Chapter 243

By the time the beastmen from the three tribes arrived at Black Mountain, Qi Bai finally managed to lift his head with great difficulty from the pile of bamboo slips.

Just as bewildered as him were Tu Ya and Shu Lin behind the adjacent desks.

When Qi Bai decided to compile the legal code, he thought it would only take a few days to complete, perhaps even ready by the time the three tribes reached Black Mountain.

But reality had given Qi Bai a harsh lesson.

He now understood why legal statutes from ancient times to the present in Huaguo had to go through dozens of drafts and constant revisions.

The applicability of each clause, the rationality of every procedure, and even whether the wording might cause ambiguity all required repeated deliberation.

After working alone for just two days, Qi Bai realized that a legal code covering all aspects of city life would be difficult to complete by himself. He decisively began seeking external help.

The old priests weren't much hope. Besides Yang Luo, the shamans and priests of the other four tribes were all very elderly, and most importantly, they were illiterate. Apart from occasionally serving as consultants, they couldn't handle long hours of desk work.

Moreover, compared to writing some unheard-of legal code, Yang Luo and the other priests clearly considered the upcoming Courtship Day more important.

Wolf Ze could offer many suggestions, but he was also very busy. With Qi Bai unable to go out, all matters outside the tribe fell on Wolf Ze's shoulders.

So the two external helpers Qi Bai enlisted were Shu Lin and Tu Ya.

Both were teachers at the school—one taught art, the other mathematics—but they could be considered the most educated people in the Black Mountain tribe besides Qi Bai and Wolf Ze.

Meanwhile, Qi Bai temporarily set aside the detailed specific clauses and prepared to draft the most basic framework first.

With this approach, Qi Bai finally felt the work wasn't like a bottomless pit anymore. As progress continued, he found this direction increasingly correct.

After all, the meaning of law wasn't entirely in the clauses; it also needed to be understandable to everyone.

But even with helpers and a new approach, the small decision-making office near the wall was still filled with immense pressure.

Hearing Wolf Ze's voice, Qi Bai looked up, his eyes dazed: "The beastmen from the three tribes are here? Has it been that many days already?"

Qi Bai had a small bun tied on top of his head. As he looked up, the bun swayed slightly. He scratched his hair with the pen: "Since they're here, they're here. Didn't you already make all the arrangements?"

Wolf Ze looked at the dark circles under Qi Bai's eyes that were almost like panda eyes, stepped forward, and directly closed the bamboo scroll in front of Qi Bai, saying somewhat domineeringly: "No more reading today."

Shu Lin and Tu Ya peeked out from the side. Wolf Ze was quite assertive in front of Qi Bai.

However, the next moment, the white-haired young man with the small bun pouted unhappily: "I just finally got inspiration. I haven't finished writing that section yet."

Wolf Ze paused, reopened the closed bamboo scroll, straightened the pen for Qi Bai, and softened his voice to coax: "Then finish this section first."

After Qi Bai lowered his head, Wolf Ze turned to look at Shu Lin and Tu Ya.

Wolf Ze's expression was normal, not showing any trace of his earlier change in demeanor: "Take the day off today. Go rest for a while."

"Pfft." Tu Ya and Shu Lin glanced at each other, then secretly laughed.

They thought Wolf Ze's words carried weight, but it turned out they weren't very effective. The male beastmen of their Black Mountain tribe were all a bit怂 (timid) in front of their partners.

Hadn't they seen? Qi Bai just frowned, and Wolf Ze seemed ready to (reflect) a hundred times. This was all too familiar—their own partners often acted this way.

Tu Ya shook her head. Perhaps it was precisely because of leaders like Wolf Ze that the male beastmen of Black Mountain tribe were becoming less "dominant" in front of their partners.

The two tidied up the documents on their desks, made a gesture to Wolf Ze, and quietly left the office.

Qi Bai's inspiration was like a spark—it didn't take long to burn out.

Looking at the few extra lines on the bamboo scroll, Qi Bai wished he could time travel back to modern times, relearn law properly, and then come back.

"It's already very good," Wolf Ze's voice came from above.

Qi Bai looked up to see Wolf Ze standing quietly beside him all along.

Wolf Ze watched Qi Bai's expression and said: "A city isn't built in a day, and neither is its legal code. Don't push yourself too hard."

His partner was serious about everything he did. Whenever Qi Bai thought of something, he would bury himself in research.

Usually, Qi Bai would become more motivated the more he researched. This was the first time Wolf Ze had seen Qi Bai so frustrated. He felt he needed to keep a close eye on Qi Bai from now on; otherwise, Wolf Ze worried he would work himself to exhaustion.

Qi Bai looked around and realized only the two of them were left in the office.

He let out an "ah," buried his face in Wolf Ze's waist, wrapped his arms tightly around Wolf Ze, and fake-cried: "I'm having such a hard time! This is too difficult! My hair is going to fall out! Wuwuwu..."

