inspire-indiana Chapter 7 Everyone performs their duties
Chapter 7 Everyone performs their duties
The sub-orcs returned to where they had just gathered, and Rabbit Forest and the others had already collected most of the chestnuts on the ground.
Seeing them return each carrying something, he beamed with joy and quickly went to greet them: "What are these things you found?"
Lu Xiao held a bunch of bamboo shoots, smiling happily, "This is food I found for free."
Tu Lin turned his gaze to Lin Baiyan, and the young man explained, "These are bamboo shoots, the tender buds of the knot tree. I've eaten these before, and they taste pretty good."
In the gathering team, there was a sub-beastman who, like Cat White, had been driven out of the White Cat Tribe. Cat Snow was a little confused because she had never seen these things in the tribe. Why had Cat White eaten them?
There were no such trees around the tribe when she and the gathering team went out to collect them before.
However, she didn't dwell on these things. Mao Bai wasn't talkative, and she wasn't familiar with him. Perhaps he discovered it by chance when he was out.
When Lin Baiyan saw Mao Xue's puzzled look, his heart skipped a beat. Oh no, how could he have forgotten about the sub-beastmen from the White Cat Tribe?
Fortunately, Mao Xue didn't say anything.
The young man breathed a sigh of relief, secretly reminding himself to be more cautious in the future.
Tu Lin didn't notice the change in Lin Baiyan's expression. He looked at the very large bamboo shoots in the hands of the sub-beastmen and breathed a sigh of relief. No matter how many chestnuts there were, they were still too small.
He searched carefully while gathering, but this place was completely different from the territory he had lived in before. After searching for a long time, he only found some edible tooth leaves.
The beastmen had huge appetites, and these chestnuts alone weren't enough to fill their stomachs. Luckily, the cub Bai found some other food to fill its belly.
Thinking of this, Tu Lin became worried about the hunting team that had gone out, wondering if Lang Cang and the others had made it safely.
"Never mind," he shook his head. "Even if it doesn't go smoothly, it's okay. At least they've gathered food, and everyone will be able to eat something tonight."
He directed several sub-orcs to put the food they were carrying into the cave first, saying, "Let's go back into the cave first, put the things down, and then come out again."
A group of sub-orcs carried the bamboo shoots and chestnuts they had just gathered back to their cave.
As soon as they arrived at the cave entrance, they found several orcs banging on a huge rock.
One of the orcs broke the sharp stone spike in his hand, shook his hand and threw the broken spike aside, then picked up a long stone spike next to the cub and began to hammer it.
Seeing Rabbit Forest and the others enter the cave, Tiger Green, the sub-beastman who had broken the stone cone, immediately brightened up. "Rabbit Forest, you're back!"
"So, have you found any food?"
The other orcs in the cave also turned their gazes toward them.
Tu Lin smiled and nodded, "Found them, we found a lot."
Hu Qing happily spun around, "Great! We can have food tonight!"
"Oh, right, while we were looking for stones, we found a stream to the east, not far away. We can go there to get water."
A look of joy filled Tu Lin's eyes. "Really? You actually found a water source."
"You did a great job, and the stone pot is excellent too." Tu Lin circled the stone pot they had made, clearly very satisfied.
"We discovered it by chance." Hu Qing was pleasantly surprised by the praise, and he scratched his head shyly.
"As for the stone pot, the little cubs have been a great help too." Hu Qing pointed to the little cubs who were busy sharpening the stone awl in the cave.
Among them, Wolf Cloud was particularly serious. The half-grown cub had a stern face and carefully polished the long stone to make it even sharper.
Even while doing his work, the young boy didn't forget the task Lang Cang had given him, and every now and then he would look up at the fluffy little wolf cubs who were curled up sleeping.
Some of the cubs diligently carried firewood in their mouths, bent over, and dragged it into the cave, placing it in a corner before going back to work.
When male beastmen transform into their beast form, they become much stronger than when they are human.
"You guys are great too," Rabbit Forest gently praised the hardworking cubs.
The cubs were so pleased with the praise that they worked even harder. Even Little Wolf Cloud, though expressionless, moved his hands faster and faster after hearing it.
"Then let's find some large leaves to carry the water." Since they didn't have any animal hides, they could only use the most rudimentary method: carrying the water in bags of leaves, one trip at a time.
"This is a bit troublesome; we need to prepare in advance." Tu Lin thought about the forest they had just entered, where there were relatively intact large leaves.
At this opportune moment, Lin Baiyan said, "Lin, we can use knotted trees. They are made up of sections, and we can hollow them out to make it easy to transport water."
Lu Xiao recalled the appearance of the knot tree and suddenly realized, "That's right, we can use the knot tree! How come I didn't think of that?"
"Cat White, you're such a clever little cub!" Lu Xiao leaned over and patted Lin Baiyan's head.
Being praised like a little cub made the young man turn his head away uncomfortably, even though he really was still an underage cub.
"Then let's go back to the bamboo forest again, dig up some more bamboo shoots, and cut down some knotted trees to bring back for water transport," Tu Lin said after thinking for a moment.
"Can I stay in the cave? I want to try to start a fire so that when the hunting party returns, we can cook food directly," Lin Baiyan requested.
Tu Lin readily agreed, "Of course, but Bai, you don't need to be too nervous. It's hard to start a fire, so we can eat raw food too."
On this continent, due to the harsh living environment, the beastmen have a very powerful digestive system, and they can even eat raw meat.
Of course, even if they got an upset stomach, they wouldn't notice; in short, they lived a very rough and simple life.
Lin Baiyan recalled that in Mao Bai's memory, the people of the White Cat Tribe used to eat raw meat. The young man thought about that scene and felt that he still couldn't accept it.
"I'll do my best..." He didn't want to eat raw meat; the taste was something only those who had tried it knew.
After making the decision, Lin Baiyan stayed in the cave to start a fire, while Tu Lin and the other sub-beastmen went out again to dig bamboo shoots and fetch water.
Lu Xiao followed them out, leaving only Hu Qing, a few sub-beastmen who were polishing the stone pot, the older beastmen, and the cubs in the cave.
Those in the cave, knowing Lin Baiyan was about to start a fire, secretly glanced in his direction. Hu Qing was also very curious, pounding on the stone pot while occasionally looking towards the young man beside him.
Xia the kitten sidled up to Lin Baiyan, tilting her head adorably and meowing.
Go, Cat White Brother!
Lin Baiyan was also a little nervous. The young man only knew that he could make fire by rubbing sticks together, but he had never tried it himself and did not know if he could succeed.
He ruffled Xia the kitten's head and began his fire-making plan!
The young man rummaged through the firewood the cubs had gathered and selected a few relatively dry and large pieces of wood, all of different kinds.
Then I picked a sturdier wooden stick.
Lin Baiyan carefully recalled the process of starting a fire by rubbing sticks together. Then he began his experiment.
He first randomly picked a piece of wood, then dug a small hole in the bark to expose the wood core inside.
Then take another small stick and keep rubbing the wood core, occasionally adding a little bit of the rubbed wood shavings to the wood core.
This should allow for better ignition.
But after rubbing it for a long time, there wasn't a single spark on the wood.
So he tried a different piece of wood and experimented several times, but still no luck. At best, he could only rub the wood until it turned a little darker.
The orcs in the cave were somewhat disappointed. As expected, Cat White had oversimplified things. Fire wasn't so easy to start.
The young man was a little frustrated. "It should be about the same, so why isn't even a spark flying?"
Perhaps the orcs were too weak?