Chapter Five: Unexpected Joy

  Before long, it's been two years and Wang Yang is five years old now.

  At the age of five, he had already grown to look like a seven or eight year old. He wasn't sure exactly how tall he was, but according to the books, apes at this stage were generally between 1.4 and 1.6 meters tall.

  According to Wang Yang's height, which is almost as tall as his father's shoulder, he should be around 1.7 meters tall.

  This means that in another year's time, he will be going out into the vast forest outside the canyon.

  He had long been prepared for this battle and was not afraid of it.

  Thanks to his long-term persistence in training, his agility has reached an unprecedented state, his body is more robust, his muscles are bulging, and he has great explosive power.

  Of course, training projects are becoming more and more numerous.

  For two years he practiced sprinting, so that he could increase his speed in a short time, and also practiced long-distance running to increase his endurance.

  As for "Little Li Flying Knife", he has also practiced it to perfection. Give him a piece of stone, and as long as he weighs it in his hand, he knows how much force to use to hit the bullseye.

  The ancients said, "If you want to be good at your work, you must first sharpen your tools!"

  Thinking that he was about to enter the forest, he could find rattan, make nets, improve people's hunting success rate, and reduce unnecessary casualties, he was excited.

  Over the past two years, with fire for warmth in winter, there have been no more fevers, and the number of people in the tribe has historically reached thirty.

  Wang Yang also had a little sister, and since she couldn't speak, he gave her a name in his heart, Wang Yingying, without any meaning or deliberation, purely because it was easy to pronounce.

  As the tribe welcomed a large number of new lives, the burden on the shoulders of the elderly grew heavier, and Wang Yang's burden was equally heavy.

  The increase in population means a greater demand for food, especially among the labor force. With over a dozen adults, they can still get enough food every day, and their daily lives are still warm and full.

  But meat was again divided equally, and relying solely on the nutrition of fruits is far from enough.

  Watching them busy every day, yet their faces are getting thinner and thinner, Wang Yang's heart is like a knife cut.

  He could hardly bear to enter the forest and find a rattan to make better tools.

  But he knew that he couldn't rush things and had to wait another year for himself to develop further, become stronger and faster, in order to have the capital to save his life.

  But unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and all of this happened ahead of time in winter.

  ……

  As this year's winter was about to pass and spring was approaching, an unexpected event occurred.

  The snow had just melted, and the warmth had only lasted for a few days, when it started snowing heavily again. The world, which had just shown some signs of revival, once again entered a white deathly stillness.

  Those stored meats had been eaten clean, and only a few dozen fruits were left, which could last for a few days at most.

  I thought this year's spring would arrive as usual, but it was unexpectedly delayed.

  Moreover, due to population increase, food is consumed by the end of winter.

  Wang Yang didn't need to make any extra judgments to know that it was caused by the southward movement of cold air.

  He understood that in this era, forests only appear in tropical and subtropical regions, while the north is absolutely icy and snowy.

  Even here, there is no real summer, with temperatures reaching at most 16 or 17 degrees Celsius.

  It wasn't until several tens of thousands of years ago that it began to warm up and form the modern climate.

  Before then, the Earth was very cold.

  The adults were all anxious and planned to take torches to search for food in the desolate forest.

  Wang Yang wanted to go, but was stopped from coming down.

  For several days in a row, the adults found very little food, and it was rare to bring back a rabbit, dig up some roots, and pick up some completely frozen fruit.

  This food is barely enough for nearly thirty people's livelihood.

  By now, several adults have gone hungry.

  The source of food is imminent, Wang Yang and others can't wait any longer. Despite the adults' dissuasion, he joined the food search team. After all, one more person means one more bit of strength, and the probability of finding food is also greater.

  He loaded a dozen small stones, brought out bone spurs, and put on layer after layer of animal hides, making preparations.

  In the cave, only a pile of children were left behind, with no one to take care of them and no way to take care of them. All they could do was make the fire burn brighter, so that wild beasts wouldn't dare approach.

  As soon as I went outside, the north wind hit me in the face. The piercing cold wind came in through several small gaps and swept across my entire body with a "whooshing" sound.

  Wang Yang shivered and shook his body, not in the mood to appreciate the beautiful white snow scene. He trudged through the snow, one foot deep and one foot shallow, following the adults forward.

  In this era, there were no shoes. Wang Yang and others would catch a rabbit, make an opening on its body just large enough to accommodate the ankle, remove the internal organs, dry it in the wind, and then wear it on their feet.

  They walked and walked, entering the forest in front of the canyon.

  This forest is located at the foot of two green hills and is covered with tall unknown trees.

  There are some trees that Wang Yang still recognizes, relatively easy-to-identify coniferous trees, as well as some other subarctic tree species.

  But since there is no human logging, this is a paradise for plants, with extremely fierce competition.

  Each tree grows crazily tall to get sunlight, some trees need 4-5 people to hug around, showing how sturdy they are.

