Chapter 23: In-depth Social Practice Activity
“Jili Guala, guala jili.”
“Don’t disturb the good thing for Chang Ying, 91%”
E Ji said this with a strong tone of envy.
“I started drumming this year, and not a single man has been attracted, 99%” E Ji said, while secretly rubbing her bony buttocks against Yun Ce’s waist and hips.
Yun Ce rolled his eyes and took out the knife again to cut tree bark.
With E Ji saying this, he naturally understood. In some remote places with sparse population and too close kinship between men and women, people allowed some women to set up White Tents by the roadside. The women stayed inside, and once an outsider man came, they would invite him to stay overnight in the White Tent.
He just didn’t expect the women here to play so boldly, actually using drumming to attract men, which was more clever than waiting idly for rabbits on Earth.
While Yun Ce was focused on harvesting tree bark, the drum sound rang out again. This time, the drum sound was chaotic and without rhythm. Yun Ce looked at E Ji and found her puzzled too.
A series of not-so-good images floated through his mind. He chuckled, continued cutting tree bark with the knife, and had to say, hearing the intense drumming sounds made the work feel half as tiring.
He thought E Ji had the same understanding as him, but by the time he peeled off a piece of tree bark, E Ji had already run a hundred meters away.
1 Yun Ce had no interest in watching people in their erotic acts. While circling another tree with the knife, he suddenly heard E Ji’s shrill scream.
1 This scream had no hint of lust; it was more like being bitten by a dog.
1 Yun Ce leaped and reached ten meters away in one bound. After a few more leaps, he saw a female corpse lying on the huge drum surface, blood-soaked. A naked man was forcefully drumming, with bursts of drum sounds spreading the blood on the drum surface into a gorgeous flower—oh, trumpet-shaped.
1 E Ji had somehow climbed onto a tree. Seeing Yun Ce arrive, she shouted loudly in Jili Gulu. According to Doggy’s translation, she wanted him to run quickly?
1 Yun Ce didn’t run; he felt he could still handle it.
1 After walking a few steps toward the drumming naked man, he noticed a huge bite mark from a mouthpart on his thigh—half the thigh meat was gone, with white bone exposed outside.
1 Injured like this, yet still drumming vigorously to send a warning signal—Yun Ce admired him greatly.
1 The problem was, looking, looking, looking, Yun Ce felt this guy didn’t seem alive. Every movement was extremely stiff, which inexplicably reminded Yun Ce of those self-immolating giant beaked birds.
1 E Ji, squatting on the tree, saw Yun Ce refusing to leave and actually trembled with fear as she climbed down. If not for hiding dead behind Yun Ce and grabbing his shoulders with both hands, ready to push him out as a shield at any moment, this behavior would still evoke goodwill.
1 The naked man continued drumming, showing no intent to trouble Yun Ce or E Ji. The female corpse kept bouncing on the drum surface, blood splattering everywhere, with an indescribable beauty.
2 Not just Yun Ce and E Ji heard the irregular drum sound; other nearby women harvesting tree bark also came over. With more people, E Ji stopped hiding behind Yun Ce and pulled an older woman aside for a long jabber.
2 The older woman shouted at Yun Ce: “Gua, guala da!”
2 This time, no need for Doggy’s translation; Yun Ce knew what the old woman meant. He picked up the spear with a bit of iron that Zhao Jin had lent him and threw it out with a flick.
2 The spear flew nearly twenty meters through the air, piercing straight into the naked man’s head without obstruction. The naked man crashed to the ground, and only then did the women rush over to look at the dead naked man.
2 Yun Ce didn’t. After retrieving the spear, he vigilantly scanned the surroundings. The women foolishly ignored the big hole in the woman on the drum surface’s chest and the terrifying wound on the naked man’s leg—he didn’t.
2 The hole in the naked woman’s chest was probably clawed out, and the wound on the naked man’s leg was bitten by a mouth.
2 While this group of women was getting the naked woman off the drum, Yun Ce spotted a trail of blood next to the big drum, leading toward the Yi Tree Grove on the left.
2 The sky was overcast, the rain had stopped, and the Yi Tree Grove over there was pitch black—even if hiding a beast, it couldn’t be seen clearly.
2 Beasts fear fire, so Yun Ce gathered some relatively dry tree branches from the forest and lit a pile of fire next to the big drum.
2 As soon as the fire was lit, the male corpse unnaturally began to writhe. Under Yun Ce’s gaze, a large cluster of pale yellow insects slid out from the anus position.
3 Yun Ce threw a burning tree branch over, and a bright yellow flame erupted there, instantly enveloping the insects and the male corpse.
3 The older woman, seeing this, terrifiedly threw the female corpse into the fire pile too, shouting loudly to the other women while throwing: “Chaka, die chaka.”
