Chapter 77

Chapter 77

Cloudy felt everything spinning around her. She couldn't remember how she got back to the ground, nor how she made her way back to the settlement... When she finally came to her senses, she found herself inside the longhouse.

The Matriarch, Titus's brother, and many hunters who had participated in the battle were all gathered in the longhouse, engaged in a noisy debate. She tried hard to keep up with their discussion, but the pace was too fast, and to her, it sounded like meaningless shouting and arguing.

That familiar sensation returned. Everything in front of her seemed to be behind an invisible screen. Her eyes stared blankly ahead, memories flashing before her eyes. These were not imaginary scenes but real "memories" that she could see with her eyes, yet they were all jumbled up, like a dream where fuzzy events overlapped one after another.

She saw Titus walking towards her on the school playground holding a fish, and she saw her parents taking her to the hospital when she was young. The images in front of her were dizzying, and all the memories froze at the clearest moment - the memory just before her "death".

At that time, she was simply walking on the familiar path to buy groceries. The streetscape around her was all too familiar, with rows of grey residential buildings and various small shops on the ground floors. Behind the buildings were slightly taller commercial buildings. She was just carrying her shopping bag, walking forward as usual.

She could even recall the smells on the road now - a mix of gasoline and the grassy scent of roadside plants. The most common trees lining the road were small-leaved banyans, with many scattered shared bikes lying haphazardly under the trees. She leisurely walked, playing with her phone, crossed the intersection, and arrived at the small square where the market was located. She entered the semi-open market filled with blue and green stalls to pick her lunch and dinner.

The live fish in the foam box were still swimming, and the buzzing of oxygen filled the air around her. After buying the fish, she carried her bags to select vegetables, remembering what vegetables she bought and how much she paid... She even remembered the appearance and voices of the elderly vendors who sold her the vegetables. It was truly an ordinary moment.

After buying the vegetables, she carried the two bags back. It was then that she heard a scream, followed by an explosion that could shatter eardrums and the rush of air that enveloped her... Death imprinted this ordinary memory deeply in her mind.

Now, this memory played continuously as if on an invisible screen. The scenes from her memory overlapped with what she saw before her, causing her vision to darken with black spots floating in front of her eyes. Sometimes blurry, sometimes clear, the sounds seemed distant.

In the end, why was she here?

Cloudy sat with her hands flat on her knees, her eyes fixed and unmoving, looking like a wax figure.

Why was Titus taken away? Just that morning, they were lying in the same bed, and just yesterday, they were happily chatting together.
Cloudy feels that all her efforts are meaningless, no matter how serious and diligent she is in this difficult environment. Dangerous things can happen in the rainforest at any time and place.

These dangers do not follow your plans or ideas. They are like the inexplicable explosion that brought Cloudy here, happening for no reason, and accidents cannot be prevented even with thorough preparation. Regardless of whether your life is improving, "accidents" do not care about that.

This is the place that makes her desperate, even if Titus was rescued this time, what about the next time? The rainforest is ultimately not a safe environment, with huge carnivores, conflicts caused by food scarcity, unknown diseases, and toxins. Maybe one day after eating the food Titus brought back, her body will react adversely, and she will suddenly die?

Cloudy is overwhelmed by her negative thoughts, filtering out Matriarch's voice. It's not until Matriarch shakes her shoulders that she slowly comes back to her senses: "..." Because she doesn't know what to say, Cloudy just opens her mouth.

"Titus has been captured."

"I know..." She rubs her forehead with her palm. "Now, what do we do? Is anyone going to go after him?" It's only then that she looks up and realizes that only she and Matriarch are left in the room; the other hunters have long since disappeared.

In the conversation with Matriarch that follows, she learns that today's conflict indeed started because of the group of prey found outside the settlement. The enemy settlement has been tracking this group of prey, even crossing territories to enter others' lands. Conflict naturally arose when they encountered Titus and his group.

The hunters who were in the battle tell them that initially it was just about the prey, but as the fight ensued and all the prey escaped, the enemy settlement turned their attention to the settlement, thinking that after so many days of hunting, they must bring food back. It was at this moment that they let out a huge roar, prompting the settlement's people to hide.

