Chapter 27

Here is a collapsed cave, with an extremely high dome. The structure was unstable before the collapse, but after shedding the burden of soft mud and rubble, it turned into a very stable arched structure, with the thick soil and stones that collapsed forming a "courtyard" here.

The earthy platform where Cloudy and Titus were located also formed due to the collapse of soil from the ceiling. It can be considered a stroke of luck, and she felt like she had finally found a save point, giving her more motivation to do anything. Even dismantling and rebuilding the tent filled her with energy.

The tent construction went very smoothly, with Titus following her commands. Although sometimes he didn't understand what to do, a quick lesson would clarify things. He went out several times to collect leaves and sticks, while Cloudy stayed inside organizing the tent frame.

Since they were building a two-person tent, they decided to make a better one. After dismantling and rebuilding, Cloudy boldly chose to use multiple load-bearing poles. The triangular tent built in the camp was now being replaced by a rectangular one. It could almost be considered a small wooden house, rather than just a tent.

Measuring around six meters in length, five meters in width, and three meters in height, they buried slightly thicker than arm-sized long wooden sticks at each corner. In the center of the rectangular base, they buried a three-meter-high central pillar. These sturdy materials were all brought back by Titus from outside. "Cloudy, this seems bigger than the camp? Can we finish it today?"

"We can't finish it today," Cloudy wiped the sweat off her forehead. "It's safe here, and I have plenty of time to build this house." As she spoke, Cloudy continued burying small wooden sticks as wall supports along the edges. Even with Titus's help, they would probably only finish three sides of the wooden stick wall today.

The construction of the wooden stick wall was similar to a fence, with the sticks placed side by side. "Titus, it's about time to go back, right?" Cloudy pointed to the ceiling, where the remaining light was fading.

"No, I'll stay with you today. I want to check this place at night, for safety," Titus said as he cleared the vines on the ground. Cloudy had just asked him to clean the leaves off these vines and twist them into a rope, a task he was very familiar with as many people in settlements did the same to repair houses or city walls. "Yesterday, leaving you alone outside the settlement, I was worried. I regret it; I should have stayed with you."

"But Cloudy, I managed fine without you. I'm strong."

"Can we skip the breakup-like lines, please?" Cloudy looked at Titus with a hint of frustration. "I was alone before you came."

"Yes, Cloudy alone, so pitiful!"

"...Alright." Feeling a bit attacked, she walked over to Titus, taking the vine from his hand and heading towards the central pillar.
At the top, they gestured, "Use this to wrap around the top." Since Cloudy couldn't reach the height, she had to ask Titus to help her with these vines that would become the "beams" of the house. The general layout was similar to a spider web, with a few thicker vines pulled towards the corners first, then crossed horizontally with thinner vines for a few rounds, and finally covered with leaves on top of this vine network to complete the roof.

"Cloudy, you know so many things. I still don't understand why they kicked you out." From wooden spears to tents, to the construction of this house now in progress in his settlement, Cloudy's craftsmanship was quite impressive. It was just too upsetting that she was driven out just because of her short stature and misshapen pupils. "I really want Cloudy to stay in my settlement. Then we wouldn't have to work so hard building houses."

"Not tired!" She wasn't tired at all. After being in this desolate place for so long, she finally experienced the joy of building... Watching the wooden walls gradually take shape in front of her, she couldn't help but think of the rural cabin she had fantasized about before. Hadn't she already achieved about a third of it?

The roof of the house would be made of large tree leaves and sturdy vines, the walls built with wooden sticks filled with mud in the gaps. Inside the house, there would be a bed with animal skins and dried grass mats. In a corner, a small earthen fireplace would be placed, with some food on it, and... a door, yes, a proper wooden door. Even though a door wasn't necessary in this courtyard, she still planned to make one to comfort herself.

"I was kicked out, it's okay. The most important thing is that I can live here now."

