RPS – Chapter 75 Injured Again

After a warm and comfortable winter spent “hibernating like cats,” the tribe finally began preparing to hunt again. The entire winter had been spent amidst heavy snow and bitter cold, so there had been almost no hunting. First, because there weren’t many animals around during the winter to hunt; second, because food reserves were sufficient, and no one in the tribe wanted to risk being attacked by wild beasts. So today could be considered the first hunt of spring, and both Li and Bu were finally able to release the energy they had built up over the long winter.

Although most of the vegetation in the forest hadn’t yet sprouted, some animals had already come out to forage. After a winter of snow cover, the traps they had previously dug had long since been destroyed by falling leaves, rain, and erosion. Now they needed to set them up all over again.

So, part of the group went to dig traps, while the rest scouted the surrounding area for any signs of danger—this latter task was assigned to Li and Bu. It had been a long time since either of them had gone hunting, and in the barren forest, their former passion for the hunt was reignited. After confidently surveying the area and confirming nothing seemed out of the ordinary, they saw that the others were nearly done setting up the traps. Since everyone was already familiar with the work, it went quickly.

There didn’t seem to be any signs of large prey nearby, so the group decided to head further into the forest, hoping to find more food. After all, the winter had depleted everyone’s stores, and every household needed to replenish supplies. All of them were experienced hunters—not exactly experts at tracking, but knowledgeable enough to recognize about seventy or eighty percent of the signs animals left behind in the woods. That way, they could avoid encounters with large predators, which could be fatal.

As usual, they stopped to check their surroundings with each step, evaluating whether to keep going or if there were any signs of game worth pursuing. After all, hunting was their goal.

However, this time they miscalculated. The area was full of dry, brittle branches, half-rotted weeds, and tangled vines. Everyone moved cautiously. Even though this season wasn’t known for snakes, the underbrush still obscured many traces left by animals. Li Feng was in the lead, clearing the path with a wooden spear in one hand—which doubled as both a weapon and a tool—and a stone knife in the other. Behind him followed a line of tribesmen. Just as Li Feng was focusing on clearing the path, the ground suddenly gave way beneath him, and he plummeted downward.

Li reacted quickly. He held the spear horizontally across his chest, trying to brace himself to avoid falling further. Unfortunately, the force of the fall was too strong. The spear only held for a moment before snapping in two. Still, that brief resistance slowed his descent a bit—had he fallen straight down without pause, he might not have survived or would’ve been severely injured.

Bu, who was right behind him, lunged forward the moment he saw Li fall, trying to grab him while shouting, “Li—!” But it was too late. He didn’t even get a chance to touch him before Li had already disappeared into the hole. Several others who were walking closely behind also didn’t have time to stop, especially since those behind them were pushing forward. As a result, several more people fell in. A chorus of alarmed shouts rang out, followed by a series of heavy thuds—thud thud thud…—the sounds of bodies hitting the ground. No one knew what condition they were in—alive or dead?

The rest of the tribe saw where they had fallen. It was a deep pit, completely hidden beneath layers of dead leaves and decaying grass. There had been no way to see it coming, especially in these trackless mountain woods—no one could’ve predicted a hole would suddenly appear.

“Li! Li! Can you hear me? Are you okay?” Bu crouched by the edge of the hole, peering inside, trying to spot any movement. But the interior was pitch black; he couldn’t see a thing. All he could do was shout loudly and hope they were alright. He had no idea how deep the hole went.

“I’m okay!” Li finally managed to climb up from the ground, rubbing his chest and spitting out a mouthful of blood. He wiped his mouth, held a hand to his chest, took a deep breath, and shouted toward Bu at the top of the hole. He didn’t want to make them too worried. Then he tried stretching his legs—thankfully, they weren’t broken. He was just badly bruised, and the pain had left him unable to get up for a while. It felt like his whole body had fallen apart. The pain inside was excruciating too. Still, he was lucky—none of his bones were broken, and he owed that to the spear that had slowed his fall.

However, the other clan members who fell weren’t so lucky. They were all groaning in pain. Li hurried over to check on them. Including himself, a total of seven people had fallen. Four of them had fainted and were crushed under the two who remained conscious. Fortunately, none of them had died. It was unclear whether their bones were broken or not, but looking at how the four were pressed beneath the others, it seemed almost impossible that none of their bones were broken.

They probably didn’t slow down at all during the fall. With such a powerful impact and the added weight of two people on top of them, the four had lost consciousness instantly. Li Feng didn’t know how to rescue them, so he could only ask the two who were still awake to quickly help move the four aside. They had to be careful. Although the two on top didn’t seem to have broken arms or legs, the four below had definitely suffered misfortune—an accident completely out of the blue.

“Four people have fainted, and they might have broken bones. The other two are fine,” Li quickly shouted to the people above. He was alright himself, but there were still injured people below.

