024 The Herd Approaches

Although Mushui was focused on weaving baskets, he kept his ears pricked, listening to the two children talking. Hearing their ambitious words filled his eyes with hope; he truly wished they could achieve them.

The adults were busy with various preparations. With the cold season approaching, the most difficult time of the year was nearly upon them, and they had to be fully prepared. Nowadays, every family raised pika pups, and simply gathering enough hay for them to survive the cold season was no small task.

West of Lin Yan’s home lay a stretch of grassland where an uncountable number of pikas lived. She had named it the Pika Plains, and the grass along its edges had been harvested again and again. The tribe members would bundle the grass, carry it back to dry into hay, and stack it into mounds. During the cold season, this hay would not only feed the pikas but also serve as kindling for their fires. Currently, outside every cave entrance stood haystacks, woodpiles, simple clay stoves, and various pottery jars. Seeing that their preparations were nearly complete, everyone was overjoyed, believing this cold season would not be too difficult to endure.

One day, Lin Yan was teaching the children how to read and write. A large stone slab was placed in front of them, and holding a charcoal pencil, she wrote down neat, orderly lines of characters. These children were bright; she would write twenty characters a day, and they could remember every one of them. Through months of study, they had accumulated a vast vocabulary, with everyone mastering over a thousand characters. Simple writing was no longer a problem. Lin Yan did not have a systematic curriculum; she simply selected easy characters from the books in the science museum to teach them. Because the children possessed a keen thirst for knowledge and sharp minds, they learned quickly. Lin Yan taught them informally, focusing primarily on the names of everyday objects. Once these children learned, they would teach others, and now, everyone in the tribe recognized at least a few characters.

Just as a group of children were reciting loudly after Lin Yan, Mao Mu suddenly rushed over, shouting, "Run! The herd is coming! Run!"

The children were stunned, completely at a loss for how to react. Even Lin Yan’s mind went blank; what was "the herd"?

Mao Mu charged over, scooped up Lin Yan in one arm and Ye Ya in the other, and bellowed at the dazed children, "Follow me and run, quickly!" He then turned toward the direction of their home and roared, "Mother, come out! Quickly, quickly, quickly!"

Mao Mu’s shouts were so loud that everyone nearby heard him and dared not delay, immediately rushing out. Under his persistent, furious shouting, people scrambled to flee. The adults were no strangers to the concept of a "herd"; the moment they heard the word, their expressions changed, and they abandoned everything else. Most of the children had never experienced it, but they had heard tales of the herd’s terror. Instinctively, they followed Mao Mu, fearing that if they were even a step too slow, they would lose their lives. As Mao Mu ran through the tribe, he kept shouting, "Run! The herd is coming! Run!"

Others joined in, shouting as they ran. Whether young or strong, everyone at this moment summoned unprecedented strength, sprinting for their lives. As they fled, a thunderous rumble grew louder and louder in the distance. The earth shook; the momentum was vast, and the roar was as deafening as thunder. Lin Yan widened her eyes, staring in the direction of the sound, desperate to see what it was.

The crowd was in chaos, weaving through the forest. The cries of children and the frantic, desperate shouts of adults were all intertwined. At that moment, Lin Yan’s mind buzzed as she was carried by Mao Mu, fleeing at high speed.

Only ten minutes later, the herd arrived. Lin Yan stared, wide-eyed, as massive, robust, and fleshy black wild oxen charged forward like a rolling thunderclap. Wherever they passed, grass and trees were pulverized. From time to time, oxen would step into holes in the ground and collapse; the oxen behind them, unable to stop their charge, trampled the fallen ones into a bloody mess. It was a scene of bloody, violent chaos, filled with endless bellowing. She had never witnessed such a shocking sight in her life. In front of the stampeding herd, humanity seemed so insignificant.

At that moment, they were hiding in a large banyan tree, watching the swarm of cattle flood past. Having been busy fleeing, and realizing the sound was growing ever louder, the people had climbed into the large trees to hide, which was the only reason they had narrowly escaped disaster. Everyone was too terrified to even breathe. The children were completely numbed by fear, staring blankly into space with vacant eyes.

After a full day and night, the herd began to slowly recede. The strong men of the tribe went out to scout the situation, while the others remained where they were, afraid to move. After waiting for another half-day, and confirming the herd had moved far away, the people emerged from their hiding spots, weeping as they looked at their devastated homes. They had lived in this place for five years and had finally found stability; who could have imagined that the herd would arrive so suddenly, catching everyone off guard?

Their newly established home was destroyed in an instant. Lin Yan looked on: some families' caves had been trampled and collapsed, and the haystacks and stoves they had built were smashed to pieces. The ground was riddled with pits left by the herd; every hoofprint was a deep crater. The pikas they raised had been crushed, leaving the ground a mess of broken remains and flesh, while some had taken the opportunity to escape—nothing was left. Everything was destroyed. The home they had painstakingly built was gone. As the people looked around, their hearts grew cold, and they broke into wails of deep, inconsolable grief. Their hard-won food reserves were gone, their homes were gone, and everything had to start from scratch.

Lin Yan felt deeply saddened, tears welling in her eyes. She had never imagined that everything could be destroyed so easily. Their lives were already difficult, and now, disaster had been heaped upon disaster. She did not yet know how many people had failed to escape and lost their lives, or how many had been injured while fleeing.

After the initial wave of grief, their stomachs began to growl with hunger. As the children wailed from starvation, the adults gradually regained their senses and began to search for food. It was then that Lin Yan realized with a jolt that she did not know where her mother was.

"Mao Mu, where is my mother?"

"Don't be afraid, I will take you to find her." Mao Mu patted Lin Yan’s back gently as they walked, searching for her.

Hua Hong was frantically looking for her daughter, tears streaming down her face. She had been out busy cutting grass when she heard the herd was coming; she had run back as fast as she could, but it was too late, and she had been forced to hide from the oxen. Once the herd retreated, she searched desperately for her daughter, praying that she had survived. Lin Yan was so clever; she must have found a way. When she crossed paths with Mao Mu and saw Lin Yan, Hua Hong could no longer hold back; she hugged her daughter tightly and wept bitterly. Such scenes were playing out everywhere.

That night, the people huddled together, not daring to sleep. The adults formed a circle, surrounding the children in the center, keeping a wary watch on their surroundings. They struggled through the night, and when the sun rose, a new day began, but the people’s nerves remained taut—they dared not relax. No one knew if the herd would return.

Lin Yan eventually figured it out: the herd had been drawn to the Solar River for water. On this vast land, it was not only humans who needed water; animals needed it too. If they encountered a lone animal, the tribe had the strength to fight, or at least run if they couldn't win. But when faced with a massive herd like this, their only option was to flee in a panic. This time, they were fortunate; the herd had only come to drink, and since oxen were herbivores, they had no interest in humans. If they had encountered carnivores, the people would have been the prey, and surviving would have been far more difficult.

Having survived the stampede, the Solar Tribe had suffered heavy losses.