Brian Carter knew that even catching up with the leopard would be useless, but he still wanted to find that damned leopard, kill it, and avenge the chief. Only then could he feel a little better.

Brian Carter lowered his head and rushed along, following the tracks left by the leopard. The leopard had been stabbed several times, and the blood dripping from its wounds provided him with a very clear trail.

After running for only a short while, just three to five minutes, Brian Carter, who had been sprinting with his head down, suddenly stopped in his tracks. He stared blankly at the marks that shouldn’t have appeared on the grassland but suddenly did, his mind going completely blank.

The marks on the grass were tire tracks, or rather, wheel marks, and it was obvious that they weren’t left by just one vehicle, but by a convoy of at least four or five cars. These long-missed tracks made Brian Carter unable to believe his eyes for a moment.

“White kid, stop, we can’t go now, we have to take care of Dad and David Bailey.”

The shouts and footsteps behind snapped Brian Carter out of his brief daze. A shiver ran through him as if an electric current had passed, and after an involuntary shudder, Brian Carter suddenly turned around and shouted hoarsely at Little Bailey and Curtis Stone, who were close behind: “Go back, go back quickly.”

After shouting, Brian Carter didn’t have time to explain anything to the confused Little Bailey and Curtis Stone. He turned and ran back to the chief at an even faster speed.

“Chief, don’t leave here. Wait for me here. You and David Bailey can be saved. I found…”

When Brian Carter excitedly wanted to tell the chief that he could be saved, he didn’t know how to explain what he had found, because there was no word for tire tracks in the Akuri tribe’s language.

“I found a trail that can lead to white people, white people like me. They have, um, strange herbs. They can save you and David Bailey. Don’t leave here, wait for me, I’ll go find those white people.”

At this point, Little Bailey and Curtis Stone finally understood what was happening. Learning that the chief and David Bailey could be saved, everyone was, of course, excited.

“Curtis Stone, you stay and help Dad and David Bailey. I’ll go with the white kid to find those white people.”

“No, you can’t run as fast as I can. My name means leopard. I’ll go with the white kid. You stay to protect the injured Dad and David Bailey, you’re stronger than me.”

“You two shut up, I’ll go by myself. Listen, if you hear gunshots, run away immediately. Do you know what gunshots are? Chief, you’ve heard gunshots before, right? If you hear them, leave here, don’t wait for me to come back. If you don’t hear gunshots, just wait here, but be careful, understand?”

The chief shook his head and grabbed the excited Brian Carter’s hand. “Don’t go, you don’t know what kind of people they are. They’re very evil, you’ll lose your life.”

Brian Carter brushed off the chief’s hand and smiled, “If I don’t come back by this time tomorrow, you go back on your own. Don’t worry, chief, you know I’m the same kind of person as them. I’ll be fine.”

The chief was a bit moved. After hesitating for a moment, he finally nodded.

“I forgot you’re also a strange white person. All right, go ahead. Let Curtis Stone go with you. You two must be careful.”

At this moment, Curtis Stone shouted excitedly, “White kid, I’ll go with you. If anything happens, I can help you.”

Brian Carter thought for a moment and decided to take Curtis Stone with him. That way, if anything happened, at least someone could deliver a message. So, without further hesitation, Brian Carter took Curtis Stone and quickly followed the tire tracks.

It was easy to tell the direction the vehicles were traveling from the tire tracks on the grass, and Brian Carter could also see that the tracks hadn’t been left long ago. If he was lucky, he might be able to catch up with the convoy soon.

Although he was extremely anxious, Brian Carter only jogged along the tire tracks instead of running at full speed. He had to pace himself so he wouldn’t collapse, since he had already run dozens of kilometers today without eating anything.

Curtis Stone was much faster than Brian Carter, so much so that Brian Carter had to keep calling Curtis Stone back to avoid getting too far apart. In the Akuri tribe’s language, Bailey means lion, while Curtis Stone means leopard. True to his name, Curtis Stone, though the youngest, was indeed the fastest runner.

Chapter 8: Strange Primitive People

Actually, Brian Carter had been worried all along. On the African continent, in this remote corner, the people most likely to appear were, of course, black people—and the dangerous kind at that.

Thinking back to the gunfight he encountered three years ago when he first arrived, Brian Carter felt that the most likely people he would run into were some unknown armed men or poachers. But Brian Carter wouldn’t be satisfied unless he saw for himself, so he decided that if the people he met looked like harmless civilians, he would show himself and ask for help. If they looked dangerous, he would quietly slip away.