Chapter 64

The village official's son has returned.

Cloudy looked up at the window. The village chief's son was running towards home with something on his shoulder. He must have spotted Cloudy through the window and waved at her, "Cloudy! I'm back!"

In that moment, amidst the surrounding scenery, Cloudy felt like she was in a rural love story.

"What did Matriarch ask you to do this morning?" After Titus entered the house with his belongings, Cloudy finally saw that he was carrying some rolled-up animal hides on his shoulders, wrapped with many bones. "We were processing game outside. A few days ago, one of the game animals got separated and died outside. The hides and bones just finished drying these past few days, so I brought some back."

Titus squatted down to start organizing. Because Cloudy had added a lot of furniture to the house, and if he left things on the ground without organizing, Cloudy would do it for him. Feeling embarrassed, he had developed a habit of immediately sorting things by category when he brought them back. "Have you eaten, Cloudy?"

"I have." Just the thought of it made Cloudy look a bit green. After seeing the newborn in the stone longhouse in the morning, she helped Matriarch with some chores around the house. When it was time to eat, she was presented with a large pile of very fresh and lively insects wrapped in leaves.

Although there were also some fruits and slices of meat, Matriarch picked the biggest one from the group of white and yellowish larvae and warmly handed it to Cloudy, saying, "Eat, Tutu loves this one the most."

This must be the culture of the settlement, where insects are cherished. Cloudy could still recall the sensation of the insects bursting in her mouth. Since meeting Titus, she felt that besides being entangled with fate and this tall wild man, she had also inadvertently involved insects in her destiny.

"I also brought you some. Matriarch said you like these." Cloudy cleared her throat and picked up a small leaf-wrapped package next to the table. She turned to Titus and opened it, revealing a few fat larvae wriggling slightly on the tender green leaves.

"Great!" Titus's eyes lit up. Since he was still tidying up the animal hides, he simply opened his mouth wide.

"...?" Cloudy held the insects for a few seconds, seeing that Titus didn't seem to be reaching out for them. She reluctantly picked up a chubby, soft larva with her fingers and threw it towards Titus's mouth. One after another, as if feeding a dog.

"So, did Matriarch ask you to do anything? Did you meet the newborn?" Titus chewed on the insect contentedly. "Did she give you any troublesome tasks? If you don't want to do them, I can take you back to the cave."

Still thinking about taking me back.

Cloudy folded the leaf back and placed it on the table, "I saw."
For the newborns, everyone looks healthy now. I've come up with an idea, but I'm not sure if it will work." Saying this, she got up from the table and picked up the down jacket lying on the bed to unfold it: "I'm going to make a few of these, maybe it will be helpful!"

Naturally, Titus didn't understand the difference between the clothes in Cloudy's hand and the animal skins on him. He just felt that Cloudy's idea must be useful, so he cheered without much thought: "Cloudy, you're amazing!"

However, due to the limitations of materials in this era, she felt that her idea had a fifty percent chance of failure, so she needed to come up with more ideas in the coming days: "Today, I met a new mother, Wowben, and she took me to see the Matriarch."

After saying this, Cloudy saw Titus frown at lightning speed: "What's... what's wrong?"

"Wowben, I'm not amazing. And neither are you."

"...Of course, Titus is the most amazing." Knowing Titus had a slight issue in this regard, Cloudy just went along with him. After being praised, Titus no longer dwelled on the matter. "Titus, you're the child of the Matriarch, right? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Titus was puzzled why Cloudy asked this: "Why should I have told you that?"

Well, there's no modern social relationship dynamics here... Cloudy waved her hand: "Just curious, is there anything different being the child of the Matriarch?"

After a long pause, Cloudy didn't get a reply from Titus. He just kept his head down, fiddling with the bones inside the animal skin, and the sound of his fiddling grew louder, making him seem agitated.

Cloudy felt like she might have unintentionally hit a sore spot again: "Titus? Are you upset?"

"Yes, because I didn't want to be born to the Matriarch, none of us did." His voice was raised, and he threw the bones in his hand heavily into a nearby basket. "Cloudy, you still don't understand. The Matriarch is desperate, desperate enough to seek help from what they see as 'monsters' because they lack hunters."

"The newborns you just saw will all be raised as hunters; they have no other choice." Titus sighed as he spoke, knowing Cloudy's lack of understanding wasn't her fault, and he couldn't take out his frustration on her. "Many newborns will die in the hunter training. The Matriarch has a total of 8 children, but only 4 have survived."

