I hesitated for a long time. My main purpose in coming here was to find out the attitude of the local people towards me.

We originally intended to observe cautiously first before deciding whether to contact these natives. However, things didn't go as planned, and this unexpected event happened in Top, causing us to meet ahead of schedule.

It seems that they treated me quite well; at least they didn't show any hostility towards me from beginning to end.

After I demonstrated my abilities, they treated me like a god and dared not be negligent in the slightest.

After thinking it over, I finally decided to visit this tribe. I'll be living in this area for a long time to come, so familiarizing myself with the power dynamics here will give me a better understanding of the situation.

The group of natives looked at me with expectant eyes, eagerly awaiting my reply.

I pointed to myself and then to the southwest direction from the indigenous man who seemed to be the leader, and said, "Lead the way, let's go."

The native seemed very happy when he saw that I had agreed to his request, and kept hugging and kissing the back of my feet.

Although I knew this was just some of the etiquette of these tribes, such behavior still made me feel like I was being perverted, so embarrassed that I was digging my toes into the soles of my shoes.

If two grown men keep kissing like that, I reckon they'll get goosebumps all over.

I pulled my foot out and said coldly, "Get out of here and stop talking nonsense."

Seeing that I was somewhat displeased, the native stood up and beckoned to his companions, who immediately gathered around with their weapons.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, I suddenly remembered something and slapped my forehead, saying, "Damn it, we were so focused on rescuing Top that we left the baskets and supplies behind!"

Thinking about this makes me feel a pang of heartache. There's still a lot of food left for Top and me to eat on our journey, as well as some wild medicinal herbs we collected along the way.

Now that it's been left here for so long, I wonder if it's been visited by wild animals or anything like that. Some of the tools inside are quite valuable; I need to go back and retrieve them first.

I gestured to the locals, indicating that I needed to go back and retrieve the things I had left behind.

This time they understood what I meant. The native who had taken Top away earlier stepped forward and offered to help me retrieve the basket.

It doesn't matter whether there's one more person or one less person now. I didn't stop him from going; I just nodded to him.

The native seemed very happy and made a move to kneel down and kiss the back of my feet like the previous native. I immediately stopped him and told him to lead the way.

The indigenous man stopped kneeling and could only walk back in the direction he had been standing.

He clearly cared a lot about my feelings, walking at a pace that was just right so I could keep up.

Now it seemed like I was being a bit sentimental. Realizing it was getting late, I quickened my pace to catch up with the native, and soon we arrived back at the place where we first met.

My prediction was correct; my basket was still in the same place, except that the inedible tools were scattered all over the ground.

Everything else that was edible, including the saber-toothed tiger skin and the taro noodles I brought, was looted.

Judging from the various scattered footprints left on the ground, the meat must have been eaten by some predators. Later, a group of herbivores passed by and ate the remaining taro noodles.

Because I saw round droppings the size of pigeon eggs nearby, I initially judged that they were made by the same kind of wildebeest I had encountered before.

"Ugh... those damned bandits..."

I sighed inwardly, but thankfully none of the tools were lost or damaged, which was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

The most regrettable thing is that my bag of salt has been licked almost dry by the wildebeest. Looking at the nearly empty banana leaf containing the salt, I really wanted to kill those beasts to vent my anger.

Seeing that I looked rather unwell, the local man didn't know what to do and stood there awkwardly.

I don't want to worry about these things too much; it's not the first time I've been robbed anyway.

Back in my hometown, those giant black ants completely ransacked my entire warehouse of grain. Compared to that, I suddenly felt much better.

It seems that I am relatively lucky in some ways, at least this time I was only robbed of a basket of supplies.

Life is full of people who get robbed a few times; you get used to it after a while.

I slung my basket back on my back, and my expression returned to normal. I realized I had been identifying with Ah Q; in real life, we might think of Ah Q as just a clown.

Everyone tries their best to avoid becoming like Ah Q, but most of the time we end up living like Ah Q.

Some people who become Ah Q will face reality with equanimity, while others, in order to avoid becoming Ah Q, choose to leave this world due to debts or emotional factors.

Therefore, I believe that Ah Q, as depicted by Lu Xun, should not be seen as a despised and scorned commoner. In today's context of internal strife, Ah Q could serve as a spiritual leader for us.

There's no other reason than that many great men have died heroically, yet he still lives on by relying on his own spiritual victory method.

Sometimes, people need to give themselves a way out and ignore others' superficial criticisms in order to truly become stronger inside.

The local man was walking ahead of me, looking somewhat uncomfortable. I could roughly guess his initial purpose for coming; he probably wanted to help me carry my basket, hoping to make a better impression on me.

I had seen the locals and wanted to pick up their baskets from the ground, but when they saw my strange expression, they were afraid and withdrew their hands.

At this moment, the one who came to help was empty-handed and leading the way, while the deity in his eyes was carrying a basket on his back and following behind.

This made him feel very uncomfortable; he felt he should carry the things himself. Seeing the local leading the way scratching his head in frustration, I decided to do him a favor.

Top's recovery is still not very stable, and he's still a bit unsteady on his feet. To speed things up, I called out to the locals ahead of me.

When the local called out to him, he immediately stopped and looked at me. Without saying much, I took off my basket and handed it to him.

I gestured to him that I was tired and asked him to carry me, and then I picked Top up.

Seeing that there was work to be done, the locals readily took the basket from my hands, grinned at me, and then imitated me by carrying it on their own backs.

"Let's go, you brat..."

Anyway, he couldn't understand me, so I said something to myself and walked forward, leaving the local who was still grinning foolishly beside me.