Chapter 134 – Cooperation
Translated by Sunyancai
The group was large, and the warriors in this group were very curious about the beasts that accompanied them.
When Caesar had accompanied the group for the first time, everyone had been nervous, but now they became used to him. This time, with so many beasts in the group, they showed off with pride, for they were the first group to go hunting with so many beasts.
However, after climbing over the mountain, and reaching the first holdout, they found that it was not good for them to have so many beasts accompany them, because they got much less prey.
Shao Xuan did not put them together at once, but divided them into two groups, one led by Mai and the other led by Qiao. Mao, Mo Er and Lei, with their own beasts, were in Mai’s group. Ah-Yang and Ah-Guang were in Qiao’s group.
As for Shao Xuan, his priority was to record the performance of these beasts, and hand in the records to the Shaman.
So, to some extent, Shao Xuan worked as a class teacher who examined the students on their performance, and this group of “primary school students” would make every effort to give outstanding performance.
The first arrival to this strange place made them over cautious at the beginning, but after a few days, they adjusted themselves and felt free to hunt.
Three days later, when the hunting group returned to the cave, Shao Xuan wrote down in the animal skin roll, and the others glanced at it, for they wanted to know the results. However, Shao Xuan did not show them, and even if he showed them, they would not understand.
Since they could not read the records, they had to ask Shao Xuan indirectly.
“Brother Xuan, what do you think of our performance?” Ah-Yang and Ah-Guang were sent to inquire from him.
“Not bad.” Shao Xuan did not raise his head, but continued to write down some symbols in the animal skin roll, which were not understandable for other people.
What did he mean by saying “not bad”? Was he satisfied or dissatisfied?
They looked at each other for a while.
“I think we can challenge ourselves.” Then said Lei, the eldest among them.
It was not difficult for them to catch the bow beasts, giant tapirs, and giant-antler deers every day. The majority of the warriors in the tribe believed a serious injury proved the difficulty of the hunting mission and their strength. Since this result would be shown to the Shaman, they had to work hard to seek more achievements. It was not a big deal to get injured.
“What do you want to do, catch the mega-antler deer in the giant-antler deer herd?” Mao said ironically.
Lei shook his head and said,“The number of mega-antlers deer is so huge that it is too difficult to do so.”
“I heard there is a new Thorn Black Wind in the lake.”
“It only comes out at night.”
“What do you want to hunt?”
“A rhinoceros? ”
“The other beasts!” Ah-Yang and Ah-Guang also joined in the discussion.
“There is a giant bear near the tar pit!”
…
They argued about which one they should challenge to catch.
The quarrel in the cave made Shao Xuan feel a headache. He waved his hand and said to those arguing, “Shut up, and keep quiet.”
They became silent at once, but soon, Shao Xuan felt something wrong. He looked up and saw there was a huge beak coming towards him.
Shao Xuan: “…”
He chased away the large-headed bird, and said, “I am not talking about you, and you go away too.”
According to the observations of these past days, Shao Xuan analyzed the pros and cons of the beasts they had just discussed. Shao Xuan said, “If you really want to challenge yourselves, you can try to catch that bear, but you have to have a plan. There is only meaning for those who live.”
He had to remind them of what should be paid attention to. Otherwise, they would be too overconfident that they would lose their lives due to overestimating themselves, and Shao Xuan would have difficulty in reporting their deaths to the Shaman.
To catch the giant bear, they had to cooperate. Only one or two could not defeat the bear, for it was a ferocious beast.
The two animals kept by Ah-Yang and Ah-Guang grew up together while continuously fighting with each other. After growing bigger, they still fought with each other at home, but cooperated to defeat the external enemies. They had a tacit understanding of each other. And they also learned self-protection.
Before leaving the tribe, the phorusrhacos kept by Ah-Guang had learned to chase the prey from one side rather than in the rear, for it would get a kick easily if it was in the rear. The beast raised by Ah-Yang also learned to be more flexible in avoiding attacks. This was why these two outperformed the other beasts in the tribe. Their cooperation in the following few days was obviously successful.
Two days later, they left for the tar pit together.
To help them, Mai and Qiao did not take the others to go hunting, but were hidden in the surrounding in case of accidents. This way, they could come out and help them immediately.
Shao Xuan let Caesar help them and take action if necessary.
“Ah-Xuan, why don’t you help them?” Lang Ga asked Shao Xuan, who hid himself in another tree.
“Everything depends on them.” Said Shao Xuan. This was the intention of the Shaman. He asked Shao Xuan to pay attention to them, and help them with Caesar if necessary.
Thinking of the talk with the Shaman, Shao Xuan sighed and whispered to himself, “This old liar is always asking me to do many things.”
“What?” Lang Ga was just paying attention to what was happening over there, and did not hear what Shao Xuan had said.
