Chapter 331

Wu Yue's fingers trembled: "I want something that can stop the itch right now."

As soon as her voice fell, the system panel instantly unfolded before her eyes: "Basic healing potion, only 50 points, a household essential, you deserve to have it."

Seeing those bright red 50 points, Wu Yue felt her heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys all start to ache.

"What potion is this? So expensive!"

Tongzi tapped his finger, aggrieved, and said: "The kind that works as soon as you drink it."

Wu Yue narrowed her eyes: "And then?"

Tongzi hummed: "Then there's no then after that."

Seeing the steep price, Wu Yue had wanted to grit her teeth and bear it, but the maddening itch scratching her heart and lungs was truly unbearable.

She gritted her teeth and said: "Give me one bottle."

As soon as her words fell, Tongzi cheerfully deducted the points: "Host purchased one basic healing potion, deducted 50 points, wishing you a speedy recovery, dear~"

Hearing that strong Taobao vibe, Wu Yue endured the itch on her body and gave Lan Pangzi a hard smack on the butt: "You better speak properly!"

Tongzi bounced: "I've seen others provide this kind of service and their performance was always great."

Wu Yue chuckled: "That's just your illusion."

While speaking, she lowered her head and saw a thumb-sized transparent bottle appear in the grass nest.

No need to ask; Wu Yue knew it was the basic healing potion she had just bought.

But…

She bent over, picked up Lan Pangzi, and with a look like she was viewing a scammer, said: "You call this a 'bottle'?"

Lan Pangzi shrank his head guiltily: "This is the standard size; don't judge by its smallness, but its efficacy is good!"

Wu Yue sneered: "If drinking it has no effect, I'll smash your dog head."

Tongzi shrank timidly into the corner, eyes pleading as he watched his host, whom he found utterly detestable, pry open the glass bottle cap and then... suck it dry.

Therefore, for such a tiny bottle of potion, even Tongzi himself thought it really didn't deserve the verb "to drink."

The potion had no taste; if not for personally obtaining it from the points mall exchange, Wu Yue would have thought Tongzi had just given her a cup of plain water to deceive her.

But the next second, as she doubted the potion's efficacy, the maddening itch scratching her heart and lungs vanished instantly, and the red rashes covering her body disappeared in a moment.

After seeing her body restored to its original state, then looking at the small bottle in her hand, Wu Yue's eyes shone brightly as she gazed at Tongzi, who had shrunk himself into a tiny ball.

With a smile like a weird auntie, she said: "Tongzi, when will this potion go on sale? Give me a heads-up then, and I'll stock up more."

Upon hearing that, Lan Pangzi felt his whole being go bad instantly.

"Host, you treat this fifty-point potion like cheap cabbage leaves being dumped at the market?"

Wu Yue pursed her lips: "The system mall has no events at all, and I have no desire to spend anymore."

Having said that, she scooped up the still-muttering Lan Pangzi in one grab, opened the door, and walked out.

At that moment, the slaves had already begun labor; after greeting them, she came to Shilin's mountain cave.

The beastman warriors she knew had gone deep into the forest with Yuan Lang to hunt fierce beasts; for making a wooden bed, she could only call on the clawed half-beast warrior Shilin to help.

Seeing her approach, Shilin, who was sharpening stone tools at the cave entrance, hurriedly stood up: "Yue, why did you come?"

Shilin and the other half-beast warrior who was injured last time were more seriously wounded; the Snow Tiger clan chief had not arranged for them to go hunting or patrol, but let them rest in the cave.

"I had the slaves cut some trees and bring them back; they need to be split into planks, so I came to ask for your help."

Upon hearing that, Shilin's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly: "Of course, shall we go now?"

While speaking, he had already placed the stone tools he had just polished to one side.

The two of them all the way back to Wu Yue's small courtyard; for a half-beast warrior, splitting wood like this was as easy as it gets.

By the time Wu Yue had boiled a few eggs and returned to the courtyard, the logs the slaves had previously chopped back had already become neat planks.

She handed the two large eggs in her hand to Shilin: "This food is delicious; just crack open the outer shell, peel it off, and eat what's inside."

Shilin gave her face, immediately peeled a boiled egg, and instantly a fragrant aroma wafted out.

