Jueyun Karst, Black Hill Tribe.
Gurgle, gurgle...
A huge iron pot was set up in a clearing, the water inside boiling fiercely, sending steamy, damp vapors drifting into the air.
Several thin, dark hilichurls with round heads covered in beige fluff were gathered around the pot in a circle.
"Mita (Meat)!"
A short, elderly Geo Samachurl leaning on a large stone staff grunted from behind them.
"Mosi (Eat)!"
Hearing this, the hilichurls cheered excitedly and ran toward the dilapidated storehouse where the "prey" was kept.
The prey was a humanoid creature picked up from the plains, perhaps having fallen to its death. They had observed it for a long time and found no signs of movement.
Meat! Good meat!
One hilichurl eagerly ran ahead. As it got closer, it was surprised to find that the human had woken up.
"Mimi Mosi ye! (We're going to eat you!)"
It howled loudly, clenching and waving its fists, showing off its dark, muscular arms.
Bound tightly with rough hemp rope, Gu Baizhou lay there, frowning slightly.
He could vaguely understand what this hilichurl was saying.
As a transmigrator, he shouldn't have been able to understand the language of these monsters at all.
What should he do now?
His body was being dragged along bit by bit, and Gu Baizhou was more than a little panicked inside.
He struggled secretly with all his might, but the rope was strong and skillfully tied—he couldn't muster any real force.
"Ah! Fresh meat!"
The hilichurl dragging him let out a joyful shout.
Damn it, why?!
Gu Baizhou struggled desperately, his face flushed red, his arms sore and aching from the tight bindings.
Even so, he was dragged along like a lamb to the slaughter and brought next to the large pot.
Hiss, hiss...
The scalding steam rising from the firewood blew toward him, the burning sensation searing his face.
If he were really thrown in, he'd be cooked through in seconds.
What to do? What to do? What to do?
Ah, ah, ah...
At that moment, the Geo Samachurl wearing a horned smiling mask waved its stone staff at him and shouted:
"Olah Mita (Hello, meat)."
As soon as the words fell, Gu Baizhou's mind shook. A data-stream interface woven from dazzling light suddenly covered his vision, as if darting into view.
[Upgrade Complete]
[Hilichurlian Language lv1 → lv2]
[lv2 EXP Required: 0/10]
This transparent screen lasted only a second before Gu Baizhou's focus returned to reality.
"Hello!"
Gu Baizhou gasped for breath and spoke to it in clumsy Hilichurlian: "You can't eat me. Humans are very vengeful creatures!"
The Geo Samachurl's rhythmically swaying body suddenly froze.
The other hilichurls also stopped moving.
Seeing the situation, Gu Baizhou knew there was a chance and quickly added, "If you eat me and I go missing, my companions will come looking. That will definitely bring disaster to your tribe."
"We have no food."
The Geo Samachurl stared with its single gleaming eye, its voice aged and raspy:
"You humans picked all the tasteless plant fruits and hunted all the delicious meat."
"I can teach you how to get food."
Gu Baizhou grabbed the lifeline and answered, rushing to respond.
But the Geo Samachurl fell into deep thought, not responding for a long time.
"You should believe me. You can only eat me once! But the method of obtaining food can keep you supplied forever!" Gu Baizhou's heart was screaming. He hurriedly shouted:
"I understand Hilichurlian because I love hilichurls. I've been studying how to communicate with you. I'm much more trustworthy than other humans!"
Hearing his words, the hilichurls began muttering among themselves:
"First time meeting something that speaks Hilichurlian."
"Can we believe its words?"
"Meat! Eat! So good!"
The hilichurls didn't hold a very effective discussion.
With their low intelligence, they only knew meat was good and plant food wasn't very good. They couldn't make proper judgments.
So they all obediently listened to the old shaman. None acted on their own just because they were hungry and wanted to eat this human.
Time passed second by second.
Gu Baizhou could only feel his heartbeat growing faster, his blood surging, his whole body growing hot and restless.
Tap.
The stone staff lightly tapped the ground. The Geo Samachurl finally spoke slowly: "How will you teach us to hunt?"
Those brief forty seconds felt incredibly long.
"Fishing." Gu Baizhou's mood calmed down. "Whether it's weaving nets from plants or making fishing lines from plants, I can teach you."
He had no idea how to make fishing rods or nets.
But to prove himself, he had to show them an improvement in their lives in a short time.
Teaching farming was not an option.
With no fruit trees or wild beasts in the forest, fishing was the only choice.
His main reliance was the constantly updating information in his mind.
"+1 Hilichurlian EXP"
"..."
[Hilichurlian Language lv2: 3/10]
He could definitely learn to weave nets and make fishing rods on his own.
After a moment of contemplation, the Geo Samachurl nodded its head: "Good!"
Hearing it speak, the hilichurls scratched their heads. A few ran to get wooden clubs, lit them as torches, and entered a combat stance. One ran over to untie him.
"We believe you." The Geo Samachurl wore a mask, making its expression unreadable. "One who speaks Hilichurlian is very good."
The ropes fell away. Regaining his freedom, Gu Baizhou felt immense relief.
However, the several torch-wielding hilichurls around him, each about 1.5 meters tall, still gave him some anxiety.
Gu Baizhou's Hilichurlian grew more fluent. He said, "Let's go pick some plant stems. We'll make this kind of rope and weave a fishing net."
"Yo dada! (You, very good!)"
The Geo Samachurl squinted its eyes and shouted.
"Meat! Very good!"
A hilichurl echoed.
Clink.
The Geo Samachurl tapped its head with the stone staff, then turned to Gu Baizhou and said, "Follow me."
Led by it and surrounded by several hilichurls, he began observing the surroundings.
Within the fenced hilichurl tribe were two board-stacked dome-shaped huts, but no hilichurls seemed to be resting inside. It appeared the entire tribe consisted only of those around him.
One, two, three... including the shaman, seven hilichurls in total.
"After fishing to fill your bellies, would you like to learn farming?"
Gu Baizhou suddenly asked.
It wasn't a sudden surge of kindness or feeling sorry for them.
Rather, he suddenly realized that these hilichurls were incredibly cheap labor. He could educate them to unleash some productivity, sweating in the fields.
Once the crops were ripe, he could pick them and sell them in the city for Mora.
Zero cost, high return!
"Farming?" The Geo Samachurl shook its head. "Plant food not very good."
"But the fish in this river and the animals in the mountains will slowly decrease as you eat them," Gu Baizhou began to explain.
"Farming allows self-sufficiency. Think about it: the land is unoccupied, we have potatoes in the hut to plant, and farming only requires hilichurls. Extra food can even be traded in the city for meat."
"Meat, very good!"
A hilichurl shouted.
Convinced, the Geo Samachurl also said, "Meat is very good! We want to learn!"
Plan successful!
Gu Baizhou showed a bright, sunny smile. Though his face was dusty, it still looked handsome.
Handsome by human standards, not hilichurl standards.
"Let's measure the width of the river to weave the fishing net."
After collecting plant stems along the way and arriving at the river at the foot of the mountain, Gu Baizhou said.
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