Chapter 422 (1/2)

Domestication

Shao Xuan did not touch the old man. He just took the stuff and left.

What goes around comes around. If they killed and robbed, they had to be prepared to be robbed themselves.

When he got down the tree, Shao Xuan did not see the fat duck. There was a piece of rope tied to the tree and the other end had been pecked off.

Shao Xuan had no interest in where the duck went either. He went back to the robbers. The person who had collapsed on the ground had his features blurred like melting wax. It was very eerie.

Shao Xuan attempted to dig up some of the poisonous grass but they withered immediately. He still brought away a few withered plants but after using them on prey, he realised the toxin in this plant poisonous enough to kill an advanced totemic warrior greatly decreased as it withered. The worse it withered, the weaker its toxins were. In the end, it could not even poison an ant.

Then it was no use carrying it around. Shao Xuan gave up. Perhaps this peculiar plant could only grow here.

Shao Xuan continued walking in the planned direction. When he passed the treehouse, he heard a loud thud, like a huge wooden plank was smashed on the ground. Then he heard the old man’s furious curses and the duck’s quacks. It sounded like they were fighting.

“Ahh……” There was a shriek, then the old man screaming at the top of his voice-- “Die! Die!!”

Shao Xuan did not look inside. He just walked past with the stuff he packed.

On the other side, the treehouse had collapsed.

When Shao Xuan left, the old man spat out of his house and cursed but now much softer. He dared not yell too loudly or that damned man might come again. He was already relieved that he was alive. Then, he saw a green flash flying from outside into the house. It scratched across his head and then flew out again.

A clump of hair with some skin and blood was torn off his scalp. Not just that, the duck even left deep scratches from its clack. If its claws were a little longer and sharper, or it was stronger, they might have punctured his head.

The old man yelled in pain, waving his axe immediately. He was still in shock, now his fat bird was rebelling. Now he was so furious smoke might be coming out of his ears. He swung his axe around his house, chopping at everything.

However, the fat duck was not slow either. It looped around the house. The old man did not manage to chop off its head but instead managed to wreck his house.

The wooden treehouse wasn’t a robust structure either. It crashed from the tree and shattered into pieces of planks.

The old man scrambled out of the pile of rubble and grabbed the chipped axe. He chased after the duck, hacking at it but in the forest, the fat duck was a lot quicker than the old man.

The old man had lost all sense of sanity as he chased after the duck. It lured him into the area with traps nearby, set up by the other three men. The old man was not aware of this. The shriek Shao Xuan heard was when the old man’s foot was caught in a sharp, toothed clamp on the ground.

The old man set off multiple traps at once and was trapped on the spot. He did not have the axe with him now and could not get out of the trap. Seeing this, the fat duck went at him a few more times then waddled off. It spread its wings, leaving.

Soon after the duck left, the sky gradually darkened. A dark shadow perched on a tree nearby, watching the old man below. Soon, another similar bird arrived too. They were nocturnal and liked rotten meat. If there was no rotten meat, they would create some.

The old man was familiar with these. He sometimes fed them with remains of other humans. Now that he saw a few birds on the tree, a sense of hopelessness crept into him.

Within the quiet forest, a sudden shriek of agony shattered the silence. Then, there were squawks of many birds and the shriek intensified.

Animals hidden in the dark corners of the forest caught a whiff of blood and started sniffing in search of the feast.

As for Shao Xuan, he had already found the original path he came from. He did not rest in the cave, resting on a tree instead.

Before he closed his eyes, his eyes darted at a tree nearby. Among the leaves was a fat shadow, thinking it was well hidden.

Shao Xuan ignored it. He had used up a lot of energy fighting the three robbers, it was time for some rest.

On the next day, Shao Xuan woke up and continued on his journey.

The fat duck followed not far away. When Shao Xuan saw it, it would fly away and hide. When Shao Xuan turned around, it would follow again.

He didn’t understand. What did the duck want?

As he travelled, he suddenly heard a very desperate “Quack!”