Chapter 66: Bringing the Cow Home

Baifeng scratched the neck of Xiaoniu. After the small herd became slightly agitated, it returned to calm, and Xiaoniu did not suddenly launch an attack. The Soldiers listened to Baifeng and did not draw their Weapons; however, they all retreated to Baifeng's side together. After all, just because Xiaoniu was not going crazy did not mean the rest of the herd would not attack.

Baifeng used his peripheral vision to secretly count this herd; there were about fifty-some head. They were relatively young, mostly about the same age as Xiaoniu, which could be seen from their horns. Furthermore, cows made up the majority, while bulls were only a minority.

Although cows also grow horns, there were clear differences from bulls in terms of body size and horn length. Their color was also basically brownish-yellow, making the pure white Xiaoniu very conspicuous among them.

It was evident that Xiaoniu was no longer as irritable as it had been a few days ago; it had likely already resolved its own problems. Baifeng then carefully examined Xiaoniu's physical condition. In the few days that had passed, Xiaoniu's originally clean body was already covered in a lot of mud, and the mud on its legs and tail had caked into clumps.

There was a long wound on its chest, but it had already dried and was not festering or bleeding. Baifeng estimated it had been gored by horns while competing with other bulls in the herd. There was also a wound on its face, but it was not serious. However, looking at the many cattle following behind, Xiaoniu must have gained a huge advantage. He wondered what the Tribal Chief of that herd would think about it bringing so many cattle away.

Baifeng tried pushing Xiaoniu's head to move forward. Xiaoniu did not resist in the slightest; Baifeng only gave a light push, and Xiaoniu followed the path forward.

Baifeng had the Soldiers stay a bit further ahead to clear the path, so as not to startle the herd following behind, while he himself led the way on Xiaoniu's right side.

After walking a few steps forward, the herd behind hesitated, not knowing whether they should follow or stay where they were. After all, following humans did not seem quite right, but Xiaoniu was their new Tribal Chief. One by one, they wanted to lift their hooves but did not dare to. Seeing Xiaoniu continue to move forward with that group of humans, they all became anxious, lowing one after another.

Hearing the chaotic sounds of the herd, Xiaoniu also stopped, turned its head to look at the herd, and let out a call. But the herd still showed no intention of continuing to walk. Xiaoniu glanced at Baifeng, then paced back toward the herd.

Baifeng did not dare to stop it, so he had to stand awkwardly in place, and the Soldiers could only stand in the distance, at a loss.

After Xiaoniu went back, it used its horns to gently scrape the bodies of the few cattle in front, then stretched its neck and called out. The herd responded in kind. Baifeng could only wait, not knowing what choice Xiaoniu would make.

He could not understand what their calls meant, but it looked like Xiaoniu was persuading the herd. After a moment of stalemate, Xiaoniu turned around and walked toward Baifeng again. This time, however, the herd did not hesitate and followed in Xiaoniu's footsteps, step by step.

Baifeng suppressed the excitement in his heart and affectionately stroked Xiaoniu's neck as he continued to walk toward the direction of the tribe. The herd also maintained a certain distance, following behind Xiaoniu.

Seeing the herd following, the Soldiers were so happy they all jumped up. They did not know what benefits this herd would have for the future development of the tribe; they only knew that their tribe was now about to possess a large herd of cattle, and they would not have to worry about food for the rest of the year.

Baifeng only felt that he had not bet wrong. Although it was very unfair to Xiaoniu's original herd, that was just how Nature was—the law of the jungle, the rule of the food chain. However, even if he would kill a portion of this herd for meat in the future and use them as labor, the benefit was that this herd would constantly expand.

In the wild, the natural growth of a herd is very slow or even stagnant. The young can stay, continue to grow, and then leave behind their own genes, but the old, weak, sick, and disabled will be eliminated, becoming food in the mouths of predators, maintaining a certain balance. A herd of cattle, even without being hunted by beasts, would still see its numbers plummet after a surge due to a lack of food; this is the limitation of Nature.

But humans, as an anomaly in this Kingdom of Nature, can restrict this herd within a certain range of activity. The herd will no longer worry about food, no longer worry about natural predators, and no longer fear illness. The price is that a portion of the cattle that would have become food for beasts will become food for the humans who raise them.

Relying on the strong body it had built up over the Winter and the ability to avoid being caught by beasts despite its eye-catching fur, Xiaoniu had been squeezed out and suppressed by Laoniuwang after returning to the herd.

There were also those large bulls; because they were all in their mating season, they were more irritable than the next. However, because there was so much Snow last Winter, the herd could not find enough food, and their bodies were all very thin. In front of Xiaoniu, who had been well-fed for the entire Winter, they basically posed no threat.

Therefore, after going through a gauntlet of battles with a group of bulls, Xiaoniu only suffered the few wounds Baifeng had discovered, and then fulfilled its wish to reproduce.

The herd was large, but there was too little food. Now the green Grass had not yet grown long, and last Winter they had even gnawed on the roots of the Grass. Now the pasture was relatively barren, and the young calves could not get enough food at all.

Many younger cattle, seeing Xiaoniu's strong physique and powerful combat ability, chose to leave their original tribe and follow Xiaoniu to find a better habitat.

It was just that they had not expected Xiaoniu to be raised by humans, so the herd was very panicked when they first saw Baifeng and the others, not understanding why Xiaoniu would mingle with this group of hairless monkeys.

Although he did not know what Xiaoniu had said to them, the fact was that the herd had decided to follow Xiaoniu.

And the problem now facing Baifeng was how to settle these dozens of cattle. He had not even prepared a pen; if he brought them back and let them wander on the Wasteland, how would that be any different from them being wild?

If he sped up the construction of a pen, the herd would not be able to go out to forage, and cutting Grass for them would be a huge workload; it would take at least a dozen people to manage it every day.

However, stroking the still-obedient Xiaoniu, Baifeng felt it was better to look to Xiaoniu. After all, as long as Xiaoniu was there, the herd would not run too far away.

The Wasteland next to his tribe's settlement had no large herbivores because of the presence of humans, so the Grass there was still very lush; for these cattle, it could be considered completely abundant.

As for drinking water, there were water pipes; he could specifically connect one over there for these cattle to drink. Once they got used to drinking water in one place, he could slowly enclose the pen. Perhaps one day when they came to drink water, they would find they could no longer get out.

Thinking of this, Baifeng's mood became much lighter again.