Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 080
Chapter 80
Chen Qi’s heart froze for a moment, and a bad premonition surged up. The little wolf cub leaped forward and jumped into Chen Qi’s arms. After feeling safe, it turned and bared its teeth at the thing in the hole, making a threatening growl in his throat.
Chen Qi didn’t have the strength to go near the mouth of the hole to see what was there. When he found out something was wrong, he did not hesitate. Holding the little wolf cub in one hand and grabbing Ajing’s arm with the other, he ran towards home. They were close to the front door but such a distance was still long enough for the monster in the hole to crawl out and eat him.
“Aze! Aze!” Chen Qi shouted towards the wall. He knew Aze was nearby.
A gray-silver figure sprang out from the dark hole, and a pair of deeply cold colored beast pupils staring directly at Chen Qi. The hunger in its belly was making it extremely anxious, when it saw the prey in front of it trying to escape, its companion’s warnings had long been tossed to the back of its mind and it rushed towards Chen Qi with a roar.
As he ran, Chen Qi split his attention to watch the situation behind him. Feeling an approaching gust of air, Chen Qi directly hugged Ajing into his arms and rolled on the spot to avoid the beast’s attack. Looking closely, Chen Qi found that what pounced towards him turned out to be a newly of age male hyena-drake.
How could a hyena-drake appear here? Were hyena-drakes creatures that would burrow? Then what was the point of working so hard to build the wall?
Chen Qi could not afford to think about it right now. Having missed the pounce, the hyena-drake turned and made more ruthless efforts, rushing towards Chen Qi again. It had to make sure that it would tear up this prey that dared to escape from its sharp claws.
Chen Qi let go of Ajing and thrust the little wolf cub into Ajing’s arms. The little wolf cub continued to bark at the hyena-drake as if it was unaware of the danger, bearing a posture that appeared ready to rush out desperately at any time.
Chen Qi pulled off two branches that had been inserted on the snowman as arms and held them in his hands, keeping a close eye on the hyena-drake’s eyes. As long as the hyena-drake dared to jump over, if he wanted to have a glimmer of hope to escape, he had to insert the two branches into its eyes to do some damage to it.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
At this time, even if he couldn’t beat the hyena-drake, he must not let fear cause his inactions. He had already failed to escape once. Once he turned around to run again, he would only be buried under the hyena-drake’s claws. He could only try his best to calm himself down and just last long enough until Aze arrived.
The hyena-drake’s attack came very quickly. Chen Qi’s muscles were tensed and he was ready to fight with the hyena-drake. At the moment when its claws were about to touch Chen Qi, a vigorous figure fell from the sky, grabbing hold of its thick tail and with a burst of strength, hurled the hyena-drake up into the air, letting it fall heavily into a snowman pile not far away.
“Aze.” Chen Qi felt relieved upon seeing the familiar figure appear in front of him.
Aze didn’t make further attacks. He immediately turned around after the hyena-drake fell, threw Chen Qi on his back, grabbed Ajing with one hand, and quickly ran to the foot of the wall, then climbed up the wooden ladder hanging along the wall. As he climbed, a sound like wolf howl came out of his throat. Chen Qi knew that Aze was calling out a warning to the people who were still in the house.
After reaching the top of the wall, Aze put Chen Qi down and took off his cloak to drape it over his body. His face was solemn, but he still comforted Chen Qi and said, “It’s okay now.”
Chen Qi crouched down to soothe Ajing’s mood. Probably because Ajing had been injured by hyena-drakes before, after coming into close contact with one now, his hands and feet were ice-cold, his little face was pale and he was completely stiff, not knowing what he should be doing.
Chen Qi took him into his arms, distressed, and stroked his back, one smooth stroke after another, to help him calm his already messy breathing. “It’s okay now, it’s okay. Don’t be afraid. I will protect Ajing, and Aze will also protect Ajing. Don’t worry.”
After being comforted, Ajing’s emotions also gradually calmed down. The little wolf cub probably also felt the change in Ajing and let out its small tongue to lick his fingers for comfort.
