During the three years in the Aaron Cooper tribe, Brian Carter went out hunting every day with the other members of the tribe. Including Brian Carter, there were only five people in the entire tribe who could hunt. The remaining women and children would gather any edible plants and insects they could find. If there was no harvest, the whole tribe would go hungry.

Thanks to exchanges with the civilized world some years ago—no one remembers exactly when—the Aaron Cooper tribe possessed iron tools. To this day, the Aaron Cooper tribe still has six short knives and four spears. Although they are crudely made, they are very useful. According to the chief, these were gifts from some strange people with very pale skin.

However, when hunting, the Aaron Cooper mainly used bows and arrows. The knives and spears were only for delivering the final blow, and even then, such opportunities were rare, because most of the time, the prey was already dead before a spear was needed.

At this moment, Brian Carter was tracking an antelope that had been struck by a poisoned arrow, together with the other four hunters of the tribe.

After the start of the dry season, most of the swamps that once dotted the grasslands had dried up. Only a few large swamps still held water, and these became the watering holes for all the animals in the area. Hunting became much easier than during the rainy season; as long as they braved the threat of lurking predators and waited by the swamp, it was easy to shoot prey with poisoned arrows.

The large antelope that Brian Carter and the others were chasing had been shot near one of these swamps.

The bows and arrows they used had negligible power on their own; their main effect came from the poison smeared on the arrowheads.

The arrow poison was extracted from the larvae of a certain beetle. Although this toxin was deadly, it took a while to take effect. If they were hunting larger animals, it would take at least two or three hours for the prey to die. The antelope they had shot this time was quite large, weighing about two hundred jin. Even though it had been hit by two poisoned arrows, it would still take at least four or five hours to die.

After being shot, the antelope would flee frantically, and humans could never catch up by speed alone. Since the poison could not kill the antelope quickly, the Aaron Cooper tribe’s hunting method was to track the wounded animal until it finally succumbed.

The distance they had to track the prey varied; it was quite normal to chase for dozens of kilometers. In any case, they had to keep following until the animal died and was found. So, while the Aaron Cooper tribe’s hunting skills were not particularly sophisticated, their abilities in tracking and endurance running were truly exceptional.

The people of the Aaron Cooper tribe could distinguish their prey’s tracks from a jumble of footprints, accurately determine the direction of escape from a few broken blades of grass, and even estimate how much longer the prey would last from the information revealed in the tracks or traces.

After nearly three years together, Brian Carter had also mastered the art of tracking, though he rarely had a chance to show off when hunting with the chief.

They had been tracking the antelope since it was shot at dawn, and by noon, the five of them had been jogging after the prey the whole way. Although their pace was not fast, Brian Carter estimated that they had covered at least thirty or forty kilometers. He was already nearing his limit, but the four members of the Aaron Cooper tribe seemed unfazed.

In the past, Brian Carter would have been exhausted just walking three kilometers, let alone jogging thirty or forty. But the potential a person can tap under the pressure of survival is astonishing. At least now, Brian Carter could run thirty or forty kilometers in one go without any problem.

Finally, the chief, who was running at the front, stopped. After examining the ground for a moment, he pointed in a direction.

“It can’t go on any longer. It’s over there. Let’s go find it.”

Hearing the chief’s words, Brian Carter was quite pleased. Because the antelope had been hit by two arrows, today’s chase was much shorter than he had expected. Finishing early was always a good thing, especially since they would have to carry the meat the same distance back.

Panting heavily, Brian Carter followed the chief forward. After walking about one or two kilometers, they spotted their target.

About two or three hundred meters ahead, a large antelope was standing in place, staggering from time to time. Although it had not yet fallen, it was only a matter of moments.

Brian Carter closely followed the chief, who was leading the way, waving his hunting knife excitedly as he charged toward the antelope that was about to collapse. They had to hurry, lest a lion or leopard snatch the prey first.

Chapter 7: Traces of Civilization

It was common for their prey to be stolen. After all their hard work tracking it down, they would sometimes find that the incapacitated animal had already been devoured by lions or hyenas. At such times, they could only return empty-handed.

Just as the chief reached the antelope, a figure suddenly leapt out of the grass nearby and knocked the large antelope to the ground.

Brian Carter, who was at the rear, saw it clearly: it was a leopard that had pounced on the antelope. At this moment, the chief and the leopard were almost face to face. Whether the chief intended it or not, a confrontation over the prey had become inevitable.