Chapter 77 – Pictures at the end of the scroll
Translated by Sunyancai
Shao Xuan had a sound sleep after midnight. It had been a while since he had last dreamt about something. However, tonight he had a dream.
As a matter of fact, Shao Xuan himself also had no idea what was exactly in the dream. He dreamt of something green, which gradually covered his whole view. It was a flowing green, and he was drifting in the sea of green. The green entered his chest every time he breathed, which made him feel cozy all over the body. It felt like every part of his body had been cleansed. Let’s say that his body was the ground covered in dirt and dust, but then got all washed clean by the cool water. He felt purified all over.
Unlike the tense and depressing feeling in the past, Shao Xuan only felt totally free from inhibitions this time. It was a kind of comfort which Shao Xuan had never experienced before. All the fatigue and bad mood in this hunting mission had been washed away, and Shao Xuan wanted to howl to the heaven.
All changes happened in silence, but they were breathtaking!
Early in the morning, when the sun came out, the warriors slumber was disturbed by various kinds of sounds in this green land. However, it was the rushed voice of a warrior that woke up everyone.
“Boss! Boss, come here! Check this out!” That warrior had climbed down the tree a minute ago, and he was shouting at Ta from the entrance of the tree hole. Ta was reading a roll of animal skin before he looked at the warrior.
All the warriors became clear-headed even though they were yawning a second ago.
Given the voice of the warrior who just spoke, obviously he had found something quite special. It couldn’t be a threat, but should be peculiar enough.
Not only Ta, the other warriors all climbed down quickly.
Shao Xuan was the last person to exit the tree hole. He looked down from the entrance, and found that all warriors that rushed down were circling around the trap he had set last night.
“What the hell is this?!”
“It looks funny. Is this its limb?”
“The limbs of a tree?”
“Is it dead already?”
“I poked at it, but it didn’t move. Perhaps dead.”
“You should untie this thing, and then we can have a clear look at it.”
“…but how to untie this knot?”
“Oh you stupid thing, you can just tear it apart…”
“Stop it, Keke! Stay away! You are such a tactless moron!”
Ta had told them to untie the thing trapped in the rope, but only to find that they had nowhere to start with. The thread strapping the thing was made from the white hairs from yesterday, which meant that it was hard to cut. Also, they needed to be careful not to break the thing trapped inside.
Tuo held a stone knife up high, but after a while, he decided to quit. He looked around, and found Shao Xuan climbing down the tree with no rush. In a hurry he said, “Come over here, Ah-Xuan! Something’s in your trap!”
The clamorous crowd immediately quieted down.
The trap was set by Shao Xuan last night, however, within the night it captured something. Last night there were even warriors taunting him.
Ah-Suo glimpsed at the team leader standing beside him, only to find that the boss was thinking about something with a poker face. He acted as if he had not heard Tuo calling upon Shao Xuan.
Shao Xuan walked towards the circle, and warriors quickly cleared a passage for him to approach the trap.
Last night, Shao Xuan did not set many traps, for he was not familiar with the place after all. Only two traps were set casually, since he received no support from the others, and time was limited. He couldn’t ask people to wait for him. He had found a tree nearby that had some sticky resin secretion, so he put some at a trap.
Well, now on the place where he daubed the resin, there was something glued there. It looked like a simple skeleton formed by green branches. There were legs, and hands without complicated fingers. There were three ‘toes’, long like claws.
Shao Xuan did not expect this resin to be so sticky after it got dried in the air. Yesterday when he put it here, it was like normal glue, however now it was totally superglue. He thought that if there was some creature that could run fast, he could use the resin to slow it down. For even if it was fast, the sticky glue would decline its speed. Meanwhile, it would allow the snare to tie the creature tight.
While in the other trap, there was a football-sized taupe ball trapped inside. When there’s a gust of wind, the ball trapped in the net of white threads would suddenly create a buzzing sound. It would fly along the wind, but since it was trapped within the net of white threads, it was pulled back again. Because of the rebounding force, the white thread created sounds of vibrating strings.
“So the sound from last night was created by this thing!” one of the night guards said.
