LSLFBW: Chapter 86

At the junction of the rocky beach and the forest, a red bird sat on a stone nest. It covered its long beak with its wings and drooped its head as if taking a nap.

This red bird had just returned from foraging on the sea and had exchanged places with its partner, who was originally on the rocky beach, just over ten minutes ago.

The red bird, which had relaxed its vigilance, didn’t notice that two beastmen in the bushes not far from the rocky beach had already set their sights on it.

As long as they observed carefully, it wasn’t difficult to find that among the red birds, the largest individuals with the most colorful feathers were concentrated on the islands. This was also where the red birds were the most densely populated.

Taking the red bird island as the center, the further outward they went, the smaller the red bird became, and the more their nesting experience was obviously insufficient. By the time it reached the edge of the rocky beach, there were only many scattered stone nests.

For example, the one that Qi Bai and Lang Ze were targeting. The location chosen was not only blocked by trees nearby, but more importantly, it was some distance away from the other red birds.

Just this distance was enough to put it in danger.

Qi Bai and Lang Ze exchanged looks. They had been observing here for a long time, and now was a good time to attack.

Lang Ze nodded slightly to Qi Bai.

The two men lowered their bodies. Qi Bai held the bone knife tightly in his hand, and Lang Ze held a piece of vine in his hand. They moved lightly among the bushes and quickly approached the side of the red bird.

Qi Bai’s eyes followed Lang Ze’s figure closely.

He was agile, like a ghostly assassin, and could completely disappear in the grass. If Qi Bai hadn’t been following him, he wouldn’t have been found at all.

The moment Lang Ze approached the red bird, the strong vines bound the red bird’s sharp beak and wings.

The bone knife and red bird made a sound similar to that of metal colliding.

The red bird opened its red eyes from its sleep. Before it could struggle and scream, the bone knife in Qi Bai’s hand had already deeply pierced its throat.

Lang Ze held down the red bird’s still-twitching body and quickly ran into the forest.

Qi Bai paused before turning around.

He took something from the ground and put it in his animal skin coat. Then he followed Lang Ze’s direction without looking back.

The two people moved smoothly, leaving only an empty stone nest on the ground. Not a single red bird noticed the anomaly here.

Once in the forest, the two of them let go and started to run.

Their goal was clear: to go to the area of the mountains where the trees grew most densely.

It was because in such a place, the red bird’s wings couldn’t be fully spread. Even if they discovered the two people, their attack capabilities would be greatly reduced.

Not long after, Qi Bai and Lang Ze found a slowly flowing stream in the forest.

Qi Bai took out his small bone knife with trembling hands and rinsed it under running water.

In order to deal a fatal blow to the red bird, Qi Bai had used all his strength. The two bones, which were as hard as metal, had collided, and the recoil force hadn’t completely dissipated.

The small bone knife glowed white in the sunlight.

The blade wasn’t very sharp, but it remained intact even after cutting through the red bird’s bones.

Ever since he got the bone knife given to him by Lang Ze, Qi Bai hadn’t used this black bird bone knife for a long time.

Until the bone knife pierced the red bird’s throat, Qi Bai never imagined that such an inconspicuous and simple bone knife could actually have such great power.

Lang Ze threw the dead red bird on the ground and started to skillfully process its bones and feathers.

At this moment, Qi Bai took out an oval-shaped ‘stone’ from his animal skin coat.

The stone was as big as an adult’s palm and had a very smooth surface, but it was dark red in color. It looked a bit weird at a glance.

Lang Ze took the strange stone from Qi Bai’s hand, shook it gently in his hand, and soon found that it wasn’t a stone at all.

It was a red bird egg.

There was some surprise in Lang Ze’s eyes. “You want to raise a red bird?”

Qi Bai repeatedly shook his hands. The meat of the red bird couldn’t be eaten, not to mention that it was a bird of prey. Even the birds of prey on Earth needed special people to raise them. Based on his half-baked knowledge, it was hard to say whether raising a red bird in the tribe would be a blessing or a curse. He certainly wouldn’t think of raising it.

