Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 175
Chapter 175
“Are you planning to just keep surrounding them without attacking?” After finishing his dinner, the giant wolf-god wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and slowly walked over to the hyena-drake leader.
“There are too many of them.” In the past few months, the hyena-drakes had lost quite a few of their number during hunts. If they clashed directly with the beastmen, there would be little to gain. Although the hyena-drake leader did not care about the lives of his subordinates, he had no interest in a battle that would lead to heavy losses and no chance of victory.
The giant wolf-god glanced at the dark mass of beastmen on the tall ice walls. He had to admit that those walls provided the beastmen with an excellent barrier. If they were like the small tribes before, with no defenses at all, the hyena-drakes would not be standing here in a standoff—they would have already charged in and slaughtered them.
Although they had experience in breaching ice walls, the openings they could make were too small to let many hyena-drakes through. If their numbers had greatly exceeded the beastmen’s, that might have been fine—but now, if they entered in small groups, they would only be hunted down one by one.
“Come here.” The voice of the hyena-drake leader pulled the giant wolf-god out of his momentary distraction. He walked over slowly and obediently lay down before the leader, exposing his unguarded neck.
The hyena-drake leader’s gaze deepened. He first rubbed the back of the giant wolf-god’s neck with his head, then gently bit into the soft skin and began to suck the blood within, savoring it.
When the sharp teeth pierced his skin, the giant wolf god’s body involuntarily stiffened, but he soon relaxed. He only stood up again after feeling the warm tongue gently lick his wound.
The sensation of blood leaving his body was never pleasant, but the hyena-drake leader always controlled himself well—aside from slight weakness in the legs, there was no other discomfort.
“There’s less and less energy in your blood,” the hyena-drake leader said, licking the trace of red from his lips with a hint of regret.
“Can’t help it—the beastmen have eaten too much.” The wound was shallow, and the giant wolf-god stopped bleeding after a brief pause.
Having replenished his strength, the hyena-drake leader returned to his usual lazy demeanor and lay down to rest again.
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 that moment, the male hyena-drake that served as the giant wolf-god’s mount approached. It had been ordered to hunt a small group of beastmen who had recently tried to join the Lion-Wolf Tribe. The group was discovered near the Dosa River, but the besieged Lion-Wolf Tribe made no attempt to rescue them. The hyena-drake pack easily devoured them all.
The male hyena-drake walked forward until it was halfway to the tall ice wall before stopping. Bright blood still stained its mouth. Lifting its head slightly, it slowly swept its gaze across the beastmen atop the wall, then opened its massive jaws and released a long, echoing roar toward them.
The messenger eagle circling above was startled by the roar, nearly falling from the sky. It lost several feathers before regaining balance, and when it took flight again, it kept a greater distance from the hyena-drakes.
The roar of the male hyena-drake continued for a long time before fading away. It did not return to the leader’s side but simply stood there silently, the blood on its lips glaringly bright.
Hearing the roar, the Lion-Wolf Tribe’s chief’s expression darkened further. The beastmen who had tried to take refuge with them had sent out a distress signal when they encountered the hyena-drakes, but the outside was swarming with enemies. Forget rescuing them—just stepping outside was nearly impossible. The chief would not risk the entire tribe’s safety for a few lives, and so he had to pretend he hadn’t heard the plea for help.
He had already made up his mind: if the hyena-drakes attacked, they would fight to the death. But as long as the beasts only surrounded them from outside, they would not step out.
The hyena-drake pack now numbered far fewer than the fighting females of the Lion-Wolf Tribe, and they would never survive on the plains once summer arrived. There were still ten moonless days left before that season. A cold gleam flashed in the chief’s eyes—if they could just hold out for ten more moonless days, they would survive. And if they survived, they would have won.
Bo De was shaken by the roar of the male hyena-drake, his face growing even paler. He had only intended to check out the situation, but when he found that no one paid any attention to him, he turned back resentfully toward the inner city.
Because too many tribes had flooded in, even though all the fighting females had gone out to defend, there were still plenty of beastmen in the inner city.
Bo De walked through the densely packed houses of the tribes toward the deep rock caves in the back of the mountain. That area was the farthest from the ice wall and was where the Lion-Wolf Tribe housed their males and underage children.
“Did you run to the wall again?” Ai Li saw Bo De coming in with a chill on him and pointed to the fire nearby, signaling him to warm up before coming closer. His son had been weak ever since his high fever, and although he still had a fair amount of heatgrass, he didn’t want the child to catch another cold and fall ill again.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Bo De didn’t respond. He walked to the other side, took out a few pieces of dried meat, and put them in a clay pot to boil. They were now surrounded by hyena-drakes and couldn’t even go to the Dosa River to fish. Apart from the fighting females, the rest of the tribe could only eat one insufficient meal per day to maintain their strength. To save resources, even the fire pits had to be shared among a dozen people. For Bo De—who had never gone hungry since joining the Lion-Wolf Tribe—this was the hardest winter of his life.
