We made you the chief, and now you've become the world's chief?

Chapter 137 The Regressing Tribe

"Ah Hao, Mom allows you to lick her feet!"

It seemed like a great honor, Arno said loudly to Xia Minghao.

Xia Minghao felt physically uncomfortable listening to this.

Although they anticipated encountering strange rules when infiltrating other tribes, they never expected this to happen.

What the hell are you licking? Is this some kind of obedience test?

"Ah Hao, if you're qualified to lick Mom's feet, you can participate in the Pushi Conference during the full moon!"

Xia Minghao couldn't think of a solution for a moment. When he saw that everyone was vaguely angry, he reached for the small wooden box.

Licking is out of the question. If you were to offer to breastfeed me, I might reluctantly force myself to suckle a few times.

But Xia Minghao would definitely not accept this approach.

What should we do? Should we just turn into a werewolf and see if we can scare them into killing this so-called mother and everyone else?
However, this group of people had developed a clear worship, not only for the unknown "Push," but also for the woman they called "Mother."

If that's really the case, perhaps the only option is to enslave these people who practice feudal superstition and integrate them into the Xia tribe.

This is not something that can be guaranteed to be converted into slave labor; in fact, one's actions may lead to a life-or-death struggle with this group.

And just as he touched the wooden box, a plan suddenly came to mind!
“Um, Mom, in my previous tribe, only the chief could lick other people’s feet, so I can’t do that.”

"But we will use the most beautiful stones to express the same thing."

After he finished speaking, the other women already showed their anger.

When they saw Xia Minghao take out the wooden box and then saw the totem stone inside that was emitting a green light, they forgot all about scolding him.

Even the woman in the lead stared wide-eyed.

Seeing the woman's reaction, Xia Minghao immediately felt relieved.

Previously in the Xia tribe, Xia Minghao had already discovered that these glowing totem stones had a strange attraction for women.

This further confirms just how irresistible these beautiful totem stones are to women.

“That’s good, you don’t have to lick my feet anymore. But you also can’t attend the Pushi Conference.”

The woman's voice rang out again, still that distinctive mature and sophisticated tone.

Upon hearing this, Xia Minghao thought to himself that he had escaped a disaster. Just then, he heard the woman change the subject.

"Unless you can find me another stone of this beauty, you can't attend the Pushi Conference."

“Mother, there is only one of these stones. The rest are all on my dead people.”

Xia Minghao spoke without hesitation, thinking to himself, "You still want totem stones? I only brought three. If I give you one, I'll only have two left."

Moreover, I have no idea what the Pushi Conference is for, and you have to exchange totem stones for a chance to participate.

This time, the woman didn't speak, but instead examined the totem stone in the wooden box.

Arno, standing to the side, grabbed Xia Minghao and pulled him away. They didn't speak until they reached the small fire and squeezed in with the others who were eating around it.

“You didn’t lick Mommy’s feet just now, so Mommy will punish you. If it weren’t for that little stone, I would have fed you water.”

"What water?"

"The water is right there, and everything we eat comes from the water."

food?

Hearing Arno's words, Xia Minghao looked at the leaves beside the fire.

But beside the fire were piles of leaves, and on those leaves were swarms of all sorts of insects.

So these people actually eat insects?
The sight of the countless, all sorts of roasted insects made Xia Minghao's scalp tingle.

They saw the men feasting, not even removing the heads of the insects, just picking them up and eating them.

Arno also picked up a leaf and poured all the insects on it into his mouth.

Actually, some insects do taste quite good. Back in Yunnan, Xia Minghao not only ate mushrooms but also insects. After deep-frying them and sprinkling them with salt and pepper, the rich protein and the aroma of the oil made for an unbeatable taste.

But now, seeing these unfamiliar insects, Xia Minghao had no appetite and even felt a little nauseous.

"Ah Hao, why aren't you eating? Eating this will give us a lot of energy."

"I'm not hungry."

Xia Minghao touched the food wrapped around his waist, thinking that it was good that he brought enough, otherwise he would really have to eat all of this.

No wonder these people are all so strong; they must have been eating insects.

Insects are rich in protein, which is why these people are all as fit as bodybuilders.

Since he hadn't eaten anything, Xia Minghao had time to continue observing the situation of the tribe.

It was only then that I realized that it seemed like this tribe only had a few women around the big fire.
But there are so many men?

Where are the other women?
After watching Arno finish eating, and seeing the fire growing dimmer, Xia Minghao finally spoke up and asked.

"Where are the other women of the Wa tribe? Except for those by the bonfire."

Upon hearing this, Arno's good mood from filling his stomach vanished instantly, and he reverted to his resentful expression.

"It was Dick who brought bad things. After we migrated here, the women of the Wa tribe kept dying."

Dick?

That stone sculpture?

That stone sculpture makes a woman die?
Xia Minghao frowned, his mind filled with suspicion.

I observed it myself on the shore; it was just an ordinary stone sculpture.

