Chapter 215

The large canteen was internally divided into two main sections to distinguish between the workers and the Black Mountain tribespeople.

The long tables outside were for the workers to eat at. On both sides of the long tables were stools made from logs – they hadn't had time to make proper stools yet, so logs were used as substitutes.

They stripped the bark off the logs, flattened both sides, gave them a slight polish, and they were ready to serve as stools.

Directly in front of the long tables was the food distribution area.

Qiu Bai held two large bamboo bowls in one hand and a small wooden token in the other,排队 (queuing) at the front of the long line.

The sub-beastman who had spoken to them on the threshing ground that day kept his word.

On their third day at Black Mountain, everyone received two large bamboo bowls. This was their first piece of private property at Black Mountain Tribe.

Qiu Bai carefully stored his bamboo bowls where he slept, only taking them out for meals morning and night.

Like the line Qiu Bai was in, there were three others nearby.

Every day at mealtime, the four sub-beastmen responsible for serving food would carry the food basins from the back kitchen into the main hall. The rectangular basins were for holding dishes, while the bucket-shaped ones were for the paste.

It was the same every day. They just needed to finish their work, take the meal tokens given by their small team leaders, queue up, and get their food.

Qiu Bai's team had finished their tasks early today. He got his token early and waited by the door. As soon as the canteen doors opened, he was the first to rush in and was now first in line.

He lowered his head and handed his wooden token to the sub-beastman serving food.

Yang Ling took the token, glanced at it casually, tossed it into a dedicated small bucket, then nodded to Qiu Bai: "Put your bamboo bowls down."

The workers' evening meal was always a fixed single dish and a bowl of paste.

Although it was just one dish, it was almost never the same two days in a row. Such varied food amazed the workers, who had never had a culture of fine food, every single day.

Yang Ling used a bamboo ladle to scoop a spoonful of bamboo shoots into Qiu Bai's bamboo bowl, then ladled a large spoonful of paste into the other bowl.

Just as Qiu Bai reached out to take the bowls, Yang Ling stopped him with a hand: "Wait."

Then, he pushed the bamboo shoot slices in the food basin aside a bit, placing a small piece of meat, about two knuckles big, on top of the shoots.

Under the bamboo shoots, there were actually pan-fried meat slices!

The surroundings fell quiet, only the sound of everyone swallowing their saliva could be heard.

Hu Xiao twitched his ears. He had been at Black Mountain for so long, this was the first time he had seen meat.

"Thank you, thank you, Sir." A hoarse, excited voice sounded.

It was an older beastman from the next line over who had also received a piece of meat. He was now bowing, his hands trembling as he expressed his gratitude.

Hu Xue only nodded slightly, then tapped the edge of the food basin with the rim of her bamboo ladle: "Next, next! Those who have gotten their food, find a place to eat quickly. Don't all block the area here."

Lang Ze, who had just entered through the door, happened to pass by this area. He didn't pay attention to the commotion, instead weaving through the crowd and heading straight for the inner corner.

The inner part of the large canteen was where the Black Mountain tribespeople ate.

Unlike the workers, the Black Mountain tribespeople had three dishes and a soup every day, and the portions were much larger.

Qi Bai had already fetched Lang Ze's food and placed it on the wooden table.

When Lang Ze approached, only Zhi nodded slightly towards him. Ai beside him was putting a large piece of bone into his mouth, grinding the last bits of meat off the bone with his teeth.

However, the first words Lang Ze said after sitting down made Ai bite clean through the large bone in shock.

Even Zhi lost his composure and exclaimed: "What did you say?"

Lang Ze didn't answer. Instead, he picked up his chopsticks, scooped up nearly half a plate of bamboo shoot slices, and began eating on his own.

He had spoken very clearly, and Zhi and Ai must have heard him perfectly. That's why their reactions were so strong.

Zhi's palms felt feverish. He turned his gaze to Qi Bai, hoping for confirmation.

