Ch70 – Chili Pepper
Carnivorous dinosaurs like the Carnotaurus and Carcharodontosaurus weren’t good at running long distances. They had only run for so long because of the herbs and were in fact very exhausted by now. After falling headlong into the pond, they were unable to move anymore.
Of course, the pond wasn’t that big, so they didn’t die after falling in. As a result, at this time, two Barosaurus ran over and also fell in.
These two Barosaurus were too big, so they filled up the pond completely and crushed the carnivorous dinosaurs beneath them.
Heavy, large dinosaurs like the Barosaurus also weren’t good at running. They typically wandered around at a slow and leisurely pace, constantly eating as they went––they were very large and required a lot, a lot of food.
Now, however, they had become extremely agitated under the influence of the herb. As a result, Xiong Ye watched with wide eyes as they stumbled and nearly lost their balance, then stood back up and restlessly began to walk back and forth.
Stepping back and forth on the bodies of the dinosaurs that had fallen into the pond before them.
Xiong Ye: “……”
“Xiong Ye, the dinosaur that fell in earlier… That was a Carnotaurus…” Xiong Qi was really in a daze, “We encountered them when we went to trade for salt after winter had passed. They ate a few of our people…”
“Mm…” Xiong Ye’s mood was indescribable as he looked at the Carnotaurus that had been trampled into the mud by the Barosaurus.
Not only had the Carnotaurus fallen in, there was also a Carcharodontosaurus down there that was even more terrible than the Carnotaurus!
Now, they had all been trampled to death.
The two Barosaurus were so big that Xiong Ye and the others didn’t dare to make any moves against them at all. They could only watch blankly as they panted and stomped on the dinosaurs beneath them. As for the ‘small dinosaurs’ that had been brought along with them, some of them had also fallen into the pond while others had already run off to who knows where.
The earth trembled under the steps of these Barosaurus. Xiong Ye and the others who were still in the vicinity found it difficult to stay upright.
Finally, Xiong Ye simply sat down.
Xiong Qi saw this and sat down as well. He took the opportunity to praise him, “Xiong Ye, you’re too amazing. You told us to dig out this trap and actually caught so many dinosaurs!”
Xiong Ye: “……” At first, he had indeed wanted to dig a trap, but it wasn’t a trap anymore. It was a pond! He had originally planned to use it to raise fish…
“It won’t be easy to get such a large dinosaur out of the water later!” Xiong Qi said.
Xiong Ye also felt that it wouldn’t be easy.
At this point, Xiong Qi swallowed his saliva again, “Before, it was the Carnotaurus eating us, but now it’s become us eating them. I wonder if it’s tasty.”
“That was a Carcharodontosaurus that fell in before the Carnotaurus! The most powerful dinosaur! I definitely have to see what it tastes like. If I’m able to try it, my entire life will have been worth it.” Bao Cheng said.
Bao Yu: “I feel that those two large dinosaurs should taste better.” Those two large Barosaurus… They were like two mountains of meat! Why hadn’t they fallen to their deaths in the trap!
Their trap had been too small!
They would make sure to dig a bigger one next time.
At this time, Mao Jin who had come out with the gathering team was still spitting.
Mao Jin was fourteen years old. She couldn’t be considered young and would therefore follow the gathering team to work during the day. When the gathering team heard that dinosaurs had come, the gathering team had hurriedly returned back to the tribe, but she had run over to take a look because her animal form was small, and she was able to climb trees––if she really encountered any danger, she would be able to escape simply by climbing a tree!
Yet as a result, Xiong Ye had asked her to catch the bat.
She had thought the bat was a bird, but unexpectedly it was someone in animal form! She had bitten someone to death!
Mao Jin kept feeling a little uncomfortable––it was so dirty!
“Bah!” The little cat who hadn’t turned back into human form spat once again.
When Bao Yu saw the situation, she immediately went to pick up the little kitten, “Mao Jin, you’re so amazing! If it weren’t for you, that bat might have been able to lead those dinosaurs straight to the tribe!”
