Chapter 764: The Mao Mao's Food, Logging Investigation, and Filtering Water

At this moment, on one of the wagons in the caravan, several furry heads suddenly popped out of some empty crates with open tops; these were the Mao Mao, who had slept through the entire day on the swaying wagon.

As it grew dark, they became energetic instead.

One by one, they perked up their ears and poked their heads out of the empty crates at the very top of the wagon's cargo.

The surrounding environment was different from the daytime; although leaving the human settlement made the Mao Mao feel they were getting further away from human metal, fortunately, there were still many metal tools in this human caravan.

Their large eyes moved along with the Armed Squad patrolling around the campsite, staring not at the humans, who all looked about the same to them, but at the individual metal weapons on the humans' waists and in their hands.

"Hrr-rr."

The Mao Mao were extremely envious; if only their tribe had so many metal weapons, how wonderful that would be.

Some monsters that harassed the tribe would be defeated by them, and their air-dried heads and processed hides would be hung at the top of the tribe to demonstrate honor and deter other monsters and beasts.

In the deep mountain forests, there were plenty of stone shards, stones, and all kinds of wood, but these things were of little use against monsters with thick hides and scales. One still had to rely on hard, sharp metal weapons to be able to fight those monsters.

After being jolted on the wagon for a whole day, some Mao Mao felt a bit unsteady on their feet after jumping off the crates, so Yongqi Maomao told everyone to wander around the human caravan to look for some insects in the grass and fresh flowers to have a meal.

As for it, it was going to find the leader of this human caravan, that strong human, to see if there were any new tasks that could be given to them.

With a task, there would be a metal reward.

Every bit of extra metal they saved up meant they could return to the tribe a little sooner.

It had been quite a while since they left the tribe; they had previously worked for some other cunning humans, but because they were deceived and delayed for a long time, the start could be considered not very smooth.

After giving instructions to its subordinates, Yongqi Maomao first climbed to the high point of the wagon, and taking advantage of the evening twilight about to fade from the horizon, it looked around to survey the area and found the strong human carrying a Blue Axe.

So it scurried along with its short legs, pushed aside the wild flowers and weeds along the way, and chased after him.

For the various small insects that were startled and flew up from the grass at any time, Yongqi Maomao flexibly walked while swinging its long tail, knocking down one insect after another, then jumping up slightly to catch them with its hands.

It checked before eating; it would not eat beetles with hard shells, as these things had hard exteriors that could easily hurt its sharp teeth; it would not eat insects that sprayed foul odors from their tails, as eating these things easily caused vomiting and dizziness—the Mao Mao all knew not to eat them, though they could be collected to make stink-bombs to drive away some powerful monsters with keen senses of smell that they could not defeat; insects with colors that were too bright could not be eaten, as most of them were poisonous, including but not limited to toxic scales, poison glands, stinging hairs, and fangs; of course, some insects were actually not poisonous, but they also had patterns and body colors that mimicked poisonous insects, so for the sake of safety, the Mao Mao never ate them.

As for insects that were green, earthy yellow, or rock gray in color, most of them were edible.

Yongqi Maomao caught them as it walked, and before long, its mouth was full of insect juices.

It liked eating green insects full of plant sap the best; they were cool and sweet, and would even crunch when eaten in the mouth.

As for the Mao Mao remaining at the temporary overnight campsite, they could not be like their leader, searching for insects in the grass and bushes while walking, nor did they dare to go far; they just stayed near the wagon with the empty crates where they lived, looking for anything edible.

It was not that human food could not be eaten, but they simply were not used to it; dry, hard wheat cakes and scalding hot soup—how could they compare to the fragrant, crispy, juice-bursting insects?

These Mao Mao first checked all the grass and bushes near the wagon, and each Mao Mao found a few edible insects. They did not eat them themselves, but gathered together and fed these things to one Mao Mao, letting this Mao Mao eat its fill and have strength.

Subsequently, the melee Mao Mao, crunching and chewing the insects in its mouth with satisfaction, unhooked from its waist what it treated as a Long Sword—which was actually an Iron Dagger belonging to a human—and used this thing as a shovel to start digging into the surrounding ground with all its might.

