Chapter 113 – Caesar’s Choice
Translated by Sunyancai
Sponsored by Anonymous
It suddenly quieted down, one could easily hear the sound of the wind blowing through the grass.
They didn’t kill the rat yet, since it was better to keep the grass rat alive when cutting down the rat wood. The grass rat struggled whilst caught in a warrior’s hand. The seedling of rat wood was cut off, which left a brown bald spot on its skin. After about six months, the bald spot would again be covered with fuzzy green hair.
Mai gave the warrior who held the grass rat a meaningful look. The warrior bent over, placed the grass rat on the ground, and released it.
Like an arrow being released from the string, the grass rat quickly rushed into the high piles of grass once it regained its freedom.
After a few rustling sounds, the area became quiet again, but the atmosphere was still quite stifling.
People didn’t sense any signs of ferocious beast in the surroundings, but they all had felt something dangerous lurking in the dark without being spotted by anyone.
The other party must be very good at hiding, or Mai would have sensed its presence sooner.
That grass rat rushed to the pile of grass without hesitation, which meant that the pile of grass over there was relatively safer.
Half of the people in the hunting team focused their attention in the opposite direction of the grass piles, whilst the others guarded the surroundings.
Huu~~
It was like a gust of wind.
However, there was only a slight breeze, and no such sound could be created naturally.
Meanwhile, Caesar let out a growl, his growl made people’s nerves more tense.
Huu~~
There was another prompt but low noise, as if something was flying fast.
It was close!
The trees in the surroundings were not dense, and the sunshine had already lit up the entire forest.
Black shadows flashed by under the sun.
“Over there!”
Mai rushed over there, and in the meantime, another black shadow flew past.
Normally, the animals, especially ferocious beasts, would always pick the weakest in a group to challenge, and Shao Xuan would be the first that suffered. Last year, he had been experiencing that for a whole year, and the other warriors’ first instinct was to protect Shao Xuan well. However, this time, the thing rushed towards Caesar without hesitation.
Shao Xuan was about to run forward with his stone knife to block the strike, but to his surprise, Caesar actively aimed at it.
In a short distance, Caesar rapidly sped up, and he almost reached his limit. Like a long bow that was tightened up and then released, he ejected himself to throw his body on that coming creature.
Bang!
Puff!
The sound of a collision and flesh being pierced resounded.
The two of them landed on the ground, fighting close against each other.
The thing that rushed over here was some winged creature that looked like a bat. Its wingspan was around two meters. Perhaps it was bitten by Caesar, for after it landed, it did not manage to fly up again.
However, such a creature should only be active during night. Why would they come out in the daylight?
When these two were fighting against each other, Shao Xuan threw out several spearheads at that bat-like creature. It was Caesar’s first time encountering such an opponent in the wild, so highly likely, it would be difficult for him to handle the situation alone. There were already some bloodstains on his body.
The attack of the spearheads distracted the bat.
Puchi.
There was the sound of flesh being torn apart.
Blood spread out.
Caesar literally tore off one of that thing’s wings.
A sharp cry almost pierced through the people’s eardrums, and the sonic wave dizzied people. But soon, the sound stopped abruptly, because Caesar snapped off the bat’s head.
Together with Caesar’s growl, there were a few more sounds of flesh being torn. Caesar only stopped after he had torn the remaining flesh into small pieces.
“Come over here, Caesar!”
Shao Xuan stepped forward quickly to check on Caesar’s wounds. But before he could approach him, Caesar suddenly looked up at Shao Xuan’s direction, although moments ago, he was staring at the dead bat’s remains.
His approach stopped at the very moment, for Shao Xuan felt like a cold bucket of water was poured down on his head. The feeling couldn’t have been colder.
At that moment, Shao Xuan was facing a pair of eyes filled with ferocious bloodlust. The cold eyes seemed to be prepared for tearing everything apart.
There were four fangs that were dripping with blood in the wolf’s open mouth. Blood dripped down on the fur.
