Published: February 7, 2025
Gray Mountain chewed on the unpleasant food in his mouth, holding back for a while before finally spitting it out.
It was too damn awful.
This dish, made of black seaweed wrapped around dried meat and boiled, was just terrible. Even though he had eaten it every cold season since childhood, Gray Mountain still couldn't get used to it.
However, if this food was absent during the cold seasons that lasted for hundreds of days of falling sand, many tribesmen would starve to death.
“Tribe Leader, the Jin Ke hunting team has returned,” said a robust middle-aged man, lifting the tent flap and addressing Gray Mountain, who was sitting on a massive stone chair.
A hint of surprise crossed Gray Mountain's bearded face as he stood up, his strong body resembling a Stone Gate.
“What did you bring back?”
The middle-aged man nodded, “They brought back five or six baskets of food.”
Upon hearing this, Gray Mountain’s mouth dropped open. Initially excited, he lost all interest and slumped back into his chair, pounding the armrest as a sign of his dissatisfaction.
Gray Mountain knew that during this season, powerful monsters and posthumous children alike had to prepare for the cold season, madly hunting across the entire Blue Continent without regard for time. Some of these monsters were also about to enter their breeding period, making their territorial defenses extremely strict. Any posthumous children or monsters daring to encroach would be attacked mercilessly, resulting in a fight to the death.
These circumstances led to the problem of hunting difficulties for posthumous children during this time. Yet, they too had to survive the cold season. Thus, the cold seasons were always exceptionally tough, and for small tribes like Gray Mountain's, managing to survive with 80% of their people each year was considered a significant achievement.
The frigid weather combined with food shortages effectively sentenced some weaker posthumous children to death ahead of time. Even some women and children could not endure such a winter.
“However…”
Gray Mountain's gaze shifted as he looked at his capable subordinate, asking unhappily, “When did you start speaking so hesitantly?”
“However, Jin Ke and the others brought back news that they discovered a group of posthumous children. Their direction seems to be coming toward us, but at that time, they were surrounding a group of black seed deer monsters, so it’s not entirely certain. Moreover, Jin Ke and the others only saw them from a distance on the hills, without making contact, so they’re unaware of their exact origins.”
If it wasn't a familiar tribe, encounters during hunting before the cold season would generally lead to mutual precaution. Although posthumous children had rarely killed each other over the past few thousand days of falling sand, food raids during the pre-cold season still occurred. Such situations couldn’t be completely avoided; Gray Mountain’s tribe occasionally did it too. Now, seeing a tribe capable of hunting black seed deer from afar was better to avoid.
“How many people are in that group?” Gray Mountain asked instinctively.
The middle-aged man had a strange look on his face as he replied, “There are over a hundred of them.”
Hmm?
Gray Mountain was somewhat taken aback. “How many?”
“Over a hundred, but not more than one hundred fifty.”
Gray Mountain's expression soured. Although the black seed deer monsters had a combat power around level three and were not very strong in attack, they had tough defenses. Typically, a small population of them would consist of at least two hundred individuals, and Gray Mountain's small tribe would never provoke them.
But if this group had only one hundred fifty warriors and dared to surround black seed deer, their average strength must have reached level three. Moreover, the number of powerful warriors close to level four or above had to be at least thirty. Only with this overall strength could they challenge a herd of black seed deer.