Chapter 213: Terror—A Giant One
“A Xi, I’ve already brushed my teeth,” A-Mang said quickly, not forgetting to keep rubbing Nan Xun’s stomach.
Nan Xun let out a dry laugh. “You’re not allowed to get close to me for a whole month—unless you vomit out all the meat you ate.”
A-Mang pondered for a long while before explaining, “Food burial is a custom that’s been passed down in the tribe since ancient times. Those who are food-buried take pride in it, because they will be with every member of the tribe. A Xi, do you know? Cannibal tribes weren’t originally called cannibal tribes. We were called the Stone People Tribe, meaning tribespeople as tough and unyielding as stone. But because the matter of eating people spread, outsiders started calling us cannibals and thought we were born brutal.”
Nan Xun shot him a sideways glance. For fuck’s sake, you eat people—how is that not brutal?
It was extremely rare for A-Mang to ramble on like this, and he talked for quite a while. Nan Xun admitted that after hearing about some of the tribe’s history, the nauseating feeling toward food burial eased slightly. Still, when A-Mang seriously asked if he could kiss her, Nan Xun rejected him without hesitation.
A mouth that just ate human flesh wants to kiss her?
No way. Not the door, not even the window!
A-Mang was a little disappointed, but he still respected Nan Xun’s wishes and didn’t force anything.
The stone cave used for storing food was already more than half full, yet the men were still unsatisfied. Even though a tribesman had been killed by a wild beast the day before, the men went hunting as usual the next day.
At this time of year, there were hardly any fruits. The women rarely went out and usually gathered together to sew and mend things. Because A Bao had suffered a minor injury, he didn’t go out this time. In broad daylight, he pinned A Xiang down in the cave and went at it fiercely, making so much noise that the women outside blushed just listening.
A Hua glanced at the awkward-looking Nan Xun and scolded in a low voice, “A Bao is really something—he just got injured yesterday and today he’s already…”
Another woman chuckled ambiguously. “Logically speaking, A Xiang should be satisfied having such a man dote on her, yet she’s always thinking about A-Mang. So greedy.”
A Hua elbowed her. “A Xi is still here. Don’t say things like that.”
That woman smiled at A Xi. “A Xi, don’t be mad. We’re just joking around. It’s no secret that A Xiang likes A-Mang.”
Nan Xun shrugged. “It’s fine. I actually prefer you saying it to my face. That’s better than whispering behind my back, isn’t it?”
After a slight pause, her voice turned cold. “But A-Mang is mine alone. No woman is allowed to set her sights on him!”
After saying that, Nan Xun suddenly stood up. “I want to go to the river and take a look, maybe pick up some warm stones. Do you want to come with me?”
The women had seen the warm stones Nan Xun mentioned—small stones that gave off heat and could be used to warm one’s hands. But they were extremely hard to find. Out of a hundred small stones, you might find one. In hot weather they were almost impossible to distinguish, since all the stones were warm from the sun. Now it was easier, but the river water was icy cold, and no one wanted to go in.
A Hua frowned. “A Xi, don’t go. Going into the water now could easily make you sick.”
Nan Xun just wanted to take a walk anyway. Seeing that no one was going, she waved at the women, slung a beast-skin satchel diagonally across her back, picked up a long spear without a stone tip, and left alone, leaving the women staring at each other.
Nan Xun didn’t go into the water—she was afraid of the cold too. She simply walked along the riverbank. There were some small stones there, just fewer. She searched for a long time and still didn’t find a single warm stone.
What the women had said earlier made Nan Xun very uncomfortable. Her own man being coveted by other women—and everyone knowing it, yet thinking nothing of it—felt fucking awful.
But A Xiang hadn’t actually done anything to A-Mang, so Nan Xun couldn’t very well just beat her up and warn her to stay away.
In fact, the men in the tribe would never reject the flirtatious looks women threw their way. Even if a woman already had a man, showing fondness for another man would only make that man feel honored.
Being liked by many females was a glory for males.
Nan Xun intercepted countless admiring gazes like that every day. Those women stared unabashedly at A-Mang’s body, practically like a bunch of female hooligans.
Although this was a sincere expression of affection and something A-Mang could take pride in, Nan Xun found it utterly repulsive.
If this were modern times, women looking at her man with such longing eyes would be blatant provocation. She would’ve slapped their faces swollen already.
Just as Nan Xun was bending over by the river picking through stones, she suddenly heard a hiss hiss hiss sound. Her expression changed instantly, and she tightly gripped the spear in her hand.
A snake!
Even though she was mentally prepared, seeing the enormous python coiled on a thick branch in front of her made Nan Xun swallow hard.
She knew the venomous snakes and fierce beasts here were bigger than anything she’d seen in modern times—but did it have to be this big?!
That snake’s head was almost as big as her own!
Pythons weren’t venomous and didn’t kill prey with a single bite. Instead, they used their massive, long bodies to coil around prey again and again, suffocating it to death before slowly swallowing it whole.
Logically speaking, this stretch between the river and the tribe was frequently traveled by tribespeople, so fierce beasts were rarely seen. A python this huge should only appear deep in the jungle.
Yet this giant python seemed to have been lurking on the tree for a long time, waiting for a lone tribesperson.
Soon, snakes and insects would begin hibernating. It must have risked being discovered and killed by the tribe to lie in wait here, planning to swallow a person before going into hibernation.
Nan Xun’s palm was slick with cold sweat. The python’s hide was thick and tough—she doubted that even a full-force thrust of her spear could deal it a fatal wound.
“Little Eight, do you have any kind of powder to deal with snakes or insects? Give me some, quick,” Nan Xun urgently called for help.
Little Eight didn’t respond.
Nan Xun’s face went pale. Shit—Little Eight went into seclusion again!
Nan Xun and the python faced off for a long time, her nerves stretched taut.
Neither moved. Both were waiting for the best moment to strike.
Nan Xun felt weak. She knew that even if she used all her strength, she couldn’t possibly match a giant python over ten meters long.
At one moment, memories of self-rescue methods she’d seen before flashed through her mind. She put down the spear, quickly lay flat on the ground with her legs together and her back pressed tightly to the earth. Then she pulled out the small stone knife A-Mang had given her from her pouch.
She clasped her head with both arms in a triangular shape. If nothing unexpected happened, the python would slither over and try to burrow under her from different angles, attempting to coil around her body.
If it truly couldn’t wrap around her, it would abandon the idea of killing first and choose to swallow her alive.
Her arms-protected head was larger than the python’s head, so it would start swallowing from her feet. When it had swallowed about halfway, she would use the stone knife in her hand to slash fiercely along the edge of its mouth.
All of that was just imagination.
The giant python didn’t come over at all.
While Nan Xun lay on the ground looking utterly foolish, it merely swayed its head at her, flicked its tongue a few times—
Then turned around and darted into the grass, disappearing.
Nan Xun:
“…”
