The wolves howled and gradually retreated.
Under the moonlight, more than a dozen wolf corpses were lying in a mess.
Lu Ming did not want to kill, but this huge wolf pack of more than 30 wolves regarded him and the cow as food, so he had no choice but to kill them, finally making them retreat in fear.
"Let me see, your arm seems to be bleeding!" Tuoba Lan stepped forward hurriedly.
Indeed, Lu Ming's arm must have been bitten hard by an alpha wolf.
In fact, if Lu Ming was alone, he would not have been bitten, but the wolves were very smart and they divided the work and cooperated with each other. Some of the wolves specifically attacked Tuoba Lan and Xiao Hei. In particular, after a few probing attacks, the wolves discovered how strong Lu Ming was and how difficult Xiao Hei was to deal with, so they targeted Tuoba Lan and attacked the old, weak and disabled prey. Lu Ming was accidentally bitten when he tried to rescue him.
"It's okay." Lu Ming waved his hand casually. In fact, this bite took out a large piece of meat. It was excruciatingly painful. To deal with a pack of wolves, there was no need to shut down neurons or anything like that.
Fortunately, this body has a special blood system, so the bleeding does not continue.
Lu Ming walked up to Xiao Hei and patted it. Xiao Hei mooed and rubbed Lu Ming's hand, as if telling Lu Ming that it was fine.
Lu Ming sat down and tore off a piece of cloth to bandage the wound. Xiao Hei also knelt down and lay down behind Lu Ming, serving as a backrest for him.
Tuoba Lan came over and sat next to Lu Ming. He gently pushed Lu Ming's hand away, unfolded the cloth strip, and carefully re-bandaged it.
Lu Ming looked at the endless hills and deserts in the distance under the moonlight, his brows furrowed.
It has been more than ten days since we entered Baihaidi, but until now, there has been no trace of Chen Xingchang and Ma Quanyou's troops. That would be fine, but until now, there is no human habitation, as if the desert has no end.
Fortunately, Xiao Hei could always find water sources. When he encountered fierce beasts that were too ignorant to speak, he would kill them for meat. He had to use compressed biscuits and chocolate bars sparingly. He also encountered a flock of sheep, but looking at the lambs, Lu Ming couldn't bear to kill them.
In fact, in the wild, whether it is a fierce beast or a herbivore, it is very cruel to survive. The fierce beast seems to be very powerful when it is young and at its peak, but in just a few short years, it will quickly go downhill. Whether facing competition from young and strong beasts in the same ecological niche or pressure from predators when old, its later years will be miserable. Starving to death is considered a good ending.
"You take a rest." Lu Ming pulled out his dagger, ready to skin the wolves and roast the meat to take away more.
At this moment, Xiao Hei suddenly raised his head and mooed uneasily. Lu Ming also looked down at the mound.
In the moonlight, a row of more than a dozen figures appeared strangely and slowly approached. They were obviously primitive tribesmen, all with bronze skin, naked, only wearing grass skirts around their waists. They were all very thin, but not the kind of thin, but the kind of thin that looked full of strength at first glance. They didn't have much muscle, but one could feel that each of them was a being with extremely strong endurance, the kind that could tire a wolf pack to death after long-distance running.
They all held the spear in one hand and raised it on their shoulders, in an orderly manner, as if they would throw it at any time.
Lu Ming slowly raised his hands to show that he was harmless, but did not dodge, lest they attack and hurt Xiao Hei behind him.
"We have no ill intentions!" A smile appeared on Lu Ming's face. Not to mention that they are all humans, even most primates know that smiling is an expression of goodwill.
Looking at the corpses of wild wolves lying all over the place, the tribesmen showed hesitation on their faces.
After thinking for a while, Lu Ming pointed at the marching bag next to him, looked at them, slowly reached in, and took out a windproof lighter. Without even lighting the lighter, the tribesmen shouted excitedly, obviously knowing him.
Lu Ming threw the lighter over. An older man quickly stepped forward and caught it in his hand. He turned around and howled twice, and the tribesmen put down their spears one after another.
