Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 165
Chapter 165
The two rooms in Chen Qi’s house had been converted into heated kang beds during the summer. This year, they no longer needed to spend the winter in the living room. However, since there were no fire pit in the rooms, once the temperature dropped, it felt a bit chilly unless they stayed curled up under the blankets.
After washing up, Aze had already beastified the lower half of his body, his skin covered in fur from the neck down. Chen Qi, wrapped in a white snow bear fur coat, sat on the bed, which was already warm from the fire beneath. The snow bear fur truly lived up to its reputation as a perfect insulator—though it didn’t look particularly thick, once Chen Qi wrapped it around himself, he could no longer feel the cold at all.
Outside the window was pitch-black. Chen Qi couldn’t see anything beyond the glass; the plains on the Moonless Day had been completely swallowed by darkness.
For the beastmen of Qi Ze City, the night marking the arrival of winter was peaceful and content. They had just enjoyed a delicious meal and listened to a long, exciting story. Now, their rooms were cozy and warm, the beds heated against the chill of the first night. From the watchtower, no alarm signals had sounded. Everyone could sleep soundly and dream well. When they woke the next morning, they would find the world blanketed in white, but their daily lives would remain much the same.
However, in a small, remote tribe, the first night of winter was a nightmare. If they could, they would have wished that this night was nothing more than an illusion.
“Chief.” A young female, barely an adult, ran up to the aging tribal chief. His eyes were red at the corners, as though he had just been crying hard.
“Has everyone gathered?”
“Yes. We’re just waiting for you.”
The chief quickly led him back to the center of the tribe. Their numbers were small—barely three hundred in total—and there were fewer than fifty young females among them. How could such a small group possibly stand against the massive, black swarm of hyena-drakes outside?
Indeed, on the very first night of winter, a pack of hyena-drakes had stepped out of their long-held forest territory for the first time and appeared on the Dora Plains. Strangely, among the horde was an enormous giant wolf-god, so emaciated that its skin clung to its bones.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“This time, we can’t hold them off,” the chief said. As soon as he spoke, the sound of muffled sobbing filled the air around him.
Everyone knew he was right. This was not a raid of a few or even dozens of hyena-drakes—it was thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of them. Layer upon layer, the beasts surrounded the small tribe so tightly that not a gap remained. Though the hyena-drakes hadn’t yet launched their attack, no one dared to believe they would just sit quietly outside without eventually tearing everything apart.
“We can’t let our entire tribe be wiped out tonight,” the chief said after taking a deep breath. He scanned the faces of his people and finally fixed his gaze on the few dozen young females standing at the back of the crowd. “You must escape. Follow the Dosa River straight ahead and find refuge in a larger tribe. No matter who among you gets caught by the hyena-drakes, you must not look back. Even if only one of you manages to break through, that will be our victory.”
“Yes, Chief.” Everyone responded in low voices, afraid that even a sound too loud might draw the hyena-drakes inside prematurely.
Once they were prepared, the beastmen launched a counterattack. Even if the hyena-drakes had not yet made their move, they could not afford to wait idly. Only by taking the initiative was there the slightest chance of survival.
The first to rush out were a group of elderly females clutching burning torches. Perhaps because of the firelight, the hyena-drakes drew back a short distance. Seizing the moment, the rest of the beastmen charged out behind them, following closely in their wake.
“Why didn’t you just let them rush in right away? A small tribe like this could be wiped out easily,” the giant wolf-god said lazily, lying sprawled on the ground. His tone was light, but he knew the hyena-drake leader beside him could hear perfectly well.
The hyena-drake leader stood atop a small mound. Snow fell onto its back and slid down to the ground. Without even glancing toward the giant wolf-god, it replied, “Don’t you think it would be boring if they died too easily?”
The giant wolf-god gave a short, mocking laugh.
From afar came the roars of the hyena-drakes and the shouts of the fighting beastmen. Before long, one of the hyena-drakes returned, dragging a bloodied corpse behind it. It placed the body in front of the giant wolf-god, then withdrew respectfully.
“Eat.” The hyena-drake leader’s voice was sharper and more biting than the freezing air around them, but the tone of command left no room for disobedience.
“I don’t have the strength anymore. I can’t bite.”
The hyena-drake leader glanced at one of the beasts standing behind him. “Feed 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.
That hyena-drake slowly stepped forward and tore off a large chunk of flesh from the dead beastman lying on the ground.
“If you hadn’t wiped out all of my entire kind back then, maybe you’d have a new giant wolf-god by now. Why bother dragging me along like this?” The giant wolf-god lifted his head, eyes narrowing slightly, lips curling into what almost looked like a smile. “Or, you could always bring back Chen instead.”