Shao Xuan knew in his mind that Caesar’s ferocious nature finally awakened after it had been suppressed for over two years.
Shao Xuan still remembered the wolf packs that lived in the forest where they hunt. And Caesar was similar with those experienced killers.
Even though Caesar had been spending his two years inside the tribe since it was a cub, and had never experienced the normal killing atmosphere in the forest. Even though Caesar was doing great with humans in the tribe, its ferocious nature was still buried in his body. The instinct was only waiting for the proper chance to be awakened, just like a volcano waiting to erupt. The longer it got suppressed, the more violently it would erupt.
Watching Caesar creeping besides the dead bat, Shao Xuan clenched on the stone knife he had in his hand. If Caesar could not control his killing instinct and attack people, no warrior in the hunting team would ever let him survive. Shao Xuan would put Caesar to rest himself, instead of letting others do the job.
It was impossible to say that he was not attached with the wolf after spending so much time together. In two years, the wolf had grown from a fuzzy little cub into a handsome strong wolf that was even taller than Shao Xuan if he stood straight. A lot of things had happened, and many emotions were shared.
Shao Xuan’s home changed from a hay bed in the orphan cave to some cabin in the mountain foot area, as Shao Xuan himself grew from a bony little kid into a totem warrior. Caesar was always there with him.
However, at that time, both Shao Xuan and Caesar, who was a little on edge, needed to make a choice. There were three possibilities. First, Caesar attacks the people in the hunting group, and Shao Xuan puts him down personally. Second, Caesar refuses to stay in the hunting team, and Shao Xuan lets him go for the sake of the two years they spent together. Third, Caesar controls his erupting killing nature, and comes back to Shao Xuan.
Shao Xuan put his other hand, that was not holding the stone knife, behind his back to make a gesture to the other warriors, who were already prepared to enter a fight. He indicated that they should stay put, while he himself stared at the wolf that was only ten meters away from him.
Caesar, what will you choose?
In fact, ever since he decided to take Caesar out into the wild, Shao Xuan had expected such circumstances. Although he felt reluctant to face it, the fact was that doing nothing else rather than eating and sleeping in the tribe would finally cost Caesar’s life. The Shaman granted Caesar his patterned plate, but he could withdraw it just as well. No comfort pet was allowed to exist in the tribe. Caesar needed to prove his value.
The wolf stood there, breathing heavily, with blood on its mouth and bloodlust in his eyes. Together with his every breath, it released a gust of smell of the weird bat’s blood.
However, staring at Shao Xuan, the bloodlust gradually faded away. His pair of eyes became clear again.
Lipping the blood on his mouth, Caesar looked up at Shao Xuan and started approaching him with light paces.
“Ah-Xuan…” Lang Ga couldn’t help but warn him. They were really scared off by Caesar’s behavior earlier.
When they were within the tribe, people said that Caesar was a wolf that already had been tamed, which meant that he was a total waste. Some might have even suggested that Caesar should be cut into pieces as food. However, what is this then, when Caesar was behaving like that?
Already been tamed? Total bullshit! That bloodlust chilled Lang Ga’s back. He tried real hard not to toss the long spear at Caesar.
A waste? That monster got its wing torn off by the wolf! What kind of waste would that be?!
Of course, an animal was an animal, and killing instinct was in its blood.
Shao Xuan waved to the crowd again, using the empty hand behind his back to tell Lang Ga and the others not to act right now.
Caesar lifted his feet, slowly walking towards Shao Xuan. His paws were still stained with blood. And for every step he made, he would leave a blood print on the ground. There was blood stains on his body as well from when he was tearing down the bat’s wing, which made him look more ferocious.
Eight meters… five meters… three meters…
Shao Xuan watched the wolf approach, and he looked at the wolf calmly. However, deep down inside, he knew that his heart was beating rapidly. Shao Xuan reached his empty hand out, but still clenched the stone knife he had in his other hand. He was prepared for whatever choice that Caesar makes.