Other Mao Mao pointed and gestured, clamoring for the Mao Mao that had eaten its fill and was working to dig in the good spots they had chosen, claiming there must be fat, meaty worms inside to eat, but the Mao Mao doing the work had its own ideas. It had sharp eyes and found a ground entrance to a large ant colony, and then, following the orientation of this entrance, it used the Iron Dagger to dig hard into the soft soil of the ground.

Soon, the ant colony, feeling the vibrations and sensing they were being attacked, dispatched a large group of pitch-black soldier ants the size of human toes to counterattack the 'enemy'.

This fell exactly into the calculations of the working Mao Mao.

It stopped digging, excitedly threw aside the Iron Dagger, caught two large black ants, one in each hand, and jumped out of the dug Earth Pit as if showing off.

"Meow-meow-woo!! Rrr-rrr-da-da!"

Its furry fingers avoided the powerful mandibles at the front of the soldier ants that were snapping with all their might, and as if showing off, it ate the plump tails of the soldier ants one by one; with a crunch, the slippery sensation brought by the ant viscera and stored nutrients made this Mao Mao very satisfied.

Seeing this guy showing off like this, the other Mao Mao could no longer hold back; they swarmed up one after another, crowding the dug Earth Pit until it was impassable. Those startled and counterattacking large black ants also stupidly did not know they had encountered a natural predator whose intelligence and mobility crushed them; they poured out of the ant nest one after another, their large teeth clicking and clacking.

But it was useless; as soon as they crawled out of the ant nest, before they could even wave their antennae to find the enemy invading their home, they were caught by the Mao Mao, crunched, and lost their plump abdomens.

The playful Mao Mao did not continue to eat the hard ant heads and chests, which also contained small amounts of acid; instead, after pulling off the large black ants' sensory antennae, they let the ant mandibles, which only knew how to bite with all their might, clamp onto the chest of the ant in front of them; in this way, one biting another, the large black ants that had lost their abdomens soon hung in a long string.

The Mao Mao excitedly made the long string of ants into a circle and hung it outside the empty crate of the wagon as an alternative trophy.

Looking from afar, the ant circle looked like a black rope the thickness of a finger, but looking closely, one would discover that this 'black rope' was actually still moving, covered with large black ants waving their legs left and right, and every single large black ant was stubbornly unwilling to let go of its large teeth, even if they knew they were biting other soldier ants at this moment.

The big guys soon ate their fill by eating the abdomens of the ants.

But there was no telling how many of these large black ants were underground, and soldier ants poured out of this ant nest in an endless stream. But this did not stump the Mao Mao; they pushed back all the soft soil they had previously dug out, then meowed and wooed to call over a young human lad who was curiously investigating them, letting this human follow their actions and jump continuously on the soft soil above the ant nest entrance, solidly blocking it shut.

It would be quite a while before the ants wanted to come out again, and by then, everyone would have long since left this place, leaving behind only a group of angry soldier ants that could not find the invading enemy.

Of course, an ant nest had more than one entrance, but the nest of these large black ants was very large, and their territory was also very large; it did not look obvious, but in reality, the piece of land under the feet of Jier and his team, as well as the large area visible to the eye around them, were all the territory of this one ant nest.

The ants' distinction and regard for territory were even more important than the kingdom territories of human society.

Under the soil where no one knew, tens of thousands of soldier ants would patrol the underground ant kingdom every day, searching for and attacking the reckless worker ants of other ant nests, and re-blocking the border connecting roads dug open by worker ants from other nests.

Sometimes, when the soldier ants of two nests accumulated enough grudges, they would report to the queen, and after obtaining the queen's permission, it would be a 'large-scale' border war of the ant kingdom.

They fought over the sturdy spaces already dug underground, the water-collection chambers for absorbing the sap from the roots of water-loving plants, the 'sweet pastures' for storing and herding aphids to collect honey, the large 'luminous fungus farms' that had already been cultivated, as well as the ventilation 'Tianjing' leading to the surface, important larval nests, and even deep pits for excreting and dumping waste.

Some formidable soldier ants would even creatively absorb the flammable, putrid gases from the deep pits to use as their secret weapons, spraying intense flames that could scorch the entire passage on the front lines of battle, thereby changing the course of the war and becoming elite soldier ants.

And all of this, for the most part, was unknown to people, because it all happened in the lightless, shallow soil beneath the ground, having been happening since millions of years ago, and continuing to this day, as well as into the even more distant future.

On the other side.

"The tree is falling! Watch out—"

Jier shouted loudly, reminding the Lumberjack nearby not to be accidentally hit by the large tree he was felling.

