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

Chapter 172 is actually a giant totem stone!?

"failed!"

"What do you mean by failing? You're not the chief!"

The man with the painted face had just charged at a few hairy people when he unexpectedly tripped over a giant deer and fell flat on his face.

Even the wooden handle of the bronze halberd broke in two. Fortunately, he was brave and had amazing strength. He had once fought with Li Ba to a draw. So, he used one hand to wield the halberd and slashed, while using the other hand to hold the handle and forcefully throated a roaring hairy man, thus turning the tide of the battle.

Meanwhile, the deer riders who had finished dealing with the other hairy men saw that the painted-face man was unharmed and began to laugh.

They even deliberately said things that the chief often said during training that they couldn't understand.

Failed...

In addition to these, there are also "full marks", "pass", and "zero marks".

Although I don't fully understand it, I know what it means.

Saying "zero points" would be a bit of a joke, so they started using "failing grade" to mock the painted face.

Although Hua Lian killed Mao Ren, he was still troubled by the broken bronze halberd in his hand.

He didn't need to worry about being scolded, but he still lost face in front of the chief and felt extremely annoyed.

Hearing everyone's laughter now only fueled his anger.

But knowing it was a joke, how could he really take it out on his own people?

You must not take your anger out on your own great elk, the one that carries you into battle; that is your closest "comrade-in-arms."

But how can I not vent all this anger?
So the painted-face man lowered his head and searched everywhere.

He was prepared to unleash his anger on the thing that had tripped the great stag.

Whether it's a large rock buried in the ground or an old tree root, you have to kick it a few times to vent your anger!

After walking back a few steps, based on his memory and what he saw, Hua Lian immediately found a huge "suspect stone"!
"that's it!"

Hua Lian rushed forward, ready to vent his anger, but then he remembered that his foot might hurt, so he squatted down and pulled out the stone that was half rooted in the soil and half exposed, and then prepared to throw it down the mountain!

Just as he was about to let go, he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"Stop! Don't move!"

The shout came at just the right moment; I had already leaned halfway out when I heard it.

So much so that Hua Lian subconsciously didn't throw the stone; even though he didn't hurt his back, he still felt unwell.

He could have been joking earlier, but now the man with the painted face wasn't so friendly.

He turned around angrily, only to see that everyone was staring at him in surprise, or rather, at the stone in his hand.

"This is the kind of beautiful stone that Musi also has."

"It's white, like the milk of a great elk."

“Yes, I’ve seen it too. Musi said she found it by the river, but it turns out it was on the mountain.”

The group whispered among themselves, but Hua Lian had never seen Mu Si before. He was usually busy hunting so that the women he slept with, as well as a family of four or five girls and a boy, could have more meat to eat.

Hearing what everyone said, and looking at the large stone in his hand, Hua Lian thought for a moment, found a stone, and threw it away.

With a snap, the large, milk-white rock shattered into seven or eight pieces!

Several people were terrified upon seeing this.

"Painted Face, what are you doing?"

"This is useless, it's not hard."

"It works, and it looks great!"

The remaining few people looked at the large rock with regret in their eyes.

However, when they reached the broken stones, the group stopped being upset and started picking them up.

"You take the painted face too, it looks nice."

Painted faces lack even the most basic aesthetic sense; they seem useless and don't appeal to anyone who picks them up.

By the way, give it to the chief; he might like it.

With that thought in mind, Hua Lian finally picked it up, mounted the giant antler deer, and set off towards the mountaintop.

……

……

……

"Finally, we've got this area mapped out."

Standing atop the only mountain peak by the lake, which was only four or five hundred meters high, Xia Minghao closed his notebook.

The area around this large lake is quite flat, so finding this mountain was really not easy; it took half a day.

Moreover, for some reason, the number of hairy people here is quite large. Fortunately, the deer riders have gained experience in killing hairy people, otherwise it would be extremely difficult to reach the top.

Using his telescope, Xia Minghao drew a map of the area surrounding the Great Lake, and could even clearly see the heart of the lake.

To Xia Minghao's surprise, there was actually a giant stone city deep in the heart of the city!
Not only is the city quite large, but based on comparisons, its area is estimated to be roughly the size of Yucheng.

Moreover, what was cast was a genuine boulder, not some pebbles...

This was somewhat unexpected; the Great Lakes tribe actually had a city?

Let alone the difficulty of moving these megaliths here and arranging them neatly in a circle, the fact that this megalithic city was built during a battle with the hairy people is already bizarre.

Could there be a master in the heart of this great lake?

Xia Minghao stroked his chin, gazing into the distance in the direction of Giant Stone City, before reluctantly picking up his binoculars again.

The heart of the Great Lake is indeed the heart of the lake. Although it does not extend deep into the lake, it is far from the riverbank and is connected to the riverbank by a small mud road that is barely above the lake surface.

