Chapter 147: Who Rejoices, Who Sorrows

Although everyone did not return empty-handed, the disappointed expressions of the tribesmen could not be hidden; fortunately, everyone adjusted their mindset quickly—it is impossible for everything to go so smoothly, right?

The wolves had been left for a few days, and the smell was no longer very good; a stench approaching that of rot drifted out vaguely, so everyone quickly processed them. Originally, the Shaman intended to include the wolf meat in the warehouse, but Baifeng said this meat could not be eaten, as these wolves had just eaten many people.

The Shaman was stunned upon hearing this, but he clearly knew that everyone who went out this time had returned without a single person missing, so these wolves could only have eaten people from other tribes. Since that was the case, then they would not eat it, though it was a bit of a waste to throw it away.

Baifeng told him to find people to chop this stuff into mince to feed the fish, or use it as bait to catch fish in Dahu; anyway, Dahu had thawed now. However, the Shaman said that the fish were currently in their breeding period, so was it not very good to go to Dahu to catch fish? This was a rule Baifeng had set.

Baifeng thought about it and realized it was true, so they would just feed it all to the fish; the chickens could also be fed, as they did not just eat vegetables.

The weather warmed and the Grass grew; at the same time, various insects also appeared along with the Grass. There was a type of very small, rather cute-looking little black beetle, named the Chinese Silk Chafer, which was already gathered in piles on the Grass, tearing and biting at it.

It was just that the grain had not yet sprouted in these few days, otherwise it would have been ravaged by them too. But the chickens were particularly fond of eating this stuff; in the large chicken coop, on the land nourished by chicken manure, weeds grew in profusion, and the Silk Chafers, unaware of the danger, all gathered together to feast.

With over twenty chickens, the insects in the chicken coop were not enough to eat. Those children who could not do much physical labor would hold a Bamboo Tube to catch Silk Chafers to feed the chickens. On a certain dark patch of Grass, one grab would yield a dozen or even more, and they were not afraid of being bitten; it was just that the wriggling made their palms very itchy.

In just these ten or so days of early Spring, the body size of this flock of chickens had expanded a bit more. The roosters grew even more majestic, and if they encountered those people who did not feed them every day, they would even spread their wings and chase after them to attack.

And one thing that made Baifeng even happier was that this flock of chickens had finally started to lay eggs. Among the twenty-one hens, when the tribesmen were cleaning the manure from the chicken coops as usual, they discovered an egg in the grass nest where they slept. He did not dare to touch it; even if they were familiar, touching a chicken egg would still result in being chased and pecked.

He told Baifeng this news. The chickens Baifeng raised finally had a return on investment. Although there was only one egg now among so many hens, as long as one laid, the others would definitely lay together, and it was impossible for them to only lay one egg per nest. Baifeng was already fantasizing about the scene of chicks running everywhere in his chicken coop.

After resting for a day, the tribesmen who went out to attack changed direction again to search for targets, but unsurprisingly, their plans would once again fall through, because the one who was happy now was the Suiren Clan.

Last Winter, the Suiren Clan also suffered from the disaster, but it was not nearly as severe as that of Baifeng's tribe. They were far downstream, and there were some mountains blocking the way, making the cold wave much smaller by the time it reached the Suiren Clan's territory.

Their tribe was large enough; those who truly suffered losses were just the commoner Slaves at the bottom. It did not matter if they died; Slaves were like Grass—if one batch died, another would grow. Like those tribes that fled from upstream, upon learning they were the Suiren Clan, they all voluntarily joined the Suiren Clan, even willing to become Slaves, just begging for a chance to survive.

Ever since Baoxi became the Tribal Chief, he made the connections between various tribes much closer. Although he did not conduct large-scale attacks, he still punished a portion of the tribes that were unwilling to submit to him.

He also began to vigorously engage in construction, building semi-subterranean houses for the tribesmen to live in. For the hunted prey, the collected Grass Seed, and various supplies, everything needed to pass through his allocation. All subordinate tribes, except for keeping a portion of the food they absolutely needed, had to hand over the rest regularly, to then be distributed by Baoxi.

Wangzuo originally proposed distributing it equally to all tribes, but Baoxi believed it needed to be distributed according to the strength and the level of wealth. Those with great strength would be given more, making them even stronger; those with weak strength would be left to barely survive. In the end, if they could not live on, then they would come to be completely annexed by the Suiren Clan, or become commoner Slaves. The Suiren Clan did not need the weak.

Although this was very unfair, Baoxi believed that if he wanted the Suiren Clan's strength to develop faster, doing this was the best way.

Wangzuo had now completely established a firm foothold in the Suiren Clan. Besides occasionally practicing divination, he also managed the Suiren Clan's sacrifices and the calculation of assets. Baoxi could be said to trust him very much.

Throughout the Winter, the Suiren Clan gathered about a thousand people who had fled from upstream; most of the others died in their own territories or on the road of flight. The people who reached the Suiren Clan's territory could only be described as alive; in terms of assets, they were destitute, and their bodies were incomparably weak.

Baoxi, of course, would not treat them very well; he just took them in as Slaves, letting them live. By that time, the Snow disaster had already stopped, so even if they were given grass roots and tree bark, most of them survived.

It was not just people; the Suiren Clan also discovered that the various animals in their territory had increased by a lot. Baoxi felt that this was Heaven blessing them, a blessing for the Suiren Clan, so he had Wangzuo perform a sacrifice to thank Heaven.

If Baifeng knew, he would definitely spit in his face. It was truly a case of not believing in Science but believing in Heaven; how could someone who did not even abide by the most basic oaths have Heaven helping them?

Baifeng's tribe was currently experiencing a moment of doubting life. After resting for a day, they searched again toward the upper reaches of Dahe. Similarly, after three or four days, they did not see a single hair. Baifeng thought it could not really be this melodramatic; if they encountered another tribe's ruins, that would be too fake.

And reality indeed slapped him in the face. Inside a giant cave, there were obvious traces of humans having lived, but there was not a single person; a few white bones lay quietly, and beside the corpses was a large patch of rat droppings.

Moreover, they did not find even a single useful thing inside, not even a piece of stone tool.

For this tribe, Baifeng inferred that their people might have gone to take refuge, leaving nothing behind; there were only a few corpses, but he did not know where they had fled to.

Furthermore, along the way, everyone discovered that although the vegetation was now growing more densely than last year, the animals were very few. The ones around their own territory could be said to be due to their hunting, but they had not hunted in these places, yet the numbers were also suspiciously low.