The kitten was a little shy. Bao Yu added, “That bat led the people of the Giant Tiger Tribe to kill many of our people… Thank you for killing it!”
When the little kitten heard this, she was no longer embarrassed and instead puffed out her chest.
And then, Bao Yu gave her a kiss.
Xiong Ye was suddenly a little envious of Bao Yu and then couldn’t help but let out a sigh––why couldn’t Zhou Ji’s animal form be a small cat?
While Xiong Ye was still thinking about Zhou Ji, he saw Xiong He leading a group of people over. Zhou Ji was at the back of the crowd.
The neglected Xiong He: Shouldn’t this kind of thing be reported to him first?
“Where’s the meat?” Xiong He asked, “The meat you’re talking about shouldn’t be the two big fellows up ahead, right? We have no way to kill such big dinosaurs!”
Xiong Ye turned his head when he heard Xiong He’s words. Only then did he discover that the Carnotaurus and other dinosaurs had all been trampled under the water by the Barosauruses. “Chief, the meat I’m talking about is inside the pond. They’ve been stomped into the water by those two big dinosaurs!”
Xiong He: “……” Was that possible?
Zhou Ji had discovered this matter long ago and was actually quite delighted––Xiong Ye finally had meat to eat.
Only, this meat had been repeatedly trampled on by such heavy dinosaurs. The texture had probably worsened…
Zhou Ji enveloped the two Barosaurus with his spiritual powers and discovered that their mental state wasn’t quite right. It should be because they had eaten some sort of hallucinogenic plants.
Zhou Ji noticed that they seemed to be a bit dizzy and was nice enough to use his spiritual powers to help heal them a little.
The two dinosaurs that had still been going around in circles and had even hit their heads against the trees next to the pond, suddenly stopped moving. After that, they walked out of the pond and slowly made their way to the side, acting like nothing had happened as they began to eat the leaves off a tree.
Xiong Ye and the others were a little dazed. Zhou Ji kept his contributions to himself.
Regarding herbivorous dinosaurs, they generally wouldn’t take the initiative to deal with beastmen as long as they weren’t actively hunted. Seeing that the two Barosauruses had walked off, Xiong He immediately said, “We’ll go into the pond and drag the dinosaurs out!”
These Carnotaurus were seven to eight meters long and catching one was usually enough for an entire tribe to eat their fill. Not only that, there was also a ten meter plus Carcharodontosaurus inside as well as some smaller dinosaurs that had been knocked in accidentally…
Their tribe was going to be overflowing with meat again!
The people of the Big Bear Tribe, who had only just finished their farming work, were suddenly busy once again.
However, even though they were very busy, everyone was still very happy.
There was so much meat!
And this meat had also brought along so much other meat! They wouldn’t have to worry about being unable to find dinosaurs to hunt anymore!
The people of the Big Bear Tribe began to busy themselves as they went into the water to collect the meat, completely unfazed about getting dirty. Only Zhou Ji, who was wearing the white clothing he had weaved himself, remained by the side and watched quietly.
He was already to the side like this, but Xiong Ye was still worried that he might be bothered by the smell of blood, “Zhou Ji, the smell here is very intense. Do you want to go back to the tribe first?”
“The tribe also has the smell of blood.” Zhou Ji said.
Xiong Ye: “I’ll have people wash the meat first before bringing it back! It’ll be more convenient, too!”
After Xiong Ye said this, he immediately went to find Xiong He.
Xiong He gave Zhou Ji a reverent glance and agreed without hesitation. He even added, “Xiong Ye, you definitely have to treat Zhou Ji well!”
There had been no meat to eat in the tribe, and Xiong Ye had been unable to catch any prey. In this kind of situation, he had felt that it was pointless when Zhou Ji had told Xiong Ye to dig traps. He had even thought that Xiong Ye was merely wasting his strength, but Xiong Ye was willing to do it, so Xiong He hadn’t said much about it.
But look what had just happened! After they finished digging these traps, a group of dinosaurs actually ran over and even jumped into them on their own!
Zhou Ji was definitely loved by the Beast God!
