CHAPTER 31: HINA’S LUXURIOUS HUT

The meat was still clutched in my hand, untouched, the juices glistening under the flickering firelight as the tribe feasted around me. Their teeth tore into the flesh, their lips smeared with grease, their laughter mingling with the crackle of the flames.

I pretended to take a bite, my jaw moving slowly, chewing nothing, swallowing air. The taste—raw, gamey, unseasoned—lingered in my imagination, making my stomach twist with disgust.

Then—

An idea struck me.

Why not?

I bit into the meat—hard—my teeth sinking into the charred flesh. But before it could touch my tongue, before the flavor could register, I sent it straight to the System Storage.

The moment it vanished, I took another bite—and another—and another—chewing nothing, swallowing nothing, but keeping up the act perfectly. The others didn’t notice. They were too busy eating, too busy laughing, too busy living in this raw, unfiltered world.

Within minutes, the entire roasted piece was "gone"—not eaten, but stored, discarded, forgotten.

Eric clapped me on the back, his voice a rough growl. "Dexter, let’s go..." His grinning face was smeared with grease, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "I’ll show you around... our tribe."

Kina turned her head, her dark eyes locking onto me. "Don’t go into the forest," she warned, her voice firm but concerned. "And come back quickly... before it gets really dark..."

I nodded, grinning back at her. "I will, sister."

The night air was cool, crisp, the scent of earth and smoke clinging to the breeze as Eric, Patt, Luke, and Joe led me through the tribe. The huts were scattered in a rough circle, the fire at the center casting long, dancing shadows across the ground.

The men pointed out everything—the hunting racks, the storage pits, the areas where the women prepared food.

"Winter’s coming soon," Patt grunted, his voice a low rumble. "That’s when the other tribes start attacking..." His fingers tightened around the haft of his spear, his knuckles whitening. "Food gets scarce... and men get desperate."

Eric nodded, his expression darkening. "We guard the front hard..." He gestured toward the dense tree line that marked the edge of the tribe’s territory. "No one gets through without us knowing."

Luke spat into the dirt, his voice dry. "Last year, the Blackfang tribe tried..." His lips curled into a snarl. "We sent them back with fewer men than they came with."

Joe grinned, flexing his arms. "And this year? " His eyes gleamed with bloodlust. "We’ll do the same... worse."

I listened, nodding along, my mind racing. Winter meant war. War meant chaos. And chaos? That was an opportunity.

Then they took me to Ryan’s hut.

Fuck.

It was massive—far larger than any of the others, built from thick, heavy logs lashed together with animal sinew. The roof was thatched with layers of dried grass and hides, sloping steeply to shed rain and snow. But the real defense was behind it—

A sheer, towering mountain face, jagged and unclimbable, rising straight up from the ground like a natural fortress. No one could sneak up from behind. No one could attack from that side. The only way in was from the front—and that meant going through the entire tribe first.

"Ryan’s the chief," Eric muttered, his voice low, respectful. "His hut is the safest... strongest..." He gestured toward the mountain looming behind it, its dark shadow swallowing the hut in protection. "No one gets past that without dying first."

I studied the layout—the distance between Ryan’s hut and the others (fifty, maybe eighty meters), the way it overlooked the entire tribe from its elevated position.

The chief could see everything from here. Control everything. The hut was isolated—no other huts nearby—just open space and the impenetrable mountain at its back. It was strategic. Smart. Untouchable.

Perfect.

We circled back to the center, the fire still roaring, the tribe still feasting. My eyes flickered to the kids—the teenagers, clean-shaven, their bodies slim and unmarked by years of labor. Some of them were girls—not my taste yet, but their mothers?

Oh, I’d be attacking them soon enough.

I decided to integrate into their group. Kids were easy—trusting, curious. They’d ask questions. They’d talk. They’d help me understand this world without raising suspicion.

And besides—

If I got close to the kids?

I got close to their mothers.

Eric and the others returned to guard the tribe, resuming their patrols. I suppressed a smirk as I approached the group, my voice warm and disarming.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked, already settling onto the ground beside them. My gaze flicked across their faces—young, trusting, oblivious to the chaos I was about to unleash. The hunt had only just begun.

I struck up a conversation, probing gently. They revealed that the boys—Liam, Adam, Paul, and Noah—had started learning hunting and tracking from the tribe’s seasoned hunters.

The girls, Clara and Edith, were being taught cooking and chores like weaving clothing from leaves. I listened, nodding thoughtfully, filing away every detail.

They had no idea what was coming.

The firelight danced across the faces of the kids as they huddled together, their voices brimming with youthful excitement.

They spoke with the kind of unfiltered honesty that only children possess, their words painting a vivid picture of the tribe’s hierarchy—one that I was quickly learning to navigate. I found that Males are given priority and seen as Alpha.

"Hunters get the best food in winter," Noah said, his eyes shining with determination. He was a scrawny kid, but there was a fierceness in his voice that betrayed his ambition.

"Even when food is scarce, they eat first. Because if they don’t survive, who will hunt for the tribe?" His small fists clenched as if he were already gripping a spear. "And the girls... they all want hunters to be their man. Because hunters never go hungry."

I leaned in slightly, my voice casual but probing. "So hunters are like... the most important people here?"

"Yeah!" Liam, another boy with a mop of unruly hair, chimed in eagerly. "Then come the guards, like Eric and Patt. They protect us, so they get food next. Then the rest of us."