Chapter 85 – Working
While these people were beginning to consider the situation of their loved ones, the people of the Big Bear Tribe had all gathered together and begun to eat meat.
Xiong Ye had been busy with bringing the people that had been driven out of the Giant Tiger Tribe back and settling them in, so he hadn’t had time to go out hunting that day. However, Zhu Zhan and the others had gone back out to hunt later that day, so there was still meat to eat that night.
The good meat and viscera, as well as large, high quality earth eggs were distributed amongst the people of the Big Bear Tribe. As for the people who had just arrived… The priest had told people to cut off the rotten parts of the bad earth eggs and cook them with the bones and other viscera that nobody liked to eat in order to feed them.
Those things didn’t look very good, but the people of the gathering team in the Big Bear Tribe had only been able to eat this kind of food in the past as well.
These people naturally wouldn’t disdain such food. On the contrary, they were very moved––they hadn’t expected the Big Bear Tribe to actually give them two meals to eat in a day!
They wolfed down the earth eggs and dinosaur viscera and felt that it was incredibly tasty.
But then, they smelled a very mouthwatering fragrance…
Zhou Ji hadn’t used chili peppers to cook today, but he was stir frying things with the sugar he had made for himself and was making red braised meat.
The meat he used was the tenderest portion of that day’s prey, and the sugar had been made from sweet cane. In addition, he had also used some spices for flavour.
Using a stone pot to fry vegetables was a bit slow, but as long as he had patience, it was still pretty good when it came to making red braised meat. Zhou Ji slowly heated up the sugar and then braised the meat for a long time, and by the time the lid of the pot was lifted up, a very appetizing scent drifted through the air.
Beastmen’s sense of smell were generally very good, so basically everyone present could smell this fragrance. They all looked towards Zhou Ji.
The people of the Big Bear Tribe began to get cravings and couldn’t help but drool, “What is Zhou Ji making today?”
“Isn’t he cooking meat? How come the meat he’s boiling smells so good?”
“It smells so delicious!”
……
The slaves worshipped the Beast God’s messenger even more.
He really lived up to the name of being the Beast God’s messenger, even the things he ate were different––they’ve never had food that smelled so fragrant!
Almost everyone could only stare wistfully at the food, but it wasn’t the same for the priest. The priest held a bowl in one hand and lifted his dragging robes with the other as he ran over to Zhou Ji’s side, drooling as he stared at the meat, “This meat smells very fragrant, let me try it!”
Zhou Ji picked up a piece of meat and placed it into the priest’s bowl.
The priest ate it in one bite.
Zhou Ji asked, “Is it good? Is it too salty? Does it need to be cooked further?”
The priest replied, “Tastes good. The level of saltiness is just right. The meat is already very soft and doesn’t need to be cooked anymore.”
“That’s good.” Zhou Ji turned towards Xiong Ye, “It’s ready to eat.” He didn’t like this type of dinosaur meat and didn’t want to eat it, so he had the priest try it in his stead.
Since it was delicious, he could let Xiong Ye eat it.
Priest: “Why did you just give me such a small piece?”
“Grandpa Priest, other people also want some. If I give you a little more, it’ll mean that I also have to give them more, and then I won’t have any for myself.” Xiong Ye gestured behind the priest.
The priest only now noticed that Xiong He and a few others who had good relations with Xiong Ye were waiting behind him. Seeing that he had turned around, Xiong He even smiled at him.
The priest could only leave indignantly.
Zhou Ji had known that Xiong Ye would most likely give some of the dish to others, so he had cut the meat into smaller pieces. Xiong Ye gave everyone who came to ask for food a piece, and was still left with four fifths of the original bowl that he then began to dig into heartily.
This meat had his favorite sweet taste. It was really especially tasty!
Xiong Ye ate very happily, and his mood was incredibly good, which put Zhou Ji in a good mood, too, “After we have a pottery pot, I’ll be able to make other delicious things for you to eat.”
