Chapter 114: A Somewhat Terrifying Harvest

With the support of the Strong Bows, and with more and better Stone Spears, the catch by the Soldiers at the pass was truly astonishing. Last year, they mainly used Bamboo Spears, which were light in weight and not sharp enough, relying entirely on the power of the Spear Throwers.

Now, the Wooden Spears fitted with Stone Spear heads have an exceptionally high lethality; if a person were underneath, a single spear could completely pierce through.

The number of cattle killed at the pass reached a point that frightened Xiong; they were piled so high that the cattle behind could barely pass. The further it went, the more afraid Xiong became, and he didn't dare to keep killing. Fire was coming from behind, yet the majority of the cattle still dared not enter the pass, wandering inside.

With corpses blocking the road in front, spears ready to fall from Heaven at any moment, and fire behind, the anxious urging sounds and the wails of injured cattle that had not yet died merged into one. Even a mature hunter like Xiong was now a bit unable to continue; the scene was truly too terrifying and gruesome, and there was not the slightest feeling of the joy of a Harvest.

Baifeng had originally been slowly checking the results halfway there when he heard the urgent whistle from the pass. Baifeng hurriedly dropped the cumbersome Wooden Spears and ran rapidly toward the pass.

The closer he got to the pass, the more alarmed he became. The sound of how many cattle howling at once was too miserable and loud, and the smell of scorched flesh mixed with the scent of blood was exceptionally pungent.

Because there were many stones and little Grass at the pass, the fire was not too large. Moreover, there was only a light breeze today, so the fire spread very slowly; even Baifeng could run ahead of the fire.

Upon reaching the pass, he was still startled by the scene, which was akin to hell. There were simply too many fallen cattle; Baifeng estimated that the number fallen at the pass alone was twice that of the entire previous year.

This was already completely enough. Further hunting might affect the normal reproduction of the cattle herd, and if the herd were to feel afraid, they might change to another place next year, even if the water and grass were worse.

Consequently, Baifeng hurriedly had Xiong and the others retreat and stop attacking at the pass; they let those cattle escape. They had already killed enough cattle. In fact, this was also Xiong's thought. Baifeng had always taught the Soldiers about Sustainable Development; when the tribe's food supply was not scarce, they should try not to hunt animals that were carrying young, pregnant, or in their breeding period.

Influenced by what he had seen and heard, Xiong already understood what Sustainable Development was, so he felt that so many cattle were already enough. The Baifeng tribe could not consume them, and furthermore, the scene was truly too cruel.

The cattle below had long since discovered the hairless monkeys who stood up to throw Weapons, so they were a bit panicked. However, Baifeng took these people away, and the herd saw it, but they still did not dare to risk going over, as the corpses of their own kind were right there.

The fire spread over. Although it was no longer as large, the cattle at the back became increasingly anxious and panicked, squeezing forward crazily.

The cattle at the very front were forced to jump over, but unexpectedly, they passed through the pass safely without being attacked. Those behind also began to follow and jump over, likewise without being attacked, and then ran like the wind toward the open area.

The cattle at the very back discovered that the fire had already burned over, but the front was still crowded. With no other choice, they had to jump over the fire, which was no longer so intense. Except for their fur being singed and blackened, they seemed to suffer no other harm.

Thus, the group of cattle at the very back all jumped over the flames and headed in the opposite direction of the pass. This was only because the fire and wind were relatively weak; otherwise, the herd would have been even more panicked.

Once there were no more live cattle standing at the pass, Baifeng and his men began to descend into the valley to clear the Harvest. The herd that had jumped over the fire behind was running toward the large herd on the scorched Wasteland, with no intention of attacking Baifeng and his men for revenge, and Baifeng had no intention of hunting them again.

But to avoid them suddenly going mad, Baifeng and the others only began to continue clearing the Harvest after they had run past. Last year, those on the road were mostly knocked down and trampled, while this year, most on the road were killed by spears.

They went along the way to finish off the cattle, then bled them on the spot. If the blood was not drained quickly, it would cause the meat to be very gamey, and there would be a lot of blood foam, especially since these cattle had not been castrated; the gamey smell would be even heavier.

After bleeding them, they continued forward to clear them until they reached the pass. The pass was only seven or eight meters wide, and the long, narrow pass was filled with cattle. The ground was already entirely covered in blood, and the accumulated blood went over their feet, which was very gruesome. Even Sui, who was always carefree, felt it was hard to adapt.

Baibai directed everyone to lift the cattle out one by one to bleed them in a more open area. Then, they found the campsite from last year and used the same method, inserting spears around it and preparing firewood.

Now, as soon as a bled cow was dragged over, it was processed: skinned and butchered. This year, there were Handcarts available, so they did not intend to discard even a bit of meat; they would take it all.

After a rough count, it was over one hundred and fifty. Fortunately, there were at least three or four thousand cattle here; they were all the cattle from the entire Wasteland gathered here to spend the Winter. These cattle would not affect the reproduction of the herd; perhaps more died of freezing and starvation in the Winter than this.

The valley was large enough, but Baifeng and his men could only choose to hunt in this section; without the pass, they could not have had such a Harvest.

At night, the visibility was poor, so they did not work. As soon as the day dawned, they continued to butcher. Five hundred tribesmen facing less than two hundred cattle—the processing speed was still quite good.

After everything was processed, they used bamboo baskets and hampers to carry it to the Handcarts and took it all away in one trip, leaving nothing behind. A portion of the Soldiers stood guard with Weapons.

They had brought too few Handcarts, and the meat could not fit. Mainly, they had not expected the Harvest to be so abundant, so some of the meat could only be carried on their backs.

There were many animals following on the road, still picking up some scraps of meat. Baifeng thought that they would be able to return to the tribe smoothly.

The tribesmen standing guard around issued an alarm and then immediately retreated, as if they had discovered something extraordinary. Everyone immediately put down what they were holding and also picked up their Weapons in preparation.

At this moment, a variegated tiger walked out of the forest. Its state was very calm, as if it had already decided on the Baifeng tribe, not caring at all that the Baifeng tribe had so many people.

If there were only a few or a dozen people, Baifeng would now be considering whether he could have a complete corpse. Now, with over five hundred people, Baifeng was only considering how to obtain a good tiger skin.

Because the tiger's combat power was indeed terrifying, the Soldiers retreated and huddled together unconsciously. Although the tiger was wandering left and right, its eyes were fixed on the meat in the carts.

Baifeng greeted it softly and asked the Soldiers to take out one cow head and throw it to the tiger. The tribesmen followed the order and even chose a relatively large cow head.

The cow head was thrown in the direction of the tiger, and the tiger dodged it with extreme speed. It had originally prepared an attack posture, but seeing that it was a cow head that was thrown, it walked over slowly, sniffed it, and prepared to taste it.

The tiger probably thought this was a tribute from the Baifeng tribe, but in reality, it was just a test and bait given by Baifeng. Now, the Crossbow in his hand was already loaded with an Arrow, and Sui was hiding behind him, her Crossbow also loaded with an Arrow.