By noon, the Han Tribe's livestock pen had been completed. Luo Chong drove the twelve Blue Antelope remaining in the tribe into it, and was now holding a piece of Man-eating Tree Sweet Tree Root, luring the Dinophant calves into the pen.
Qu Bing also held a piece of Sweet Tree Root beneath a Dinophant's trunk. It curled up the root and swallowed it in one bite, then stretched its trunk out for more.
Qu Bing giggled nonstop. Tilting his little face up, he asked Luo Chong, "Chieftain, what are they?"
"They're Dinophants. They have gray skin, two huge tusks, and long trunks. Their trunks are as nimble as hands. They're herbivores." Luo Chong picked up another piece of root and fed the other Dinophant.
"Oh. Do they have names? My name is Qu Bing. What are theirs?"
"Uh, well, I haven't named them yet. Why don't you give them names?" Luo Chong scratched his head. He suffered from a serious case of naming difficulty, and when asked to come up with a proper name, he really couldn't think of one on the spot.
"Really? I get to name them? Then I'll call it Rou Rou." Qu Bing hopped around excitedly.
Heh, damn, that's spot-on. Isn't it just one giant lump of meat? Luo Chong's lips twitched as he grumbled inwardly.
"Fine. We'll call this female Rou Rou. What about the other male?" Luo Chong nodded in agreement. Rou Rou continued begging for food without a care in the world, completely unconcerned about what she was called.
"The other one... we'll call it Hui Shan, because it's gray and looks like a little mountain. And it's even bigger than Rou Rou." Qu Bing patted Hui Shan's thick leg. Hui Shan, however, tilted his head toward the west and suddenly threw back his head with a roar, startling Qu Bing.
Luo Chong also looked west. Four Blue Antelope were dragging the corpses of two companions toward him, leaving a trail of blood behind them and marking the ground red. Several long spears were stuck in the two antelopes' bodies. They weren't from the Han Tribe—the Han Tribe used only standardized White-shafted Long Spears.
"Were they attacked? Why hasn't anyone from the logging team returned? Could they all be dead?"
Luo Chong's heart jolted. He scooped up Qu Bing and ran toward the cave, shouting as he went, "Enemies! Everyone back to the cave! Get your weapons! Hurry and bring all the children back!"
Lame, who was smelting copper beside the cave, was the first to react. He immediately stood up and shouted that there were enemies, then told Big Mouth and Monkey to hurry and call back the children gathering grass.
Luo Chong put Qu Bing inside the cave, took out his Golden Axe and bow and arrows, and carried out all two hundred-plus arrows in storage.
In less than three minutes, the children had all returned with iron-toothed rakes. The women also arrived at the cave entrance, each taking a long spear. Elder and Lame came before Luo Chong as well, waiting for orders.
Luo Chong looked at the tribespeople gathered before him, took a deep breath, and said, "All the children go into the cave. Elder, guard the home. Women, go into the cave too and seal the entrance. Don't open it until I return.
"Lame, take Big Mouth and the other three to the livestock pen. Drag those two dead Blue Antelope inside as well and guard the place. No one is allowed in until I return."
"Chieftain, where are you going?" Elder and Lame asked together. Qu Bing also peeked out from behind his mother to look at Luo Chong.
"I'm going to find out why our Hunting Team hasn't returned. Guard the home well." Luo Chong frowned.
He was deeply worried about the Hunting Team. Not one person had returned. Were they all dead, or had they been captured? Either way, the enemy couldn't be few in number, so Luo Chong decided to see for himself.
The two hundred-plus arrows were divided into two bundles and hung around Hui Shan's neck. Luo Chong slung his longbow over his back, took up his White-shafted Long Spear, and leaped onto Hui Shan's back. He pointed the spear toward the blood trail on the ground. Hui Shan roared and charged forward.
Rou Rou also trotted after them. After running a few steps, she turned back, curled two pieces of Sweet Tree Root up with her trunk, and only then caught up.
