The Must-Cross Hurdle

At this moment, Zhou Xu himself was incredibly excited.

After all, once he had grown up, he had never done this again.

Holding the basket down, he could feel the rat scrambling wildly inside. After the brief excitement passed, he realized what he had to do next, and his body visibly tensed.

Exhaling a long breath, Zhou Xu opened the basket a tiny crack.

The rat, noticing the opening, immediately tried to squeeze through. He grabbed it in one swift motion!

During the process, he nimbly clamped the rat's head between his thumb and forefinger.

"See? Grab it like this, so it can't bite anyone if it gets desperate. Next, you just..."

Zhou Xu's voice faltered at that point.

They couldn't carry a live rat around with them. The best option was to kill it immediately after catching it.

Under these circumstances, he certainly wouldn't feel pity for a rat. But as a city dweller who had never killed anything apart from cockroaches and insects, having a living creature in his hands and needing to take its life meant he really had to steel himself first.

In truth, he had another option.

That was to hand the rat over to Fei Que beside him, or to any other tribe member to deal with.

He was certain they would do it cleanly.

But Zhou Xu knew that, put bluntly, doing so would be running away.

Now that he was in this primitive world, if he wanted to survive, he had to cross this hurdle!

Don't hesitate. Just twist its neck. It'll be over in an instant.

With that thought, Zhou Xu's other hand had already seized the rat's head and made a twisting motion.

As if sensing what was about to happen, the rat began struggling violently and kept squeaking.

The rat's fierce struggle made Zhou Xu tense up involuntarily, and he realized that he could hesitate no longer.

Drawing a deep breath, he steeled his heart and suddenly exerted force with both hands!

In that instant, he clearly heard the sound of the rat's neck snapping beneath his hands. At the same time, the spasms and convulsions of its body continually traveled back through his hands.

In his previous life, he had been an utterly ordinary law-abiding citizen. He had never once twisted a living creature's neck apart with his bare hands.

The sensation made his scalp prickle, and even his stomach churned, bringing a wave of nausea.

But he quickly suppressed the feeling.

Because he knew that he was now the chief of the Salt Lake Tribe, and his subordinates were all watching him.

As their chief, he had to maintain sufficient authority.

"All right. Just twist its neck like this, and that's enough."

As he spoke, Zhou Xu had already adjusted his emotions in secret. He calmly spread open his palm, displaying the lifeless rat before the gathered tribe members.

"This is very simple. What it requires is patience and a grasp of timing. You all understand now, right?"

Faced with the question, the tribe members nodded one after another.

"We have eight traps now. If we put them all in one place, our efficiency will be too low. So, everyone needs to spread out around this area and set them in different locations."

As Zhou Xu spoke, he handed the dead rat to Fei Que and had him hold it.

"Today I'll confirm the trap locations for everyone. After that, each day..."

Zhou Xu's voice paused, and his gaze fell on Fei Que.

"Fei Que, after distributing water to everyone in the morning, you can bring the hunting team here directly to set the traps and hunt. You don't need to wait for me to come out and assign things one by one anymore. If there are any other arrangements later, I'll tell you."

"Yes!"

After assigning the eight traps to their respective locations, Zhou Xu let out a breath, feeling as though he had accomplished something major.

He looked up at the sky. By now, it was completely light.

Today wasn't as gloomy as yesterday. Through the clouds, they could faintly make out the sun hiding behind them.

Judging by the time, it was probably around nine or ten in the morning.

They had gotten up early today, after all, so the day had only just begun.

However, Zhou Xu didn't plan to stay in the Black Forest any longer. According to his plans, he still had plenty of things to do.

For now, he had to return to the tribe first.

The tribe wasn't far from here, and after walking for a while, he soon saw its outline.

The tribe members he had assigned to patrol and stand guard around the tribe hurried over to salute him when they saw him.

"You arrived at just the right time. The other squad can continue patrolling. The three of you, come with me and help."

"Yes!"

With that response, Zhou Xu immediately led them to the saltwater lake.

If there are fish in this lake, then at least half of the food problem can be solved.

Looking at the lake before him, Zhou Xu thought this to himself.

At present, he had two guesses about this saltwater lake.

His first guess was that the bottom of the lake connected to the sea, with seawater flowing in and forming it.

If that was the case, fish from the sea would certainly swim in, and they could smoothly add fish to their food supply.

As for his second guess...

It was that this saltwater lake had formed from underground water surging up.

The reason the lake water was salty was that there was a Salt Mine beneath the ground.

At this moment, Zhou Xu naturally hoped the former was true.

"Have you ever caught fish?"

Faced with the question, the three tribe members who had followed him all exchanged blank looks.

Clearly, they had no idea what he was talking about.

"The things that swim in the water."

As Zhou Xu spoke, he gestured, trying to make them understand what he meant.

However, the three of them still shook their heads in unison. This basically confirmed to Zhou Xu that they had no concept of fishing.

Looks like I'll have to do it myself.

With that thought, Zhou Xu walked to a spot where the lake water reached his calves and reached down to scoop up a handful of mud.

The mushy yet slightly sticky texture basically matched his expectations.

"You three, dig up some of this mud. I'll take a look in the lake and come back up in a moment."

When he was little, he had often gone swimming in the village pond or river during the summer. Diving into this lake now didn't frighten him in the slightest, but the three tribe members standing nearby were left completely dumbfounded.

At this moment, Zhou Xu clearly had no time to bother with them. After holding his breath and diving for a while, he surfaced at a spot nearly ten meters from the lake's surface.

"Whoosh—"

After wiping the lake water from his face, he hurriedly breathed in some fresh air before diving back down.

After diving twice in succession, Zhou Xu slowly swam back to shore. He then collapsed on the bank like his strength had been drained away, sprawled out with his arms and legs spread wide as he panted heavily.

Ah, it must be underground water after all.