So that's it, everything makes sense now. Titus's anger when talking about hunters, settlements, and newborns is all clear.

"I... don't know what to do." Titus put down what he was holding and paced anxiously in the room. "If I don't help the Matriarch by asking you..."
"Help from Cloudy will continue to save newborns in the next rainy season. But they will also be trained as hunters and many will die."

"Cloudy, if helping them survive the rainy season means they will eventually die in the rainforest, then why..." Titus stumbled over his words. "I don't understand. Others don't see a problem; they mourn the deaths of newborns, but... I don't know, I don't understand."

She looked at Titus, clearly agitated, and understood what was bothering him - it was a question of nurturing mentality. If you raise a calf only to slaughter it for food in the end, then your mindset from the start should be that of a farmer, not a friend.

Though the analogy might be a bit off, Titus clearly lacked the mindset of the Matriarch and others. The Matriarch, as the manager of the settlement, could nurture each child like a mother and also allocate these children's future roles like a farmer.

If there is a lack of hunters in the settlement, then these children must be trained as future hunters, even if it means many of them will perish; this is all for the long-term development of the settlement.

But Titus couldn't do it, so he was confused, not understanding why he was working so hard to send batch after batch of newborns into the rainforest.

"Titus hates the settlement because of this, right? There will always be newborns trained as hunters."

Standing before Cloudy, he nodded. "Cloudy, a long time ago, I was brought into the rainforest with my fellow tribespeople, and I saw one of them being devoured by a beast because they couldn't run fast enough. But if they had stayed in the settlement from the beginning, this wouldn't have happened..."

"Does the Matriarch decide who goes into the rainforest and who stays in the settlement?"

"Yes, but because we are the Matriarch's children, we were all chosen as hunters. The Matriarch believed we were the best."

Cloudy didn't know how to judge this rule in the settlement; it seemed cruel yet inevitable. If new hunters weren't trained regularly, the food sources in the settlement wouldn't be stable, sacrifices had to be made, and it was the children who paid the price.

If she didn't know Titus, she would think this was a very reasonable decision. But she knew Titus and how he survived and became the best hunter in the settlement despite this cruel decision.

It was an issue of the times that she couldn't solve, and she couldn't find the right words to comfort Titus. She could only approach him, reach out, and hold him close. "Titus, you're amazing. You're responsible."

Titus's ears drooped, slightly calmed by the unexpected embrace. He crouched down to allow Cloudy to... "
Holding on, even with Cloudy's outstretched arms, she could only embrace half of his shoulder: "I hope they all survive, my fellow tribesmen, and the newborns you've seen. I know a settlement cannot do without hunters..."

Cloudy lightly patted Titus' shoulder, realizing at this moment that Titus was really young, and all his thoughts were very simple.

Because he found her amusing and wanted to play with her every day, eagerly wanting to share bugs with her if he found them tasty, getting immediately upset when unhappy, and showing his joy instantly on his face. But at this age, he also had to bear many deaths, risking his life to hunt for food to feed the next group of children who would face life and death in the rainforest.

In such a situation, it was quite normal to have the thought of "just hiding in a cave with Cloudy and not going anywhere" due to the inability to clear one's mind. It's like facing the pressure of exams or overtime work, wanting to jump straight down to end it all...

"Titus, don't think too much now, you've done very well." Cloudy ruffled Titus' rough hair, a bit smelly, as if he hadn't washed it for a few days. "Let's go wash up, or go outside with me to find some materials? Can we go outside the settlement now?" This was the most effective way Cloudy could think of, doing something with Titus to distract his mind.

"We can, but what materials does Cloudy want?"

Instead of materials, what Cloudy really wanted now was the sweet green beetle eggs from two days ago. After eating the unpleasant bugs at Matriarch's house, she really needed to eat something decent to treat her taste buds. "Is there still plenty of water in the rainforest today?"

"The north side has completely dried up, everyone is now collecting food over there." Titus noticed that Cloudy was about to let go, but he hadn't had enough of being held, so he kept trying to snuggle into her arms. "Just one more hug!"

"Wait, don't bump into me!"

Unable to bear Titus's weight, Cloudy almost stumbled after being nudged down: "How much longer do you want to be held?"

"Cloudy, lift me up!"

How could that be possible...!