The one that Julius Caesar brought over was a bug that Henry Clark had never seen before. Unlike the beetle from last time, this bug was softer, about the size of Henry Clark's palm, flat and oval-shaped, with many slender legs, and entirely as black as the black marsh.

　　When Julius Caesar was carrying it in his mouth just now, the bug even used its legs to poke at Julius Caesar's wolf nose.

　　A few times before, Julius Caesar had also brought bugs back, probably just to play with them. After all, there weren’t many creatures around the tribe’s settlement that could interest Julius Caesar, and catching rabbits was out of the question. For a wolf to grow up always dealing with bugs was rather pitiful.

　　When Julius Caesar tried to bring back the bug that was trying to escape, Henry Clark noticed that the bug spat out a large mass of black bubbles from its mouth, wrapping itself up completely. Julius Caesar really disliked these black bubbles and loosened his mouth, flinging the bug away.

　　The black bubbles clustered together, eventually forming a ball the size of a soccer ball, with the bug wrapped in the center. Julius Caesar circled around the ball made of black bubbles but didn’t bite it, clearly hating those black bubbles—probably because they tasted bad.

　　After about a quarter of an hour, Julius Caesar gave up on the bug hiding inside the black ball and went back to the gravelly ground to continue searching for stone bugs.

　　Henry Clark, however, was a bit interested in that bug. He took out his stone knife and poked at the mass, discovering that the once soft black bubbles had now hardened and become brittle. With a hard poke from Henry Clark, the black “soccer ball” split in two, and the bug hiding inside frantically ran out, escaping toward the black marsh, looking more than half its previous size—shriveled and dried up.

　　Not chasing after the bug, Henry Clark squatted down to take a closer look at the “ball” that had split in two.

　　Using his stone knife to pry at it, Henry Clark found that both black hemispheres were very light, almost weightless, and he had to use some force to crush them in his hand.

　　After studying and crushing one hemisphere, Henry Clark turned his attention to the other black hemisphere. After thinking for a moment, he called Julius Caesar back and took the black hemisphere toward the riverbank.

　　Even when people from the tribe came to the river, they only moved cautiously in the shallow areas, which were relatively safe.

　　Naturally, Henry Clark wouldn’t risk going into the water—who knew what strange creatures might be in there? He was just here to test if the hemisphere would work as he imagined.

　　He untied the grass rope from his waist, tied one end to the black hemisphere, held the other end himself, and then tossed the black hemisphere tied with the grass rope into the water.

　　Sure enough, just as Henry Clark expected, the black hemisphere floated on the water’s surface.

　　This thing... could be used for fishing.

Chapter 7: Strange Fish

　　Henry Clark used that black hemisphere as a fishing float. He had tried using wood blocks and such before, but it didn’t work. Just as the tribe members said, in the shallow diving areas near the shore it was fine, but in slightly deeper water, the wood would sink after a while—something would pull it down. Since this black lump was a survival tool for the marsh bug, it should also have some deterrent effect on the river creatures that liked to grab floating objects.

　　There was no fishhook, nor could he find a stone hook to substitute for now, so Henry Clark simply tied a stone bug directly. If there were carnivorous fish in the water that were interested in stone bugs, that would be great.

　　In his previous life, he used earthworms for fishing. In this life, he hadn’t seen any earthworms, so he tried using a stone bug instead. The tribe members said the creatures in the water were fierce, so they probably wouldn’t mind such a simple bait. Without a hook, Henry Clark didn’t plan to actually catch a fish right now—if the fish in the water ate stone bugs, he could always make a proper fishhook tomorrow.

　　The stone bug had just been dug up by Julius Caesar. It was tied tightly to the front end of the grass rope, but that was only temporary. If the stone bug was water-resistant, it might still slip off the rope after a while. Without enough tools, this was the best he could do for now. If this stone bug escaped, he could always dig up another one.

　　The black hemisphere serving as a float was tied about half a meter from the end of the rope. Henry Clark didn’t plan to test the deeper waters. Standing at the edge of the shallows, Henry Clark threw out the bait and the black hemisphere. Bearing the weight of the grass rope and the stone bug, the black hemisphere sank a little but still floated steadily on the water’s surface. Henry Clark watched it, using it to judge what might be happening beneath the surface.

　　The grass rope he carried wasn’t very long—altogether less than five meters—so Henry Clark was still quite close to where he threw the stone bug. Standing on the bank, Henry Clark kept his feet out of the water, watching the surface and staying alert for any unexpected events so he could run away quickly. Not far away, there were warriors on guard; if danger arose, he’d run toward them first.

　　While Henry Clark was doing all this, the two warriors guarding the riverbank were also curious about his intentions. At first, they thought the kid was going to go into the water and were planning to drag him back to the cave, but instead, they witnessed this series of strange actions. So, after exchanging a glance, they didn’t go over to grab him for now, but kept a close eye on Henry Clark.

　　“Julius Caesar, if I tell you to pull, you pull the rope.” Henry Clark put the other end of the rope in Julius Caesar's mouth, while he held the middle section.

　　After waiting a while without seeing any movement in the water, Henry Clark thought: Could it be that there are no fish in the water near the shallows? Or maybe the creatures in the water aren’t interested in stone bugs?

　　Before he could finish the thought, the black hemisphere floating on the water’s surface suddenly sank sharply.

　　Got one!!