As he stirred the pot with a clean wooden stick, Bo De silently cursed the hyena-drakes several times in his heart for causing their current misery.
Seeing that Bo De ignored him, Ai Li didn’t bother saying more. He had never liked his late mate’s father. Beastmen did not form deep emotional bonds, and after his mate’s death, the two of them had little to do with each other. If not for his son’s situation, Ai Li probably wouldn’t even bother speaking to Bo De at all.
Perhaps drawn by the smell of cooking meat, the little female cub in Ai Li’s arms twitched his nose and slowly woke up. Seeing Bo De boiling the meat soup, his large dark eyes sparkled as he stared at the steaming pot. His stomach even growled a few times—he had only drunk a bowl of warm water mixed with half a milk fruit in the morning and hadn’t eaten anything else all day. Hunger already made him feel faint.
Bo De moved slowly, cooking until the dried meat had nearly turned to mush before stopping. He ladled a bowl for the eager little female and Ai Li, then buried his head in his own bowl to eat.
To stretch their limited food supply, Bo De boiled their portions down until the meat was soft and thick, adding plenty of melted snow to increase the volume. It still couldn’t fill their bellies, but it was better than eating only once a day.
“You’re not the chief anymore. Stop running to the city wall. No females have the time to protect you now,” Ai Li said in a low voice during a break in the meal. Although many beastmen lay nearby, most of them slept to conserve energy. Only someone like Bo De would think about going outside every day, so Ai Li wasn’t worried about being overheard.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
“I know. You don’t need to meddle in my business,” Bo De replied irritably, waving his hand.
“Bo De, did the hyena-drakes get in?” a beastman asked, half sitting up after being woken by their voices.
In front of others, Bo De’s expression softened. He patiently recounted everything he had seen. When the beastman heard that the hyena-drakes hadn’t attacked, he sighed in relief. As long as they didn’t break through, it didn’t matter how long the siege lasted. He silently thanked the person who had passed their tribe the knowledge of building ice walls.
Other beastmen who weren’t yet asleep gathered around in twos and threes when they heard Bo De talking about the outside. Bo De enjoyed being the center of attention and tirelessly answered their questions over and over again.
Ai Li snorted, fed the dried meat from his own bowl to his son, and drank two large bowls of broth himself before feeling a bit better. When he saw his son trying to crawl over to listen to Bo De, he reached out, pulled him back, and patiently coaxed him to sleep again.
As long as you were asleep, there was no need to worry about the hyena-drakes outside.
Compared to the Lion-Wolf Tribe’s dire situation, Qi Ze City was remarkably peaceful. They had stockpiled plenty of supplies during the summer, including lots of cotton for warmth. Even with their population suddenly swelling several times over, as long as resources were managed properly, they didn’t have to worry about food or clothing.
Chen Qi and Aze carried several large sacks of cocoons and root threads to the school. These days, most beastmen gathered there during the daytime—aside from the females who went out and those already occupied with work. The beastmen of the Salt-Water Tribe had received so much help from Qi Ze City, and now they couldn’t even go into the forest to cut trees. They had to huddle together indoors to conserve firewood.
“Did you bring all the thread from home?” Ali asked cheerfully, taking the pack from Chen Qi’s back.
“It’s useless for us to keep it. You know no one in our house can weave,” Chen Qi replied casually. Aze had gathered those materials bit by bit in the forest over the summer, originally intending to make new clothes for Chen Qi. But Ali had been busy every day, and neither of them knew how to weave, so they had put it aside. Now that the Salt-Water Tribe’s Beastmen lacked clothing, Chen Qi decided to bring everything over.
After delivering the materials, Chen Qi went next door to the classroom that had been converted into a weapons workshop. Ali was far more skilled at weaving and sewing than he was—so long as the materials were in Ali’s hands, Chen Qi knew they would be turned into warm, beautiful clothes.
The workshop had piles of wood stored for crafting, but for safety, only one small fire burned in the center. When Chen Qi opened the door, a wave of cold air hit him. He couldn’t shake the illusion that it was even colder inside than out.
Ye Huo was sitting with a group of beastmen, working on arrow-making. Since they couldn’t fire up a forge to melt iron, bone arrowheads were the best option to increase lethality for now. But shaping bones required a lot of strength, and most were so hard that a male could only manage to craft one per day.
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.
