Brian Cooper pulled Richard Thompson over to the edge of the fire pit, where only a pile of blackened charcoal remained, with a small flame still burning in the center.

Richard Thompson suddenly noticed that everyone in Blackstone Valley had come out. The men stood around the fire pit, while the women knelt on the ground facing the pit.

What are they doing? Richard Thompson was completely confused.

He saw Brian Cooper holding a gray-green turtle shell the size of a washbasin. Brian Cooper took off his flip-flops and stepped barefoot into the fire pit. Maybe because the fire had been out for a while, it wasn’t too hot. Brian Cooper placed the turtle shell over the small flame in the center, then respectfully retreated from the pit, came to the front of the women, knelt down, looked up at the sky, raised both hands high, and began muttering words that Richard Thompson couldn’t understand at all.

The men started dancing around the fire pit, singing “wa-woo, wa-woo,” but it was impossible to make out what they were singing.

Richard Thompson hadn’t expected anything like this, but since he wasn’t a shy person, and everyone else was dancing enthusiastically, he joined in. However, while everyone else’s face was full of devotion, he alone looked flamboyant—others were praying, but he was just showing off his dance moves.

After a while, the small flame in the fire pit gradually died out, Brian Cooper stopped chanting, and the men also stopped.

Brian Cooper stepped into the fire pit, picked up the turtle shell, felt it with his hand, then turned around and shook his head.

After that, the men all knelt down, prostrating themselves on the ground, their faces filled with sincere devotion. After a while, they stood up.

What on earth was going on? Richard Thompson was bewildered. He quietly went over to George Baker and whispered, “George Baker, what just happened?”

George Baker said, “We were begging the heavens to grant us food.”

Could food really fall from the sky? Richard Thompson looked up, silently admiring how beautiful the blue sky was here! Then he shook his head and said, “I don’t get it.”

“Why are you so dumb?” George Baker said with a look of disdain.

Richard Thompson shrugged and said, “I may be dumb, but I have chewing gum.”

George Baker immediately explained it all to Richard Thompson.

It turned out they were praying, or rather divining. They put the turtle shell in the fire, and if cracks appeared pointing in a certain direction, it meant there would be prey in that direction, so the men would go hunting. If nothing happened, there was no need to hunt.

After hearing this, Richard Thompson thought to himself, You all actually believe this? Just make the fire hotter and see if you can crack the shell—that’s basic physics! The fact that you haven’t starved to death is a miracle! Oh, right, they haven’t starved because they can also gather food. Even if they don’t eat meat, they won’t starve.

He used to be a staunch atheist, but after all those strange things happened to him, his thinking had changed a bit. He figured, if there really are gods in this world, then he must be the one and only god, because only he could travel between worlds. If he wasn’t a god, who else would qualify?

Suddenly, Richard Thompson felt someone patting his shoulder. He turned around and saw a man with a very cold expression, a tall and lean build, and eight-pack abs, staring at him blankly.

“Do you need something?”

Richard Thompson asked very politely.

The man said, “It’s time for your training!”

“Training?” Richard Thompson was taken aback.

The man said nothing more and turned to leave.

Wow! So cool? Richard Thompson looked back and found that George Baker had already disappeared.

……

Behind the rocky hill was a flat area. At this moment, the kids and teenagers of Blackstone Valley were all standing on the flat ground, holding various wooden and bone tools, training—including the “mature student” Richard Thompson. Besides Richard Thompson, the only adult male left was the cold-faced man. No need to ask, he was obviously in charge of everyone’s training.

“Catch!”

“Oh, come on!”

The cold-faced man tossed a stone spear at Richard Thompson. Luckily, Richard Thompson had suffered from this before and was prepared, so he dodged quickly.

With a dull thud, the stone spear hit the ground.

The cold-faced man looked down at the spear, then looked at Richard Thompson in surprise.

Richard Thompson didn’t care. He stepped forward, bent down, picked up the stone spear, and immediately complained, “Can’t you give me a lighter one? I can barely hold this, let alone throw it.”

The cold-faced man said calmly, “This is the weapon an adult man should use.”

Richard Thompson grinned and said, “But where I come from, we don’t use weapons this heavy.”

The cold-faced man was silent for a moment, then took the stone spear from Richard Thompson’s hands and handed him a bone spear instead.

“This weight I can barely manage.”

Richard Thompson took the bone spear and breathed a slight sigh of relief, then said, “So, you want me to practice sprinting with the spear?”

The cold-faced man pointed ahead.

Richard Thompson looked into the distance and saw a large, round tree stump about two meters tall, buried in the ground fifty meters away. He blinked and said, “If I’m not mistaken, you want me to throw this heavy bone spear and hit that stump?”

The cold-faced man said, “Not hit, but pierce.”

“Pierce… pierce? Wow!” Richard Thompson nodded, then rolled his eyes and said, “Why don’t you show me how it’s done?”