Chapter 1: Thunderbolt (Part 1)

  A cliff with a height of thousands of meters, on which are scattered small trees that sway stubbornly in the wind. The top of the cliff is flat and open, it's a man-made platform. A small figure sits lazily at the edge of the cliff under the afterglow of sunset, two legs dangling boldly over the edge, swaying unconsciously, looking exceptionally lonely.

  This is a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, with faintly broad eyebrows and a pair of slender eyes. He seems to be accustomed to narrowing his eyes, giving people the feeling that he hasn't woken up yet. The contours of his face are extremely clear, as if carved by a knife, exuding a sense of determination. Due to not being an adult yet, there is a slight hint of greenness, but when carefully observing his eyes, one can detect a hint of vicissitudes in his gaze.

  "This world is freaking crazy! Even time isn't the same, I don't even know how long it's been... three years? Or four? This place only has two seasons, warm season... cold season... sigh... can't go back..."

  The young man let out a long sigh, forcefully pounded the ground once, and looked at the fist print on the green rock. He revealed a faint smile again. For this world, he had almost nothing to be satisfied with, except for strength. This place was so boring, there was no entertainment at all, every day thinking about eating, still eating, searching for everything that could fill his stomach, it was the meaning of living in this world.

  A sharp whistle sounded, and the young man suddenly jumped up, sprinting along the top of the cliff. His speed was incredibly fast, and in an instant he arrived at the corner of the cliff, where there was a stone fortress that protruded seven or eight meters from the cliff face. Two large men stood within the small stone fortress.

  This stone fortress is small, narrow and long, protruding from the cliff wall. The top is a wooden structure, and on the ground there is a large hole three meters long and two meters wide, through which you can clearly see under the cliff wall. A metal frame is erected at the entrance of the hole, with a giant pulley installed on it.

  A bearded man saw the young man come in and said: "Ah Feng, the hunting team is back. Your eyes are good, take a look if there's anything unusual."

  The young man nodded, stretched out his hand to hold the pulley, and leaned down to look. He saw a few small black dots below, and his eyes suddenly flashed with a faint silver light. The young man exclaimed: "It's Uncle Ke and the others who have returned... Hurry up and lower the basket!"

  The big-bearded man grasped an iron ring and pulled hard, a huge basket swung open, appearing at the opening below, two strong men began to turn the winch, lowering the basket.

  The basket is three meters long, two meters wide and one meter five deep. It's a rectangular basket used for transporting people and goods, and it's one of the entrances to Huyabao Fort. There are only two roads leading out of Huyabao Fort, one is here, and the other is the tunnel behind the fort. However, that road is more difficult to walk, so the people in the fort use the basket to enter and exit.

  The basket was soon lifted up, and in it sat two big men, along with a large pile of game. The young man took a glance and said, "Why are they all small prey, Uncle Ke? No bigger ones?"

  The basket contained mostly wild rabbits, pheasants and ducks, as well as a few precious sheep.

  What is called the precious sheep, is a specialty of this place, a very small wild sheep, fond of eating all kinds of spiritual grass, its meat is fresh and delicious, one of the best delicacies here, only this thing is too small, not much meat, a precious sheep, at most twenty or thirty catties of meat, just a little more than wild chicken and rabbit.

  "Ha ha, Ah Feng, this time we didn't catch much, but... we got rid of a huge boar with tusks, weighing several hundred pounds. The harvest is not bad, Ah Feng, come to my house later and take a pig leg, hehe."

  A Feng nodded and smiled: "Okay, I'll send Da Hui back home."

  The people living in Huya Fortress are mostly hunters, and their families generally plant some grains and potatoes in the mountains. Generally, men do not farm, and they must go hunting. The population of Huya Fortress is very small, with only over a thousand people, nearly two hundred households. Young Afeng is also one of them, with an old grandfather, a young sister, and parents who left before he occupied this young body, without knowing where they went.

  These years have been quite difficult, when I first woke up, my little sister was only three years old, and she was completely raised by young Ah Feng. Grandfather is old and weak, and can no longer hunt, at the beginning, Ah Feng relied on picking wild fruits, plus some hunters who saw that grandfather's family of three were really struggling, would occasionally send some game, and barely managed to survive until now. The people here are very simple and kind, neighbors help each other, if you can't help each other here, it's really hard to survive.

  However, by this year's warm season, young Afeng had to prepare food for the cold season on his own, which was a daunting task for him. He not only had to support himself but also his grandfather and little sister.

  Ko Da Shu went down again, this time the basket carried a wild boar weighing over 500 catties. The meat of this wild boar is not good to eat, it's coarse and without proper cooking methods, it's really not edible. Of course, young Ah Feng didn't mind, as long as he had something to eat, he was satisfied. Since arriving here, he rarely felt full, and the amount of food he ate made him extremely frustrated. He couldn't understand why he could eat so much?

