TPWBI Chapter 4

“Yi, Yi!”

Mao’s high, clear voice rang out through the forest, startling a flock of birds into flight.

There was joy in his voice. Yang Yi secretly let out a breath of relief. It seemed the surgery had been a success.

After Yang Yi finished the operation on Jing yesterday, he had let those three women take Jing away, and he himself had returned to the Black Forest.

He had already done all he could. Staying close to take care of Jing wouldn’t have made much difference.

At this stage, he still couldn’t trust these people completely.

He wasn’t sure if, should Jing not survive, they would really keep their word and not blame him regardless of life or death.

Compared to people whose intentions were still uncertain, this forest felt safer.

“Jing woke up! He’s fully recovered. He said that in a couple of days, he’ll be able to go hunting!”

Mao was so excited that his eyes were sparkling, his hands gesturing wildly as he tried to express how thrilled he was.

Although Jing had lost his right hand and right eye, he was still a formidable warrior and an experienced hunter. With him around, everyone felt much more at ease.

Just one day and there’s already such an effect?

Yang Yi couldn’t be sure if this was just a child exaggerating. He’d have to go check and follow up himself to know for sure.

“Come on, let’s go take a look.”

Mao eagerly led the way in front, bouncing and skipping, full of excitement.

Before long…

“Yi, hurry up! Why are you walking so slowly?”

“…”

I’m running, thank you very much. If I go any faster, I’ll be puking!

After graduating from college, Yang Yi had indeed become a bit of a homebody, but his old foundations were still there.

Back then, he’d even participated in the school’s running competitions. He’d even won prizes! And now, he couldn’t even outrun a little kid whose head barely reached his thigh!

The little brat was even running barefoot while he was wearing hiking boots.

This world was just too damned messed up! Even the game didn’t have settings like this!

Arriving at these people’s settlement, Yang Yi couldn’t help but frown.

He’d already seen the situation here through his binoculars, but standing here in person, he still couldn’t help but sigh.

They were just too poor, too miserable!

Most of the shelters here were makeshift tents built from large leaves. There were some furs too, but not many. The ground was mostly covered with leaves as well.

What they wore was also extremely crude. Very few people had furs. Even if they did, they only wrapped a small part of their body, leaving their thighs and arms exposed.

He didn’t know how these people managed to survive in sub-zero temperatures. If it were him, he’d catch a cold after just one night.

In the center of the camp was a huge bonfire, with several stone pots beside it, each as big as an electric rice cooker. There were also some clay pots, but just a few, all chipped and cracked. Not a single one was fully intact.

From far away, Yang Yi could already hear the ‘ding-ding-ding-dang-dang’ sound. Someone was using stone tools to pound on a large, relatively flat boulder, trying to carve out a hole in it. By now, they’d already hollowed out quite a decent-sized pit.

This group of people had come here with basically nothing. They had to start over from scratch.

It was still early, so the hunting and gathering teams hadn’t set out yet. Everyone was gathered here.

Yang Yi’s arrival immediately drew everyone’s gaze. Their eyes were filled with heat and reverence.

They were all thinking: This man dragged Jing back from the hands of death. He says he’s not a god, but what he did was exactly what a god would do!

If it had been before, in Jing’s condition, he would have been a dead man already. No matter how strong a warrior was, there would’ve been no saving him.

A tall figure walked over and stopped right in front of Yang Yi, then dropped to his knees.

“You saved my life. From now on, my life belongs to you.”

The man who had been on the brink of death just yesterday was now full of vitality again, completely out of danger, though still somewhat weak.

Mao hadn’t exaggerated. This man had recovered remarkably well, far better than Yang Yi had imagined.

Last night, Yang Yi was still thinking that if Jing’s condition didn’t improve today, he’d consider giving him an IV. It would be more effective than just taking antibiotics by mouth.

He hadn’t done it yesterday because all he had were veterinary antibiotic IVs.

Antibiotics are prescription-only drugs and, by regulation, can’t be bought freely, which counted as one of the game’s small perks for him. But that only applied to oral ones, and even then, he didn’t have much.

However, there were no restrictions on veterinary antibiotics. Yang Yi had figured that if he ever ran into an extreme situation, he could at least try it, so he’d stocked up on quite a bit.

He hadn’t expected that after only taking two doses of medicine, Jing would recover this quickly.

Rong also knelt and said the same thing.

