Chapter 13: Another Savage in the Wilderness

Under the scorching sun, Baifeng held a stone and shed sweat; his naked body was tanned dark, and Baifeng no longer resembled a fair-skinned handsome man in the slightest.

Today, Baifeng's goal was to finish all the necessary mud bricks; once they dried, he would start building the house.

Just as he put down a stone to wipe his sweat, Baifeng heard something moving in the bushes not far away; anything that could make the bushes rustle so loudly had to be a large animal.

Baifeng hurriedly left the dirt slope, ran to the camp to grab his axe, and hid behind a tree to observe.

The sound grew closer, and Baifeng became increasingly nervous; if another ferocious beast came, Baifeng would truly be done for here.

To Baifeng's surprise, what emerged from the bushes was actually a person; he held a Wooden Spear and had come out into the wilderness all by himself.

That person was not nervous or afraid when he saw the mud bricks Baifeng had made; instead, he squatted down to study what those square objects were, even breaking off a piece to put in his mouth to taste, then spitting it out with a "Ptooey! Ptooey!"

Baifeng was very curious: was this person just too stupid, or too confident in his own combat strength? This scene was clearly caused by non-natural forces, yet he wasn't even nervous—could there be a large group behind him?

Baifeng lowered his body further, hiding to continue watching. That savage stood up and looked around like a fool.

Baifeng looked at that savage's face; the more he looked, the more familiar it seemed, but he just couldn't remember who it was.

He tried hard to recall the memories of his predecessor; although his brain reacted very slowly, the word "Chi" blurted out.

Hearing someone speak, that fool finally picked up his Wooden Spear to get ready, looking around to see where the enemy was.

Baifeng simply left his cover, went out, and shouted at the fool: "Chi! It's me, Feng!"

That fool called Chi reacted slowly for a few seconds, as if carefully thinking about who Feng was, then suddenly became overjoyed, jumped on the spot, threw away his Wooden Spear, and rushed over to hug Baifeng.

Chi said happily: "Feng, you haven't returned to the tribe for a long time; I thought you had been eaten by wild beasts. I didn't expect you to still be alive!"

Chi was a companion from Baifeng's original tribe with whom he had a good relationship; because primitive people didn't have enough brainpower, people like the dim-witted Chi were not rare.

The Tribal Chief wanted Baifeng to run as fast as the wind, so he named the original owner of this body Feng; Baifeng thought this was probably also the arrangement of that mysterious, damn altar—transmigrating just because the names were the same.

As for Chi, the Tribal Chief had originally called him Feng too—anyway, a name could be called anything—but because his reactions were too slow, the Tribal Chief angrily called him Chi.

After a brief reunion, Baifeng asked Chi why he appeared in the wilderness alone.

Although Baifeng was also alone in the wilderness, and didn't even have a pair of underwear, while Chi at least had a wrap around him, Chi did not realize that it was also strange for Baifeng to be alone in the wilderness.

Chi used his not-very-coherent language, talking and gesturing, and Baifeng finally understood roughly: it was because of that last rainstorm; the hail had smashed all the Grass Seed planted by the tribespeople, the diverted Dahe had destroyed the tribespeople's settlement, and many tribespeople had even died in that great flood.

But Chi had no concept of numbers; when Baifeng asked him how many tribespeople were left, Chi scratched his head, which was full of matted hair, then gestured a length with his hand and said: "There are this many left."

Baifeng knew asking him was useless, so he simply asked where the living tribespeople were. Chi pointed to the forest in the distance and said the tribespeople were still behind; the Great Shaman said he was the bravest hero and had to clear the obstacles ahead for the tribespeople, and when the sun reached the top of his head, he could return to the tribe to report the news.

Baifeng was speechless; it seemed the tribe's territory could no longer be lived in, so they had to come out to find a new place. To find out if there was danger ahead, they had sent this idiot out to scout, and Chi was still very happy about it.

Primitive people are truly simple.

Baifeng began to consider whether to bring the tribespeople here to settle; if the hunting range were expanded, the output here should be enough to barely support two hundred people so they wouldn't starve to death.

But the problem was, Baifeng didn't know how many people were in the tribe, and besides, if he returned to the tribe, would he have to listen to the Tribal Chief, or rather, how could he seize power from the Tribal Chief and lead the tribespeople onto the correct path of development?

Looking at the rudimentary camp he had built, Baifeng felt he should take a gamble; there is strength in numbers, and as for power, he didn't believe he couldn't outplay a group of primitive people—a few little tricks could make them dizzy with confusion.

Baifeng took his axe and let Chi lead him back to find the tribe's main force. Halfway there, Baifeng suddenly remembered he had no underwear and was completely bare.

Having stayed in the wilderness alone for so long, Baifeng had forgotten about this, but he was about to see many people, and Baifeng felt he would be socially dead.

So Baifeng stopped the striding Chi and said he wanted to make a grass skirt. Chi didn't understand why Baifeng wanted to make a grass skirt now, and Baifeng said he didn't like being naked.

Chi told Baifeng that most people in the tribe were naked because the weather was too hot, but he couldn't bear to take off his Leather Skirt; if he took it off, he would have nothing to wear when the weather turned cold, and he would freeze to death.

But Chi looked at Baifeng's bare bottom, then looked at his own, and finally, reluctantly, took off his Leather Skirt for Baifeng to wear.

Baifeng had originally been a little embarrassed and wanted to accept, but seeing the various filthy things on the Leather Skirt, the grime polished to a shine, and the lice wandering wantonly through Chi's hair, Baifeng decisively refused Chi's kindness and inadvertently put some distance between himself and Chi.

Baifeng felt he was already a bit itchy; perhaps it was something he had caught when Chi hugged him earlier. Perhaps Baifeng was the first savage of this era to pay attention to personal hygiene.

Hearing from Chi that basically all the tribespeople didn't wear clothes, Baifeng felt he didn't necessarily have to make a grass skirt right now; he just needed to do some mental preparation.

But what to do when he saw those female savages? Look or not look?

Chatting with Chi on and off, Baifeng soon saw a large group of savages on the move, estimated to be about four hundred people.

And Chi was still looking down, studying the stone that had just bruised his foot, not noticing at all that the main force was just ahead.

Baifeng reminded Chi and asked if that in the distance was his tribe. Chi just looked up, said it was, and then went back to studying the stone.

Baifeng saw from afar that at the very front of the tribe was a Shaman wearing a feather crown, and a strong man holding a large Stone Axe; that man was the current Tribal Chief.

Baifeng didn't know if the Tribal Chief would be willing to give up the position of Tribal Chief after seeing his abilities; was there such a thing as abdication now? Or did Baifeng need to fight a duel with him, and only by winning could he become the Tribal Chief?

Did Baifeng really need this Tribal Chief position, need this bit of power? The answer was certain: if he couldn't become the Tribal Chief, Baifeng might die, and the tribespeople might also die.