Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 160
Chapter 160
Ever since the female beastman was lost after crossing the river, this small group of hyena-drakes had temporarily moved their range to the other side of the Chishui River. They had once seen beastmen coming here from afar. If there had been a wooden bridge to let them cross, they would have long since rushed over to tear the beastmen apart and swallow them whole.
Several hyena-drakes twitched their noses as they walked, trying to catch the scent of beastmen from the air.
Occasionally, the hyena-drakes would stop on an abandoned termite mound to look around, but they also knew that in such a vast wilderness, encountering a single beastman was not an easy task.
Unfortunately, beastman tribes were not easy to find. Otherwise, these hyena-drakes might have settled near one. Even if they could not devour the entire tribe, just being able to hunt one occasionally would be enough for their small pack. As long as they accumulated experience slowly, they too could become as intelligent as those in the forest.
The male hyena-drake standing tall on the termite mound—who appeared to be the leader—had a flash of cold light in his eyes at that thought. He stretched out his tongue to lick the corner of his lips, his expression full of determination.
He slowly walked down the termite mound and gave a loud call to his companions around him. The pack of hyena-drakes all stood up. They planned to abandon the territory they had just secured near the Chishui River and head deeper into the wilderness.
As the small team tasked with luring the hyena-drakes, Aze and the other two dared not split up to search separately. After passing through a small bamboo grove that the patrol had not scouted, the three of them consciously slowed their pace, sharpening their senses to the limit, ready to turn and run the moment they spotted a hyena-drake.
“Don’t go near the tall grass. Hyena-drakes might be hiding inside, waiting to ambush.” Aze reminded the two in a low voice.
Ale swallowed nervously and moved farther away from the tall grass, which was still some distance ahead.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
A few days ago, when he had run off without a plan to lure the ironshell-drakes, he hadn’t felt anything. But now, with everyone well-prepared and determined to wipe out the hyena-drakes daring to linger near Qi Ze City, Ale found himself uncharacteristically nervous.
This time, they weren’t wearing camouflage uniforms, but ordinary T-shirts. Ale, in his usual flashy way, had even chosen a bright red one, standing out strikingly on the open plain—impossible to miss.
The slightly oppressive atmosphere made Ale a little uncomfortable. He pursed his lips and whispered, “Could they have already gone back to the other side of the Chishui River? If we can’t find them here, do we need to go across and lure them back?”
Aze glanced around. “Let’s look around nearby first. If we still don’t see any sign of them, we’ll decide then.”
“Oh,” Ale replied softly.
Seeing Aze fall silent again, Ale stayed quiet for a while before sidling up to Ahxu instead.
“What is it?” Ahxu asked curiously when he saw Ale coming closer.
Ale’s face flushed. “It’s too quiet around here. I’m a little nervous.”
Ahxu rolled his eyes. “And who was it yesterday begging to be included in this mission?”
Ale coughed awkwardly. “I am keeping watch around us—it’s just that you all look so serious, it’s making me nervous.”
“That’s my fault then,” Ahxu said dryly, giving him a light smack on the head before stepping a bit away from the troublesome guy.
Ale giggled and followed again. “Why don’t we just talk a little?”
“What do you want to talk about?”
Ale frowned, trying to think. Normally, when chatting, he would just start talking without thinking. But now, asked to pick a topic, he was stumped. After tilting his head in thought for a long while, he finally asked tentatively, “Why don’t we talk about what your relationship with Axu is?”
Ahxu paused, then kicked him lightly and, too lazy to respond, strode a few steps away in the direction he was guarding.
Ale noticed the suspicious redness on Ahxu’s ears and smirked. “Come on, the whole tribe already knows about you two.”
Ahxu stumbled slightly at those words.
After the three walked silently for a while, Ale suddenly grabbed Ahxu’s wrist.
“What now?” Ahxu asked, exasperated.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Ale’s eyes widened as he pointed to the left. “Are those hyena-drakes?”
Following the direction of his finger, Ahxu indeed saw a small group of silver-brown figures resting at the edge of a tall patch of grass. They seemed to sense movement on this side. As Ale finished speaking, all the hyena-drakes turned their heads toward the three of them. The calmness in their eyes was slowly replaced by a gleam of coldness and greed.
“Retreat!” Aze shouted to the other two, turning and running straight toward Qi Ze City.
The other two quickly came to their senses and followed closely behind him.
The leading hyena-drake let out a loud roar, and the rest of the pack instantly grew alert. Seeing the three beastmen turn and flee, they charged after them on all fours, confident that such a small number of beastmen would be easy prey.
The hyena-drakes ran very fast. Although Aze’s group wanted to control the distance between them, they still had to give their all to avoid being caught up.
The males and the females without combat ability in Qi Ze City had already moved into the school cellar to hide. The beastmen on the city wall hid behind the battlements, not wanting the hyena-drakes to see them and become alert. The entire city was shrouded in a tense, silent atmosphere.
The luring team had been gone for most of the day. The others didn’t know whether they would encounter the hyena-drakes or not; they could only wait quietly.