“Remember what you said today.”

Yang Yi helped the two of them up and then checked Jing’s wounds and changed his bandages.

This time, he didn’t ask anyone else to leave. He did it right there under everyone’s watchful eyes.

Everyone could see that Jing’s wounds were no longer bleeding, nor were they rotting or festering. The recovery was fast and almost miraculous.

Seeing it with their own eyes made it even more shocking.

Yang Yi, up close, could also sense just how formidable these people’s healing ability was.

By now, Yang Yi had learned that humans here were divided into ordinary people and warriors. Warriors possessed talents granted by the gods.

A warrior’s body was stronger, whether in strength, speed, eyesight, or hearing, all far surpassed ordinary people.

The higher their level, the stronger every aspect became.

Jing was the only Level Three warrior among this group. Even disabled, he was still the backbone of the group along the way.

Yang Yi put on gloves, changed Jing’s bandages, and gave him another dose of hemostatic medicine and antibiotics to strengthen the effect.

Throughout the whole process, Jing didn’t even furrow his brow and even had the energy to talk.

“Could you save the others, too? We can do many things for you.”

Too many had been injured or killed along the way. Even now, many were still fighting death.

Their numbers were already small. Losing even one person was a huge loss.

After so much hardship to reach this place, to collapse like this was something no one wanted to see.

Jing couldn’t just stand by and watch his companions die, so he spoke up and pleaded.

“Alright.”

Yang Yi agreed without hesitation, but he repeated what he had said before. He couldn’t guarantee he would be able to save them for certain.

The condition of the other wounded was just as bad. Most of it was due to infected wounds.

Those whose bodies were especially weak had already been weeded out by nature during the journey.

Some had hypothermia because of the extreme cold. All the constant traveling and hunger had weakened their resistance, leaving them vulnerable.

Fortunately, those cases weren’t too severe. As long as they stayed warm and ate some hot food, they could recover.

Yang Yi did not take everything upon himself. He passed on what he knew to Jiao and Ting. Rong was a warrior and needed to go hunting, so she wasn’t brought along.

He himself was also a beginner, and the medical knowledge he had mastered was very limited. Letting them handle things made no real difference.

Yesterday, even though they couldn’t communicate through language, they still worked together seamlessly, which showed they were highly perceptive and well worth nurturing.

The two of them were very smart. They picked it up quickly and gradually did even better than Yang Yi.

Jiao had once learned some medical knowledge from the old shaman. Unlike the current shamans who liked to keep things hidden, the old shaman of the Blackstone Tribe loved to teach all kinds of knowledge to anyone willing to learn.

Along the way, it had always been her taking care of and treating the wounded, so she was very experienced.

Ting, on the other hand, was naturally quick-witted, dexterous, and extremely meticulous. Even on her first try, she could stitch up a wound beautifully.

Yang Yi taught her specialized stitching techniques by following the book. After practicing just once or twice, she could suture almost as well as a surgeon from his previous world.

Yang Yi mixed Chinese with the local language to roughly explain the uses of the medicines and various precautions. They immediately understood what to do.

When rinsing wounds, they were much more economical than Yang Yi, yet the treatment wasn’t delayed at all, showing they had already mastered it flexibly.

This made Yang Yi even more cautious about underestimating these people. Their backwardness and poverty now were only because the world’s overall productivity was so low, not because they were stupid.

On the contrary, these people were far stronger than him in physical strength, speed, endurance, and so on.

Yang Yi’s physical condition couldn’t even compare to the warriors here. He couldn’t even match an ordinary person. He was basically a useless weakling with combat power in the negatives.

If he hadn’t had his cheat, he wouldn’t have survived in the first place.

After supervising them a few times, he just left the medicines behind and let them handle everything on their own, freeing himself from the treatment work.

Looking around this place, he knew that if he wanted to live safely and comfortably, there was still a lot of work to do.

The young man named Jing, who was following closely behind, kept secretly glancing at Yang Yi from the corner of his eye, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

“Do you want to give it a try?” Yang Yi took the Military shovel hanging at his waist, attached a long handle to it, and handed it over.

Jing, caught peeking, looked a bit embarrassed, but he didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted the shovel right away.

The people who had been watching from a distance saw this and all came over, surrounding Jing.

Jing held the handle with his stump, his left hand lightly touching the edge of the shovel. One could almost picture this edge striking prey, blood bursting forth in an instant.

