Chapter 263

Just by looking at it, Qi Bai couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.

Because he was missing one arm, Ma Chong couldn’t chisel the stone blocks like the others, who could hold the hammer in one hand and the chisel in the other. But he had his own method.

There was a square box placed on the stone block. In the middle of the box was a hole that could fix the stone chisel in place. This way, Ma Chong only needed to move the box slightly each time he struck.

This method was indeed convenient. However, a stone chisel is a consumable item, so it was unclear how Ma Chong replaced the stone chisel in the middle of the box.

Just as Qi Bai was thinking this, the stone chisel Ma Chong hit broke. He opened a large bamboo basket at his side, took out another stone chisel of roughly the same size, inserted the narrow end of the chisel into the wooden box, casually brushed off the stone chisel debris, and continued working.

There were still many stone chisels of the same specification in the large bamboo basket. Compared to other orcs who had to stop and remake the stone chisel or hammer once they broke, Ma Chong, thanks to carrying many spare parts with him, was actually working slightly faster than the others despite only having one arm.

Qi Bai asked out loud, “Did Ma Liang prepare this for you?”

“High Priest.” Upon seeing Qi Bai, Ma Chong quickly put down the hammer in his hand. The construction site was noisy, and Ma Chong was focused on work, not noticing Qi Bai had come up beside him.

Seeing Qi Bai pointing at his large bamboo basket, Ma Chong felt a bit uneasy inside. He wasn’t sure about Qi Bai’s attitude, so he honestly said, “It was made by Ma Liang for me.”

Ma Liang couldn’t leave the tribe’s walls, so he couldn’t go out to gather resources.

Although Ma Liang didn’t like gathering before and wasn’t particularly diligent, when left alone at home aside from taking care of the young, he had nothing else to do and actually found himself a bit restless.

So Ma Liang thought about it and prepared these tools for Ma Chong.

“Can I have a look?”

“Of course.” Ma Chong stepped back and made way.

The stone chisels Ma Liang made for Ma Chong were all roughly the same size and shape. Although it was just a tool with two components, it unconsciously followed standard specifications. One had to admit Ma Liang was somewhat clever.

Looking at Ma Chong’s tidy bamboo basket and the finely stitched beast-skin clothes, he stood out among the Black Mountain orcs. No doubt these were also Ma Liang’s handiwork.

“Well done,” Qi Bai commented.

Hearing Qi Bai say this, Ma Chong not only breathed a sigh of relief, “With these tools, chiseling stone will be much easier.”

Qi Bai stood up and smiled, asking, “Both you and Quan Liu lost an arm during hunting. I assigned Quan Liu to shepherding, but you’re here chiseling stone with everyone else. Don’t you find that unfair?”

Ma Chong shook his head somewhat reservedly, “There’s nothing wrong with chiseling stone. Besides, you originally assigned me to blacksmith work, but since there’s no time for blacksmithing in the city right now, I’m just chiseling stone with everyone.”

Ma Liang had indeed told Ma Chong this several times in private, but after the last incident, Ma Chong—who usually listened to Ma Liang—became a lot more resolute. He no longer allowed Ma Liang to say such things casually, even at home.

“Blacksmithing isn’t easier than chiseling stone. You’re missing an arm, so it’s still inconvenient.”

Qi Bai’s words made Ma Chong’s heart skip a beat, but then he opened his eyes wide as Qi Bai continued, “I have another task here that might be tough, but it’s something you can do long-term. If you’re willing, you can start preparing now.”

Ma Chong wasn’t stupid. Hearing this, he immediately understood that Qi Bai had a special arrangement for him. He said happily, “High Priest, whatever you want me to do, I’m not afraid of hard work.”

Qi Bai nodded, “Bring the small stone mill from the tribe back here, and based on that, make a larger stone mill first.”

In the early spring forest, aside from bamboo shoots and wild vegetables, the gathering teams mostly harvested glutinous roots.

The tribespeople who had gone out to gather these days had dug up quite a lot of glutinous roots. To store them for the long term, the best way was to slice the roots, dry them, and finally grind them into powder.

To do this, their tools had to keep up.

The small stone mill in the Black Mountain tribe was made by Qi Bai. Back then, the tribe was small, so one small mill was enough. But now with so many people in the city, relying on just one small mill would take forever.

Since they had to make a mill anyway, Qi Bai thought of having Ma Chong make it.

Of course, saying Ma Chong would make it, the grinding surface of the mill had many patterns. Ma Chong definitely couldn’t complete those intricate patterns with one hand alone, so Ma Liang’s help was indispensable. But Qi Bai didn’t care about that.

Qi Bai sought out Ma Chong specifically, naturally not just for a stone mill.

As a stably produced food, the importance of grain was self-evident. Qi Bai wanted the orcs to gradually accept grain as a secondary staple, so he had to consider how convenient making flour-based foods would be.

In the beast world, there was no ready-made flour for sale. If orcs wanted to eat flour-based foods, they needed to use stone mills to grind grains. So, stone mills were definitely going to be a highly utilized tool.

Qi Bai planned to build a mill in the city. This way, whether it was glutinous roots, sorghum, or sweet potatoes, grinding them into powder would be much easier.

Although Ma Chong would be the only one running the mill, it would save a lot of trouble. At least Hu Xue and the others wouldn’t have to grind flour by hand when cooking in the future.

Besides milling flour, Qi Bai also planned to have Ma Chong make tofu.

The soybean yield was much higher than sorghum, and it was a good crop for fertilizing the soil. They definitely needed to grow more in the future.

