Chapter 47

"Ahh..." Cloudy lay on the bed, emitting weak sobs. Her whole body ached, covered in bruises and torn wounds. "Ah..."

Cough cough cough... Titus on the adjacent bed coughed horrifically, his nose running. Cloudy placed many leaves beside him to wipe away the mucus as it ran, continuing to cough.

"Ugh..."

Cough... Pfft cough!

Both of them lay in bed, looking disheveled. Although Titus had thankfully woken up and was successfully taking the medicine, why was it so painful now?! Just now, when she went out to get some food for Titus, her thigh muscles were so sore that she almost couldn't stand up by the campfire.

Luckily, Titus was just entering the recovery period and didn't have much of an appetite. She made a large pot of insect stew that would probably last him several days.

Unpleasant sounds echoed in the wooden house, and what irritated Cloudy the most was that even though Titus wasn't feeling well himself, he still persisted in his hoarse voice to inquire about what had happened in the past few days. "You have to tell me, please."

She heard Titus shifting on the bed next to her, making the grass mattress creak, but because this was the eighty-fourth time today that Titus had said, "You have to tell me, please," she couldn't even be bothered to turn her head to look at him. "Can we talk about it when you're feeling better?"

"But..."

"No 'buts'!"

Titus started coughing, coughing and sniffling while wriggling inside the animal hide: "Cloudy, I'm uncomfortable, I need to know!"

She knew Titus was worried that she had suffered in the settlement, although she had indeed faced some hardship... but would telling him worsen his relationship with the settlement? After all, Titus had a history; those few who attacked Green Hill before were torn to pieces by him. Cloudy knew that even if Titus were angry, he wouldn't go as far as killing his own people, but she didn't want to sow discord either. Yes, she had taken a beating, but she had finally obtained the medicine.

As long as the outcome was good, all the voluntary difficulties on the round trip didn't matter to her. Upon reflection, Cloudy's final assessment of the events of the past few days was - there wasn't much to say.

"Cloudy, if you don't tell me now, I'll ask the Matriarch after the rainy season."

Oh, Titus wasn't one to keep quiet... Cloudy pinched her sore arm. "Most of the wounds were acquired during the journey back and forth, encountering insects and wild animals in the water. But I survived."

She turned to face Titus. "I'm not afraid of rain and cold, so it's not a problem for me. But outside has turned into lakes, which took more time..."

"
"Where is the settlement? How did you get in? They wouldn't open the door, I know. Did someone let you in?"

"No, I climbed over the wooden wall."

After that, she collapsed inside the settlement, exhausted to the point of passing out. Just before losing consciousness, Cloudy's mind was still thinking... according to the plots in movies or TV shows, she would wake up again in a room with a roaring fire, and a kind person would approach her with hot soup asking, "Child, we found you passed out in the heavy rain, are you okay?"

Reality is always different... Cloudy was woken up by muddy water choking her, and when she opened her eyes, her whole body felt sore and cold, still lying face down embedded in the mud. The entire settlement was pitch black, she must have been unconscious for over an hour.

Even after being forced to rest for an hour, she didn't feel relaxed. On the contrary, she felt more pain all over her body, unable to stand up, only able to crawl on the ground.

"I crawled towards the nearest house." It was a small stone house without a door, so she could see inside... unfortunately, the house was empty. At that moment, Cloudy wanted to rest a bit in this dry house, but the thought of wasting an hour for no reason made her turn around and head to the next house.

"I checked many houses, only one had people. The door was blocked with stones, and there was a flicker of fire through the cracks."

She shouted outside, trying to get the people inside to tell her where the Matriarch was, or where she could find life-saving medicine.

There were voices inside the stone house, whispering. She could even see eyes peering out through the cracks in the stone house, then the voices grew louder, "Monster! It's that freak, that thing is still alive, at our doorstep!"

"Damn it..." Cloudy pushed herself up from the ground, hands on the stone door trying to pry open a piece, "Tell me where the Matriarch is, or I'll open the door, it's cold outside. We'll die together."

It was just a verbal threat, she certainly wouldn't do that, "Tell me quickly!"

The method worked, the voices inside all started telling her to follow the main road ahead, in front of the largest stone house, there would be a fur column, that's where the mothers and newborns spend the rainy season.

"That's where I got beaten." Cloudy pointed to the circular scab on her collarbone, about two centimeters long.

Cloudy sighed as she looked at Titus's narrowed pupils, she knew he would be angry, that's why she didn't want to say, "I understand why your people attacked me, please don't be angry."

"They shouldn't treat you like that." Titus struggled to sit up from the bed, gritting his teeth, looking very angry.
"Strength. It's to be with you, to keep you from harm, to prevent you from dying in the rainy season."

