Chapter 109

Unsurprisingly, the entire settlement was buzzing with excitement on the day Titus completed his "task."

Flames rose from the tinder in his hands, creating a miraculous object that required many people to maintain, yet was crafted from materials as common as those found in the surroundings and seemingly descended from the heavens.

For Cloudy and the people in the settlement, it was a day worth commemorating. For the settlement, it might have held even deeper significance – it was the knowledge and technology of freely using fire, a power that, if wielded correctly, could leap thousands or even millions of years ahead in history... However, these grand ideas were left for the tribespeople to explore on their own. For Cloudy, she simply settled down completely in the settlement.

Amidst the excitement of the tribespeople, something that she had vaguely sensed before also occurred. The tribespeople, caught up in the excitement of the fire's appearance, accidentally set a house ablaze. Fortunately, the agile hunters quickly contained the fire, and it was a stroke of luck that the burnt house was an old version made of wood.

After the incident, Cloudy had to step in and remind the tribespeople to use fire safely, especially in the rainforest. "A slight oversight could anger the rainforest. It will be punished." Cloudy deliberately exaggerated the threat of wildfires as a divine punishment, cautioning the hunters to ensure they had enough water, mud, and stones nearby to immediately control any fires if they were to light them in the rainforest.

The upcoming rainy season was no longer a cause for concern. Besides preparing warm shelters and feather blankets for newborns, upgrades were made to the houses and rainy season supplies in the settlement. Now, every household had thick animal skin blankets filled with feathers. Additionally, Cloudy informed the Matriarch that if any family lacked supplies during the rainy season, they could signal by knocking on stones, and she would brave the rain to deliver goods or simply go out hunting...

What would the settlement become in the future? What about her and Titus?

The final external hunt before the rainy season had ended. Titus and the other four hunters brought back two large prey animals. After the frenzy of fire enthusiasm, the settlement returned to its routine, with the hunters processing the meat from the hunt. Cloudy naturally lent a hand in the process.

After teaching the skill of making fire, she found that her mindset had subtly changed. Previously, she would unconsciously differentiate herself from the locals, thinking, "They would do this, I would do that..." Not with a sense of disdain, but simply viewing others, including Titus, as different beings, alienating their actions and observing everything they did with a bystander's mentality.

Now, things were different. She considered herself a part of them, guiding them in their tasks or accepting their teachings. Besides Titus, she also had to sincerely learn to interact with the other locals.

However, Titus clearly did not feel the same. Since the fire-making and the final external hunt, he noticed that Cloudy was spending more and more time with the people in the settlement, even initiating conversations with the other hunters besides him.
Cloudy is often caught by Titus and nibbled on her head. After finishing, he warns her that no other hunter is as skilled as he is, and the last time he went hunting alone, he excelled.

"Stop it!" That night, Cloudy had just finished preparing a large pile of dried meat and fish paste. Titus was arguing with the hunters who came to visit at the door, mainly about why they were looking for Cloudy, what they talked about, why they came to see Cloudy when he was out, and how he excelled in the last solo hunt...

After driving the hunters away, he would come around to continue talking behind her back and insist on finding out what happened when she wasn't home.

"Spices, they wanted spices from me."

"You can also get spices from Matriarch! They all come to you, you're busy, you'll get tired!" After shouting, the wild man raised his hand to hold Cloudy's head. "I don't want Cloudy to get tired."

It's hard to evaluate what emotions Cloudy felt when Titus used this combination of punches. Sometimes she thought Titus treated his feelings towards her like a child with their favorite toy, not allowing others to play with it. It seemed like possessiveness was elevating the wild man's emotional intelligence too much: "Everyone will come to me, do you want to argue with everyone?"

"Yes." Titus started pulling her shoulder again. "I found Cloudy in the cave, so she's mine."

Cloudy could only make a "woof woof woof" sound to appease Titus. At this moment, she was busy organizing things at home. Matriarch had told her two days ago that based on the weather and temperature, the rainy season was approaching, at the latest in two weeks.

The rainy season wasn't terrifying for her, but the memory of Titus falling ill during the last rainy season still haunted her. Cloudy had prepared everything warm for Titus, even preparing hot tea for him to drink every day. She was confident that this rainy season would be different, and she wouldn't let Titus fall ill.

Seeing Cloudy not paying much attention to him, Titus began to think about whether he could help tidy up: "Should the food be put on the shelf? Do we need to organize things in the backyard?"

The backyard... The hands that were sorting the animal skins paused for a moment. The plants in the backyard had slowly withered after bearing fruit, and now the backyard only had the cage of the green monkeys, which was quite a headache. Should the animals be moved inside the house? Or...

"Put the animals inside the house, so if we don't have food during the rainy season, we can eat them." Titus said cheerfully, which made Cloudy feel a bit dizzy. The green monkeys raised in the backyard were already considered pets to her, and it was difficult for her to explain to Titus that she couldn't bear to eat these ugly little animals... The concept of pets must be very abstract to the wild man!

Moreover, in this era where food is paramount, refusing to eat the captive animals seemed a bit pretentious. What to do... Eating them would make her feel bad, not eating them would also make her feel bad. The modern human's spiritual world is truly complicated.

Fortunately, Titus quickly sensed her hesitation: "Don't want to keep them inside the house?"
Cloudy hesitated a bit before explaining her thoughts to Titus, unsure if he truly understood. After she finished explaining, she regretted it and decided to just eat when she felt like it. To her surprise, Titus just scratched his head and said, "We don't eat during the rainy season, we keep it at home. Cloudy likes it."

For Titus, it was just a simple response - Cloudy likes it, so she can do as she pleases.

But for Cloudy, it was more than just a normal response. She had known for a long time that Titus basically did whatever she said, including starting a fire. If it were a different settlement and a different person, they would have immediately shared the knowledge of starting a fire. Not Titus, who, just because of her selfish and suspicious nature, had kept it a secret until now with a simple "don't tell anyone."

Food was essential, no matter the era. Now, just because of her stubborn remark, "I like it, I can't bear to eat it," Titus unconditionally compromised.

Feeling favored was nice, but she didn't plan on taking Titus's favor for granted... If food ran out, she still had to eat what was necessary.