Chapter Twenty: Recruitment

  From the body of that pig-like wild beast with long sharp quills, Chen Xu casually named it Arrow Pig. As for whether this creature had any relation to pigs, that wasn't something he needed to consider.

  Anyway, what these creatures are called is now entirely up to Chen Xu, he has enough reason to believe that if he records these names and they can still be passed down to future generations, then that's the orthodox way!

  After a difficult communication, Chen Xu finally gave up the attempt to get information from the leader of the apes. It had to be said that the ape language was too simple, so simple that it could only express very few meanings when used for communication.

  "Never mind, I'll go myself. These apes can't even count and don't know how big the tribe is or how many people are inside. This is the first time we're annexing a tribe, can't afford to make any mistakes!"

  Send the ape-man captain out to cut bamboo, Chen Xu shouted at the apes in the cave to sweep away the feces inside and clean up the hygiene with water, while secretly thinking "Is it time to put Mandarin training on the agenda? Damn it, this communication is too inconvenient!"

  Before long, the morning's work was done and the apes who had gone to gather firewood returned laden with their spoils. They lowered the wood down by means of ropes and the apes who had been felling bamboo successfully fashioned crude bamboo spears which they carried into the cave, where they would be further processed.

  Breakfast was ready, and Chen Xu called on the apemen to start their meal. Afterwards, he took the newly made bamboo spears to the bonfire and demonstrated the method of roasting them to the apemen.

  After everyone understood the technique, Chen Xu and the others consolidated all the new bamboo spears that had been collected in the morning, refining them into usable weapons.

  In the symbolic tribe, fourteen warriors carried new bamboo spears on their backs. Chen Xu ordered the remaining ten elderly women and children to take care of the mountain cave. While they were away, continue to go up the mountain to cut bamboo, collect firewood, and make bamboo spears according to his method, waiting for their return!

  After settling the tribal affairs, Chen Xu nodded to the leader of the ape men to lead the way, holding the deerskin map he had hastily drawn last night, and set off towards the tribe where the leader of the ape men was located.

  The ape leader who had long been worried about his own tribe would naturally not refuse!

  Before long, led by Chen Xu and the fifteen warriors, they left the small mountain range under the leadership of the Ape King and entered the vast forest.

  This time they moved in a direction different from yesterday's, but rather in a direction parallel to the small river.

  Along the way, Chen Xu constantly jumped onto treetops, while stealing bird eggs, also constantly corrected the map in his hand, making its blurry parts more accurate, and continuously added new danger zones.

  Three hours later, in a damp and misty river valley, the leader of the ape men stopped in front of Chen Xu, took a few steps forward, his face filled with excitement, and chattered on excitedly.

  Chen Xu quickly realized they had arrived at their destination, which could be clearly seen from the excited expressions of the ten warriors around him.

  He waved his hand to signal the crowd of apes to calm down, Chen Xu unfolded the deerskin map in his hand and marked a black dot with charcoal at the current location.

  Looking at the map, they should now be standing north of the small mountain. According to the scale on the map, the straight-line distance between the two is not far, but the area in between is filled with several dangerous and abnormal regions. With Chen Xu's current combat power, they have no choice but to take a detour.

  Connect the route of action along the way with a black line, Chen Xu licked his lips with some helplessness, no matter how they looked, they also circled a huge circle.

  "Look, grandma, it seems that this place is not far from the riverbank where we hunted before. No wonder these apes can pick up food on the riverbank. It looks like we went straight west when we came down the mountain last time. Is there some kind of ferocious beast in the area below the cliff?"

  Looking at the map, a huge question mark flashed in Chen Xu's mind. In the eastern area of Xiaoshan, there was a large black circle drawn with charcoal, which directly isolated the nearby river from him.

  Judging from the routes of these two groups of apes, they all avoided this huge black circle. In that case, the living organisms in the black circle are probably not simple!

  "How interesting!"

  He carefully revised the map, Chen Xu raised an eyebrow, and carefully rolled it up, storing it in a hollow bamboo tube on his back, just in case it got damaged, this was his treasure for acting in the Stone Age, can't afford to lose it.

  "Lead the way!"

