The hunting team not only harvested abundant prey that day but also gained a lot of labor. While everyone was cleaning up the battlefield, the ethereal Shu Bao stared blankly at the scorched snakes on the ground, thinking that if he had just controlled the heat a bit better, they might have been able to eat roasted snake meat right after the battle. Now, the charred remains were truly a pity.
Thinking this, Shu Bao sighed softly.
The beauty’s sigh, with a hint of melancholy, was pleasing to the eye. However, the viewers in the live broadcast room were not focused on the host’s beauty; they were more interested in the stone staff that could shoot fireballs.
“Is that really a magic wand?!”
“No, no, no, it must be some kind of high-tech weapon!”
“Is that magic?”
“How could there be magic in this world!”
The viewers argued endlessly about the stone staff that could shoot fireballs. Some thought it was magic, while others believed it was some unknown technology. Regardless, it indicated that the chaotic universe contained some extraordinary substances, such as that peculiar black stone.
Unfortunately, based on the current contestants who had crash-landed, only Shu Bao had encountered and used the black stone in blueprint construction. Apart from here, there were no other samples to observe.
After the viewers finally convinced themselves that it was likely some unique technology from the chaotic universe, they could finally appreciate the host’s stunning beauty.
Especially the beauty’s soft sigh, which felt like a feather gently falling on their hearts, stirring their emotions.
Suddenly, the beauty in the picture moved, his expression turning to surprise. Then, wearing his flowing ancient costume, he rushed out at an incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, he stopped again, holding a… grasshopper?
Viewers: ??? So, are they going to watch a beautiful ancient-style host catch grasshoppers next?
Shu Bao immediately proved the viewers’ guesses with his actions. Although he didn’t get to eat roasted snake meat, he discovered many grasshoppers, which he could take back and raise. Once they were fattened up, he could roast and eat them.
After the Xia Wang hunting team finished cleaning up the battlefield, Shu Bao had caught enough grasshoppers, and the group began their journey back.
With the experience from planting the previous day, the hunting team, under the guidance of the deity, dug up many plants on the return trip. The new slaves made the digging and transporting work much easier.
The members of the Sishe hunting team were resentful but dared not speak out, feeling they were being deliberately tormented. After all, they had never heard of the Xia Wang tribe having a habit of digging up grass. But now, as prisoners, they had to obey.
After walking and stopping intermittently, the group returned to the tribe before noon. From a distance, they saw that the people in the tribe were still working, chopping trees and mining.
The members of the Sishe hunting team looked bewildered at the Xia Wang tribe in the distance. The trees around the tribe were gone, including stumps and large stones. Men, women, and children in the tribe were busy, continuously transporting stones and wood from outside.
The returning hunting team was warmly welcomed by the tribe members, who curiously looked at the unfamiliar faces and the most conspicuous person in white.
“This is the deity, and these are the slaves from the Sishe tribe.”
Captain Ai Lan’s explanation caused a stir in the tribe. The high priest didn’t know whether to be shocked that the deity had become human or that they had captured people from the Sishe tribe as slaves.
After a period of discussion, the tribe members finally accepted the news brought back by the hunting team and looked at the deity with a bit of shyness. Previously, they only thought the deity was cute. But now, they felt a bit embarrassed to look directly at the deity.
Upon returning to the tribe, the first thing Shu Bao did was to fence off a piece of land outside the tribe, set up a mini fence, and draw a restriction formation around it before releasing the grasshoppers inside.
After that, Shu Bao eagerly watched the grasshoppers outside the fence for an hour until the high priest called him for lunch. Only then did he reluctantly move his head away from the fence.
Shu Bao finally started to follow the high priest to eat. When he saw his furry little feet, Shu Bao realized that he had unknowingly turned back into his mouse form, so he quickly sucked in his little belly.
During the meal, Shu Bao learned that the plants they had brought back had already been planted by everyone. The mouse turned its head to look at the riverbank and saw that the pleasing green area had expanded considerably.
The newly captured slaves did not have lunch. This was not only a form of intimidation but also to prevent the slaves from causing trouble after eating their fill. However, the mouse was very skeptical about whether the hungry laborers would have the energy to work in the afternoon.
After lunch, most people returned to their tents to rest and avoid the scorching sun, while Shu Bao and the high priest stood in front of the Sishe hunting team.
The high priest was not very concerned about the placement of the slaves. In his view, giving them one or two wild fruits a day to keep them from starving was a blessing. However, in the mouse’s view, these were potential human resources.
This hunting team consisted of ten people, which was the standard number for a hunting team. As the most powerful tribe nearby, the Sishe tribe had more than one hunting team. When they discovered that the team led by Ming Shi was missing, the Sishe tribe would definitely investigate and search. It was only a matter of time before they clashed with the Sishe tribe.