The two young elephants had probably grown up among people. They weren't afraid of humans, nor did they object to being used as mounts. Clearly, this was something they did often.
Hui Shan carried Luo Chong at a mad gallop, following the blood trail into the jungle, with Rou Rou keeping close beside them.
One man and two elephants headed west. They hadn't gone far when a group of people suddenly appeared ahead. Several of those at the front carried Golden Axes—they were unmistakably Dashu and the others. Luo Chong froze, patted Hui Shan's head, and hurriedly told him to stop.
Dashu and the others also saw Luo Chong and quickly ran over.
"What happened? Did you encounter enemies?" Seeing all ten of them there, apparently unharmed, Luo Chong finally let out a sigh of relief.
Dashu didn't know the enemies' identities, so he gestured for Beast Tooth to explain. Beast Tooth immediately said proudly, "Chieftain, they're from the tribe west of here—the tribe that trades pottery with us. They attacked first and killed our Blue Antelope. Then we counterattacked twice and killed... um, that many of them."
Beast Tooth thought for a long while, then raised seven fingers.
People from Baldy's side? Luo Chong was puzzled. Why had Baldy and the others attacked his tribe? Did they want to swallow it up?
"Where are they now?" Luo Chong asked with a frown.
"They ran away. Maybe they went home. They fled after a few of them died," Dashu replied.
They ran? Does that mean everything's fine? Were my Blue Antelope killed for nothing? It took no small effort to bring them back.
"Let's go after them. Kill them. Anyone who dares attack my tribespeople must die. Even if the ones who died were only Blue Antelope, it still won't do." Luo Chong swung his spear and pointed west.
One-Ear and the others naturally had no objections. If the Chieftain said they were going to avenge themselves, then of course they would go. The Chieftain's words had been so domineering just now: anyone who dared attack his tribespeople would die, whether they were human or Blue Antelope. Wait, that wasn't right. Which mattered more, people or Blue Antelope?
But no one answered his question. The others had already set off after Luo Chong, and One-Ear hurried after them as well.
It wasn't until a little after two in the afternoon that Luo Chong and the others reached the vicinity of Baldy's tribe. From a distance, they saw that not a single person was present in the open ground before the karst cave. The entrance had been blocked by a huge boulder, though a sizable gap remained, and several pairs of eyes were secretly peering outside.
Baldy was one of them. What he feared most was the enemy returning for revenge. He had still been clinging to the lucky thought that, since the other side hadn't suffered any losses this time, perhaps they wouldn't come. But unexpectedly, they had really come—and with such a lineup.
The man at the front wore a Snake-skin Hair Binding with a Bone Hairpin stuck through it. He held a Gold-tipped Long Spear that glittered menacingly, his face cold and murderous. Beneath him was a long-nosed giant beast taller than a man, with another one beside it.
If I'd known they were this powerful, why the hell would I have fought them? Baldy was consumed by regret. He wished he could immediately cede territory and pay compensation, form a treaty under the city walls—anything to send this godlike man away.
Luo Chong was dumbfounded too. He had originally planned to beat them into submission if their numbers were small, then swallow up all the survivors. Yet they actually refused to come out and fight him.
What now? Challenge them? We don't even speak the same language. Even if I shout, no one will understand.
Looking at the eyes peeking out from inside the karst cave, Luo Chong stabbed his spear into the ground, removed the longbow from his back, drew an arrow, and loosed it with a whoosh.
"Ah... ah, ah!"
"Damn it, I only shot one arrow! Why are there so many cries? Did I skewer them like candied hawthorn?" Luo Chong's lips twitched, and he was utterly baffled.
In truth, Luo Chong had hit only one person—and it had happened to be Baldy himself. The arrow had pierced through his eye, with half its shaft protruding from the back of his head and lodged in his skull. It hadn't injured the people behind him. The others had cried out because they were terrified.
There was nothing to be done about it. The distance was too short, less than ten meters, and the penetrating force was simply that powerful. If the arrow had been fitted with a metal tip, it definitely would have shot straight out through the back of his skull.
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