Caesar breathed heavily and walked towards Shao Xuan step by step. He watched the young totem warrior, and then lowered his head, as if he knew that he was being naughty earlier. Gently, he flapped his ears, and rubbed his head towards Shao Xuan’s palm.
At the moment that his palm reached the wolf’s head, Shao Xuan took a long breath, and he lowered his other hand with the stone knife.
Just like usual, when Caesar accomplished the task smoothly or did the right thing, Shao Xuan rubbed Caesar’s head and said “Good boy.”
Caesar’s head shook slightly together with Shao Xuan’s hand. He also licked Shao Xuan’s hand, which put some bat blood on his hand.
“Is it okay, now, Ah-Xuan?” Lang Ga was a little stammered. Caesar looked just like usual now, but the scene earlier was printed in his mind, he was still afraid to approach the wolf. Also, he did not lower the long spear in his hand.
“It’s okay now.” Shao Xuan knew that the others in the hunting group would still be alert with Caesar for quite some time. But, things would get better.
After this experience, Caesar gained his feral nature back, but he managed to keep it under control. That was a good thing.
Pulling Caesar aside, Shao Xuan carefully checked the wounds and claw marks on its body. He took out some medicinal powders that he made himself for the treatment of wounds, and applied them on Caesar’s back, to see if they also worked on animals.
Lang Ga and the others only approached to see the dead bat after Shao Xuan had pulled Caesar aside.
Another bat had also been killed by Mai, and it was even larger than the one that Caesar tore apart. It had sharper claws and longer nails. If that had been Caesar’s opponent, perhaps Caesar would have been more badly wounded now.
Why would such things come out during daylight? An older totem warrior in the hunting group wondered.
“Perhaps it was the similar scenario like the thorn black winds last year? They came out during the day.” Someone guessed.
“No, it’s not the same.” Mai shook his head, “The thorn black wind was out during daylight because it wanted revenge against us. However, what’re these things after? With so many years’ hunting experience, I dare say that this is very rare.”
The crowd fell into a silence.
In fact, they were not afraid of that creature at all, as they were not quite the big trouble in this forest. However, they worried that something might be behind this situation. Every abnormal situation could be the portent of something major.
[Yes, that word exists.]
As the silence went on, people suddenly heard some sounds of whistles.
Everyone in their hunting group was there, and no one had ever blown a whistle. Apparently, the whistle was not coming from them. Someone from the other hunting groups made that sound.
“You should stay here, we will go and check.” Mai took a few warriors with him. They rushed towards the origin of the whistle.
Soon, Mai brought five people back, and the five warriors were all wounded, with different degrees of injuries.
It was the hunting group that shared a similar hunting route. Last year when Shao Xuan and Mao were chased by the thorn black wind, Mai turned to them for help.
Seeing the dead bat that Mai killed lying on the ground, the first one of the five warriors was shocked, “You encountered it?!”
“This is not the only one. We encountered two of them.” Lang Ga and the others stepped aside to show them the one that was put down by Caesar.
“So, it seems that you have encountered them as well?” Mai looked at the injured people.
That warrior sighed deeply, “Yes. I wonder why, they are supposed to come out only during the night, but it’s daylight right now. Our hunting group had been attacked by them several times… Oh right, we came here to seek for your help.”
The warrior looked at Shao Xuan and Caesar, that was lying beside Shao Xuan’s feet calmly, “It’s said that your wolf is capable of tracking things down based on the smell?”
Mai did not answer. Instead, he looked at Shao Xuan as well.
Shao Xuan nodded, “Yes.”
“A while ago, he caught a grass rat!” Lang Ga said. Although he was still quite alert of Caesar, it did not stop him from showing off to warriors in other hunting groups. When they were heading out from the tribe, they received quite a lot of mocks from other hunting groups.
“We want to borrow it. To help with the situation.” That man said, not caring about Lang Ga’s tone.
“For what?” asked Mai.
“To help us find a person.”