Sharp, sturdy, yet very light and thin. Such material and craftsmanship were unimaginable. How could something like this be created?

“This is the work of the gods,” Jing murmured in awe.

“No, this is the work of humans.”

Yang Yi took the Military shovel back and explained its uses.

This shovel had many functions. It was a double-headed design with a tail spike. Folding out the spike turned it into a spear.

By twisting the double rings at the front, the shovel could be switched between a spade and a hoe, and the flat side of the shovel could even be used to stir-fry food or fry eggs.

One side of the shovel had sawteeth with measurement markings on it, and there was a notch at the top that could be used to cut rope, while the other side was a sharp chopping blade.

In fact, besides these, it could also function as a wrench, a bottle opener, and a nail puller, though these uses probably wouldn’t come in handy here.

The handle could be taken apart into three sections, each with hidden features inside. There was a tactical knife, a whistle, and a fire-starting magnesium rod. The end could break windows, and the front handle even came with a rechargeable camp light.

“My god, are you sure this really isn’t made by the gods?”

Everyone had already thought this Military shovel was incredible. After Yang Yi’s explanation, they were even more amazed.

No matter which function it was, it was astonishing.

With a shovel like this, whether it was hunting, chopping wood, or starting a fire, everything would become much easier. It was an essential divine tool for living, traveling, or hunting.

When Yang Yi was stocking up on supplies, he mainly focused on six big categories: clothing, food, shelter and transport, weapons, books, and medicines.

For the weapons category, the very first thing he got was the Military shovel, since it could serve as both a weapon and a tool.

“Can I give it a try?” someone asked eagerly.

Yang Yi smiled and handed it over. “Of course you can.”

Kun took the entrenching shovel, looked around, then ran over to a tree about as thick as a washbasin. He rolled his shoulders, swung the shovel hard, and chopped down…

The thin Military shovel sliced right through the trunk at waist height, leaving only a line on the tree.

The whole place went silent.

A small figure darted over and gave the trunk a light push.

“Mao! What are you doing? Everyone run, the tree’s going to fall!” Kun panicked, but it was too late to stop him.

The big tree tilted to the other side. The scene immediately turned chaotic as people scrambled to get away.

“Bang—”

The heavy tree hit the ground. No one was hurt, but the dense branches crushed several tents underneath.

The corner of Yang Yi’s mouth twitched. He didn’t know whether to sigh at Mao for being a troublesome kid who could get people killed, or to marvel at how fierce these people were.

The Military shovel was indeed very sharp and could be used outdoors to chop trees and such.

But to slice clean through such a thick tree at waist height, that was simply inhuman!

“Amazing! I want to try, too!”

No one cared about the collapsed tents at all. Everyone crowded around Kun, wanting to get their hands on the divine tool and try it for themselves.

Kun looked at Yang Yi. When he saw that Yang Yi didn’t seem to object, he handed the Military shovel to the next person.

One after another, several people gave it a try. Some were warriors, some were ordinary people. They weren’t as sharp and clean as Kun’s, but even so, it only took them a few chops to bring down a tree.

The spike end was just as sharp. It could easily pierce a tree. Everyone could already imagine how easily that spike could stab into the skull of prey.

“If I had a weapon like this, I could do so much more!” an ordinary person said excitedly.

“With this, we could go hunting, too!”

No one wanted to remain weak. Everyone hoped to become strong.

The wild was extremely dangerous, and the beasts were very fierce. Normally, hunting tasks in the tribe were handed over to the warriors. If ordinary people went along, it was only to carry the prey back or to do some support work like digging traps.

Ordinary people felt the sense of danger even more strongly. Warriors were respected wherever they went, but ordinary people were not.

Back in the Blackstone Tribe, ordinary people had extremely hard lives. They had to keep working nonstop, got little food, and could easily be treated like livestock or sold off as slaves.

Now, because they had too few warriors, hunting had become extremely difficult.

They wanted to become stronger. If they had a weapon like this, they would no longer be the weak ones!

Unfortunately, a weapon like this was surely very hard to come by. Just being able to see it and touch it was already an incredible stroke of luck for them.

Jiao, who had just finished tending to the wounded, walked over and looked at this young man who was so different from the rest.

By showing off his weapon like this and demonstrating his strength, he clearly had his own purpose.

“What can we do for you?”

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