–Well, now you know you were wrong, huh?–
Yang Zicang, for his part, had no intention of holding a grudge against these primitives.
–Woo-ow, woo-ow.– The tribal chief, his fur completely singed off, crawled forward on the ground, nudging ahead twice.
–Too bad I’m not the Dragon King, so I can’t put out your fire for you.–
In the eyes of these savages, Yang Zicang was undoubtedly the prime culprit behind all this mayhem.
Seeing Yang Zicang unmoved, two burly savages got to their feet.
They heaved up stones, ready to smash the chief lying on the ground.
The rest of the savages prostrated themselves on the ground, howling in unison.
These barbarians believed it was their tribe leader who had offended this indescribable being—perhaps they had to put him to death to extinguish this existence’s wrath.
–Stop!–
The savages, utterly deaf to his words, let the boulders fly. The chief lay prostrate, resigned to his fate, showing no will to resist.
[Trajectory Control!]
Boom! Boom!
The two rocks landed eerily on either side of the chief’s head.
In that fleeting instant, they clearly saw a faint silvery-white halo, along with a few transient lines, materialize at Yang Zicang’s chest.
Thud. Thud. The two savages crashed to the ground, trembling violently.
Yang Zicang stepped forward. The wild man, covered in scorched, blackened hair, looked up with tear-filled eyes. He whimpered and cried, looking utterly pitiful, like a child who knew they had caused trouble.
–So you’re the one who ate the sweet potato first.–
It was burnt so badly that it was almost unrecognizable.
–Alright, alright, I can’t talk reason with you anyway. Here’s the deal: all of you are ‘Ah-something’ from now on. You,– he pointed, –shall be called ‘Ah-Wu’ from now on. By the way, you share the same name with your famous brother from another world, who was also called Xiao Wu.–
Yang Zicang planned to take a look at their tribe.
He still remembered that on Earth, tribes in the Amazon had left behind artifacts marked by human reporters. Here, it could be the same.
–Perhaps the statue is there.–
Half a day later, the expectant young man followed these beings, who regarded him as a god, to a valley nestled between mountains and waters.
Standing outside a deep, cliffside hollow that could shield wind and rain, blocking the elements, were a number of wild men and women of all ages, without a thread on.
At the sight of Yang Zicang, they immediately howled and charged forward with stones and wooden clubs raised threateningly. This fierce reaction so terrified Ah-Wu and his foraging party that they quickly rushed over to explain with wild gesticulations.
The more Yang Zicang watched, the colder his heart grew inside.
Though he was extremely reluctant to admit it, from the pit in the cliff face that could be seen at a single glance, there was no trace of human civilization.
They couldn’t even craft stone knives.
–Looks like I’ll have to search elsewhere.–
Indeed, the acceleration ability wasn’t just handed to him for nothing. A hundred miles a day—who knows how long it would take to explore this world entirely.
Before long, Yang Zicang, with a hard bow slung across his back, departed.
……
Days later, Yang Zicang came across human remains scattered across the bloodstained land.
The human corpses were broken and mangled, strewn about everywhere, appearing to be no more than a couple of days old. It was unclear whether they had been abandoned here or torn apart by beasts.
But at the very least, it indicated the presence of others nearby.
–Awooo~–
Not far after he started walking, Yang Zicang, having just crossed the ridge, heard the howling of wolves echo from the surroundings.
–Wolves?–
No, there was another sound—an extremely indistinct, agonizing scream.
Yang Zicang dashed rapidly toward the direction of the sound.
At the edge of the forest in the distance, a dozen or so wolves roamed restlessly, their sharp teeth bared in vicious snarls, exuding a terrifying aura.
What the wolf pack had surrounded was a cave half a person’s height above the ground, from which the screams emanated.
There, a slaughter unleashed by beasts was underway.
Vague figures could be seen being horrifically dismembered.
[**Deploy! **]
Whoosh! Whoosh! Two arrows tore through the air, precisely striking the two leading wolves at the front, instantly knocking them over.
The few savages fighting the wolfhounds stared blankly, bewildered at the suddenly appearing twig-like arrows.
Yang Zicang, who had loosed the two arrows, moved once again. His running trajectory suddenly accelerated, his speed nearly doubling as he charged towards the perimeter of the wolf pack.
–Waaah, woooah!–
On a distant open patch of ground, several wild men covered in body hair and clad in nothing but their skin desperately smashed rocks at the wolfhounds. Others, perched in the treetops and on high rocks, hunched over like gorillas, wailing and weeping as they gazed down at their fallen kin who had lost their lives below.
–Beasts, die!–
–Woo-woof!– The wolf pack wheeled around, their tails held stiffly erect as they darted back into the woods and lunged forward.
Yang Zicang dodged and weaved left and right. A golden light flickered over his fist as he drove it into the wolfhound in front of him. Yet the creature showed no sign of having been struck by Chronos, merely being bowled over onto the ground.
–This…–
As expected, this was merely a training ground within a dream. Although the sense of reality was stronger than the last time, it was, nonetheless, not the real world.
Although he could use his abilities here, Chronos was unable to harm the creatures within.
The savages screamed, pointing at the young man darting through the forest like a cheetah.
With Yang Zicang’s involvement, these dangerous beasts were drawn toward him.
The pressure on the savages sharply decreased. Within just a minute or two, the tide of battle had turned.
