Chapter 104

The temperature gradually dropped, and after living on the mountaintop for nearly two months, Cloudy returned to the settlement.

Back in the settlement, days passed by one after another. Titus had completed two external hunts. Everything seemed to have changed yet remained the same. Cloudy became more familiar with the surroundings of the settlement; she could find her way home even with her eyes closed.

After the sixth external hunt, the settlement had accumulated many prey animals. Cloudy and the mothers did a lot of things. They first made a large number of drying racks and stone kilns. While drying the meat, they also squeezed the odorless animal fat dry and stored it in clay jars. The collection of spice plants also became a priority. After all, once you've tasted something delicious, the flavor is etched into your DNA.

Cloudy was responsible for the daily collection of spice plants. She was familiar with the plants and was the most eager to run into the rainforest to play. She knew exactly where these plants would grow.

In addition to food reserves, the transformation of the settlement's infrastructure was slowly progressing. Wahben and a few others had already given birth. Unfortunately, Wahben's child did not survive. Among the remaining four, only two children survived. Cloudy had personally assisted in the childbirth. The birthing process was not much different from what she had imagined, except for the appearance of the "female □□ official," which was completely different from what she had expected... Maybe it wasn't a female □□ official, but for convenience, Cloudy continued to refer to her that way in her mind.

The local birthing process was far less painful than that of modern humans, and it didn't take as long. The smooth process might be attributed to what they called "eggs" in their language, as Titus had mentioned before, stating that newborns came from eggs. At that time, Cloudy thought it was the placenta. After participating in the birth, she realized she had been too naive. The outer layer that enveloped the newborn was too thick and completely opaque.

The Matriarch would tear open this layer by hand, and the fetus inside would slowly slide out. After birth, the children would be taken back to the longhouse and wrapped in the softest animal skins.

The reason newborns were prone to death was simple: lack of food. Although individuals could produce breast milk, it was scarce and thin. They could only feed the children other things, but newborns were inherently weak, leading to a high mortality rate.

However, the Matriarch and the other mothers, including Wahben, were not too despondent. To these wild people, having two newborns survive in a year was already a miracle, indicating how terrifying the previous birth rate had been.

Cloudy was hesitant to approach the local children because they were too important to the locals. She feared making a mistake, even though the Matriarch had always hoped she would join the newborn care team.

On regular days, Cloudy focused on the transformation of the settlement facilities. She placed many tripod torches on each main road and square, filled with hay and wood soaked in fat, which could burn continuously for about 10 minutes at night. The warming huts were also already...
Built, however, Cloudy doesn't plan to burn fire in the interlayer, considering the high risk of burning wood and charcoal after careful consideration.

The interlayer is now filled with bird feathers and dry grass, thickly pressed between the two walls. Now, as long as the door of the warm house is closed, it's several degrees warmer inside than outside. During the rainy season, there is coal and animal skin in the house, similarly filled with puffy bird feather quilts. If firewood or coal is scarce during the rainy season, Cloudy will urgently replenish them. She has already prepared a coal pit in the fire room.

Cloudy has perfectly fulfilled Titus's request, and from now on, she spends most of her time taking care of her backyard, occasionally going out to check traps and see if there's anything she can bring back to raise.

More and more people in the settlement are learning to plant and breed, but only Cloudy raises mammals. Other wild people tend to bring back insect eggs to try to cultivate. Originally, Titus lacked interest in raising animals, but he became enthusiastic when he heard about raising insects. After returning from hunting, he kept pulling Cloudy out to look for insect eggs.

Putting aside the annoying Titus and insects... her backyard is now very well-maintained, with most of the plants bearing fruit after the temperature started to drop. Cloudy collects the largest and sweetest fruit seeds for storage, planning to plant them again next year when the temperature warms up. By selecting in this way for a few years, she should be able to get fruits with stable quality and taste.

The green monkeys and their children have been moved to another location for breeding, and the breeding ground has been expanded with stones. In addition to the green monkeys, there is now a nest of reptiles.

After taking care of the backyard and animals daily, if Cloudy has extra energy, she will take her bow and arrow and go out with Titus. Titus will carry her to a slightly further rainforest, where they either collect plant seeds or practice archery skills. Or simply sit by the lake, soak their feet, and chat.

They have also made a small boat tied to the shore of the nearest small lake from the settlement. When they feel like it, they row the boat. Titus still loves rowing so much that when he rows with all his strength, Cloudy feels like she's on a speedboat rather than a raft from thousands of years ago...

After playing outside and returning to the cabin tired, they clean themselves and lie on the bed to play chess. Titus is finally not finding chess difficult anymore; simple games like Gomoku that used to puzzle him during cave living are now familiar, although he still can't beat Cloudy.

"Cloudy, you should let me win once," Titus shakes the small stones in his hand. "The pieces, I made them. You should let me win once!"

"Then I'll let you win," Cloudy takes back the chess pieces in her hand and points with her finger, "Put them here, and you can capture these."

As Titus joyfully prepares to place his pieces... "But then, Titus won't be skilled," Cloudy says softly.

The wild man's ears perk up, his nose wrinkled. "What do you mean?"

"
It's not that I won by my own effort. I let you win so that Titus wouldn't seem impressive." Cloudy played with the stones in her hand, toying with the wild man's emotions, "Titus is foolish."

Titus gave a more serious look, "I can let Cloudy win, let me win. This shows that I can win, I am impressive."

"....?"

"If I want to win, but you don't let me win. Then I'm not impressive." After saying this, Titus calmly placed his piece on the board, winning a move against Cloudy, "I am important, that's why you let me win."

What a strange logic, it somehow makes sense... Cloudy looked at Titus's smug face and couldn't resist reaching out to grab his ear and shake it, "You should win on your own, foolish."

"No, foolish, Cloudy will teach me simple games. Cloudy thinks I'm smart, that's why she teaches me the difficult ones."

"..." Just a moment ago, Cloudy, who wanted to play with the wild man's emotions, found herself defeated. Faced with Titus's simple logic, she had no room for argument and could only grip his ear even tighter.

Titus tilted his head, trying to pull his ear out, but after a few attempts, he realized Cloudy wouldn't let go, "Cloudy, it hurts!"