Chapter 160

Chapter 160

The cold wind blew across the compacted paths, making the tribe appear quite empty, without a single person in sight.

Meanwhile, the schoolhouse beside the two large trees was filled with lively chatter. It turned out that after the hunting team left, all remaining tribespeople had gathered here.

Yang Luo stood on the platform, cleared his throat, and said, "While the hunting team is out hunting, those of us staying in the tribe must also prepare more food."

Niu Xu raised her hand high: "But plants haven't grown yet. How can we gather anything?"

As Niu Xu spoke, others also began murmuring among themselves. Though they didn't question directly, their expressions conveyed the same doubt.

It wasn't that they were lazy—it's just that the mountains were covered in snow, and fruit-bearing trees were bare. There simply was nowhere to gather food.

Yang Luo raised his hand, signaling everyone to quiet down: "Leopard Bai, come here."

Qi Bai made his way from the back of the crowd to stand beside Yang Luo.

Yang Luo said, "Leopard Bai will tell everyone what to do. From now on, everyone must follow Leopard Bai's arrangements."

Under the tribespeople's bewildered gazes, Qi Bai stepped forward: "Although we can't gather plants from the mountains, we still have many ways to obtain food."

Quan Nan encouraged: "Leopard Bai, just tell us what to do. We can handle any work."

"Good." Qi Bai smiled and called out, "Ma Ling, Xiang Yu."

"I'm here!" Ma Ling jumped up from his tree stump upon hearing his name called first, responding loudly.

"You've been to the seaside. Do you remember what the food there looks like?"

Ma Ling's eyes lit up. Although he'd been to the ocean several times and eaten much seafood, when salt wasn't scarce, he rarely thought about seaside food.

Now reminded by Qi Bai, he finally remembered—yes, if nothing else, just the hard-shelled prey on coastal rocks would keep them gathering for quite a while.

Ma Ling quickly replied: "Remember, I remember!"

Qi Bai thought for a moment and decided to temper Ma Ling's enthusiasm: "Winter seaside food might not be as plentiful as usual. Gather what you can find, but you can only stay at the seaside for three days maximum before returning. Absolutely do not enter the water to catch prey."

Most beastmen were poor swimmers—they shouldn't foolishly jump in after seeing fish or shrimp in the ocean.

Ma Ling grinned sheepishly: "Don't worry, I definitely won't get too close to the ocean."

This was why Qi Bai chose Ma Ling as team leader.

On one hand, Ma Ling had been to the seaside several times. Another important reason was that Ma Ling and Ma Shu had personally witnessed waves swallowing beastmen. With Ma Ling leading, Qi Bai believed he could properly watch over other team members.

Xiang Yu also promised: "We'll only search for food on shore."

Qi Bai nodded with a smile, having Ma Ling and Xiang Yu step out separately to stand in the aisle: "Ma Ling is team leader, Xiang Yu is deputy leader."

Then he turned and continued calling names: "Hu Meng, Hu Bu, Niu Yong..."

Qi Bai called thirty-eight names consecutively. Those called followed Ma Ling and Xiang Yu's example, stepping out from the crowd to stand behind them.

"You are the first squad, and a team with a very arduous mission. You will go to the seaside under Ma Ling and Xiang Yu's leadership."

"Although there are only two adult horned beastmen—Ma Ling and Xiang Yu—in the team, I believe your abilities are no worse than adult horned beastmen. You will definitely complete the mission."

Most of Black Mountain Tribe's adult horned beastmen had joined the hunting team. The remaining adult horned beastmen had patrol duties for tribal territory. Qi Bai索性 didn't select from adult horned beastmen but chose several dozen strongest from among nearly adult horned beastmen.

Thirty-eight half-grown horned beastman younglings stood behind Ma Ling. Hearing Qi Bai's words, they all raised their heads proudly.

That's right—the only difference between them and adult horned beastmen was age. They would definitely bring back lots and lots of food—more than what the hunting team brought back!

It was also because the original fifty-plus Black Mountain tribesmembers kept tight lips—no one told others how salt was obtained. If these half-grown youngsters knew precious salt came from boiling seawater, they'd probably go crazy with excitement now.

Qi Bai had the seaside team sit on the far left side of the schoolhouse. Others quickly sat upright, hoping Qi Bai would call their names next.

Qi Bai next arranged work for the forging room.

He said to Niu Xi: "You know how to make iron hooks. Take your gathering team and forge as many iron hooks as possible."

Qi Bai needed these hooks to make fishing nets for catching fish in the Man-Eating River.

Although there weren't large numbers of easily caught piranhas in the river now, based on last year's experience, there were still some strangely shaped large fish at the river bottom. However, these fish were much harder to catch—last year's method of scooping fish up with vine baskets definitely wouldn't work.

Therefore, Qi Bai wanted to make large fishing nets, attaching iron hooks to sink the nets underwater and try to net fish.

But fish in the Beastmen Continent couldn't be underestimated—even individual piranhas were arm-length, let alone the strange fish living at the river bottom. So their fish hooks needed to be at least finger-thick.

