Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains

The traps set around the house before hadn’t caught anything for a long time, so Chen Qi removed all of them. The Dora Plains started to become silent. The busy migrating animals that could be seen everywhere some time ago had also disappeared. At night, even the chirping of insects couldn’t be heard anymore.

Chen Qi was still worried that Aze would tear open the wound if he moved around too much and he was not willing to let him go out to hunt in these few days before winter. Anyway, there were a lot of things to keep them busy at home. The food they’d stored before was enough to last the two of them a month or two. In order not to let Aze go hunting, Chen Qi handed him the two big bags of salt stones they’d traded for and had him refine the salt stones.

In the new home, apart from the two newly-made stone beds, there were only a few bags of wild fruits they’d gathered in this short period of time. Chen Qi melted a gum fruit and glued together some wood boards to make several wooden boxes. He also wrapped several layers of roots around the outside of the boxes to make them sturdier. Chen Qi had already picked all the roots of the banyan tree near the house.

Chen Qi made a wooden shelf with only one level for the sundries room. Thick, coarse wooden stakes were used under the shelf to ensure the shelf could bear weight. A shallow groove was cut into the top of the wooden stakes with the dragon-horn knife, then he applied some melted gum fruit and wood boards were embedded on them. Although the manufactured product was crude, it was very practical. Chen Qi even climbed up and jumped on it twice to test out its load-bearing capacity. Satisfied with the result of his test, he proceeded to make two small ones for his and Aze’s rooms.  However, these two were much more refined. The wood boards were polished, and wood boards were added to the bottom and back of the shelves, which made them resemble cabinets.

Next, Chen Qi set out to clean up all the animal skins in Aze’s original house, which had stayed in the same room as the cured meat for too long and had picked up a strong meat smell. With some disgust, Chen Qi made several drying racks outside the house and put the hides on them to air them out while the sun was still good. A lot of the animal skins had been used in order to trade for more salt stones, so there were only less than 20 hides remaining. They were the softest and warmest pelts that Aze had especially left behind, and the feeling of touching them was very nice.

“Woo woo.” The little wolf cub ran, stumbling, out of the house. This little thing grew very fast. The first few days since it was picked up, it would just sleep in its nest. Now, it could run several steps.

Chen Qi crouched down to catch the little wolf cub running towards him. The wolf pup was still the size of a palm. Its hair was a little longer and was rather fluffy. Coupled with its big and round golden eyes, which seemed to be filled with mist and looked like it would let out a few golden peas at any time. Chen Qi felt it was just too adorable.

Crossing  to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP)  is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.

However, the little wolf cub was obviously not interested in Chen Qi’s action. It stopped just out of his reach, whimpered twice, then twisted its little butt around and ran back to the house.

“Chen Qi, come and eat.” Aze came out of the house, saw the little pup running back and crouched down to pick it up. The little wolf cub curled its head contentedly and let its little, pink tongue out to lick Aze’s fingers.

Chen Qi looked at the little wolf cub’s face full of flattery and ground his teeth.

Today was the fourth Moonless Day since the first snow. The morning sun was still shining, and the temperature remained as warm and pleasant as usual. It was hard for Chen Qi to imagine that winter would be here tomorrow. He grabbed the last piece of hide from the drying rack and followed Aze into the house.

Aze carried the pup back to its special wooden dish and poured half a milk fruit into it. The little wolf cub wagged its tail happily and lapped at it eagerly.

The corner of Chen Qi’s eyes twitched and he could not help but blurt out, “Is this guy really a giant wolf-god, and not a dog?”

“A dog?” Aze was a little confused, “It looks different from a dog. And the giant wolf-gods are not as cruel as dogs. They only hunt the prey they can eat. Unlike dogs that would want to take a bite at any creature. Although the little wolf cub is a little smaller now, when it grows to adulthood, a dog can’t beat its size.”

There were creatures such as the wild dogs and hyenas on the Dora Plains. They were different from domestic dogs. Their savageness could even compete with lions. Of course, the competition was not about the strength of fighting alone, but about group attack power.

Chen Qi did not explain much either. He sat by the fire, observing the menu Aze had prepared. Breakfast was a small dish of rice paste and a few boiled sweet potatoes. The rice paste was made from the rice berries they’d picked before, and there were no more of them after these two were cooked.

Aze snuck a peek at Chen Qi’s content expression after he’d taken a mouthful of the rice paste. He hesitated for a moment before handing Chen Qi the unusually smooth and polished wooden stick next to him. “Chen Qi, I have finished the prototype of the wooden bow.”

The previous wood bow had been lost when they were pursued by the locust dragon. Aze wanted to help Chen Qi, who was working on the wooden shelves. After all, most of the time spent refining the salt stone was on waiting for the water to evaporate and he didn’t need to stare at it all the time. Chen Qi saw that he didn’t want to stay idle, so he had him make another wood bow. This time Aze had plenty of time and naturally decided to carefully make a more refined one.

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 took the wood bow in hand and at the first grasp, he could feel the smooth grip, which was much better than the previous one. Aze saw Chen Qi’s satisfied expression and was secretly relieved. “Chen Qi, all the rice berries have been used. Although the rice berries can still be collected during the winter, they will taste rather unpalatable. Also, at that time, dragons will appear in the outskirts of the forest so it will be very difficult to gather rice berries again.”