After swallowing a gulp of saliva, he took a big bite, and his eyes sparkled like stars in the sky.

After finishing, he looked longingly at the other egg meant for his own father, suppressing the urge to steal it.

"Yue, what kind of delicious food is this?"

Wu Yue took him to her chicken-raising place: "What you just ate is their eggs; just boil them in water and they're ready to eat."

"I never imagined eggs could be eaten like this; when I was starving before, I also ate this kind of egg, but..."

Speaking, she seemed to recall something unbearable to remember, and actually shivered.

Wu Yue deeply understood this; the last time she made scrambled eggs for Qingcao and Aya, the moment she opened that egg, she almost thought she had gotten a rotten egg.

But once fried, it gave off a very familiar fragrance, which was quite amazing.

She also had Shilin make two wooden blocks, the same width as the bed planks and as high as a lower leg.

Dragging them back inside, she placed the two blocks properly, laid the planks on top, and a bed was completed.

She even made a shield for herself at the wall side.

She fetched fresh dry grass and scattered it over, then covered it with animal hide when sleeping, making it quite warm.

She also gave Shilin some baked taro strips; the half-beast warrior grinned brightly and left hugging a pile of food.

At night, lying on the long-unseen bed, Wu Yue felt so moved she was almost ready to cry; it was simply too happy.

The next morning, just having gotten up from bed with a messy hairdo, before she could even clear her head, a violent "bang bang bang" knocking on the door sounded.

Following that came Qingcao's wailing cry: "Yue, hurry up and get up; on public gathering day we need to go early."

Wu Yue's mind still a bit hazy, hearing that she instantly woke up, tied the animal hide on her feet, put on her clothes, dumped yesterday's prepared Ye Cai Zi into the carrying basket, and opened the door.

When she and Qingcao arrived at the clearing, all the members of the various gathering teams were already there.

The moment Flower Tree Grandma saw Wu Yue, her eyes brightened: "Yue, come over quickly."

After saying goodbye to Qingcao, Wu Yue went to Flower Tree Grandma's gathering team.

The gathering team members looked at her with eyes full of eagerness and gratitude, all warmly greeting her.

Wu Yue knew that this was because she had taught everyone the method of making dried vegetables.

Flower Tree Grandma swept away her earlier excitement, took a breath, and pointed at the slaves huddled in the corner: "These fellows are too timid and disobedient; I can't do anything about them."

"They're just a little scared; I'll bring them along later, you can rest assured."

Flower Tree Grandma nodded: "You handle it, I'm at ease."

At this moment, the slaves also saw Wu Yue, each sneakily glancing at her, their eyes shining.

Wu Yue walked over, and Changye came forward to meet her: "Lady Wu Yue, none of us have ever been together with so many tribespeople before, so we're a bit unaccustomed, but it will get better."

He said this while carefully watching Wu Yue's expression, fearing she might get angry.

Wu Yue smiled: "You'll gradually get used to it; before the rainy season, there will still be many such opportunities."

After saying that, she looked at Changye and said: "From now on, when we gather food, besides handing over the portion for the tribe, the rest will be split into two parts: one part you keep for yourselves to eat during the rainy season, and the other part goes to me."

I have the half-beast warriors behind the mountain dig two large storage pits for you; once your food is prepared, you can simply put it there.

Changye, upon hearing this, was completely stunned: "Give... give it to us?"

Wu Yue nodded: "I told you when you followed me to gather that I would leave food for you to get through the rainy season, so you need to work hard at gathering."

Changye tapped his own head, making sure this wasn't a dream, then, excited to the point of his face turning red, he ran toward the slaves.

A moment later, perhaps after Changye told them Wu Yue's words, all the slaves simultaneously knelt toward her direction.

The surrounding Snow Tiger Tribe people watched this scene, puzzled, as the slaves seemed to adore Wu Yue.

But then, they had no time to think about that.

Following the Snow Tiger clan chief's order, Wu Yue brought the slaves, closely following Flower Tree Grandma's steps, to today's gathering site.

But... looking at the gathering site ahead, she only felt a bit disillusioned; all around were piles upon piles of pale yellow, dung-shaped unknown objects, and there were many eggshells around as well.

She couldn't help but glance at the water channel beside her: "Is this a place where wild animal dung is?"