He had indeed heard it, but how could those words feel so unreal?

Because Lang Ze had just asked him: *Black Mountain Tribe is preparing to start building a city. Does your Jufeng Tribe want to join?*

Qi Bai first waved at the tribespeople who were looking over curiously, signaling them to go back to their eating and chatting. Then he turned back and nodded at Zhi and Ai with a smile.

"You heard correctly. We do indeed have plans to build a city."

After recounting the news heard from Lu Yan, Qi Bai said slowly: "Although the chaos is currently in the Northern Wilderness and the western cities, the flames of war will spread quickly."

"Only by being strong ourselves can we resist external enemies and protect our tribespeople."

Seeing Zhi's hesitant expression, Qi Bai smiled understandingly: "I know the Jufeng Tribe once faced the risk of extermination and好不容易 (finally) found the stone forest to hide your踪迹 (tracks). But..."

Qi Bai looked at the workers coming and going: "Whether it's the migrating Black Mountain Tribe, or these beastmen who have just fled here, everything tells us that even the north, the resting place of the Beast God, is not a territory no one can reach. Or rather, there is no absolutely safe place in this world. Hiding blindly is not a solution to the problem."

By the Xishui riverside, when Lang Ze tacitly allowed the three tribes—Giant Deer, War Bear, and Yun Valley—to enter the north, both Qi Bai and Lang Ze had confirmed one thing in their hearts.

That was, regardless of whether the Sanghuo Tribe threatened Black Mountain or not, they should build their own city.

Because even without the Sanghuo Tribe, there would be other tribes, or even beast herds like the Fierce Oxen, all posing significant threats to the Black Mountain Tribe.

Danger lurked everywhere on the beastman continent, and their tribe was too small. So small that any kind of danger could potentially lead to their tribe's demise.

And such silent extinctions happened every moment in unknown corners of the beastman continent.

Qi Bai absolutely would not allow such a thing to happen to the Black Mountain Tribe.

So he wanted to build a city. A city that could resist external enemies, defend against wild beasts, and possess the ability to withstand natural disasters.

But the construction of such a fortress wasn't the work of a day, nor could it be accomplished by the mere thousand-plus people of Black Mountain Tribe alone.

They needed more population. The three tribes—Giant Deer, War Bear, and Yun Valley—were very good potential partners.

So, Lang Ze's agreement to let them migrate had never carried just one meaning.

However, when facing these three major tribes of the Northern Wilderness, if Black Mountain Tribe wanted to maintain a leading role in the city's construction, relying solely on their own strength was far from enough.

Black Mountain Tribe needed an ally, and the best candidate for this ally was undoubtedly their neighbors, the Jufeng tribe.

Only, persuading the reclusive Jufeng Tribe probably wouldn't be an easy task.

Ai's mouth hung open,他甚至都忘记了 (he even forgot) to put down the already crushed bone in his hand, still holding it up stupidly.

A city! For young Jufeng people like them who grew up in the stone forest and had never left the north, cities were like the Beast God—legendary existences, places that only appeared in the stories told by the elders of their tribe.

But now, Qi Bai and Lang Ze were talking about it so matter-of-factly—they were going to build a city. A city of their own.

Zhi moved his tight throat: "Have you ever been to a city before?"

Qi Bai coughed lightly. Ah, this question really hit the nail on the head. He and Lang Ze truly hadn't seen a city.

Among all the people in Black Mountain Tribe, probably only Diao Lan and Hou Su had been to cities before.

And Diao Lan almost never talked about her past. Hou Su also seemed scornful of cities. Presumably, the cities he had been to weren't much better than the current Black Mountain Tribe.

Besides, although Qi Bai hadn't seen the cities of the beastman continent, when it came to the scale of cities he *had* seen, unless there were other transmigrators on the beastman continent, who could compare?

Metropolises with tens of millions of people—Qi Bai had lost count of how many he'd seen. Not to mention the well-preserved ancient cities and streets of ancient China. Each was far more advanced than anything on the beastman continent.

