would not wear this outer layer of animal hide. In any case, he was resistant to the cold.
…
“You’re very resistant to the cold?”
Black Wolf Tribe.
Black Wolf Chief Lang Yan stared at the members of the third hunting party who had returned from hunting, his tone unfriendly. “Where are your animal hides?”
The ones before him were members who had only started participating in hunts this year. Their ages were close, all sub-adults between sixteen and eighteen. Lang Yan had arranged several steady wolves to lead them. Originally, the experienced wolves were supposed to take the lead while the sub-adult wolves learned behind them. However, every hunt ended up completely different from the initial arrangement.
As soon as these sub-adult black wolves saw prey, they threw their brains away and only knew how to sprint at full speed. Relying on their abundant stamina, they ran the prey into exhaustion and also left the wolves who were supposed to lead them far behind.
They had caught the prey, yes. But after returning, the group of not-quite-adult wolves all collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted.
This time was even worse. The animal hides they had been wearing when they left were all gone. Only the hides that came with their human forms remained.
Hearing his words, the sub-adults lying on the ground looked at one another.
From the moment they saw the prey, all they had thought about was hunting. They had long since forgotten about their animal hides.
The place where they had discovered the prey and the final capture point crossed the entire territory. In between, the prey had run out of the territory several times and been driven back by them. Who knew when the animal hides had fallen off?
At the same time, on the edge of the Snow Wolf Tribe’s territory.
“Chief, something’s wrong with this herd of curved-horned beasts.”
An experienced Snow Wolf member looked at the half-dead curved-horned beasts before them.
“They don’t even run when they see us. Are they sick?”