Titus noticed that when Cloudy spoke, her strange eyes sparkled, she looked particularly happy. The last time he saw Cloudy so happy was when she was eating fish. Thinking about this, Titus felt a bit sad. "Cloudy, last night, I didn't get any roasted *& meat because of the punishment."

"What? Roasted meat?" Cloudy didn't understand the middle word. After Titus explained it several times, Cloudy finally understood that they didn't use the term "roasted meat" or anything like that. They didn't have the concept of roasting; instead, it was about "accepting" - the meat going into the fire and coming out smelling fragrant and delicious, not being cooked by fire but accepting the "gift" of fire, it was fire meat.

Indeed, last night, they were celebrating something: "Do they celebrate like this around the fire every day?" That sounded so blissful! How tempting to sneak a bit!

"No, just last night. Someone accidentally caught prey, so to celebrate, the Matriarch let everyone eat half of the fire meat. But I didn't, I wanted to give it to Cloudy, but I couldn't."

That was a bit unfortunate. Cloudy swallowed her saliva. "Is it really impossible to share fire with outsiders?"

Titus shook his head. "I'm sorry, if I could, I would have brought it to you. But next time, I will try my best to bring you some fire-treated food."

After finishing his sentence, Titu...
Titus was stuck, knowing that if he wanted cooked food, he couldn't be punished. If he didn't want to be punished, he had to go back tonight and complete the task well the next day, meaning he couldn't spend the night with Cloudy.

Titus let out a mournful cry, startling Cloudy, who rushed over to see if Titus was hurt. "What's wrong?! Did you cut yourself?"

"No, I'm not hurt. I just realized that in order to cook food for you, I have to go back... I need to take things seriously, or I'll be punished."

"Then go back quickly!"

"I don't want to go back."

Cloudy looked at the wild man in front of her and said, "Titus, the settlement is more important than me. Your... companion is there."

Titus was taken aback and shook his head hurriedly, "Hunters don't have companions; companions belong to the Matriarch."

Oh? What exactly is this companion... Can't it be used as "family"? Cloudy pondered for a moment and said, "Your important things are all in the settlement."

"If Cloudy were in the settlement, it would be even better." Titus looked very sad. "I want Cloudy to live with me."

"After you finish your work, come play with me here," Cloudy said, patting her own frail chest. "You go back today; I'll be fine here. Finish your tasks tomorrow and come find me."

After completing the fourth wooden wall, Titus left. Of course, he was still driven away by Cloudy's punches and kicks.

The progress of the small wooden house is now about 60% complete, with 40% of it being thanks to Titus. His hands were incredibly swift at heavy work; it took Cloudy several attempts to firmly plant a wooden stick in the ground, while Titus only needed one poke to get it right.

With four walls and vine beams, the wooden house now only needed tree leaves to seal the top. Cloudy planned to cover the top with animal skins for the night. After struggling to lay the animal skins on the roof, she sat down to rest for a while. She was sticky all over...

Her gaze turned to the small pool at the other end of the cave; it was time for her to freshen up. Cloudy stood up and ran towards the pool. She had already surveyed it before and found that it wasn't groundwater but a stagnant pool formed by water dripping from the cave's ceiling over time.

It was very clear, with no insects or strange creatures living inside. The deepest part barely reached Cloudy's knees, with a few clusters of tender green aquatic plants growing at the bottom.

After a sweaty day's work, stepping into the water, Cloudy let out a comfortable sigh... so refreshing. After splashing around a bit, she quickly took off her dirty vest and shorts, tossing them into the pool to soak. She then began to scrub herself.
Hair.

Cleaning the body is always a joyful thing, and when living on the green slope, washing hair is basically impossible. Now she has to rub her own hair well. But as Cloudy washed, she started thinking about a question: should she drink her own bathwater next?

"..." Anyway, there's no one else here, so it should be fine to drink it later, right? Or should she act like a decent person and swear not to drink her own foot-washing water?

