A Bit of Fate

The surrendering Cave Dwellers lived in caves at the foot of the western mountain, led by a LV13 [Cave Dweller Shaman] named Senjian. Senjian held a Bone Staff and possessed a measure of Wisdom.

Aside from him, nearly all other Cave Dwellers were at LV1 or LV2, individually stronger than the tribesfolk, but not by much.

The Cave Dweller Shaman was deeply humble before Isabelle, concisely recounting the origin of the Cave Dwellers.

"Apostle, the truth is that Cave Dwellers are another branch of humanity."

"Through long-term life underground, their bodies gradually changed, generation after generation, until they became what they are now—less intelligent than surface humans."

The whole matter traced back to the previous era.

That was the age when the Forest God still ruled this land.

The Cave Dwellers were not yet Cave Dwellers then, but a group of Forest God believers. They worshipped the Forest God, lived in the forest, and kept company with birds and beasts.

In daily life, they planted all kinds of Mushrooms, feeding on them and the forest's Berries. Blessed by the Forest God, the vast, unbroken forests always provided abundant food, and they lived a stable, natural life.

A great change came quietly.

With the Forest God's fall, vast stretches of forest withered and shrank. Some places turned to desert, others to barren, high mountains.

Corruptors and Skin-Peelers were everywhere—fanatical followers and soldiers of the two Heretic Gods, [Whistleblower] and [Flayer].

The Corruptors would capture Forest God believers, hang them, and turn them into new Corruptors. The Skin-Peelers would flay people alive, letting them die in excruciating pain.

To escape the slaughter, the forest people burrowed into caves and fled underground. To put as much distance as possible between themselves and those terrifying killers, they kept migrating deeper, into dark, cold underground caverns.

In those lightless caves, they survived by growing Mushrooms and catching underground insects.

The underground was too cold, pitch-black, and many couldn't adapt to such a life, dying of hunger, cold, and disease.

But a small number stubbornly survived.

They endured the hardest days and gradually found a way to live.

As time passed, their bodies changed: thick body hair grew, their hair lengthened, and their limbs became strong and broad. They moved on all fours like lizards underground, swift and agile.

They transformed from humans into Cave Dwellers, using stone-ground masks to protect their features and intimidate enemies. They made stone spears and axes, emitted strange cries, and performed bizarre movements to bolster their courage and frighten prey.

Among the Cave Dwellers, some still remembered where they came from. They passed down the story by word of mouth, telling later generations not to forget their surface origins.

If they patiently waited for the gods' wrath to subside, they could return to the surface, stand again under the sun, stop eating insects, and walk upright.

The Cave Dweller family [Sen], led by Senjian, had never forgotten the past. The family name Sen itself served as a reminder to future generations to remember they came from the forest.

They waited in silence.

Not long ago, a massive collapse suddenly occurred in the mountains.

Senjian keenly sensed this might be a divine sign. So he cautiously led his people out of the cave, discovering that the outside had indeed changed—no more pursuers everywhere.

But just at that critical moment, another Cave Dweller family was wiped out.

Senjian's ability was called [Wind Listener]; he could hear sounds dissipating in the air through the wind. This was extremely useful underground, helping his family avoid many dangers and conflicts.

In the wind, he heard about God Yao, the Apostle, and the Garlic Tribe.

The slaughter by [Whistleblower] and [Flayer] was over.

Now the god here was the merciful and majestic God Yao.

Senjian led his family down the mountain, hoping to join the Garlic Tribe. So when he encountered the Forest Wolves, he immediately surrendered to the pack, expressing his willingness to become a vassal.

Lu Yao's mood was somewhat peculiar.

The mountain collapse had been caused by his own Earthquake. In that sense, he shared a certain fate with this Cave Dweller family.

Since he already had a Ghost city, accepting a group of Cave Dwellers was no big deal.

But before that, Lu Yao needed to confirm whether the Cave Dweller Shaman had lied.

Isabelle said, "My lord, I used Lingering Prayer to question the nearby ghosts. What they said is basically consistent with Senjian's account."

Then there was nothing more to worry about.

Forty Cave Dwellers, led by their chief Senjian, left the mountains and arrived at the Garlic Tribe.

There was some internal disagreement within the Garlic Tribe about accepting the Cave Dwellers.

At first, most tribe members opposed it.

"Cave Dwellers are enemies, foes!"

"They're underground monsters, they could kill at any moment!"

"They killed Hero Hunter-Head!"

"Leader Yu Zou, have you forgotten the blood feuds of the past?!"

Facing these criticisms and doubts, Yu Zou stood calmly.

The white-haired leader said, "Everyone, listen to me. Hunter-Head's death showed us that the tribe must never stop moving forward."

"If we were as strong as the Salt Pool Tribe, would the Cave Dwellers have dared to attack us? They wouldn't."

"Even if we attacked them, they wouldn't dare resist."

"Now, the Cave Dwellers who once attacked us are willingly joining the Garlic Tribe—why is that?"

He summed it up: "It's not because they've grown timid, but because we've grown strong."

"God Yao sent the Apostle, and she showed everyone the might of the God. The Salt Pool Tribe is suffering Divine Punishment—that is the power of the God!"

Yu Zou continued: "At first, the Forest Tribe was our enemy, then the Barbarian Tribe was our enemy, and later the East River Tribe was our enemy too. But now, we work and live together."

"Why can't the Cave Dwellers?"

Yu Zou sealed the matter: "This is also God Yao's will! Who here opposes it?"

After invoking the God's authority, there were finally no other voices.

Lu Yao was quite satisfied with his decisiveness. That's right, he thought, now that's a bit of a leader.

Yu Zou was someone he had watched grow.

Once, he had been the unreliable link among the Pig-Fish Brothers.

Later, he became one of the tribe's earliest Heroes, experiencing Lie Tou's death in battle, the tribe's various transformations, and the passing of the first-generation tribal leaders Nong Lai and Lie Cang... until he became the steady, mature leading Sheep he was now.

After joining the Garlic Tribe, the Cave Dweller families received several houses.

They lived closest to the western Mountains.

Senjian led the Cave Dwellers, taking Camel and Copper Hammer into the mountains every day to mine, and the Cave Dwellers became the tribe's professional miners and stonemasons.

Labor allowed them to integrate into the Garlic Tribe.

Although the Cave Dwellers still wore their Stone Masks, had strange forms, and sometimes crawled on all fours out of habit, the rest of the tribe had grown used to it.

[Cave Dweller Shaman] Senjian, with the Wisdom and experience he possessed, quickly became a leading figure in the Garlic Tribe, deciding the tribe's direction alongside Yu Zou and Shahan.

At that moment, a prompt appeared on the screen.

[Senjian has offered you a Sacrificial Offering.]

Lu Yao flexed his wrists.

A long-awaited Sacrificial Offering had finally arrived.

Let me see what item I can draw this time.

Thanks to Star Moon River for the 100 starting point coin support.