When he recovered, Ajing remembered his shameful performance just now. He lowered his head and did not dare to look at Chen Qi. He only murmured an apology, “I’m sorry.” He should have stood in front of Chen Qi to protect him, but unexpectedly, Chen Qi had protected him instead.
It was not long before Azhang and Ake also climbed up the wall, carrying Ali and Ka Luo on their backs, respectively. As soon as they gathered, Azhang anxiously asked, “How did the hyena-drakes get in?”
Aze had been staring at the movements of the male hyena-drake that had attacked Chen Qi. At the moment, the hyena-drake had already gotten back up. It was protected by hard scales. So while the fall looked serious, it was, in fact, no more than a tickle to it.
Hearing Azhang’s question, Chen Qi walked to the wall and pointed to the dark hole hidden in the snowman pile. “It emerged from over there. There was also a white animal, very similar to the color of snow.”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Everyone looked in the direction Chen Qi’s finger was pointing at and saw that there was something fluffy next to the entrance of the hole. If it weren’t for the color of its limbs and claws being distinctly different, and that the surrounding snow in the area had been piled up into strangely shaped snowmen by the beast people yesterday, the mass of white fluff was so motionless that it couldn’t be found at all without looking closely.
“It’s actually a snow bear.” Ka Luo exclaimed loudly.
As known by all, the snow bears were the only indigenous species on the plains that did not follow the large migration army. However, they almost always only appear on the plains at the first snow in order to find a mate. They usually live in caves almost all year round and feed on insects, plant roots, and the like, in the soil.
Moreover, their burrowing skill was the best amongst all the cave-dwelling creatures on the plains. Although their speed was very slow, they could silently approach any place they wanted to approach, and you may not have found its existence even if you had been t their neighbor for a few years. The beastmen never imagined that there would be a snow bear near the place where they lived.
After just a little while, another hyena-drake appeared at the entrance of the hole. This hyena-drake looked a bit stronger than the first one, but its shriveled belly showed that this hyena-drake was also starving. It had a ferocious scar from its right eye to his nose. When walking, its left hind leg obviously moved unnaturally and it needed the support of its tail to move around flexibly.
This was a female hyena-drake that had gradually grown from its prime to its old age. Even so, in terms of momentum, it was still much stronger than the male hyena-drake that had just attacked.
The female hyena-drake walked up to the male hyena-drake, who had just gotten up, and opened its mouth to let out a loud roar. If the beast people could’ve understood the hyena-drake’s language, they would’ve found that the female hyena-drake was scolding the male hyena-drake. It had originally intended to secretly take care of the beastmen. Unexpectedly, after they finally broke an opening to the tunnel, this stupid guy ruined everything.
After the roar, the female hyena-drake looked up at the beastmen on the wall. Its eyes slightly narrowed and it raised its head and let out a loud scream. The beastmen’s faces turned cold. This was the hyena-drakes signal to summon its companions.
“Ka Luo, take Ayao, Ajing and Chen Qi to hide in the watchtower.” Ake handed the little female to Ka Luo.
Chen Qi shook his head and pushed Ajing to Ka Luo’s side. “Just take Ajing with you. I might be able to help if I stay here.”
“No, you don’t have the fighting power to beat the hyena-drakes. We can’t take care of you if you stay here.” Azhang disagreed.
“It’s okay. Chen Qi knows more than we do. Maybe staying here can really help.” Aze explained. In fact, he didn’t want Chen Qi to stay either, but based on his understanding of Chen Qi, since he said that he wanted to stay, he naturally had his own ideas. Also, Chen Qi staying in a place where he could see made him feel more at ease. Even just staying on top of the wall, this height was enough to keep Chen Qi safe.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Since Aze agreed to Chen Qi’s staying, Azhang naturally did not insist for Chen Qi to leave, “I’ll go around to see if there are any other hyena-drakes.” Just now, the female hyena-drake’s shriek had him very concerned. They were still fine if it was only a few lone hyena-drakes that had been driven out of the hyena-drake group. But it’d be a different story if there was an entire group of hyena-drakes lurking nearby.
