Black Forest

After moving closer, Zhou Xu quickly realized that these bizarrely shaped trees were not quite like what he had imagined.

He had originally thought that these trees, which looked as though they had been burned, would all be dried-up dead trees, but that was not the case.

The branches, trunks, and bark of these trees were all fairly firm, clearly not lacking in moisture. It was just unclear why they had grown so strangely and were pitch-black.

In an environment like this Desolate Land, if trees can grow like this, there must definitely be a water source nearby!

Just as Zhou Xu was thinking this, a sudden burst of exclamations came from the crowd.

He looked toward the sound and saw an animal that seemed to be a rat rapidly scurrying out of the Black Forest. One of the tribe members tried to rush forward and catch it, but the rat moved incredibly fast, causing him to pounce on empty air.

At that moment, the tribe member was sitting on the ground with a look of frustration, while his gaze continued sweeping around. It seemed he had no intention of giving up just yet.

At the same time, quite a few other tribe members were catching insects from the trees.

At first, Zhou Xu's mind failed to process what they were doing. It was not until one of the tribe members could not resist stuffing an insect he had just caught into his mouth that he finally understood.

"..."

Seeing this scene, Zhou Xu could not help twitching the corner of his mouth.

As far as he was concerned, it was not exactly unbearable. After all, in his original world, he had eaten fried silkworm pupae, fried cicadas, and fried rice with ants.

However, as a modern person, he still felt somewhat resistant on a psychological level to the act of stuffing a freshly caught bug into his mouth without a second thought.

But Zhou Xu quickly realized that applying the thoughts of a modern person like himself to these tribe members was rather childish and naïve.

These tribe members stuffed the insects into their mouths directly not because the bugs tasted good, but because they needed to survive!

Looking at the environment around them, they had no other choice if they wanted to fill their stomachs and stay alive.

At the same time, this was also a problem he would have to face next.

If they could not find suitable food, he would soon have to join the ranks of those who ate insects and gnawed on tree bark.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xu hurriedly reminded the tribe members who were constantly catching insects and even stuffing them directly into their mouths...

"Before eating those insects, make sure to pinch off their heads and remove their innards. But it would be best not to eat them yet. Wait until later, when we can process them all together."

Zhou Xu had absolutely no experience with eating insects in the wild. After all, what normal person would spend their free time searching for insects to eat in the wilderness, let alone study how to do it?

However, he had watched a few survival programs in his spare time, so he at least knew that the heads and innards of these things should be removed before eating.

In Zhou Xu's opinion, it would be even better to cook them first. That would be safer.

But these tribe members might not cooperate. He could tell that food held an extremely strong temptation for them.

Unlike the last time he had asked everyone to follow him, this time, many tribe members wore clear looks of hesitation.

After all, in this era, staying alive meant searching for food, and searching for food was all for the sake of staying alive. The two formed a terrifying vicious cycle.

They had neither the time nor the energy to consider anything else. Continually searching for food to survive was their entire world.

Even if they only pinched off the heads, they still felt that it was a waste.

It was under these circumstances that Dashan stepped forward of his own accord.

"Everyone, listen to the chief! Don't eat them yet! The most important thing now is to determine the location of our camp!"

Among this group of primitives, Dashan clearly held a fairly high position. The primitives who had still been hesitating all stopped what they were doing.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhou Xu hurriedly said,

"Everyone, first search around the outskirts of this Black Forest. There should be a water source nearby. Once you find it, don't rush to drink. Wait for me to come over and check it."

A person would not die from going without food for a short time, but without water, they basically could not survive more than three days.

Although these tribe members did not know this, they knew what thirst felt like. Their lips had already become cracked and dry.

With no water source to be found, they could only obtain tiny amounts of moisture from the bodily fluids of insects or by gnawing on fresh tree bark.

Now that they heard Zhou Xu say there was a water source nearby, they still followed his orders and searched seriously, despite being only half-convinced.

During this process, a series of minor incidents also gave Zhou Xu a fresh understanding of his position here.

As the 'Chosen One' summoned here, these primitives feel awe toward me and obey my orders to a certain extent. But once my orders conflict with 'survival,' they hesitate.

Put plainly, I just arrived and haven't built up enough prestige.

Outside the Black Forest, Zhou Xu looked over the Black Forest while he thought.

It should already be getting late. If we can find a water source nearby, this area should be the best place to set up camp for now. These primitives don't have much food on them, and taking them all over the place would not be a wise decision.

Following this line of thought, Zhou Xu had already begun considering how they would survive here.

Inside this Black Forest, the bizarrely shaped trees were all bare, and they were not growing densely either.

He looked around again and again. Aside from the insects and the rats he had seen earlier, he genuinely did not spot a single living creature in this area.

Damn! Are we going to have to survive by eating rats and insects and gnawing on tree bark and roots?

As this thought rose, Zhou Xu inevitably developed the feeling that it would have been better not to transmigrate at all. He might as well have died in the car accident. There was no need for him to transmigrate here and suffer like this!

Just as he was feeling utterly melancholy, Fei Que once again came running over from the distance.

"We found water! We found water, Chief! There really is water over there!"

Finding a water source was of course a good thing, but at that moment, Zhou Xu was more interested in Fei Que right in front of him.

Ever since he had volunteered to take on the task of scouting ahead, this boy's performance had continued to surprise him.

Take this search for a water source, for example. Through observation, Zhou Xu had blindly guessed that there was probably a water source nearby, but finding it in such a short time and then running back to report to him was itself a sign of high efficiency.

Moreover, Fei Que also seemed to hold even greater reverence for him...

Thinking of this, Zhou Xu immediately reached out and patted Fei Que on the shoulder.

"Well done. Lead the way."

Zhou Xu's praise made Fei Que grin. After following him for a while, their vision passed through part of the bare Black Forest, and a lake soon appeared before Zhou Xu's eyes.

At the same time, many tribe members had already gathered around the lake ahead of him, their expressions looking extremely excited.

Now that they saw Zhou Xu arrive, one gaze after another fell upon him.

Compared with before, the reverence in these people's eyes as they looked at him had clearly grown much stronger than it had been at the beginning.

The water source nearby was something Zhou Xu had deduced through reasonable inference.

But these tribe members did not understand any of that.

In their eyes, their chief had known there was water nearby without even looking. It was simply clairvoyance!