Chapter 228

This is an abandoned land.

Under the vast sky, there is only white snow and black tundra covered by white snow.

On the vast wilderness, almost no green can be seen.

Dilapidated camps, ubiquitous beasts, and earth-vein creatures that often pop up and are extremely dangerous, everything reveals a primitive atmosphere.

This is the northern realm, the barbaric, rough, and uncivilized northern realm.

A black, thin, and short seven or eight-year-old boy, wearing rough animal skin clothes, with hair like withered grass, carrying a huge backpack that was extremely incongruous with his body, walked step by step through the dirty and crisscrossing tents.

In the backpack, what was loaded was the feces of herbivorous animals he had picked up on the snowfield.

Mainly musk ox feces.

Although there is little green on the land of the northern realm, it does not mean that not a blade of grass grows.

In the permafrost layer of the tundra, one can find some weeds, wild peas, and berries including crowberries and cloudberries.

These are almost the only "green vegetables" that people in the northern realm can eat daily.

Moss and lichen are also very common; these, along with the roots, stems, and bark of certain plants, are the staple food of herbivorous animals.

The feces of herbivorous animals contain a large amount of plant fiber; these plant fibers are easy to burn after drying, and the ignition point is relatively low, making them a common fuel source for people in the northern realm.

Walking back to his own tent, Qiao Yi unloaded the backpack from his body with difficulty.

A burning pain came from his shoulders.

Such heavy work was still too harsh for a child who was not yet ten years old.

But Qiao Yi had no complaints at all.

On the permafrost, it is impossible not to suffer.

Every child in the northern realm grows up like this.

Qiao Yi took out a glove, put it on, and then reached into the backpack, starting to operate like kneading dough.

These feces need to be processed by hand into cakes or small pieces, and then pick a good day to let them dry naturally in the sun; after they are dried, the resulting dung cakes are the ideal fuel.

Since his parents died in a snow wolf attack the year before last, Qiao Yi had been relying on the little food distributed by the tribe and his own frequent risky outings to turn over the snowfields to find wild vegetables and weeds, barely surviving.

The tribe is small, but it will not abandon any tribesman.

In the northern realm, tribesmen are the most important thing.

It's just that although the tribe will not easily abandon children who have lost their parents, this does not mean that Qiao Yi can take it for granted to eat and drink for free.

The fact is, the northern realm never raises idlers.

Even children have their own jobs.

And making fuel is Qiao Yi's job.

While working, Qiao Yi kept aiming his gaze outside the tent.

He was waiting for the tribe's hunting team to return.

If they were lucky, the hunters of the hunting team would return carrying several pieces of prey, mostly big-horned deer, musk oxen, wild boars, etc., and then Qiao Yi would be able to get a large piece of meat obtained from the hunt.

That was Qiao Yi's happiest moment.

But such moments were not always there.

More often than not, the hunters had very few gains, not even enough for everyone in the tribe to have a bite of meat.

At this time, limited food must be prioritized for the men in the tribe who need strength.

Women, the elderly, and children often can only drink meat soup.

This is not the worst situation.

Going out to hunt is always full of danger; injuries are common, and death is nothing strange.

There are also times when the hunters carry back not prey, but the corpses of their companions.

At such times, going hungry for a few days is a small matter; the main thing is that for a small tribe like theirs, a slightly larger casualty could lead to the already fragile balance of the tribe being broken—if hunters are injured, they can't hunt, if they can't hunt, there is no food, and if there is no food, there is no physical strength to find food.

Such a vicious cycle eventually leads to a tribe perishing just like that.

And such stories happen every day on the permafrost tundra of the northern realm.

Therefore, in Qiao Yi's gaze, besides anticipation, there was also worry.

Very contradictory.

In this environment where survival is the main tone, so-called intrigue loses its meaning; everyone in the tribe is a community, which is very precious.

Today, Qiao Yi's luck is good.

When the hunters in the tribe returned carrying a huge big-horned deer, the entire tribe boiled over, full of children's cheers.

Before long, joyful laughter spread throughout the entire tribal camp.

Even Qiao Yi couldn't help but wave his fist excitedly.

"Hunter..."

Becoming an excellent hunter, bringing food and cheers to the tribe, was the greatest ideal in the heart of little Qiao Yi at this time.

Half an hour later.

"Little Qiao Yi, this is yours." An old hunter in the tribe walked toward Qiao Yi's tent carrying a piece of venison that was not small.

Qiao Yi had also almost finished the work on hand and was cleaning up.

He took the heavy venison and the small piece of internal organs that came with it, and expressed his gratitude to the old hunter.

