Plans for the New Phase

Under Da Shi's leadership, their first stop was, of course, the area near the lake.

By then, the people of his tribe had already paddled out on rafts and begun casting nets across the lake to catch fish.

They were walking along the lakeshore.

"As the only source of water around here, don't animals usually come to the lake to drink?"

"They used to."

When Da Shi brought up the matter, a trace of bitter amusement appeared on his face.

"But the former chief had designs on them. After failing several times, those animals seemed to realize that this place wasn't safe."

"Besides, our tribe members spend most of the day fishing on this river, so the animals won't come near easily."

"As time passed, fewer animals came here. Even when they did come to drink, they chose to wait until after dark. Every now and then, we can still find some tracks nearby."

Da Shi's explanation had been as clear as day.

In this era, the night was still extremely dangerous for them. Under normal circumstances, they would never set out after nightfall.

"So do you rely entirely on fishing for food now, or have you tried hunting other animals on the grasslands?"

"We rely entirely on fishing for food."

Zhou Xu wasn't surprised at all by that answer. After all, yesterday's food had consisted of nothing but fish.

As Zhou Xu thought this, Da Shi went on to explain the situation in greater detail.

"The animals on the grasslands run too fast, and their reactions are too quick. We can't catch them at all."

"Didn't your former chief ever think of making traps?"

Da Shi had heard the word "trap" from the former chief before, so it wasn't unfamiliar to him.

"We tried, but they all failed."

In an era like this, hunting either relied on bows and arrows or on traps.

There was no need to say much about bows and arrows. In this era, making them was extremely difficult and would inevitably require a great deal of time and effort.

Their manpower was limited at present, while the tribe members were already running themselves ragged just to secure a bite to eat each day.

In that state, it was difficult for them to spare the time, energy, and manpower to research such things.

What was even more headache-inducing was that even if they somehow managed to make a bow and arrow, could they guarantee its accuracy, range, and power?

Most likely, they couldn't.

Therefore, considering their current circumstances, Zhou Xu believed that bows and arrows were a project they could only research after they had sufficient energy to spare.

As for traps, they could roughly be divided into two types. One was the basket-cover trap or snare trap, like the ones Zhou Xu had made, which required a certain degree of craftsmanship. Without some skill, making one was quite difficult.

The other was the pit trap, which required a tremendous amount of physical labor.

But for a small tribe of just over thirty people like theirs, pit traps were actually not easy to make.

For a pit trap to work, it had to be large and deep enough, which would consume a great deal of labor.

However, one shouldn't forget that tribes like theirs were generally short-handed. To keep a tribe running smoothly and ensure that everyone survived day after day, they needed a steady supply of manpower for maintenance. They had very little energy left to do anything else.

Da Shi's former chief clearly possessed neither the craftsmanship needed to make basket-cover traps nor the skill to create snare traps. As for pit traps, there was even less to say.

After a few simple attempts, he had clearly realized all these problems and then turned toward the freshwater lake near their camp.

Honestly, that fellow should have been grateful that there was a freshwater lake rich in fish near the camp. Otherwise, from Zhou Xu's perspective, the man was destined to starve to death.

The existence of that freshwater lake had solved the initial food shortage to a great extent. It could practically be said to have given the man the game's easy mode.

But the man apparently had no intention of using that advantage to develop bows and arrows or anything of the sort. Instead, he had focused on seizing resources and expanding his territory.

There was no need to say more about what happened afterward.

At present, the main work of the gathering teams at Black Moon Camp was picking up stones, branches, and grass, or chopping down trees to obtain timber. Those door-panel-sized shields had all been made from that timber.

During the process, Zhou Xu activated the Eye of Insight to scan every area he passed through.

Although he still hadn't fully recovered from the consumption caused by frequently using the True Word power yesterday, there would be no problem as long as he avoided using it at high intensity too often.

Zhou Xu had to admit that he had truly grown accustomed to it. The Eye of Insight was unbelievably useful for exploration.

Under the observation of the Eye of Insight, he quickly caught sight of a nimble figure in the grass.

Whether or not it had also noticed their presence, the creature shot through the grass with a whoosh and dove into a burrow.

"It's a wild rabbit!"

Those long ears instantly confirmed its identity to Zhou Xu.

With that thought in mind, Zhou Xu led everyone swiftly to the mouth of the burrow.

The rabbit hole was quite deep. Merely reaching inside, one couldn't touch the bottom. Not to mention, the entrance might also connect to other exits, essentially ruling out the method of reaching in and grabbing the rabbit by force.

But Zhou Xu didn't care in the slightest.

Because from the very beginning, he had never planned to grab them by force. He had been thinking about how to set traps and capture these wild rabbits!

In any case, it was absolutely wonderful that wild rabbits lived in this area. Without a doubt, they could become another item on the tribe's menu.

Thinking even further ahead, they could perhaps consider raising the rabbits, giving themselves a more stable supply of rabbit meat in the future!

At that moment, plans were clattering into place in Zhou Xu's mind.

For now, this grassland truly seemed like a treasure trove to him!

Next, they made another detour to the place where they had discovered the True Word Character before, then conducted a brief search of the surrounding area.

After confirming that there really were no "fish that had slipped through the net," Zhou Xu returned to camp with some reluctance.

By the time they reached camp, it was already afternoon. In fact, evening would be approaching before long.

At that moment, Butterfly and the others from the Salt Lake Tribe had already arrived safely at Black Moon Camp under the escort of some of the tribe's warriors!

Needless to say, this was the order Zhou Xu had sent someone to deliver to Salt Lake Camp before setting out that morning.

With Butterfly and the others successfully relocated, and Black Moon Camp under his control, the arrangements for the new phase of his plans could undoubtedly be officially set in motion!

A minor incident had delayed things a little, but here's the update.