Once there were enough beans, soymilk, tofu pudding, soft tofu, and frozen tofu would all be in demand, so the mill had to be prepared in advance.

Qi Bai had actually thought all this through long ago, and had already decided that Ma Chong would be the person to make tofu. Since Ma Chong was missing an arm, Qi Bai definitely had to consider his future livelihood. After much thought, this stable job seemed best suited for his family.

However, the Black Mountain tribe’s land was too small before, and the soybeans harvested were barely enough for food, let alone to make tofu.

Not just Ma Chong, the horned beasts who went out for war and hunting inevitably suffered injuries. Qi Bai wouldn’t let these warriors pay in vain.

The arrangements for Ma Chong and Quan Liu were signals to everyone: as long as everyone lived earnestly, Black Shining City would never abandon any of its people.

Of course, Qi Bai hadn’t made these future plans explicit to Ma Chong at the time. His plans were just that—plans. Whether Ma Chong could handle it or was willing to take it on was still uncertain.

After hearing Qi Bai’s words, Ma Chong immediately brought a large stone back home that same day and started quietly working on how to make a bigger grinding stone.

Ma Chong’s departure didn’t have much impact on the city’s construction. Life continued busily and orderly.

Clay bricks and lime fired in the pottery workshop were carted out of the kiln in batches and transported to several residential areas in the city.

The orcs still hammered stone bricks daily. But these bricks had evolved from large foundation stones into thinner, longer stone strips.

Some of these strips were embedded along the city’s rivers and canals, while others were piled along the roadside, ready for unified road construction once the houses were built.

The weather grew hotter and drier, even the cicadas’ calls sounded weak.

Originally, a snowfall in winter had made Qi Bai think the drought days might be over. But in reality, that snowfall was just a trick by heaven to lower his guard.

More than half a year had passed without a single drop of rain.

The orcs obviously had no awareness to guard against this slow, boiling-frog natural disaster. The orcs in the city were still immersed in the enthusiasm for building the city. Besides feeling this year was unusually hot, no one sensed anything wrong.

Qi Bai naturally wasn’t so carefree. Just thinking about the ancient Hua Kingdom’s three-year drought made him feel some pain.

Fortunately, Black Shining City was located in a water-rich area. Although several big rivers had dropped significantly, supporting daily life and planting for the city’s orcs was still not a problem.

Recently, Qi Bai found something to cheer him up despite the hardships.

Perhaps because of the drought, this year the honey Qi Bai and Lang Ze harvested was thicker and sweeter than last year. Although it was honey, it tasted somewhat like maltose.

Not only the honey, this year’s apricots were also much sweeter than last year.

Qi Bai sat in the treetop, tossing apricots into the basket on his back. With one hand, he casually rubbed a fruit against his body, split the flesh to the sides, and stuffed the whole apricot into his mouth.

Though the apricot flesh lacked moisture, it was truly sweet.

Qi Bai stuffed the apricot pits into his pocket with puffed cheeks. The pits couldn’t be thrown away because they contained almonds that tasted good roasted or fried.

Last year, the northern region only had the Black Mountain and Giant Wind tribes. This large apricot forest was too much for just two tribes to harvest in time, so many apricots rotted before they could be picked.

This year, Qi Bai had been keeping an eye on the situation. Just as the apricots ripened, the main force of Black Shining City had gathered here.

“Bao Bai, with so many apricots, shall we dry them all this year?” She Li, picking fruit on an apricot tree beside Qi Bai, asked as she looked at the apricots spread across the mountainside.

With no rain, the apricot yield was much lower, but it was still a significant income for Black Shining City.

Upon hearing She Li’s question, the other team leaders also poked their heads over to look.

There were now twelve production teams in Black Shining City.

Among them, three were Black Mountain clans, three Bear Warrior clans, three Cloud Valley clans, two Giant Deer clans, and one Giant Wind clan.

All the orcs in the city were organized into these twelve production teams. On this basis, Lang Ze selected some excellent warriors from the production teams to form a standing army responsible for patrols and training other orcs.

Everyone worked together during production and labor, then trained for combat separately based on the different beast forms of the horned orcs and sub-orcs.

Under this kind of military-civilian integrated system, all orcs in Black Shining City were laborers and participated in hunting and gathering. In wartime, they all became fighting forces.

Everyone worked under the team leader’s guidance. Only for major events like the apricot harvest would all twelve production teams mobilize together.

Qi Bai told the crowd, “Divide the apricots collected into three parts. Use two parts to make dried apricots, and use the remaining one to brew some fruit wine and fruit vinegar.”

Although apricots were food, they were still fruit. Using them to improve flavors was fine, but using them as staple food was too much of a stretch.

Qi Bai didn’t plan to keep them all anyway. Using some for fruit wine and vinegar was perfect.

Yun An licked her lips. She had tasted the berry wine brewed by Niu Xi before, but berries were scarce in winter. Yun An had only gotten a sip in total, but the taste was so sweet and fragrant that just thinking about it made her feel like she could smell the aroma.

Lu Ming blinked his big black eyes and curiously asked, “What is vinegar?”

“Vinegar is a sour seasoning, like soy sauce and oyster sauce, used in cooking. Fruit vinegar made from fruit carries the unique fragrance of the fruit, with a sweet and sour taste that is also delicious to drink on its own.”

As Qi Bai spoke, swallowing sounds came from around. Everyone was clearly looking forward to the fruit vinegar Qi Bai described.

Not to mention everyone else, even Qi Bai made himself hungry just talking about it.