In short, almost all the ants immediately pounced on it.

Moreover, they have a clear division of labor; unlike the frenzied fighting, each piece of meat is handled by a specific ant colony.

After tearing off a piece of flesh, they immediately left, and then another group of ants took their place.

Just like queuing for food in a cafeteria, it was very orderly and meticulous.

Soon, the ants made way for them.

"What a bunch of bandits! They've come here to demand tolls from us."

After venting his frustrations, Ye Feng had everyone pick up their backpacks again and quickly leave the area.

They only slowed down their pace after walking more than a hundred meters down the hillside.

They were still breathing heavily, their emotions gradually calming down.

"That was close, brother. You're the one who came up with the idea."

"How did these guys suddenly appear there? Are they deliberately trying to intercept us?"

"The main problem is, are we really traveling this slowly? We can't even outrun an ant?"

Ye Feng shone his flashlight around. The chirping of insects was still there, but at least he had shaken off the ant swarm.

He also wiped the cold sweat from his face.

"It's not that we couldn't outrun them, it's just that we were unlucky and ran into them."

No one quite understood what he meant.

Liu Sisi asked:

"You mean, they weren't originally planning to come after us?"

Ye Feng shook his head.

"With so many ants coming out at once, they must have smelled enough meat. We're the only ones in this forest with this much meat."

However, we just happened to run into these guys when they were on their way to find us.

Oh well, consider it a loss to avoid further trouble. Giving them a little toll is no big deal.

"Let's get out of here quickly. The terrors of the Amazon night go far beyond just army ants."

After saying that, before they could even catch their breath, they resumed their journey.

The toll fee was about 40 kilograms, which indirectly reduced their burden to some extent.

In short, saving one's life is more important than anything else.

About ten minutes later, the five people finally returned to the camp. They slumped down under the treehouse, their faces full of exhaustion.

This day felt like I had gone through eighty-one tribulations; my tense nerves relaxed considerably.

"Ooh ooh ooh!"

Before everyone could rest properly, Mao Mao and Da Wang's childish shouts came from the house above.

He smiled contentedly.

Now these two little monkeys have even learned to guard the house.

"Stop calling me, it's me."

Upon hearing Ye Feng's voice, the two little monkeys immediately quieted down.

They climbed onto the window, chirping softly at Ye Feng, their eyes occasionally glancing down.

It seemed to want to jump down to greet them, just like a dog seeing its owner returning home after a long trip.

"Hey, Brother Feng, it seems like we've really tamed this monkey."

Qi Xiaoyan called out to the two monkeys with loving sounds, her face full of affection.

"They're not dogs, they won't understand if you call them that. Let's get back to work, our crisis isn't over yet."

Upon hearing this, everyone's hearts, which had just calmed down, tensed up again.

"What? There's still danger even after we've gone home?"

Ye Feng slowly stood up and shone his flashlight around.

"We're both fish and pigs, and we smell of blood."

Treehouses can keep out wild animals, but they can't keep out small insects.

The Amazon is home to quite a few poisonous creatures that can climb trees and fly.

So let's finish processing all the meat tonight and get to work.

Unfortunately, before everyone could even settle in, a new round of busy work began.

Generally speaking, raw meat will spoil and produce bacteria if left at a temperature between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius for more than 10 hours.

The temperature in the Amazon is generally around 30 degrees Celsius, but here, temperature is not the only factor that can affect the quality of meat.

There are also many flying insects here, such as flies, mosquitoes, and various carnivorous insects, which are basically carriers of germs.

Meat that has been crawled on by them will immediately deteriorate faster.

In addition, the Amazon is a famous tropical rainforest, and such a hot and humid environment naturally becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses.

Therefore, Ye Feng estimated that the meat would spoil if it was not processed within 5 hours.

If you accidentally eat it, you may experience mild diarrhea or, in severe cases, malaria, dizziness, and headaches.

If you're even more unlucky, you might get a parasitic infection.

In such an environment, without effective treatment, death is only a matter of time.

Ye Feng has always been very strict about this. Even with spring water, he usually boils it before drinking it.

Half an hour later…

Everyone returned to the treehouse, where they set up four smokehouses and started cooking on two stoves at the same time.

Fortunately, the smoke vent is large enough, and there are four large windows, so the smoke doesn't spread everywhere.

Fu Changxiong was in charge of chopping bones, Liu Sisi cut meat, Qi Xiaojie smoked meat by himself, and Qi Xiaoyan was in charge of frying pork cracklings.

With a sizzle, a large amount of white oil was poured into the pot.

The long-lost aroma of oil made everyone take a few more breaths.

Before long, a pot of fresh pork cracklings was cooked and served.

It seems best to pack them separately in wooden jars for later use.

Ye Feng filled a wooden bucket with more than half a bucket of water, and then picked out some of the ribs, tenderloin, pig's head meat, internal organs, and some parts from the pork.

And they were all put into the water.

Then he took out some salt and poured some into the bucket.

Salt water has a certain bactericidal effect, mainly by using high concentrations of salt to dehydrate and kill bacteria.

Because saline solution can cause the bacterial cell fluid to flow out through osmosis…

It disrupts the cell membrane structure of bacteria, thereby effectively achieving a bactericidal effect.

In other words, this meat can be preserved for at least 24 hours.

However, everyone was a bit confused by his actions.

They didn't understand why, when they were grilling fish this afternoon, Ye Feng had been reluctant to add more salt, even though he was being stingy.

They also said that a little flavor is enough, and that salt should be used sparingly.

And right now, he's actually throwing handfuls of water into it.

Fu Changxiong couldn't help but ask:

"Brother, what are you doing? Why are you dumping so much salt?"

Ye Feng didn't answer directly, but instead looked at Liu Sisi jokingly.

"Sisi, do you know what I want to do?"

Liu Sisi stopped cutting the meat, raised her chin and thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled:

"Either it's to prepare a certain dish, or it's for preservation to prevent the meat from spoiling."

"Um."

Ye Feng nodded in agreement. Although Liu Sisi was only good at theoretical discussions, one thing was undeniable.

She was indeed very bright and knew Ye Feng well enough.

"That's right, I'm really tired of dried meat. This brine will preserve the pork until tomorrow."

Because I wanted to have a good meal before I left.