Ch29 – Mammoth
Zhou Ji studied his current body.
He had initially thought that he had become an elephant, but soon realized that he hadn’t transformed into the type of elephant that he had in mind.
Before the apocalypse had hit in his previous life, there had been many kinds of elephants, the largest of which was the African elephant–the males could weigh over ten tons.
And now… For some reason, he felt like he was bigger than the African elephant in his memories? Also… African elephants didn’t seem to have tusks as long as his?
Zhou Ji studied the tusks in front of him and compared them with the trees beside him, then came to the conclusion that his tusks might actually be three or four meters long.
His tusks were very impressive!
Not only did he have long tusks, his body was also very tall. He appeared to be approximately four meters tall, and as for his weight, although he couldn’t estimate it, he should be a little heavier than an African elephant?
Not only that, African elephants didn’t have fur, and he seemed to be have a long, s.h.a.ggy pelt.
Zhou Ji suddenly thought of an animal that had long been extinct on Earth–mammoths.
Wooly mammoths, also known as mammoths, were one of the largest elephants in the world, and also one of the largest mammals to have ever existed in the world.
He had previously thought that Xiong Ye’s animal form was very big, but now he had just become a creature many times larger than Xiong Ye.
Xiong Ye was expected to weigh one ton in the future. As for him, he probably weighed about ten tons right now?
Zhou Ji: “……” This animal form was completely different from what he had imagined he would be!
This animal form was what the original owner of this body would’ve awakened as and wasn’t related to him. He had originally believed that since the previous master of this body was a congenital fool, his awakened animal form should be a gentle, weak herbivore.
As a result… His awakened animal form was indeed a herbivore, but it wasn’t weak at all.
Even as a male lion, Shi Li could probably be trampled to death by him with just one foot, right?
Zhou Ji took a few awkward steps, then tried to use his nose again, and then finally decided to act as though he had never awakened an animal form at all.
If the people in the tribe learned that he had awakened such a powerful animal form, they definitely wouldn’t forget about him every time they went out hunting, but he wasn’t about to go and join the hunts.
While he was surviving the apocalypse, he had probably killed too much, and some minor problems had arisen… It would be better if he didn’t kill anything.
Since that was the case, he might as well keep his animal form a secret.
After spending a bit of time adapting to his animal form, Zhou Ji immediately switched back to his human form.
The clothing and pants that he had spent a lot of time making had already burst apart. Fortunately, fixing them didn’t take very long… Zhou Ji plucked out a seed from his pocket and sprouted it, then watched as it turned into a tiny vine that quickly patched up his clothes.
After putting on his clothes, Zhou Ji looked at the huge footprints left on the ground and sighed.
He had thought that if his animal form was cute, he could turn into an animal and accompany Xiong Ye in his animal form, but now… His animal form had absolutely nothing to do with the word ‘cute’. In fact, Xiong Ye’s animal form seemed cute in comparison to his.
Zhou Ji could only act as though he didn’t know what his animal form was and move on.
Along the way, he collected some more energy-rich plants, but he was unable to find the wedding gift he wanted.
It was getting late, and he should head back…
Zhou Ji returned quite early, and even the gathering team hadn’t come back yet. Seeing the situation, he breathed out a sigh of relief.
Xiong Ye had told him not to run around randomly. If Xiong Ye knew that he had actually gone somewhere far away, he would have a hard time explaining it.
Thinking of this point, Zhou Ji couldn’t help but laugh.
He had never thought that there would come a time when he started caring about what other people thought.
Zhou Ji brought some plants with him into the valley and saw that Xiong Qi, along with the children and elderly of the tribe, were sitting… no, lying down together.
These people were all lying down in the sun in a corner of the valley, chatting while basking in the sunlight.
These elderly people had experienced a lot of wind and rain, and were quite wise. At this time, they were telling the children of the tribe, “Xiong Ye being willing to take care of any of you is a kindness. You all should remember his kindness and repay him for it later on.” Xiong Ye had a very good temper, but if these people weren’t grateful, he certainly wouldn’t continue to look out for them.
They shouldn’t take Xiong Ye’s goodness for granted.
The children of the tribe nodded earnestly. They understood this logic. Xiong Ye helped them even if their parents didn’t necessarily look after them. They would naturally be grateful for this.
The elderly person continued, “You all should learn from him and strive to be a man like him in the future…”
Those children all nodded emphatically.
It was common to have the elderly educate the children like this in the tribe, and the adult beastmen usually wouldn’t interrupt. Today, however, Xiong Qi spoke up and added a few words, “Xiong Ye is really a good person. He’s especially strong, and he has behaved differently from others, even from childhood. While others were playing or basking in the sun, he was always practicing his skills and never relaxed…”
“He’s very powerful. In a few years, he’ll be the strongest person in the tribe!”
“He even knows medicine! He learned a lot of things from the priest.”
……
Xiong Qi heaped praise after praise onto Xiong Ye. Xiong Ye had saved his life, so he felt that he couldn’t possibly praise him too much.
No, he wasn’t even exaggerating at all. He was simply speaking the truth and had even understated some of the facts. For example, he felt that Xiong Ye’s healing ability was better than the priest’s, but he didn’t dare say it because he feared that it would make the priest unhappy.
Xiong Qi knew quite a lot about Xiong Ye. For example, he also knew that Xiong Ye had secretly gone out hunting with the hunting team when he was thirteen or fourteen years old.
