This made the other four children in the cave very curious. Normally, when they walked around the tribe, they had never encountered such a situation. The two older children, because of what happened last night, had less desire to compete with Henry Clark, and seeing the current situation, their interest faded even more. In their view, those who got along well with the tribe’s warriors always received many benefits and had help when trouble arose. Just like Edward Wright before, who, because he knew some people halfway up the mountain, often received everyone’s envy.

Henry Clark got everything ready and told the four of them what they would be doing in a bit.

“…That’s it, it’s simple. Just follow me for a while, do as I say, and when we catch the fish, we’ll split them up and eat them ourselves.”

As soon as they heard about eating, the four children’s eyes lit up, and the worried expressions they had from seeing the river faded quite a bit.

The grass rope was only so long, so this time Henry Clark still didn’t plan to throw the bait far, nor did he ask Julius Caesar for help. The four children took the place of Julius Caesar from yesterday, while Julius Caesar just squatted quietly to the side.

The four children gripped the grass rope tightly, all very nervous—not only because it was their first time encountering river creatures, but also from the excitement of fishing for the first time.

“Alright, don’t move yet. Wait for my signal,” Henry Clark said, keeping his eyes on the water after tossing in the bait.

Soon, there was movement in the water. It was the third time fishing, so Henry Clark had some experience and immediately shouted, “Pull!”

Hearing Henry Clark’s command, the four children clenched the rope and pulled back with all their might.

Four children together were, after all, stronger than Julius Caesar, so pulling up the fish went pretty smoothly this time. The fish they caught was about the same as the one Henry Clark caught for the first time yesterday.

It was the first time the four children had seen a live fish, especially one this dangerous. After Henry Clark told them to let go, they immediately grabbed the wooden sticks they had brought and started whacking the fish with all their strength. Samuel Ward in particular, though timid, still crowded forward, swinging his stick at the fish’s head while screaming in terror, making Henry Clark want to give him a beating himself.

“Alright, enough! Stop!” Henry Clark stopped them and pulled the four children, who were swinging their sticks around the fish, away.

Henry Clark had told them from the start about the dangers of this kind of fish and had them bring longer tools and be cautious when hitting the fish. Now, the four children were indeed cautious, but since it was their first time fishing—and their first time hunting in their lives—they were too excited, with all sorts of emotions mixed together. When it came time to act, they went all out, venting all their strength. With the four of them working together, in just a moment, when Henry Clark pulled them away and looked at the fish… it was a truly miserable sight.

Beaten up like this, how could they eat it?

The first fish was tossed aside. Henry Clark then directed them to catch a second one, which they finally managed to keep intact. They gutted and cleaned the fish, borrowed fire from the two warriors, and roasted it.

The fish Henry Clark brought back to the cave last night looked big, but it had too many bones, so the edible part wasn’t much. Plus, with more than twenty children in the cave, each person only got a tiny bit. But today was different.

A half-meter-long fish split among five people meant that, no matter how many bones, everyone could eat plenty.

The four children were all very excited, too inarticulate to express themselves, and too busy eating, so all they could do was grin, grinning like fools.

“It’s really delicious,” said Samuel Ward.

“Yeah, eating fish is good for your brain,” said Henry Clark.

“What does ‘good for your brain’ mean?” one child asked.

Henry Clark thought for a moment and explained simply, “It means you’ll grow better.”

“Grow… better… does… does that mean… we’ll… become… stronger? Like… the… totem… warriors?” Stammer asked.

Hearing Stammer’s words, the other three children also looked up at Henry Clark, their eyes shining.

The children in the cave, though fierce by nature, weren’t good at hiding their emotions—whatever they thought showed on their faces.

At this moment, the four children looked at Henry Clark as if urging him: Hurry up and say it, as long as it’s good, we’ll believe whatever you say.

So, Henry Clark swallowed back what he was about to say, paused, and then reluctantly gave a “mm.”

The river water slowly washed against the bank. The surface looked calm, but just now, Henry Clark had “seen” the image of a fish mouth full of sharp teeth, much bigger than yesterday’s. The image was faint, probably because the big fish was farther away.

In the endless freshwater river, danger and opportunity coexisted.

Winter’s food supply was right here, Henry Clark thought.

Chapter 10: Follow Me, and There Will Be Meat to Eat

After eating their fill, the five of them worked together to catch six more fish. One was given to Julius Caesar, left uncooked since it liked to eat raw food. As for the remaining five, Henry Clark gave one to each person as a trophy.

When Henry Clark led the four back, Mr. Lee, who was in charge of transporting food, had already arrived, but he hadn’t seen Henry Clark and was waiting outside the cave.

The children in the cave had already developed a biological clock, waking up naturally at this time every day, full of energy and ready to fight for their share of food. But with Henry Clark absent and Mr. Lee refusing to hand out rations, they grew hungry and restless. As they waited, some became irritable, and two even got into a fistfight over a minor disagreement, ending up with bloody noses.