Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 151
Chapter 151
Ajing was still quite young, but he had likely experienced hardships too early. Unlike the children Chen Qi had seen before, he wasn’t overly playful. Every time Chen Qi saw him rushing to do work, acting far more mature than his age, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of heartache.
Chen Qi walked over, took the pen from Ajing’s hand, and slipped a rattle from behind into his hands, smiling gently. “This is yours.”
Ajing blinked, staring at the object in his hands. Chen Qi held his hand and shook it lightly twice, and a crisp clatter rang out from the rattle.
“Do you like it?”
Ajing pursed his lips without answering. Chen Qi then lifted him off the chair, and the sudden weightlessness startled Ajing. Flailing, he wrapped his arms around Chen Qi’s neck to avoid falling, causing the rattle in his hand to jingle a series of “clack-clacks.”
Chen Qi set him down on the thick fur-covered floor. With the first snow having arrived and children running about, he had prepared thick blankets and lit the fire early. Even rolling on the ground would not feel cold.
“All right, rest a little before continuing with your copying. I’ll tell you a new story later, and you can record it to show others tomorrow,” Chen Qi said, lightly flicking Ajing’s furrowed brows.
“En,” Ajing nodded obediently, no longer insisting on finishing his work first. His hand gripping the rattle tightened slightly.
Ayao, now holding his own rattle, stopped playing with the little wolf cub and sat obediently, curiously shaking it and giggling at the sounds it made.
The little wolf cub glanced at him, satisfied that Ayao would stay put, then returned to Ajing’s side, lying down and lazily watching him play with the rattle just like Ayao.
Ajing’s interest in the rattle was clearly less than in the story Chen Qi had promised. After shaking it a couple of times, he stopped and looked up, signaling that he was ready to hear the story.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Chen Qi rubbed his head gently, went to the hearth to fetch a small plate of potato cakes made that morning, poured several cups of warm milk fruit, placed the cub’s share in its wooden dish, handed a cup to Ajing, then picked up Ayao and began slowly feeding him while telling the story to the little ones.
……
But before the story was halfway through, a loud, piercing wolf howl resounded across Qi Ze City—a signal of imminent danger.
Chen Qi hurriedly dressed the little ones in thick coats, picked up Ayao, and took Ajing to the school. Other members of the city had already heard the warning; the young females quickly climbed the walls, and everyone else assembled in an orderly fashion in the school. With Qi Ze City’s small population, gathering together in danger allowed both easier retreat and better protection by the females.
Since Chen Qi’s home was near the school, he arrived before the others. When Ka Luo appeared, he handed over Ayao, warned Ajing not to wander, and rushed toward the city gate.
The streets had already been cleared of snow for easy passage, so even though it had snowed briefly in the morning, it did not impede their movement. Soon, Chen Qi reached the city wall at the main gate.
All females, except a few stationed near the school, had already assembled on the wall. One of them pointed toward Azhang, who was standing slightly ahead, whispering to those beside him.
Seeing Chen Qi, Azhang pointed forward. “Dragons are approaching.”
Chen Qi looked out. His eyesight was not as sharp as the females’, and when he first climbed the wall, he could not make out the threat. Now, with Azhang’s explanation and the dragons much closer, Chen Qi finally saw the gathered force: a massive group of ironshell-drakes, numbering fifty to sixty. Their pace was not fast, but the freshly snow-covered plains made their figures extremely visible—no wonder the females had spotted them from so far away.
“There are no hyena-drakes mixed in this time.”
Azhang nodded, his expression serious. In such a short period, having two groups of dragons appear nearby was something that had never happened in previous years.
At that moment, Axu, who had been scouting in other directions, returned. He gave a slight nod and greeting to Chen Qi before reporting to Azhang: “No sign of dragons in the other directions. It seems only this group is heading toward Qi Ze City.”
Azhang gave a slight nod and ordered those around him, “Everyone, prepare for battle.”
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 females stationed on the wall heard the order, scattered, and fixed their eyes on the approaching ironshell-drakes, ready to leap down and engage at any moment.
Chen Qi picked up his wooden bow and moved to the edge of the wall, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the situation outside the city.