Amused, Chen Qi looked at Aze who was valiantly trying to convince him about going out in a roundabout way. Aze actually didn’t want to go out at this time, but a large number of the plants they’d previously collected were lost when they were chased by the locust dragon. He knew that Chen Qi didn’t like eating meat for every meal, and most of the animals on the Dora Plains had migrated and been long gone at this point. So, even if Chen Qi stayed at home alone, there shouldn’t be any unexpected events. So Aze wanted to go back to the forest to gather some food on this last day.

“Let me have a look at your wound.” Chen Qi didn’t reply directly, but he put down the pottery bowl in his hand and said to Aze.

Aze pursed his lips and sat down in front of Chen Qi and took off his fur clothing. Chen Qi carefully unwrapped the bandages. The previously collected plantain herbs had all been used up, so the crushed herbs applied to the wounds were replaced by thistles. Chen Qi cleaned up the layer of thistle that had covered the wounds all night. He had to lament over the beastmen’s recovery ability that was truly in defiance of the natural order. Chen Qi ran his fingers over the pink, freshly scarred flesh. “Does it still hurt?”

Aze shivered. The places that Chen Qi’s fingers ran across tingled. He shook his head in answer, but then worried that Chen Qi would not be able to see it and said, “It doesn’t hurt, it’s already all fine.”

Chen Qi wrapped new bandages for him. As he did so, he reluctantly said to Aze, “You can go if you want, but you must come back before the sun goes down.”

Aze’s eyes lit up and he turned his head back abruptly. Chen Qi’s head was bowed down to tie the bandages and they were so close together that Aze’s forehead knocked into Chen Qi’s. The sound of the dull thunk startled Aze. “Chen Qi, are you all right?” Aze asked nervously.

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 reddened forehead, his eyes misted from the pain.

“Chen Qi, does it hurt a lot? I’m sorry. Don’t cry. You can bump mine back.”

Chen Qi looked at Aze, who was at a loss for what to do, and suddenly felt the situation was rather funny, “I’m fine.”

“Really? Don’t lie to me. You’re in so much pain that you’re crying.” Aze did not believe him.

The corners of Chen Qi’s mouth twitched. It was obviously physiological tears. Afraid that Aze would not let go of this topic, he quickly changed the subject and said, “It’s really fine. Aren’t you going to the forest? If you don’t leave now, you won’t be able to make it back by evening.”

Aze repeatedly confirmed that Chen Qi was really fine before he took a few hide backpacks and headed off. After eating and drinking its fill, the little wolf cub went back to its little nest to sleep. After sending off Aze, Chen Qi felt that the place was simply terrifyingly silent. Aside from the occasional rustling from the wind blowing through the grass, he did not hear any sounds from other creatures.

“Little wolf cub, if you go to sleep again, you will become a pig. How about you get up and play?” Chen Qi flicked the little wolf cub’s  forehead and asked.

The little wolf cub didn’t listen to him at all, no matter what Chen Qi did, it didn’t open its eyes and remained sprawled asleep.

Chen Qi had no choice but to find something to distract himself.

He first arced the wood bow prototype to a suitable shape and fixed it. Then, remembering the incomplete processed laiche fruit syrup that had been forgotten and left in the corner, he quickly retrieved it and found that the sticky syrup had, unexpectedly, already turned solid. Chen Qi broke off a small piece and looked at it. The sugar cube had a certain hardness to it, and the milky white color didn’t appear to have deteriorated. Chen Qi stuck his tongue out for a little lick and tasted it. It was very sweet and the taste was normal. Chen Qi was overjoyed. He collected all the sugar cubes into a bamboo tube, which filled it up about a third of the tube. There were still two or three laiche fruits remaining in the house. Chen Qi did not hesitate to boil the rest of the laiche fruit juice into syrup to set them aside and make more sugar cubes.

Since Aze was away for the day, it was the first time that Chen Qi felt that time moved so slowly. Aze had brought back the two sleeves from his coat, which he’d torn to pieces himself previously. Chen Qi moved several pieces of cloth over by the fire, spread a few large animal skins on the ground, laid out the cloth on top of it, and planned to make some new shirts after he mended his tattered coat.

Aze did end up making it back before the sun went down. In addition to the backpacks he’d set out with, he also brought back the two backpacks they’d lost before. Even the rough wood bow was retrieved from who knows where. He’d used a wooden stick as a pole to carry all the things that were tied together with vines over his shoulder. Fortunately, Aze was very strong and it did not take much effort for him to even carry things several times heavier than himself.

That night, Chen Qi did not fall asleep. The fire in the room burned very brightly. Chen Qi sat in front of the door, intending to see what winter would look like.

At around midnight, Aze took two animal skins and draped them over Chen Qi. He also changed into thicker fur clothing himself. A bit of coldness fell onto Chen Qi’s nose. He reached out his hand and touched it, and found that it was a little drop of water.

Aze sat down beside Chen Qi, looked at the dark night outside and whispered, “Winter has come.”

Chen Qi suddenly realized that the drop was not water but snow.