Chapter 30 - Midnight

Xiong Ye wanted to wash for a bit longer, but Zhou Ji quickly finished helping him scrub his hair, “Let’s go back.”

By the time the two of them arrived back at the tribe together, Xiong He and the rest had already returned.

Xiong He’s team had captured quite a lot of prey this time, but none of it was as big as the dinosaur that Xiong Ye had caught. Even so, everyone was very satisfied.

Today was a rare bumper harvest day, and everyone was very happy. Even those who were sad due to the deaths of those from the salt team had smiles on their faces.

Herds of herbivorous dinosaurs would flee in panic when they first saw a carnivorous dinosaur, but after the carnivorous dinosaur had hunted down one of their brethren and had begun to eat, the herbivorous dinosaurs would stop running and continue to calmly carry on grazing in the carnivorous dinosaur’s vicinity.

People in the Big Bear Tribe weren’t like this, but in this kind of environment, they also wouldn’t grieve over the dead for too long.

“Every warrior will be able to get tens of kilograms of meat today.”

“Even the people from the gathering team will be allocated quite a lot.”

“We should be able to trade for a lot of salt with the Gargoyleosaurus armor!”

......

The people in the tribe chattered amongst themselves as they cut apart the dinosaurs, splattering blood all over their bodies. Some even patted their chests with bloody hands and showed off the marks to others as they boasted about how they had hunted down their prey.

Xiong Bai was among them.

Zhou Ji watched Xiong Bai, a girl, act like this and felt that the scene was a little difficult to take in.

Of course, the others obviously didn’t think so. Some men clearly enjoyed Xiong Bai’s behavior.

In such an environment, the extremely clean Zhou Ji and the freshly-washed Xiong Ye seemed particularly out of place. Some people who had originally been very excited, wanting to go up and greet Xiong Ye and pat him on his shoulder, felt too embarrassed to do so.

So, there was only Xiong Qi who came over and said, “Xiong Ye, you were very impressive today and actually managed to catch a Gargoyleosaurus! What’s more, you look different today. You stand out from the crowd!”

Xiong Ye was a little embarrassed from the praise, and Zhou Ji felt a little speechless–How come he felt that Xiong Qi had developed a new tendency for flattering?

Fortunately, Xiong He interrupted Xiong Qi’s endless praise. “Everyone should go to the river to wash up! How do you guys think you look, covered in blood? And that meat and intestines, take them and wash them too! I’ll divide up the meat after everyone’s washed up!”

“Yes, Chief!” Everyone responded loudly and gleefully went to the river to wash themselves clean.

Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji went to put their new harvest in the cave–the man-eating fish that Xiong Ye had caught using his own body as bait.

This kind of fish was called man-eating fish, but it couldn’t really eat people. After all, they weren’t that big.

It was just that they were extremely sensitive to the scent of blood. If someone with a wound went into the water, they would most likely be surrounded by these man-eating fish and be bitten fiercely.

Uh... If someone was seriously injured and fell into the water, it wouldn’t be surprising if they ended up devoured until nothing remained but bones.

“This kind of man-eating fish is really tasty. One time, I had a leg injury when I was trying to catch fish in the water. Several man-eating fish rushed at me, and then I caught them all and ate until I was really full!” Xiong Ye shared stories from when he was a child with Zhou Ji. Back then, he had been very, very hungry and hadn’t been able to catch any fish. He had been frustrated, but had unexpectedly managed to hook some man-eating fish!

Later on, he came up with a better way to catch the man-eating fish, which was to jump into the water and wash up when he was covered in blood.

Unfortunately, there were fewer and fewer man-eating fish nowadays...

Xiong Ye was very happy as he spoke, describing it as a very amusing story, but Zhou Ji was a little distressed.

Xiong Ye should’ve been very young at that time, but he had to work so hard just for a mouthful of food...

Having experienced the end of the world, Zhou Ji had always thought that life in the tribe was very good, Now, however, he began to feel that Xiong Ye had been quite pitiable.

When he realized this, Zhou Ji couldn’t help laughing a bit.

Xiong Ye saw that Zhou Ji was laughing and grew even more delighted. He talked more about the man-eating fish as they headed back to the valley and waited for the meat to be distributed.