  Wang Yang followed the adults to the edge of the forest and squinted his eyes to take a closer look.

  The deep forest is very dark, and the weak sunlight can't shine inside, the deep place is like dusk, with extremely low visibility.

  The ground was covered with a thick layer of snow, and under the trees there were only occasional patches of uncovered ground, mostly dark soil, small stones, and tree trunks.

  He walked for a while without seeing any animals or danger, and unfortunately, Wang Yang didn't see any rattan, which made him very disappointed.

  Suddenly, the movements of the adults slowed down, and they let out two low growls, entering a state of alertness. One by one, they tightened their grip on their weapons and slowly moved forward.

  Wang Yang's mood became tense.

  In his past life, he hadn't even killed a chicken, and in this period of time, he had only killed a few fish. He hadn't experienced real hunting before, and thinking that he would soon face extremely ferocious prehistoric beasts made him break out in cold sweat.

  The edge of the forest has no more weeds and thorns, and there is a clearly artificially opened small path, and everyone enters here.

  They walked cautiously for a while without encountering any danger, and the adults finally breathed a sigh of relief, waving their hands to signal everyone to search for food in the vicinity.

  Wang Yang followed his parents, his father holding a flat stone tool, walked to the bottom of a large tree, dug open the snow on the ground, and then dug down several centimeters, his eyes lit up, and he dug up a pile of board chestnuts.

  These chestnuts fall to the ground in autumn, and because of their outer shell, the inner fruit does not spoil easily. After going through a long winter, they are completely frozen, making them one of the main foods for resisting the long winter.

  He muttered excitedly, indicating that he had found dozens of what was supposed to be the nest of a certain mouse. The mouse never came back, probably caught and killed by something else.

  The mother used the rabbit's fur as a pocket and put it in.

  Wang Yang cautiously looked around, under the dim light, paying attention to the wild beasts that might appear at any time.

  He didn't see any beasts, but instead saw several trees of varying sizes with the soil dug up and their roots exposed. He was puzzled as to what benefit this digging had.

  But soon he realized what was good about it.

  His father dug under one of them and soon reached the roots. There, at the roots, were some fruit the size of soybeans.

  Wang Yang took one and bit into it, discovering that the inside was pure white in texture, with a slightly bland and sour taste. He almost immediately became so excited he could hardly contain himself from shouting out loud!

  He recognized this plant as a kind of dandelion! Its roots produce fruit, are cold-resistant and can be seen everywhere. Most importantly, this plant is medicinal!

  It has hemostatic and anti-inflammatory effects, which means that if you accidentally break the wound again in the future, it won't get infected!

  Wang Yang was extremely excited, he looked around and saw that there were dozens of them everywhere, at least thirty or so.

  He was overjoyed, and at first didn't recognize it, because he had only seen it in textbooks, hadn't really seen it before, and its branches and leaves were similar to those of a pine tree, so at first glance, he thought it was a small pine tree.

  Who would have thought this is a treasure!

  His parents saw how happy he was and thought he liked this kind of fruit, so they gave him all ten that had been picked.

  He carefully filled it up, without being greedy, and covered the roots of the burdock with soil.

  His parents didn't understand his behavior of working hard for nothing. What's the point of taking care of this broken plant? Covering it with soil is simply a waste of energy.

  Wang Yang couldn't bear to waste it, this was the only medicine he had found so far, equivalent to a lifesaving straw, how could he squander it, he buried each one carefully, and would have great use for them in the future.

  After finishing all this, Wang Yang and his parents set out on the road again.

  They are in the outer areas of the forest and have been swept through before, so it's hard to find food.

  So everyone gathered together and decided to venture deeper into the forest.

  The deeper into the forest, the darker the light is. The trees are very dense and block a lot of snow, so you can see the black soil on the ground, making it easier to walk.

  But everyone's footsteps slowed down even more, staring tightly around them.

  Have to say, in this era, no need to read books all day long, without the radiation of computers and mobile phones, eyesight is extremely good.

  Everything was clear and visible, Wang Yang liked this feeling of everything being in sight, but now was not the time to be happy.

  The crowd stopped between several large trees.

  After calling out to each other for a while, everyone decided to gather any food they could find here.

  Wang Yang did not dare to walk alone in the dark forest, and still stayed with his parents.

  In an instant, the team of twenty-odd people dispersed just like that.

  Wang Yang dug everywhere and found nothing, knowing he had no skills, so he simply watched his parents dig.

  The parents are very experienced and first look around on the ground to see if there are any signs of rotten fruit, if not, it means they have been eaten or hidden away by mice.

  At this time, Father saw a shallow mark, which was a small footprint, not any large animal, somewhat like a rabbit or mouse.

  Following the tracks, they found a thin layer of snow, swept away the snow and discovered an entrance.

  The hole is twenty centimeters wide and very deep, but it's unknown what's inside.