Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Due to her restless thoughts last night, Cloudy didn't sleep well at all... She stared with bloodshot eyes, dark circles hanging beneath her reddened eyes, looking like a ghost.

Titus left with the wild man who came to find him after getting up in the morning. Cloudy tried to get some more sleep, but as the morning progressed, the weather became hotter. With a restless mind, it was impossible to fall back asleep, so she decided to get up and abandon the idea of repairing her sleep.

There were two cans of water that Titus had brought back in the house. She took off her clothes and wiped her body with water, but it was no use... The more she wiped, the hotter she felt. After a simple wash in the house, she planned to get something to eat. The weather had warmed up significantly, making her completely uninterested in meat these days. Her mind was filled with thoughts of ice cream or shaved ice... Although thinking like this might be a bit unreasonable, she hadn't fully achieved meat freedom yet and was already finding meat greasy.

But if her stomach said no, then it really meant no. In the house, there was some dried fish she had made a few days ago, but Cloudy didn't even glance at it. These past few days, while helping the Matriarch, she also gathered a lot of plants from the longhouse that were not in use, most of them with thick leaves. Besides these, there were many wildflowers growing in the small backyard behind the house.

In the morning, she planned to make a refreshing breakfast with the plants and fruits she had in the house. She was familiar with the plants she had brought back. Among them, the one with the thickest leaves was about the size of a palm, with oval-shaped leaves in a purple-red color. When cut open from the middle, it revealed a milky yellow leaf flesh inside, giving off a very refreshing plant scent. The extracted leaf flesh was somewhat similar to coconut flesh but stickier and not as tasty as coconut, still better than nothing.

Cloudy scraped off all the milky yellow leaf flesh with her hands and put it in a clean jar. Besides this, she cut up some fruits that had been stored for a long time in the house and threw them in as well. It was like a fruit mix. To make the texture fresher, Cloudy added some water to dilute the sticky part in the fruit and leaf flesh, and she also picked some wildflowers from the backyard and crushed them in.

She shook the jar a few times, and the fruit mix inside sparkled, looking very fresh in color. Taking a sip...

The taste was average, lacking sweetness, and the fruit didn't have much texture when chewed. It couldn't compare to the sudden sweetness of green raisin larvae, but fortunately, the mild flavor slightly eased the heat brought by the weather. Cloudy held the small jar up to the window, watching the occasional locals passing by outside, slowly finishing her breakfast.

This reminded her of her childhood, probably during summer vacation when she was taken back to the village in her hometown. Her family went out to play mahjong, but she found it noisy, so she stayed in the cement yard. Afraid that she would have nothing to do, her family bought her a small cup of vanilla ice cream. Cloudy was like that back then too, eating ice cream and sitting on a small stool in the yard, gazing outside.

She smacked her lips. Even though it had been a long time since she had it, just the thought of the taste of ice cream could bring it back instantly.
Above the tip of the tongue. After finishing the contents of the jar, Cloudy yawned but still couldn't fall asleep. What should she do today?

If Matriarch needed her, someone would come to fetch her, but usually there was no reason for Matriarch to seek her out. Instead, Cloudy would wander over to the longhouse out of boredom, helping with newborns or doing odd jobs. If there was nothing to do, she would return to her room and tinker at her workbench. Given the chance, she would explore the settlement and find something interesting to do nearby.

As Cloudy pondered what to do today, a unfamiliar voice came from the door.

"Cloudy?"

Turning with the empty jar in her hands, she saw a child at the door, with large eyes and six clear brown pupils. The child seemed a bit nervous, peeking in and huddling at the door.

The child was nervous, but Cloudy was even more so. Though a child, the figure was taller than her, probably around 1.7 meters. "What's up? Is Matriarch looking for me?" Cloudy didn't move, holding onto the jar at the table. This was her first interaction with a local of this age in the settlement.

"Titus asked me to find you. We're training outside, and Titus wants you to join."

So, this was one of the children training today? Cloudy quickly placed the jar on the table. Knowing the child's purpose, she relaxed, more concerned that the child was just curious about her presence. "Why does Titus want me there? Is something wrong?" It probably wasn't a big deal; otherwise, the child would have gone to Matriarch instead of her.

The child seemed stumped by the question, mumbling and unable to answer. "It's starting, come on, come on, everyone's waiting for me." After speaking, as if wanting to grab Cloudy's arm, the child hesitated and pulled back, looking startled. "So strange!"

Can people please stop reacting like they've touched a slug every time they touch me? It's really disheartening.

Cloudy was still resistant to interacting with locals outside of Titus, including Matriarch and Waben, whom she was somewhat familiar with. The way these two looked at her made Cloudy uncomfortable, as if she had been suddenly left with unfamiliar relatives to stay with.