"In the battle, the enemy lost five hunters, and we lost one, plus Titus and two others." Matriarch sighs repeatedly, patting her chest. "The external hunt hasn't even started, and we've already lost two hunters."

It's only hunters that were lost, not Titus and his companions. At this point, Cloudy has no energy left to be angry. What she urgently wants to know is: "Why was Titus captured? And how could they capture Titus, who is the most skilled hunter? I've seen him fight; he can't be easily captured."

Matriarch shakes her head as well. "Titus was at the forefront; by the time the other hunters reacted, he had already led many people towards the direction of the rainforest."

This passage is quite complex, and Clou
dy made Matriarch repeat many times before she barely understood the main idea, because Titus was very confident in his own abilities and also to avoid other hunters in the settlement from getting injured or killed... He succeeded in reducing the casualties among the hunters to a minimum, but the cost was that he, as the one who stood out, was surrounded in the rainforest.

But why was Titus taken away? Normally, wouldn't he be killed on the spot... Cloudy also didn't know what she was thinking, she should be grateful that Titus was taken away alive!!

"Have the others gone to save him?"

Matriarch seemed a bit impatient: "Soon, we're about to go hunting outside, and we need people to stay behind in case the settlement is attacked... Only his brother went to find him."

"Just one person?!" Cloudy almost roared out, "Just one person to save Titus? Shouldn't there be more?!"

Matriarch obviously didn't expect Cloudy's reaction to be so strong, but the opposition also made her very unhappy: "Before returning to the settlement, two more went after him, and they haven't come back, making it three people in total. It's enough."

Cloudy covered her forehead. If the force that captured Titus was strong enough, then three people definitely wouldn't be enough; they would just be going to their deaths. Matriarch may still be concerned about casualties, even though Titus was the most outstanding hunter in the settlement, she couldn't risk more hunters' lives to save him, no matter what, it was not a worthwhile trade.

There was no way around this. Matriarch's thoughts were not wrong; it was her mindset that was not quite normal in this era. In her view as Titus's mother, Matriarch should be more furious, should make everyone immediately go to rescue Titus.

In fact, three people were already the maximum "attention" Matriarch could give, she couldn't blame Matriarch.

"Where are you going?" Matriarch looked at Cloudy, who suddenly stood up and walked towards the door. "These days, it's uncertain if there are still enemies around. You can't stay in Tuna's house, come stay with us."

"No." Cloudy refused without even looking back. "I'm going to find Titus. I won't stay inside the settlement."

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard heavy footsteps behind her. Cloudy instinctively felt that Matriarch would stop her, after all, she was a very valuable presence in the settlement. So she didn't look back and started running out, but... Cloudy was still too weak. Before she could run a hundred meters, Matriarch grabbed her and lifted her up.

"Cloudy, are you out of your mind?" Matriarch held her up like a little chick and looked her in the eye. "Going to find Tuna will only lead to death."

That's not necessarily true! Cloudy waved her slightly weak arms, trying to get Matriarch to let go of her.
"I came to the settlement for Titus! It's meaningless without him! Let me go!"

Matriarch naturally wouldn't release Cloudy. She held onto Cloudy and walked towards the residential area in the center of the settlement. "I will have other mothers watch over you. You cannot leave the settlement. I won't let death take you away."

"Let me go—" Cloudy shouted, disregarding the class system within the settlement, and started hitting Matriarch with her fists. "I won't do anything without Titus! Let me go find him!!"

"Hunters have already gone to find Titus. You just wait inside the settlement," Matriarch, feeling more irritated after being hit a few times, shook Cloudy forcefully. "Cloudy, you are a mother of the settlement. Titus is not everything. Think of the newborns!"

"...I am not a mother of the settlement." Cloudy, panting heavily, her eyes wide with anger, hated the feeling of being restricted. "Let me go find Titus, bring him back, and then I'll continue my work."

...

This negotiation ended with Cloudy being locked up by Matriarch. She was left in a smaller stone house, with a stone door blocking the entrance, and a few people stationed outside to guard. After being locked up, Cloudy vented out all the curses she could think of, then started using stones on the ground to hit the walls. However, all her struggles were in vain; she couldn't possibly break open the stone house built by the locals.

This was something Cloudy had never dreamed of - Titus captured by enemies, and she herself imprisoned by her own people...