But soon, Titus deflated again, his voice hoarse, "It's my fault, I got sick... if I hadn't gotten sick, this wouldn't have happened."

"It's not your fault." Cloudy tried to snuggle up to Titus, using her hand to touch his warm cheek. "Titus, you helped me before. It's what I should do for you."

"I shouldn't have!" Titus shouted.

"When I say should, it means I should!" Cloudy forcefully pinched his cheek. "Don't speak loudly, you're not fully recovered yet."

"Alright." The savage began to mutter. "What about the Matriarch, how did she get inside?"

"I knocked on the door too..."

The house where the mother and newborn lived was a bit better, basically lightproof, and the front door was different from the other houses, being a solid slab of stone. Only the cracks around the door could let light through. Cloudy clung to the crack and shouted, but no one paid attention to her.

This was the final test. She gave it her all, pushing herself against the wall to stand up, then, after resting for a moment and feeling a bit of strength returning, she began to push the door with force. It was only when the people inside heard her pushing the door that they made any noise.

"Protect the children, gather them together."

Hearing that the people inside were starting to be wary of her, Cloudy became more urgent. Ignoring the excruciating pain in her arms and upper body, she pushed open the door. To prevent the cold air outside from affecting the newborn, she only opened a small gap, then squeezed in like an eel, and immediately closed the door.

"It was very warm inside, with many people staring at me." Cloudy recalled that scene with a shiver. There were probably about ten adults in the room, the rest were either in swaddling clothes or a few years old. Because opening and closing the door was too exhausting, she collapsed on the ground as soon as she entered.

"After that, I was attacked." She was beaten to the ground, crawling around in chaos. If she hadn't shouted about Titus in time, she might have been beaten half to death and thrown out. "They all thought you died while hunting outside, they even held... a sunset?"

This was a term she unexpectedly learned, where in the local language, besides signifying the end of the day, sunset also represented the biggest ceremony after death, which is a funeral.

Titus blinked, "They thought I was dead? Why, I left a message."

Leaving a message doesn't guarantee that your teammates will definitely see it... Cloudy chuckled awkwardly. "The Matriarch gave me medicine."

That was also the first time Cloudy clearly saw what the Matriarch looked like. From her appearance, she seemed to be female, with a bosom, very plump. Due to the rainy season, she was covered in animal skins, with many things resembling ropes hanging from her body. Cloudy thought they might be animal tendons... the ropes were tied to many small animal skin bags.

Estimated height: about two meters."
The person in front of Cloudy is taller than everyone else in the room. It was Matriarch who pierced Cloudy's collarbone with a spear.

Just a few months ago, this same person had ordered her to be expelled from the settlement. Cloudy never imagined she would see Matriarch again in this way.

"But the medicine I give you comes with a price." Cloudy had intended to wait for Titus to recover before addressing this issue, but since it was brought up...

"Matriarch wants to know why I'm not afraid of the rainy season, wants to know how I survive during the rainy season. So, after the rainy season, I will go to the settlement with you."

"But Cloudy doesn't want to go to the settlement." Titus wrinkled his nose, having previously considered bringing Cloudy to live in the settlement, but he couldn't imagine how the others in the settlement would treat her. "Cloudy is different, the people in the settlement will dislike you. I don't want you to go."

No need to emphasize that I'm different. Cloudy felt a bit annoyed. "I don't want to go either, but Matriarch only said she wants to know why... maybe I don't need to live in the settlement."

After she agreed, Matriarch readily gave her the medicine, which was in a small animal skin pouch she carried with her at all times for the timely treatment of newborns. The medicine was limited, and Cloudy did not receive much of it. Matriarch comforted her by saying, "Titus is the best hunter in the settlement, we won't give up on him. But the medicine is very limited, we can only give you this much. I believe with his hunter's body, he will be fine."

Matriarch spoke the above paragraph very quickly, and it took Cloudy a long time to fully understand what she meant. This made Cloudy realize how much Titus took care of her on a daily basis... when Titus talked to her, he deliberately slowed down and made many pauses just to ensure she understood.

Thinking of this, Cloudy couldn't help but hug Titus tightly. "You're fine now, that's the best!"

"How did you come back, Cloudy? Was it difficult?"

Coming back was according to the previous plan. With Matriarch's help, she easily obtained fire in the settlement and made a torch, protecting the flame with leaves as she returned to the raft. "I secured the wooden stick firmly and placed the flame on top, it took some time, but it was fine!" She arrived at the cave just as the day was breaking.

"I won't get sick anymore, I don't want Cloudy to be tired like this." Titus said gloomily. "During the rainy season, I should be the one taking care of you."

"It's okay now, we can rest together." Cloudy hugged Titus, closed her eyes peacefully. "Am I amazing?"

"Yes, Cloudy, you are."
"Awesome!"