The diet of people in the northern realm is mainly meat and fish, accounting for more than 90%, and only in extremely rare cases will it be accompanied by some wild vegetables and wild fruits.

And in order to retain the nutritional value of food to the maximum extent and save fuel, the way of eating is often extremely barbaric raw consumption.

This seemingly "barbaric" way of eating is actually a way of survival for people in the northern realm to coexist harmoniously with nature.

Qiao Yi carefully took out the special bone knife he hid at his waist.

Although it was a bone knife, after his frequent sharpening, it had become unusually sharp.

Qiao Yi gently sliced on this large piece of venison with the bone knife, his technique skilled and precise.

Slices of meat as thin as cicada wings were cut down.

Subsequently, Qiao Yi sent these meat slices into his mouth.

The cold meat quality melted in the mouth, the taste was like ice cream, releasing a rich, delicious, and sweet flavor.

A satisfied expression immediately appeared on Qiao Yi's face.

He had long been hungry.

In fact, the entire tribe, except for those hunters who had to go out to hunt, in order to ensure strength and physical energy, could often eat eight-tenths full, while most others were generally in a half-full state.

Only on very few holidays would they open up their stockpiled food and eat to their heart's content.

Hunger is also the norm for people in the northern realm.

On this land, food is too precious.

Woo~~~ Woo~~~ Just when Qiao Yi was enjoying the food and longing for the scene of himself becoming a hunter in the future, a sound of horn horns, one tighter than the other, sounded in the tribal camp.

Accompanied by the sound of the horn, a hoarse voice with a trace of imperceptible fear came: "Snow wolf pack attack! Snow wolf pack attack! There are about thirty! They will be here soon!"

The owner of the voice was the leader of their small tribe, the only person in the entire tribe with awakened Ice-Born blood.

Hearing the two words "snow wolf," all the hair on Qiao Yi's body stood up.

Snow wolves are the most common earth-vein creatures on the land of the northern realm, spread across every corner of the permafrost tundra.

The number of hundreds of thousands, and from the lowest-level 0-circle snow wolves to the frost snow wolf king up to the 5th circle, make the snow wolf pack one of the most troublesome problems for people in the northern realm.

And snow wolf packs like to appear in groups; when food is scarce, they will launch attacks on tribal camps in the northern realm.

Qiao Yi's parents died in a snow wolf pack attack.

This experience in his early years, besides giving Qiao Yi a deep hatred for snow wolves, also had fear hidden deep in his subconscious. So at this moment, after hearing the news of the snow wolf pack attack, he was like a cat with its fur standing up, immediately entering the highest state of alert, firmly grasping the bone knife in his hand.

A snow wolf pack of thirty, according to the common ratio, would have about three 1st-circle ice snow wolves... Such a wolf pack, not to mention destroying their tribe, at least could make their tribe suffer heavy injuries.

And for such a small tribe, suffering heavy injuries often means perishing.

The snow wolf attack the year before last, they barely survived, and hadn't recovered much vitality yet.

Encountering it again, no one had confidence in whether the tribe could survive this winter.

"Beasts, these damn beasts, why do they come for us..." A woman in the tribe had already hugged her baby in swaddling clothes tightly, muttering to herself, her tone full of despair and sadness.

"Everyone take out the venison distributed today and throw it at the entrance of the tribe." The tribal chief had already decisively issued an order.

Although snow wolf packs are fierce, if they are not extremely hungry, they rarely attack human camps.

After all, for them, this is also a very dangerous behavior, and they will always suffer many casualties among their companions.

Therefore, if you take the initiative to take out some food and feed these snow wolves half-full, they have a high probability of retreating.

This move is also often called "snow wolf tax," meaning paying tax to snow wolves, exchanging food for peace.

Although somewhat reluctant, the tribesmen who had just received venison still handed it over quickly.

If food is gone, there is still a chance to go hunting to get it; if people are gone, then everything is really gone.

The hunters took the heavy meat pieces from the hands of the tribesmen and threw these meats at the entrance of the tribe, as if they were offerings to the snow wolves.

Just after they completed all these actions, a group of ferocious, frost-white snow wolves had already rushed over without any concealment; they were like white ghosts, crossing the snowfield.

The appearance of the snow wolf is a bit like a dog, but it is much more ferocious than a dog.

Their eyes flicker with ghostly green light, as if they can peer into people's fear and anxiety.

The snow wolf pack stopped at the entrance of the tribe, looking at the venison piled up there.

The tribal hunters who had already taken out their weapons stared closely at the snow wolf pack.

A tense atmosphere permeated the air.

