Chapter 537: Construction of the Forward Camp, Annoying Birds

Nodding to thank the two for their compliments, Jier stayed a step ahead of them, easily finding the marks he had left along the way, and strode toward the chosen location for the Forward Camp.

Weier and Aoni had it much easier; they only needed to follow the tracks left by the heavy wooden pillars dragging through the fallen leaves, without having to waste effort identifying whether each mark on the tree trunks was naturally occurring or left intentionally by Knight Jier.

Because the two leading them picked up the pace, the movement speed of the entire group increased slightly.

Jier reached the Forward Camp location in one go, but since they were moving through rugged forest, the others were much slower and even had to rest twice during the journey to ensure the group's organization and everyone's stamina.

After all, the forest was an unknown, dangerous zone; they could not use all their energy just for traveling, as they had to ensure they were ready for combat at any moment.

By the time Jier dropped his load, discarded the items on Tianxuecao, and began his return trip, the warriors' group had traveled less than two kilometers and was still in the middle of the road.

Encountering Aoni and Weier on his way back, Jier immediately said, "Remember, when resting, have everyone check each other for bugs crawling on them. Don't find me annoying; once you're bitten by bugs and feel the pain, you won't think it's a bother anymore."

Aoni gave a wry smile: "We already checked each other during the last rest. Everyone was startled; we didn't expect that everyone had some unknown bugs crawling on them to varying degrees. The Priest let out a sharp cry, but fortunately, everyone had sealed their clothing and trousers before setting out, so no one was bitten."

Weier also spoke cryptically: "The Spirits guarding the perimeter also caught some small animals, seemingly intending to give them to everyone to eat, but those animals aren't very clean..."

Weier's words were unclear, so Jier looked at Aoni. Aoni scratched his face, revealing a fearful expression: "Many of those animals have parasites crawling and wriggling inside their eyes. When you break open their bellies, many of the viscera are packed with even more parasites. Everyone was scared when they saw it, but those Spirits didn't seem to care, nor were they afraid of those parasitic bugs."

Jier pondered for a moment: "They have lived in this kind of mountain forest their whole lives, so naturally, they have ways to deal with such things. Tell everyone not to worry; parasites won't kill a person in a short time. Once things are settled and Priest Bata'er is free, he will perform a Prayer and use the power of the Agriculture God to help everyone remove any potential parasites from their bodies."

Once Jier said this, the two felt a bit more at ease. When Weier was hanging around with a group of Bandits, he had seen such situations where animals in wild regions were covered in parasites. At the time, the Bandits had nothing to eat and could only consume this terrible food, while Weier was picky and only ate the animal's muscle, and only after roasting it dry over a fire.

Although he was looked down upon by some Bandits for doing this, he at least never had an upset stomach in those years, unlike those Bandits who had bloated bellies and would drag out a string of parasites from their rear ends whenever they excreted, eventually having to sneak into nearby towns to pay large sums of money to Potion makers who were willing to treat Bandits in private just to get cured.

Some guys were reluctant to part with the money they had risked their lives to rob and would look for Herbalists wandering between villages in small places, only to find that not only was their illness not cured, but their bodies became even sicker.

Afterward, while passing the warriors' group and the female Villagers, Jier also reminded them to check themselves carefully during breaks.

He also looked at the small animals the Spirits had caught in the forest, but Jier only took one glance before curling his lip and looking away. He said to Yongqi Maomao: "This stuff is still a bit too wild. You guys eat it yourselves; it's still very hard for us Humans to accept this kind of unexpected food."

Yongqi Maomao felt very strange; they were clearly delicious Rotten Rats and Dead Branch Snakes, so why wouldn't Humans eat them?

These Rotten Rats lived year-round burrowing in thick humus and fallen leaves, breeding by eating the bugs inside, and each one was absurdly fat and strong. And the Dead Branch Snakes that specifically preyed on Rotten Rats were also fat and strong, so why wouldn't Humans like them?

Yongqi Maomao raised a Rotten Rat it had caught in its hand, looking at this hairless, slick, fat, and strong Rotten Rat with a pair of tails whipping powerfully. The Maomao and the Rotten Rat's pair of eyes met; looking at the parasites wriggling in the Rotten Rat's eyes, the Maomao didn't feel there was any problem with this thing.

Eating a Rotten Rat doesn't mean you eat the Rotten Rat's eyes, so it's fine, it doesn't matter.

Clean and hygienic!

