"We can dig them out now," Ye Xi announced.
Before Ye Xi could stand up, Awl impatiently lunged forward, his butt thrusting into the air as he clawed at the dirt.
Ye Xi's jaw dropped.
Awl moved with incredible speed, and it wasn't long before he had dug out a sweet potato.
The bright sweet potatoes were plump, simple, and cute. Right out of the oven, they were still very hot, and Awl hissed and gasped as his hands were scalded, but he refused to let the sweet potato go, constantly tossing it from hand to hand like he was juggling.
"Ssst! This thing tastes rather good, but you said it's even better when cooked, so I want to try for myself."
Not caring if he scalded his mouth and not even peeling off the skin, he took a big bite.
"Ssst! Ssst! Hot! Hot! Tasty! Delicious!" Awl mumbled out from his stuffed mouth.
"…"
"These are easy to peel once they're cooked," Ye Xi kindly advised.
"Oh, oh," Awl mumbled out, and then he took another big bite.
Ye Xi placed a hand on his forehead. Fine, cavemen didn't care that much. He probably needed to get used to this.
Ye Xi looked at the others and called out to them, "The rest of you, eat too."
As these were Ye Xi's sweet potatoes, no one was as shameless as Awl as to touch them, but when Ye Xi called out, a child was the first to run out and start digging at the dirt.
"It's fine. Eat." Ye Xi had just eaten Courage's meat, so he was in no mood to be petty.
The others dropped the pretense and began to dig out the sweet potatoes.
These sweet potatoes were not large, but each plant had many tubers, enough for everyone.
"Mm, delicious! So sweet."
Everyone was very satisfied as they ate.
Ye Xi also took a sweet potato, peeled it, and began to eat.
As he had the boar meat filling his belly, Ye Xi did not wolf the sweet potato down, but slowly took bites from it. At this time, he spotted two women looking at him from nearby.
He recognized these two women. They were Wolftooth Tribe members who had been captured with him. One was called Pheasant Eye and the other was called Quetzal. In his memories, they had not helped Loose Grass, but they had also not bullied him.
The two of them were hesitantly looking at Ye Xi, apparently too afraid to go over.
Ye Xi finished off the rest of the sweet potato, stood up, and walked over to them. "You were looking for me?" he bluntly asked.
Pheasant Eye kicked at the dirt and stammered, "Loose Grass, how did you become the disciple of a shaman?"
In her memories, Loose Grass was just a kid who had lost his parents and spent all day filthy and hungry. All of a sudden, he had become a shaman's disciple.
Quetzal hastily struck Pheasant Eye on the arm and softly chided, "Why do you call him Loose Grass? He's now called Ye Xi."
Ye Xi awkwardly chuckled. "It was the honored shaman who changed it for me."
He no longer needed to worry about the problem of his name. He just needed to push the responsibility onto the made-up shaman.
Pheasant Eye and Quetzal were enlightened. No wonder! So it was the shaman who taught him that changed his name!
Quetzal was a straightforward person, not as shy as Pheasant Eye. "We want to thank you. Thanks to you, we don't have to be slaves. Otherwise, we might have ended up eaten one day."
The slaves of the tribe were not considered people. Rather, they were livestock similar to pigs or sheep.
Women had it somewhat better. They were left to bear children. But if the tribe was truly lacking in food, they might also be killed.
Ye Xi shook his head, indicating that it wasn't a big deal.
Pheasant Eye sorrowfully said, "We're the only three left of the Wolftooth Tribe. We have to live well."
Ye Xi fell silent.
He had no idea what sort of tragic fate those Wolftooth members captured by the Blackpond Tribe had faced.
Nor did he know what the Blackpond Tribe that had destroyed the Wolftooth Tribe was like.
After exchanging a few more words, the three of them had nothing left to say. Pheasant Eye and Quetzal bid farewell, and Ye Xi returned to his own group.
By the fire, the tribe members were contentedly eating, and the mood was joyful and harmonious.
Two women excitedly talked as they ate. "I hear that this sweet potato is very easy to dig up. Tomorrow, let's go and dig some more up."
"Mm! Mm!" The woman beside her agreed as she ate. It was fine as long as they had something to fill the stomach! A full belly felt truly wonderful!
"Ka! Kaka!" A young boy who was eating too quickly choked on his food, and he went red in the face. A woman next to him was constantly slapping him on the back, but the boy continued to cough fiercely, seeming to struggle for breath.
"Just give him a little water," Ye Xi said to the boy's mother.
Sweet potatoes could not be eaten too quickly, and by eating them with water, one could avoid choking. This was common knowledge in the modern world.
But the tribe members did not know or care, and they were also just too hungry. Ye Xi had also forgotten to warn them.
The woman worriedly shook her head.
Courage explained, "There's no need to waste water. Blood is enough."
At this time, a man came over with a creature that looked like a mix of a wild rabbit and mouse. It was still alive, screeching and struggling in the man's hand.