He used to think that Xiong Ye was just fooling around and making trouble, but now he felt that Xiong Ye really deserved his reputation. He really was simply that impressive.
The old man who had originally been using Xiong Ye to educate the children, “……” Unexpectedly, Xiong Qi said such things and helped them do their work for them!
Zhou Ji listened in as these people praised Xiong Ye and felt exceptionally satisfied.
His little bear was indeed the best in this entire tribe.
Xiong Ye didn’t know that there was a group of people in the tribe who were using various new ways to praise him, but at this moment, he also rather wanted to praise himself.
He felt that he was very amazing–he’d actually managed to catch a Gargoyleosaurus!
The Gargoyleosaurus was a type of armored dinosaur. It had a short body, thick armor plates on its back, and many pointed bones that protruded out in spikes. It was very difficult to deal with them, but he had managed to catch one.
Although he had only been able to catch it because it was quite old, it was still cause for celebration.
This Gargoyleosaurus was over four meters long, and there was more than a ton of meat on its bones. That was one thousand kilograms! Not only that, the bones of the could be used to make weapons or traded for salt.
Xiong Ye’s hunting team couldn’t bring back such a big dinosaur whole and could only split it into pieces so that each person could then carry back different sections. For example, he carried the ‘armor’ of the Gargoyleosaurus on his back and went back into his animal form.
Although doing this left a sticky mess on his fur and wasn’t very comfortable, Xiong Ye still felt very prestigious when he went back.
Those who had gone hunting with Xiong Ye also felt very proud. Lang Yin even gave Xiong Ye several worshipful gazes.
After glancing at Xiong Ye, she sighed again and began to look at the others in the team.
Finding a good father for her children really wasn’t an easy task.
Xiong Ye went straight back to the tribe after obtaining such a good harvest.
As soon as he returned, he saw Zhou Ji standing in the middle of the valley. It was as though he had been waiting for him.
Xiong Ye ran happily towards Zhou Ji and showed off the skin of the Gargoyleosaurus that was hanging over his back.
Zhou Ji: “……” The stench of blood and raw meat was really horrible, and Xiong Ye had even carried such a thing on his back. His fur was matted with blood!
Fortunately, Xiong Ye was probably afraid of making him dirty, so he hadn’t pressed up against him.
Zhou Ji let out a sigh and said, “Go and wash up first.”
Xiong Ye roared, put down the Gargoyleosaurus skin, and ran back out of the valley.
Zhou Ji followed behind him. Xiong Ye’s entire body was covered in fur, and he felt that he probably wouldn’t be able to wash it properly.
He hadn’t found any soap-like plants that could be used as soap yet. How should he help Xiong Ye wash up? Should he use plant ash?
Zhou Ji was still mulling over this when he saw that the huge brown bear had rushed towards the stream near the tribal grounds.
Water splashed, and the clear water was stained with blood.
The originally quiet stream was suddenly disturbed like this; the fish would probably have all swum off…
Zhou Ji didn’t have a chance to finish his thought when he saw some unknown, razor-toothed fish swimming towards Xiong Ye. Xiong Ye used his sharp eyes and nimble hands… No, sharp eyes and a quick mouth to snap them up and toss them up onto the sh.o.r.e.
Undoubtedly it had been the b.l.o.o.d.y scent around Xiong Ye that had attracted the predators in the river. As a result, the predators who had come to ‘eat’ were instead killed by Xiong Ye.
His little bear was just that impressive.
Zhou Ji sat on the bank, watching Xiong Ye catch fish, then said, “Xiong Ye, your body is caked with blood and debris. Isn’t it going to be hard to wash off?”
The brown bear looked at Zhou Ji and roared softly, then turned into human form, “Nope. It’s very easy to wash. It comes off easily once I take on human form!”
Zhou Ji: “……” He had almost forgotten about this method.
Additionally… Xiong Ye was naked in front of him for a while again.
Although it was easy to clean the dirt and grime off his body after he became human, his hair was still difficult to deal with. Xiong Ye sat by the stream and pulled irritably at his hair.
He wanted to hurry up and finish washing so that they could head back, but it simply wasn’t possible.
“I’ll wash it for you.” Zhou Ji said.
“There are snakes and things in the river. It’s better if you don’t come over.” Xiong Ye said.
Zhou Ji laughed a little, “Won’t it be okay if you just keep an eye out?”
Zhou Ji stood in the shallow water by the side of the stream and helped Xiong Ye wash his hair. Xiong Ye kept his eyes open wide as he stared unblinkingly at the water, afraid that some carnivorous fish or snake that didn’t know what was good for it would come and try to hurt Zhou Ji.
However, there was nothing attacking from the water at all. There were just some little fish swimming around his feet that helped dislodge the dirt from his feet.
Not only that, his head also felt very comfortable. Zhou Ji’s movements were very slow, but he also did a great job helping him clean up his hair.
Suddenly, Xiong Ye was no longer in such a hurry. He even wished that Zhou Ji would spend more time washing his hair. “It’s the first time that someone has helped me wash my hair.”
“I can wash it for you all the time in the future.” Zhou Ji smiled as he spoke. There was nothing he was required to do in this world, so he could eat, sleep, and focus on raising this little bear properly every day.
“Alright.” Xiong Ye agreed. He wanted to immediately dive into the water and catch more fish for Zhou Ji to eat!
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xiin: ZJ thinks of XY as ‘his little bear’ now *awwww*
Juurensha: Awwwwww. Also, it’s nice that everyone is raising up XY as an example for others to follow!