Civil Engineers of the Great Marsh
"Beaver?"
Liang Qu is perplexing.
"There's this in the Jianghuai Marshlands? Look!"
As soon as the Old Giant Clam finished speaking, Xiao San, swam out from the crevice of the underground river and floated to the surface.
Its four paws paddled in unison, and a large, flat tail hung from the back of its plump, round body, swaying like a paddle.
The leader was enormous, only half a head shorter than a human, while the smaller ones were half the length, but excluding the length of their tails, they were at least a meter long.
It really is a beaver!
And this aura...
Spirit Monster!?
Despite the enormous size difference, the Oolong was not afraid. It crouched down and barked at the leading Great Beaver, trying to scare it away.
However, the Great Beaver ignored them completely and dragged the Wooden Head Shang An on its own.
Ignored and unable to bear Oolong any longer, the dog crouched down, leaped forward, and bit the beaver's thigh, violently shaking its head and growling softly.
The Great Beaver was tickled by the bite, so it stretched out its paw to scratch its rear end, shook off the black coal ball with its left foot, picked up the Wooden Head on the ground and put it on top, then turned its head and met Liang Qu's gaze, who was staring at it.
The human and the fox stared at each other, wide-eyed.
After a while, the beaver straightened up, parted its thick fur, rummaged inside, pulled out a golden stone, placed it on the ground, and continued swimming into the pond.
The Oolong rolled several times on the ground, got up and bit the Great Beaver's tail again, but no matter how hard it pulled, it couldn't budge the Beaver Monster Spirit that was almost as tall as a person.
With a flick of its tail, the Great Beaver sent the Oolong flying into the pond, followed closely by two Little Beaver, leaving the Oolong sitting on the ground with its head drooping.
After the three beasts disappeared into the water, Liang Qu picked up the golden stone from the ground and was surprised to find that the stone was very heavy.
It's only half the size of an egg but weighs nearly ten ounces, and its density is significantly higher than silver! "Gold?"
A beaver gave him ten taels of gold.
The exchange rate between gold and silver is similar to that between silver and copper coins; a small piece of gold can be exchanged for approximately 120 taels of silver.
Liang Qu found it unbelievable. He turned to look at the Old Giant Clam and waved the gold in his hand.
"Old Bei, what's going on?"
"The means to settle down." The Old Giant Clam climbed back onto the shore from the bottom of the pond. "The Bing Fire is approaching, and all things are restless. They want to come to your place to stay for a while."
Liang Qu was taken aback. "A group of beavers are coming to settle down here?"
Indeed.
How did they know I would agree?
"Not your wish?"
Liang Qu looked at the ten taels of gold in his hand.
It's not impossible.
He can stay whenever he wants; everyone in Yi Xing Town knows that Liang Qu is a friend of animals.
I just didn't expect that Great Beaver to be so smart, that it knew about human trading methods.
He picked up Oolong and patted his head to comfort him.
After a short while, the figures of Xiao San, reappeared, dragging three more Wooden Head with them.
The Oolong stopped barking.
The man and his dog stood by the pond, watching three beavers come and go, piling up blocks of wood.
Liang Qu watched it with great interest for half an hour.
When the trees are piled up in a triangular pattern, and the overall height exceeds the courtyard wall, instead of one large and two small beavers emerging from the pond, there are four beavers: one large, one medium, and Xiao Si.
It turned out to be a family of four.
Is all the timber gathered and construction about to begin?
Liang Qu expressed his expectations.
He had heard that beavers were natural engineers who could build dams with branches, but he wondered how Spirit Monster were any different. It wasn't until he saw the beaver pull out a chisel and a plane from its pocket that he realized something was wrong.
Two larger beavers stood up on the tree, opened their mouths to reveal their brownish-yellow incisors, and plunged their heads down, neatly cutting off the thick bark.
They peeled the bark off like a banana, and in no time they had completely removed it, revealing a clean white wood layer. The entire cut surface was very smooth, with almost no splinters.
The larger one was planing the wood, while the smaller one took the planed Wooden Head and started gnawing on it, cutting the whole piece of Wooden Head into strips of nearly equal proportion.
After the initial processing was completed, the two Great Beaver picked up the planes on the ground and began to level the surface. They used chisels to make joints and, using the riverbank as a foundation, built houses into the pond with practiced skill.
Liang Qu: "..."
He immediately contacted the Fat Catfish and a group of Water Beast to come and watch.
Several Water Beast raced along the underground river channel.
The Fat Catfish is the fastest. When it swims out of the cracks in the underground river, half of its tail is still sticking out of its mouth. It is desperately trying to survive and is thrashing about.
It took a big gulp, swallowed the Big Fish, and then surfaced to look around.
Cannot Move, Fist, Round Head, Mirage Worm appeared one after another, instantly making the entire pond lively.
The Great Beaver, which was building its house, was startled by the sudden appearance of several Water Beast. It stretched out its paws and gestured at the Old Giant Clam at the bottom of the water, while pointing repeatedly at the Fat Catfish peering at the surface.
The Old Giant Clam calmly opened its shell, indicating that everyone was one of them and that they could settle down comfortably.
The two Great Beaver were skeptical, but seeing that the Fat Catfish and the others seemed to be just watching and had no other intentions, they cautiously continued to dig at the wood.
The Fat Catfish spat out half of its head and swam to Liang Qu, flicking its whiskers.
Liang Qu pressed down on A Fei's big head and turned it towards the beaver.
They're all Spirit Monster, so why is there such a huge difference? You should learn from them!
Let the Fat Catfish observe carefully, while Liang Qu looks at the Old Giant Clam.
"Old Bei, is their skill innate or something? How can they be so amazing?"
"Half born, half learned." The Old Giant Clam exhaled a string of bubbles. "In the past, there were no Beaver Clan in the Jiang Huai River. What we see today is a true dragon that migrated from the north to oversee the construction of the Dragon Palace."
Afterwards, the Beaver Clan settled in the Jiang Huai River, multiplied and thrived, and produced many master craftsmen who were no less skilled than humans.
They actually migrated from the north...
The presence or absence of a social system reveals two drastically different levels of intelligence, and the beaver before us clearly represents a step further.
They not only have their own social system, but also exchange skills among their members.
Liang Qu had heard the Fat Catfish describe the appearance of the Toad's dwelling, which was essentially a large cave filled with all sorts of things, piled up in a mess.
I used to think that all aquatic Great Demon were like that, and that the Dragon Palace was just a beautiful fantasy in people's minds. In fact, they were quite different, differing only in the size of their caves.
Now it seems, perhaps it was just that the Toad demon liked to live in a cave? Liang Qu's fantasy of the Dragon Palace, which had been ruthlessly shattered by the Toad, was being rebuilt little by little with the help of the beaver in front of him, just like the little wooden house that was built from nothing.
The Fat Catfish yawned, feeling utterly bored.
I don't know why the gods made me watch a bunch of Fatty gnawing on Wooden Head; they don't have teeth that long.
Moreover, Wooden Head doesn't taste good; it's not as delicious as the fresh and tender citrus.
Over the next few days, Liang Qu would take a stroll around the pond whenever he had a spare moment.
Witness firsthand the gradual emergence of a uniquely designed wooden cabin that stretches from the shore to underwater.
This gave him an idea: could he ask the beavers to help build the boat?
Liang Qu fell into deep thought.
Spirit Monster are much stronger than ordinary people. It takes Liu Quanfu a long time to carve a piece of wood, but the beaver can do it in a short while.
The overall efficiency is several times higher!