We need to bring back the mixed-race clan from the Food Forest to Lan...
The beastmen returned to their cave laden with their spoils, beaming with joy. It was still early, before dusk.
When Maple Syrup saw Lan return, she immediately held up the wooden bucket she and Qiuguo had made together for Lan to see. Maple Syrup was incredibly strong, and she always managed to break the half-finished bucket when the trunk thinned out. This time, Qiuguo took over the finishing touches, and the bucket was quickly and successfully completed.
She probably wasn't born with the talent to make things, even though she couldn't even crush a bamboo tube that was more prone to breaking.
Jiang Yunlan, carrying a fish in her arms and a wooden bucket full of food on her back, climbed the slope to the cave. Looking up, she saw Maple Syrup holding up the bucket. She smiled, walked to the entrance of the semi-circular platform, put down the fish in her hands, and nodded repeatedly in praise: "Wooden bucket, wonderful."
She sent Feng Hong and A Bai to gather dry weeds, while she and the other three beastmen carried the food back.
Neither of the two campfires in the clan had gone out, with Maple Syrup and Autumn Fruit each tending one, adding branches every now and then. When they noticed the fire was getting a little smaller, they picked up the branches they had and threw them back into the fire.
Jiang Yunlan piled the things she had brought back on the gentle slope at the entrance of the semi-circular platform, gesturing for Mianhua and the others to put their things over as well. The three orcs responded a beat late, then decisively carried the food over, a departure from their previous habits.
Maple Syrup hadn't seen her sister and Ah Bai for a while and was starting to worry when she saw her sister return carrying a large bunch of hay. Behind her, Ah Bai was carrying a similarly large pile of weeds.
"Feng Hong, A Bai, over here." Jiang Yunlan chose an open space away from the fire and gestured for the two orcs to bring over the hay they were using to cover the ground.
They brought back a lot of hay, but it was still far from enough for the eleven orcs to sleep on. Jiang Yunlan didn't take them down to collect new hay, but instead gestured for them to carry the elderly deer-beastman out of the cave.
The cave cleaning has begun.
The obedient beastmen, due to the language barrier, would occasionally misunderstand Lan's meaning. They might move the wrong things, put things in the wrong place, or sometimes get so frustrated by not being able to understand Lan that they would spin around in circles.
After a chaotic scene, all the orcs and their collected supplies were gathered at the location Jiang Yunlan had indicated: the gentle slope below the entrance to the semi-circular platform.
Jiang Yunlan made sure everyone was in the safe zone before throwing fire into the hole filled with logs and tree trunks. The failed attempts to turn into barrels became fuel, which was then thrown into the fire.
The sky turned red, and the fire in the cave shone brightly, the orange-red flames making the sky appear even redder.
The orcs, along with the supplies, remained halfway up the mountain, staring dumbfounded at the flames emanating from the cave entrance. They quickly turned their attention back to Jiang Yunlan. They watched her nervously until she retreated to their side, only to breathe a sigh of relief the next second, when they saw her expressionlessly toss away the fruit. The orcs were stunned, their expressions instantly frozen.
Jiang Yunlan wrapped the insect-eaten fruit in leaves and tossed them all down the mountain, as ruthlessly as autumn leaves being swept away. She was too busy to notice the tearful, sorrowful eyes of the beastmen beside her.
Having transmigrated from the pristine Earth where food and clothing were plentiful, she simply could not accept those worm-infested fruits, nor did she want the beastmen to eat them.
She didn't want the orcs to eat the spoiled fruit, so she brought back other food.
Jiang Yunlan cleared away the food that was obviously inedible, and set aside the half-baked food that was barely usable, intending to save it for when there was plenty of food.
The intact fruit and edible meat, distributed using maple syrup, would only last the beastmen three or four days. If the food she had marked as edible was included, the beastmen would have six days' worth of provisions.
This food wasn't enough to get through the entire winter, but it made her realize how hard the beastmen were trying to stockpile food for her.
She suddenly realized that the beastmen must have been very sad when she threw away the inedible food. They had worked so hard to save up the food for so long, and they probably thought it was still edible.
Jiang Yunlan couldn't help but purse her lips and look up at the beastmen. Every beastman's face showed heartache, but none of them stepped forward to stop her.
“There will be more and better food in the future,” she said earnestly.
This was her promise. The beastmen didn't understand, but 022 had already written these words into the observation record.
She didn't regret her actions; she cared more about the health of the beastmen than about the spoiled food.
The orcs looked at her with teary eyes, their gazes filled with trust. In their hearts, Lan was a wise and intelligent woman; she must have discovered something they hadn't noticed to have discarded the food. They weren't saddened that Lan had thrown away the fruit, but rather heartbroken that the fruit was no longer edible.
"Lan, we will bring back more food!" the orcs shouted after their initial disappointment.
It was definitely the giant beasts' fault that Lan lost her clan and wandered alone in the forest. Now they were Lan's people, how could they let Lan feel that they were inferior to her former clan?
They won't let Lan down.
Despite the language barrier, Jiang Yunlan and the beastmen tacitly reached a common goal. 022, observing from the sidelines, witnessed everything and silently recorded the scene. It was already accustomed to recording what it heard first, then translating the previously written records after understanding the new language.
On the fourth day of observing the Beast World civilization, 022 decided to change its habit of talking to itself and become a silent recorder. It wanted to stay in this clan, documenting everything here, and naturally shouldn't interfere with Jiang Yunlan, who had integrated into this civilization.
That strange child seems to be starting to enjoy talking to it. 022 thought to itself after being spoken to a few times.
