Chapter 41 – Black wind (1/2)

Translated by Sunyancai

It was Shao Xuan’s first time seeing this little beast, which was called a tree civet. It was not much larger than an adult’s palm, and among its grey fur there were some brown lines mixed in. On its round hairy head, there were two big black eyes, and it seemed particularly innocent when it stared at people with those eyes. The ears on both sides were slightly droopy. It squatted on a branch which was at least ten meters high, with his arms around the trunk and eyes fixed down on the people below.

“Don’t look at it. That little thing is not good to eat.” Lang Ga whispered to Shao Xuan. As they were taking the short break, talking was not forbidden, but all people talked in a low voice.

Generally speaking, people in the tribe were not picky about a food’s flavor, and they would swallow down those unsavory foods as long as they could provide energy. When evaluated as “not good to eat”, probably that thing was not only unsavory, but was probably also harmful to one’s body.

“Aren’t they afraid of people?” Shao Xuan asked.

“Many beasts would not feel afraid when they first see people. Instead, they would be more curious. However, if you show any trace of killing intent, it would be totally different.” Lang Ga said, as he lifted his ground bow with the arrow pointed at the tree civet on the tree.

One minute earlier the tree civet seemed harmless and innocent, but now it kept its mouth wide open, and looked rather ferocious, with a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Lang Ga did not shoot towards the tree civet, but lowered his weapon and ignored it.

“Little meat and not good to eat. It’s sound is also creepy.” Lang Ga looked away after saying that, and continued to work on his ground bows to see if there’s any damage.

When Lang Ga had left, the tree civet restored its normal appearance.

A finger-length flying worm flew near it, with his wings flattering. On its surface there was a layer of thin scales, which reflected the sunlight. It was so sparkly and it flew really fast in the air. One second it was at one spot and the next second it was at another spot, as if it could move to another place instantly.

Whoosh!

The tree civet waved its arm and reached out his paw in the air, like it knew the place where the flying worm was headed.

Within the blink of an eye, the flying worm was caught in the tree civet’s paw.

Shao Xuan noticed that the tree civet twisted a bit on the flying worm’s wings to break them, and then held the worm in its paw as if it was a breadstick. One bite after another, the worm went into the tree civet’s belly, and the tree civet stared down at Shao Xuan as it ate.

Feeling the flying worm’s remains flying towards his face, Shao Xuan dodged and the worm remains missed him by half a step.

“Jia, jia, Jia!”

The tree civet began to haul.

Shao Xuan thought that perhaps his dodging earlier made the tree civet angry, while he saw that not far away, Ang acted slightly. Then Shao Xuan looked at the tree civet’s direction, but only to find that it had already left, as if it was avoiding something.

Ang rushed towards the direction that the tree civet fled, and he climbed onto a tree nimbly. On his back there were five short spears which were only half the length of normal spears, to be used as javelins.

The others in the hunting group all quieted down, and they even lowered their breaths. If not having seen with his own eyes, Shao Xuan would never have expected that there were so many people staying here.

Ang seemed to see something and he silently pulled out a short spear quickly and prepared to throw it out. However, the moment before he was going to throw, he stopped and showed a gesture to the others.

Mai thought about it and waved to call Ang back.

Ang climbed down the tree with regret on his face. At the meantime, all the others in the hunting group began to find convex stones and tree roots to hide themselves. Naturally Shao Xuan did the same.

In the time of two breaths, Shao Xuan saw something fox-like jump out from the bushes. It ran towards a direction after sniffing around for a second.

Lang Ga told Shao Xuan to keep on waiting.