Chapter 72: Panic

Baifeng urgently summoned the tribesmen who were still in the tribe; everyone with combat capability was distributed a Weapon, and then they all stood beneath the city wall, ready to engage in battle at any moment.

Baifeng also risked going out to find the herd of cattle and had Xiaoniu lead them into the cattle pen; although the pen had not been fully repaired, the walls still had some defensive power, and the gate of the pen was temporarily blocked with large logs.

The herd was a bit panicked, suddenly being blocked in one place, and they were somewhat restless, but Baifeng had no other choice; the herd was now one of the most important parts of the tribe's property, and he dared not risk any loss at all.

If they truly attacked, he would immediately drive the herd in through the hole in the city wall; of course, while Baifeng and the others were preparing all this, the city wall was already filled with people, and those who could draw a bow were all holding them ready, with bundles of Arrows at their feet, their eyes fixed tightly on the distance, ready to sound the alarm at the slightest sign of movement.

Near dusk, a group of several dozen people walked out of the forest; those with sharp eyes immediately blew their Whistles to sound the alarm, and everyone immediately grabbed their bows or picked up their Spears, instantly entering a state of combat.

Those people who came out of the forest probably heard the sound of the Whistle too, and they all slowly stopped their steps, as if they were plotting something.

Because the two places were separated by a great distance, they could only see that there were people, but could not see specific individuals or what they were doing; Baifeng and the others were extremely nervous, for if the other side only had this many people, they would have nothing to fear, but they were afraid that this was only a Vanguard Team, merely scouting the way.

After the group in the forest paused for a moment, they also emitted a sharp whistle; Baifeng and the others were very familiar with this sound, because it was a Bamboo Whistle made by their own tribe, and for the sake of convenient communication, almost everyone had one.

Baifeng and the others tentatively blew their whistles once more, and the opposite side replied with three long and two short whistles, expressing that they were safe.

The people on the city wall breathed a sigh of relief; those who had come out were their own tribesmen, likely a portion of the hunters, because the three-long-and-two-short whistle was the signal for safety established by Baifeng's tribe; Baifeng and the others blew six short whistles in a row, telling them to return quickly.

Upon hearing the whistle, that group followed the command of the sound and began to march quickly, though perhaps because they were bringing back a relatively large amount of prey, they did not run too fast.

When they reached the vicinity of the city wall, they indeed saw clearly that the group was their own tribesmen, specifically the group led by Chi, and they had a bountiful harvest; however, they were very confused as to why so many tribesmen were standing on the city wall, prepared for battle.

After entering the city gate, Baifeng carefully asked Chi and the others whether they had encountered that group of people or met with any danger; with every question, Chi shook his head, and Baifeng's worry slowly began to subside.

When Chi heard Baifeng say that someone had hunted their tribesmen, he was so angry that he slapped the table and stood up, grabbing his Knife and wanting to go take revenge; Baifeng hurriedly held back Chi, who had nothing but muscles in his head, as they still had to wait for the other tribesmen to return.

At this time, it was also time for all the tribesmen who had gone out to return; no matter what, they had to return before the sun set, as safety was always the first priority; Baifeng's consistent philosophy was that people were the most important wealth—if you keep the people but lose the land, both can be recovered; if you keep the land but lose the people, both are lost.

Baifeng stood on the city wall, waiting for the groups of tribesmen who had gone out to return; the Fishing Team was the happiest, and as soon as they emerged from the forest, one could hear their cheerful singing, with several carts being pushed with great effort across the Wasteland.

Baifeng questioned them one by one, but none of them had encountered that group of enemies; yet in the end, only two people returned out of those dozen or so.

Even though today's harvest was abundant, there were no smiles on the faces of any of the tribesmen; as the saying goes, when clothing and food are sufficient, one knows etiquette; since everyone had never lacked food or shelter, the sentiment of affection had grown increasingly deep in the hearts of the tribesmen.

Having lived day and night with those dozen or so tribesmen, everyone was very familiar with them, but suddenly receiving the tragic news of their deaths, everyone found it hard to accept; usually, dinner time was the liveliest part of the day, filled with laughter and play, but tonight everyone was silent, and even their appetites were much smaller.

The tribe's combat power had not suffered much loss, and only a few Weapons had been lost; even if they were taken by that group of people, the effect they could have would not be great, and things like bows required long-term practice to be effective, unless one was someone with innate talent like Xiong. But Baifeng did not believe that there were natural master archers everywhere; his own tribe of several hundred people had only produced one such person.

However, their Slings were something that required great caution, because according to the two who returned, their main means of attack was the Sling; if it came to close-quarters combat, Baifeng's tribe truly did not fear other tribes, even those large tribes, as not everyone could be equipped with a Bronze Sword, let alone the higher-quality Iron Knife or Iron Sword.

At night, besides a portion of the Soldiers who were tired from the day and went to rest to regain their energy, most of the tribesmen did not sleep; the sufficient supply of nutrition gave them better vision at night than humans of the same era.

Some people were patrolling on the city wall, monitoring the forest; based on the encounter of the tribesmen who had gone out, the enemy should be stationed around the Old Camp, or rather, they had only searched as far as the Old Camp, and had not yet gone in other directions.

Baifeng thought that the only ones who could count as enemies to his tribe now were the Suiren Clan, but at that time at the Suiren Clan, Baifeng had not discovered them using Slings, and the Suiren Clan was most skilled at using fire in attacks; it was said they even had some special fire-starting weapons, so this group should not have been sent by the Suiren Clan to take revenge, and furthermore, attacking Baifeng's tribe at this time had no benefits, as only autumn was the best time to launch an attack.

There were no tribes near Baifeng's tribe, and tribes a few days' journey away would not run to Baifeng's territory to start a war; the resources on this land were abundant, and there was absolutely no need for conflict.

Therefore, Baifeng speculated that it should be a wandering tribe of savages, and judging by the level of violence in their behavior, it was very likely a Cannibal Tribe.

Upon hearing Baifeng's speculation, the tribesmen also gasped; after all, at this time, a cannibal tribe was a very terrifying existence no matter where they were.

For the sake of everyone's safety, starting from tomorrow, Baifeng's tribe would once again enter a closed-tribe phase; moreover, at this time, the tribe's crops were growing wildly and were about to head; although there was much Snow in Winter, there was relatively little rain now, which was just right for leaving some manpower to irrigate the farmland.

At the same time, the Fishing Team also brought back a piece of news, which was that most of the fish caught now were full of roe; it was just the right time to stop fishing, which could give the fish in the Dahu a suitable period for reproduction.

However, this also gave Baifeng another idea, which was to dig a large Fish Pond in the tribe and use water from the Dahu to raise fish himself; in Winter, one could not go to the Dahu to fish, but one could do so in one's own Fish Pond.