The terrain is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Great Lakes tribe, which was originally thought to be easy to subdue, is now not so easy to subdue. If they were to force a siege, casualties would be inevitable.

What puzzled Xia Minghao the most was how the giant stones of the Giant Stone City were moved to the small island in the lake. Such large stones, even if they could be moved, this narrow path simply could not support their weight.

"These cavemen always manage to come up with something new."

"Chief, look at this, it's beautiful!"

Just then, they suddenly heard a voice from behind them.

I put down the binoculars and looked back, and sure enough, it was a painted face.

When Xia Minghao saw what the painted-face man handed him, he was stunned for a moment.

"Jade?!"

(Below is natural jade)
When Xia Minghao uttered a standard Mandarin pronunciation, everyone was completely bewildered, as they had never heard it before.

"This is called jade."

After hearing Xia Minghao's explanation, everyone finally understood.

The chief really knows everything; he's even seen this kind of stone before and knows its name.

Xia Minghao took the broken jade and examined it closely.

He didn't know much about jade, but among stones, it was certainly considered beautiful.

Although it has little practical value, it possesses considerable ornamental value.

It's not the best, but it's not bad either. We can keep it. As productivity develops and the Xia tribe enters a new stage of development, they might need jade.

I never expected this mountain to produce jade, so let's call it Jade Mountain.

Looking down at the mountaintop, Xia Minghao thought to himself.

"You can take more; maybe you can exchange it for something, like meat or salt."

They were not ordered to collect the items for their own use, mainly because they didn't actually need them for the time being.

Consider it as "wealth being stored among the people," and it can be acquired at low cost when needed.

Originally, everyone just thought it looked good, but now that they heard the chief say that, they were both surprised and delighted.

If the chief says so, then it must be true!
This can actually be exchanged for meat.

Upon hearing this, the painted-face man felt a mix of emotions, unlike the others' joy, especially when he caught a glimpse of the broken jade pieces in the hands of the others…

These were originally mine~
Soon after, the other deer riders finished dealing with the hairy people and also climbed to the top of the mountain to join them.

Many of them also had jade stones in their hands, some large and some small.

I picked it up casually because it was pretty, but now that I'm on the mountaintop, I heard the painted-face guy say that this thing can be exchanged for something else in the future.

They were both happy and regretful, wishing they had taken more.

After Xia Minghao finished drawing the final map, he began to count the number of people.

Although they are primitive people, they use modern training methods.

Of course, it can't be considered a professional course; it's all Xia Minghao's copy of his military training experience from four or five years ago when he first entered university.

"Report the count."

"One"

"two" ……

One by one, the people finished counting off, and the number of people was exactly the same, not too many or too few.

Xia Minghao felt relieved.

Now it was time for these deer riders to report their battle achievements.

"Reporting to the chief! We've killed ten."

"We are too..."

"There are twenty of us..."

"There are ten of us too."

One team after another reported in turn.

Xia Minghao was somewhat bewildered when he heard the number of hairy people killed that the group had revealed.

Even the deer riders sensed something was wrong, but they didn't know exactly what it was.

Xia Minghao immediately realized what was wrong.

Why are the quantities all multiples of ten?

He looked at everyone and asked in confusion.

"Why did you only kill ten or twenty people at a time?"

When asked this question, these people became somewhat insecure.

Some people even counted on their fingers, relying on their memory of the battle.

Finally, someone gave a definitive response.

That's definitely a lot.

The remaining teams also provided their answers.

It would be strange not to be suspicious. In fact, a few days ago, this group of people had already lied about their battle achievements.

Everyone wanted to be better than the other, so after the first "smart egg" lied, more and more people gradually started to lie.

This situation gradually evolved into one where each person was fighting against a hundred...

Xia Minghao did not overly criticize the formation of this flamboyant style.

After all, not using battle merits as rewards now won't have any real impact; it's just for data statistics.

He simply explained the reasoning to the group of deer riders.

However, this prompted Xia Minghao to reflect that the current false reports about arms control are still in their infancy, and it is a good time to prepare for the future.

Since military merits are not linked to benefits, it is obviously due to a sense of honor or a competitive spirit.

For this group of "simple" primitive people, such a situation could occur as long as there is competition among them for the subconscious "survival ability".

The current "exaggerated style" is a minor issue, but it serves as a reminder to prevent such a situation from occurring in the future.

When the agricultural era arrived, farming was inevitable, and farming required harvest statistics.

If that situation were to occur again, it would be disastrous, not only for their own lives but also for the Xia tribe.

If food statistics are inaccurate and incorrect planning is implemented, famine could occur.

However, what we are seeing is clearly not an exaggeration or fabrication, since who would exaggerate to the point of just being like everyone else?

Moreover, the number of people in these groups is a multiple of ten...

