Chapter 3: CH 3

Aze nimbly broke off a semi-dry branch, folded it into several sections, and in no time, he had built a simple fire rack. Chen Qi felt like he was going to be eating food without working for it and could not stay in the tree anymore. He shouted down to Aze, who was busying about under the tree, “Aze, can I come down?”

Aze raised his head and looked up. “The food is not ready yet.”

“I feel too guilty that you’re the only one doing all the work. I can help.”

Aze was stunned by his response and paused. With a few quick flips, he climbed the tree and landed in front of Chen Qi. The afterglow of the sunset sprinkled over the horizon through the gaps in the trees, and perhaps because of the backlight, Chen Qi found that the other man’s eyes were unusually bright. For a moment, Aze looked at Chen Qi seriously, then he smiled and whispered, “Okay.”

He crouched down and motioned Chen Qi to climb onto his back. Chen Qi wrapped his arms around his neck. Aze’s speed was very fast, but his body was very stable. Before Chen Qi could react, the two had landed on the ground. Chen Qi couldn’t help sighing once again at the strength of the beastman. “Aze, you’re really amazing.”

Dazed, Aze brought himself back to the tasks at hand. He cleared up an area next to the fire and took out the flint to light the wood he’d just set up. Then he dug a small, shallow pit nearby. Chen Qi was still wondering why Aze was digging a pit when Aze picked up the little warthog next to him and held out his right hand. His five fingernails instantly grew longer, and he sliced the warthog’s neck, leaving a cut deep enough that the bone was visible. Perhaps because the warthog had already been dead for a period of time, there was no gushing blood.

Aze’s slender fingers moved to the warthog’s belly, and he sliced across it using the sharp tip of his index nail, opening a long gap in the flesh. His hand reached into the opening, and with a hard pull, the mess of viscera slid out and fell into the freshly dug pit. 

Aze grabbed hold of the warthog’s two front limbs and held it upside-down. His slender, blood-stained fingers left two long marks on the warthog’s grayish-brown fur. After the viscera had been removed, Aze placed the prepared warthog on the clean hide beside him. Then he grabbed the warthog’s neck, and with a twist and a pull, the warthog’s large head was forcibly wrenched off. Feeling chills at the back of his neck, Chen Qi’s hand involuntarily went to touch it.

Aze also dumped the warthog’s head into the viscera-filled pit and buried it with soil before spreading a layer of hay to cover it.

“Why do you need to bury those parts?” Chen Qi couldn’t help but ask.

With bloody claws, Aze picked up a smooth stick he had prepared earlier and used it to skewer the warthog. Hearing Chen Qi’s question, Aze looked up at him and explained, “Food and blood will attract predators on the Dora Plains. Burying it in the soil helps cover up the smell.”

Chen Qi nodded. As he noticed Aze preparing to put the warthog skewer over the fire, he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Don’t you need to rinse it?” As soon as he asked that, he regretted his question. Out in the wild like this, where would there be water to rinse anything? Considering the present conditions, he couldn’t help but berate himself for his rather hypocritical attempt at cleanliness.

Aze stopped and saw that Chen Qi was staring at the warthog skewer in his hand with a tangled expression. After thinking for a moment, he set down the skewer and carried Chen Qi back into the tree. “Wait here,” he said. Then he jumped down, picked up the warthog skewer, and disappeared into the tall grass.

Chen Qi was sitting on a bough on the tree. His position was relatively high, and he could gaze out in the direction that Aze was going. Perhaps it was because Aze was dressed in animal skins, but after a couple of leaps and landings, Chen Qi could no longer tell whether it was Aze or another animal that was shuttling through the tall grass. Chen Qi looked on, still feeling a little annoyed at himself. He silently reflected that this was no longer the world he was familiar with, and he could no longer live by the previous standards. After thinking about it for a while, his shoulders slumped over again. Food covered with blood and stained with grass crumbs and mud would still be a little bit difficult for him to swallow even after being roasted by fire. Well, okay, it wasn’t too unreasonable of him, considering that before he’d woken up this morning in the cave, the last meal he remembered was the normal food he’d eaten in a restaurant. Now, he just needed some time to get used to it.

Aze was gone for a long time this time. Chen Qi did not have the habit of wearing a watch, nor did his mobile phone follow him over. The only items he had were a lighter and an unopened pack of cigarettes from the pocket of the black coat.

After waiting for a while, Chen Qi’s thoughts turned from his initial chagrin to worry. His mind was always full of bad thoughts, such as Aze getting ambushed by cannibal vines, or Aze encountering lions that were out hunting. Or wolves that were chasing prey. Or Aze running into the natural enemy of beastmen, the hyena-drakes. What should he do if Aze was in danger? After staring at the last ray of sunlight disappearing on the horizon, Chen Qi thought that perhaps he too would disappear on these unfamiliar grasslands. Without Aze, he would not even be able to get down from this acacia tree.

