Chapter 156

Chapter 156

Qi Bai and Yang Luo followed Lang Ze to Niu Xin's doorstep, where many people stood anxiously peering inside.

The commotion of everyone carrying Niu Xin back had alerted most tribespeople. Beastmen from the Ox tribe, along with Niu Xin's neighbors and friends, crowded the doorway until it was nearly blocked.

Lang Ze frowned, grabbed the collars of the noisiest youngsters, and hauled them out.

Qi Bai, who had just entered the house, lifted the door curtain and shouted to Lang Ze, "Have everyone who went into the ice hole to rescue him come inside!" Without waiting for Lang Ze's response, he dropped the curtain and turned back.

Ma Ling, inside the bedroom, quickly said upon hearing Qi Bai, "Leopard Bai, I pulled Niu Xin out. If you have questions, ask me. I remember everything."

Qi Bai looked at the ice crystals in his hair. "Quickly take off your hide clothes."

Hearing Qi Bai's request, Ma Ling turned and exchanged a glance with Ma Shu. Their expressions were grave. Finally, gritting his teeth, Ma Ling followed Qi Bai's instruction and removed his hide clothing.

Ma Ling and Ma Shu had been slaves since childhood, living in the tribe's grass shelters. Every winter, the Beast God took many slaves—some died unknowingly in their sleep, turning into cold corpses, while others ended up like Niu Xin.

As if cursed by the Beast God, those beastmen would babble nonsense incessantly. Some, during the cold winter, would even claim they were hot and plunge into snowdrifts, never to rise again.

Having witnessed too many such scenes, Ma Ling and Ma Shu were already apprehensive seeing Niu Xin's condition. Now, hearing Qi Bai ask them to remove their hide clothes made them even more uneasy. They wondered if they had offended the Beast God and were being asked to behave like those dying beastmen.

Qi Bai had no time to observe Ma Ling and Ma Shu's expressions. After speaking, he signaled Diao Lan to help him remove the wet clothes from Niu Xin, who lay on the heated bed.

This was why Qi Bai wanted Lang Ze to keep the rescuers—he noticed these horned beastmen wearing soaked hide clothes upon entering.

In modern times, after rescuing someone, the first thing would be to remove wet clothing and find ways to warm up. But beastmen on the Beastmen Continent didn't think this way.

If asked if they were cold, the answer was definitely yes. Qi Bai saw several people with purplish lips from the cold, their hands trembling uncontrollably.

Yet even so, they had no concept of preventing colds.

Some, like Ma Ling and Ma Shu, feared the Beast God's punishment and dared not move away.

But more importantly, beastmen had no concept of catching colds or chills. Compared to Niu Xin on the bed, they felt perfectly fine.

"Priest Grandpa, get some brown sugar. Brew some ginger soup with brown sugar and ginger."

Qi Bai touched the bed's surface. The heated bed had just been warmed and was only slightly warm, but that was good—it prevented too drastic a temperature change that Niu Xin's body couldn't handle.

Niu Xin's eyes were half-open, muttering meaningless syllables. It looked eerie, but Qi Bai didn't think it was the Beast God's punishment—it was purely hypothermia. Who knew how long he'd been submerged in the icy water?

Qi Bai climbed onto the bed, pulled all Niu Xin's bedding over, and covered him. To Yang Luo, he added, "Don't skimp. Make plenty."

Normally, Yang Luo would argue with Qi Bai—using ginger for soup was one thing, but now adding precious brown sugar and making more? Did he know how valuable brown sugar was?

There were only a few jars left, and Hou Su, leveraging his agreement with Qi Bai, came every few days asking for some. By winter's end, there'd be little left.

Besides, last year they treated Ma Song and Ma Tian, who were frozen stiff, with ginger water. Weren't those two now alive and kicking?

But Yang Luo's chest heaved a few times before he finally said nothing, turning swiftly to fetch the brown sugar.

He didn't know how much longer he'd be priest. Best to say nothing now and just do as told.

Lang Ze brought the others who had entered the ice hole inside.

Besides Niu Xin, who fell in, there were Ma Ling, Ma Shu, and Hu Meng who rescued him, plus Niu Cheng and Ma Xiang who were already on scene. Qi Bai again urged them to quickly remove their wet clothes.

Only then did Qi Bai have time to ask what happened.

Everyone spoke at once, quickly explaining the incident.

That morning, after arithmetic class, Niu Xin, Niu Cheng, and Ma Xiang went together to the pine forest to gather pine nuts. Since training was in the afternoon, they hurried back to make it on time.

Everything was fine until they reached a flat area near the tribe. With a "crack," Niu Xin's beast form fell straight through.

Diao Lan, wiping ice crystals from Niu Xin's hair with hide, frowned. "Didn't the priest and chief forbid everyone from walking on ice? Why were you crossing the river?"

Niu Cheng said sheepishly, "We forgot that was the river."

When the Ox tribe beastmen arrived at Black Mountain, though it had snowed, the river hadn't fully frozen. Thus, Niu Cheng and Niu Xin had seen the Man-Eating River.

But they didn't often travel the section leading to the pine forest. With everything covered in snow, they didn't notice.

Niu Xin was just unlucky—they'd taken that path to the pine forest before without issue. But when he crossed, the ice cracked beneath him.