No one knew how much time had passed when suddenly, a female whispered, “They’re back.”
Chen Qi lay between two battlements and looked outside the city. He saw Aze and the others with a small pack of hyena-drakes closely chasing behind them—about ten in total. The hyena-drakes weren’t grouped tightly together but were spreading out slowly. Though the distance wasn’t large, it was clear they intended to surround and kill the beastmen.
Seeing the distance between Aze and the hyena-drakes getting closer, Chen Qi’s heart tightened. His hands, gripping the wooden bow, were slick with sweat. His eyes followed Aze’s figure without blinking, afraid of seeing something he couldn’t bear.
However, the more nervous Chen Qi felt, the calmer he became. He picked up a specially made arrow from the side, holding it ready to draw and release at any time to assist his mate.
The hyena-drakes chased tightly behind without needing to slow down. The intense running made Ale’s face flush red. Thinking back to when he lured the ironshell-drakes two days ago, compared to these hyena-drakes, those ironshell-drakes seemed a thousand times cuter.
Ale cursed the hyena-drakes inwardly as he ran. Seeing the walls of Qi Ze City draw closer, he secretly let out a breath of relief, though he still didn’t dare slow down.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Seeing their prey about to flee back to the tribe, the leading hyena-drake let out a furious roar and increased its speed. There was no way it would allow these beastmen—three rare stragglers—to escape its claws.
The encirclement slowly began to form as the hyena-drakes on the left and right sides started closing in toward the beastmen.
Not noticing any movement within the beastmen tribe, the few hyena-drakes just a few steps behind suddenly leapt, intending to knock the running beastmen to the ground. At that moment, the three beastmen hooked a rope in front of them with their feet. Sharp beast claws, appearing at some unknown time, easily sliced through one end of the rope, and they swung away to a distance.
The lunging hyena-drakes watched as their almost-caught prey once again moved further away. Their eyes burned red with fury. Unable to halt their forward momentum, they planned to land and give chase again—but instead of solid ground, their limbs stepped onto something soft. Before they could react, they fell downward.
The hyena-drakes behind realized something was wrong and quickly stopped, but their initial rush had been too fierce. The two leading hyena-drakes couldn’t halt in time and, like the others before them, tumbled into the moat.
Azhang waved his hand, signalling the beastmen to pull the three who were still hanging from the rope up.
Three or four hyena-drakes, including their leader, barely stopped at the edge of the moat. The leader stared darkly at the deep holes in the moat. Though it couldn’t understand why the solid ground had collapsed into large pits, its instinct warned of danger. It gave a low call to the others and cautiously stepped back.
Seeing some hyena-drakes had fallen into the traps, Chen Qi didn’t hesitate. He lit the arrow in his hand on the nearby fire plate, then stood, drew his bow fully, and fired at the leader’s feet.
The arrow flew fast. Its tip, wrapped in mixed gunpowder, burned through the fuse just as it struck near the leader’s feet, followed by a sharp “pop”. The arrow exploded, scattering bits of wood. Though it didn’t cause real harm, the leader flinched at the close blast and instinctively stepped back.
Before the leader could react, Chen Qi fired a second flaming arrow that exploded at its feet. After retreating several steps, the leader stumbled and fell uncontrollably into the moat.
Several other hyena-drakes, startled by the same tactic, tumbled into the moat as well. In the end, the pursuing pack of hyena-drakes had all become prey for the beastmen.
These harmless modified arrows had only been meant to scare the hyena-drakes. They had also prepared hooks with lassos to drag them in if they weren’t frightened into the traps. Unexpectedly, the result turned out even better than Chen Qi had anticipated.
The covers over the moat were removed, and the hyena-drakes looked up angrily, baring their teeth at the beastmen. Chen Qi drew an ordinary arrow and shot at them directly. Although they were now trapped, the moat had been dug deep and wide. The hyena-drakes were smaller than the ironshell-drakes, and even while confined, they dodged his arrows nimbly.
“It’s difficult to kill them even when they’re trapped,” Azhang said, walking to Chen Qi’s side and looking down at the hyena-drakes on the riverbed.
“Yes.” Chen Qi took a mask from his coat pocket, put it on, and handed another to Azhang. “We’ll have to make them lose mobility first before finishing them.”
He drew another arrow wrapped with gunpowder, lit it from the fire plate, pulled the bowstring to full draw, and shot it straight down into the riverbed. The bottom had been lined long ago with dry grass coated in grease. When the flaming arrow hit, the grass ignited instantly, and thick black smoke began spreading through the moat.
Azhang naturally put on the mask and waved for others to move away from the rising smoke. “I didn’t expect you to find such a use for tobacco. With this moat, we shouldn’t have to fear dragons anymore.”
“The anaesthetic effect of this tobacco isn’t strong. Once the smoke clears a bit, have the others deal with the hyena-drakes the same way we did with the ironshell-drakes.”
Azhang nodded. The two stood on the city wall, quietly watching the hyena-drakes below roar and struggle as they tried to flee.
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.
