Shell Knives (continued)

"No, I kept it safe on the shelf and hardly ever touched it. Who knew it would look perfectly fine, only to snap as soon as I used it?"

Everyone chimed in that several of their own shell knives had broken too.

Jian Mo couldn't help nodding in agreement. He had worn out quite a few shell knives lately as well. Some suddenly chipped while he was cutting things, while others had been perfectly fine the last time he used them, only to fall into pieces by the next time he picked them up.

Listening to everyone's complaints, Qing Kuo said, "We've nearly used up the last batch of shell knives we gathered. We'll find time to collect some new ones in the next couple of days."

Zhou Fu gritted his teeth. "I'm definitely going to collect a few extra this time!"

Jian Mo asked curiously, "Where do you collect shell knives? In the river?"

Zhou Fu shook his head repeatedly. "The shellfish in the river aren't big enough or hard enough. We need shellfish from the lake. You'll understand when you see them."

Jian Mo looked even more curious. Seeing this, Zhou Fu said, "How about we go collect them tomorrow? Jian Mo hasn't seen them before, so we can take him along to have a look."

Qing Kuo turned to glance at Jian Mo and agreed. "All right. I'll let the beastmen know later."

Nearly everyone had arrived, so they set out to gather.

Today, they were going to gather a nut called hougou fruit. Jian Mo searched his memories but couldn't remember what kind of nut it was.

When they arrived, Jian Mo found that hougou fruit looked a bit like an oversized peach, except its flesh wasn't edible.

There were plenty of hougou fruits on the trees. Jian Mo wasn't good at climbing, so he mainly picked them up from the ground.

Everyone looked out for him and shook the hougou fruits down from the trees.

Just by picking up the fruit under the trees, Jian Mo gathered quite a haul.

That evening, Jian Mo and Wu Jiong sat by the hearth, using the firelight to remove the flesh from the hougou fruits, leaving only the nuts inside.

Once dried in the sun, these nuts could be stored for several years, making them a good food to put away for winter.

Jian Mo brought up the shell knives. "Qing Kuo said we're going to collect shell knives tomorrow."

Wu Jiong said, "He told us. We're leaving early tomorrow."

Jian Mo said, "Then I'll marinate tomorrow's meat later. Once we wake up, we can light a fire and roast it."

Wu Jiong took the hougou fruit from his hands. "Go on, then. I'll take care of these."

Everyone had agreed to set out early the next morning.

As a result, most of the tribe was awake before daybreak.

Jian Mo yawned as he brushed his teeth and washed his face, then sat down by the hearth to make breakfast.

After a quick breakfast, he followed Wu Jiong to the open space to assemble.

It was a rare occasion for the beastmen and sub-beastmen to go out together. Jian Mo glanced around and noticed that everyone had come in pairs.

Qing Kuo was with his partner Di Ya, Zhou Fu was with his partner Jiu Yin, and Xi Lu was with his prospective partner Xuan Yin... All told, only Jian Mo and Wu Jiong were single.

Looking at the couples, Jian Mo felt a little like turning back.

Zhou Fu sat on the back of his partner, who had transformed into a giant beast—a huge reddish-brown fox. He greeted Jian Mo enthusiastically. "Jian Mo, you're here early too! Are you really curious about shell knives? Haha!"

Jian Mo nodded. "Yes."

Zhou Fu said, "Then hurry over to the chief. We're getting ready to leave."

Wu Jiong had already turned into a giant wolf and was waiting silently behind him.

Jian Mo didn't make a fuss. He climbed up Wu Jiong's front leg and onto his back.

There were more than ten pairs of them today.

Qing Kuo's partner, Di Ya, led the way. He was also a huge white wolf, as well as Wu Jiong's paternal cousin once removed.

But compared to the cool and handsome Wu Jiong, Jian Mo always felt that this white wolf, who wore a constant grin, looked like a friendly Samoyed and was quite approachable.

The beastmen ran into the wind, while the sub-beastmen clutched their fur and leaned forward against their backs.

The lake that produced plenty of shell knives was very far from the tribe. They traveled through canyons, over ridges, and across a plateau, spending the whole morning on the road before reaching a relatively flat alpine meadow.

It was colder here than at the foot of the mountains. Jian Mo wrapped his animal-hide robe tightly around himself and looked to either side.

This place might have been heavily eroded by glaciers.

Apart from the path they traveled, scattered rocks as big as tables lay everywhere on either side.

All kinds of bare shrubs grew in the gaps between the rocks. They were a fiery red, like burning torches, and on closer inspection, their branches were covered in dense, sharp thorns.

The beastmen were extremely nimble. Not one of them ran into a shrub, and not one twisted an ankle on the rocks.

They ran all the way.

Sweeping across the rocky ground like the wind.

As they drew closer to their destination, Jian Mo saw lakes of all sizes, perhaps all formed by meltwater from the snowy mountains.

The lakes were blue-green and probably rich in copper ions.

Jian Mo looked at the lakes. There might be metal deposits nearby; they could keep an eye out when they had time.

The beastmen didn't stop at all along the way. They reached their destination when the sun was directly overhead.

It was a vast lake that stretched as far as the eye could see, its waters a shimmering blue.

Towering snowy mountains stood around the lake, and dense coniferous forests spread from their foothills to halfway up the slopes, close to the peaks.

"We're here." Di Ya, who was at the front, stopped. "Everyone, get ready to collect shell knives."

All the beastmen stopped in unison.

The sub-beastmen slowly climbed down from the beastmen's backs, and Jian Mo slid down from Wu Jiong's back as well.

At that moment, Jian Mo noticed that although the beastmen had run all morning and were giving off clouds of steam, none of them were even panting.

It was incredible.

They were so large, yet their endurance was so good. It completely defied what he knew.

This really was a

different

world from Earth.

Everyone paired up and ran toward the lake with baskets on their backs.

Only when Jian Mo reached the shore did he discover that the mud along it was extremely thick, encircling almost the entire lake.

Unlike the alpine lakes he remembered, this one was full of dark green aquatic plants.