Qi Bai told the truth: "We haven't been to other cities, but the knowledge we possess far exceeds that of other tribes."

Walls dozens of meters high that even the strongest Fierce Ox couldn't breach. Ballistas mounted on the walls that could kill enemies hundreds of meters away.

The beastmen in the city could farm and learn to tame wild beasts. Even during seasons when hunting outside was impossible, the city would have ample food...

Qi Bai slowly unfolded a beautiful blueprint for the future before Zhi and Ai's eyes.

Before, in Ai's mind, a city was a comfortable, soft place with food everywhere—a place even imagination couldn't reach.

Until he亲眼见到 (saw with his own eyes) the Black Mountain Tribe, saw the high walls of Black Mountain Tribe, the neat houses within Black Mountain Tribe, the bountiful harvests of Black Mountain Tribe...

Now, the city described by Qi Bai finally seemed to take physical form, gradually becoming concrete in his mind.

Finally, Qi Bai said gently: "Even though Black Mountain Tribe will provide all the knowledge for city construction, the Jufeng Tribe are friends of Black Mountain Tribe. In the city we build, all beastmen will be equal. It will become our shared home."

The Jufeng tribespeople finished the dinner prepared by Black Mountain Tribe and walked out of the large canteen cheerfully. Seeing Ai still looking dazed, Peng and Wei奇怪地摇晃他几下 (strangely shook him a few times): "Wake up, we need to go home."

As the group reached the edge of the threshing ground, Lang Ji emerged from behind them.

Lang Ji quickly walked to Zhi's side. He had gone to the canteen relatively late and ended up sitting behind Zhi, so he had also heard some of Qi Bai's words.

After Zhi, Ai, and the others left the canteen, he had been following behind them. It was only here,确认 (confirming) there were no others around, that Lang Ji showed himself.

Zhi was still pondering Qi Bai's words. He couldn't make a decision on such a big matter alone, but one of Qi Bai's sentences resonated with him.

The Jufeng Tribe couldn't keep逃避 (escaping) blindly. In just fifty years, they and the outside-originating Black Mountain Tribe seemed like people from two different worlds.

If they continued to turtle up in the stone forest, a hundred years later, a hundred and fifty years later, their young would fall even further behind other tribes. By then, their situation would only be more dangerous.

Zhi had actually already agreed with Qi Bai's proposal in his heart. What he was thinking about now was how to persuade巫荛 (Shaman Rao) and狩猎队长薇 (Hunting Captain Wei).

Preoccupied, he walked forward. He hadn't even noticed this living person until Lang Ji spoke.

Zhi tilted his head, not understanding what he wanted. Did Qi Bai have something else to say?

Lang Ji looked at Zhi and said郑重地 (solemnly): "Black Mountain Tribe is a very good tribe. You don't need to worry about anyone bullying you. I will protect you."

Zhi looked at this beastman who was thirty centimeters shorter than him with some doubt. He didn't think this beastman could protect him. Moreover, he根本不需要别人的保护 (didn't need anyone's protection at all).

But Zhi didn't反驳 (refute) Lang Ji either. He just nodded and said, not very seriously: "Well, thank you then."

Lang Ji stood where he was, watching the Jufeng tribespeople leave. He waved back at Wei and Peng, who were waving at him. His背影 (figure from behind) looked slightly lonely.

However, Lang Ji quickly cheered up.

Lang Ji transformed into his beast form, let out a long howl, then picked up the animal hide clothes on the ground with his mouth and ran towards the tribe.

As soon as Lang Ji entered the tribe's围墙 (enclosure wall), he sensed a tense atmosphere.

The grey wolf paced over and brought his huge wolf head close to the window of the small kitchen by the tribe entrance.

On the large wooden table in the middle of the kitchen, the small wooden tokens used as meal cards were spread out.

In the flickering light inside the room, the big grey wolf saw a single token that had been set aside on the table surface.