Chapter 302: Preserving Food
Upon seeing Zi, Wu’s eyes went straight, and he swallowed hard.
A perfect figure, a beautiful face, and such powerful combat prowess—she could definitely bear many, very strong children!
However, he probably couldn’t beat Zi. Although he didn’t quite believe Zi’s words, he was wary of Deer and the others. If a woman was this formidable, what about the men?
Eventually, Wu took the hind leg and the pheasant that Zi had torn off and began chatting with Deer and the others.
Primitive savages didn’t have so many twists and turns in their thoughts. After the conflict passed, they combined forces to hunt, resulting in a bountiful harvest.
Deer and his group also learned about the surrounding situation. Not far to the north, there was a large lake called Buri Lake. It was a communal hunting ground for nearby tribes, where prey was more abundant and there were more tribes.
This area was called the Luca Grassland. Including Deer’s tribe, a total of six small tribes inhabited this place.
There weren’t many conflicts between the tribes of the Luca Grassland. Firstly, the nearby food resources were fairly abundant. Secondly, the giant beasts hunted humans from time to time. If the tribes fought amongst themselves, the humans of the Luca Grassland would probably go extinct.
After Wu and his tribe left with their game, Duan asked in confusion:
“Why did we give them a hind leg and a pheasant? Even if we gave them nothing, intimidated by Zi’s strength, they probably wouldn’t dare fight us.”
Deer looked at the prickly Duan and smiled slightly.
“If we tried to grasp everything in our hands, we might lose even more. Giving them a small amount of meat makes them feel that we are neither easy to bully nor unreasonable.
“We have just arrived on this land and need to establish good relations with the surrounding tribes. As long as they aren’t man-eating tribes, most tribes can become our friends!
“We cooperated in hunting, learned about the nearby situation, and even found out that there will be a Wild Union Gathering in the Luca Grassland when winter comes. Isn’t this a benefit?”
Listening to Deer’s words, Duan began to nod. At the end, everyone laughed heartily, while Duan blushed with embarrassment.
Zi watched them with cold eyes, walking at the back of the group without saying a word.
The human tribes in the entire conservation area already understood that close blood relatives should not mate. Different tribes would exchange partners or hold multi-tribe Wild Union Gatherings.
This was also Deer’s thought. The tribe needed to develop and needed population. Their numbers were few. Forcibly plundering population wasn’t realistic and would make them infamous. Moreover, plundered people wouldn’t be loyal and would easily flee or cause internal strife.
Only by maintaining good relations with nearby tribes could they stay well-informed and grow their population effectively.
In the time that followed, Zi continued hunting with everyone. With Zi’s participation and cooperation with nearby tribes, Deer’s tribe had a tremendous harvest of game.
Zi’s fame rose rapidly among the nearby tribes. Everyone knew that a small tribe had recently migrated to the Luca Grassland and had a female huntress who could tear apart leopards with her bare hands, punch wild boars, and hold her own even when facing a fierce tiger.
“Zi is truly amazing. She deserves to be the messenger of the Invisible King, the noblest Witch of our tribe.”
On the way back, as Zi dragged a despairing bison, Deer couldn’t help but praise her.
“That’s for sure. The young lads from other tribes, especially Wu, stare straight at Zi. He keeps asking if Zi will attend the Wild Union Gathering.”
Another tribe member chimed in. As he spoke, he felt a chill run down his spine.
“You seem to have an opinion about me. Let’s wrestle.”
Just as he was speaking happily, Zi appeared behind him and dragged him away.
The others laughed with lingering fear, while Duan looked thoughtful.
In the evening, with the increase in meat and the arrival of summer, Deer looked at the meat that was about to spoil and felt a pang of pain in his heart.
Although they had cooked all the meat, it still couldn’t be kept for too long.
Zi saw this and was anxious in her heart.
She didn’t eat but prayed devoutly and danced. She discovered that doing so made her dizzy most easily, allowing her to see the deity in a half-asleep, half-awake state.
Ace stayed in Zi’s right eye. This place had been completely transformed by Ace into a dream world. Complex rune structures had fundamentally changed this eye.
Of course, this eye couldn’t leave Zi yet, because the dream within originated from Zi and needed Zi to support it.
“This silly girl, is she trying to starve herself until she’s dizzy just to enter the dream?”
Ace observed Zi, who was gradually becoming dizzy, and said somewhat amusingly.
In the dream, Zi once again saw a massive pitch-black shadow. Just looking at Ace filled Zi with immense satisfaction. Like a moth to a flame, knowing she couldn’t withstand the fire, she still wanted to get close.
“Great Invisible King, You are the only Savior. Please have mercy on us. We are the practitioners of Your path. We will execute Your will and sing praises of Your benevolence. Please tell me, how can we store more food?”
In primitive tribes, how to store more food had always been a thorny issue. Countless savages fantasized about hunting and gathering more during the summer and autumn when animals and berries flourished, saving it for the cold winter when food and clothing were scarce.
However, meat and berries rotted and spoiled easily. They could only gather some berries near the end of autumn, wait for the snow to fall, and bury the berries in the ice and snow for preservation.
Ace’s solution to this was making smoked meat, dried fruit, and vacuum preservation. According to research in the High Tower, cells, bacteria, and even smaller viruses had already been discovered.
If the situation in this Pocket World was the same as in the Material Plane, then making smoked meat, dried fruit, and vacuum preservation was completely feasible.
Ace deliberately tailored the information flow, releasing it bit by bit. due to the massive gap in Life Level, even a tiny bit of information would be mixed with a large amount of useless content that Zi couldn’t understand, driving her toward madness.
After a long while, Ace looked at Zi, who had fallen into madness within the dream, and frowned. He hadn’t controlled it well and failed again.
Over the following week, after repeated attempts, Ace finally transmitted the methods for making smoked meat, dried fruit, and vacuum preservation.
Making smoked meat and dried fruit required salt and alkali. As for vacuum preservation, it required making glazed ceramics.
After Zi discussed this with Deer, Deer expressed unconditional support for the will of the Invisible King. The next day, he took two people and carried meat to Wu’s tribe to exchange for salt.
Zi, staying in the cave, fired pottery in the earthen kiln. Following the method demonstrated by the Invisible King in her dream, she applied a layer of plant ash to the inner and outer surfaces of the clay blanks.
Pottery was a person in Deer’s tribe with rich pottery-making experience. Under her firing, three days later, ceramic jars and pots with smooth inner linings were quickly produced.
Zi touched the inner lining and outer layer of the pottery with her hand. It was unusually smooth, gleaming under the sunlight, a beautiful grayish-white.
“Is this porcelain?”
Just then, the sound of running appeared in the distance.
(End of this chapter)
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