If there really were some kind of divine power, wouldn't you have died countless times over if you had urinated on him?

"So, how are you now? Are you alright now?"

Upon hearing Xia Minghao's question, Arno's face lit up with anticipation once again.

“Mother killed those who believed in Dick, and then we believed in Pushi. Women won’t die suddenly, they’ll only die in childbirth.” “Pushi ensures that women won’t all die, and that the Wa tribe won’t disappear.”

"Ah Hao, let's go kneel and worship Pushi, and then go to sleep. I'll dig a hole for you to sleep in tomorrow, but we'll sleep in tonight."

Hearing Arno's words, Xia Minghao thought to himself that Arno was actually a pretty good person.

This is probably because these people have enough to eat and don't lack resources for survival.

Otherwise, if it had encountered itself in the first place, it probably wouldn't have just looked at itself out of curiosity, but would have wanted to drive itself away or even kill itself.

At this moment, many people were seen walking in one direction, where some firelight could be seen.

Following Arno, Xia Minghao also approached the faint firelight, while observing the small fires where children were gathered around the large bonfire.

They were clearly divided into two groups: one group of boys and the other group of girls, with roughly the same number of girls.

"Ah Hao, this is Pushi. Let's kneel down quickly."

After hearing what Arno said, Xia Minghao looked at the stone sculpture, which was completely different under the firelight.

This stone sculpture looks just like a giant abalone.

There's obviously no abalone in this place, so what's being carved is quite obvious.

really……

This completely confirmed Xia Minghao's initial suspicions.

Having heard Arno's account beforehand, Xia Minghao was finally able to piece together the situation of the Wa tribe.

It seems that after migrating to this place, this group of people found that they could eat their fill of insects, so they stayed and began a settled life.

As a result, for some reason, women began to die frequently.

Because of the scarcity of women, a power imbalance has emerged.

And that so-called mother probably found an opportunity to kill the tribe's original ruler and become the new ruler.

They continued the old belief in fertility worship and created this stone sculpture.

This led to a regression from patrilineal to matrilineal systems, and the worship of reproduction shifted from male sexual characteristics to female sexual characteristics.

On the way back with Arno, Xia Minghao kept thinking.

The key to breaking through this tribe has now been found: the issue of female mortality.

This is the root cause of the strange situation that has arisen in the Wa tribe.

Matriarchal societies are diverse, with older women often in charge of division of labor and distribution, but it is almost impossible for women to have absolute power in a tribe.

After all, men are physiologically stronger than women.

The reason why this situation exists in the Wa tribe is because the number of women in the Wa tribe is so small due to mysterious deaths.

Secondly, the so-called "mother" manipulated beliefs through reproductive worship, gradually leading to a concentration of power.

Once the mystery of the women's mysterious deaths is solved, a way can be found to consolidate power in the tribe for oneself.

So, where does this kind of death come from?

This situation was somewhat similar to that of the Wu tribe in the past, but Xia Minghao did not notice what they were applying to their bodies.

The only possibility is that it ate insects?

Women will die from eating insects, but men will be unaffected?

That doesn't make sense, because the number of genders of the children we just saw was perfectly normal.

In other words, eating insects can cause adult women to die mysteriously?
But Arnold also said that this situation no longer exists because of the so-called "Push"...

Why is that?

"Ah Hao, this is where I sleep. We can sleep here together. Tomorrow we'll dig out your sleeping spot together."

Arno's voice rang out again, but the figure had vanished.

Xia Minghao looked down by the moonlight and saw that Arno had already entered the cave.

So this is where they live?
Xia Minghao also jumped down and found that the cave was covered with dry leaves, but it was still quite damp.

The cave was so cramped that it couldn't have accommodated two people, but seeing that Arno was still willing to let him stay there, I felt even more grateful to him.

At the same time, he thought of the jerky on his waist, and without hiding it, he took out a piece.

"Arno, I have some food from my tribe. Do you want some? It's delicious. But you can't tell anyone. There's only a little, not enough to share."

"Food? I'll eat."

Upon hearing this, Arno's eyes, which had been somewhat drowsy due to sleepiness, suddenly widened and shone brightly in the moonlight.

Xia Minghao then broke off a piece of jerky and gave it to Arno.

Arno exclaimed with delight as soon as he took a bite.

"This is delicious, much better than insects!"

Xia Minghao smiled faintly, took a bite, and then asked for more information.

Unfortunately, Arno's narration skills were very limited, and he only understood bits and pieces of what he heard. He could only wait until dawn the next day to see for himself what the tribe was really like.

I lay down in the dry leaves and looked at the moon in the sky. It seemed that the full moon was coming soon.

Then I thought of the so-called Pushkin Congress that I had heard about before.

It seems that the Pushi Conference will be held around the time of the full moon.

What exactly was the Pushkin Congress?

Just as I was about to ask Arno next to me, I heard him snoring.

Since he was already there, he decided to make the best of it and not rush things, so Xia Minghao went to sleep peacefully.

(End of this chapter)