  The surrounding environment was indeed consistent with the description of the leader of the ape-man team, and it was a small river valley. After taking in the surroundings, Chen Xuan thought for a moment before nodding to the leader of the ape-man team to continue leading the way.

  The excited howl was heard, the leader of the ape-men got permission, and immediately some impatiently opened up a thicket beside him, revealing a narrow winding path.

  Look at the traces, it should be a long-time trampled and naturally grown path.

  Treading on the thick layer of withered leaves, passing through this small path, and avoiding a thorny forest, a somewhat spacious river valley appeared before everyone.

  The river in the valley is very shallow, and it's filled with fist-sized pebbles. It looks like a former tributary of the small river. The surrounding soil is reddish-brown. For some reason, despite the abundant water vapor, not a single blade of grass grows in the valley.

  The valley above and below is all steep slopes, covered with unknown plants full of thorns, only the middle section is a flat area, two thickets of thorns seem to be naturally generated fences, completely hiding this valley into a paradise.

  On one side of the river valley, there is a thick layer of rock and soil on the shore. In the soil, a wide hollow appeared very abruptly, as if it was caused by weathering of rocks, but now it has become a natural hiding place.

  "What a wonderful place! The only worry is that wild beasts may occasionally intrude, but apart from that, this place is absolutely safe!"

  With a sigh, Chen Xu saw the leader of the ape-man tribe and his nine subordinates immediately fleeing towards that natural cave. Without thinking, it was certainly the location of the ape-man tribe.

  As expected, with the intrusion of the Ape King and others, the originally quiet cave immediately became noisy, and Chen Xu and others could clearly hear the loud and shrill calls of other apes, seemingly very excited!

  After a moment, the leader of the apes walked out of the cave, followed by more than thirty unfamiliar ape faces.

  These thirty or so apes had old and young, among them were more than ten women, who were in their prime years, which made Chen Xu's eyes light up.

  Don't get me wrong, he's not interested in these apes, but rather full of hope for the development after the tribe. In this Stone Age, the number of female apes that can give birth often determines the depth of a tribe.

  The tribe where Chen Xu was originally located had only five women, and it's likely that if they weren't careful, the outcome would be the extinction of the tribe. This is also the reason why the female apes' strength wasn't inferior to the male apes', but they rarely went out hunting. Their survival maintained the existence of a species, which was most important!

  Perhaps this is the direct cause of the emergence of matriarchal society later on.

  Now with over ten fertile female apes, Chen Xu believes that his tribe will rapidly expand in no time.

  Under the leadership of the Ape King and ten other powerful tribal warriors, more than thirty apes came to Chen Xu and others with trepidation. After the Ape King's previous instructions, the apes hesitated for a moment before prostrating themselves on the ground, putting aside their weapons and other items, waiting for Chen Xu's verdict!

  This is the law of the Stone Age, perhaps it has already existed, or perhaps it was triggered by Chen Xu, the fire god. Anyway, at this moment, the weak are preyed upon by the strong!

  Under the guard of No. 1 Ape, Chen Xu seemed like a high and mighty king, slowly stepping into the midst of these thirty-odd apes.

  As if he had seen them in a past life, Chen Xu carefully examined the group of apemen.

  Among these apes, there were more than a dozen children, but they had already passed the critical period. There were several thin and weak apes, but they were very healthy, and there was no one who was ill. As for those over a dozen female apes, Chen Xuan was even more satisfied with them. They were all very healthy, only their faces were somewhat pale, probably because they had not eaten enough for a long time!

  Nodding in satisfaction, Chen Xu beckoned to the leader of the ape men, acknowledging their existence.

  Seeing this, the leader of the ape-man team immediately showed a joyful expression and began to shout loudly, suddenly becoming Chen Xu's loudspeaker.

  Under the shouting of the leader of the apes, this group of apes quickly got up from the ground, formed a simple queue, and waited for Chen Xu's command.

  With everything settled, Chen Xu took advantage of the early hour and the forest not being too dangerous yet, and led the way out of this region.

  Seeing this, the first to fourth apes closely followed, and the crowd of apes also knew their fate early on, so they didn't show any dissent. Soon, under the urging of the leader of the apes, they completely left their hometown and set foot on the road to another place.