LSLFBW: Chapter 82

The team leader this time was still Lang Ze. He would take Ma Ling as well as Xi Zhou and Hu Qiao, and the horned beastmen about to reach adulthood, to the beach.

Hou Yan and the remaining adult beastmen remained in the tribe to protect the other tribe members.

In the tribe square, Lang Ze was checking the saddle and making final preparations before departure.

Lang Ze tied the straw rope tightly and turned to look at Qi Bai. “If there is anything you want, just use this bamboo basket to bring it back.”

The animal skin that Qi Bai originally used to sleep on had been taken out. Now there was only an empty bamboo basket left at the front of the saddle.

“Really?”

“Of course, it is true.”

The number of bamboo tubes that every beastman needed to carry was fixed. The extra weight depended on each person’s ability. However, carrying an extra small basket of food obviously wasn’t a difficult task for Lang Ze.

Qi Bai’s eyes curved, and he said while counting on his fingers, “Then I want kelp and seaweed. Do you remember? They are the sea vegetables we ate when we first went to the beach. You can just take anything you want for the rest.”

The temperature was still suitable now, so the fresh seafood shouldn’t go bad if it was delayed on the road for two days.

As for the seaweed, Qi Bai planned to take it back and dry it for preservation. The last time he was at the beach, he was busy making oyster sauce. Now that he thought about kelp soup and seaweed soup, he was really craving it.

“Okay.’

Lang Ze nodded and remembered everything. Then he turned around and whistled.

Upon hearing Lang Ze’s signal, all members of the salt-seeking team transformed into beast form and fastened the saddles on their bodies.

“Awoo.”

At Lang Ze’s command, a team of ten people marched out in a well-trained manner.

Qi Bai stood on the wall holding Lang Ze’s animal skin coat. He waited until their figures disappeared into the dense forest before jumping down from the wall.

This time, the salt-seeking team would be back in six or seven days. He wanted to take advantage of this time to develop the cart and give Lang Ze a surprise when he came back.

That’s right, what Qi Bai wanted to make was a cart.

To be more precise, it was a flat board truck with a detachable body.

Given the huge size of the horned beastmen, it wasn’t difficult for them to pull a cart.

As long as the body of the cart could bear the weight stably, the hunting team could easily bring back more prey to the tribe.

This sounded like a good plan. The problem was that if they wanted to carry the huge prey, the carts must be built very large.

However, the reality was that there were no roads around the tribe that could accommodate such a huge vehicle.

Qi Bai now understood the old saying.

If you want to be rich, build roads first.

The vast majority of the Beastman Continent was covered with vegetation, and there were very few truly opened roads.

Forget about the places far away. Just look at the Black Mountain where everyone lived now. Except for the stone mountain where they dug the cave, which wasn’t covered by vegetation, the area slightly further out was covered with dense forests.

It wasn’t just a matter of rugged mountain roads, but more importantly, the tall trees were densely distributed and there were countless vines and shrubs on the ground.

Therefore, even if Qi Bai made the cart, it would be difficult to use it in the mountains and forests.

Thankfully, this was the only section of the road that was more difficult to walk on.

After descending the Black Mountain, there was a large, flat grassland surrounded by four large mountains.

Since more prey that liked to eat wild grass lived in this area, this was also the main hunting ground for the hunting team.

Therefore, as long as the wooden wheels of the card were made higher than the weeds on the grassland, this long section of the road shouldn’t be difficult to pass.

Of course, in order to cope with the terrain of the Black Mountain, it also had to be made easier for hunting teams to carry it.

Qi Bai wanted to make the body of the cart movable, so that when they encountered an impassable road, everyone could dismantle the cart and reassemble it after passing that area.

The idea was beautiful, but the reality was full of difficulties.

The first thing they had to do was cut down trees.

Xiong Feng kicked the tree in front of him and asked, “Is this one okay?”

Qi Bai came over with a straw rope, measured it, and nodded, “Okay.”

“Okay, then this one belongs to me!” As he said this, Xiong Feng swung the stone axe and started to chisel at the tree trunk.

Not far from them, Hu Huo and Ma Shu were each chopping down a big tree.

During the winter, everyone had saved up a lot of wood. After building the main gate and the side gate of the tribe, there was still a lot left.

However, those that were of a suitable size were made into wooden frames by Qi Bai and Hu Huo.

The remaining ones weren’t hard enough or thick enough, so everyone went back to the forest to look for usable wood.

The big tree that Qi Bai had chosen now looked like a locust tree.

The wood was heavy and had fine grain, with no worm holes throughout. It must be very resistant to decay and weather, which was exactly the type of wood he needed now.

Several people worked together to drag the big tree back to the tribe.

Hu Huo peeled off the bark and asked Qi Bai, “Are these barks still stored like before?”

Qi Bai touched his nose. He was about to become the ‘junk king’ who was reluctant to throw anything away.

“Yes, keep it.”

Qi Bai looked at the small pile of tree bark not far away. He kept the bark to study how to make paper, but he hadn’t found time up to now.

Now it seemed like papermaking would have to be postponed until he made the cart.

Hu Huo was curious about why Qi Bai was keeping these barks, but he didn’t ask why.

In any case, Qi Bai wouldn’t avoid everyone when doing something new. He would find out sooner or later.

