Chapter 6
Where would we live if we moved? Good question.
The tribe currently didn’t have a single tool to its name. Building a house with bare hands was harder than ascending to the heavens. Besides, they didn’t have the manpower or energy, as they were still in a predicament where they didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.
The dark, damp tree hollow was really no place for people to live. Hua Shi’an looked around, his gaze gradually settling on the direction they had come from, on the row of thick, towering giant redwood trees at the edge of the meadow.
As trees aged, older ones could become hollow due to environmental or natural factors. The tree hollow they were currently living in was formed in such a way.
Although the giant redwoods by the meadow were not as massive as the one that could accommodate dozens of people, they were still ancient, enormous, and unshakable beings to humans.
These giant redwoods had lived for at least a hundred years. Hua Shi’an didn’t believe that their trunks were completely solid inside. The specifics needed to be verified. Hua Shi’an beckoned to the beastmen and turned back. “Follow me.”
The beastmen were puzzled but still followed Hua Shi’an’s lead.
They crossed the meadow and walked to the foot of a giant redwood that soared into the clouds. Hua Shi’an pressed his four fingers together and, as if knocking on a door, tapped lightly along the base of the trunk.
The dull thudding sound echoed in their ears. The three beastmen looked at each other, seeing confusion in one another’s eyes.
Knocking on one tree didn’t seem to be enough. Hua Shi’an then moved on to the second, the third…
They had come out to find food, yet here they were, wasting time.
By the fifth tree, Yong’s patience was wearing thin. He let out an impatient “tsk.” “I say, that’s about enough. Don’t forget our main—”
“Found one!” Hua Shi’an, who had been squatting on the ground, shot up. He pointed at the tall giant redwood, his bright eyes filled with smiles and joy. “We have a place to live. We’ll live here.”
“Here?” Jian walked around the tree, scratching his head in confusion. “How do we live here? Sleep at the foot of the tree?”
Hua Shi’an didn’t explain much. He lifted his foot and kicked the trunk hard, right where he had just been tapping.
Under the gaze of four pairs of eyes, the tree trunk… didn’t move an inch.
His foot, however, hurt a little. Hua Shi’an endured the discomfort, raised a fist to his lips, and coughed lightly. He said to Yong, who was standing beside him, “Why don’t you try? I’m not strong enough.”
Yong didn’t say a word. He silently took a few steps forward and kicked the trunk.
It didn’t even look like he used much force. With a “bang,” the weathered bark of the giant tree shattered, and the hard trunk was easily kicked into a dent by the beastman.
Even the strongest beastman couldn’t kick a dent into a tree trunk with one blow. The smart beastman had already realized this. He used some force to pull his foot out, then used his hands to break off the brittle bark around it. In a short while, the small dent had expanded several times over.
The inside of the trunk wasn’t completely hollow yet, but the wood inside was already rotten. It didn’t even require tools; the rotten wood, which resembled a termite nest, could be cleared out with bare hands, turning it into a tree hollow that could shelter them from the wind and rain.
After watching the whole process, Jian was dumbfounded. “This, this tree is broken? How did you make such a big hole in it so quickly?”
Too lazy to give a long-winded explanation, Hua Shi’an nodded. “You could say it’s broken, but it can still live. It started rotting from the inside. The layer near the bark is relatively solid. We can live in it after we hollow it out.”
“How amazing. Did that stranger tell you this too?” Lan’s eyes widened as she looked at the giant tree, asking curiously.
Hua Shi’an’s expression didn’t change. “That’s right.”
Yong buried his head and worked for a while, and the rudimentary form of a tree hollow gradually appeared at the base of the tree.
He pulled his hand back, dusted off the wood shavings, and turned to the others. “The trunk is completely rotten, so it’s not difficult to hollow out. But this tree is too small. Even if we hollow out the entire inside, it can only accommodate four or five people at most.”
“That’s enough.” Hua Shi’an’s lips curved into a smile. “Who said everyone has to squeeze into one tree hollow? We can live separately. I knocked on five trees just now, and three of them were hollow. Don’t worry, we won’t be short of places to live.”