Ma Ling, patrolling the wall, spotted Niu Xin falling into the Man-Eating River and quickly went with Ma Shu and Hu Meng, who were also on patrol, to rescue him.

Ma Xiang, who had been listening, suddenly said, "Ah, our pine nuts..." were still on the ice, unrecovered.

He didn't finish because he saw Lang Ze's expression.

Lang Ze's face was dark, realizing their usual training had been wasted.

Ice and land felt different underfoot; the sound of flowing water beneath ice was different—these were part of horned beastmen training. But because they were near the tribe, they'd forgotten all that.

"You three..." Lang Ze looked at Niu Xin on the bed and amended, "You two, starting tomorrow, training twice."

He pointed at Niu Xin. "You, three times."

Niu Xin was still not fully conscious. As Lang Ze spoke, his teeth chattered as if trying to speak, but no one could understand.

Niu Xin finally realized his body wasn't responding. He blinked, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.

Qi Bai, watching Niu Xin, smiled. "Good, he can still cry. That means he's improving."

Soon, Yang Luo, Tu Ya, and She Li entered one after another.

Yang Luo carried the brown sugar jar. Unsure how much was needed, he brought the whole jar for Qi Bai to decide.

Tu Ya and She Li carried several rolled hides—blankets borrowed from their homes for the horned beastmen who had just dried off.

Niu Xin lived alone and wasn't one to accumulate possessions. He only had three hides: one was the wet hide clothing he'd just removed, one hung on the door as a windbreak, and the last covered him now. The others with wet hide clothes had no extras to cover with.

Qi Bai herded everyone onto the bed, gave each a hide blanket, and told them to wrap up properly.

He brewed brown sugar ginger soup in the pot and served large bowls to everyone except Niu Xin, whose body temperature hadn't fully recovered.

In the evening, Niu Xi brought food distributed by Yang Luo for the injured and helped Qi Bai and Lang Ze prepare dinner.

Niu Cheng, wrapped in hide, moved to the bed's edge and secretly handed Niu Xi a bamboo tube he'd hidden under the hide.

Niu Xi smelled it immediately—it was half a bowl of brown sugar ginger soup.

She glared at Niu Cheng and shoved it back. She was tempted but not stupid. "This is medicine the priest brewed for you. I won't steal it."

Niu Cheng grinned foolishly and pointed to a basket on the floor. "You wanted pine nuts, right? Take that basket later. It's mine."

Niu Xi didn't reply, turning into the kitchen, though the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. She'd only mentioned wanting pine nuts yesterday—how did Niu Cheng know?

The six injured lay side by side on the bed. Qi Bai and Lang Ze brought two stools, planning to keep watch overnight.

Ma Xiang scratched his ear sheepishly. "We can watch Niu Xin. You should go back and sleep."

The others chimed in agreement. Qi Bai smiled. "It's fine. We'll lean against the heated wall. Sleeping like this is fine too."

Though he said that, Qi Bai and Lang Ze barely slept that night. The reason: Qi Bai woke up around midnight and casually felt everyone's foreheads, discovering someone actually had a high fever.

It wasn't Niu Xin, who had been in the icy water longest, nor the youngest, Hu Meng.

Qi Bai lit an oil lamp and looked at Ma Shu's fever-flushed face.

Ma Shu had a weak constitution. The chill and fright caused his fever to spike at night.

Lang Ze woke Yang Luo from deep sleep. Yang Luo came but was at a loss.

Qi Bai hadn't expected much from Yang Luo anyway—there was no such thing as fever reducers in the Beastmen world. They had no better method. Qi Bai brought cooled boiled water and used physical cooling methods on Ma Shu.

Only when dawn approached did Ma Shu's temperature gradually drop.

When Diao Lan and Niu Xi came to relieve them, Qi Bai explained the precautions before leaving Niu Xin's house with Lang Ze.

The morning sun rose, a ray piercing the clouds. It was a rare clear day.

Qi Bai stretched and said to Lang Ze, "Should we go see the ice hole first?"

Though exhausted, without seeing it himself, Qi Bai felt he wouldn't rest easy.

"Mm."

Where Niu Xin fell, there was a large hole. The surrounding snow was trampled, evidence of yesterday's rescue.

The huge ice hole had already formed a thin layer of new ice. River water flowed beneath, breaking the ice into fragments.

Qi Bai tied grass ropes around their waists, securing the other end to the bank, before slowly approaching the broken ice.

Qi Bai measured the ice thickness with his fingers—about ten centimeters. To Lang Ze, he said, "It's thinned a lot."

This was why Qi Bai's first reaction upon hearing someone fell through ice wasn't panic but excitement.

Last winter, the Man-Eating River's ice was dozens of centimeters thick. They had to use hand drills to make holes for fishing.

Ice that thick wouldn't break easily, even under Niu Xin's yak beast form. This could only mean the ice had thinned.

Lang Ze didn't understand. "What does thinning mean?"

Qi Bai smiled brightly. "Perhaps spring is coming."

Qi Bai was genuinely happy. Winter had lasted over five months—finally nearing its end. More importantly, their food was running low. Spring would bring more food.

Lang Ze looked at the thick snow everywhere. "But the snow hasn't melted into water yet."

Beastmen didn't care about temperature changes. Regardless of how cold, winter began with the first snow. Similarly, regardless of warming, only when snow turned to water was it spring.

Qi Bai nodded. "The ice is still quite thick now, but at least we have hope."