He was still speaking when the priest came up to stop him, “Xiong Ye.”

“Grandpa Priest, is something the matter?” Xiong Ye asked.

“Indeed.” The priest said. “What kind of herbs did you give Xiong Qi? Why were they so miraculous?”

Today, Xiong Qi had constantly been finding ways to praise Xiong Ye. The priest had heard it of course, and then become curious, “Could it be that you found the legendary Beast God Fruit?”

As an apprentice of the previous priest, the current priest knew a lot about the outside world. He also knew that there were some miraculous plants in this world, such as the Beast God Fruit.

It was said that the Beast God Fruit was a small, red fruit. As long as someone ate one, they would be able to enhance their strength and become a Beast King.

Although the priest had never seen such a thing, he believed everything that the previous priest had told him and was convinced that there existed Beast God Fruits in this world.

The stories said that it was a gift that the Beast God had left for the beastmen.

“No, how could I possibly have the Beast God Fruit?” Xiong Qi had heard the priest talk of the legends surrounding the Beast God before, so he said, “I only gave Xiong Qi a type of common medicinal herb.”

Xiong Ye looked at Zhou Ji as he spoke.

Zhou Ji said, “It’s actually a kind of medicinal herb that helps people sleep. I was very noisy as a child, and my mother would feed it to me.”

“There are herbs like that?” The priest was a little surprised.

“Yes.” Zhou Ji said, “You will sleep very sweetly after taking this herb. And if you sleep well, your body will naturally recover... Xiong Ye and I have eaten it before. Since Xiong Qi said that his body hurt so much that he couldn’t sleep, we gave him some.”

The priest was suddenly enlightened.

He had no way to deal with Xiong Qi’s injuries, but seeing that Xiong Qi had recovered so much overnight, he had thought that Xiong Ye had given him some treasure to eat. Unexpectedly, it was just some medicinal herbs that would put him to sleep... “What does this kind of medicinal herb look like? Can you let me take a look?”

“I gave the rest of the herbs to Xiong Qi.” Zhou Ji said.

“I’ll go ask him for it right away!” The priest said.

Zhou Ji naturally wouldn’t stop him. Seeing that the priest had left, he turned to Xiong Ye and apologized, “I’m sorry. I gave you those herbs to eat without your permission before...”

“Why are you apologizing? You did it for my sake!” Xiong Ye didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with Zhou Ji giving him those medicinal herbs at all, “No wonder I was sleeping so well before! It turns out it was because of those herbs. It makes a lot of sense that sleeping well leads to good health. My body’s been really healthy lately; should I go and get more of those herbs to eat?”

“No need. You’ve been sleeping very well lately even without those herbs.” Zhou Ji said.

“That’s true. I’ve always slept really well, and I don’t really have to eat those things.” Xiong Ye wanted to say that it had been a bit of a waste for Zhou Ji to feed him those herbs in the first place, but then he abruptly realized that he hadn’t been sleeping all that well back when Shi Li had broken up with him.

Later, Zhou Ji had begun to feed him, and he had finally started to sleep well again.

Zhou Ji was really dedicated to taking care of him... Xiong Ye was a little touched.

Zhou Ji: It was so easy to trick the little bear. But that made sense; even the priest of the tribe was easy to deceive, let alone a little bear...

While Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye were talking, the priest had already gone to look for Xiong Qi and asked him for Xiong Ye’s herbs.

Xiong Qi felt a lot of respect for the priest and hurriedly brought out the herbs for him. He added, “Priest, this must be a very precious herb. It was extremely effective.”

The priest glanced at Xiong Qi and said, “Yes, it is indeed a very precious herb that I have never seen before. Beast God is watching over us. It was really very nice of Xiong Ye to give you those herbs.”

He had recently enjoyed Xiong Ye’s honey, so the priest didn’t mind saying a few more good words for Xiong Ye in front of Xiong Qi, so that Xiong Qi would feel even more grateful towards Xiong Ye.

This was also good for Xiong Qi; Xiong Ye was most likely going to become the tribal chief in the future. If Xiong Qi had continued looking down on Xiong Ye like he had been before, it would have made things more difficult for him in the long run.