“Oh, right!” Jian and Lan said in unison, their excitement palpable.
Moving was a big deal and had to be decided after discussing it with the chief.
It was getting late, and they had important things to do. The beastmen suppressed their excitement and reluctantly left the giant trees, plunging back into the jungle.
As they walked, stopping and starting, Hua Shi’an still saw many useful plants. There was the soapberry, which could be used for bathing and lathering up like soap, and the Formosan sugar palm leaf sheaths, a treasure trove of uses, from making mattresses to weaving rain capes.
There were many other useful flowers and plants, just nothing that could be eaten directly.
After the rain, the sky cleared, and strangely shaped mushrooms poked their heads out from the piles of fallen leaves—colorful poisonous mushrooms, fragrant porcini, and green-headed mushrooms the size of a fist…
Seeing the large patches of mushrooms on the slope, Hua Shi’an couldn’t bring himself to move on. Unfortunately, after days of heavy rain, the mountain forest was soaked through. The damp fallen leaves and branches probably wouldn’t even light with a lighter, let alone with the most primitive method of drilling wood for fire.
These things weren’t meant to be eaten raw. Without fire, it would be a waste of effort to pick them.
Their luck seemed to turn in the afternoon. Not long after climbing the slope, they found blueberries in a thicket—a large patch of blueberry bushes laden with fruit.
Hua Shi’an was overjoyed. Blueberries, which he hadn’t gotten a single one of yesterday! Although they were small and not very filling, blueberries were much more delicious than chewing on raw wild vegetables. The only downside was that the fruit was too fragile and difficult to carry back after picking.
For this reason, Hua Shi’an had the beastmen start picking while he ran back down the slope to tear off a bundle of Formosan sugar palm leaf sheaths and break off a few trident maple branches.
The Formosan sugar palm leaf sheaths, also known as coir, were probably larger due to being in a primeval forest. A complete sheath was the size of a school desk, much larger than those on Earth. It was thin and light, with layers of fibers resembling a fishing net, and felt like horsehair to the touch.
If it could be used to weave rain capes, it could naturally be used to make containers. However, weaving a bag on the spot was a bit rushed, so Hua Shi’an had to use vines to thread through the four corners of the leaf sheaths, making a few simple net bags.
Later, when they were filled with blueberries, the four corners could be gathered and tied up, which was much sturdier than leaves.
The last rays of the setting sun faded, and Hua Shi’an and the beastmen returned to the foot of the giant redwood tree just before dark.
They had thought they were the first to return, but before they even entered the tree hollow, they saw Chief Mu sitting in a corner of the entrance, with food laid out in front of him.
It had been another fruitful day. There were more shelled chestnuts and washed purslane than yesterday. Beside Chief Mu’s hand were two other kinds of small wild fruits that Hua Shi’an recognized at a glance: Chinese hog plums and yellow-fruit nightshade.
“You’re back! An, come quickly, see if these two kinds of fruit are edible.”
As soon as he entered the tree hollow, Chief Mu hurriedly beckoned to Hua Shi’an. Lang, who was sitting inside, also rushed out, calling for him to identify the fruits.
One more type of food meant one more glimmer of hope. Hua Shi’an understood and walked over quickly.
He placed the bulging coir-wrapped bundle on the ground and took a handful of wild fruits from Chief Mu. He couldn’t make a conclusion just by looking at something that was meant to be eaten. He deliberately chose a smooth, golden, round fruit and sniffed it.
“Well, well,” the beastman Lang couldn’t wait any longer. He looked at Hua Shi’an expectantly and said anxiously, “I found this fruit. It smells so fragrant. It should be edible, right?”
It did smell fragrant, like a ripe apple.
Hua Shi’an broke the fruit in half and, as expected, saw seeds that looked very similar to chili seeds. He shook his head regretfully. “This is called yellow-fruit nightshade. It’s poisonous and cannot be eaten directly.”
It was actually a traditional Chinese medicine, but he was too lazy to explain. He would talk about it when it was needed.
“Huh? It’s really not edible?” The smile on Lang’s face froze, and he looked extremely disappointed.
