A'lai couldn't help but hold his breath for Xun Ge'er, who was luring the wild boar. Stones were continuously shot, attracting the wild boar's attention. A'lai seized the opportunity to attack. The three of them, working together, led the wild boar into the trap area. Then, they grabbed the hanging vines and climbed onto trees, while the wild boar fell into the trap they had dug beforehand. The trap was filled with sharpened tree stumps. To prevent the wild boar from struggling and escaping, the pit was dug very deep. They also smeared anesthetic on the stumps. After falling in, the wild boar was instantly pierced like a sieve!
"Great!" Seeing the wild boar screaming and struggling in the trap, and then becoming still after a moment, everyone's faces lit up with smiles. They had originally thought hunting wild beasts would be difficult, but with this method, even as children in their early teens, they could hunt a ferocious wild boar!
"We can have more meat when we get back," Shi Tou licked his lips. It had been a long time since he had eaten wild boar meat. Because wild boars were very ferocious and their tusks were sharp, many people in the tribe would get injured whenever they hunted one. Over time, people in the tribe rarely hunted wild boars anymore.
"Now, we need to find a way to transport it back," A'lai stood by the edge of the trap, looking at the wild boar inside with a troubled expression. It was killed, but for just a few of them, transporting such a large wild boar back was not an easy task. Everyone looked at Xiao Hua.
Xiao Hua frowned, thinking carefully about how to transport the wild boar back. After a moment, her eyes lit up: "I have an idea!"
Xiao Man looked at their performance with great satisfaction. After confirming there were no other beasts around, she went to check on the other teams. The other teams did not have it as easy as A'lai's group. After all, not everyone was as skilled at setting traps as Xiao Hua. Moreover, A'lai and Xiao Hua, with their mutual cooperation, always managed to achieve extraordinary results.
Qi Hong gathered the warriors of the tribe, preparing to enter the forest to rescue the children. Especially the parents of the children who were learning from Xiao Man, their faces were ashen. They had originally agreed to let their children come here to learn more skills, not to send them to their deaths!
Their children were only eleven or twelve years old, not yet adults. The tribe had a rule that children under sixteen were not allowed to hunt in the forest. Moreover, miasma was everywhere in the forest. Once inhaled, and encountering a fierce beast, wouldn't that be like a lamb entering a tiger's mouth?
For a time, there was wailing and crying in the tribe. Shan Da comforted everyone not to worry too much, but his words of solace seemed exceptionally pale and powerless.
Just as everyone was preparing to enter the forest to search for the children, they heard a clanging sound. Everyone hurried out to look and saw a raft with wheels rushing down from a height. On the raft, besides four children, there was also a wild boar!
"Get out of the way, hurry, get out of the way!"
Qi Hong stood frozen, forgetting to react. Shan Da led the crowd to dodge. As the raft approached the tribe, it hit a stone. The four children on the raft were thrown out by inertia and fell ignominiously in front of everyone.
A'lai looked at the pair of large feet standing in front of him, then looked up, smiling innocently: "Tribe Leader, we hunted a wild boar. According to the rules, each of us can have a leg!"
Shan Da looked at the wild boar on the raft, then at the four children climbing up from the ground. These four children could be described as scrawny. It was impossible to imagine how they had killed a ferocious wild boar!
"You killed this?"
"Yes, we killed it!" A'lai said excitedly, "The four of us teamed up to kill it!"
Qi Hong stepped forward to examine the wild boar's carcass. The wild boar had many wounds, almost pierced like a sieve. It should have been killed using a trap, but wild boars, these ferocious beasts, would not willingly enter a trap.
"You're really lucky. This wild boar actually fell into the trap you dug," Qi Hong thought to himself. They were just lucky to have hunted this wild boar. If they had truly confronted it, they would have been no match for it.
"It didn't fall in, we lured it in," A'lai said proudly. "Xun Ge'er discovered the wild boar's tracks, and then we all went up together, first provoking the wild boar, enraging it, and then leading it into the trap we had dug beforehand."
Qi Hong felt he needed to calm down. They had not failed to围杀 (surround and kill) wild boars before, but it required many people to do so. Moreover, when a wild boar went berserk, it would charge at anyone, and many warriors in the tribe had been injured by it. Although wild boar meat was tastier, for safety reasons, they had rarely围杀 wild boars. Yet now, a few children had successfully hunted a wild boar without getting hurt!
"Where are the others?" Qi Hong regained his voice and asked.
"We don't know. Master told us to go hunt prey in groups of four and must return before sunset." The children took out the small cloth bags they were carrying and gathered them together, showing the herbs they had picked to Xiao Hua. Xiao Hua sorted the herbs and registered all their spoils. They would be presented to Xiao Man when she returned.
"Tribe Leader, are we still going to rescue people?"
"Of course we are. The forest is full of dangers, and not everyone is as lucky as they are," Qi Hong said quickly. He did not want to admit that they, a group of grown men, the warriors of the tribe, were not as capable as a few children.
Shan Da was silent for a moment and said, "Wait here. Someone who can kill the Serpent God would surely not act recklessly. I believe your children will be fine in her hands."
"Tribe Leader, those are the hope of our tribe!"
"Yes, Tribe Leader, I only have this one son. If something happens to him, my wife and I will not be able to live."
"I said, wait!" Shan Da raised his voice. "Wait and see the results. Entering the forest is inherently dangerous. Even adults cannot guarantee their safety. I also want to see the outcome of her taking the tribe's children into the forest to hunt."
Shan Da's face was calm, but his heart was pounding. He had considered many possibilities, even the worst-case scenario, which was that all the other children inside would be lost. He had even thought about how he would handle the situation if the other children were lost.
By noon, another group returned. Four people, all bearing injuries, but their faces were beaming with excitement. They rushed into their parents' arms, recounting how they had successfully hunted a deer.
Parents doted on their injured children, but these children seemed unconcerned. They used the herbs they had gathered, crushed them, and applied them to their wounds, bandaging each other with practiced ease, a sight that left the adults gaping.