Shui looked at her with a bewildered face: "Dung? Where is there dung?"

Wu Yue extended her finger and pointed at the pale yellow objects ahead: "Those, the ones with eggshells around them."

Shui heard this, was startled for a moment, then burst out laughing: "Yue, you actually don't even recognize the horned beast's eggs?"

Wu Yue's mouth twitched: "These are eggs?"

Shui, trying not to laugh, solemnly nodded his head: "Yeah, these are the horned beast's eggs; didn't you see the eggshells around?"

Wu Yue felt utterly disillusioned: nowadays, just having an eggshell counts as an egg?

Isn't that a bit hasty!

She had always thought that, aside from size, the flora and fauna of this world were no different from those of her previous world.

But the facts told her, she was still too naive!

Perhaps the plants in this world are fairly normal, but the animals are definitely not normal!

Even if we accept the fierce beasts, now there are wild animals that lay dung-shaped eggs.

Just as she was thinking, Flower Tree Grandma's voice came from ahead: "What we are to gather today is the soft greens that grow around the horned beast's eggs!"

Everyone must give it their all; our gathering team cannot lose this time!

The surrounding gathering team members all shouted with vigor, full of fighting spirit.

With Shui's help, Wu Yue realized that this time they were to gather a wild vegetable similar to earth-soft.

This earth-soft mostly grows beneath the horned beast's eggshells; just lift the shell and you can find it.

But just like the earth-soft of her previous life, gathering it always brings in a lot of firewood and dirt, requiring considerable effort to clean afterward.

Therefore, people only come to gather this earth-soft when wild vegetables are scarce.

After puffing and panting while picking a small patch of earth-soft, Wu Yue straightened up with a grimace, about to stretch her somewhat stiff waist.

But she saw several slave children holding those dung-like horned beast eggs in their hands, gnawing on them with great relish.

She felt utterly awful; the sensation of watching others eat dung was truly unpleasant.

She sighed, hurried over, and took the dung-shaped eggs from their hands.

Then she took out several vegetable dumplings from her back basket and handed them to them: "If you're hungry, eat the vegetable dumplings; this thing is not edible."

Just now, when Shui introduced the horned beast's egg, he said that in the past, tribe members, driven by hunger, would also come to pick up and eat these eggs.

But those tribe members who ate the horned beast's eggs would get sick; although no one died, it was still very dangerous.

Therefore, as long as there were wild vegetables to eat, nobody would bother picking up those dung-shaped horned beast eggs to eat.

But the slaves were different; they had no food of their own, and before following Wu Yue, each person received only one vegetable dumpling per day.

Even the elderly and children who did not work were not even eligible to receive a vegetable dumpling.

If there were able-bodied family members, sharing a bit could feed the whole family, but those who were alone could only go hungry.

In each tribe, the number of slaves who starved to death due to lack of food is unknown.

But when even ordinary beastfolk face food shortages, the slaves' lives or deaths are utterly ignored.

Looking at the vegetable dumplings handed to them, the slave children each had red-rimmed eyes, their small mouths pursed, wanting to cry but daring not to, looking quite pitiful.

Wu Yue sighed, took hold of their dirty little paws, placed the vegetable dumplings on them, and said: "Eat quickly; after you finish, gather properly—these foods also have your share."

The children wiped away their tears, looked at Wu Yue with shining eyes, and each vigorously nodded their little heads.

After taking the horned beast's eggs from their hands, Wu Yue held them in her hand and examined them.

Horned beasts periodically lay eggs collectively in certain places, but amazingly, they reproduce via live birth.

Each periodic egg-laying is more like expelling certain unnecessary substances from their bodies.

All that can be said is that in this vast world, nothing is strange.

Seeing them wolf down their food and then resume gathering, Wu Yue returned to the spot where she had been gathering earlier.

Just as she was about to toss the horned beast's egg in her hand, her finger suddenly touched a soft lump.

She couldn't help but look down, and only then did she notice that the place the little cubs had chewed before seemed to have been moistened with saliva; it was no longer as hard as before, but very soft.

Could this thing possibly hatch?

Thinking that, she went straight to the riverbank and submerged the screaming beast egg she was holding in the water.

Sure enough, after just a moment, the screaming beast egg became very soft, and this feeling was surprisingly familiar.