Xiong Qi had already felt very grateful towards Xiong Ye, and he became even more so after hearing the priest’s words.

Shi Li saw that Xiong Qi could now walk normally and frowned.

He remembered that in his last life, Xiong Qi had also been injured when he came back from the salt exchange expedition. Later on, because he hadn’t taken care of his own injury and had gone hunting as usual, for some unknown reason, his entire body had eventually healed crooked, and his fighting power had been greatly reduced...

Xiong Qi had become useless, and Xiong He also died later on, so he had been left to become the tribal chief in the end.

But why was Xiong Qi doing so well now?

He had landed hits on Xiong Qi’s wounds several times during their fight. Xiong Qi’s injuries clearly should’ve become even more serious now than they had been in his last life.

Things had changed, and all of this made Shi Li a little anxious. And while Shi Li was thinking, Xiong Qi had run over to talk to Niu Er.

Niu Er had nearly died and had also been saved. He felt that he and Niu Er had many things to talk about.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that Niu Er had stayed in his cave all day today, he would’ve probably tried to have a good chat with Niu Er even earlier.

As for this chat... Xiong Qi just knew that Niu Er must have taken the same herbs he had.

Niu Er’s injuries had been much more serious than his. Xiong Qi would’ve lost his fighting power from his wounds, but Niu Er’s injuries... Everyone had thought that Niu Er would die.

However, Xiong Qi ultimately didn’t lose his fighting power, and Niu Er hadn’t died.

All of this must be because of Xiong Ye. It must be due to the medicinal herbs that Xiong Ye had given them.

Xiong Qi felt even more indebted to Xiong Ye. Now with Xiong Qi saying all these things, Niu Er, who had already felt grateful to Xiong Ye, was also moved to tears. Only, Niu Er wasn’t as talkative as Xiong Qi and wouldn’t boast about Xiong Ye everywhere the way Xiong Qi did.

Even so, Niu Er had already made up his mind to repay Xiong Ye in the future.

While Xiong Qi was busy praising Xiong Ye everywhere to the skies, Xiong He began to divvy up the meat.

Every warrior of the tribe was given a lot of meat, and even Xiong Qi and Niu Er received quite a bit. Xiong He even said, “You guys should focus on getting better. After you’ve recovered, you can continue to participate in the hunts.”

Xiong Qi and Niu Er nodded one after the other, and the two of them decided to have a full meal, then get a good night’s sleep.

It seemed as though their injuries would heal on their own just by sleeping.

It took Xiong He a lot of time to portion out the meat. Since there was a lot of meat to go around, the things that the gathering team had collected weren’t given out that day and were instead boiled together in a large pot for everyone to eat as they liked.

At this time, the head of the gathering team found an opportunity to talk to Xiong He and said, “Chief, Zhou Ji didn’t work very seriously when he was in the gathering team in the past, and today, he simply refused to come with us to go gathering. Since he’s like this, he shouldn’t get a portion of the food at all.”

Those who were unwilling to contribute to the tribe would be shunned by the entire tribe! When that happened, perhaps even Xiong Ye would lose interest in Zhou Ji!

The head of the gathering team wanted to see Zhou Ji get in trouble.

However...

Xiong He replied, “I didn’t give Zhou Ji any food today in the first place. In the past, Zhou Ji often wouldn’t come over to get the meat he was allocated either, but today he directly told me he didn’t want any.”

The head of the gathering team: “......” How could that be?

Xiong He continued, “Xiong Ye has spoken to me about Zhou Ji. Zhou Ji hasn’t awakened an animal form, is slow at doing things, and his body isn’t that good. In the future, if he wants to go gathering, then let him go. If he doesn’t want to, then let him be... In any case, he has Xiong Ye to take care of him.”

“Chief, how could that be acceptable? There are rules in this tribe!” The head of the gathering team was dissatisfied.

“Why not? It has always been like this. Previously, when Zhou Ji was stupid and foolish and stayed in his cave all day long, hadn’t it also been like that? Only, Zhou Ji’s mother took care of him before, and now it’s Xiong Ye taking care of him.” Xiong He added, “There’s no harm in that.”