Those nearby had long since moved away from this place, and a small number of people were following Jier in logging; everyone did not really need to fell many trees, just enough firewood for tonight and tomorrow morning was sufficient. As for more people, they took small one-handed axes and were busy removing the excess branches from the trees that had already been felled, then used Rope to bind them and exerted force together to drag the large trees toward the temporary overnight Yingdi.

If the large tree was too big and too heavy for everyone to pull, at this time, the trunk of the tree that had already fallen to the ground could be chopped into two halves from the middle; this way, the weight was halved, and everyone could pull it.

Of course, with the help of the Knight Jier, the group logging did not have to be so hard; after all, Jier could drag about half of the large tree trunks back to the Yingdi by himself.

However, Jier seemed to be off his game today; after he felled a large tree, he did not continue working, but instead chopped his axe into the tree trunk to fix it in place, leaning lazily against the trunk and yawning, occasionally taking a small piece of hard, pitch-black dried meat from the small Leather Bag at his waist and chewing it fiercely in his mouth.

On a tree in the distance, Yongqi Maomao jumped from the branch of one large tree to another; it was following the requirements of the strong human to complete the new task given to it.

The strong human had seen signs of other humans appearing in the forest in this direction, so he came over and sent it to investigate.

Yongqi Maomao's tail was more flexible than a monkey's; the tip of its tail was curled around a branch, and its whole body was dangling and swaying in mid-air. The Mao Mao swung its head left and right, looking for any unusual traces on the forest floor.

Soon it made a discovery, and with a few leaps, the Mao Mao landed along the ancient, mottled trunk of a large tree.

It first sniffed on the ground and smelled a human's foot odor; searching around again, it found a small piece of shredded Linen Cloth on a low-growing plant with barbs where the human had sat before.

Taking a sniff, Yongqi Maomao felt this was the smell from that foot-odorous human.

Putting this thing away, it then searched and looked around the place where this person had rested; sure enough, on the opposite side of where this person had once stayed, on the trunk of a conspicuous large tree, at a height of more than a meter—that is, at the eye level of a normal human—there were a few simple patterns carved by humans on the tree trunk.

Yongqi Maomao carefully memorized its shape, and then, feeling it had completed its task, it left this place to go back and ask for a reward.

Jier waited for the Maomao he had sent out to scout to return; at this moment, he was pinching a small piece of Linen Cloth in his hand, rubbing it between his fingertips.

This thing was too fragile; his rough fingers rubbed it twice, and it fell apart directly, turning into Linen Cloth fibers and scattering, which made Yongqi Maomao shout: "Thing, delivered, strong, Human. Damaged, not, Maomao, fault!"

Jier was speechless: "Yes, yes, yes, it was me who broke it, it has nothing to do with the Maomao that completed the task."

After saying this, Jier took a copper coin from his pocket and threw it to the other party: "Catch, this is the mission reward. Now, draw out the pattern you discovered?"

Using its tail to nimbly catch the copper coin, Yongqi Maomao deftly and carefully put away this Human coin—tucking it under its left armpit—and only then did it pick up a tree branch from the ground, find a slightly open area, and laboriously use the branch to draw the pattern it had discovered on the ground.

Since it had to make a pattern for the tall Human to look at, it naturally had to make it a bit larger.

Jier squatted down and looked at this thing curiously: "Hmm, winding lines, with a slash underneath. A triangle, with four slashes underneath. A long rectangle, with one slash underneath. A simple Skull, three slashes. Hmm, their positions relative to each other are also in different directions."

Staring at these few patterns, Jier quickly guessed that the slashes under the patterns represented distance, but as for what the patterns above represented, he still had to guess a bit more.

Since the bottom represented distance, then starting from the place where the pattern was discovered, what could be found in the surrounding areas with one slash?

A Shanglu? Yes, a Shanglu!

What else? Jier leaned against the fallen tree trunk and began to ponder.

At this moment, his ears, which had become increasingly sensitive in recent days, noticed that on the opposite side of this small Shulin, there was a faint sound of water. The sound was very weak, but Jier still caught it.

There was a Shanglu and a water source nearby, which meant a water collection point, exactly corresponding to the two patterns with one slash, but could the winding lines represent both a Shanglu and a water source? And how could a long rectangle represent both a Shanglu and a water source?