The sky had darkened and Chen Qi could no longer see such large differences between the sky here and the sky in his own world. The white sphere, the larger moon, was bright and visible during the day but became nearly transparent at night, unable to be found without careful scrutiny. Conversely, the pale purple sphere, which closely resembled his world’s moon, now glowed blue, sending out a soft light that illuminated everything on the grasslands.Thanks to its existence, the surroundings did not become pitch black.

The fire that Aze ignited before he left was already half burnt out. Chen Qi broke off a branch with leaves and threw it onto the fire. However, his aim was not very good. Soon, there were many branches scattered around the fire.

Chen Qi broke off another branch and threw it hard. This time it landed right in the middle of the fire. The branch was roasted with a “bang” and a burst of black smoke appeared.

Chen Qi shook his dangling feet proudly and turned his slightly roguish face to continue studying whether the white light band in the night sky was the Milky Way.

Suddenly, the sound of wolves howling came from the distance. Chen Qi looked around warily. The nearby grass rustled. Chen Qi’s body tensed as he carefully laid down close to the branch, shielding himself with the dense foliage of the acacia tree.

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Aze was carrying a pile of things wrapped in animal hide over his shoulder and his hair was wet. He walked out of the tall grass and looked up at the acacia tree where Chen Qi was hiding. But he did not see Chen Qi’s figure amongst the branches. His heart thumped. He threw the things on his shoulder to the ground and hurriedly jumped his way up to the largest branch at the top.

“Aze?”

He glanced down at the familiar voice coming from below him and caught sight of Chen Qi. His fiercely beating heart finally calmed down and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that it was Aze, Chen Qi’s worried heart also relaxed, though he couldn’t help but complain, “Why were you gone for so long? The sky is already dark and the fire is almost out.”

“Sorry, I didn’t expect the stream to be so far from here.” Aze looked down contritely. He was really too thoughtless. Although the Dora Plains were not as dangerous as Loya Forest, leaving a male without any ability to protect himself alone out here really was not befitting of a female. If he was back with the tribe, he would have been well on his way to receiving punishment.

Looking at the man’s miserable appearance, Chen Qi felt a bit amused. “I didn’t mean to blame you.”

“No, it really is my fault. I will never leave you alone again.”

Chen Qi waved him off a little awkwardly and shifted the topic. “Did you go just to clean the prey?”

Speaking of that, Aze was reminded of his original goal. From his waist, he retrieved and unwrapped a ball of animal skins. The top layer was wrapped with rattan vines, which Aze directly tore off before removing the hides and revealing a greenish-brown colored fruit. Chen Qi recognized it as the same laiche fruit Aze had brought back in the morning. But this one in front of him now had a neat cut on the top of the fruit.

Aze lifted the lid covering the fruit husk to reveal the transparent liquid inside and handed it to Chen Qi. “Here.”

Chen Qi curiously took it and peered at it. He found that the color of the liquid inside was not the milky white stuff he drank in the morning, but more transparent, like water? Chen Qi asked doubtfully, “What is this?”

“Water. You have not had water the whole day. I got it from the stream.” After a pause, he added, “I got it upstream. I tried it. It was very clean.”

Chen Qi gave a light cough and asked, a little embarrassed, “Can I boil it first before drinking it?”

Aze was surprised but he smiled. “Sure.” Males like to eat warm things, he thought to himself. He was really too careless. He would have to ask his brother about how to care for a male when he got back.

The two men landed firmly under the tree. Aze took Chen Qi’s water-filled laiche fruit and built a stand by the fire, placing the laiche fruit on it to heat the water. Then, Aze continued to set up the prepped warthog skewer for roasting.

Chen Qi proactively tidied up the acacia branches that were scattered everywhere due to his horribly-aimed throws and piled them up to the side of the fire. Aze also broke off another thick semi-dry branch to use as firewood. Chen Qi observed a moment of silence for the tall acacia tree that had grown for many years in peace, only to lose nearly one-third of its branches overnight. After adding the new branches, the fire regained its vigor and Chen Qi spread the rest of the gathered branches around the fire to dry them out.

A male’s teeth were not as strong as a female’s, and a warthog’s skin was thick and tough, so Aze carefully peeled off the skin while roasting. Chen Qi watched for a moment, then began to walk around in the grass beside the fire. Earlier, he’d caught sight of a slightly familiar plant while he was up on the tree. The only green-colored patch amidst a pile of hay was certainly very conspicuous and Chen Qi found it without much effort.

Chen Qi examined the stems that showed some signs of wilting; the leaves were still a little green. He gave them a hard pull and the stems broke off from the roots. Several black lines* couldn’t help but appear across Chen Qi’s forehead. Throwing the stems aside, he curled his fingers into claw shapes and scratched at the ground to dig out the roots. The soil was very hard. After half a day**, he’d only managed to dig down a few centimeters deep into the ground.

*like this:

**not literally half of a day. Common expression to exaggeratedly indicate a long time had passed

Aze was paying attention to Chen Qi’s movements. Seeing that the male was busy squatting on the side of some grass, he looked over at the warthog, which had been skinned and roasted, then set it aside to move over to Chen Qi’s side. Curiously, he asked, “Chen Qi, what are you doing?”

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