3 “Living insects, living dead worms, 83%”
3 Living dead worms were very fire-resistant—this Yun Ce knew. He previously thought these high-energy insects only infected animals, but now it seemed they didn’t spare humans either.
3 According to the old woman, the man attracted by Chang Ying’s drum sound had been infected with living dead worms and driven out by the clan members to wander everywhere. The old woman also blamed Chang Ying for being horny at the wrong time—not checking the man before eagerly mating, which was very wrong.
3 If seeking, it must be sturdy men like Yun Ce who can work. On this point, E Ji did very well—gotting good goods in her first year of drumming.
3 Although everyone was sad that Chang Ying died and E Ji’s eyes were red from crying, her upturned mouth corners couldn’t hide her inner smugness.
3 Yun Ce’s mind wasn’t on this; he focused on the beast in the Yi Tree Grove and the two corpses being incinerated by the flames fueled by living dead worms.
3 Fifteen minutes of burning, and the living dead worms still provided fierce flames, more enduring than those from giant beaked birds—perhaps because giant beaked birds’ bodies were much smaller than humans, holding far fewer living dead worms in their stomachs.
3 Living dead worms were an excellent fire starter. Yun Ce had been thinking that if dried, ground into powder, and stored, they would make a great weapon.
4 The women were illiterate, so no way to warn them of the beast here. Thus, Yun Ce stubbornly drove all these women away. Though he couldn’t speak clearly, through gestures he made them understand it was very dangerous here.
4 The other women all ran, but E Ji didn’t. She squatted beside Yun Ce watching the two burning corpses. The fire’s temperature was very high; now the fat in the corpses was participating in the burning, naturally dividing the flame into outer flame, inner flame, and flame core—and at this moment, the outer flame was gradually turning white.
4 For this new fuel, Yun Ce’s interest was exceptionally great. Since the old woman in the village knew about living dead worms, it meant they were common on this land.
4 The only trouble was how to collect them—after all, they wouldn’t emerge from the anus unless the host died. Yun Ce decided to think carefully after returning; no matter what, he had to thoroughly research this energy insect with military value, ideally achieving artificial breeding.
4 Half an hour passed, and the two corpses on the ground were burned to ashes—even the bone ash scattered everywhere by the wind.
4 E Ji fetched water and washed the big drum’s surface several times. It seemed this drum was very important to the village’s young women.
4 No roast suckling pig eaten today—E Ji was quite regretful.
4 It wasn’t that Yun Ce forgot; he just felt the Yi Tree Grove was no longer safe.
4 A woman died in the village, but everyone seemed not to care much, continuing with their tasks. The legless old soldiers gathered in a circle, discussing the bad news Yun Ce brought today.
4 They discussed for only five minutes before devising a strategy. Zhao Jin believed since it was a man-eating beast, it should be killed immediately to prevent further harm to the village.
5 Dig a pit trap, place sharp wooden spikes at the bottom—once the prey fell in, it was dead.
5 Yun Ce thought this strategy was good. The only issue was, with a pit dug, there needed to be bait. Ordinary beasts wouldn’t interest that man-eating addicted beast, but human meat had more salt, highly attractive to salt-deprived beasts. Thus, the bait should be human.
5 While Yun Ce sighed at these legless guys’ noble spirit of sacrificing for the group, he noticed that when discussing bait, all these legless old soldiers turned their gazes to him.
5 Yun Ce’s objections in words—they couldn’t understand. The words he wrote on the wooden slip, Zhao Jin only thought were good and told others that Yun Ce was a good young man, willing to act as bait to attract the beast.
5 E Ji, who came over to eavesdrop, spoke up once for Yun Ce, only to be scolded back by the bearded Zhao Jin.
5 Yun Ce had seen dragons, refined wild boars and bears. Though he didn’t know what beast was in the Yi Tree Grove, it couldn’t be fiercer than that refined wild boar.
5 Moreover, his social survey here had just begun—he couldn’t leave now. So, he tacitly agreed to their decision to make him the bait.
5 “You are to become the Seventh Squad Scout Leader; some things you should handle.”
5 This was what Zhao Jin wrote on the wooden slip—and carved with a knife, it seemed already decided.
5 This blunt authoritarian order from rural folk—Yun Ce had experienced plenty before, feeling it was just Zhao Jin and them painting him a big round pie.
6 At the same time, a test to see if outsider Yun Ce had fully integrated into Hekou Village.
6 In the evening, Zhao Jin called E Ji over for a long talk. Seeing E Ji return avoiding his eyes, Yun Ce knew this girl would definitely climb into his bed tonight.
6 Sure enough, when the full moon rose, a warm young girl’s body carrying the strong scent of Yi Tree sap hugged him from behind.
