Chapter 158 155. Traces of the Cavemen
In the largest passage of Cave No. 3, cows, horses and puffies were busy spreading spores.
Although it would be okay to let the fungal blanket spread on its own, Lin Jun obviously intended to speed up the process.
This yellow book does have some abilities, but it's not very focused and is always calculating its own agenda.
The passage twists and turns, and at the end it leads to a desolate cave.
There was only some moss and tiny insects in the cave. Although the space was not small, there was almost no shelter and nothing could be hidden.
The only monsters were a kind of slow-moving giant snail, which were curled up in their shells in groups of three or four, quietly clinging to the rock walls.
Compared to the snake cave that the piglets were attacking, this place seemed much more lonely.
Also, no cavemen were seen.
Lin Jun did not immediately go back to Huang Pishu to question him, but instead asked the Pujis to search around, and sure enough, they found something - some footprints with three toes.
This is consistent with the characteristics of the cavemen that Lin Jun had seen.
Unfortunately, this only proves that cave dwellers have been here, but we don't know where they came from.
Unlike the soft soil in the cave, the passages have been reinforced by earth worms, making it difficult to leave traces.
This cave, like most caves in the deep area, is connected by more than ten passages.
There was no exhaustive method used, as Lin Jun didn't have many spare Puji on hand. The Great Expedition was like a bottomless pit, and no matter how many Puji were thrown in, they would never be enough.
The footprints were relatively fresh, indicating that cave dwellers had been here recently.
Lin Jun made some mimicry creatures transform into the appearance of stones and wait for the prey to come to them.
This wait lasted for two days, during which time one of the mimic Puji was spotted by a giant snail that smelled the scent. By the time Lin Jun noticed it, it had already been half eaten.
Fortunately, Lin Jun didn’t have to wait in vain in the end.
Seven cave dwellers carried a huge piece of bent bark and walked out of a relatively gently sloping passage.
Once they came out, most of them lay on the ground and began to collect moss and put it on the brought bark.
So that's how it is. Eating moss is consistent with their image and status.
But... why is there still one standing there doing nothing?
Only the standing caveman was holding a simple spear, while the other cavemen were empty-handed.
Keeping watch?
Since cave dwellers could use simple tools, it seemed natural that they would divide the work and cooperate with each other.
But the man holding the spear didn't look like a sentry to Lin Jun.
There was no guarding around, nor was there any chasing away of snails that came too close and disturbed the cave dwellers in their moss collection.
He just held the spear, leaned against the rock wall, and waited for the other cavemen to fill their bark in an attitude that Lin Jun thought was very lazy.
A word suddenly emerged in Lin Jun's mind - supervisor.
The main reason is that its behavior is too consistent with this identity. The meaning of its existence seems to be just "presence". It drives the slave workers to work with a sense of oppression, but it itself does not need to do physical labor. The spear in its hand is far more significant in deterring its own kind than defending against foreign enemies.
And what happened next almost made Lin Jun confirm this guess.
When a slave worker was trying hard to scrape off a large piece of thick moss, his movements were a little too big and he accidentally threw out a piece of moss covered with wet mud, which happened to splash onto the paw of the "supervisor" leaning against the rock wall.
"Hiss!" A sharp, piercing hiss suddenly burst out from the supervisor's mouth, with obvious anger.
It didn't even bother to wipe the mud off its paws, but took a sudden step forward, and with a sound of breaking wind, it stabbed the slave worker who raised his head in fear with the spear in his hand!
The target is not the vital point, but the tail of the slave workers.
"Puchi!" The tip of the stone spear pierced into the slave's tail with a little sluggishness. Obviously, this crude weapon was barely usable even when used against one's own people.
The slave worker let out a howl of pain, curled up on the ground, hugging his injured tail, and whimpering in fear.
The other slave workers stopped moving instantly. They all crouched down, trembling, not daring to even breathe.
The overseer seemed pleased with the effect.
It casually rubbed the bloody tip of its spear on the moss, and ignored the injured slave worker. It just made a series of low, threatening sounds from its throat, as if warning everyone to continue working and not to stop.
The injured slave endured the pain, grabbed a handful of moss with trembling claws and pressed it on the wound to stop the bleeding, then gritted his teeth and continued to scrape the moss. His movements were more cautious and full of fear than before.
Seeing this, the "supervisor" slowly walked back to the rock wall and resumed his leaning posture.
But it had no idea that a stone ten steps away was actually a mimic Puji, and there was a being that watched its performance with great interest.
It is indeed delicious.
A group of cave dwellers actually developed slavery!
Moreover, this is not the kind of slavery that is maintained purely by individual violence. The difference in the panel between the overseer and the slave is minimal. These slaves can easily tear the overseer to pieces if they rush forward.
But they dared not resist when faced with the abuse of their supervisors.
This shows that the slavery of the cavemen was already a relatively complete social form.
They are obviously the same species and there is obviously not much difference between them.
But this is good news for Lin Jun.
I originally thought that they were just some primitive-like beings, but now it seems that their intelligence level is higher than I expected.
Puji did not suddenly grab these cave dwellers, but watched quietly as they filled the large tree bark with moss mixed with a little soil, and then carried it back under the command of the supervisor.
A scout Puji followed them from a distance under the control of [Follower Manipulation].
Although cavemen also have the skill [Vibration Perception], its level is only around LV3.
Lin Jun’s detection skill level is higher than theirs, and the range is larger than theirs, so tracking them is stress-free.
The cave dwellers went all the way up, passing through several completely deserted caves with no monsters in them. These were probably "safe passages" discovered by the cave dwellers.
However, Lin Jun always had a strange feeling...
When they came to a special cave full of holes drilled by earthworms, Lin Jun figured out the source of the strangeness - isn't this the place where they killed the earthworms in the first place?
So this is not far from my hometown?
Cave dwellers just happen to live nearby?
Lin Jun must have never seen cave dwellers before, so it seems that the cave dwellers were indeed from the demon tide.
Watching several cave dwellers climbing up a familiar passage, a guess emerged in Mushroom Cap.
No way…
Follow the caveman, through familiar paths and passages.
After several hours of trekking, the cave where the old mushroom garden was located finally appeared in my perception...
So, after I left, this place was taken over by cave dwellers?
The scene before me was nothing like the mushroom garden in my memory.
The entrance to the passage that was once guarded by the fighting Pujis was now completely blocked by a huge living tree.
The giant tree's thick, dark brown trunk, which is as gnarled as a blood vessel, is deeply embedded in the rock.
On the side of the giant tree facing the passage, there was an irregular entrance that had been roughly dug out, with claw marks and gnawing marks on the edge, like an ugly scar.
Several cave dwellers armed with crude weapons were guarding this entrance and exit.
At this entrance, Lin Jun even found the traps they had set.
Several grass-covered pits; huge rocks suspended by vines.
These traps were not overly disguised, probably because the normal enemies were all unrecognizable weak-minded monsters.
It is no exaggeration to say that the scene before us is a primitive and simple castle.
Obviously, it is no accident that these weak cave dwellers can survive in the deep zone.
But... they didn't seem to eradicate the mushrooms that originally grew here. Through the living wood fortress, Lin Jun could feel that there were a lot of fungal mats, mushrooms and even... puff?
(End of this chapter)
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