In fact, it wasn’t just Zhou Ji. There were many people in the tribe who couldn’t work but still took food. Compared to them, Zhou Ji was already a lot better!

The head of the gathering team: This really made others envious!

Xiong Ye had indeed brought up this matter with Xiong He because Zhou Ji had said he couldn’t participate too much in the gathering tasks and didn’t want to spend the day following the team.

In fact, Xiong Ye disapproved of this kind of thing. He always felt that regardless of who it was, they should still try to support themselves. Otherwise, they would simply be too useless.

However, in Zhou Ji’s case, he also felt that Zhou Ji was so pale and delicate that it wasn’t very good to have him work too hard.

Zhou Ji ate very little and didn’t like to eat dinosaur meat. The bits and pieces that Xiong He allocated to the people in the gathering team were always left untouched by him. Since that was the case, it didn’t matter if Zhou Ji didn’t take meat from the tribe... It also wouldn’t make any difference if he didn’t go out with the gathering team.

In any case, he was there to take care of Zhou Ji.

Taking care of Zhou Ji was really easy. In the past, Shi Li had said that he was strong and didn’t need his help, but in fact, the amount of meat he had given to Shi Li to eat was much, much more than what he gave to Zhou Ji now.

With that in mind, Xiong Ye simply went and notified Xiong He about this matter.

However, despite the fact that he had done all this, Xiong Ye still emphasized to Zhou Ji, “Zhou Ji, you have to learn how to deal with others. Too many accidents can happen in this world. If something happens to me one day...” In fact, Zhou Ji was capable of gathering. He was just afraid that Zhou Ji would have a bad relationship with the people in the tribe...

“Nothing will happen to you.” Zhou Ji said firmly. It didn’t really matter if Xiong Ye went hunting in the surrounding areas, but if he took on dangerous tasks like going to trade for salt, he would definitely go with him.

Additionally, he would think of ways to improve Xiong Ye’s strength.

When Xiong Ye heard Zhou Ji’s words, he puffed out his chest proudly–Zhou Ji believed in him this much. He certainly couldn’t let Zhou Ji down!

After the meat was divided up, the majority of the tribe stayed in the valley to roast their meat while Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye returned to their cave.

Xiong Ye had gone hunting that day, and Zhou Ji was too lazy to go and collect firewood, so the two of them still didn’t have any firewood. Fortunately, the children of the tribe had picked up a lot of it for them, so they no longer lacked firewood.

When they arrived back at the cave, they lit a fire at the entrance. Zhou Ji began to make fish soup for himself, and Xiong Ye began to roast meat.

Roasting things in the cave was actually very inconvenient. Even if the fire was lit on the platform by the cave entrance, a bit of the smoke would still slither into the cave. Sometimes, when a gust of wind blew by, the entire cave would end up choked with smoke.

Previously, Zhou Ji hadn’t bothered to deal with it because he had his spiritual powers and wasn’t affected by it. Now, he began thinking about expanding the platform and fixing up the cave.

Also, the food that they ate was too monotonous. Zhou Ji felt that they could get some other things to eat. For example, they could try and make some sauces, pickle some vegetables, or things like that.

There were many varieties of pickled vegetables. Not only were they delicious on their own, they could also be used to add flavor to boiled or steamed meat.

Unfortunately, all of these things required salt, and the tribe just happened to be lacking in salt.

Originally, Zhou Ji hadn’t wanted to concern himself over these things at all. Now, he discovered that there were actually a lot of things he needed to worry about.

However, there was no other way. If he wanted to live well and live comfortably, he couldn’t be totally indifferent to everything...

The man-eating fish was really very tasty, but all of them had been boiled every single time, and other than salt, there were no other seasonings, so it started to taste very commonplace as he ate more of it.

Zhou Ji began to miss chili peppers. It was too bad that he hadn’t managed to find any near the tribe.

It was still early after they finished dinner, so Zhou Ji listened as Xiong Ye recounted his adventures from the day.

Xiong Ye enthusiastically spoke a lot. After finishing his account of what had happened, he asked Zhou Ji, “What about you? What did you do today?”

