Caught in His Own Trap

The Black Forest did not look all that large at first glance, but it was definitely not something they could sweep clean in a short while.

During the process, they undoubtedly found those rats darting in and out of every corner of the Black Forest again. Many of the tribe members wanted to rush over and catch them, but Zhou Xu stopped them all.

"All right, don't waste your strength. These rats are incredibly fast once they start scurrying. If they could be caught bare-handed, we would have caught them yesterday instead of waiting until today. Save your strength for now."

As he spoke, he picked up a stone by his feet. It was flat overall and a little wider than his palm.

"Look at this. Pick up stones like this one."

As Zhou Xu spoke, he gestured toward the tribe members responsible for gathering supplies.

Meanwhile, every tribe member already had branches picked up along the way in their hands. Some were even hugging them with both arms.

This was one of the reasons their branch-gathering efficiency was so low.

At the rate they were carrying them, their arms would soon be full, forcing them to make another trip back. Each round trip would waste even more time.

When Zhou Xu saw this, he waved directly at them.

"Everyone, come here. Take out one bundle of the bark rope I gave you before we set out."

After taking the bark rope the tribe members handed him, Zhou Xu spread it out on the ground.

"Put the branches on it."

Upon receiving the order, the tribe members did not overthink it and did as they were told.

The branches they had gathered soon formed a pile on the ground. Once there seemed to be enough, Zhou Xu stepped onto them, pulled at the bark rope with his hands, and used both hands and feet to tie the branches into a bundle in no time.

Back home, he had always saved the cardboard boxes produced in daily life and sold them in one go. The technique of bundling cardboard boxes came in handy here as well.

"Look. Like this, you can just lift the bark rope and carry it over your shoulder. One person can carry this many branches back in a single trip."

Before, it would have taken at least five or six of them to carry those branches back. Now, Zhou Xu easily lifted them one-handed with a single length of bark rope.

The watching tribe members could not help crying out in astonishment.

The tying method itself was not difficult. The difficult part was being the first person to think of doing it this way!

"All right. Those in charge of gathering supplies, split into two groups, five people to a team. Go gather supplies in the areas on either side, and don't approach this area. Everyone else, come with me."

Although the gathering team members were curious about what their chief intended to do next, he had already given an order. Naturally, they did not dare delay. They quickly split into two teams and moved toward the areas on either side.

Only after the two gathering teams had gone some distance did Zhou Xu begin to act.

"Fei Que, put the insect heads and innards here. Not too much—just a little is enough."

"Yes."

Fei Que immediately did as he was told, placing some insect heads and innards at the spot Zhou Xu indicated.

"Good. Now take out the small forked branch and the basket we picked up earlier. Set them up like this."

A small basket trap was soon assembled.

Of course, Zhou Xu could not rely entirely on a rat knocking over the branch or bumping into the basket and causing it to fall.

That was why he had already tied a thin strip of bark rope to the small branch.

The bark rope he had taught Butterfly and the others to weave the previous night came in two types. One was thicker, made by interweaving multiple strips of bark, and they were now using it to bundle branches for the gathering teams.

The other was the one he was using now: a thin rope twisted together simply, serving as the trigger line for the trap.

To avoid pulling the branch prematurely, Zhou Xu carefully laid out the rope while backing away, then hid behind a large tree a short distance away.

"Everyone, hide nearby. Don't make a sound. What we're doing now is waiting for the prey to come to us."

For a moment, Fei Que and the others did not know what to say in response to Zhou Xu's words.

But considering all the miracles their chief had shown them before, they still obeyed the order and hid nearby.

To be honest, Zhou Xu himself was not confident this would work.

The issue was not only whether the trap could catch a rat, but also whether rats could actually be eaten.

By the standards of a modern person, most rats carried viruses, making them far too risky to eat.

But then again, the environment in this primitive world was different from that of the modern world.

Simply put, in this almost entirely untouched primitive world, there were not as many bacteria and viruses. Since the rats ate cleaner things, they would naturally be much cleaner themselves.

There seem to be quite a lot of rats in this Black Forest. And no one in this world has probably ever used traps to catch rats before, right? Maybe they'll be especially easy to lure.

At that moment, Zhou Xu appeared to be analyzing the situation, but was he not also reassuring himself?

On this desolate land, they had far too little food available. If they could not catch anything, they would simply go hungry. There was no room for choice at all.

As he thought this, Zhou Xu soon spotted a rat sneaking into the area within his field of vision.

Come to think of it, my eyesight has improved a lot. I had been mildly nearsighted before, but after crossing over, I didn't even have my glasses, yet I could see everything so clearly. My observation skills have improved too.

If it were before, I might not have noticed the rat hiding in the corner. But now, I spotted it at a glance. Not only has my field of vision grown wider, it has also become clearer.

Is this an improvement that comes with the Eye of Insight? Even without directly using the ability, have my eyesight and observational skills been passively enhanced?

There was no time to think further. The rat in the distance had clearly caught the scent of the insect heads and innards. After cautiously observing its surroundings, it scurried into the trap.

Just as it was about to pick up the bait and start eating, Zhou Xu gave the thin rope in his hand a gentle tug.

As the small branch was pulled down, the basket immediately dropped and covered the rat inside.

The rat was clearly startled. It began charging wildly around inside the basket, making the entire basket shake along with it.

The basket itself was not heavy, and the ground outdoors could not be perfectly level. Under the rat's violent struggle inside, there was no guarantee it would not escape.

Therefore, the instant the prey was covered, Zhou Xu moved with lightning speed. He drove forward with his legs and, amid the tribe members' disbelieving cries, slammed one hand down on the violently shaking basket.

Clearly, not one of them had expected the rat they had been unable to catch with all their strength to crawl straight into their chief's basket of its own accord.

Actually, the logic behind it was not difficult to understand if they thought about it carefully.

But that did nothing to lessen the shock the rat's "throwing itself into the trap" gave them in that moment.

At that instant, they seemed to see the gates to a new world slowly opening before them.

Update delivered! Many thanks to the readers 'Yangchen Guichen,' 'Send You a Little Chrysanthemum,' and 'Gentle Breeze' for your rewards!