Hearing Li’s update, the clansmen and Bu above, who had just relaxed a little, immediately tensed up again. The clan chief also quickly came over and lay by the edge of the hole to look down. Hearing that Li could still speak, and that the others, though unconscious, were still alive, he let out a slight sigh of relief. They had just started this journey—nothing could go wrong now.

Looking at the depth of the hole, the chief immediately instructed the clansmen to find strong vines, or belts, or animal hide straps from around their waists or legs. He told them to tie them together to pull Li and the others back up.

“Chief, something feels wrong here. It seems like…” Li was trying to tell the chief what this hole might be used for, based on the faint light filtering through the hole and the smell inside. He had just started speaking when he noticed that the sounds from above had suddenly changed—chaotic noises, clansmen shouting in alarm, and a particularly loud sound: the roar of a beast.

His heart immediately sank. That roar—it must be a bear. When he had just fallen, he hadn’t realized it, but now he could clearly smell it—that pungent, foul stench unique to bears.

He became anxious and wanted to climb back up, but the hole was too deep and he had nowhere to grip. He couldn’t figure out how such a large, clumsy black bear could have climbed up either. Of course, that was just Li’s assumption that bears were clumsy—but now was not the time to ponder such things. The cave was still pitch-black, and he didn’t dare go deeper in, unsure if there were more bears inside. If there were, they’d be in real danger. He didn’t believe he could kill a starving bear that hadn’t eaten all winter.

But there was no use panicking now. He had no idea what was happening above. There were many clansmen up there—they should be able to handle it, right? But this was a black bear. Their wooden spears and stone knives wouldn’t do much against its thick hide. Even if they had numbers, could they really handle it? Li was extremely worried. He wanted to call out but was afraid of distracting them. All he could do was endure and stay alert, in case another bear came out of the cave.

Just as Li Feng had suspected, their weapons couldn’t do much damage to the bear’s thick hide. Instead, several clansmen were clawed or knocked unconscious. The others surrounded the bear but didn’t dare approach—they couldn’t find a weak spot. But their inaction didn’t mean the bear wouldn’t attack. Having gone through a hungry winter and now seeing so many people around its den, the black bear was enraged. It roared furiously and stood up on its hind legs, towering over everyone.

Li’s guess was only half right. It wasn’t just one black bear—there were two. Possibly a pair. Both were extremely irritable, especially after the clansmen retaliated, which only provoked them further. Their attacks were now clearly deadly.

The clan chief, holding a wooden spear, waited for the right moment to stab at the bear’s eyes—the only weak and vulnerable part. He instructed the others to throw large stones at the bears. While they couldn’t kill them that way, they could at least hinder their movements and tire them out. If he could stab the bear in the eye, then while it was blind and in pain, they could hack its head with stone knives or heavy rocks.

The chief’s plan was solid, and the clansmen were experienced hunters who coordinated well. They split into two groups, each distracting one bear. Originally, they hadn’t intended to hunt large beasts, but now they had no choice. Finally, Bu and the chief Zheng found the right opportunity and simultaneously stabbed one of the bear’s eyes with their spears. The pain and blindness made the bear even more frenzied. It flailed and charged wildly. The other bear, sensing this, also became furious and charged at the group surrounding Bu.

At this moment, the other group of clansmen also took the chance to stab their bear with spears while it was enraged. Eventually, after several clansmen were injured—some clawed, some knocked out—the second bear was also blinded. Two raging black bears were incredibly dangerous. What’s more, they absolutely could not be allowed to go down into the hole—if that happened, Li would be doomed. So the clansmen had to lure the bears away.

But humans were no match for the strength and explosive power of black bears. Bu and Ka couldn’t dodge in time and were directly caught by the bears’ claws. The bears’ sharp claws sank in—

Their bodies were nearly torn apart, with the flesh almost ripped from their bones. The black bear had even swiped at them several times before finally dragging them over. Both of them were struck so hard they coughed up blood. The chieftain watched as the two of them were about to have their throats ripped open by the black bear, and quickly ordered the stunned tribesmen nearby to divert the bear’s attention—anger it, distract it, make it let go of Ka and Bu and come after them instead.

But for some reason, when the bear had appeared earlier, the tribesmen had all scattered in order to draw it into the denser parts of the forest and especially to keep it away from the cave entrance. As a result, there weren’t many people left near the bear now. The chieftain and the others wanted to rush over to lure the bear away, but it was too late. They could only shout loudly, urging the few nearby people to draw its attention.

In the end, the few people nearby froze for a moment. Then they hesitated, intending to move—but the bear’s enraged roar and its wildly swinging claws made them afraid to get close. A few of them even stepped back. Getting caught by the bear would be fatal, especially in its berserk state—it had completely lost all reason and could kill in an instant. So those people hesitated again.

In such moments, time equals life. That brief hesitation was enough to put Ka and Bu in mortal danger. Fortunately, more tribesmen quickly arrived, throwing the stones in their hands and the stone knives from the ground directly at the black bear. At this point, they no longer cared whether they might hit Ka and Bu—after all, what could be more dangerous than being in the bear’s grasp?