“I found some edible plants around the tribe.” Zhou Ji said, then took out a plant and gave it to Xiong Ye, “Try it.”

Xiong Ye felt rather helpless as he ate some; Zhou Ji really liked to feed him grass!

He really didn’t like the taste of grass, but this was a token of Zhou Ji’s care, and he might as well eat it.

After Xiong Ye chomped on some grass, Zhou Ji sent him to bed.

The plant he had given to Xiong Ye contained energy. He wanted Xiong Ye to sleep early, so that he could help Xiong Ye sort through that energy.

The two of them closed the door to their cave and went to sleep. Xiong Ye fell asleep quickly, and when Zhou Ji saw that he was sleeping, he got up and began to help Xiong Ye absorb the energy into his body.

As he sorted and guided... Zhou Ji began to develop some ideas on how to get Xiong Ye to absorb this energy on his own.

He didn’t want to wreck this world’s food chain–If all beastmen became incredibly powerful, this planet’s ecology might be destroyed.

But it wouldn’t be a big deal if he just made Xiong Ye strong.

Zhou Ji simply helped Xiong Ye sort out and absorb the energy, then laid down in his own bed and prepared to go to sleep.

However, he was startled awake as soon as he managed to dip into sleep–Someone had come to the entrance of the cave where he and Xiong Ye lived.

Zhou Ji’s eyebrows immediately drew together into a frown.

He was unaccustomed to having people around him, and the sudden appearance of a person nearby made him very unhappy.

He spread out his spiritual power, then discovered that the person standing there was Shi Li. Shi Li hesitated for a moment at the entrance to the cave, then abruptly began to knock on the door. “Xiong Ye!”

Shi Li’s voice wasn’t very loud, but Xiong Ye hadn’t eaten any calming herbs, and Zhou Ji hadn’t deliberately made use of his spiritual powers to soothe him... He woke up immediately. “Who is it?”

“It’s me.” Shi Li said.

Xiong Ye frowned and got up. He was disgruntled as he opened the door and looked at Shi Li, “What did you come here for?” It was already late at night. What had Shi Li come for? He was going to wake Zhou Ji up with this noise!

“Xiong Ye, I’m sorry.” Shi Li said.

Xiong Ye was very impatient with him, “What are you telling me this for?”

“Xiong Ye, I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have gone back on my word, and I shouldn’t have gotten together with Lang Yin... In fact, the person I’ve always liked was you. I only like you...” Shi Li’s expression was full of repentance.

Perhaps Xiong Ye would have felt a little moved if Shi Li had spoken words like these a few days earlier, but now... “It’s alright. I forgive you.” There was nothing between him and Shi Li now. He had already let it go.

“Xiong Ye, I know that you still have me in your heart. Are you willing to get back together with me again?” Shi Li looked at Xiong Ye excitedly.

“No. I’m going to become mates with Zhou Ji.” Xiong Ye said.

“Zhou Ji is so weak. Are you sure you want to become mates with him?” Shi Li said, “Xiong Ye, I’m the only one who would suit you best. We’ve been together for so long!”

“Keep your voice down...” Xiong Ye was unhappy now.

Shi Li didn’t lower his voice at all. “Xiong Ye, as long as you’re with me, you will obtain the most supreme glory in the future. You definitely won’t regret it!” As he spoke, he tried to reach out and embrace Xiong Ye to give him a kiss.

This was something they had often done in his memories.

However, during this time period... They had never been intimate before. Let alone, at this moment, Xiong Ye was really disgusted with Shi Li.

Xiong Ye was caught by surprise and instinctively pushed him away hard in rejection.

The energy in his body had not yet been fully absorbed, and during this push, he unknowingly made use of the excess energy. He actually threw Shi Li backwards so abruptly that he fell off the narrow platform outside his cave door.

Xiong Ye was shocked.

Zhou Ji, who was very angry and had just been about to use his spiritual powers to teach Shi Li a lesson: “......”

He heard a ‘thump’ sound. Shi Li had probably taken quite a fall, right?

Juurensha: Shi Li, it’s too late, even if you feel bad! Xiong Ye has found someone who really likes him and only him!

xiin: heheheheheee he fellll (and ZJ’s jealousy is showing)~