He said with sparkling eyes, “Do you think this egg is edible?”

According to common sense, eggs provided nutrition for the birth of birds. Eggs contained protein, fat, and vitamins, but they shouldn’t contain toxins. As long as the embryo wasn’t fully developed, the egg should be edible.

Lang Ze nodded without hesitation. “Yes.”

He thought about the delicious scrambled eggs and suddenly felt that the red bird egg in his hand wasn’t so ugly anymore.

Qi Bai heard Lang Ze’s affirmative statement and said happily, “That’s great!”

Then he started looking for a relatively flat stone slab, preparing to make a big poached egg later.

But if Qi Bai knew that Lang Ze was so certain because the old priest only told him that bird meat wasn’t edible but never told him that bird eggs weren’t edible, would Qi Bai still be so excited to prepare to eat the egg?

Of course, if Qi Bai had considered this, Lang Ze would’ve told him with confidence that he had eaten the flying birds that would kill a person several days after eating them, as well as the poisonous snake eggs that could kill a person in a few breaths.

Lang Ze used a bone knife to cut off the flesh and blood from the bones of the red bird and cleaned all the bones and feathers beside the stream. Then the two of them each picked up their tools and returned to the cave where they stayed.

The camp that they had found wasn’t too close to the seaside, but was behind the red bird cliff.

The two of them removed the hay blocking the front of the cave and a small bat flew towards them.

Qi Bai skillfully waved his hands in front of him to drive the bats away. Then he stepped into the cave with peace of mind.

Bullying small animals and occupying their nests were old tricks.

On one side of the cave, the luggage of the two people was placed.

Qi Bai found some hay and piled it up, while Lang Ze took some dry firewood and started to make a fire in the cave.

Qi Bai said as he worked, “These red birds feed on prey in the sea.”

In fact, seeing so many red birds gathered here, it wasn’t difficult to guess that their main source of food was the sea.

After all, it was difficult to find enough prey on land for them to catch.

There must be a sea area with abundant fisheries nearby. Only the rich nutrients in the sea could support such a large population.

Once the chicks were born, the red birds that flew from all over the place would not only have to feed the chicks, but also prepare to return to their habitats. It didn’t look like they would stay here for a long time.

Of course, Qi Bai’s inference was all based on the habits of creatures on Earth. However, thanks to Mao Bai’s memories and Qi Bai’s own experience living on the Beastman Continent, such judgments were basically not wrong.

Qi Bai concluded, “From this perspective, the area around the tribe is safe for the time being.”

Lang Ze nodded. He didn’t have the research experience of his ancestors like Qi Bai and couldn’t understand the living habits of birds, but after today’s observation, Lang Ze could basically determine the hunting trajectory of the birds.

Moreover, by deducing the cause from the results, he could easily discover clues that had been overlooked in the past.

For example, there were no signs of large-scale hunting by red birds around the tribe. Also, there was no large-scale migration of animals on the grassland four or five days away from the island.

It seemed that these few scattered red birds either happened to pass by the Black Mountain Tribe on their way to the gathering place, or they sneaked out to have a bite to eat.

Qi Bai felt more at ease with this judgment. “But to understand their behavior patterns, we still have to come to investigate once in a while.”

Qi Bai stretched lazily. Their trip had gone quite smoothly. After hunting a few more red birds, they could set off back to the tribe tomorrow.

As the two of them were talking, the fire in the middle had already started burning.

They had rushed all the way here without having any hot meals. Besides, the highlight of the day was placed next to Qi Bai, so they were both looking forward to it as they stared at the fire.

Lang Ze roasted the dried meat, taro, and sweet potatoes that they had brought with them on the fire.

Qi Bai squeezed out some solidified butter from the animal skin bag, smeared it on the stone slab, broke the eggshell, spread the red bird egg out completely ,and sprinkled a bit of salt on the egg liquid.