Aze obviously thought of this point too. “Since the wooly snow bear could bring the hyena-drakes in here, there should be another entrance on the outside. The hyena-drakes would not leave themselves without a path to retreat. So please pay attention to where that other tunnel exit is.”
Azhang nodded and flipped himself over and the wall from the other side. He was wearing a white cloak so after a few bounds and leaps, he completely blended into white field of snow and his figure could no longer be seen.
Ajing tightly grasped Chen Qi’s sleeve and apparently didn’t want to hide himself in a safe place. He was also a female and had the ability to fight.
“Ajing, can you help me protect Ka Luo and Ayao?” Ake crouched down and looked directly at Ajing. Since the hyena-drakes had brought on a solemn look onto Ake’s face, his request at this time gave off the sense of seriousness, as if he was seriously asking for help.
“Ajing, take Little Wolf to the watchtower too. It’s now your task to protect Little Wolf, Ka Luo and the little female.” Chen Qi patted Ajing’s little head and persuaded him.
Ajing looked up at Chen Qi, still a little hesitant. Ka Luo came over and grabbed his little hand, pulling him along. “I’ll be depending on you to take care of me. Let’s go. Don’t disturb them to drive those hyena-drakes away.”
Although Ajing was still a little reluctant, he did not resist anymore. Although he was young, after being under Chen Qi’s care during this period, he also knew that staying here would only hinder them. If only he could become stronger. Ajing couldn’t help hugging the little wolf cub tighter. “Little Wolf, let’s get stronger together.”
“Awoo.”
After a third hyena-drake came out of the dark hole, there was no more movement for a long time. The male hyena-drake that broke in at the beginning saw that there was no way to reach the beastmen on the wall. After turning around violently in place a few times, it ran directly to the houses and knocked open the doors of several houses. As they rummaged through the house, Chen Qi seemed to hear the sound of pottery breaking from this far away. With blood dripping from his heart, his eyes became fierce as he looked at the hyena-drakes.
“Aze, do hyena-drakes usually use the power of the snow bears to attack tribes?” Chen Qi had been puzzled about this. As far as he knew, the animals here, whether ordinary animals or dragons, were not very intelligent beings. It should have been impossible for this kind of situation where they attacked with the help of other animals. Otherwise, the Rock-Mountain Tribe that lived so close to the forest would have long been wiped out and would not have been able to survive until Chen Qi’s arrival.
Aze shook his head. “Snow bears are very timid. It is impossible for them to take the initiative to approach a place where beastmen live. I’m afraid this snow bear was threatened by the hyena-drakes.”
“…” That the hyena-drakes would know how to threaten the snow bear, Chen Qi’s heart sank. This meant that these few hyena-drakes had a certain amount of wisdom, causing their threat level to escalate as well.
The white snow bear covered its eyes with its front paws. It did not dare to raise its head to look at the situation around it. Its head was buried in the snow the whole time. Chen Qi could not see the snow bear’s appearance and thought that this fluffy thing was practically integrated with the snow.
The female hyena-drake allowed the other two hyena-drakes to rampage through the few houses. It laid down slightly to relieve the burden on its left foot. Its eyes narrowed slightly, and it kept an eye on the situation of the beast people on the wall. Its eyes were full of greed and determination. Beastmen, unlike them, would naturally obediently come down after a few days of hunger. It had enough patience to wait.
The female hyena-drake stuck out its tongue and licked the corners of its mouth, as if it was already overflowing with the delicious taste of the beastmen.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Next chapter is 2x length. May be 2 parts. I say may because I haven’t decided if I should be evil and cut the long chapter in half even when there’s no nice half way point that isn’t a cliffy… Convince the editor and proofreader to a non-cliffy!
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomNight73
Proofreader: Yume
Editor stepping into the realm of MTL translating, starting with CLWP. Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
Huwaaaa plz no cliffy!!! Even if i had to wait a longer time for update that’s alright.
How the hell these animals became so smart?? Hope our ML could came up with something to get rid of them soon.
Thank you for the update \(-ㅂ-)/ ♥ ♥ ♥
It gets suspenseful, doesn’t it? Thanks for reading!
Thanks for the update!
Thank you for reading and for the comment 🙂