With fish hooks, they naturally couldn't lack fishing nets.

Hu Huo nodded: "Don't worry, Leopard Bai. I'll definitely lead everyone in weaving足够大足够结实的 fishing nets."

Qi Bai felt completely assured about Hu Huo. He turned and called: "Shu Lin, She Li."

"Yes!" Shu Lin quickly stood up. After waiting so long, it was finally his turn.

"Shu Lin, take your gathering team to the pine forest to gather pine nuts."

Shu Lin said delightedly: "Alright, alright! I'm best at picking pine nuts. This job suits me perfectly."

Perhaps because his beast form was a squirrel, Shu Lin's tree-climbing skills were maxed out. Not only that, he wasn't afraid of falling—even from forty- to fifty-meter trees, his fluffy big tail could stabilize him for a soft landing in snow.

Shu Lin himself was amazed by this skill, let alone Qi Bai and Xiong Feng who were collecting pinecones under the tree at the time—it nearly gave them heart attacks.

The pine forest beyond Sweet Potato Mountain was large, but Qi Bai only assigned Shu Lin one gathering team mainly because there weren't many pinecones left in the pine forest anyway.

These pinecones weren't all picked by beastmen—as pine tree fruits, pinecones naturally fall after ripening. Fortunately, pine trees on the Beastmen Continent differed from those on Blue Star, otherwise they might not find anything now.

"She Li, take two gathering teams to the bamboo forest to search for winter bamboo shoots."

Niu Xu looked at her Ox tribesmember beside her. Both saw shock in each other's eyes simultaneously.

The Xiaoniu Tribe lived close to the Shui River, but they'd never thought about catching fish from the river bottom. Whether fish tasted good was secondary—what mattered was the Shui River's depth, and those fish had tails! They simply couldn't catch fish.

Of course, fishing was one thing—after all, they'd at least seen fish in rivers. What most astonished Ox and Horse tribe beastmen was learning that edible plants could be found in soil beneath ice and snow.

If this was true, then all the hunger they'd endured at winter's end before had been for nothing...

But She Li, who received the mission, didn't show the yearning expression that Niu Xu几人 had.

She Li and Hu Xue exchanged glances.

If the hunting team's early spring hunt was just a signal, then these tasks Qi Bai arranged now basically made them understand the tribe's current situation.

Those who followed Qi Bai to find winter bamboo shoots last year knew that searching for them wasn't just physically demanding—it required skill too.

Digging through such thick snow layers to find bamboo shoots underground wasn't something easily accomplished. Sometimes one person might not find even one shoot in half a day.

But before Hu Xue could analyze further, Qi Bai called her name: "Starting today, milk all the lactating ewes in the sheep pen."

Hu Xue hesitated: "Milking the ewes is no problem, but milk isn't really food..."

Black Mountain Tribe's sheep pen currently had sixteen lactating ewes.

A single ewe's milk was enough for all newborn younglings in the tribe. Even for making foods like milkshakes, two ewes' milk would suffice.

What Hu Xue actually wanted to say was: why bother milking so much? However precious milk was, drinking it was little different from water—it couldn't fill stomachs. If the tribe lacked food now, they might as well follow She Li to dig bamboo shoots.

Qi Bai understood Hu Xue's concern: "I made some new foods with milk recently. We can collect the milk to make food too. Otherwise, so much milk is wasted daily—what a pity."

Hearing this, Hu Xue immediately felt relieved.

Right—why was she worrying needlessly? Qi Bai would definitely arrange things properly.

As team after team was assigned tasks, the number of people on the far right side of the schoolhouse gradually decreased.

Dai stood at the front of the remaining team, eyes shining brightly. Listening to Qi Bai arranging everyone's work item by item, her admiration nearly overflowed.

In Dai's heart, no one could surpass Qi Bai who brought her out of the Amo Tribe—not even the priest.

However, not everyone felt like Dai. Behind her, many people's eyes showed anxiety.

Black Mountain Tribe had seven gathering teams, led by Hu Xue, She Li, Tu Ya, Niu Xi, Diao Lan, Shu Lin, and Lu Guo respectively.

After the Ox and Horse tribes joined, each gathering team expanded from the original ten members to over twenty members不等.

But when Qi Bai arranged outdoor work today, he didn't follow these numbers. Some people were specifically left behind—they were the beastmen who had recently given birth.

Those who gave birth last year—Shu Lin, Yang Ling, and four others—naturally understood that beastmen who recently gave birth couldn't work outside, otherwise the Beast God would be angered.

But the newly joined tribesmembers didn't know this. Actually, Qi Bai had forgotten to tell them the story he previously made up. This resulted in everyone watching others get assigned work while they remained in place, growing increasingly anxious.

Seeing everyone's anxious expressions, Qi Bai knew he couldn't leave them just watching.

More importantly, the tribe was truly busy now—they were labor force too. Although Qi Bai couldn't assign them to work outdoors at几十度 below zero, there were other things they could do.

Qi Bai gave everyone a calming expression: "The rest of you, follow me first to learn how to make the new food. This is also very important work."