It then raised the Dead Branch Snake held in its other hand. This fat snake made the Maomao drool just looking at it. If roasted, the white snake meat was a delicacy that would only be brought out to treat guests in the tribe!

As for the Blood-Sucking Ticks crowding the scales of the Dead Branch Snake, it didn't care at all. After all, eating snake meat doesn't mean you eat these little bugs. As long as you put the whole Dead Branch Snake over a fire to roast, these little bugs will even be roasted until they pop, making fun popping sounds.

The young Maomaos loved watching the roasting of Dead Branch Snakes the most; every time the little blood-sucking bugs popped, it would make the young Maomaos cheer with joy!

Sometimes, the tribe's Maomao Priest would even use the blood patterns left after these little bugs popped to divine the fate of the tribe!

The Maomaos couldn't understand why Humans didn't like these delicacies, so they had to put them away, planning to keep them to eat themselves.

The warriors' group spent the better part of the morning traveling a few kilometers through the forest from the Temporary Camp to reach the area of the Forward Camp selected by Jier.

"Is this the place the Knight chose?"

"It looks very ordinary? It's no different from the surrounding forest, is it?"

The warriors expressed their confusion, not knowing why such an important camp was chosen here.

Weier stomped his feet and discovered that the ground was not as sloped as other places; a barely level and flat ground was still important for them, the Humans. So he stated this discovery.

At the same time, the Maomaos also heard the sound of water not far away due to their keen hearing. They informed Priest Bata'er of this discovery. The Priest naturally already knew the reason and the surrounding environment from Jier, so he loudly told everyone to rest in place first and check their bodies.

Once there were no problems, they would begin building the Forward Camp.

"Warriors with axes are responsible for logging; fell this tree, this tree, and all the large trees in this area one by one. And the others will use various tools to clear all the rotting leaves beneath our feet out of the camp area."

"No rush, everyone do it bit by bit; just aim to get the sleeping tents set up before night falls today!"

Following Priest Bata'er's command, Aoni and Weier were also assigned more detailed tasks. Aoni went to lead the logging warriors, not only to fell the large trees but also to try and perform preliminary processing on the branches and trunks.

The vines hanging from the large trees would be kept for perimeter security of the camp, and the fresh bark of the large trees could be rubbed by hand into simple, temporary Ropes. Larger branches could be fashioned into simple wooden shovels after being trimmed with swords to help clear the thick humus layer on the ground.

Unless the camp ground was covered with wooden planks, Humans would still have to clear away the humus layer full of various bugs if they wanted to live here for a long time.

Weier was responsible for this work. He called over two warriors who had been close to him recently, along with the female Villagers. Ten people started from the center of the camp, shoveling up the humus layer—of unknown thickness—and loading it into wooden buckets, carrying it in pairs to throw it anywhere outside the camp.

Digging and digging, they dug through a meter of humus layer before they reached the still-soft, moist soil underneath.

Although this soil, which had not seen the sun for years, was full of water and would squeeze out water with a single step, at least it was soil, and there were not so many bugs present.

So it was barely usable!

As for the bugs present in the thick humus layer that was dug out, most were worms similar to earthworms and were not dangerous. Some small bugs similar to mole crickets didn't bite people either and would quickly jump away once dug out.

On the contrary, the birds in the forest were quickly attracted by these bugs from the overturned humus layer. They landed on the perimeter of the camp, greedily snatching up the helpless bugs, either swallowing them whole or flying away to feed their own fledglings.

They gathered in greater numbers, and soon some of the full birds stopped preying on the bugs in the humus layer and instead watched curiously as the Humans busied themselves in the forest.

Seeing the Humans felling large trees, they were quite displeased, but having already eaten the bugs the Humans had turned up, they couldn't say much and could only grumble, chirping and cursing in unpleasant bird-speak.

And seeing the Humans digging up the humus layer on the ground, they happily flapped their wings, encouraging the Humans to continue.

Some birds even flew away, returning home to call their acquaintances to come over and enjoy the free feast.

Jier soon arrived at the Forward Camp from the Temporary Camp once again with Tianxuecao, carrying the heaviest tent supplies.

"Heh, so many birds. You don't find them noisy? Try to throw the dug-up rotting leaves further away; don't let these birds flying in the sky expose the location of our camp."

Jier pointed to the surrounding large trees: "If one were to climb to the treetops, they could probably see a large, abnormal gathering of birds here. If I were an enemy, I would send people over to check what was happening."

"Understood, Lord Jier." The warriors replied.

"Warrior Jier, we'll listen to you." The female Villagers also responded loudly.