The tribal leader holding the lighter clumsily lit it, and when he saw the flame light up, a smile appeared on his face. He looked at Lu Ming with kindness in his eyes, walked over, gestured, and mumbled something.
Lu Ming didn't quite understand, so the leader made a gesture, asking Lu Ming to follow him. This gesture was easier to understand.
"Let's go and take a look." Lu Ming said to Tuoba Lan, and gestured to the tribal leader, meaning that the bodies of these wolves are given to them.
The chief was even more delighted. He made a gesture and the tribal hunters came forward and skillfully tied the wolf's body to their spears. Then, they shouted rhythmically, probably as a ceremony to mark the end of the hunt.
The first tribe that Lu Ming came into contact with in the far northwest was very small, with only a few dozen people living in cave dwellings in the hills.
There were only a dozen or so real adult male hunters, so they should have come out in full force. But today they had a great harvest without any effort. Many female tribesmen shouted and sang songs with wild rhythms.
The tribal leader brought some boys and girls and gestured to Lu Ming to choose from them.
Lu Ming didn't understand what he meant at first, but he soon realized that it meant the lighter plus the flesh and skin of those wolves, in exchange for the children of their tribe.
Even the tribal leader made gestures, roughly meaning that Lu Ming could pick three.
There was another communication error, and he seemed to think that Lu Ming wanted an adult slave, so he immediately waved his hands.
It seems that the birth rate of cubs in this small tribe is quite high nowadays, and three of them are no match for one adult.
Lu Ming gestured and took a branch to draw on the ground. He drew a lot of people coming from the east, with guns and horses.
The two of them gestured and drew pictures, and gradually found each other's pulse.
The tribal leaders generally knew that Lu Ming was here to look for people, many of whom were outsiders.
But he shook his head, apparently not knowing.
Lu Ming sighed in his heart. Yes, in this area of millions of square kilometers, no one knew where Ma Quanyou and Chen Xingchang's troops came from.
However, they will definitely have connections with the bandits in the White Sea, using the White Sea bandits as their bridgehead, so they will not go too far into this extreme northwest area.
Thinking about it, Lu Ming drew a picture on the ground and gestured, wanting to go to Baihai.
The tribal leader didn't know whether he understood it or not, but he gestured, probably meaning that he could send a tribesman as a guide to take Lu Ming to a larger tribe to inquire about the things that Lu Ming was concerned about.
Lu Ming stretched out his hand and shook hands with him, indicating that the deal was done.
…
After resting in this small tribe until dawn, Lu Ming, Tuoba Lan, Xiao Hei, and another young man from the tribe set off.
Lu Ming and Tuoba Lan both changed into tribal linen clothes, which were woven by the tribal women themselves. They were very rough, but better than the clothes that were almost rotten after being soaked in water and mud for several days.
Lu Ming brought a compass, but it stopped working after he passed the smoggy area.
The compass is not afraid of water, which means that the magnetic field in this area is very different from that in the mainland.
Led by the young man called "Xiao Tong" by Lu Ming, they felt like they were heading south based on the direction of the sun.
But sometimes when I wake up at night and look at the direction of the moon, I always feel that something is wrong with the direction of the sun during the day.
Moreover, you can't see the sun rising and setting here. It seems that the sun can only shine through the layers of haze when it is high in the sky.
I don’t know what kind of strange geographical phenomenon this is. I don’t know whether the position of the sun is dislocated due to some kind of refraction.
In the East China Sea and the Northern Territory, Lu Ming felt that this was the Earth, or perhaps a parallel world. But when he really arrived in this strange area, he felt that the difference between this place and the Earth was too great.
After walking for two days in confusion, they came to a valley tribe. It was indeed a large settlement with all kinds of thatched houses and farmland nearby. It was obviously a land of plenty that only a very powerful tribe could afford to occupy. Of course, it was a relatively small land of plenty compared to the harsh terrain of the wasteland.
During the journey, Lu Ming was often in a daze, like a walking corpse, which made Tuoba Lan a little worried, not knowing that he was dealing with external affairs.