Since the college entrance exams, Qi Bai had never seen so many characters at once.

He felt that even fighting wild beasts a few times wasn't as exhausting as sitting in the office compiling legal clauses for half a day. He felt uncomfortable all over just looking at bamboo scrolls now. Who understood this pain? Who understood...

Wolf Ze hugged Qi Bai back, trying hard to suppress his rising smile. Well, he still had the energy for fake crying; his spirits seemed pretty good.

"Let's go. It's very lively outside today. Let's go take a look."

Wolf Ze had been arranging the settlement of the three tribes for several days. Now that the tribespeople had arrived at Black Mountain, as High Priest and City Lord, Qi Bai and Wolf Ze didn't need to worry too much.

Qi Bai and Wolf Ze sat on a tree branch over ten meters high, watching what seemed like an endless line of oxcarts slowly entering.

For this move to help the three tribes, every available oxcart in the tribe had been sent out—conservatively, over two hundred.

Such a massive procession was a rare sight across the entire beastmen continent.

At that moment, another group of beastmen came running from the distance—those who had just returned from the construction site.

The two groups quickly gathered together. Upon hearing something, they instantly erupted into earth-shaking cheers, the sound reaching even Qi Bai and Wolf Ze halfway up the mountain.

Then, everyone immediately sprang into action. They unloaded supplies from the oxcarts bag by bag, spread out worn animal skins, and seemed ready to start setting up tents right away.

The beastmen's belongings were quite limited. Even for a whole tribe moving, there were no large pieces of furniture. The most common items were animal skins and meat.

However, after all the oxcarts were emptied, Qi Bai suddenly widened his eyes.

The doors of the front few carts were finally opened. Soft, fluffy cubs, like glutinous rice balls, tumbled out one by one from the compartments. Cubs of all sizes wagged their tails and sniffed around curiously.

Just then, a little giant panda rolled out of the group. He landed on all fours, straining to stand up by sticking his butt out high. But just as he was about to succeed, a little clouded leopard who had been sneakily following him suddenly pounced, instantly flattening the little giant panda into a "panda pancake."

The little clouded leopard, successful in his mischief, stood proudly on the "panda pancake," meowing triumphantly.

Beside them, a little deer with (mysterious blue) fur also jumped out of the cub pile, tilting its head and looking around with big, curious, watery eyes.

Cubs! Endless cubs!

Qi Bai knew piles of cubs were adorable, but the former Black Mountain tribe had at most a few dozen cubs. Qi Bai had never seen such a spectacle before.

Especially (over a hundred) little giant pandas! Qi Bai couldn't help but secretly swallow saliva. This trip was definitely worth it. It was a pity beastmen wouldn't let strangers near their cubs; otherwise, Qi Bai (really wanted to rush up and pet them to his heart's content).

Whether it was the little giant pandas or the beastmen working, Qi Bai watched with great interest. Since arriving on the beastmen continent, he had never seen so many people.

"How many people do the three tribes have in total?" Qi Bai asked Wolf Ze, turning his head.

Wolf Ze shook his head: "Only know the Battle Bear and Cloud Valley tribes have over three thousand people each. The Giant Deer tribe has around fifteen hundred."

Wolf Ze had also asked the leaders of the three tribes this question but didn't get accurate answers. Let alone the populous three tribes, even Yao, the shaman of the Giant Wind tribe, wasn't sure exactly how many people were in his tribe—just a vague number.

The tribal leaders' thinking was similar: why bother counting the numbers? New cubs were born every year, and beastmen could die on every hunting trip. The tribe's population was large; if they calculated this, they probably wouldn't have time for anything else.

Qi Bai sniffled. He wore a scarf around his neck, and in this short time, his exhaled breath was almost freezing on the tip of his nose: "Then we'll have to conduct a census later."

Record-keeping that was difficult for other tribes wasn't much of a problem for Heiyao City. This was a good opportunity to conduct a statistical survey of all the city's residents.

"Mm," Wolf Ze nodded. Checking (was indeed a good idea).

"By the way, since the beastmen from the three tribes have arrived, when will the Courtship Day start?" Qi Bai had been secluded for so many days; he didn't know how Yang Luo and the others had arranged it.

Wolf Ze replied: "Everything is already prepared. Let everyone settle in today. The Courtship Day can start tomorrow."

Speak of the devil. As soon as they mentioned Yang Luo, Yang Luo pushed through the dried thorns with his bear bone staff and called up to Qi Bai in the tree: "Leopard Bai, what are you doing up there? Are you free now?"

Qi Bai jumped down from the tree trunk: "I'm free. What do you need me for?"

Looking through the thorn bushes, Qi Bai realized it wasn't just Yang Luo—Xiong Zi, Yun Zhang, and several others were there too. At that moment, all the priests were looking at Qi Bai with expectant expressions.

Qi Bai suddenly felt a bit nervous. He looked at Wolf Ze, silently asking: Why are they looking at me like that?