By the time night fell, the warriors responsible for logging had long since felled the large trees that needed to be cut down. They were currently clearing the branches, peeling off the bark, and gathering the old bark and leaves to use as fuel for the campfire.

The tree trunks, which had been cut into sections, were simply stacked on the perimeter of the camp. Later, these half-meter-thick trunks would be simply processed and then stacked into a simple camp wall.

As for the more important ground treatment, after the remaining manpower joined in, a flat space sufficient to accommodate the tents was finally cleared before dark.

Although the ground was wet, everyone discovered that after removing the thick humus layer, the moisture on the surface quickly seeped away and drained. In just half a day, the surface soil had become much drier.

It was barely enough for Humans to live in.

"It's alright, right?" Jier stomped hard on the ground and found that he could still squeeze out water after applying force. But after a while, the moisture squeezed out would drain away or evaporate, making the surrounding air a bit humid.

"The ground can't be used yet. Start a fire! Besides providing lighting, it's to provide some charcoal ash as quickly as possible. Also, the smoke from burning fresh leaves can repel bugs! Everyone try to walk through this smoke a few times. Although the smell of smoke on your body isn't pleasant, it's better than being bitten by bugs while sleeping at night, right?"

Following Jier's suggestion, everyone immediately took action.

They built a fire and threw the leaves of the trees felled just today into the campfire, which immediately billowed with thick smoke.

One by one, the Warriors excitedly coughed as they moved in and out of the thick smoke several times, then shouted excitedly while smelling of soot: "It works, it works! Hey, these little bugs hiding in the folds of our clothes can't stand it either and are running away!"

Jier nodded; he himself did not have a single bug on him, though he did not know why.

He looked around at the cleared ground where a large Tent had gradually been raised; if they squeezed in and arranged for everyone to take turns on night watch, it would still be possible to fit everyone inside. It was just that it was not very appropriate for the female Villagers to be squeezed into the same Tent as well.

He himself was fine, but he was afraid that some of the Warriors in the group might not be able to suppress their physical urges and do something under the cover of night.

Therefore, ever since they took Changmai Village and rescued these female Villagers, Jier had kept them living together in one Tent. Their contact with the Warriors in the group only happened during the day; once night fell, Jier would remind Bata'er Jiaoshi to go and advise the female Villagers to stay in their own designated Tent as much as possible, and even if they had to come out to go to the Toilet, they had to go in groups of two or three.

The social customs between men and women in this other world were relatively open, but similar moral ethics actually still existed.

It was just that the situations Jier had been exposed to for a long time were all abnormal; those spiritual constraints that kept people in check during peaceful times had been intentionally or unintentionally ignored by everyone. After all, compared to life and death, there didn't seem to be any other major matters in life, right?

The sky grew dark, and the Mao Maos, who had slept all afternoon, gradually began to become active; there were only ten Mao Maos following the group at this time, while the other two Mao Maos, who were specifically responsible for logistics, were hiding in the Shulin near the Temporary Camp with a large amount of metal they had accumulated along the way.

Taking advantage of last night, these Mao Maos had secretly moved all the boxes they owned off the caravan, and with many hands, they collectively carried the boxes, dug some pits somewhere in the Shulin, and hid the boxes filled with the Mao Maos' "treasures."

Therefore, by this morning, the Mao Maos' carriage was empty, and there were only ten Mao Maos present. When Jier asked, Yongqi Maomao answered reluctantly, saying that the other two Mao Maos had gone to guard their treasures.

The Mao Maos, who had slept all afternoon, woke up one after another, and seeing all kinds of birds on their heads, they excitedly raised their tails!

In the eyes of the Mao Maos, weren't these just delicious meals delivered to their door?

With a flick of their tails, the sharpened Iron Nails were launched upward, easily killing one careless bird after another.

At this, the birds around the Yingdi finally realized the danger and fled one after another, not daring to land directly on people's heads, and could only forage for the remaining small bugs in the humus layer dumped around the Yingdi.

Because they sensed the presence of a natural predator, they didn't even dare to fly over to make noise or take revenge.

This led Jier to greatly praise these Mao Maos, because everyone in the group had been annoyed to no end by these birds all day long.

You were annoyed by them, yet you didn't dare to hit them, because the moment you did, these bold birds would dare to fly over your head to defecate and vent their anger on you.

Because they were flying above your head, there was nothing you could do about them!

Fortunately, the Mao Maos were the natural predators that specifically countered these birds.

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