TPWBI Chapter 29

“Divine Envoy, you’re back!”

A group of people busy working in the fields straightened up one after another when they saw Yang Yi and his companions, waving to greet them.

Yang Yi was still being carried on Hei Lie’s back. Not only did no one show any strange looks at the sight, but they all had an expression that this was exactly how it should be.

He patted Hei Lie’s shoulder, and Hei Lie squatted down. Yang Yi stepped down from his back and swept his gaze around.

“These vegetables have all sprouted, huh?”

The ground was lush green. These vegetables had been sown not long before Yang Yi left the tribe.

Unexpectedly, after being away for only a few days, they had all grown quite a bit; the tender shoots, especially, were pleasing to the eye.

The temperature now was clearly higher than when they first arrived here, though the temperature difference was still considerable, hovering around a bit over ten degrees Celsius. At night, the lowest temperature generally stayed above ten degrees, which was suitable for the growth of many crops.

Therefore, quite a few vegetables were directly sown. For the varieties relatively less tolerant to cold, dry grass was spread over them. Judging from the current sprouting rate, it wasn’t bad at all.

“Yes, they’ve grown especially plentiful and well! But the weeds in the fields have also increased, so we’re cleaning them out right now.”

“These are too crowded; they need to be moved to other plots,” Yang Yi reminded them.

The people in the fields nodded repeatedly in agreement. “Qing said the same thing, and even sent people to dig and prepare land. In the next couple of days, we can transplant them over.”

“Divine Envoy, at this rate, we won’t need to go out to pick vegetables anymore in the future. These will be enough for us to eat!”

The crops that had been cultivated or sown earlier had all grown up. At present, their growth looks very promising.

The chili peppers that Qing influenced with his gift had already blossomed!

If all those flowers grew into chili peppers, the quantity would be astonishing.

“Yes, yes! This kind of work is much easier and safer than going out to pick wild fruits and vegetables. Just a few days ago, someone from the collecting team was attacked by a wild beast and was seriously injured.”

“Fortunately, we had the Divine Envoy’s medicine. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been saved.”

Everyone sighed in sympathy. In the past, they had long been accustomed to such incidents. But now that they knew there was an easier way to obtain food, such injuries and deaths had become hard to accept.

Still, they remained optimistic, quickly adjusting their moods and praising Ting’s medical skills, which had improved greatly.

At the same time, they felt fortunate that life was now treating them well.

Farming was, of course, hard work. Bending over for long hours left them almost unable to straighten their backs at night. But compared to foraging in the wild, it was far easier and much safer.

The collecting team had it a bit better. They would deliberately avoid fierce beasts unless they were truly unlucky. But the hunting team faced far greater dangers.

Hearing this, Yang Yi couldn’t help but furrow his brows slightly. The wilderness was always extremely dangerous, especially in this world.

The distance from the tribe to the pottery-making site wasn’t that far, and the route could be considered within their tribe’s territory. Yet, there were still plenty of hidden dangers along the way. Not to mention venomous snakes, there were also beasts lurking in the grass and thickets, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

When traveling along the route, if anyone needed to relieve themselves, they could never go far. It had to be done near the group.

Otherwise, even if they wandered just a little too far, they might be snatched away.

“Everything will be fine. Once these vegetables mature, we can reduce our trips to forage in the wild.”

Everyone agreed wholeheartedly. With so many crops planted and growing so well, it was easy to imagine what the future would look like.

These were all seeds bestowed by the gods, so they were surely going to be delicious.

“By the way, Divine Envoy, the first batch of eggs has already hatched!”

Yang Yi’s eyes immediately lit up. “Really? I’ll go take a look right now!”

Hei Lie, on his own accord, crouched down in front of Yang Yi. This time, Yang Yi didn’t refuse and directly sat on his back.

At first, he had felt embarrassed. But after doing it two or three times, he had grown used to it.

Having a personal mount when going out—what a wonderful feeling.

The fields were some distance away from the hatching site. But at Hei Lie’s speed, it only took a short while.

The poultry hatching site had been deliberately chosen to be far from where people gathered, with its surroundings guarded even more tightly than the populated areas.

Large animals were rarely seen near the tribe, but small animals would occasionally sneak in to steal things.

Once the eggs hatched, this place would easily draw the attention of those small animals.

In fact, even just a pile of eggs alone was highly tempting to some of the smaller creatures. How they even discovered them was a mystery.

Ever since the egg hatching began, the warriors responsible for guarding the hatching site had caught quite a few little thieves, adding them to their own meals.

The tribe had a rule that whoever caught a “thief” didn’t need to hand the prey over to the tribe. They could enjoy it themselves.

Because of this, mischievous children like Mao often enjoyed coming over at night to lie in wait.