Polishing the tree trunk was just the first step. The real challenge lay ahead.

The first thing that needed to be made was the wheel.

To make wheels, the first thing to consider was lightning and stability. In order to achieve lightness, he needed to make spokes.

Qi Bai drew several design drawings according to the shape of the wooden wheel in his memory.

The four of them worked day and night for several days before the huge cart took shape.

Qi Bai fixed the two wooden wheels with a long horizontal axis, placed them in the square, and pushed them forward. He only used a bit of force with his hands and the wooden wheels were able to roll forward steadily.

It was done!

These days, Qi Bai and his three companions had made more than one type of wooden wheel.

The wooden wheels they needed had to be one and a half meters in diameter to ensure that the vehicle body could pass through the tall bushes.

Therefore, Qi Bai’s original plan of directly digging out spokes and axes directly on the cross-section of the trunk wouldn’t work.

After all, such thick trees were probably hundreds of years old. It wasn’t easy for them to grow, and it was even more difficult to cut them down. There was really no need for them to harm these old trees.

Of course, more importantly, the spokes weren’t evenly polished and would take more time.

At this time, Qi Bai finally understood that what was passed down by the Chinese ancestors was all wisdom. It wasn’t feasible to be lazy.

Qi Bai divided the rim of the wooden wheel into nine sections according to the same size. Each section was the same arc shape, and the rim was connected to the hub in the middle through spokes of the same length.

The wooden wheel was fixed through the axel, so that the materials they needed were very easy to obtain. As it came into contact with the ground, the wooden wheel formed by the mortise and tenon structure would become tighter and tighter.

Qi Bai was also somewhat excited by this result. Now, they only needed to make a detachable cart board and use thick rattan to fix the cart on the beast forms of the horned beastmen.

“Wow!” Bao Xing’s voice rang out.

Hu Huo and the other two finally came to their senses and closed their mouths, which were open wide enough to fit an egg.

Even though the three of them had been following Qi Bai in making the wheel for the past few days, they had never imagined that this wooden wheel could actually roll forward by itself before it was completely assembled.

If they hadn’t made this with their own hands, Ma Shu would’ve wanted to thank the Beast God now…

“Gah!”

Just as everyone was gathering around the wooden wheel that was rolling forward, a strange cry was heard in the distance.

Qi Bai looked up at the sky reflexively. Sure enough, he saw a familiar and terrifying figure.

Two huge red birds were spreading their huge wings and circling in the sky.

Their scarlet eyes were like four cold rays, looking down at the creatures on the land.

These two red birds weren’t very close to the tribe, but Qi Bai’s heart was pounding.

Suddenly, one of the red birds dived straight to the ground. Qi Bai finally saw the direction it was heading.

“It is the sheepfold!”

Qi Bai shouted and rushed towards the sheepfold.

Not only were there several months of food reserves that the tribe had stored there, but more importantly, Ci Yi was watching over the sheep in the sheepfold.

“Roar!”

A low growl was heard behind Qi Bai, and the ground started to tremble. A huge brown bear quickly passed by his side and rushed out of the tribe first.

Hou Yan and the others in the cave heard Xiong Feng’s voice and ran out of the cave. They turned into beasts and chased Xiong Feng and Qi Bai.

Qi Bai arrived at the sheepfold, and the first thing he saw was a brown bear and red bird fighting in the valley.

The red bird was holding a four-eared sheep in its large claws that were like dead branches.

The wings of the red bird were their natural advantage, but now this red bird had given up this advantage and was fighting the brown bear in close combat.

Qi Bai looked carefully and saw that behind the brown bear, there was a lamb lying on its side on the ground. Blood was flowing from its neck, gathering on the ground to form a winding, sticky stream.

It seemed that this red bird had succeeded, but it was too greedy and wasn’t satisfied with just one four-eared sheep. Just as it was about to touch the second four-eared sheep, it was stopped by Xiong Feng, who arrived in time.

However, the red bird’s body was made of bones as hard as metal. Its slender and sharp beak was a sharp weapon for attack.

In a short time, Xiong Feng’s body was covered with small wounds.

Of course, the red bird didn’t gain much of an advantage. Its dark red feathers had been scratched several times by the brown bear’s huge claws. If it wasn’t careful, it would be pulled down from mid-air by the bear.

Around them, frightened sheep were fleeing in all directions in the valley. Fortunately, they were able to sense the danger and didn’t rush directly into the battle between the red bird and brown bear.

There was obviously something wrong with the number of sheep in the valley, so Qi Bai continued to search deeper into the valley.

Then he saw a huge hedgehog curled up in a ball, blocking the side of the shack tightly.

It seemed that the remaining four-eared sheep must’ve been placed into the shack for protection.

Qi Bai never expected that the opening he left for the four-eared sheep to enter and exit almost became a food entrance for these two red birds.

In just a moment, after Qi Bai reached the hillside next to the sheepfold, the other members of the tribe caught up with him.

The other red bird, which had been hovering high in the sky, let out a sharp cry when watching from afar.

“Gah!”

Hearing the cries of its companion, the red bird in the valley cried out unwillingly. Then it flapped its wings and flew into the air to join its companion. The two birds and a four-eared sheep disappeared in the blink of an eye.