Chapter 24: The First Pitfall in History

  This time, they didn't go to the riverbank for hunting. The place was too far from the small mountain road and wasn't suitable for this time of day. If they went there, they would definitely return at night, but nighttime in the forest wasn't their domain, it belonged to the fierce beasts! This time, they went to the place where Chen Xuan first harvested his prey.

  Out of the small mountain, heading straight west, bypassing several dangerous areas, came to a plain-like area, with long Artemisia grass swaying in the wind. This is a pasture in the midst of dense forest, where countless herbivores live.

  This is the most prosperous hunting ground in this region except for Xiaohe River Beach.

  Silently slipping out of the dense forest, he took a look at the scene in front of him, and a hunting scene like the African savannah appeared before Chen Xu's eyes.

  A flock of sheep leisurely grazed on the green grass, occasionally raising their heads to look around and gaze at the surrounding scenery. A herd of sturdy deer wandered in the grass, their carefree demeanor seemingly like that of scholars from a later era, full of a sense of freedom.

  Among the herbivorous groups that are both leisurely and vigilant, there are some carnivores that are always ready to strike, including packs of dhole, solitary clouded leopards, and saber-toothed tigers with protruding teeth.

  What astonished Chen Xue was that in the grass thicket not far from him, several small lions were crouching, no, they were maned lions!

  "Could it be that there are even lions? Is there a savannah beyond this jungle?"

  Chen Xu, who had never left the forest before, couldn't help but think of an idea in his mind. It seemed that at this time, the world was not entirely under the control of the forest's forces.

  He shook off the distracting thoughts and began to observe the situation on the field, he had to find a suitable entry point, otherwise today's hunting action might not be too smooth.

  A moment later, a group of leisurely walking zebras fell into his eyes. The geographical location of this group of zebras was very good, and there were no dangerous animals around, with vast grasslands on both sides, and no dense forests for them to quickly enter.

  After a moment of observation, Chen Xuan quickly selected his target, took the stone axe from the hands of the first ape-man, mobilized his internal force, and chopped down several small trees with thick trunks, simply chopping them into rough shapes to make several wooden hoes.

  One after another, he soon got eight simple wooden shovels, which were enough to dig holes, especially the soft and rotten soil under the Artemisia grass.

  In the hunting team, seven sturdy apemen were selected, Chen Xuyang waved his hand with a wooden mallet and began to teach them how to hunt and dig traps.

  It wasn't long before, under Chen Xu's constant demonstration, these seven apes quickly grasped his meaning. Although they still didn't know what they were doing while digging, at least they could dig out decent holes under his command!

  "Rome wasn't built in a day, the road to teaching apes is long and arduous! But today we've managed to dig a huge pit and catch some zebras, that's enough!"

  He let out a low sigh, and after the seven apes had mastered the technique of digging holes, Chen Xu once again used his stone axe to chop down several small trees in the jungle, roughly making them into wooden shovels that could be used for digging holes, and handed them over to the other apes in the hunting party.

  It didn't take long for the twenty-four apes in the hunting party, plus Chen Xu himself, making a total of twenty-five, to each have a wooden mallet and start working enthusiastically under his command.

  Perhaps due to the low terrain, the rainwater in the jungle generally seeped into this place. Chen Xu's choice of digging location had a rich amount of water in the rotten soil below, which gave these unqualified wooden stakes a chance to be used.

  Under the efforts of twenty-five robust apes, in this transitional zone between jungle and grassland, within less than an hour's time, a large pit three meters wide, five meters long, and three meters deep was dug out.

  It has to be said that although these apes are not particularly intelligent, they do have a lot of physical strength. Once they have modern tools, their work efficiency is much higher than imagined.

  At least, Chen Xu didn't expect to dig out such a magnificent pit so soon. Of course, the humid soil here played a big role, and the wooden shovel also played another major factor.

  After the basic project was completed, Chen Xu commanded the crowd of apes to start repairing this big pit, extending it three or four meters to both sides and widening its width by another two meters.

  As for depth, it did not continue to deepen, because further down was solid hard soil, and with this simplified version of the wooden shovel, it couldn't be dug open at all!

  After digging a big hole, looking at this 8-meter-long, 5-meter-wide and 3-meter-deep work, Chen Xu couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth and reveal a smile.

  Anyway, this is also considered as the first step of human victory over natural processes?

  "If it can be preserved for future generations, it might even become a national 4A-level scenic spot!"

  After walking around the big pit, Chen Xu touched his chin and called No. 1 Ape Man and Ape Man Captain over, gesturing to them and ordering them to take people into the jungle to find some leaves and branches that were not too thick, only as thick as fingers, but the leaves must be dense.