At this time, the members of the Sishe hunting team were somewhat dejected. In this era, slaves were not even considered human, but at least they had the hope of survival. Although it seemed that the people in this Xia Wang tribe were all a bit eccentric, it was unclear why they piled so many stones and trees in the tribe.
Obviously, as non-members of the Xia Wang tribe, the Sishe hunting team couldn’t see the blueprint. So to them, the behavior of the Xia Wang tribe members was incomprehensible.
Ming Shi’s eyes lit up when he saw the various tools used within the tribe. It seemed that only the mouse could launch strange fireballs, and the others were not much of a threat without weapons. As long as the other members of the tribe discovered their whereabouts and came to rescue them, he would have a chance to escape.
In the meantime, he could thoroughly investigate the secrets of the Xia Wang tribe—their tools, their deity, and their weaknesses. Ideally, he would find an opportunity to kill the mouse directly. Ming Shi’s brain was working rapidly, unlike the others who had already resigned themselves to their fate.
After the lunch break, the Xia Wang tribe embarked on the largest resource collection effort in its history. Under the bewildered gazes of the Sishe hunting team, the members of the Xia Wang tribe, like hoarding hamsters, continuously transported materials back to the tribe.
Of course, the slaves couldn’t escape this work either. Although they couldn’t use tools, they could still carry things. However, to the Sishe hunting team, this work seemed meaningless and only made the tribe more crowded and chaotic.
It was also at this time that the people of the Xia Wang tribe realized that the Sishe people couldn’t see the miracles, which made them proudly puff out their chests. They were the ones recognized by the deity, able to see the glowing blue miracles.
The Xia Wang tribe originally had more than fifty people. With the ten members of the Sishe hunting team, the progress made in one afternoon was considerable. Shu Bao watched as the resource collection bar grew from 23% to 33%.
At this rate, the task hall would be completed in a few days. Shu Bao was very much looking forward to seeing what special features it would have after integrating the black stone.
That night, the slaves were tied up outside to rest, without even a tent. However, fortunately, each person received two wild fruits to stave off hunger during dinner.
No one in the tribe found this strange, and even the slaves themselves felt it was as it should be. Shu Bao stood in front of the tent, pondering for a moment with his little paws on his chin, then ran to find the high priest to explain his thoughts.
“Give them a place to stay and food?” The high priest was obviously very confused. “They are slaves.”
“In the future, we will have more slaves, and we won’t have enough space. Only by developing the slaves into tribe members will we have enough manpower to manage the new slaves,” the fluffy ball said naturally. “The Sishe tribe will definitely send people out to search. Didn’t they say their tribe has more than five hundred people?”
The high priest was speechless. Did the deity mean to capture all the people from the Sishe tribe? However, it sounded quite promising. Trusting in the deity, the high priest immediately nodded and agreed, promising to start the work the next day.
That night, Ming Shi shared his thoughts with the others. However, their attitudes were somewhat hesitant. Although their current lives were not great, at least they were not in danger. If the slaves’ rebellion was discovered, it would not just be their hair that got burned.
Ming Shi did not expect to succeed in one go. Over time, after some delay, these people’s thoughts would eventually change.
The next day, the high priest conveyed the will of the deity. The tribe members were only surprised for a moment before gladly accepting it. Whatever the deity said was always right.
The hunting team went out as usual. But since yesterday’s prey had not been finished, today’s hunting task was not heavy. They did not plan to go too far from the tribe. This was also the will of the deity, to avoid encountering the Sishe tribe without adequate preparation.
As for what adequate preparation meant, it was, of course, to prepare more staff and weapons. Unfortunately, the production of magical items like the staff was truly frustrating for Shu Bao. He stayed up all night, wasting countless materials, but still could not make a second staff.
Finally, Shu Bao realized that the success rate of making staff with ordinary stones and wood was very limited. The one he made before was already very lucky. Due to the task hall level restrictions, Shu Bao’s current 3D printer could only print wooden and stone tools.
Since that was the case, Shu Bao decided to wait for the construction of the task hall while going out to search for suitable materials to make staff. According to his calculations, it would be relatively safe for at least two or three days, as the Sishe tribe couldn’t possibly find them so quickly.
However, Shu Bao forgot a very important thing: this world was not the conventional world he knew. Since arriving in this world, Shu Bao had never truly seen the deities worshipped by the various tribes. The black python deity worshipped by the Sishe tribe was not an ordinary black python. With the snake’s keen sense of perception, the Sishe tribe could easily locate the direction of the missing hunting team.
