Mecha Era, Punch the Stars

At dawn, the vast forest was filled with the cries of monkeys and birds, shrouded in mist.

A group of people pushed aside the leaves and emerged from the dense forest to the east, gradually forming a group of over a hundred people.

The person in the lead was none other than Ju, who had not returned for many years.

Having been away from Dongjuqiu for so long, he did not appear to have aged; on the contrary, he looked younger. The downy hair on his face had completely disappeared, revealing a face without hair, sideburns, or eyebrows, with only six long whiskers protruding from the sides of his nose, making him look quite different.

Besides him, the young and strong dogmen following behind him, despite having spent ten years pioneering, showed little signs of vicissitude and were full of energy.

"Chief, now that we have successfully pioneered and established ourselves in the outside world, why should we continue to go back and help those undead hordes?"

Beside Tachibana was his confidant, Tang, who had been Tachibana's friend since the same age.

Tang was physically strong, a bold and observant man, and valued loyalty above all else.

At the time of pioneering, he was not particularly outstanding, but as he experienced more and witnessed many of his friends gradually die from injuries, colds and other accidents during the pioneering process, he gradually grew up until he could stand on his own and become a reliable helper by Tachibana's side.

They also promoted the tribal ritual of washing their bodies with hot water through long-term practice, which successfully washed away various impurities accumulated on the skin and solved the problem of colds that had troubled them for a long time.

Although colds and various gastrointestinal diseases still have a high mortality rate when contracted, people who frequently wash themselves with hot water will at least reduce the probability of developing them.

This point gradually became a consensus among the people of their tribe, and it was Tang's contribution that deserved to be remembered by the tribe.

However, having witnessed the deaths of many of his companions, Tang felt that it was not worthwhile to travel so far to help the tribe.

They made such great sacrifices to gain a foothold in the Eastern Wilderness, find better alternative foods, achieve stable production, and help them become stronger, younger, and smarter.

But now they actually want to take the seeds of this thing back on their own initiative, which he doesn't understand.

As for Ju's claim that more manpower is needed to stabilize the situation, Tang dismissed it with disdain. He felt that instead of finding those who had already declined to help, it would be better to cultivate talent internally. Even if it took more time, there would definitely be a breakthrough in the future.

Ju shook her head and said:

“We come from there, and many of our parents and grandparents may still be alive. We didn’t have the means to support them before, but now that we have established ourselves, we should naturally make sure these older generations have a comfortable life.”

"Otherwise, think about it: when you get old and your children and grandchildren don't want to support you, what will you do? Will you be able to live on your own?"

"The most important thing for a race to survive in the long term is to have good customs and traditions."

"Respecting parents and caring for children, prioritizing the individual family before the collective, is essential for the stable development of the tribe."

These words barely convinced Tang.

"Alright, this is indeed important. Although it adds a lot of burdens, with our current strength, a little extra burden is nothing."

Tang said this, but in his heart he still felt that he could take care of his own elderly relatives, but as for the people of other tribes, he would see how things went.

If they remain lazy and incompetent, then he will have reason to reject them.

As for the younger generation among them, if they haven't been corrupted by their elders, they can be taken away and raised to become a vital force for their continued expansion in the Eastern Wilderness.

Their physical condition has improved significantly, and they have inherited various technologies from the previous five tribes, making them the best they can be said to be.

Both human resources and wisdom have reached an unprecedented level of strength.

The main limitation to their further development is still the population problem; their birth rate cannot keep up with their expansion rate. They are now able to hunt large creatures that are over twenty meters tall.

Their physical condition did indeed improve after regularly consuming the flesh and blood of these creatures.

Moreover, they discovered even more food varieties near the nests of these large creatures, greatly enriching their food system.

Of the current group of 100 young and strong people, half have mastered abilities such as swallowing charcoal and breathing fire, generating electricity from fur, and having superhuman senses. They have gradually and successfully promoted the extraordinary methods discovered by the five tribes.

The resources in the Eastern Wilderness are so abundant that even if they just keep searching for food, they can raise a group of people whose abilities are becoming more and more powerful.

This is also the source of Tang's confidence in looking down on the original five major tribes.

He didn't believe that, under the original conditions, the five tribes had become hedonistic again and that they could catch up with him.

As the two talked, they gradually arrived at the long-abandoned East Orange Hill.

The ground was covered with weeds, and the tree nests covered with leaves gradually lost their original appearance.

"It seems that even those of the older generation who are still alive have moved away."

Tang was secretly pleased. It was best to have no burdens, as this would make things simpler from now on: exchanging ideas with other tribes and taking a group of decent young men to their Eastern Wilderness tribe.

As for those idle and lazy people, well, I'm afraid I won't keep up with them.

Although Tang was loyal, he only showed loyalty to his close friends. He felt that as long as strangers came to take care of them, they would be grateful enough.

After all, their journey of hundreds of kilometers was not easy and involved great risks.

If the people of the five major tribes—no, now it should be the four major tribes—don't know what's good for them, Tang would rather not take anyone back.

Compared to Ju's leadership style and broad-mindedness, Tang considers himself petty, and he is well aware of this.

After some discussion, the group decided to rest for a few days in the Dongjuqiu tribe, hunt to replenish their energy, and then go to other tribes to exchange ideas.

They began to repair the long-abandoned tree nests.

At this moment, the team responsible for exploring the surrounding area returned and reported:
"We discovered several unusual structures, somewhat resembling tree nests built on the ground, with very recent signs of activity inside."

After discussing it with Tang, Ju found it interesting and took a few people with her.

This is a wooden house that is completely different from the original tree nest.

It has two stories, each 1.5 meters high, with thick tree stumps driven into the ground at the bottom.

The top was leveled and built into a square house, which is equivalent to four or five large tree nests. It looks much better than the tree nests, which always need to be cleaned of mosquitoes and dead leaves.

"Could it be that they invented new structures during these ten years?"

Ju's eyes lit up; this house structure was quite interesting.

Although it's obvious that it requires a lot of construction skills, its advantages are too obvious. It's much better than the cramped, narrow, dirty, and frequently maintained tree nest.

"Let's go in and take a look." (End of Chapter)