Su Su took the taro starch paste from my hand and started drinking it slowly. After drinking a bowl of paste, the discomfort in her throat was indeed relieved a lot, and it was not as uncomfortable as before.
By this time, Dante and Top had cleaned up the birds by the stream. They were also a little confused when they saw Su Su looking so upset. She was fine just now, how did she end up like this?
I felt a little embarrassed, which was why I hadn't told him beforehand. I recounted how Su Su had accidentally eaten raw taro, and Dante was relieved to learn that there wouldn't be any major problems.
Next, Su Su continued to assist me from the side.
This time, I stir-fried the wild birds and then stewed them with taro. In addition to this hot pot, I also took out the taro starch noodles I made before to make a side dish.
It was the first time Su Su and Dante had ever tasted refined food, and they were immediately amazed by the chewy and smooth texture of the starch noodles.
Su Su thought she had learned most of my cooking skills, but she never expected that her master had such a unique skill.
He truly lives up to his master's reputation; he always manages to surprise people and come up with some strange and wonderful things.
Just like when Top first ate taro starch noodles, Su Su and Dante specifically picked out the noodles to eat, finding the slippery texture in their mouths quite magical.
Everyone enjoyed the meal immensely, and even Pat finally got to eat the fresh offal he had been craving. In Pat's eyes, nothing tasted better than bloody offal.
…………
The next morning, I got up and started packing some tools into my backpack.
This mainly contains some delicate small items, a set of blowgun fletching molds, a specially made machining hook, and some other gadgets.
These tools are made to a specific size, and it's not impossible to make them again, but it would be more complicated.
If you have readily available tools, it's best to use the original set. This is especially true for the blowgun feather mold, which requires a high degree of precision; a difference of even a few millimeters can prevent the blowgun from launching successfully.
By the time Su Su and the others got up, I had already packed all the things I needed.
This morning I also took some time to cook a pot of meat broth with taro starch noodles for everyone; the toppings are, of course, excellent.
A bowl full of meat is definitely a generous portion; you might not even find such a generous amount of meat on the street.
After breakfast, we began discussing our route to the Forbidden West. Dante then took out the hand-drawn map the leader had given him, and we started studying the route.
The maps drawn by the indigenous people are mostly abstract, and it is not easy to find a few iconic landmarks.
So even if they have a map, they still rely mainly on instinct and memory to find their way.
As for looking at maps, it's really a matter of guesswork. Sometimes even they get lost and it takes them a lot of time to find their way back.
The map was drawn more than ten years ago, and many places have changed in such a long time.
Putting aside everything else, ten years is enough time for trees to transform a familiar area. Right now, we're all newbies who haven't been to the forbidden west, so finding our way around is even more difficult.
The main reason is that the chief is here to protect the tribe; otherwise, if he had come, we probably wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble to find the way.
We've studied this map several times before, but it only reveals certain terrain features of the mountains and rivers, such as canyons, rivers, and headlands that are not easily altered by the environment.
The only geographical location we could match on the map was the promontory in front of the wide stream when we came out.
So far, it seems we haven't deviated from our course. According to the map, when we reached that promontory, we had already covered half the distance.
We are now a little over a third of the way from the forbidden western region marked on the map.
However, what followed left us confused.
Because there are fewer unique geographical markers on the map, and it is mostly just a long stretch of mountains, and they are all about the same height, so there is no reference point to refer to.
For a moment, we were at a stalemate. Heading west wouldn't be difficult, but we didn't know the exact location of this forbidden western area—whether it was due west, or slightly southwest or northwest.
The location deviation could be tens to hundreds of kilometers. If you set off rashly, you may waste a lot of time and still not be able to find the accurate location.
However, there is an important piece of information marked on this map.
The above is what the leader and Dante said, and then Dante told me about the troubles we might encounter on this stretch of road. Then I marked this important information on the map.
The leader's exact words were:
On the final stretch of the journey to the forbidden western lands, we will encounter endless mountain peaks.
You'll encounter many demons like donkeys along the way, but that's not the most dangerous part.
The most dangerous are the giant ants, which are the size of a fist. These ants do not build fixed nests. Like the red tiger ants we encountered in the tribe before, they are nomadic insects.
However, giant ants are larger and more ferocious than red tiger ants, and no animal in the rainforest can afford to mess with them.
Even animals, sensing the approach of the giant ant army, would be so frightened that they would leave their territory in advance to seek a chance of survival.
They will squeeze every last drop of value from the resources of one place before marching on to new territories to begin a new round of harvesting.
I've encountered both of the creatures mentioned above, and as for the donkey-like animal, we're old adversaries with whom I've dealt with many times.
The animal that resembles a donkey is the sand beast, which also has another name: donkey-headed wolf. This is because its head is somewhat like a donkey's, but its body is that of a wolf, hence the name donkey-headed wolf.
Those fist-sized ants, according to Dante's description of their appearance. I think I've seen them twice. Once was when I was chased by one back in my hometown, and I was eventually forced to escape into a lake.
Another time was when we first arrived in this rainforest, on the way north. Later, when Top and I were hiding from giant ants, we encountered three sand monsters that attacked us.
I almost died here because of an infected wound, but I eventually found this rock crevice to recuperate.
The Sand Beast is widely distributed, so this information isn't particularly valuable to us.
The leader emphasized the information about the giant ants, stating that he meant there were many giant ants, not many individuals.
Instead, giant ant colonies, often numbering in the hundreds of thousands, are quite common in this region.
When we first heard this news, we were shocked. How could such a powerful creature have so many species? How can we avoid these deadly insects?
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