The little bison pressed tightly against Henry Carter, its body trembling, while the little wolf kept calling out to the wolf pack, trying several times to dash into the darkness, but in the end, it curled up at Henry Carter's feet, letting out a series of "woo woo" sounds.

Seeing that the darkness was filled with green, glowing eyes, the mother hurried to the willow tree to look for the person who was still sleeping.

No matter how she called, this person wouldn’t wake up. The mother held up a torch and carefully examined the man, only to find that he had no wounds at all—he was simply dead.

Henry Carter lit a thick layer of dry grass that hadn’t turned green yet on the grass roots. The wind blowing from the river quickly made the flames leap higher.

The wolves began to howl; they were no longer silent. But as soon as the firelight spread outward, they immediately fled.

The fire illuminated the grassland, and those green or yellow spots of light gradually disappeared. Only two clusters of what seemed like burning green light still watched the busy crowd from not far away.

The flames slowly receded, and through the golden fire, Henry Carter saw a giant tiger.

This giant tiger did not flee because of the fire on the grassland, but stood on the other side of the flames, looking at Henry Carter with its pale yellow eyes.

Henry Carter could not read any emotion from those eyes, which meant this creature was a pure, wild beast.

Henry Carter didn’t believe that a wild beast wouldn’t fear fire, so he lit another torch and, using all his strength, hurled it at the dry grass behind the tiger.

He noticed that the tiger’s pair of half-foot-long fangs would be perfect for making two daggers.

The tiger glanced indifferently at the torch that landed, and only when the flames rose did it turn back, look at Henry Carter through the ever-approaching fire, then, with several leaps, dove into the grass, stirring up a straight ripple, and disappeared.

There was nothing to be afraid of, Henry Carter told himself, but the sense of despair in his heart was almost suffocating.

After seeing a saber-toothed tiger with his own eyes, Henry Carter's heart had already turned to stone.

Henry Carter knew very well what era the saber-toothed tiger belonged to... This creature simply shouldn’t exist in the age of Homo sapiens.

In the era he lived in, there was absolutely no possibility of such an animal appearing—not at all.

Dead means gone! Just like that wild man he had just killed by driving a wooden stake into his temple—dead, just a lump of stinking flesh.

At this moment, Henry Carter thought angrily.

Kill the saber-toothed tiger, and the saber-toothed tiger will be gone.

The Ice Age, the Miocene, the Pleistocene—these three geological epochs would be gone too.

So, in a rage, Henry Carter shouted loudly toward where the saber-toothed tiger had been.

"Awooo—"

But the saber-toothed tiger’s roar reached his ears even faster than his own voice.

That man was dead.

After everyone discussed it, they concluded that the man had been scared to death by the saber-toothed tiger.

At least that’s what the mother told everyone, which was the mark of a competent politician.

Just now, Henry Carter had thrown a torch and scared off the terrifying saber-toothed tiger and the wolves. Everyone saw it, and no one looked at Henry Carter as a child anymore. Of course, the mother’s position as clan leader was now completely secure.

Everyone was diligently smoking fish; no one was slacking off. Only by preparing enough food could the tribe survive.

Henry Carter was not part of the labor force. He had his mother heat several large stones, then roll them into a water pit, and the stones quickly heated the water in the pit.

Henry Carter jumped into the pit and began to wash his dirty body.

The process of bathing was like peeling an egg; after soaking, the dirt on his body could be peeled off in large pieces by gently lifting a corner.

As for his hair, Henry Carter didn’t know how much wood ash he had used before it was finally clean. By then, the water in the pit had long since cooled.

When Henry Carter jumped into the hot water pool, the tribespeople all gathered around, staring blankly at this child cooking himself in hot water. Some young boys and girls even reached into the pit to see if Henry Carter could be cooked.

When he came out of the water, Henry Carter had become a sturdy, healthy-looking young boy, his whole body incredibly fair-skinned.

This made the dark, dirty, yellow-toothed tribespeople regard him with awe.

So, some bold youths also jumped into the pit where Henry Carter had bathed, hoping they could become like Henry Carter.

But it was futile; even after washing, their dark bodies only turned a scorched yellow.

Henry Carter used wood ash and salt to scrub his baby teeth. His teeth grew quickly, but they were still baby teeth.

After cleaning with wood ash, his teeth became snow white.

The mother was Henry Carter's most important supporter. She knew how to heat stones and how to use them to warm the water pit.

So, when she lay in the hot water pool, Henry Carter heard her let out a sigh of utter contentment.

That night, everyone in the tribe learned one thing—how to bathe.

At dawn, strings of dried fish swayed in the morning breeze like wind chimes. Every tribesperson, seeing so much dried fish, had a gleam in their eyes.