The hyena-drake leader finally lowered his head, glaring coldly at him.
Then speaking as though it suddenly realized something, the giant wolf-god said, “Oh, I forgot. Chen isn’t pure-blooded. He’s got half Azure Dragon blood in him.”
Cold snowflakes drifted down, slowly covering the blood-stained ground. After the battle, the entire beastman tribe was almost razed to the ground. The houses were violently knocked over by the hyena-drakes, the stone slabs they were built from shattered under their claws, and even the ground had been dug up—just to make sure no beastman was still hiding anywhere.
However, because the hyena-drakes had deliberately held back at the start, a small group of beastmen had managed to break through their encirclement. Even so, they were soon overtaken, trampled underfoot, and before long became another meal for the hyena-drakes.
What the hyena-drakes hadn’t expected was that, in this one-sided slaughter where both strength and numbers were overwhelmingly against them, a single young female managed to escape. His entire body was smeared with fig juice, and the black fur of his beast form became perfect camouflage in the night.
His dad was the strongest beastman in the tribe, while the not-yet-grown female was small and thin. His dad wrapped him in animal skins and carried him in front, making it look like he was just holding a bundle. When they broke through the siege, his father quickly tossed him into a patch of tall grass and led the pursuing hyena-drakes away himself.
His father, unwilling to be a burden, had volunteered to act as bait within the tribe. After both his parents were gone, the little female fled in the opposite direction. He knew there was a river that way—not the Dosa River, but as long as he could leap into it, there was still hope of survival.
In the end, he made it. Just as the hyena-drakes caught sight of him and closed in, he threw himself headfirst into the freezing river without hesitation.
When Chen Qi woke up the next morning, the courtyard outside was already covered in a thick layer of snow. The gust of icy wind that hit his face made him shiver involuntarily.
“Don’t catch a chill.” Aze came out with a cloak and draped it over Chen Qi’s shoulders, reminding him softly.
Chen Qi lifted his head and smiled. “En.”
Azhang arrived right after breakfast. Today was the day to begin construction of the ice wall, and everyone in Qi Ze City—young and old—was coming to help.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
When they reached the city gate, the patrol team happened to be returning. After the previous hyena-drake incident, their patrol range had been expanded all the way to the Chishui River. This was both to ensure that the beastmen could work safely outside the gates and to prepare for quick defensive action in case any dragon tracks were discovered.
“No abnormalities today,” reported Ake, the patrol leader, walking over to Azhang.
Azhang nodded. “The snowfall yesterday wasn’t heavy. Let’s start shaping the base of the wall today.”
The foundation for the ice wall had already been dug a few meters deep earlier, but the snow still wasn’t enough to fill it completely.
The beastmen were now well-practiced at building city walls. After watching Azhang’s demonstration, they quickly split into teams with perfect coordination—some carried snow, others compacted it in place, and others sprinkled water over the top to freeze it solid.
Although there were many more workers than last year, the new ice wall would be several times larger, and one night’s worth of snow still wasn’t enough to complete it. By the time the second snowfall began that afternoon, they had only just finished filling the foundation.
This second snowfall came much harder than the one last night. Accompanied by fierce winds, it felt like a full-blown blizzard. The windows rattled under the gusts.
The windows in Chen Qi’s home were made from locust dragon eyes, far better sealed than the wooden-and-paper windows most people used. Even with them shut, the outside view remained clear and bright. Because of that, several of the males liked to hang out at Chen Qi’s place whenever they had free time.
Ajing was quietly copying down the story Chen Qi had told the night before, while Ye Huo was printing each page as Ajing finished writing. The others wanted Chen Qi to tell the story again, but instead, Chen Qi just smiled, handed them the freshly printed pages, and told them to read it themselves. The result: a row of disappointed, drooping heads.
After the snow stopped, the patrol team made another round nearby. Once they confirmed that everything was safe, the others were allowed to resume work on the ice wall outside.
This time, the ice wall had only one gate, nearly ten meters wide. Like before, the outer wall was reinforced with sharpened wooden stakes and bamboo, but this time, they also added newly forged iron rods.
Aside from making daggers for those without combat ability, most of the iron from the last batch of armor had been used for these sharp rods. They were far stronger than the wooden or bamboo ones—Azhang had tested them himself. With enough force, they could even pierce through the shell of an ironshell-drake.
When the wall reached a height of about three meters, Azhang ordered people to bury deer traps outside the ice wall. Several deep pits, a few meters wide, were also dug nearby. To avoid accidental injuries, no sharp weapons were placed in them.
In front of the traps stood rows of barricades—wooden frames like chevaux-de-frise. They might not stop a dragon outright, but they could at least slow it down or cause confusion.
And so, peaceful days continued—for about a week.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: 2 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.