Jier couldn't quite understand the minds of those Bandits; perhaps the vast majority of Bandits had never received an education, so their thoughts were usually easy to guess, but sometimes they were very difficult to fathom.

Who understands this, family?

And what did the triangle pattern, which was the furthest away, and the Skull pattern, which was at a certain distance, represent?

Speaking of the Skull, Jier naturally thought of those poor people who had been killed by the Bandits and then thrown somewhere, turning into living corpses. At this moment, did this Skull pattern represent this meaning?

Perhaps in some place a bit of a distance from here, there was exactly a Shikeng where the Bandits disposed of corpses?

It was also possible.

As for the triangle, Jier felt it resembled an ordinary simple triangular tent; perhaps it meant the Bandits' Jiedian or lair?

Thinking of this, Jier considered whether he should go and crusade against those Bandits.

But the time wasted was a problem; constantly being delayed like this was not good either. Especially since these past two days, ever since Bata'er Jiaoshi learned that the Agricultural God Church in Borisfa City had met with trouble, his brows had been tightly furrowed.

Jier did not know what the mental state of Bata'er Jiaoshi was like after Changmai Village met with trouble, but at least he felt that after knowing about the Borisfa City affair, the Priest's mental state was not very good.

The whole person had become increasingly silent.

It looked like someone who would cause trouble one day.

"Forget it, never mind those damn Bandits, I have a mountain of trouble of my own. If they don't come to provoke me, I won't provoke them."

Jier shook his head and waved at Yongqi Maomao, signaling it to return to the Yingdi. He himself pulled the Yue Shui head off the fallen tree trunk that had dried out significantly and hung it simply at his waist.

Afterward, Jier grabbed the treetop of the large tree, gripped it tightly with both hands, embedded them firmly into it, and then repeatedly squatted and stood to drag the heavy tree trunk.

As the tree trunk slid along the ground through the Shulin, Jier lowered his exertion, turned his body, and dragged the tree toward the Yingdi.

The commoners logging nearby cheered when they saw this scene.

That evening, everyone spent the night here temporarily.

It must be said that, unlike camping in the wild before, after a round of material procurement in Duoen Town, Jier's team had taken on a new look; after obtaining various essential tools for daily life, many of the commoners who had previously been idle finally had things to do.

The commoners were all of Farmer origin, so they possessed many folk life skills.

A tall, sturdy plant stalk was pulled up by the roots, then the excess branches were removed, leaving only the main stalk; after rubbing the moisture off the plant, this thing could be repeatedly twisted and actually used as a Rope.

If it were a bit rougher, this thing could also be used as temporary thread to mend clothing.

There were also commoners who understood charcoal burning; they used the wood that the Lumberjack had cut in excess to smolder underground, and by the next morning, they could barely obtain some charcoal.

This charcoal was not for burning, but for purifying water. Therefore, this function was much greater.

On the morning of the second day, Jier took a few people, carrying buckets and charcoal, and following the humid air and the faint sound of water, found a Pond hidden behind the Shulin.

The water source of the Pond actually seeped out from a large piece of rock protruding from the ground; around this abrupt rock, a shallow Pond had formed.

However, what was unfavorable for the team was that this water source was clearly a place where a large number of wild animals in the surrounding area came to drink, so animal footprints were everywhere; although there was no animal excrement, the water at the edge of the Pond was quite turbid.

Only near the center of the Pond did the water become clear.

If it were before, Jier might have let everyone dig a deep pit at the edge of the Pond to filter the unclean water through the soil's permeability.

But this time they had the freshly produced loose charcoal, so filtering clear water would not be so troublesome.

Directly filling the buckets at the edge of the Pond, Jier then filled a small original ale barrel with loose charcoal, and then used a large wooden ladle to scoop the turbid Pond water from the large wooden bucket into the small ale barrel.

The small ale barrel with an open bottom soon flowed out clear water with a charcoal-ash taste.

Although it had a taste, there was no problem drinking it.

Thus, on the carriage carrying the water buckets, Jier arranged two more people: one person was specifically responsible for scooping the natural Pond water into the filter barrel with a wooden ladle, and the other person used a wooden cup to catch the clear water flowing out of the filter barrel, and after filling it, poured it into the bucket for clear water.

The filtering work was placed on the carriage, providing clear water to everyone while they were on the move.

It didn't delay the journey at all!