Chapter 279: Deserters

Baifeng lay down on the ground and didn't want to get up again; he was truly exhausted in both body and mind. He had been just a hair's breadth away from death. It could only be said that his luck and strength were both strong enough; had he been even a little bit worse off, his life would have been gone.

Coming out this time to track the horse was the most wrong decision Baifeng had ever made. Perhaps he had lived too many good days over these years, and he had forgotten how dangerous the wilderness of this era was.

He decided that in the future, he would no longer handle such matters personally, because the effort and the harvest were not necessarily proportional, and his own Soldiers could not be fully trusted. Now that he had a child, he truly had no capital to take risks.

Baifeng lay for a moment, then had the other few Soldiers go and peel off the bear skin; this was the most important thing. It would likely be difficult to carry the meat back, so just taking the bear paws would suffice.

The smell of blood here was too strong now; he estimated that other wild beasts would arrive in a moment, and they dared not stay long.

The corpses of those two deserters were emitting a thick, bloody stench, and he estimated that the predators in the vicinity were already rushing here. Such a delicacy, they would certainly want to come and take a look.

No matter what, Baifeng could not let people become food in the mouths of wild beasts, so he insisted on getting up, used his Knife to chop down some dead branches, and threw them onto the people who had been disemboweled.

Although they had abandoned him at a critical moment, they had after all spent many years together and were very familiar with each other. The moment they died, Baifeng didn't have much hatred left for them, so preventing them from entering the mouths of beasts could be considered the last thing he did for them.

Of course, the main reason was that burning their corpses could avoid attracting wild beasts.

The few of them who could still move hurried to work. The bear skin was not peeled very carefully, and they even cut off a layer of fat under the skin. They would clean it slowly when they returned to the tribe, but just this one skin already weighed several dozen jin.

They used the Knife to hack hard at the bear paws to cut them off, and then on the ground was a pile of meat without skin or claws, which looked very disgusting.

Baifeng hoped that the wild beasts that arrived would first fight over this pile of meat and not come after them.

The branches had been chopped enough. Baifeng lit the fire, and a breeze blew by, causing the fire to instantly flare up. Only then did Baifeng feel that he seemed to have thrown too little firewood; this would likely just give the wild beasts a meal of roasted human meat.

But there was no other way; Baifeng could only do this. It was their fate. Seeing that the skin and bear paws had been taken, Baifeng brought the wounded and hurried away from here.

Baifeng held his double Knives, had the others take turns supporting the wounded, and hurried toward their Boat. As long as they got on the boat, they could just go downstream all the way.

Not long after Baifeng and his group left, the battlefield welcomed different wild beasts to enjoy the feast.

The most majestic among them was a massive, multicolored tiger. This bear had always been its rival, and they jointly ruled this mountain, often having disputes, but their strength was similar, so it was hard to thoroughly determine who was superior.

And now, this tiger was lying beside its former formidable enemy, tearing into it with big bites.

There were also crows, foxes, and such things, all wanting to find an opportunity to pick up some scraps. A wolf pack also discovered this place, but they lacked the courage.

However, the meaty aroma wafting from the fire pile indicated that there were also things to eat inside, so a dozen or so wolves gathered together to wait for the fire to go out.

Baifeng led the people, struggling all the way to the riverbank, but when they reached the place where they had come ashore, Baifeng was stunned. Where was the Boat?

Two boats, not a single one was left. Looking at the tree where they had tied the boats, the knots were still there, and looking at the broken ends, they had been cut off with a single stroke of a Knife.

In other words, those few deserters had driven the boats away directly, and it was two boats at that.

Baifeng was so angry he laughed, and his Knife hacked fiercely into the tree: "Good, good! Deserters, stealing the boat, are you? You had better pray that you can die in the wilderness, otherwise, I will make you wish for death but be unable to die!"

This era did not yet have the concept of "punishment," and the cruelest thing was nothing more than being roasted alive by the Cannibal Tribe. However, most of the Cannibal Tribe would still hit the head with a club before putting the food on the fire rack.

The extremely angry Baifeng intended to let the thing called "punishment" appear in the world ahead of time.

Without the boat, they could only walk back to the tribe themselves. However, they were still very far from the tribe, and walking would take at least three days of travel. For a few people like them, to be honest, it was very dangerous, not to mention that they were people who had just experienced this; even while walking, they felt as if something was following behind them.

Now there was no other way; Baifeng could only continue to walk down along the Dahe. They dared not stop again. Their combat power had been severely reduced, and they were carrying a wounded person. Waiting for people from the tribe to come and save them was a very slim hope; they could only rely on themselves.

However, there was one piece of good news: they were only a little over a day's distance from the construction site of the road to the New City. If they were lucky, they could find the Workers ahead of time and then be sent back to the tribe; if they were unlucky, they would have to continue forward for a stretch.

Now they did not stop at all and continued to move. Every few steps they took, they would look back, fearing that there were predators following behind them. Their eyes were also constantly scanning everywhere, and their nerves were stretched to the limit.

Fortunately, they walked safely until evening, and they did not discover any wild beasts following them.

They chose to set up camp in the trees because most wild beasts could not climb trees. For just these few people, if they camped on the ground, the risk was truly too high.

Baifeng felt the bear skin was a burden, but the problem was that the value of this thing was indeed very high. Such a skin could easily be traded for forty or fifty Slaves; those large tribes would definitely trade for it because it was too precious.

Baifeng wanted to keep the bear paws; he had always heard that bear paws were good things, though he had never eaten them. However, there was no way to eat them at the moment because those few deserters had rowed the boats away. Not only were the Dry Rations gone, but not even pots or bowls were left behind.

Therefore, what Baifeng and his group would eat tonight was a problem. Going hunting was impossible; everyone was terrified and completely afraid to walk into the already dim forest.

But not eating was not an option either, as they still had to travel at high intensity. At this time, the hunter set his sights on the bear skin. There was a very thick layer of fat on the bear skin, which was exactly what they needed, although the taste would certainly not be good.

So everyone used their Small Knife to cut the bear fat into strips, then set up a big fire and started roasting it on a stone slab.

Only when the fat became relatively dry did they pick it up, blow on it, and stuff it into their mouths.

No matter what the food was, Baifeng ate first. The fishy, rank bear fat made Baifeng gag, but he still endured it and ate a lot. Feeling that there was something in his stomach, he then prepared to climb the tree to sleep.

The bonfire under the tree was also burning very brightly, a double insurance. On the tree branches, they used vines to tie together a bed, and then used vines to secure themselves. If one turned over while sleeping and fell to their death, it would be too much of a loss.