Hua Shi’an smiled at him and continued to examine the other fruit.
The pale yellow fruit was fully ripe and felt soft to the touch, like a soft persimmon.
It had almost no smell. Hua Shi’an tore open the skin and tasted a bit of the pulp, frowning imperceptibly. “Chinese hog plum. It’s edible, but you can’t eat too much. There’s a pit inside, so be careful when you eat it and remember to spit it out.”
“Wow, it’s edible! What does it taste like? Is it delicious?” The beastman’s gloom was swept away. He quickly grabbed a hog plum and, mimicking Hua Shi’an, tore open the skin.
Hua Shi’an watched him pop the whole hog plum into his mouth and said with a straight face, “Sweet and sour, and delicious.” So sour it made you doubt your life, with a negligible hint of sweetness…
As the delicate and smooth hog plum entered his mouth, the beastman’s eyes went blank for a moment.
When he truly tasted the hog plum, Lang’s brow furrowed uncontrollably, and his whole face contorted. “Ah, ptui ptui ptui, by the Beast God, what, what the hell is this? So sour, so sour, it’s killing me! I’m drooling!”
The beastman’s wail echoed through the tree hollow. Chief Mu was startled and hurriedly confirmed with Hua Shi’an, “An, is this fruit really edible?”
“It’s edible, just a bit sour. No need to go out of your way to pick it.”
“Ptui ptui ptui, more than a bit! This fruit is sour enough to make your teeth fall out!”
…
After eating and drinking his fill, Hua Shi’an took two sheets from the bundle of coir he had brought back and spread them in the small corner where he slept. The coir was not yet dry and felt a bit damp to the touch, but compared to the cold, hard, muddy ground, it was already a Simmons mattress.
The other beastmen followed his example, and the bundle of coir was quickly divided up. There were too many wolves and not enough meat. The beastmen who were slow to act didn’t get any and pouted pitifully, looking like they were about to cry.
He couldn’t sleep at all. Just as Hua Shi’an had finished making his “bed,” Chief Mu, who was sitting at the entrance, called him over to talk. The beastman Yong was also sitting at the entrance. He had thought he was being called over to discuss moving, but as soon as Hua Shi’an got closer, he saw a pile of stones.
The stones, large and small, were of various shapes. There were stones with concave interiors, like bowls, and flat, smooth, thin, and sturdy slate. Some of the stones had obvious signs of grinding, clearly the raw materials the tribe members had gathered to make tools.
Having never worked with stone tools, Hua Shi’an didn’t know much about them. When Chief Mu asked him to look, he could really only look and couldn’t offer any suggestions. Fortunately, the tribe already used stone tools and knew how to make daily utensils and tools. They only asked him to see if he had any better ideas.
The matter of moving, though delayed, was finally brought up. After placing the heavy slate back on the ground, Chief Mu looked out at the quiet forest and murmured as if to himself, “I discussed it with the beastmen during dinner just now. We all think moving to the riverside is feasible.”
“This tree hollow is also quite good, big and spacious, but there are a lot of us, so it’s a bit crowded for everyone to live together. Besides, the rain won’t last forever. We need water, so it’s more suitable to settle down near a water source.”
“I think so too,” Yong agreed.
Chief Mu turned his head and gave Yong a meaningful look, then turned to Hua Shi’an. “Whether we live in one tree hollow or in separate ones, we are still one tribe, one collective. It’s not like we haven’t faced danger before. As long as we are of one mind, we will always overcome difficulties and get better and better.”
“You are good children, capable young people. You’ve worked hard these past few days. Once this busy period is over and the tribe is settled, those who should rest will rest, and those who should play will play.”
Hua Shi’an understood. After going around in such a big circle, what Chief Mu wanted to say was:
If they moved and lived separately, they couldn’t just think of themselves. They had to bring the tribe members along and be of one mind with the tribe.
He was afraid, afraid that he couldn’t lead the tribe out of its predicament, afraid that the strong young people would contribute too much and then abandon the burdens who couldn’t work.
He was actually overthinking it. Even in the most difficult times, the beastmen had never thought of abandoning their companions.
