Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 202
Chapter 202
The news that Aze had given birth to a little male spread through the entire tribe in less than half a day. From inside to outside, Chen Qi’s home was packed with beastmen, all wanting to catch a glimpse.
Although most of the newly arrived beastmen didn’t know much about Aze’s past, neither the Salt-Water Tribe nor Qi Ze City had seen the birth of a male in the last two years. And no matter which tribe it was, the birth of a male was a major event. Everyone was incredibly curious, dropping their work to come take a look.
Newly promoted to fatherhood, Chen Qi worried the noise would disturb Aze’s rest. After carrying Aze back into the inner room, he proudly stayed in the main hall with the little bun to show off. His silly, smug expression was so over-the-top that Ka Luo couldn’t even look at him directly.
But the crowd didn’t stay long. Achu quickly drove them all back to work. The first harvest of the season had begun, and they also needed to continue clearing land and sowing the second round of crops. Life in the tribe was getting busier by the day. With winter approaching, Achu practically wished he could split one day into two.
After Chen Qi spent several days caring for the little bun, once Aze’s body had recovered a bit, even he returned to work. Since newborns couldn’t go outside yet, Aze’s guard duties were temporarily suspended. He stayed at home to watch the baby, help tend the crops in the courtyard, and care for the small animals they were raising.
During this time, after finishing their lessons with the young beastmen each day, Ajing and the little wolf cub went out hunting—though not far, just near the small bamboo grove. They mainly caught various birds and brought them home so Chen Qi could make nourishing soup for Aze’s recovery.
After drinking bird soup for a full week, Aze finally couldn’t hold back. “Chen Qi, my body is fully healed now. I don’t need to keep drinking these soups, right?” The meat boiled for soup tasted awful and was such a waste. It’d be better to cook it normally.
“No. You have to drink it for a full month,” Chen Qi replied instantly, feeding the little bun milk fruit as he spoke. Aze had slept for several days after giving birth. Although Chen Qi knew females recovered strength through sleep, childbirth was extremely taxing on the body. And the available nutrition in this world was far too limited, so the best he could do was cook soups every day.
“Aren’t you planning to raise animals for winter food? Why not keep the birds we catch now?” Aze tried to reason with him. Drinking soup three times a day would get old even if it tasted good, and Aze preferred roasted meat. Though Chen Qi had prepared different dishes throughout the week, roasted meat had basically vanished from the menu.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“Don’t worry. The batch of hatched snow geese is doing very well. At this rate, they should start laying eggs in about two months.”
Chen Qi kept only a dozen or so young snow geese himself and handed all the rest to Ye Huo to manage. As for the surviving adult snow geese, he had slaughtered several recently to make soup. Ever since the little bun was born, he hadn’t had time to continue taming the two wild horses. He handed the mare to Ake, while the foal continued darting around beneath the fig tree. Chen Qi could only bond with it during feeding time, hoping that once the pony grew up, it would let him ride it around a few laps.
Later, Ake even led a group out to catch more wild horses. He set aside a space in his yard to build a feeding trough, just as Chen Qi had suggested, and kept all the newly captured horses there.
After lunch, Chen Qi gave the little bun to Aze and headed out to check on the construction of the new city wall.
Through everyone’s sustained efforts, the new wall had already reached over three meters in height. Like the inner wall, the outer perimeter was lined with sharpened stakes and iron rods. Thanks to the iron shells harvested from the last ironshell-drakes, one-third of the spikes were made of iron this time. These were much harder for dragons to break. Approaching the wall as easily as before was no longer possible.
Just as Chen Qi reached the gate, two dirty figures dropped down from the outer wall. The new outer wall didn’t have a gate—entry and exit relied on wooden ladders. It was inconvenient, but far safer during dragon attacks.
“Where have you two been?” Chen Qi took a closer look and realized it was the little wolf cub and Ajing. Their bodies were covered in mud that had already dried and cracked under the sun. Chen Qi’s expression darkened instantly.
Ajing grinned, showing a mouthful of small white teeth. The grin must have tugged at the cracked mud on his face, making it itch, because he immediately reached up and tore off a chunk of it. Before he could answer, another mud-covered figure jumped down from the wall. Seeing that it was Chen Qi, he gave an embarrassed smile.
“We went to catch birds,” Ashu said as he pulled out two filthy animals from behind him. Chen Qi could barely identify them as wild ducks. The ducks looked weak and listless; when Ashu shook them, they twitched a few times on reflex—clearly not yet dead.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Wild ducks didn’t normally appear in this area. They lived along the Chishui River and could fly short distances, making them difficult to catch.
Chen Qi’s face darkened further. “Don’t tell me you ran off that far on your own without the hunting team?”
Ajing lowered his head and shot a sideways glance at Ashu. Ashu quickly explained, “We didn’t go to the Chishui River. We saw them near the small bamboo grove, just…”
“Just what?”