  Several hunters and Ah Feng, laughing and carrying their prey, walked along the road towards Nei Bao.

  Huxiabao is situated in a perilous terrain, surrounded by steep cliffs and precipitous walls on all sides. The depression in the middle has an area of about two square kilometers, which allows for some land to be cultivated. All the residents of Huxiabao live in the caves at the foot of the inner circle of cliffs, with each household occupying a cave. Some of these caves are natural while others have been excavated by humans. Wooden houses have been built extending from the caves, and during warm seasons, people can live in these wooden houses. However, once winter arrives, they must move into the caves to spend the cold season.

  The terrain of the entire Huayan Fortress is like a flat bowl, with residents living in the bowl. The outer wall of the bowl is a steep cliff, which is a natural large-scale defensive fortress.

  So the crowd came down from the cliff and soon arrived at the residential area.

  ……

  A Feng held a wild boar's front leg in one hand and two pheasants in the other, hurrying towards his home.

  They soon arrived at a house with a vertical wooden fence, which had a small courtyard, a small hut built on the edge of the cliff. A little girl saw Ah Feng return and exclaimed: "Brother, brother......" while running over.

  The weather has started to get a bit cool, and the little girl has put on her fur-lined jacket. The long hair flows with her running, just like a small furry ball rolling over. Ah Feng laughed: "Don't run... slow down, slow down..." As he squatted down, because both hands were holding things, he couldn't hug her.

  The little girl rushed into Ah Feng's arms, stretched out her hands to hug his neck, and Ah Feng stood up. The little girl was hanging on him, giggling and saying: "Brother, whose meat did you take again?"

  A Feng gently touched the little girl's forehead with his own, and said dotingly: "It was Uncle Ke who hunted it down, is Grandpa okay?"

  The little girl giggled and said: "Grandpa went out to boil salt and just came back."

  Huyabao has a special product, which is salt. There is an underground brine well here that can extract brine water from the ground, and then boil it to produce salt. The amount is not large, but it is enough for the daily use of Huyabao residents. This is also one of the reasons why people in Huyabao can live deep in the mountains, owning a brine well is a big reason.

  The salt harvesting is mostly done by the elderly or women, and it's just enough to get by. It's very difficult to communicate with the outside world here, and everything is self-sufficient. A Feng found it very uncomfortable at first, but after a few years of hardship, he has gradually become integrated into this way of life.

  The little girl was hanging on Ah Feng's neck, and the two of them walked into the small hut laughing. Ah Feng shouted loudly: "Ah Ye, I'm back! Look! This is a front leg of a wild boar with tusks given by Uncle Ke, it weighs over 30 catties, enough for us to eat for several days."

  This is an old man in his twilight years, sitting on a low wooden stool, with a leather pouch in his hand. Seeing the two of them come in, a hint of delight flashed in his eyes, and he coughed and said: "Good, Ah Feng, take a rest, you must be tired."

  The little girl slid down from A Feng's body, ran to the old man's side, hugged the old man's arm and squatted down, happily saying: "Grandpa, Qing Jie sent a piece of barbarian cowhide, I took it to the mountain cave, what a big piece! Brother's armor is just missing one piece of leather, it won't take a few days, the leather armor will be finished soon, hehe, Grandpa, can I do it?" She had an expression that said "you must praise me", which made A Feng unable to help but laugh.

  "Haha, little sister is really capable!"

  A Feng first praised him.

  The old man gently patted the little girl's head and nodded: "Yes, our Yaoyao is the most capable!"

  The little girl's face lit up with joy and laughter instantly.

  The so-called leather armor is the protective gear that every hunter needs. The shape of the leather armor here is special, and it's completely handmade from various animal skins. The hard leather lining inside is made from the local barbaric cow skin.

  The handmade craft of the armor is extremely complex, with dozens of procedures. As early as two years ago, Grandfather started making it, and a large part of it was done by his granddaughter's hands. The grandfather and granddaughter worked together until recently, when they finally almost finished it, but due to the lack of a piece of tough bull hide, it has not been completed yet.

  This set of leather armor was specially prepared for Ah Feng to go hunting. In Hu Yanbao, every hunter had to make a set of leather armor at home before going out to hunt, which is the local custom. Once the leather armor is worn on the body, it means that Ah Feng can officially go hunting.

  The armor is made from three types of leather. The innermost layer is a special soft leather with countless pea-sized air bubbles inside, making it extremely soft and warm. The middle layer is made from the hard skin of a wild ox, while the outer layer is made from the skin of a long-haired beast called the "long-haired wild wolf". The long-haired wild wolf has hair that reaches over 10 inches in length, which after tanning becomes extremely tough. When making the leather armor, the long hairs on the skin are woven together to form patterns, and then treated with animal fat to set its shape. Not only does it keep warm, but also provides excellent protection.