Every whistling of the cold wind seemed to be able to trigger the tense nerves of both sides.

At this time, a few low whimpers came from the snow wolf pack.

Immediately following, three huge, imposing giant wolves slowly moved forward.

They were the strongest in this snow wolf pack, three 1st-circle ice snow wolves.

They would decide the movement of the entire wolf pack.

The rest of the snow wolves, those 0-circle snow wolves, watched these three 1st-circle ice snow wolves with awe.

The ice snow wolves came to the pile of venison, gently flared their noses, and sniffed.

Subsequently, there was a terrible sound of teeth biting and grinding bones, which made people feel cold all over.

The strong and sharp teeth of the snow wolf are best at biting hard bones and then absorbing the bone marrow within them.

That cold bone marrow has always been one of the snow wolf's favorite foods.

After the three lead wolves finished licking the bone marrow and absorbing it without a drop left, they slowly raised their heads again, looking at the hundred or so people in the tribe, their ghostly green eyes revealing fierce light, and they let out a long howl toward the sky, their ferocity astonishing.

The chief's face changed all of a sudden.

Although the language was not understood, the meaning of the snow wolves was very clear: this meat was not enough, they wanted more.

"Insatiable beasts..."

The number of the wolf pack was not particularly large, about thirty.

But their tribe was really too small; excluding the elderly, children, and women, there were only thirty or forty people with real combat capability.

People in the northern realm never lack courage and strength, and it's not that they can't fight these snow wolves, but once they really fight for their lives, they will inevitably suffer heavy casualties.

At that time, how would they survive the coming harsh winter?

A sense of powerlessness rose in the chief's heart.

This is the helplessness of a small tribe, having no ability to resist risk, and a little accident could lead the tribe toward perishing.

"Laut, take people to the warehouse and drag out another musk ox." The chief said.

"Chief, that is the reserve food for the winter..." The hunter named Laut's face changed greatly, and he said anxiously.

"Listen to me!"

"Yes, Chief."

A moment later, a huge frozen musk ox was dragged out from the warehouse by Laut and several strong hunters working together.

Its huge body left a deep trace on the snow.

On the snow, the attention of the three 1st-circle lead wolves was instantly attracted by this newly appeared prey, and more greedy light flickered in their ghostly green eyes.

The people of the tribe watched as the hunters dragged the frozen musk ox to the entrance of the tribe, and everyone's face was full of worry and reluctance.

"Being alive is more important than anything." The chief's voice was not loud, but unusually firm.

Laut and others quickly dragged the musk ox to the front of the wolf pack and then put it down.

The three lead wolves slowly approached, circling the musk ox a few times, as if checking the goods.

"Laut, be careful!!"

Just at this moment, a change occurred.

The tribal chief shouted with red eyes, wanting to warn Laut.

But it was already too late.

One of the three lead wolves suddenly attacked, leaped up violently, pounced on Laut, and bit down.

Laut was in a hurry and didn't have time to resist, only relying on instinct and blood courage, he struggled to turn his head away.

The fangs that were going for his neck finally tore a piece of flesh and blood from Laut's shoulder.

Laut let out a scream.

On the other side, the other two ice snow wolves also attacked at the same time.

The other two hunters were not as lucky as Laut; their abdomens, wearing only animal skin clothes, were directly slashed open by the sharp claws of the ice snow wolves, and their intestines flowed out from their stomachs in an instant.

The painful screams of the two hunters whose stomachs were slashed open were like a knife stabbing into the hearts of everyone present.

"Beasts!"

Seeing this scene, the tribal chief's eyes were about to split.

Just as humans have various personalities, snow wolves are the same.

The three lead wolves in front of them obviously belonged to that kind of cunning and ferocious personality, not following any so-called "rivers and lakes rules" at all.

Here, the lead wolf was ferocious, opening its bloody mouth again, its fangs biting toward Laut, who had been pounced on by it.

"No..." Someone in the tribe had already screamed out.

Laut's face also changed drastically, knowing that he was afraid he would lose his life here this time.

Whoosh! Seeing the sharp fangs of the ice snow wolf close at hand, before the other hunters in the tribe could react, everyone's ears heard a sound like an arrow piercing the sky.

Following this sound, a scorching flame beam shot out from a tricky angle, heading straight for that lead wolf.

Then, that lead wolf suddenly let out a scream and was instantly blown away.

Laut survived a narrow escape.

The hunter's experience allowed him to instantly capture the direction from which the flame beam came, and he subconsciously looked over.

Then, Laut saw a figure like lightning, stepping on extremely long "shoes," quickly "sliding" down from a high slope dozens of meters away.

(End of chapter)