  When the two apes understood his meaning, they led other apes in the hunting team to collect branches in the jungle. Chen Xu began to set up bamboo spears in the pit.

  This time, each ape man brought ten bamboo spears, a total of 250, these bamboo spears were tempered by fierce fire, and their toughness was greatly increased. However, because the length was too long, it is estimated that the lethality to the beasts falling into the pit was not strong, so he needed to improve it.

  One hundred relatively hard bamboo spears were selected and placed on one side of the pit, then a stone axe was taken out. Chen Xuan exerted his arm strength to chop the bamboo spears into about one-meter-long pieces, which were then put aside as finished products. The remaining two-meter-long stalks were left on the other side for future use.

  With Chen Xu's strength and the support of his inner energy, it didn't take much effort to deal with these hundred bamboo spears. Before long, they were all taken care of.

  Before the ape-men returned with branches from the jungle, Chen Xu thought for a moment and felt that relying solely on bamboo spears was not very safe. He swung his stone axe, chopped down some sturdy branches from the tree, and sharpened them into pointed shapes.

  Later, the apes returned, and Chen Xu began to perfect the trap. He first inserted more than a hundred bamboo spears evenly into the pit, then covered the gaps between the bamboo spears with the sharp wooden stakes he had just whittled.

  After arranging everything inside, Chen Xu began to disguise the outside layout, which was much simpler. First, he laid some branches flat on top of the pit and formed a net-like structure. Then, from both ends of the pit, he continuously threw small twigs upwards, allowing the leaves to fill up all the gaps thoroughly.

  After the entire pit was covered with dense leaves, the waist-deep Artemisia grass collected by the apes was thrown onto the pit, completely covering up the traces of the changed ground.

  The apes followed the command, and soon they carried the excavated soil into the forest, sweeping away the traces on both sides. Thus, a perfect trap was born from Chen Xiang's hands!

  At this time, it had only been three hours since they arrived at the hunting ground. The sun was setting, and both carnivores and herbivores had ended their daily activities, lazily lying in the grass, enjoying the last bit of warmth from the setting sun.

  It's just that they didn't know that at this time it was the time for Chen Xu's command of the Ape-man operation.

  This time the apes that followed Chen Xu out were all members of the hunting team, including himself, a total of twenty-five, and they were all strong and powerful.

  Previously, when setting up the trap, Chen Xu consumed a hundred bamboo spears. Now there are still one hundred and fifty bamboo spears left in everyone's hands. In addition, there are many stone tools, and there is no great loss in terms of weapons. It can be said that the combat effectiveness has been maintained at more than 80%.

  Chen Xu thought for a moment, and divided the twenty-five apes into four waves. One wave hid in the jungle, waiting for the beasts to enter the pit before emerging, using bamboo spears to kill any beasts that tried to escape. One wave lay in ambush on the left side, equipped with stone tools, to prevent the beast group from escaping sideways. One wave was on the right side, serving the same purpose!

  The last wave was with him, driving the herd from the front, but all they had to do was shout loudly and make as much noise as possible.

  At this time, the original zebra group that had fallen into Chen Xu's line of sight had disappeared, but near where they were originally standing, a group of impalas appeared, so Chen Xu's trap still worked.

  Seeing the signs of departure in the group of Tibetan antelopes, he decided to take immediate action.

  In an instant, eight apes holding bamboo spears retreated into the thicket, seven apes followed his instructions and rushed to the right side of the grassland, gradually closing in on the saiga antelope group. Similarly, seven apes sneaked in from the left side of the thicket and also began to close in on the left side of the grassland.

  As for the two most powerful apemen, Ape No. 1 and Captain Ape, they were fully armed and followed Chen Xu, the old leader, into the jungle, made a big circle, and rushed out of the jungle from another direction to the grassland, right in front of the group of horned antelopes.

  At this time, Chen Xu did not hold a bamboo spear in his hand, but held a rod about 7 or 8 meters long and as thick as a thigh. It was specially collected in the jungle. Behind him, at a short distance, were two apes with bamboo spears on their backs and stone tools in their hands.

  Everything was ready, Chen Xu held a thick tree trunk and slowly approached the takin herd. As the distance between them gradually narrowed, the originally lazy takins all stood up, some of them uneasily stomping their hooves.

  "Is this it? It seems the alert range of the takin is 10 meters!"

  A flash of clarity flickered in his eyes, Chen Xu suddenly let out a loud shout, raised both arms, and rapidly circulated the inner energy. Instantly, with a whooshing sound, the large wooden rod in his hand was swung up by him.

  Under the impetus of his powerful strength, the wooden stick was like a helicopter's rotor blades, rapidly stirring the air and emitting a deafening buzzing sound.

  At the same time, he exerted force under his feet, and his body was like lightning, quickly dashing towards the direction of the angle goat.