“I’ll go and catch good things for you tomorrow!” Xiong Ye said.
By the time everyone had finished eating, the sky had already turned dark. At the same time, the fire in the pit where the pottery was fired had finally completely extinguished.
Someone immediately went to the firepit and brought out everything that had been put in.
With Zhou Ji keeping watch by the side, the temperature of the fire in the firepit had been well-maintained, and they had also stopped the process at the right time, so the pottery they fired… came out as a lot of pottery shards.
Fractured pottery was inevitable.
One fortunate thing was that they had actually managed to create something whole––a ceramic knife!
This ceramic knife had been randomly made and put into the fire with the rest; unexpectedly, it became the only thing to make it through the firing process without breaking…
In addition, there were some bowls and pitchers that still maintained a solid base despite cracking at the top and could still be used to hold things.
Zhou Ji had scanned everything they had placed inside with his spiritual powers earlier and was now evaluating the results… He felt that if he made a few pots out of the mud himself, he would definitely be able to make something that came out whole.
He could give it a try tomorrow.
Although they had failed again, the people of the tribe were still able to come up with a variety of uses for these shards of broken pottery. They weren’t wasted at all.
“One more time, and we should be able to create complete pottery. This is really great!” The priest was delighted as he said, “There’s also more good news. The earth eggs are ready to be harvested!”
Earth eggs were a plant that could be harvested every three months. The earth eggs they had planted three months ago were now ready.
“We’ll have the group of newcomers go and collect the earth eggs tomorrow! Then, have them plow and fertilize the ground before planting the next crop. They can also be given the task of gathering grass to feed the dinosaurs with…” The priest had already thought about what kind of work these people would do in the tribe.
Zhou Ji had no opinion about these things. “You can arrange things as you like. I’m going to bed.”
Xiong Ye had often gone to look for Zhu Zhan’s subordinates in order to spar lately. After each fight, he would receive a few injuries, and the energy in his body would be exhausted. He had to find opportunities to help Xiong Ye recover during the night.
Since that was the case, he would naturally have Xiong Ye go to bed earlier!
Speaking of which… Having kept a close eye on Xiong Ye recently, he felt that the cultivation method that he had come up with before could be improved on. He could consider this more during the night.
He had slept enough during the day, anyway.
Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye left, but the priest was still busy settling all the people who had just arrived at the Big Bear Tribe.
This batch of people given the mud huts they had built in the area where pottery was fired.
Hou Shi was lying down with his woman in a hut.
This hut had been dried out with fire, so the interior wasn’t very damp. Hou Shi lay there in a corner and felt at his stomach, feeling that everything he had experienced today was like a dream.
His child wasn’t dead, and he and his partner had settled down in a new tribe… This was truly wonderful!
“I didn’t think that I’d be able to survive.” The man next to Hou Shi also said. He was the one who had fallen unconscious just as they had approached the Big Bear Tribe and had ultimately been picked up by Xiong Ye.
When he arrived at the Big Bear Tribe and smelled the earth egg stew, he had woken up. In order not to annoy Xiong Ye, he had quickly scarfed down the food as quickly as he could and kept silent while Xiong Ye had dug out his rotten flesh.
At the time, despite not saying much, he had still been somewhat worried. He was worried that the flesh that had been cut off wouldn’t regrow, and he still thought that he would die. Unexpectedly, after his flesh had been cut out, he actually felt a lot more relaxed, and after he finished eating… he even thought that he would be able to survive and live on!
This person’s expression was full of joy, but the joy he felt was followed by sorrow––he had a friend who had died halfway through the journey a few days ago.
If he had only been able to hold on for a few more days…
They lay in their mud hut and it was late when they finally fell asleep.
Early the next morning, someone came around to shout outside just after dawn, “Wake up!”