Sure enough, the bear was hit in the head and body. With a furious snarl, it flung the two men from its claws like sandbags. They were about to crash into a tree when the other tribesmen caught them just in time, though the momentum knocked over a large group of people.

They quickly turned Ka and Bu over to check their condition. The two had long since fallen unconscious, their bodies covered in blood, with frothy blood bubbling from their mouths. The tribesmen were terrified—could they still survive like this? But since they were still alive, they had to be protected. The tribesmen quickly set them aside. Killing the black bear was now the top priority.

No matter how fierce the bears were, they couldn’t withstand the attrition warfare of so many tribesmen, who relentlessly hacked and stabbed with stone knives and wooden spears. Eventually, the two black bears were slain—but at a very heavy cost. The tribesmen all let out a long sigh of relief. Some even collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, finally able to rest.

The chieftain, Zheng, walked up to the few tribesmen who had hesitated earlier and said, “You all… we’ll talk once we’re back!” Then he went straight to the unconscious Ka and Bu.

Inside the cave, Li and the others were also pulled up by the rest of the tribe. The four who were unconscious were still out cold. Li had tied them up below so that the people above could haul them up. Though their bones might be broken, there was nothing else to be done—getting them up first was the only option.

Li was the last to be pulled up. Clutching his chest carefully, his throat itched and he kept wanting to cough. He had held it in the whole time below, afraid to distract the people above. But once he got up, he couldn’t hold back anymore and suddenly began coughing violently.

At first, he thought it was nothing serious—but then he felt a warm, metallic-tasting liquid gush from his mouth uncontrollably. It spilled from the corner of his lips. When he looked down, he vomited a mouthful of bright red blood that splattered on the animal hide across his chest and the ground. A sharp pain radiated through his chest, each wave worse than the last. Finally, having endured to the limit, he collapsed unconscious.

Though this outing had yielded two black bears and a few small animals caught in traps—including some wild chickens—it was still a bitter victory. More people were injured than expected. Seven were unconscious, and there were many other injuries large and small. They needed to return to the tribe immediately. The chieftain’s expression remained dark and heavy.

What was even more unexpected was that on the way back, the chieftain made a decision—there had to be reform in the tribe.

After a comfortable winter of rest, many people had become lazy, timid, or increasingly opportunistic. When danger arose, they preferred to push others forward. After all, the prey would be shared equally in the end. This had led to people slacking off. An entire winter had changed them so much. Everyone wanted the good stuff, but when danger struck, they retreated. That was a terrible sign.

Especially when Ka and Bu were in danger, Zheng had clearly ordered the others to act. Yet they hesitated and backed away instead, directly resulting in Ka and Bu’s more serious injuries.

But Zheng didn’t voice these thoughts. He just made the decision in his heart. Hunting had only just begun; he would wait and observe further. If things didn’t improve and people became even more greedy and lazy, then private ownership would have to be implemented.

If only possessing one’s own goods could drive people to work harder, then such reforms were necessary.

In fact, ever since Li Feng had started bartering meat for wheat seeds, Zheng had realized something. This kind of exchange seemed simple, but if promoted widely, it would be a significant advancement. Private ownership would allow everyone to exchange their surplus for what they needed, encouraging more effort in hunting, gathering food, and improving their lives.

People in the tribe were already becoming aware of this, especially after the incident where Li Feng exchanged meat for wheat. The idea of trading was accepted—but the premise was that the traded goods had to belong to the person.

Also, this winter, no household starved to death. Everyone had enough food stored. For those who didn’t have enough, food was fairly redistributed. Even Li Feng’s family had butchered some exposed animals to help supplement others.

At the time, some people were unhappy. After all, the food had been given to them by fair distribution. Why should those who didn’t have enough get more? If they ran out, wasn’t it just because they had eaten too much? Everyone got the same amount—why share?

Though these thoughts existed, no one voiced them. Public ownership had been the norm for so long, and everyone was close. But Zheng knew—deep down, they probably longed for private ownership too. Especially the hardworking families who knew how to manage their lives—their food was distributed and consumed reasonably. Unlike some others who still ran out despite fair distribution?

With these thoughts in mind, Zheng resolved that once everyone recovered, he would announce the change. But until then, the able-bodied tribesmen still had to go hunting—especially since he had to prove that his decision was right.

Among the tribe’s warriors, there could be no room for lazy people enjoying the fruits of others’ labor.

After making this decision, the darkness on Zheng’s face finally eased a little. He quickly ordered the wounded to be taken home, and for their injuries to be treated using the methods Li Feng had taught them.

When Li and Bu were carried back, covered in blood, Li Feng had originally wanted to proudly tell Li that the baby had learned to say “Papa.” His smile at the door was bright and cheerful—until he saw their condition.

That smile froze at the corners of his lips.