It wasn’t only Xiong He who thought this way. Many people of the tribe also had these same thoughts.
Although they already knew that these dinosaurs had been led over by the people of the Giant Tiger Tribe, if Xiong Ye hadn’t dug these traps at Zhou Ji’s behest, they definitely wouldn’t have been able to catch these dinosaurs!
Since the people of the tribe were being so accommodating… Zhou Ji went back to continue napping.
There was nothing he needed to continue worrying about in the Big Bear Tribe. The Giant Tiger Tribe wouldn’t be back anytime soon after experiencing this setback… Zhou Ji felt that he no longer needed to toil and tire himself out.
It wasn’t a good thing for him to interfere too much. What would he do if he ended up guiding the tribespeople into becoming useless?
Zhou Ji returned to the tribe and decided to make himself some more daily necessities and improve his quality of life.
Oh, right. Xiong Ye was still shedding, and he could also make a blanket…
Taking advantage of the fact that Xiong Ye wasn’t there, Zhou Ji used his spiritual powers to play around with the bear fur.
He didn’t know how to make a blanket and could only use his spiritual powers to weave the fur together… In the end, he didn’t manage to make a soft blanket and ended up with a hard, rough floor mat instead.
A mat was fine too… Zhou Ji finished half of it, set it aside, yawned, and went to sleep.
Zhou Ji was sleeping very soundly, but the people in the tribe were continuously, persistently busy.
There was so much meat that simply bringing it all back took up a lot of time!
Fortunately, all the meat had been brought back by the time the sky grew dark. Seeing that there was so much meat, Xiong He even declared on the spot that everyone could eat as much as they liked today.
Xiong Ye finally ate until his belly was rounded, completely satisfied.
After that, he went to find Xiong He and requested to be excused from tomorrow’s manual work.
“No problem.” Xiong He said, “Tomorrow’s work involves smoking meat. It’s fine if you don’t come!”
“Thank you, chief!” Xiong Ye said.
“Xiong Ye, what do you plan to do tomorrow?” The priest, who had circles all over his face, asked him.
“I saw a bird today. Tomorrow, I want to catch it and give it to Zhou Ji to eat!” A lot of animals had run over today, and he had seen the terror bird amongst them as well as some other animals that Zhou Ji was willing to eat.
He couldn’t just let Zhou Ji constantly have no meat to eat!
“That’s something you should do. You definitely have to hunt well… Right, teach me that multiplication table again.” The priest demanded.
Xiong Ye: “……” Xiong Ye had recently begun to understand the priest’s mood when faced with the people of the tribe who didn’t manage to learn anything no matter how he taught them.
He now felt quite close to collapse too––probably due to his age, the priest was particularly slow when it came to learning things. He couldn’t memorize this multiplication table no matter what!
However, even if he was about to collapse, Xiong Ye still needed to teach if the priest wanted to learn.
Xiong Ye slowly began to teach it to him again.
The priest once again tried very seriously to learn it.
That night, the well-fed Xiong Ye ran out in the middle of the night to cultivate as usual, but the person who always appeared so suddenly to teach him actually didn’t show up.
He inexplicably felt a little lost and didn’t know what was going on.
Actually… Zhou Ji was just lazy. Additionally, he didn’t want his mate to run out like this every day.
Although he had started cultivating and could sleep less, he still needed to sleep. At least, Zhou Ji wanted to sleep.
What was Xiong Ye trying to accomplish by running around outside every day? He should turn into his animal form and cuddle him to sleep…
The fur on the big bear’s belly was very soft. Lying inside his embrace was really very comfortable!
Xiong Ye didn’t seem to mind that he hadn’t met that powerful person that night. The next day, Xiong Ye happily went out hunting as usual.
His target today was the terror bird from yesterday. He still remembered this bird’s scent… He started searching for it everywhere.
At this time, Zhou Ji had also gone outside of the tribe to take a look and see if he could find anything edible.
Although he had already canvassed the area around the tribe several times in the past, it had been during spring when most plants were still young seedlings. He simply hadn’t known what they would look like after they matured and had naturally missed out on a lot.