It was quite miraculous how close she had become with Titus. When she first arrived, she never imagined she would be so involved with the tribespeople of this era. If the first few months were about survival, she had to explore for that.
Skills of living and construction, now it's time to explore a whole new culture...

Come on, Cloudy, it's just interacting with the local kids, you can do it.

The child had very few pieces of clothing on, and strangely, Cloudy couldn't determine the child's gender from their appearance. Could be a girl, could be a boy... or maybe neither? There were no obvious features between the legs, the chest was flat, lacking the muscular build like Titus and the others. Overall, the child exuded a signal of "I'm still young," including those pointed ears that seemed even more translucent than Titus and the others.

"What's your name?"

"I'll die if I tell you."

Where did this rule come from? Cloudy couldn't help but rub her temples: "Why would you die?" Perhaps it was due to a sleepless night, making her look quite terrifying now, causing the child to avoid eye contact.

"Others say...," the child seemed resistant to continue talking to Cloudy, at this moment just wanting to quickly take Cloudy away, "they say you're from another settlement, a dangerous monster that they don't want."

Unbeknownst to her, there were probably dozens of versions of stories circulating about her in the settlement. Seeing the resistance in the child's eyes, Cloudy didn't bother trying to improve the relationship and stood up, walking towards the door: "Let's go, take me outside."

Upon hearing this, the child felt relieved and jumped up, running towards the road.

Is this the child who is going to hunt in the rainforest? Cloudy followed the child out of the house, perhaps due to impatience, the child ran very fast, leaving Cloudy completely behind. After running a long way, the child would excitedly run back to urge Cloudy on: "Quick, quick!"

Eventually, unable to bear Cloudy's pace, the child simply picked her up and ran towards the gate.

Well, even though she was young, her strength was indeed something Cloudy couldn't match. Cloudy let herself be carried by the child like a sack, all the way to the outskirts of the settlement.

...

The training ground was outside the settlement's main gate, in a not very dense forest to the south. It had been a while since Cloudy returned to the rainforest, and she found herself surprisingly nostalgic as she looked at the lush greenery. However, as the child put her down and her feet sank into the soft, muddy ground, that feeling quickly vanished.

The waters that had gathered during the rainy season in the rainforest hadn't receded for long, so the ground hadn't fully recovered yet. Most of the mud was very soft and moist, sinking ankle-deep when stepped on. The trees had grown rapidly, the once soft bark now turned into hard, dark brown, with vines growing more wildly, hanging down like curtains around the branches that forked out.

The water grass that had previously been in the pool had likely rotted away due to the changing environment, now all decaying in the mud.
In the middle, you can see many small round seeds floating on the surface of the soil. It is estimated that once the ground cover plants grow, these seeds will be deeply buried in the soil, waiting for the next rainy season to arrive.

Cloudy couldn't help but bend down and pick up a few water grass insects, tucking them into her waist pouch. As they entered the rainforest, the two of them slowed down because there were many vines hanging down from the trees, almost touching the ground, which had to be lifted to continue forward.

Within ten minutes, Cloudy had already lost sight of the child. But she wasn't worried. Exploring in the rainforest felt much better than staying indoors... She deliberately slowed her pace even more, starting to observe if there were any new things around. In the soil near the tree roots, there were many brightly colored fungi, most of them in strange shapes and colors. Cloudy dared not touch them but would stop to observe for a while. She would also peek inside small tree hollows as she passed by.

"Cloudy! Come on!"

As she rummaged through a tree hollow covered with green grass, an impatient voice came from ahead. The wild child probably noticed her absence and returned to find her: "If Titus doesn't see you, he will scold me! I don't want to be scolded by Titus!"

Titus still scolds children? Cloudy felt a bit embarrassed as she put down her hand still digging into the tree hollow: "Coming, coming."

After walking forward for about thirty minutes, Cloudy arrived at a relatively open area. The soil here was even softer, almost indistinguishable from a swamp. As Cloudy stepped on the soft mud she was familiar with, she heard a call from above.

"Cloudy, we're up here!"

She looked up to see Titus and another hunter crouching on a tree branch about 5 meters above the ground, with another young child beside them: "Why are you up in the tree?"

"Because of the training," Titus said, then jumped down directly. Despite Titus's weight and the 5-meter drop, he managed to land very lightly on all fours, with only his wrists and ankles barely touching the mud. "At this time of year, the soil is very soft, so we often need to climb trees outside."

Titus briefly explained to Cloudy, basically training the body to adapt to the terrain in the early rainy season. Since the soil is soft, jumping requires an extra set of techniques, otherwise, the feet will sink into the mud and not come out.

But what does this have to do with her? Cloudy was a bit puzzled: "Do I need to train too?" In any case, she couldn't possibly fall unharmed from a five-meter-high tree branch...