The fire in the cave didn't die down for a long time. During this time, Jiang Yunlan and the beastmen from the gathering team went to the foot of the mountain to find hay and brought it back.
Gradually, the firelight stopped coming out of the cave, and Jiang Yunlan cautiously peeked out to check the situation inside.
The fire ravaged the entire cave, leaving behind piles of ashes. She covered her nose and walked into the cave, facing the unpleasant smell, using a long branch to brush away the ashes on the ground.
No sparks flew out, so she was relieved. She casually pulled over two orcs, handed them the simple brooms she had just made, and led them to sweep the ashes and charred insects out of the cave.
As dusk faded and night fell, Jiang Yunlan and the beastmen put everything back into the cave.
Stone knives, wooden spears (originally harpoons), various raw stones, branches, and other items were piled up on the left side of the cave entrance, along with empty wooden barrels and bamboo tubes. Food was placed inside the cave, in the coolest, most shady spot. Ginger and peas, wrapped in thick leaves, were placed separately to one side.
Jiang Yunlan glanced at the meat strips and noticed that some of them seemed to be about to spoil. She made a decisive decision to smoke all the meat and any uneaten fish that night.
As for the fruit stored in the cave, she planned to dry it into fruit. If the autumn sun couldn't dry it, she would smoke it into fruit before winter.
Today's harvest was thirteen fish, enough for the beastmen to eat three meals a day.
She did the math: excluding tonight's dinner, the clan had enough food for six days—twelve meals. Too little, still far too little. She didn't know how long the winter would be, whether it would snow, and with winter just days away, a sense of urgency about lacking food and clothing immediately overwhelmed her.
There's also salt; the clan has no stable source of salt, and now they can only get it from animal blood.
Jiang Yunlan couldn't help but sigh and looked up at the beastmen. They were staring intently at the grilled fish in her hand and the boiled fish that Maple Syrup was cooking.
“Lan,” Feng Hong looked at her with clear and vibrant eyes and said happily, “Fish, eat!”
She watched as Feng Hong excitedly slapped her tail on the ground, then looked at the beastmen grinning foolishly as if they were scattering little flowers behind them. She silently turned back to flip the fish over and said helplessly, "Wait a little longer."
Jiang Yunlan was unaware that a smile had unconsciously crept onto her lips.
She thought it was time to make pottery. Another bamboo tube had cracked, and the wooden bucket that had previously held water was also showing signs of breaking. She wanted earthenware bowls and pots. With these, she could store water for cooking, and she wouldn't feel too bad about the damage to the containers.
At this moment, she felt somewhat fortunate that she had once made pottery, and later developed an interest in pottery, so she made a special effort to learn about ceramics.
Dinner, consisting of six fish and some fruit, was finished. Jiang Yunlan picked up the vines and continued weaving the fish basket. If she had bamboo, she could make even more. Unfortunately, when she told Maple Sugar she wanted to find bamboo, Maple Sugar hesitated, then shook her head firmly.
She guessed that the bamboo was located far from the cave and couldn't be returned within a day. That's why Maple Syrup looked at her with worry and told her not to go.
The newly brought-back dry grass was compressed into a new haystack for the three old orcs and Qiuguo. They were getting old and couldn't stand the cold. The rest of the orcs remained asleep around the fire, sleeping soundly.
Tonight, the orc watching the fire is Maple Syrup. She quietly watches Lan weave things she has never seen before with ordinary vines, and thoughtfully hands Lan the materials she needs.
Today, Arashi has created a new item: a vine basket that is even larger than a wooden barrel.
Maple Syrup tried carrying the basket made by Lan and immediately realized that this lightweight item would allow the orcs in the gathering team to bring back more things.
"Look, with this we can bring back more food," Jiang Yunlan said softly with a bright smile. She still remembered how she had to carry the fish back by hand today because the wooden bucket was too small.
She tried teaching Maple Syrup how to weave vine baskets. Maple Syrup wasn't suited for woodworking, but perhaps she'd excel at weaving.
But the whole night proved that Maple Syrup's weaving talent was only slightly better than that of a carpenter. She didn't tear the vines, but the weaving progress was indescribable.
When Jiang Yunlan woke up, she opened her eyes to see Maple Sugar still struggling with the vines, as if she were locked in a battle with them. Feeling somewhat helpless, she corrected a few mistakes in Maple Sugar's technique, then hurriedly finished breakfast and led the beastmen out.
Today's weather is mostly cloudy, with the warm sun hanging in the sky obscured by the clouds.
Jiang Yunlan rubbed her arms, which were exposed to the air. The weather was getting colder. If it wasn't raining, it meant that it was late autumn and winter was just around the corner.
A note from the author:
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A quick look at 022's records: (Mixed Race Clan)
Items in the clan:
Environment section
A clean cave, and a pile of weeds big enough for the three old orcs and Qiuguo to sleep in.
*
Food column
4 pieces of ginger (2 for winter use, 2 reserved for breeding), 13 wild peas.
Meat scraps from the prey + some fruit + 7 fish = 6 days' worth of food = 12 meals
*
Supply bar
campfire
A pile of bamboo, N stone knives, N wooden spears, 4 wooden barrels, a number of raw stones, a number of branches, and a number of vines.
*
Trap Bar
(In use) Fish basket x2, lasso trap x1, pit trap x1
Orcs in the clan:
Clan Chief: Jiang Yunlan (Squirrel Beastman Cub)
Deer-beastmen x6 (2 young orcs, 1 middle-aged orc, 3 old orcs)
Sheep-orc x1 (semi-adult)
Rabbit-beastman x1 (adult)
Lemming Orc x2 (Cubs)
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