These people got up and went outside immediately. They saw the priest they had met yesterday standing in front of them. Seeing that they were here, the priest said, “Now that you’ve joined our tribe, you will work for the tribe from today onwards!”
Doing work was something they should do; these people nodded one after another. They were also a little worried––if they were told to hunt, they might not be able to catch any prey…
While they were worrying, they heard the priest say, “Today, you will follow me to dig up earth eggs… Have something to eat before you dig.” The last batch of earth eggs hadn’t been finished yet, and some had already gone bad. They had to finish them soon, and these people… these people were too thin to do any real work, so they had to help feed them back to health first.
The priest brought some earth eggs and had these people roast it for themselves.
These people’s expressions were full of gratitude as they held these earth eggs.
They had never thought that they would be able to eat two meals yesterday and then eat again this morning!
Also, the Big Bear Tribe had told them to dig up earth eggs… Not only was this work quite easy, they could even come into contact with food. The people of the Big Bear Tribe trusted them too much and treated them too well!
These people finished roasting and eating the earth eggs, then followed the priest to start work. Even if the wounds on their bodies hadn’t healed yet, they still insisted on going––although they might not be able to do much, they could still do their bit.
While these people who had just arrived at the Big Bear Tribe worked hard to dig up earth eggs, Zhou Ji was shaping a pot.
He felt that he could shape the best pottery pot if he used his spiritual powers to cheat… In truth, he had shaped it pretty well on his own.
The people around him who had who had been shaping clay for half a month saw him create such a good pottery pot with ease and were full of admiration––Zhou Ji really lived up to being the Beast God’s messenger. His crafting skills were too good!
Under these people’s worshipful gazes, Zhou Ji, who had just finished shaping a pot, then moved on to create other things. In short, they were all things that could be used at home. Finally, with the help of his spiritual powers, he also shaped a bear out of clay.
He set aside the pots and plates that he had shaped, but he took the bear away with him and placed it in their cave. He planned to bring it back out later when they started firing pottery in the pit again.
After finishing his task with the clay, Zhou Ji went over to the place where the earth eggs were being dug up.
Without his ‘help’, the earth eggs from this harvest weren’t as big as they had been last time, but due to the usage of fertilizer, these earth eggs still couldn’t be considered small. They were also plentiful––they had planted a large piece of land with earth eggs.
The newcomers to the tribe dug carefully and didn’t leave anything behind, not even earth eggs that were just the size of a thumbnail. They even sighed over how amazing the Big Bear Tribe was while they were digging––the people of the Big Bear Tribe were actually raising dinosaurs to eat!
How was the Giant Tiger Tribe better than the Big Bear Tribe?
Only… The Giant Tiger Tribe had so many people, and their combat power was very strong. If the Giant Tiger Tribe really came to fight against the Big Bear Tribe…
These people had only just arrived at the Big Bear Tribe, but they were already starting to worry about the Big Bear Tribe’s future.
Of course, they didn’t worry for long––the Big Bear Tribe was so beloved by the Beast God. They would definitely be alright!
There was no collective hunt that day, so no prey was distributed that night, but the priest allocated everyone some earth eggs.
After distributing the earth eggs… The people of the tribe then saw another scene they often saw these days––Xiong Ye had gone to challenge the people from the Giant Pig Tribe once again!
Not only that, this time, Xiong Ye wasn’t challenging just one person, but two!
Xiong Ye stood in front of Zhu Zhan and proposed to fight two of Zhu Zhan’s subordinates at the same time, “If you’re willing, I can give you some sugar!”
Zhu Zhan: “……”
He had wanted to refuse, but now that Xiong Ye was offering sugar, he also wanted to savor the taste of sugar.
Sugar was just too yummy. It was simply delicious, even sweeter than honey.
Zhu Zhan gritted his teeth and finally agreed, “Alright!”
Xiong Ye was really becoming more and more powerful. Zhu Zhan felt that it wouldn’t be long before he came to challenge Zhu Zhan himself…