At first, the ironshell-drakes approached at a moderate pace, but when they reached a few hundred meters away, they suddenly accelerated, charging straight toward Qi Ze City. The vibrations from their running even made the wall beneath Chen Qi tremble slightly.
Initially, the dragons ran closely together, but as they drew near, they began to spread out, seemingly intending to smash the reddish-brown city walls with their solid armor.
Chen Qi swallowed nervously. Axu, worried that Chen Qi, as a male, might be intimidated by the sheer force of the rampaging dragons, suggested he return to the school to wait for news.
Chen Qi shook his head. “It’s fine. I’ll stay here and watch.”
“He’s seen larger swarms of locust dragons last winter, no need to worry,” Ake explained, standing beside him.
Seeing that even Azhang did not object to Chen Qi staying, Axu remained silent.
Outside the city, the snow had covered everything, including the previously dug moat, leaving no trace of it. From this vantage, the gate looked like a vast, flat white field.
All eyes tracked the ironshell-drakes. 500 meters, 300 meters, they accelerated even more, seeming to push faster in the final stretch. Then, as they reached the moat, the lead dragons suddenly vanished.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Those following closely froze at the sudden disappearance of their companions. Before they could react, their momentum carried them into the moat. Fortunately, the dragons had spaced themselves far apart to avoid colliding with each other. After witnessing the first two rows fall, a roar echoed through the group. The dragons slowed and cautiously stopped at the edge, avoiding the trap.
Originally, there were several snow holes in the moat, and the roar from the snow could be clearly heard. Those armored dragons who did not fall into the snow holes walked to the side, trying to get near the wall from the place where there were no snow holes. As a result, several armored dragons fell into the moat.
The dragon group grew restless, eyeing the flat snow ahead with caution while greedily glancing at the beastmen on the wall.
“I didn’t expect them to charge blindly after the moat was covered,” Axu remarked. Previously, the mixed troops of ironshell-drakes and hyena-drakes had avoided approaching the moat.
Chen Qi frowned, assessing the situation. With many companions trapped in the sudden snow holes, the remaining dragons had retreated, ignoring the howls from their trapped comrades.
“What now? Wait and see?” Ake asked, watching the retreating dragons.
Azhang did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned to Chen Qi. “Are these ironshells enough for now?”
Indeed, the moat trap had been Chen Qi’s design to capture the dragons, targeting their ironshells.
It has to be said that metal was extremely valuable in this primitive world. Since the last batch of iron shells had been smelted, Chen Qi had wanted more. Unfortunately, the previous ironshell-drakes had only circled and left; Qi Ze City’s forces could not have faced them head-on.
Noticing that the dragons had no intention of crossing the moat, this time Chen Qi tried covering it—fortunately, it turned out to be immediately useful.
Chen Qi glanced at the remaining ironshell-drakes that hadn’t fallen into the moat, silently wishing he could catch more. Knowing he couldn’t be greedy, he nodded. “This batch is enough for now. There are still too many outside, and our numbers are limited. Direct combat isn’t worth it. We’ll deal with the trapped ones after the rest leave.”
“Then let’s do that,” Azhang agreed after a moment’s thought.
This time, they didn’t have to wait very long. Realizing they couldn’t reach the walls, the remaining ironshell-drakes roamed angrily in place for a few circles, then turned and left, ignoring their trapped comrades entirely.
Once the ironshell-drakes had vanished into the snow-covered plains, Azhang signaled the others. Several females quickly grabbed thick ropes, pulling down the snow that had been covering the wide moat. A long row of bamboo weaves was lifted, revealing the moat’s original appearance.
Looking down, the crowd saw more than twenty ironshell-drakes trapped below, furiously ramming the surrounding mud walls. Even with reinforced mud bricks, their strength carved out numerous shallow pits.
The moat’s height was equal to four or five ironshell-drakes, and ironshell-drakes weren’t climbers. Even trapped, they couldn’t escape. Seeing this, the people on the wall couldn’t help cheering—they had never imagined they could capture so many dragons so easily and without injury.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Tension fluctuations giving me whiplash.
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.
