Chapter 131: Cold Wave

Everyone knew that hunting elephants was extremely dangerous and were prepared for sacrifices, but when three tribesmen who had spent every day together were trampled into pulp and lay in the dirt, not a single person felt good.

So even though the elephant was already dead, when they went up to inspect it, they would still hack a heavy Knife blow into its neck to vent their anger; if it weren't for the fact that the hide was still needed, they would likely have hacked the body with knives as well.

The deceased tribesmen had already been turned into pulp and could not be recovered for burial, so they were buried right there; however, fearing that burying them in the dirt would lead wild beasts to dig up the bodies and eat them, Baifeng had everyone find some firewood to burn the bodies right there.

When they first went to find firewood, everyone thought this was a practice of the Cannibal Tribe, but Baifeng said it wasn't to roast them, but to burn them to ash; at this time, there was no talk of ghosts or souls, and a corpse was just a corpse, which would naturally be eaten by wild beasts, but Baifeng's thinking was actually already solidified—he felt that a corpse should either be buried or burned, and simply could not be left exposed in the wilderness.

Even if the tribesmen didn't understand, they followed orders, because they hadn't intended to eat them anyway, so how they were handled didn't matter; Baifeng felt that he should still take this funeral seriously, allowing the tribesmen to place more importance on emotion and death.

Death is terrifying but also peaceful, and being remembered by others is also a very important thing; if a person is dead but is still remembered by the world, that is also a form of living in another sense, such as that elder comparable to Shennong—it is almost his memorial day now, but many people have a feeling, which is that I always feel he is still alive.

Sadness was a given, but overall, their hunt this time was a huge success; not to mention their main target, the elephant hide, they already had a full six elephants, which was enough to arm the Bow and Blade Team, and the sheer quantity of elephant meat alone could raise the strength of the Baifeng Battalion to a new level.

Of these few elephants, only two bulls had long tusks, the calves' were very short, and the cows had none, but these tusks were of little use right now, at most being used for decoration or for trading with certain large tribes.

Elephants are very difficult to process because the elephant hide must be preserved as much as possible, so the processing speed was very slow; they only finished one by nightfall. Because this was elephant territory, even though they were herbivores, no carnivores dared to come, and now that the scent of blood filled the Heaven, there were certainly many wild beasts restless, but tonight they likely didn't have the guts to come.

They set up camp to rest for the night and continued working the next day; although the elephant hide was very important, because it would still need to be cut after returning, they simply divided it into larger pieces to speed up the processing, and Baifeng noticed that since last night, the north wind had been blowing quite hard, and the temperature was dropping a bit fast.

By noon, the sky had turned completely overcast, and the wind grew stronger and stronger; even though they lit several large bonfires nearby, they felt cold on their chests while their backs were warm.

By the afternoon, although Baifeng and the others hadn't finished processing everything, they could barely load it onto the carts; Snow had already begun to fall, and Baifeng dared not delay, quickly having everyone transport the supplies to prepare to go home. They might have to travel through the night tonight; this cold wave was coming on fiercely, and they might get trapped in the mountains.

There was no fire to warm themselves while traveling, and to save time, everyone ate their food quite casually; the sky had been clear when they set out, so they hadn't brought the thickest warm clothing, and now, even while pulling the carts with great effort, everyone felt extremely cold.

Baifeng didn't have it easy either; he also had to push the carts to travel, and the lives of these hundred-plus people all depended on him—if his command had even the slightest error this time, they might all freeze to death in the mountains.

Although food was not lacking, if a blizzard really came down and they couldn't find firewood or a place to hide, they truly wouldn't be able to hold on.

It was almost evening, but because the items were heavy and the road was steep and narrow, the carts were very difficult to move, and the meat piled on the carts often fell off, even when tied with rope, so a lot of time was wasted on the road picking up and re-tying the meat.

The Snow had gone from a few scattered flakes in the afternoon to what could almost be called a moderate snowfall now; Baifeng knew the big one was still to come, and this was only the first stage of the cold wave. Taking advantage of the fact that visibility was still decent, everyone quickly stopped to roast some meat to eat; they couldn't skip eating to save time, as the calories from food were the most important thing, otherwise, it would be very easy to collapse on the road.

At the same time, they cut many pine branches to use as Torches; everyone held some in their hands, and the few emptier carts in the back also pulled some pine branches, for if they were used up late, they would be hard to find at night.

With almost no rest, they set off immediately after finding the items; the Snow grew heavier and heavier, and everyone's hearts grew tighter and tighter; the Snow under their feet went from being a bit slippery to now being somewhat sinking, making every step quite strenuous.

The only small benefit was that the reflectivity of the Snow was good, so with the Torches lit, the light was still passable.

By the second half of the night, the Snow grew heavier and the wind grew tighter; the fire on the Torches was blown to one side by the wind, and they were truly afraid the fire would go out at any moment.

Baifeng was the one most worried now; the others had no experience traveling in a blizzard, and before meeting this "Baifeng," they hadn't even had the experience of traveling at night.

Now the lives of these people were all in Baifeng's hands; he could order them to stop and quickly collect whatever could be burned while the Snow hadn't yet submerged everything, and then wait for the Snow to stop, but Baifeng dared not gamble. He didn't know how long it would last; if it didn't clear up tomorrow, once they stopped now, they would never be able to move again.

The Snow had already covered their calves, and the road ahead was completely invisible; they had no reference points for where they were, and now they relied entirely on the hunters' sense of direction and judgment.

They had reached the top of the mountain before losing their reference points, and now they just had to walk all the way down; this counted as one of the few benefits, and besides, pushing upward through such thick Snow would be completely impossible.

The Snow was too thick, and the wheels were deeply stuck; the lead cart could no longer move at all, and Baifeng immediately ordered everyone to dismantle all the wheels and drag the cart bodies. Everyone didn't know why—it was already so difficult, wouldn't it be even harder to move if the wheels were dismantled?

Baifeng had no time to explain to them and started dismantling them himself, but the axles were buried in the Snow and couldn't be pulled out, so Baifeng drew his Knife and hacked at the exposed axles; seeing the tribesmen remain indifferent after a few hacks, Baifeng was very angry: "What are you all waiting for? Hurry and dismantle them! If you don't want to die, dismantle the wheels!"

The crowd could only helplessly follow orders; when Baifeng had hacked the lead cart's axle until it was about to break, the cart body slid forward, and then the axle was snapped by the sliding cart body itself.

The flat cart body, without the restriction of the wheels, would no longer sink into the Snow, and since they were going downhill, it was very easy to push; the tribesmen felt that they spent more effort just lifting their legs to walk than they did pushing the carts with their hands.

There was no time now, and they couldn't find tree branches to make snowshoes for them, so they could only persist; when they waited for the sky to brighten, they should be able to reach the tribe.