CHAPTER 724: 【718】BEAST WORLD FARMING 28 (3 MORE)

"The cave was too large, so bricks were used to build up walls, leaving only an opening for a door. Then various grasses were woven together to make a curtain, which was hung over the doorway.

Consequently, the cold wind no longer howled into the house. Now she was trying to get them to make a door, which would add another layer of defense.

This project had taken nearly a month to complete.

Over that month, Jin Han occasionally took her to other places to collect grain fruit, and their family’s cellar was essentially stuffed full of these things.

The soil dug out for the cellar was also collected in her space and transported out. It might sound simple, but she truly suffered during this time.

Because digging, loading, and transporting soil all required physical strength.

But seeing the full pile of food made her feel that all the hardship was worthwhile.

Before the heavy snow arrived, they built a woodshed by their home’s entrance to store the firewood they carried back from outside.

They went out to chop firewood nearly every day until the first snowfall, after which they stayed home to hibernate for the winter.

However, compared to the abundance of food in their home, other tribal members only prepared frozen meat, dried meat, and dried vegetables. And even in the cold weather, they did not light fires easily. Tangtang was deeply impressed by their stubbornness. Isn’t it suicidal to rely solely on animal fur to survive the winter without lighting a fire?

No wonder Jin Han said that every year, many females and young ones froze to death. How could they not if they didn’t light fires? It would genuinely lead to deaths, right?

On such cold days, she felt something was lacking if she didn’t drink a bowl of hot soup. How could a tribe without even a fire source get by?

Wasn’t it just a past forest fire that accidently killed both females and young ones? Isn’t it possible to be more careful instead of being so frightened until now?

Really... the price to pay for lack of knowledge!

Now, even without the existence of lighters, she was proficient at creating sparks or making fire by drilling wood. As long as the tools in hand were good, she could usually ignite a flame within about ten minutes. For this reason, she had specially stored some easily flammable downy grass and dried plant husks, some of which contained oil and were perfect as kindling.

Unfortunately, despite having a warm kang (heated bed), there were no sweet potatoes or potatoes to be found. Otherwise, how wonderful would it be to roast some?

But she kept a careful note and dug a hole next to the warm kang. In the future, she could use it to bake sweet potatoes. Anything that needed heating could also be placed inside, a natural microwave!

The noise made during the construction of their kang was significant, especially with the addition of Jin Han, an outsider from another tribe, but since he was associated with her, and with Yin Ye’s protection, the brother from the Eagle Clan was not stopped by anyone when coming and going from the tribe.

After all, the tribe at that time had no walls nor houses, just caves, and their dwelling was far from others, not disturbing anyone, allowing greater freedom.

These Beastmen were curious, but at that time, it wasn’t completed yet, and they couldn’t appreciate it from an explanation, so nobody really took it seriously. Moreover, some of them chose caves on higher ground to keep the interior drier, rather than choosing to live in caves close to the ground.

This convenience had greatly facilitated the digging of the cellar."

Pan Lin was already hibernating in the cellar, while Jin Han would occasionally visit the Xinba tribe during the day and come back to sleep here for meals and at night.

By night, she remained in her beast form, and by day, as a human. Such a state was to last for at least three more years.

Since she was still underage, even if those two had any ideas, they had to suppress them. She felt that being underage didn’t seem too bad.

"The Cold Season’s arrival means the Beast Tide is coming,"

During the Cold Season, food was scarce, not just for the Beastmen but also for the animals. Without food, they would form groups and surge through the snow. At that point, it didn’t matter if you were a Wandering Beast, a Fallen Beast, or a wild animal; everyone was crazed for food.

No one in their tribe knew about the cellar they had dug or the storage they had hidden on the cliff. Everything depended on her shuttling items using her space.

Now, the space storage was packed full. The perishable items were kept in the space, while the rest was stored in the cellar or on the cliff.

This winter, even if they gorged themselves, they couldn’t finish all the food, so she was willing to help the tribespeople if necessary.

But those people were too stubborn, completely ignoring her suggestions. They wouldn’t even light a fire to warm or cook meat, it seemed they had developed a fear of fire.

She couldn’t be bothered with them anymore. Perhaps when they were desperate enough, they would realize the value of fire.

Right now, Tangtang lacked nothing but fresh vegetables. She had dried many mushrooms, black fungus, pickled vegetables, and dehydrated greens, but none of those tasted as good as fresh veggies.

In winter, the snow covered everything outside, leaving a vast expanse of whiteness with nothing in sight. When there was nothing else to do, she had the two of them help her sort through the wool and canes collected during the rainy season. The wool was spun into yarn, and the canes were woven into baskets. In such cold weather, you couldn’t just sit there and do nothing, right?

Even with a warm kang heated, it was still so cold that one would stamp their feet. A winter in the Beast World was at least dozens of degrees below zero, comparable to the Northeast.

Every trip outside to use the toilet was torture, and she had even built a shed with a tile jar inside. Otherwise, she might have had to experience the chilling sensation of an outdoor latrine. How cold would that have been?

Now, the kang was covered with a layer of beast skins, and she had made the rest into thick beast skin quilts—one for each of them. However, she still felt cotton quilts were warmer and more comfortable. The beast skins were not easy to clean. Occasionally, she would take them out to the snow bank for a good beating and then dry them in a warm room.

To maintain cleanliness, of course, these were not the main issues. With the Cold Season’s arrival, even bathing became a problem. She used to be able to grit her teeth and bathe in the sea or rivers, but now with the ice and snow, she had to huddle and couldn’t even think about bathing. Yet how could she stand it after a long time?

That was probably the only huge oversight she hadn’t accounted for.

Unable to wash, she could only wipe down, cleaning her hair separately. That was all she could manage.

Of course, there was no soapnut available for cleaning because she hadn’t found any in the half-year since her arrival. So she had to use plant ashes, which were subpar but better than nothing.

With that said, there were still many things to improve after the spring!

Looking at the heavy snow outside that resembled goose feathers, she couldn’t help but sigh. How was she to get through the next half a year? She knew the Cold Season was as long as the rainy season; even if she ignored the beginning and end, it would still last at least four months.