For a long period of time afterwards, we were all solving problems before the arrival of winter. There were so many things to do, and they were extremely tedious. In particular, because of the White Dew, we could put aside many logistical issues, but now there is no extra manpower to be arranged, so the workload has increased a lot.

Fortunately, hard work pays off. We have all worked harder these days and things are slowly starting to ease.

After the blacksmith shop recovered a little, they started making the plow, by making the plow beam, plow tip, plow bottom, etc., and assembling them through the production parts, and then assembling the wooden parts. Finally, the iron products such as the plowshare and plow wall were made and placed on it, and then fixed it with other parts such as the throttle and pressure shovel. After several trials, it was found to be usable, and the plow was completed.

The purpose of the plow is mainly to break up the soil and plow furrows. Now I plan to move all the farmland to the hillside, so the equipment needs to be made in advance. Later one day, Yunwen put the rope on the worker ants and used the way she could communicate with them to teach them how to act as cows to operate the plow. Then I pushed the plow handle from behind, and the huge worker ants pulled the mop part in front to utilize its huge strength. I coordinated the operation, and soon the land was loosened and broken, which was conducive to sowing and farming.

It took half a day to complete the entire hillside work, and all the potatoes and wheat were planted, including the few intact plants. The restoration of the farmland was basically completed, but at the same time, many potatoes that should have been edible were sacrificed. Due to the large amount of farmland lost before, it was necessary to re-select those potatoes that should have been edible and plant them. A considerable number of them were lost, so the winter food storage became even more tight.

In addition, the mermaids are now in the recovery period, so seafood cannot be traded for the time being. In addition to resuming operations recently, our blacksmith shop must also hurry up to speed up the completion of spinning machines and the like, otherwise the wool will not be used, and the hyena people's winter warmth problem will remain idle.

The blacksmith shop has now become an important production center, and for the time being it cannot provide any handicraft production. After all, one must first ensure the basic needs of food, clothing, housing and transportation before thinking about business and the like.

As for city construction, we have the help of worker ants, and the hyenas are already veterans, so they don't need me to keep an eye on them. We can temporarily use some useless boards to block the gaps in the city wall to prevent wild beasts and wolves from coming here at night to take away sheep or injure the hyenas, affecting the safety of the little hyenas. As for houses and the like, if they have been restored, they will be occupied first. The hyenas don't mind the dirtiness and will sleep in as many rooms as they can fit.

As for the rest, the weak, pregnant, and young ones, we made them sleep on the floor on the first floor of our house during the cold nights. They would make do with that if they could, and those who really couldn't squeeze in would have to stay in the tunnel for a day or two.

As for food, we are already short of it. Although we accidentally got a dead cow, which can be pickled to last for a long time, the food on the hyena side is already insufficient. After a period of time, when I checked the food recently, those baskets that were originally full had begun to gradually become empty. There were only six dried fish left, and only a handful of shrimp balls and crab balls. As the potatoes were used for planting, there are only about fifty left now, which is not enough for the hyenas to use for a week.

The key is that now the income is not enough to spend, there is consumption but no replenishment, and with so many mouths to feed, it may be difficult to survive for a while. I was thinking that if it really doesn't work, I can only go hunting in the forest to survive the crisis, but Ling Chang couldn't agree to this idea, not to mention that now she has made friends with the so-called adopted daughter of the mountain god. If she takes the initiative to slaughter the creatures in the mountains, it always feels that it will bring bad luck.

There is also the question of Bai Lu's whereabouts. She was said to have gone to West Island. Ever since Ling Shang asked me to try not to mention that place again, I seldom mentioned West Island again. But even though I didn't mention it, the more I was told not to mention it, the more I coveted and was wary of the place in my heart. I always wanted to be aware of all crises in advance. This was the result of long-term training.

Therefore, now that Sanfu can fly, I sometimes take advantage of their busy time to ride Sanfu to the border of West Island to check out the situation. If Sanfu could not fly, then it would have to climb over the end of the city wall mountain, then go down to the bottom of the west mountain, and then move more than ten kilometers, which is basically impossible. First, it cannot go down, and second, it does not have the time. It can only go quickly and come back quickly.

But now with the flying Sanfu, all this is not so difficult. You can fly up and down, and basically it doesn’t take much time to go there and come back, just like a leisurely stroll.

The so-called deadly river that I saw with my own eyes was an indescribable stinky water area. The water was black and had many floating objects. It smelled extremely bad. There were ups and downs under the water, as if there was something mysterious hidden, ready to erupt at any time. After passing the deadly river area, there was another forest, which was the West Island area. However, what was known was that the forest seemed to be affected by the river water. There was a lot of sludge, swamps, black and smelly soil, and many skeletal remains of birds and beasts.

It was a bit like the place in fairy tales where evil wizards live. It was the same island, but the difference between the East Island and the West Island was so huge that it made me ashamed. When I flew away to explore, I seemed to hear some footsteps. In addition, there were some human footprints in the black soil. I specially asked Sanfu to fly down and check it out, and I really found quite a few.

If I'm not mistaken, there might still be some tribe living here. I just hope it's not a cannibal tribe or something like that. However, judging from the tone of Ling Chang's warning, it might be even more terrifying than a cannibal tribe.

After checking it out, I was also puzzled. Song Bailu cherished her life the most. Even if she wanted to hide from me, why would she think of going to such a terrible place? Wasn't she afraid of being swallowed by this mysterious and ugly area? Anyway, I felt creepy staying here for a moment. It was more terrifying and uncomfortable than staying in that prison, not to mention escaping here, living here for a long time, and hoping to survive.

This made me think of visiting that girl with the flower fragrance one day and asking her about the details. Maybe she was wrong.

A week had passed in the blink of an eye. Today we were out of ammunition and food, but the repairs that needed to be done were basically completed, so everyone sat at the dining table to discuss the next response plan.

"Now that winter is approaching, all the food that can be collected has basically disappeared. In addition, with so many mouths to feed, where can we get more food? Therefore, given the current predicament, we only have two ways to overcome the crisis. First, organize a hunting team and go out hunting to overcome the crisis. However, it will take some time for the potatoes to grow, and we don’t know when the mermaids will be able to recover, so we need to kill more prey; second, kill sheep. This is less labor-intensive than the previous method. At least it doesn’t require much effort. Killing one can only last for a few days." I said.

This time, the two girls shook their heads together. Ling Shang said, "Going out hunting will definitely cause the mountain god to be disgusted. Your harvest tomorrow may be affected."

Yunwen also said, "It is even worse to kill sheep for food. These sheep are not normal goats. Besides, they came with me to help us. If we kill them, they will surely be scared away, and we will not even have wool left."

"I've thought about it, but do we have any other options?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I will go to the Mermaid Coast tomorrow to check out the situation. I will bring some copper coins with me to see if I can exchange them for some food. Let's hold on for now. Also, eat sparingly recently. Everyone should drink more water and tighten their belts. We will take our time with the rest later." Yunwen said.

I sighed. It’s not that this method doesn’t work, but it is certainly not a long-term solution. Besides, there may be no mermaids on the Mermaid Coast in the near future. After all, they have suffered heavy losses. They haven’t even come to our place in recent days, so how can they go to the coast?

"If it doesn't work, let's go ask Miss Su to see if she can find a way to save him." Ling Shang said.