Chapter 454 (1/2)

They Think They're Birds

The large man’s name was Wacha. On the way here, Zheng Luo had already told Shao Xuan about this person. Since Wacha was mostly stationed at the salt mines, he did not spend much time in the village. He did return for ceremonies and stood near the front so Shao Xuan recognised him.

And because Shao Xuan remembered how Wacha looked, he was shocked.

He remembered Wacha being a tanned man. When the day was hot, he would walk around topless and his shoulders shone in the sun like a piece of barbecued meat shining with grease. There were many venomous insects in the salt mines that bit humans and left scars. If the remaining venom was not excreted by the body completely, the scar would leave a hole in the skin.

Wacha, who spent so much time at the mines, had a lot of experience with these insects, evident from his pock-marked face. It was very rough, rougher than orange peel. The tribesmen did not think much of it, some even though he looked more intimidating like that to be able to lead his team. It was true too. With a face like that, when he put on a solemn expression, one look at you would feel like a boulder about to squash you into pulp.

Right now, Wacha had lost all his ‘intimidating’ scars, his dark, tanned skin had lightened into a rosy glow. At first glance, Shao Xuan thought it was the wrong man.

Wacha was embarrassed as Shao Xuan stared. Every person who visited was shocked, Wacha had seen reflections of himself in tubs of water, even borrowing the shamaness’ only mirror to check his face… Utterly terrifying!

Wacha felt like he could not meet anyone in the tribe anymore. Without the marks on his face, he didn’t feel like the mighty leader of the salt mines team anymore. It was embarrassing!

Seeing Wacha’s sad face, Zheng Luo scolded, “This is a good thing! It means all the venom residues in your body have been excreted!”

The venom left behind by salt mine insects was stubborn. Even the herbs made by the Taihe tribe weren’t completely effective. They were limited too, anyone who wanted the herbs had to trade using a lot of other stuff. Since Wacha didn’t want to spend too much, he did not trade for any of these herbs. However, no one had expected this to happen after he ate a few eggs as he nursed his injuries!

As they spoke, a woman carrying a large container of water walked in. This was Wacha’s wife, Susha. They were both totemic warriors and guarded the salt mines.

When she saw Zheng Luo and Shao Xuan, Susha quickly put down the water tank and flipped her long hair, braided with animal teeth ornaments, behind her shoulder and smiled. “Chief, Elder, you’re both here!”

Just like Wacha, Susha’s face was a lot smoother and had a healthy glow. She did not look like a salt mine guard at all.

As she spoke, she took out another egg. “I got this from the shamaness. We’ll share this later.”

When the grandmother had received news about the incident at the mines, she had been terrified. She immediately went to the shamaness to trade for two duck eggs with the salt in her home when Wacha returned with a severe injury, while Susha also sustained some injuries. The old lady had heard that these eggs had detoxification properties and aided in healing so she immediately made them eat the eggs.

The effects were very obvious.

Since Susha’s wounds were not serious, she recovered in a few days. Wacha was severely injured with too much poison in him, plus multiple bone fractures. He hadn’t been able to get off his bed and had been lying down for days. However, today, he was already able to walk and most of the poison had been cleared from his body.

When he saw the egg, Wacha gave a look of helplessness. “I’m already mostly recovered, I don’t have to eat anymore. You three share the egg.”

“This is the last one, the shamaness doesn’t have many left either. And you’re mostly recovered, so you don’t have to eat any after this.” Susha planned to cook this egg.

All the duck eggs the patrol team found were kept with the shamaness. Not everyone could get the eggs easily. Since Wacha and his wife were injured at work, the tribe took some responsibility too. That was why the first two eggs were given by the shamaness. After that, they traded with her using salt.

Since they were guards at the salt mines, they naturally received a larger share of salt. Shao Xuan saw several ceramic tanks in the house with wide mouths and deep contents. There was also some ceramic wares used for cooking salt.