–Oowoooh—–
Wolfhounds raised their heads in a united howl. One sturdy majestic silver wolf leaped onto a huge boulder and responded with a loud howl, its icy gaze locked onto Yang Zicang at the edge of the woods.
The pack of wolfhounds backed off in unison—this was an opponent fit only for the king of wolfhounds.
In the savage camp. Seeing that the wolfhounds had been lured away by that man, an older long-haired man with a slightly hunched figure leaped down from a tree.
His waist was adorned with decoration made from straw and dry wolf pelts as he pointed at Yang Zicang from behind the crowd and shouted loudly.
–Wah yah, ah yah yah, wah ah wah ah ah—!–
When the young man looked over, he gestured toward a nearby tree, signaling for him to climb up.
The wolfhound king cared little for schemes. It leaped down from the boulder, uttering a series of low throaty roars while bracing into a pouncing posture.
The surrounding primitive people shrieked and scrambled to higher ground, watching Yang Zicang.
The sole –old ape-man– draped in fur grew frantic upon seeing this man unmoved.
–Roar~–
The wolf-dog king blurred into motion, charging with afterimages; even Yang Zicang at peak efficiency with his command ability would barely match this speed.
Witnessing this ferocious beast about to pounce on the hairless, frail figure, the old ape-man felt a pang of deep regret.
Yet in the next moment, a thunderous –Bang!– resounded.
Yang Zicang kicked the wolf-dog king square on the head, barking coldly, –Haah!–
The wolf-dog king tumbled across the ground, rolling several times. As it lifted its head, a watermelon-sized rock whistled in—Bam!
The pack of wolf-dogs scattered yelping, whimpering in dismay, but before their howls could fade, another rock slammed into a fatty among their ranks, and in an instant, two wolf-dogs had lost their lives.
The old ape-man stood dumbfounded.
Amid his limited intellect, glimmering traces surfaced recalling that none but the mightiest savage beasts had ever so effortlessly slain a wolf-dog chieftain.
This youngling, gaunt to the bone and bare of fur, was taking on the very creature he himself feared, facing it one-on-one.
Yang Zicang stepped forward to retrieve the two arrows he had shot—these precious tools were dwindling with each use.
The remaining wolf-dogs fled with their tails between their legs, while the ape-like crowd cheered with excited whoops.
The old ape-man stopped a short distance from Yang Zicang and waved his hands in greeting like a gorilla.
–Shut up. It’s annoying.–
Glancing around, all he could see besides the trees was a natural rock cave.
On the rocks outside the cave were crude drawings like a child’s, with what seemed to be four-legged creatures and things with wings—possibly pterosaurs, or butterflies.
Yang Zicang shook his head. It didn’t look like any civilized human had ever been here, but he still climbed into the cave on his own to take a look.
As the strong man who had saved them, none of the savages tried to stop him.
The cave was pitch black inside, and the walls were covered with drawings even cruder than oracle bone script.
There were no statues.
Yang Zicang was deeply disappointed.
At the cave entrance, the old ape-man held out shriveled dates, grinning as he offered them to the young man. Yang Zicang hesitated, then picked up one.
–Alright, all of you, keep developing and work toward creating a written language soon. I’m off now. Goodbye.–
With that, he gripped his bow and leaped down from the cave entrance, ready to leave.
Unexpectedly, the old ape-man ran up and grabbed him, pointing at the bow in his hand.
–You want this? No way.–
Most of the primitive men around didn’t grasp the value of this bow; they were merely afraid. Only this old ape-man instantly recognized that it was precisely this weapon that had slaughtered the wolf-dog at the very beginning.
–Ooh ooh ooh.–
The old ape-man pointed at the bow, then babbled something to a few of his tribe members behind him.
Two female primitives hesitated, stepped forward, and sized up Yang Zicang from head to toe. One of them, with a hint of shyness, nodded at the old ape-man.
Catching the gaze of these primitive women, Yang Zicang suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
–Hey, wait a minute. I have no intention of becoming a live-in son-in-law here.–
He no longer felt like demonstrating archery to this group of primitives. Hurrying along by Chronos, he vanished from the spot, leaving the primitives in shock and disarray.
Three months passed. After leaving behind a self-made stone Lance spear for a primitive tribe, Yang Zicang was utterly disillusioned.
Using Chronos’s acceleration, he ventured to many places and encountered several primitive –tribes.–
Most of these gatherings of uncivilized people lacked their own language and had not even fashioned weapons.
Those who could wield stones as weapons were already considered a more advanced clan.
–There’s no civilization at all—they can’t even polish stones. How can they create statues?–
I was afraid that due to too many requirements in the description, I had been sent to a world with nothing by the Youhui, where only the condition of –being safe enough– was satisfied.
But waking up like this would be too unwilling.
–Where on earth is the Bloodline Monument?–
In the distance appeared the figures of several savages, who had just fought a bloody battle and captured a few wild beasts.
These were all paid for with human lives.
Seeing the –ancestors– of humanity struggling to survive in such a world, Yang Zicang couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow.
–This is just a dream; after I leave, you will be set free.–
He turned around and murmured to himself.
Ten years later.
Yang Zicang stood on a protruding, towering rock, his expression solemn as he gazed into the distance.
He had traversed every inch of the two-thousand square kilometers around him, yet found no trace of any prehistoric civilization.
So he decided to venture to even more distant places.
Perhaps there might be another civilization or relic of a civilization at the other end of the continent.
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