Most blood congealed easily after leaving the body, so the tribe normally killed and drank on the spot so as to not waste blood.
The man swept a stone knife across the animal's neck and then moved the wound toward the boy's mouth.
The boy held the small creature and greedily drank the blood. Gulp! Gulp! After several mouthfuls of hot blood, he finally stopped coughing.
Ye Xi asked Courage, "Is drinking water very wasteful?"
The memories Ye Xi had received were not complete, and there were gaps in his common knowledge.
He had believed the tribe had not given him water because he was a slave, not that the entire tribe was lacking water.
Courage glanced at Ye Xi in surprise. After a few moments, he explained.
"Getting water is too dangerous. There are far too many terrifying water beasts in the lake. In order to reduce losses, we naturally just drink blood if we can."
Courage did not wonder why Ye Xi asked such common-sense questions. From the moment they had accepted Ye Xi as a member of the tribe, the tribe members would no longer doubt him. Seizing him by the neck would never occur again.
"There's a lake near the tribe?"
"Mm, but it doesn't matter how close the lake is. It's too dangerous."
Ye Xi pensively frowned. If they didn't dare to get water because of the beasts in the lake, was there a way to solve that? He needed to solve the problem, as he wouldn't be able to stand not drinking water forever.
After dinner, darkness descended.
The cave was also dark.
The chief held a torch in the front while Ye Xi followed behind, carrying his food.
In the blink of an eye, Ye Xi had become the shaman's disciple, so his sleeping place had changed. He no longer needed to sleep next to the cave entrance.
Many people in the cave had already laid out their bedding and were ready to sleep.
At a glance, the cave seemed like a dormitory.
The chief confidently paced forward, raising the torch as he led Ye Xi past the others.
Borrowing the light of the flickering flame, Ye Xi was able to carefully avoid bumping into any of the people on the ground.
Even when he could no longer see people sleeping on the ground, the chief showed no sign of stopping and continued to lead him deeper into the cave.
The cave twisted and turned, and not a ray of light could get in. Without the torch, he wouldn't even be able to see his own fingers.
Ye Xi was rather astonished. Given how large the mountain was, he had predicted that this cave would go rather deep, but not this deep. The Mud Mountain Tribe had many Warriors, but to excavate such a large cave… this project was still unimaginable.
After they passed through a narrow part of the cave, the cave began to open up.
In front of them was a massive circular chamber. With the light of the torch, he could see five dark holes in the wall.
The chief led him to one of the caves.
The entrance was only large enough for one person to go through, but inside was much larger.
Chief: "Level 2 Warriors and above in the tribe all have their own caves. You are the shaman's disciple, with a special status, so you also have your own cave. From now on, this place will be yours."
Ye Xi said nothing as he looked around at the cave.
This cave was spacious, with an area of ten square meters and a height of 2.5 meters.
Ye Xi pondered whether the ceiling was so high out of consideration for the abnormal body heights of Warriors. Courage was two meters tall, and if the ceiling of the caves weren't high enough, the Warriors would definitely find it uncomfortable to live in them.
"Thank you. This place is very good."
He thought that he would get his own place in the cave, but he hadn't expected it to be his own cave. This was truly a pleasant surprise.
"Wait a moment. I will get some beast hides for you."
Ye Xi nodded. The chief left with the torch, and the cave was instantly plunged into darkness.
Ye Xi groped in the darkness and placed his food in a corner.
After a little while, the chief returned with two beast hides.
"This is the hide of a Bristle Beast, for placing on the ground. This is the hide of a Deerhorn Rabbit. It's softer and is meant to cover you and keep you warm."
Ye Xi took the beast hides.
The beast hides were thick and soft, and they smelled like sunlight. It was clear that they had been handled well.
Ye Xi spread out the Bristle Beast hide on the ground.
Only after spreading it out did he realize how big it was, with a length and width of two meters. Ye Xi couldn't help but click his tongue. This was a complete hide, and just how large was the beast that had been skinned for it?! At least the tigers and bears he knew could not produce such large hides.
The Deerhorn Rabbit hide was white and felt abnormally glossy and smooth to touch, even more than the furs of the modern world which had gone through complicated treatments. This hide was a little smaller, but it could cover his entire body without a doubt.
Even prehistoric rabbits grew this large…
"Thank you, chief."
Seeing that Ye Xi was satisfied, the chief nodded. "Then I will take my leave. If you need anything, just call for me."
"Very well."
Once the chief left, the cave was plunged back into darkness.
Ye Xi groped in the darkness and lay down on the beast hide.
It was soft and comfortable, and his body sank into it.
He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. After so long, his eyes had adapted to the darkness, but he still only saw pitch-black darkness.
This cave was where he would rest his body in this prehistoric jungle… Ye Xi mused.
It was undoubtedly very dangerous outside the cave, but he was currently very safe.
Although it was an abnormally crude dwelling, this was the first time since he had come to this vicious world that he felt a sliver of safety.