Thinking about this, she regretted a bit for immersing herself in the bath because she was really, really dirty. But bathing in a clean wild pond felt really refreshing! Cloudy started splashing around in the pool, playing like a lazy dog. After playing enough, she leaned against the poolside to wash her dirty clothes. Since Titus was only coming tomorrow, she could wash them today and let them dry outside.

After washing her clothes, she started playing in the water again, until she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Cloudy!"

She turned to see Titus, who had somehow entered the cave again. He was carrying many fruits and walking towards her: "Cloudy, I picked some fruits. These are edible, you can recognize them yourself tomorrow! They're near the cave."

"..." Should she feel ashamed? Cloudy crossed her arms and curled up by the pool. There shouldn't be any shame between wild people, right? But Titus did cover his lower body with animal skin, so maybe there was still some shame? "Thank you... but why haven't you gone back yet?"

"Is Cloudy cleaning?" Titus piled the fruits by the pool and squatted down, patting his own arms. "Need help, Cloudy?"

Help with what?! No thanks!

"Um..." Titus frowned, staring at Cloudy soaking in the water. "Cloudy..."

"What...?"

"Cloudy's chest, there are only two, so pitiful."

What does that mean?! Isn't that how it's supposed to be anyway?!

Cloudy suppressed her embarrassment, cleared her throat, and pretended to be calm. "Why aren't you going back? It's getting dark."

Titus didn't answer. It was the first time he saw Cloudy let down her hair without wearing clothes, and he felt curious. "Cloudy, you look so small." Cloudy, who was already small in strange clothes, now looked like a newborn baby.

"Uh!" Before she could finish, Titus got punched on the forehead.

"... ... ..."

"Fruits, thank you." Cloudy wrapped the extra animal skin she snatched from Titus around her body. What she didn't expect was that this action seemed to Titus...

Because she knew her body was deformed and couldn't be shown to outsiders, she was unable to
Titus felt sad again, "Cloudy, you don't have to hide. I don't think you're deformed."

"Is that so," Cloudy couldn't be bothered to explain, she wrapped herself up and started examining the fruits Titus brought her, "Are these all edible?"

"Yeah," Titus nodded, "But they're not very tasty, although there are many nearby. I want you to get to know them before we go back, so you can pick them yourself tomorrow." He then took a fist-sized fruit, with a soft green outer skin, poked a hole with his thumb, and split the fruit in half, "This one, don't eat the outside, eat the inside."

Seeing the juicy white flesh being thrown on the ground by Titus, Cloudy felt sorry, "Why not eat this part?"

After some thought, Titus picked up a piece from the ground and stuffed it into Cloudy's mouth, then laughed as Cloudy spat it all out, "Because it's not tasty!"

Annoyed, Cloudy swiftly grabbed a piece of fruit from the ground and stuffed it into Titus's mouth, and they both started playfully spitting out the fruit.

In the midst of this inexplicable playfulness, Titus and Cloudy finished all the fruits. Indeed, as Titus had said, these fruits weren't very tasty, lacking sweetness, and were either gritty or plastic-like to chew, some even making their tongues feel sour, but they did feel quite full.

After eating their fill, Cloudy suddenly realized something. Did Titus just say, "There are only two in the chest, how pitiful"... Wait, isn't that a bit strange? Shouldn't there be only two in the chest?

She squinted and observed Titus's upper body... and then widened her eyes in realization. Titus had many scars on his body, these scars had damaged many areas, including those two points on his chest. But judging by the muscle structure, Titus's upper body was somewhat different from what she knew as "male."

"What are you looking at?" Titus followed Cloudy's gaze, looked down at his chest, "Are you looking at my scars?"

She nodded, pointing to her own chest, "Titus, these... how many do you have?"

Titus tilted his head, "Two."

"Oh?" Cloudy was confused again, "Then why did you say I only have two and it's pitiful, when you also only have two?"

Titus blinked, "Because... Cloudy is a Matriarch?"