Falling into the Cretaceous

"Zhou Jian, take out the signal flare. The people in the forest should know it was us when they see the flare, and they'll come back," Shen Ye agreed with Cui Zhengxi's suggestion.

Zhou Jian touched his waist.

It was long ago empty.

"Oh no, I was afraid of losing it, so I put the flare gun in my backpack when I went to get water!" Zhou Jian slapped his forehead and said apologetically.

Mike was immediately annoyed.

"Damn it, what the hell! How could you let me down at such a crucial moment!" Mike cursed.

"I didn't want to either! I was just worried that I'd lose it if I carried it with me!" Zhou Jian retorted irritably.

Mike gritted his teeth and raised his fist to scare Zhou Jian.

Zhou Jian was so angry that he wanted to go up and fight, but Shen Ye stopped him.

"Alright, stop arguing. This was an accident. Don't let things escalate into internal conflict over what's already happened. Always remember, we're all refugees in the same boat; any internal strife will be fatal for us!"

Shen Ye said.

"Mike, you're too short-tempered. It's easy to hurt your teammates' feelings and disrupt team unity! Control your emotions!"

Shen Ye said to Mike.

Mike pursed his lips, but nodded nonetheless.

He now has nothing but admiration for Shen Ye, not only because Shen Ye's knowledge is useful, but also because of his bravery and selfless sacrifice for everyone, which has inspired him.

"Lin Ruochu, Ning Yan, Chen Yue, and Lan Yanyan, the four of you come with me to the woods to retrieve your backpacks!" Shen Ye said.

Zhou Jian looked puzzled.

"Brother Ye, it's too dangerous for them to go. I'll go alone!" Zhou Jian said, feeling somewhat guilty. It was clearly his fault, yet he had to make the women and Shen Ye take this risk.

"These are orders. I don't need to explain every single one to you, do I? If you acknowledge me as your leader, then you have to listen to me," Shen Ye said firmly.

Zhou Jian lowered his head, unsure of what to say.

Although no one understood why Shen Ye made this arrangement, they could clearly tell that Shen Ye was somewhat angry, so they could only remain silent.

Shen Ye mounted the tendon dragon's back.

"You four, follow me."

Shen Ye called out, and Ning Yan, Lan Yanyan, and Lin Ruochu nodded. Although they were very scared, it was Shen Ye's arrangement, and they dared not object.

Only Chen Yue was unhappy and picked up the spear on the ground to follow.

"No need to bring weapons, it's not far from here, just a few dozen meters away," Shen Ye said.

The women were all taken aback.

"We're not allowed to bring weapons either. What if we run into savages?" Chen Yue finally couldn't help but ask.

"Everyone, follow me. If you don't want to obey my orders, you can leave my camp!"

Shen Ye said very seriously.

This was the first time Shen Ye had spoken so seriously.

Everyone present was stunned; they couldn't even understand why Shen Ye was so angry.

Chen Yue didn't dare to say anything more, stomped her foot angrily, and then followed.

Shen Ye was slowly learning to ride the tendon dragon. He was already a skilled horse rider, so riding the tendon dragon wasn't too difficult for him.

The four women followed him slowly into the forest.

As Zhou Jian watched them disappear at the edge of the forest, a wave of guilt washed over him.

Only Zhang Qiming understood it.

Shen Ye wasn't really angry; he just needed to establish his authority at this moment. Before, everyone had only gathered together to plan things because they trusted him.

The incident at the camp made Shen Ye realize that everyone was actually quite disorganized, otherwise they wouldn't have completely given up on fighting these savages.

If he continues to rely on trust to maintain his position in the group, it will certainly not be enough. At best, he will be an excellent leader, but not a general, not the undisputed chief of the tribe!

Soldiers don't fight to the death because they believe in their general; it's the system, authority, shared interests, and faith that motivate them.

Therefore, it was perfectly reasonable for him to establish absolute authority after risking his life to save everyone, and no one would oppose him unless that person wanted to provoke public anger.

Furthermore, there are multiple reasons why Shen Ye asked four women to come along instead of the elite members of his team.

First layer: Savages will not kill women, especially unarmed women.

The second layer: He wanted to let the brothers who had just risked their lives to come back and save people know that he would not let them take risks again. Although it is said that the capable should do more work, it does not mean that the capable should take more risks.

If another one or two key players are lost, it will push the team into the abyss.

The third layer: He wants to let the valiant generals who made mistakes know that their carelessness could have resulted in the death of a weak woman. This would hurt a man's pride and make him feel guilty, and guilt would make him more careful in the future.

This is a hundred times better than blame.

The fourth level is simply establishing authority.

Zhang Qiming sighed. This young man, Shen Ye, kept surprising him with his actions. Although he could see through Shen Ye's motives, he couldn't bring himself to do them.

Just like some people can see through magic tricks, but they can't create magic tricks, because those are two different concepts.

Enter the forest.

Shen Ye became wary.

He looked around. Unlike tropical rainforests, broadleaf forests don't offer very good hiding places. The only places a savage could hide were sparse bushes, ferns, behind trees, and in the trees.

Several bodies were found in the forest.

They are three of the six fat men who survived.

They were too obese and may have underlying conditions such as diabetes or anemia, which would have made them too weak to escape the savages' pursuit.

The four women had seen many corpses before, so they were no longer disgusted. Instead, they were terrified that there might be wild men around them, and they all hunched their shoulders in tension.

Fortunately, the journey was uneventful.

They arrived at the spot where everyone had just put their backpacks.

The old engineer who died there is still there, but the bone spear on his back has been removed.

"Everyone, put on a backpack and hand the rest to me!" Shen Ye said to the women.

They didn't want to stay in the forest for even a second longer, so their movements became swift and efficient. They quickly put on their backpacks and handed them to Shen Ye on the dragon's spine.

Shen Ye carried one in front and one in back.

There are four backpacks left.

Shen Ye interlocked the shoulder straps of the four backpacks, making them a single unit, and then placed it directly on the spine of the tendon dragon, with two backpacks dangling on each side and the shoulder straps draped in the middle, like a donkey carrying grain.

"go back!"

Shen Ye said, turned the dragon head around, and headed towards the camp.

Before long, they returned to the camp without any incident. The women put down their backpacks and sat down on the ground, panting heavily, not from exhaustion, but from tension and fear.

Zhou Jian and a few others walked over.

Zhou Jian quickly found the red signal gun in his backpack.

"Brother Ye, should you post it or should I?" Zhou Jian asked.

"You can come."

Shen Ye said that he was very worried and did not know how many survivors were left. Today, he not only had to dispose of the corpses, but also had to find a way to prevent the savages from attacking. He was going to be busy.