A Taste of Bitterness

Feeling the reverence of the primitive people around him and the successfully discovered water source, Zhou Xu felt he was getting the hang of things.

But as he got closer and saw the situation along the lake, Zhou Xu's brow furrowed instantly.

"Has anyone drunk this water before?"

In response to his question, all the tribe members shook their heads.

With the successful discovery of a water source, Zhou Xu's credibility among the tribe members rose by two levels.

Recalling Zhou Xu's previous instructions, they had all managed to restrain themselves.

Seeing this, Zhou Xu quickly walked to the edge of the lake, scooped up a handful of clear lake water, and brought it to his nose to smell.

Humans are actually quite perceptive creatures. Often, their sense of smell and sight is enough to determine if something is still edible.

The best proof is food that has been in the refrigerator for who knows how long; many people will open it and smell it before throwing it away.

Basically, as long as it smells and looks okay, it's mostly still edible, or at least won't kill you.

Zhou Xu undoubtedly possessed this skill.

If he could, he would have boiled the water first, but he didn't have the conditions for that now.

On the way here, he had already asked Dashan if they knew how to start a fire.

Dashan told him that on the night they were attacked, they didn't have time to bring any fire embers, so they couldn't start a fire now.

This indicated that Dashan's fire-starting ability was still at the level of finding natural fire sources and preserving them; they didn't know how to create fire artificially.

As for him...

If you ask him about methods for starting a fire artificially, like friction methods or bow drill fire starting, he could recite them all.

But the problem now was that he had never practiced them!

It was obvious that these fire-starting methods weren't as easy as they sounded.

Right now, they were tired, hungry, and thirsty. Just having some water to drink would help them recover significantly.

With this thought, Zhou Xu dipped his fingertip in some lake water and brought it to his mouth.

Immediately, he frowned and spat it out with a "Ptooey!"

"It really is salty."

When he had first approached, Zhou Xu had noticed a ring of what looked like a salt band around the lake, and he had guessed it might be a saltwater lake.

Now that his guess was confirmed, he felt a mix of amusement and frustration.

The human body needs salt, and salt is indeed important, but the problem was that he needed freshwater more right now!

He was so thirsty that his throat felt like it was on fire.

During this time, seeing Zhou Xu's reaction, the surrounding tribe members realized the water might be problematic.

However, many of them still stared intently at the clear lake surface, clearly unable to suppress their urge to drink.

Seeing this, Zhou Xu calmly stood up.

"I'm telling you clearly, this water cannot be drunk. It will make you thirstier the more you drink. But I can also see that many of you still want to drink, so I'll allow you to have a small sip. Go ahead if you want to drink."

As soon as he said this, many people on the scene rushed to the lake impatiently.

As a result, after just one sip of lake water, less than a second later, they spat it out on the spot, and some even gagged in discomfort.

This scene undoubtedly scared those who hadn't had a chance to drink yet.

Instantly, their gazes turned back to Zhou Xu, and their awe of him deepened.

At this moment, Zhou Xu was no longer looking at them; his attention was entirely on Fei Que.

He could tell that Fei Que also wanted to drink, but after he said the water was undrinkable, Fei Que clearly abandoned the idea.

Based on his current performance, Fei Que seemed like a suitable candidate to develop into a trusted subordinate.

As for Dashan...

He still needed more observation.

With this thought, Zhou Xu's gaze returned to the tribe members.

He was new here, and facing these primitive people, it was unrealistic to just try to stop them and make them obey his commands completely.

When necessary, they had to experience some hardship, like now.

Their reactions undoubtedly proved his correctness in the most direct way.

Invisibly, his prestige was accumulating.

He glanced up at the sky. The sky had been continuously overcast, making it impossible for him to accurately judge the time.

But estimating the time since he transmigrated, it was probably not early.

[If I were to leave here now to find a new campsite, it wouldn't make sense. The main problem is that we have no water, not enough food, and no clear direction or goal. Just wandering around aimlessly would be too unwise.]

[Under these circumstances, although the water from this saltwater lake cannot be drunk directly, after simple distillation, I can obtain both freshwater and salt. It will just take a little more effort.]

[Regarding the location. Although that Black Forest looks strange, the wood should be usable. Setting up camp here, right in the middle of the Black Forest and this saltwater lake, is actually quite good in a way.]

With this in mind, Zhou Xu made his final decision.

"Give the order, we're setting up camp here!"

After issuing the command, Zhou Xu quickly turned his head to look at Fei Que.

"Fei Que, take some people to the edge of the forest and gather some dry branches..."

Zhou Xu paused here.

"As for bugs and mice, grab some while you're at it, but don't venture too deep into the forest rashly."

"Understood."

Fei Que acknowledged and moved swiftly.

After watching Fei Que run off, Zhou Xu turned to Dashan and asked what kind of containers or tools they had on hand.

They had been attacked and had to flee, so they couldn't bring many things with them.

However, they did have a few items.

As he spoke, Dashan brought over several containers. Their edges were uneven, but their interiors were quite round, each about the size of a rice bowl.

[This looks like the shell of some kind of fruit, similar to a coconut, but not quite.]

Zhou Xu thought to himself, tapping one, producing a light 'tok tok tok' sound.

One of them was particularly large, resembling a small pot.

"Dashan, can this be heated over a fire?"

Although he didn't know why Zhou Xu was asking, Dashan nodded.

"It should be."

With that answer, he organized his thoughts and had a general plan.

"In any case, we need to start a fire. Dashan, take two people with me to gather some stones."

Igniting a fire had become a problem they had to solve, and even without experience, Zhou Xu had to push forward.

Stones were easy to find, and with Dashan's help, Zhou Xu quickly managed to build a rudimentary Stone Stove.

During this process, a voice sounded in Zhou Xu's mind...

[System Notification: Congratulations to 'Zhou Xu' for establishing the first tribe camp!]

[System Notification: Would you like to name the newly established tribe camp?]

He had too many things to confirm on this journey, and he had originally intended to study the system after they were basically settled.

He hadn't expected the system to pop up on its own.

As for the name, Zhou Xu didn't hesitate at all.

"We'll call it the Salt Lake Tribe."