Soon, the aroma of fried egg wafted in the air.

In modern times, Qi Bai actually preferred to eat soft, glutinous, and juicy poached eggs. Now he didn’t have the courage to eat half-cooked food.

To be on the safe side, Qi Bai turned the fried egg over and over again until both sides were slightly charred before taking the stone slab off the fire.

This fried egg made from the red bird egg was at least as big as five or six duck eggs. It gave people a sense of satisfaction just by looking at it.

Raw red bird eggs tasted slightly fishier than duck eggs. Fortunately, the small wasn’t so obvious after it was fried.

The two of them cut the crispy fried egg in half and ate it in a few bites. Then only one thought remained in their minds.

There was food all over the rocky beach.

Two days later.

The giant wolf, carrying a full rattan basket, slowly approached the wall of the Black Mountain Tribe.

The gate in the middle of the wall opened inward, and Yang Luo and Hou Yan hurried over.

After the giant wolf lay down, Yang Luo picked up the little snow leopard who was peeking out his head. He held the snow leopard’s butt with one hand and looked carefully under the fur with the other hand.

The little snow leopard covered his face and thought, ‘I didn’t expect the dream to come true like this. The one who flipped my tail turned out to be Yang Luo…’

Hou Yan circled the white wolf and found no traces of blood. He sighed with relief and kept muttering, “Okay, okay.”

After confirming the safety of the two people, Yang Luo gathered all the members of the Black Mountain Tribe to the children’s cave.

It was because many people in the tribe saw the red bird attacking the flock of sheep, and also saw the frightened reactions of Xiong Feng and Huan Ping.

The result of Qi Bai and Lang Ze’s investigation this time must be told to all tribe members in order to reassure them.

Everyone sat on both sides of the stone table. Qi Bai stood on the side close to the cave entrance and smiled at the tribe members, who were still nervous. “Don’t worry, those red birds won’t get close to our tribe.”

As Qi Bai continued to talk, the atmosphere in the cave became much more relaxed. The clouds of worry on everyone’s faces disappeared, and they turned to comfort each other.

In the past few days since Lang Ze and Qi Bai left, the tribe members still in the tribe were ready to leave at any time.

Even though they had only spent a few months here, everyone had developed a deep affection for the Black Mountain, and no one wanted to leave their home like this.

Niu Yong looked at the large rattan basket behind Qi Bai that was covered tightly and asked curiously, “Bao Bai, what is in your rattan basket?”

Qi Bai winked at everyone and opened the lids of the two large rattan baskets.

“Wow!”

“So many bones!”

Everyone came close to the rattan baskets and gently touched the dark red bones and feathers that filled the basket.

“Hey, what is this?”

At this time, someone picked up a red bird egg that was tightly wrapped in layers of hay in the rattan basket and turned it in his hands curiously.

Ma Ling was originally looking at the red bird bones in the rattan baskets. He turned his head casually upon hearing this. Then with just one glance, he could no longer move his eyes away.

“It is an egg!”

As one of the lucky ones to eat the scrambled eggs made by Qi Bai, Ma Ling always remembered the taste of the scrambled eggs and wanted to find duck eggs for his partner She Li to try.

He never thought that when he had spent so much time looking for it and couldn’t find it, Qi Bai and Lang Ze only went out once and brought back so much.

Qi Bai replied, “Yes, these are the eggs of the red bird.”

Yang Luo frowned and asked, “Can the red bird eggs be eaten?”

Qi Bai nodded. “Yes. Lang Ze and I have already eaten several of them on the way.”

After hearing Qi Bai’s answer, Yang Luo’s brow, which had been furrowed for several days, relaxed, and a smile finally appeared on his face.

However, it was Lang Ze’s next words that really made the tribe boil.

They heard Lang Ze say, “I can make a red bird bone knife for every member of the tribe.”