“It’s just that they ran too fast, so we chased them a little bit.” By the end, Ashu’s voice had lost its confidence. Without the hunting team accompanying them, they were only allowed to move around near the tribe—never farther than the small bamboo grove. It was still dangerous outside. Ashu had heard that Ajing and the little wolf cub went out every day to catch birds for Aze, so when he had a half-day break today, he wanted to help. But on the very first day, he’d ended up dragging Ajing too far. Nothing bad had happened, but the regret was already simmering in his heart.
Chen Qi knew they meant well, but he still scolded them a little. Then he pointed to several puddles nearby—refilled with rainwater after the last thunderstorms. “Go wash all that mud off before you go home.”
It was summer now, and bathing in these puddles was much more comfortable than washing up at home. Beastmen in the tribe often cleaned themselves here, and some even practiced swimming in the moat. Thankfully, the moat had been dug wide enough, and the rainwater that settled was clean and clear—otherwise, Chen Qi would never have let them wash in it.
Ashu cheerfully tossed the two limp ducks aside, then jumped straight into the nearest puddle—clothes and all. The icy water instantly washed away the suffocating heat, and Ashu let out a sigh of relief.
Ajing and the little wolf cub entered another puddle nearby. To keep the little wolf cub from sinking to the bottom, Ajing found a piece of wood by the wall and set it floating on the surface for the cub to lie on. Only after the strands of dried mud-stiffened fur were fully soaked did he start scrubbing the little wolf cub clean.
Chen Qi opened the fur backpack Ajing had placed on the ground and found several fresh milk fruits inside. His heart softened. Ever since the little bun was born, the little wolf cub went out every day to gather fresh milk fruits. If he saw Chen Qi feeding the baby even slightly old ones—ones that had sat for a few days—he would explode in anger, barking furiously with his fur puffed up all over. He refused to settle down until Chen Qi replaced them with the freshest fruits. Chen Qi had no idea where that stubbornness came from.
The wall construction continued steadily. The outer wall was planned to reach about five meters in height and would likely be completed in about a month.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The new siege crossbows were now in production, and all their arrows had been switched to iron. The catapults, after rounds of testing, had also been improved to a usable level—though, unfortunately, there weren’t many suitable stones around for ammunition.
The only thing they were struggling with now was building the warm house. The tribe didn’t raise many animals yet, so the first warm house wasn’t large. But keeping the entire space at a comfortable temperature through winter wasn’t easy. Thankfully, Ye Huo was incredibly smart. Some mechanisms were things even Chen Qi couldn’t fully understand, yet Ye Huo could always figure out something after tinkering with the drawings for a while.
By the time Chen Qi came down from the wall, Ajing and the others had already washed up and left. The ground was still wet where they’d been—clearly they’d only just gone.
Chen Qi had planned to swing by the workshop, but midway, someone sent by Achu stopped him and called him to the meeting room. The room was already filled with the tribe’s managers. Once Chen Qi arrived, Achu relayed the patrol’s findings for the day.
The main fuel used in Qi Ze City now was firewood. Though Azhang had forbidden anyone from entering deep into the forest since last summer, they still needed to cut trees at the forest edge during the summer to stockpile fuel for winter. The patrol team’s final task each day, after making rounds near the tribe, was to chop trees along the forest edge.
As usual, the female patrol members went to the edge of the forest after finishing their other rounds in the morning. But unlike normal, the forest was unusually lively today—so lively it felt as if every dragon had appeared all at once. They were roaming boldly near the forest edge. If the female patrol members hadn’t reacted quickly, they would have collided with several hare-dragons sprinting out at full speed.
Of course, they didn’t let off prey that ran right into them. They swiftly took down the hare-dragons.
Ahxu had led the team today. Seeing the strange condition of the forest, he didn’t feel confident about proceeding. After conferring with the others, they skipped chopping wood and returned immediately to discuss a plan.
“Hare-dragons, hydrochoerus dragons, locust dragons, antelope-dragons…”
After listening, Chen Qi thought for a moment and asked, “The ones you saw were all herbivorous dragons? No carnivorous ones showed up near the forest edge?”
The beastmen who had patrolled today all exchanged looks. Thinking back, they realized it was true—only herbivores had appeared around the forest.
“You mean…?” Achu asked hesitantly, seeing the patrol members shake their heads.
“I have a bold guess,” Chen Qi said, sweeping his gaze across the room. “Last winter, when we found hydrochoerus dragons and antelope-dragons near the tribe, the hyena-drakes were besieging the Lion-Wolf Tribe. But when the hyena-drakes reached the vicinity of Qi Ze City, all the herbivorous dragons disappeared. Now they’ve shown up again. So… could it be that the hyena-drake pack has already left the forest and moved onto the plains?”
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: 3 of 3 for the week.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
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.
