Chapter 278: After the Battle

Seeing that the bear had completely collapsed and was about to die, everyone finally let out a sigh of relief and mostly slumped to the ground. Baifeng also wanted to slump on the ground like them, but he was the Tribal Chief; until everything was settled, he could not relax yet. What's more, two tribesmen had been struck down by the bear, and he still had to go check on them.

The first one struck down by the bear, Baifeng saw, was already breathless. There were no external wounds. Baifeng pulled open his clothes; his body was bruised, swollen, and sunken in. Baifeng touched him and confirmed that his ribs had been broken and had pierced his internal organs, and the organs themselves were likely shattered by the blow.

Even if Baifeng had seen this injury in time, he could not have saved him, so Baifeng's guilt was slightly lessened; as long as he didn't die from a delay in treatment.

The other one still had the strength to groan and shout nearby, which meant the problem wasn't too serious. The most frightening thing is when someone makes no sound at all yet thinks they are fine and can stand up to help; being able to cry out meant the internal organs were basically fine.

Baifeng went over to look, and sure enough, the man was holding his arm and crying out, sweating from the pain. Baifeng asked if he had been hit anywhere else, and he said no, it was just his left arm that had been hit.

Judging by the state of it, it was a complete fracture. Without anesthesia or any other supplies, Baifeng could only tell him to endure it; if he didn't endure, the arm would be lost, and the person might die too.

Hearing Baifeng's words, the Soldier's face turned pale, but he nodded in agreement; his life was definitely more important.

To protect his good teeth, Baifeng stuffed two layers of hide into his mouth for him to bite down on.

Then, he pulled on the arm and began to feel it. Without instruments, he had to rely entirely on his touch to know exactly how it was broken. Yi had not yet learned this craft; it required sufficient knowledge of anatomy.

To be honest, Baifeng had always felt great psychological pressure when having to scrape the flesh off dead people to make a skeleton, so he thought about finding existing white bones to use instead. Once he returned this time, Baifeng would definitely teach this knowledge thoroughly to Yi.

While he was feeling it, the Soldier groaned in pain. There was one spot Baifeng felt uncertain about, so he used a bit more force, and then the sound stopped. Baifeng looked and saw he had fainted from the pain.

That was just as well; it saved him some suffering. Baifeng had already figured out the nature of the fracture—a parallel fracture of the radius—and was confident he could set it, though the method was quite brutal.

Baifeng pulled and tugged, bringing the broken bones back into place bit by bit, then felt them again; the bone ends were basically joined. As for perfect alignment or bone fragments, to be honest, Baifeng didn't have that skill. He wasn't trained in orthopedics to begin with; he was just treating himself as a veterinarian in terms of surgery. If he could heal it, it was a stroke of luck; if not, in this era, it didn't count for much.

Once Baifeng felt it was completely set, he found two wooden sticks, added some fur for padding, and used a Knife to cut some strips of cloth from his clothes to secure it. That was it. As for whether it would recover well or how well it would recover, that was up to Heaven.

Even if he ended up disabled, Baifeng would still support him. To the tribe, he was a brave Soldier; letting him do some light work and live out his life well would be enough.

As for the three who had already fled, Baifeng gave a cold snort. It would be best if they died in the Wasteland; then, labeling them as deserters wouldn't matter much. But if they didn't die and were caught, or had the nerve to return to the tribe, he would let them know what regret meant.

Baifeng believed the treatment the tribe gave its members was already the best in this era. Even if they weren't willing to protect him or stand in front of him, at the very least, he commanded them not to be deserters when fighting.

For the two who had already died, Baifeng decided not to hold them accountable, nor would he punish their families. However, there would be no rewards or compensation; they had fled halfway through, and since they were already killed, punishment was meaningless.

As for those who fled, not only would they be punished, but their families would be punished too. He would let them see what collective punishment meant, so that everyone in the future would have something to fear.

The few hunters who were neither dead nor injured watched the Tribal Chief handle the wounded in an extremely violent manner, and with the Tribal Chief's face looking very grim, they didn't dare to breathe loudly, fearing the Tribal Chief would turn his anger on them.

Baifeng secured the wounded man, then slowly stood up and walked toward the crowd. The hunters instinctively shifted their bottoms to make room, though they couldn't stand up even if they wanted to.

Baifeng expressed his approval to them: "You are all good men. In such a critical situation, you were willing to block the way in front of me. You all had the courage and the ability to work together to kill this bear. I am very happy. I believe the food you were given was not eaten in vain, and the Weapon you were given was not forged in vain.

Rest well for now. When we return, I will reward you. Warriors will not be mistreated.

However, as you have seen, we have deserters who do not listen to orders and only care about saving their own lives. Such people—just today, there were five of them. And how many of us are there?"

Baifeng's face was very grim: "I am heartbroken. The Soldiers I spent such a great price and so much food to cultivate turned out to be softies, cowards, and deserters. If we fight other tribes in the future, will they hand over the tribe's intelligence to them just to stay alive?

Therefore, I think it is necessary to pay attention to this aspect. After we return, I will conduct a thorough investigation. I have plenty of ways to make these cowards stand out themselves. They won't get to eat another bite of the tribe's food; if they want to eat, they can go dig in the dirt like a Slave!"

Baifeng saying this to them was both encouragement and affirmation, as well as a warning. He hoped they would be as brave in the future as they were today. It was also a signal to everyone that Baifeng was going to reorganize the interior. He believed that when they returned, they would let all the hunters know about what happened today.

The one who had fainted from pain had just woken up and was still groaning, but he felt his arm didn't seem to hurt as much anymore. However, he still couldn't move it, and when he turned his head to look, it seemed to be bound by wooden sticks.

His brain, having fainted from pain, didn't have much reaction left. His first reaction upon seeing this thing was to want to untie it. Just as he gritted his teeth and was about to reach over with his other arm to untie it, he was stopped by Baifeng's shout.

"That is what I tied for you. Why are you untying it? Do you not want your arm, or do you not want your life?"

Being roared at by Baifeng, the Soldier's brain finally had a bit of a reaction. Hearing that it was the Tribal Chief who had tied it for him, he hurriedly put his hand back where it was.

There shouldn't be any danger for now; the bear could no longer be heard breathing. Baifeng lay flat on the ground and let himself recover properly.