“I heard it too yesterday! Unexpectedly it was caused by this ball.”
“What is it, boss?” asked Ah-Suo
Ta moved his sight from the odd green skeleton, and then took a look at the bouncing ball in this net of white threads. He took out the roll of animal skin, and opened it to the last one third part.
The first two thirds of the scroll had the pictures of all the things that they would search for. Every time when they come to the woods, they would be able to find most of the creatures as long as it was the right season. However, the latter one third of the scroll recorded all those rare things. In the Shaman’s words, one could only be considered blessed if encountering them.
Because of that, they never paid extra attention to finding them. In the past, their ancestors would rarely encounter one or two creatures on the end of the scroll. A few years ago, the team leader of the other hunting team had found a plant pictured on the end of the scroll. His name is Gui-He. Being the team leader of the other hunting team, he is also a candidate-in-running for the Chief’s position in the future. Obviously he had received high praise and hence improved his impression with the Shaman with that rare plant.
Gui-He got his name directly from the Shaman. If you carefully explored his family, you’ll find that Gui-He was the son of the Shaman’s nephew. Naturally Gui-He was more close with the Shaman with his ties of blood. If Ta’s father weren’t the Chief, he would not have been qualified enough to compete with Gui-He at all. Especially since recent years, Gui-He had much more glorious harvests than before. That was the reason why Ta was eager to find the rare plants. He even brought Shao Xuan in his advance group, just to take advantage of ancestor’s blessing.
However, Ta did not anticipate that they would encounter something rare. Ta’s mood became complex, as all the rare things were captured by Shao Xuan.
Just yesterday, he was complaining that those traps were little tricks that would wear down one’s willpower… Today, he received an invisible slap on the face, and it was a good one.
If he had known that traps could help catch the plants on the end of the scroll, Ta would never despise those “little tricks”.
“This is the Wind Ball from the end of the scroll.” Ta pointed at a picture of a ball near the end of the scroll.
Shao Xuan reached over to take a look at it. The pictures on the animal skin roll were quite simple, but the holes on the ball were exactly the same as the ones on the ball he captured.
“Hey, that’s terrific!” Ah-Suo rubbed his hands and laughed. You know, they would have higher status in front of the Shaman if any plants from the end of the scroll were found.
The others all seemed delighted.
“What about the other one?” asked Tuo.
They all quieted down again as they waited for Ta’s answer. Before when they were checking the Wind Ball, they did not find anything on the scroll like the other one in the trap.
That thing’s “feet” were glued by the resin, and below its waist, there were lots of white threads winding around. Just because of that, it would not manage to escape even if it could lift a ‘foot’.
Aside from that, people found that this thing had ‘arms’ and ‘legs’, besides, the torso was made from a few branches. But, there was no ‘head’.
Ta stared at the ‘headless’ skeleton with an inexplicable look.
“When I first joined the advance group, the Shaman and the former Chief had told me something.” Ta pointed at the tied green skeleton and said, “It looks like the plant that the Shaman had talked about. The Green Thief.”
“Green Thief?”
“What is that?”
“Is it useful? The Shaman did not add it on the animal skin roll.”
There were a lot of clamors of comments.
Ta was smiling in a weird way.
“Is it useful? Damn right it is! It can’t be any more useful! If it is indeed the Green Thief, we would be received as heroes of the tribe when we return! It’s said that the herbs made from the Green Thief would allow people to see in the darkness!”
All warriors took a deep breath, and then, their breaths became more and more rapid.
Night vision. It was something that all of them had been craving for.
Why was everyone so afraid of the night? Because at night, they would lose their vision. Even intermediate totem warriors, or even senior totem warriors would freak out when faced with darkness. Hence, instead of hunting at night, warriors in the hunting team would hide in a tree hole or mountain cave.
Warriors in the tribe had hunted down various kinds of animals and ferocious beasts, among which many of them were nocturnal ones. People said that you could have a clearer vision in the dark if you ate the eyes of those nocturnal animals. However, it was not true. At least, those who had eaten the eyes did not feel much progress in their night vision. Or perhaps it worked, just produced minor effect.
If, if this was the Green Thief…