"If Cloudy wants to, she can," Titus patted the tree behind him. "We will repeatedly climb trees. Children need to be able to instantly climb up trees to escape from wild animals in this environment. I think Cloudy will be interested." These past few days at home, Cloudy had already shown him her "boredom," and coupled with last night's...
Cloudy suddenly asked if he could join the hunt with Titus. Titus, being quite perceptive, noticed that the secure life in the settlement was making Cloudy restless.

Next, Titus and the other hunters demonstrated the training for Cloudy. They instructed the two children to walk back and forth on the muddy ground without sinking into the marsh.

While one hunter supervised the children, Titus walked back and forth with Cloudy alone.

"You should be training the children, shouldn't you..." Cloudy's hands were held by Titus, like a child learning to walk, struggling on the overly soft and wet soil, almost sinking with each step.

As the two heaviest adult hunters here, they moved effortlessly... It was strange, did this make sense?

"The child you brought here is not suitable to be a hunter." Titus slowly led Cloudy forward, speaking in a very low voice, only audible when close, "I am not pleased. It will die this time we take it out."

Cloudy couldn't help but look to the side, where the two children were under the hunters' supervision, trying hard to control their steps. From afar, the significant difference in their sizes was evident. They might be of similar age, but their body sizes were completely different. The other one was at least almost six feet tall, much larger in build.

After walking on the muddy ground, the hunters urged the children to climb trees. The taller child moved very quickly, climbing up the branches in a few swift motions, while the other was less agile, nearly falling from the tree several times.

Now Cloudy fully understood Titus's feelings; they were watching a child who wasn't cut out to be a hunter meet their end.

"Can't we convince the Matriarch to leave this child behind?"

"Titus, still thinking of leaving Uro behind?" Another hunter, approaching Titus and Cloudy while the children were climbing trees, was almost as tall as Titus. It was unclear if it was just Cloudy's perception, but the two of them even looked somewhat alike.

"Yes." Titus frowned, looking at Uro, the thinner and smaller of the two children. "If they can't keep up with us, they will surely die."

"The Matriarch won't agree; we have too few hunters."

Titus spoke rapidly, with a hint of agitation. Though Cloudy didn't catch everything, judging from the other hunter's expression, Titus didn't say anything pleasant. In a matter of moments, the two engaged in a heated argument.

The child on the tree also froze upon hearing the argument, peering down.

The sight of two nearly three meters tall, robust men arguing in front of her was somewhat intimidating. Cloudy couldn't help but take a couple of steps back. She wanted to intervene but couldn't find the words... It was eerie. Wasn't Titus the one who invited her to join them? How did it escalate into an argument with their tribe members all of a sudden!

Midway through the argument, for reasons unknown, the other hunter's tone suddenly softened.
"The settlements to the east have many more hunters than us. If we can't expand into the outer hunting areas, we won't have enough food this season."

"Just one more thing, you go tell Tuna, tell the Matriarch. We can keep Ulo, can't we?" Titus's emotions were clearly not easing, his expression resembling the one he had when he killed before, making Cloudy somewhat scared.

The argument eventually led to no conclusion. Another hunter turned away from Titus, no longer engaging in conversation, and went to greet two children to continue training.

Titus stayed by Cloudy's side, glaring. He exuded a sense of discomfort all over.

"Titus..." Cloudy cautiously nudged his arm, "Why let him go tell the Matriarch, and she'll keep Ulo?"

"Tuna and the Matriarch are responsible for selecting new hunters. If he says no, then it's no."

"Tuna?"

"Yes, like me, a child of the Matriarch."

No wonder she had felt these two looked somewhat alike earlier... It seemed the hunter named Tuna was Titus's brother, slightly older. But she had thought strength was what mattered in the settlement. "Since Titus is considered the best hunter, I thought new hunters should be chosen by you..."

"I am a good hunter, but they think I am not suitable for selecting hunters or for collaboration."

Well, that makes sense. After spending a few months together, Cloudy knew Titus's character the best.

Titus sighed, ears drooping, "I'm sorry, I brought Cloudy out to play. We shouldn't have argued."

Indeed, now that they had argued, she didn't know how to stay here with what mindset. If she continued exploring happily, it might seem like she didn't care about Titus... Seeing Titus unhappy, Cloudy also felt a bit down, wondering what to do.

"What if I go ask the Matriarch?" That was the only solution she could think of, though with her status, it probably wouldn't have much effect.

"Cloudy going to talk?" Titus first widened his eyes, then unexpectedly smiled, "Impossible, Cloudy can't do it."

"...Then I will go." Titus's cackling laughter ignited Cloudy's rebellious spirit inexplicably. "You just wait."

"Cloudy really going?"

"I'm going!"