If the deer riders are telling the truth, then there must be something wrong elsewhere.

Seeing that it was still early, Xia Minghao had originally planned to return to the Xia tribe today, so a slight delay wouldn't matter.

Xia Minghao then followed the group to the place where they had killed the hairy people, and began to mark the area on his hand-drawn map of Yushan.

After completing this round, the problem was indeed discovered.

The reason why this group of soldiers killed either ten or twenty people was because the Mao people they encountered were always in groups of ten.

The locations of these groups of ten hairy people have a very clear relationship of density.

This is clearly organized...

What is the organizational structure of the Mao people?
Xia Minghao immediately thought of the scene when the Mao people attacked the Dahu tribe.

Could it be that Yushan was actually the "command center" of the Mao people?

This group of gorillas is actually organized, with a command center, and I just happened to run into them.

This is a coincidence, but perhaps it is also inevitable, because there is only one mountain near the lake, and only this mountain is suitable for hiding.

“Painted Face, you and your group stay with me. You go over there, you go this way, head towards that big rock.”

Xia Minghao divided the deer cavalry into three teams, and he led his men forward first.

Once they were close enough, they waved behind them, signaling the painted-face man and the others to be on guard.

He then climbed onto the large rock alone and peered down.

There was nothing unusual, but I didn't dare to let my guard down. I picked up a stone and threw it down the boulder.

The pebble made a slight sound as it struck the ground, and then suddenly a hairy person appeared!

Sure enough, there are hairy people here.

Based on the pattern marked on the map, I have a feeling there should be something here.

The hairy man's enormous body stared at the stone with a somewhat bewildered expression. After a long while, it seemed as if it had thought of something and raised its head.

But then he saw a pair of black eyes on the boulder staring at him.

Suddenly, the painted-face man made his move, leaping down with his halberd and delivering a fatal blow to the hairy man with a "crow takes off" maneuver!
"Chief, there are no other hairy people here!"

After scanning his surroundings, the man with the painted face looked up at Xia Minghao and said something.

The three groups of people rushed forward and all arrived at the location where the hairy man had been.

To be on the safe side, Xia Minghao was the last to jump.

Instead of wandering aimlessly like the others, they began to search.

Based on the location where the hairy man appeared, Xia Minghao indeed found a large pit.

Although the pit was large, it was covered with all kinds of weeds, and it would have been extremely difficult to find without the guidance of the dead hairy man.

Was this dug up? Or is it natural?
I glanced at the large pit a few times, and it seemed to be incredibly deep, not like it was formed naturally.

But the top of this huge pit was surrounded by rocks, some of which were neatly broken.

What tools are needed to break through rocks and dig a hole?
Xia Minghao was suspicious, so he took out his flashlight and decided to use up some battery to check the situation inside.

The cave was very dark, at least for Xia Minghao; it might not have been so for the hairy man. But it wasn't particularly deep.

After giving the order to the deer riders, he led twenty men down into the cave, while the rest stayed on the ground to guard the giant deer.

Another reason is to prevent the sudden arrival of hairy people and their attacks, since this place is very likely to be a gathering place for these hairy people.

Xia Minghao was the last to jump down, and when he got there, he turned on his flashlight.

The cave has clearly been constructed, resembling a small house, with loose rocks and soil everywhere, forming a rectangular space.

Was this made by Mao?

The possibility cannot be underestimated; it should be said that it is absolutely impossible.

If the Mao people could really build these houses inside the mountains, they definitely wouldn't have been slaughtered by me and my deer cavalry.

The crowd surrounded Xia Minghao. In this environment, everyone had lost their previous focus and were all on high alert.

It was almost as if he was proceeding cautiously, step by step, as Xia Minghao advanced warily through the passageway.

"There's something!"

Suddenly, the painted-face man at the front shouted!
But after shouting, it did not retreat, but ran forward wildly, followed by a roar and then a mournful cry.

Xia Minghao quickly shone his flashlight over and saw the man with the painted face standing there, panting heavily, with a hairy man lying at his feet. He went inside, first stabbing the hairy man on the ground a few more times, and then began to examine him.

It wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't checked, but once they did, Xia Minghao discovered that there was an indigo blue stone stuck in the back of the hairy man's head.
This is?

"Chief, chief, look, this, this big rock, it's glowing!"

Suddenly, he heard a series of exclamations and Xia Minghao hurriedly looked over.

At this moment, everyone looked in the same direction.

But it's just an earthen wall?

When Xia Minghao arrived at the group's location, he realized where the glowing stone they were talking about was. It was clearly visible in the cracks of the earthen wall.

A glowing rock?

Xia Minghao immediately thought of Ye Zi, whom Mu Tuo and the others had mentioned.

A genuine totem stone!

Could this be the source of totem power? The true totem stone!
(End of this chapter)