“Nothing, I said they did well today.”
When Shao Xuan and Lang Ga were talking, Chacha called out in the sky, which meant that they had started taking actions.
In terms of strength, they were outperformed, and would be defeated even in a group fight, so they had to rely on tactics to defeat it. According to their tactics, they would provoke the giant bear, lead it to the tar pit, and then knock it down.
Shao Xuan could not see what was happening in the woods from his position, but near the place where the bear was active, Mai and the others were on the guard. They would whistle if something wrong happened.
After a while, Shao Xuan heard a loud roar, and felt the trees next to him shaking. Soon, the sound of footsteps burst out. They were heavy, but fast steps, so that you could not identify them if you didn’t pay attention.
Such loud and fast footsteps were mixed with a lot of other sounds of footsteps, such as the sound made by hoofs.
Whiz!
A figure rushed out, it was the beast raised by Ah-Yang.
It was followed by the phorusrhacos and Lei’s Meng.
These three rushed out of the woods, and then ran in three different directions.
The moment the giant bear almost caught up with his prey, he paused. And then he continued to chase the phorusrhacos, but unfortunately there was still a small distance.
With big feet, the phorusrhacos could still run very fast through the tar pit area. After running into the area, it fiercely moved its jaw, its big mouth was hollow, so when it closed its mouth, it would make a loud smacking sound.
Every time when it got excited, it made such a noise.
At the moment, even those who did not know about this kind of animal, could feel it was laughing at the giant bear, let alone the bear itself.
The giant bear lingered on the edge of the tar pit area, and roared towards the beasts in the area. The fact that every time the people or the beasts it chased after would go there made it furious. But it could do nothing but only walk on the edge to threaten them. Those that broke into its territory and even boldly ate its food should be bitten to death!
After walking for a while, the bear felt bored and intended to leave. At this moment, a cave lion appeared. Although the cave lion was very small in its eyes, it hated it a lot, for the cave lions often snatched food away from it. It thought all lion caves were damnable!
The giant bear rushed to it, roaring. Unexpectedly, just like the big-mouth bird, the cave lion ran into the tar pit area, but did not get stuck.
A loud roar was heard.
The giant bear stood up, hoping to frighten them with a roar and look down on this group of dregs that always ran away!
Every time when the bear chased the hunting group to this place, this giant bear would stand straight to show its strength, and kept roaring as if he would destroy the whole forest.
Lei, Mao, and Mo Er entered the tar pit area from another path. Standing there, they threw stones to the bear to further irritate it, rather than hurt it.
Chacha also joined them in attracting the attention of the giant bear, so that it would focus on what happened in front or above him.
And when the bear was roaring at those in the tar pit, a figure appeared quietly behind it, and and quietly crept closer.
When there was a suitable distance between them, it instantly accelerated towards the bear.
The furious bear did not expect there to be a daring beast behind it. It was used to standing next to the pit to roar at the hiding prey, but this time, it got trapped.
Its roar concealed the sounds around. When it felt the ground shaking, it knew something behind it was rushing to it. It turned around but had no time to run away, so its belly suffered a hit.
In spite of the hit, it struck the beast that rushed against it with its claw.
Si Ya was hit away by the bear, and rolled on the ground for a long distance.
The bear paid full attention to Si Ya and tried to keep the balance, when a gray figure flashed close. It was struck again. The strike was close to its chest, and more powerful.
It was roaring again.
It was a roar of anxiety and fear. It knew where he would fall, and would lose its life in the pit, like the beasts and the ferocious beasts in the woods.
Bang!
The huge figure smashed into the tar pit, splashing countless sticky tar.
Seeing it falling into the pit, everyone felt relieved.
Mao ran out to check the wounds on Si Ya. The hit of the bear’s palm left Si Ya a few deep marks, but for him, the injury was not so serious.
“Nothing serious, let it go back to rest for some time. The wound will heal up soon, for the marks were not deep.” Said Mai after he looked at it.
Si Ya still felt faint, and fell to the ground, groaning. As the strongest one among the several beasts, it never suffered such a slap.
None of them got serious injuries, and they then looked at the bear in the tar pit. Everyone still had a lingering fear.
Thanks to Caesar’s strike, the bear fell into the tar pit directly. Otherwise Si Ya might have been killed by the bear.
They brought grass rope with them. If Si Ya had accidentally rushed into the tar pit, they would have used the rope to save it. Unexpectedly, the bear looked bulky, but was very flexible.
This made everyone understand that sometimes the plan was only something ideal, and something unexpected could also happen.
“We should be more cautious while making a plan in the future.” Said Shao Xuan.
“Yes.” The others agreed.
Looking at the bear gradually falling down, Mai told everyone to leave, for it was no use staying here.