New Stage

The importance of a map was beyond doubt. Not only would it make recording things easier, it would also help them determine their own location.

Following the train of thought in his mind, animal hide and branches were readily available. As for the plant pulp used to replace ink or dye, the Black Forest had that too. In no time at all, he had already sent people to gather some.

"Dashan, come here for a moment."

Taking advantage of the bit of time before dinner, he called Dashan over.

"Tomorrow morning, you don't need to continue gathering supplies in the Black Forest. I plan to assign you an exploration mission."

"Yes!"

Dashan's decisiveness came as no surprise to Zhou Xu.

In fact, as the strongest individual combatant in their tribe, having him constantly gather supplies in the Black Forest was undoubtedly a waste.

Before, Zhou Xu had had no choice. Now that he did, he was more inclined to give Dashan more opportunities to train.

"I'll teach you how to draw a map first."

"A map?"

Clearly, Dashan and the others had no concept of maps yet.

"Watch closely."

As he spoke, Zhou Xu spread the map flat, then picked up a stone and crushed all the gathered plants. As he pounded them, he explained...

"These plants have colored sap. I'm going to use it as dye. Once it's crushed to this point, it should be about right."

As he spoke, Zhou Xu picked up a branch that had been prepared earlier as well.

"Dip the tip of this branch in it, then draw on this animal hide."

As he spoke, Zhou Xu drew a triangle in the very center of the hide. However, the branch pen and plant dye were extremely awkward to use. Just a few simple strokes took him quite a bit of effort.

Looking at the three triangles piled together, he drew a small circle around them, enclosing all three.

"This is our tribal camp. Over here is Salt Lake..."

As he spoke, Zhou Xu drew a circle beside the tribe and added several wavy lines inside it, indicating the lake water.

"This is the Black Forest."

As he drew these markings, he also told Dashan what each one represented.

After roughly drawing the surrounding terrain, he drew a cross-shaped arrow in the upper-left corner of the map. Using the sun's rising in the east and setting in the west as his basis, he marked the directions of east, south, west, and north, then explained each of them to Dashan.

These things were not complicated. As long as someone had a normal mind, remembering them would not be difficult.

As it turned out, Dashan learned quickly.

"Very good, Dashan. Pick two people from your original gathering team and form a three-man group with them to carry out the exploration mission."

As he spoke, Zhou Xu handed the completed animal-hide map to Dashan, signifying that he was entrusting the mission to him.

Then he shifted his gaze to Fei Que, who was standing to the side...

"Fei Que, I need to take away the five people who were previously transferred from the gathering team. You'll continue leading the remaining members of the hunting team, but starting tomorrow, the hunting area will expand to cover the entire outer perimeter of the Black Forest. You'll also be responsible for confirming the exact deployment locations."

The hunting team's range of activity would still be limited to the outer perimeter. This was undoubtedly the result of careful consideration on his part.

This Black Forest was not as large as he had initially expected. Given that, the spiderweb in the central area was already enough to serve as their hunting trap.

The giant spider had previously waited fruitlessly for prey because it had no bait. In the past, aside from its supreme skill of "waiting forever," it had mainly relied on its prey being stupid.

Fortunately, it had been the only predator in this area before. Otherwise, it absolutely would not have survived until now.

That was also the main reason why the giant spider's difficulty in hunting had begun to rise sharply after they arrived.

Now that they had taken over the hunting webs near the mine, they only needed to place some bait to lure in prey. Those webs would probably work even better than their basket traps.

As for the hunting team, although their numbers had decreased, their hunting area had grown larger.

In other words, the "competition" between each trap had lessened. Under normal circumstances, they should all be able to catch more prey.

After assigning the exploration team led by Dashan and the hunting team led by Fei Que their new tasks, Zhou Xu turned his gaze to the remaining seven people.

Their main task was still gathering resources, but unlike before...

"You three will continue gathering supplies in this Black Forest. As for you four, you'll be responsible for mining coal in that mine."

With this personnel adjustment, the Salt Lake Tribe officially entered a new stage.

Early the next morning, the three-man exploration team led by Dashan set out.

Dashan had actually carried out similar exploration missions when the former chief was still alive, so he was not unfamiliar with them now.

However, they had only just reached the outer perimeter of the Black Forest when Dashan, who had clearly noticed something with the enhanced vision Zhou Xu had given them, hurriedly warned them...

"Hide, quickly!"

With that low shout, the other two reacted quickly enough and immediately hid behind the trunks of nearby black trees.

At that moment, Dashan leaned against the trunk of a black tree and cautiously poked half his head out, letting his gaze drift toward the outside.

Very soon, two figures wrapped in animal hide entered their field of vision.

"They're from another tribe."

The other two team members, who had also noticed the pair, visibly became unsettled.

"Dashan, should we attack?"

"They're too far away. If they run, it'll be difficult for us to catch them. Let's wait until they get closer."

Facing this sudden situation, Dashan remained fairly calm. After making a simple judgment about the distance, he made a wise decision.

However, for some unknown reason, despite the great distance between them, the two people stopped when they saw the Black Forest. After exchanging a few words, they turned around and left.

This development caused the three members of the exploration team's expressions to darken.

"Should we chase them?"

"We won't catch them."

When Dashan said those three words, his tone already carried a trace of anger.

"Run back to the tribe and tell the chief what happened here. We'll keep watch here! Hurry!"

Urged by Dashan, the tribal member had no time to think and immediately sprinted back to the tribe at full speed.

Upon receiving the news, several faint furrows appeared between Zhou Xu's brows.

From the moment he had crossed over until now, aside from the people of his own tribe, he had not seen a single outsider.

Of course, he knew that other tribes existed in this world. But that did not mean he wanted to encounter them.

From Zhou Xu's current personal experience, this was a primitive world desperately short of resources.

It was no exaggeration to say that since crossing over, he had already lost a great deal of weight.

Under these circumstances, what did the appearance of people from another tribe represent?

It meant that the two sides would most likely form a relationship of competition over their limited resources! That was definitely not a good thing!

Here is today's update. Thanks to the readers "The Little Boy Who Sells Teemo" for the tip and "H Aquarius" for becoming a League Leader. The bonus-update mechanism is now in place. For details, please see the pinned post in the readers' circle. Thank you all for your support!