Now that the weather was hot, there were more plants, and he could go out and take another look.
Zhou Ji hadn’t held much hope for finding anything new when he went out this time, but unexpectedly he actually found a variety of plant that grew something like chili peppers!
This kind of plant wasn’t very big and produced small green fruits about the size of a fingernail. He had originally thought that it was a fruit, but after studying it, he discovered that it could be used like chili pepper.
This small green fruit would also turn red when it ripened.
The fruit was very juicy and had a medium level of spiciness. It could be directly used like chili sauce after being picked and crushed.
Zhou Ji couldn’t help but be somewhat excited.
He could eat spicy food even when he was in the modern era, but he wasn’t obsessed with it; he also liked lighter, milder fare. After all, there had been an abundance of all types of food back then, and many spices were available.
There had been all sorts of condiments and seasonings. Some vegetables were delicious even when they were simply boiled and then dipped in sauce!
However, there was nothing but salt in this place, and that salt also contained impurities.
Even if the vegetable had originally been very delicious, the resulting taste was rather average when it was only seasoned with salt.
It was because of this that he always felt that Xiong Ye and the others were very impressive for being able to eat that hodgepodge of mixed vegetables every day without any change in expression.
In any case, he didn’t want to eat a single bite of that kind of thing.
As for fish and the like… He was also a bit sick and tired of eating fish soup every single day!
But it was different now that he had chili peppers… He could make many fish dishes with chili peppers!
Roasted meat with a bit of chili was also very delicious!
Zhou Ji produced a big pile of chili peppers to bring back. He planned to make something delicious for himself and Xiong Ye to eat that night.
Additionally, now that he had chili, he should be able to find some other spices… He had already found an herb similar to rosemary that could be added to the roasted meat, but he still needed things like onion, ginger, garlic, and so on…
While Zhou Ji was busy picking chili peppers, Xiong Ye was clinging to a terror bird’s back so he could break its neck. After accomplishing that, he then picked up the terror bird and headed back to the tribe.
On the way back, he heaved a heartfelt sigh as he looked at the bare trees in the area.
Those two Barosaurus were really capable of eating! It had only been a day, but they had already cleared out so many trees!
Xiong Ye felt that it would be best if they could find a way to kill off one of the Barosaurus and eat it… Otherwise, all the trees around their tribe would end up being eaten by these two big fellows!
Xiong Ye carried the terror bird toward the tribe and first went to the river to remove its skin and clean it.
If it had been before, he would have saved the bird skin and such for the children of the tribe. However, the tribe wasn’t short on meat these past few days, and the meat would go bad easily if it was left for a long time… Xiong Ye finally chose to extravagantly throw the bird skin into the river instead.
He had been unable to catch any fish in the river a few days ago, but now, many fish immediately ran out to nibble at the discarded bird skin. They even scrambled to compete for it, eating very happily.
Xiong Ye immediately felt less regretful when he saw this scene––this skin hadn’t been wasted. It was being used to raise fish!
He would come over to catch fish in a few days!
The tribe was filled with the scent of smoked meat when Xiong Ye returned to the tribe.
The priest had made some very strong salt water, placing strips of dinosaur meat inside to soak for a while before having people take it out and smoke it…
Last time, they had used mud to make a small hut that was specifically used for smoking. Because of this, the speed at which they smoked meat this time was quite fast!
Xiong Ye rather missed the smoked meat and pickled vegetable barley flatbread.
“Xiong Ye, why did you still go out hunting?” Someone asked him curiously.
“This is for Zhou Ji to eat!” Xiong Ye replied.
“So that’s why!” That person nodded. Zhou Ji was different from them and actually didn’t like eating dinosaur meat…
Fine, the meat that Zhou Ji ate did indeed taste better…
Xiong Ye climbed up into their cave and found that Zhou Ji wasn’t there. However, there was a wooden barrel nearby full of bright red, fingernail-sized fruit.
This fruit looked really cute and had to be very delicious!
Xiong Ye picked one up and stuffed it into his mouth…