“Divine Envoy, you’re finally back! We’ve been waiting for you!”

From far away, someone came out to greet Yang Yi and Hei Lie. It was Li, the person in charge of the hatching site.

Li was also one of the elders in the tribe. Like Jiao in the past, he had studied medicine under the previous Blackstone Tribe shaman, learning about many medicinal herbs. His medical skills had once been even more advanced than Jiao’s.

However, unlike Jiao, he only liked doing things he was interested in, was not good at socializing, and didn’t even know many people in the tribe. A typical specialist deeply absorbed in his craft.

When he learned that Yang Yi intended to hatch eggs, he became very interested and volunteered to come here to take care of them, putting aside his most proficient skill—medicine.

Yang Yi didn’t force him to study what he himself was best at. Seeing that Li was indeed meticulous and that he had quickly learned numbers and some simple characters, Yang Yi assigned him to be in charge of this place.

The hatching base was extremely important and indeed needed a relatively steady person to oversee it.

If Li was willing, he could also take charge of raising the poultry. With his medical background, he would understand even better how to care for the little creatures.

Perhaps because the tribe valued martial prowess, most people here had rather straightforward, rough-and-ready personalities, especially the young people in the prime of their vigor.

Women tended to be more delicate in handling matters, but men, especially warriors, were rougher than the other, not suited for work that required too much precision and care.

Elders with rich life experience, however, were generally steadier. Though, of course, not without exceptions; some still had fiery tempers even in old age.

Therefore, when assigning tasks, duties were allocated according to each person’s traits.

Elders who had once been looked down on could easily find their place in the Spark Tribe. They were either put in management roles or given tasks that required patience and meticulousness.

They worked even more passionately and diligently than the young people. They also knew how to use their minds, paying attention to methods and techniques, all to prove that they were far from useless.

So far, they had all been doing an excellent job.

In the past, although people didn’t discriminate against the weak the way the Blackstone Tribe did, there was inevitably still a sense of superiority among the strong.

After these people found work suited to them and proved their own value, that sense of superiority among the strong gradually began to fade.

“The first batch of eggs has all hatched?”

“Yes, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese have all been hatching one after another. I think the ostrich eggs are almost ready, too.”

Yang Yi had purchased many fertilized eggs from the marketplace. In addition to these common poultry, there were also crocodile eggs, snake eggs, and more.

However, he planned to first raise common poultry that posed no danger and yielded a good amount of meat, so he hadn’t brought out every type of egg.

“Take me to see them.”

The hatched chicks and ducklings were placed in specially made mud houses. The mud houses were built by setting up a wooden frame and then coating it with clay mixed with dry grass.

The walls were relatively thin and couldn’t compare to rammed earth walls, but they were already good enough to shield against wind and rain, and they were better than straw walls.

The inside of the houses was kept very clean, and the air carried a faint scent of disinfectant.

This was because Yang Yi had said that the biggest fear in raising animals and poultry was large-scale disease outbreaks, so cleaning and disinfection had to be done well.

Everyone took his words to heart. Every day, someone was specifically assigned to clean and disinfect the area. Entry was strictly controlled. Not just anyone could go inside.

Everyone was very curious, but they didn’t dare to enter recklessly.

Inside the house, there were three-tiered wooden cages, each layer lined with straw. The freshly hatched little ones were nestled inside, chirping noisily. It was lively indeed.

“Are these turkeys?” Yang Yi asked, looking at the soft yellow, sharp-beaked chicks inside the cage.

“No, these are chickens.”

Yang Yi was extremely surprised. “Didn’t you say they just hatched?”

“Yes, this batch broke out of their shells the night you left.”

That couldn’t be right!

It had only been a few days. How could they have grown this big?!

If they were domestically raised and only fed grains, it would normally take one or two months to reach this size.

Yang Yi’s mother was a farming enthusiast. Not only did she grow vegetables in the villa garden, but she also raised chickens and ducks.

She had even bought an egg incubator to hatch eggs herself, raising the tiny chicks from the moment they hatched.

So Yang Yi knew, at least roughly, how fast chickens grew when not fed special feed.

“Divine Envoy, what’s wrong? Is there something wrong with these chickens?” Li, seeing the change in Yang Yi’s expression, grew tense at once.

Yang Yi waved his hand. “No, you’ve raised them very well. I just didn’t expect them to grow so big in such a short time. What have you been feeding them?”

“Just as you said, a little softened rice every day.”

“Nothing else?”

“Yesterday, we added a tiny bit of vegetables. Since they seemed fine, we planned to add more today.” Li paused, then added, “They’re eating more and more now. Rice alone isn’t enough.”

Yang Yi had previously explained to Li, in general, what these little ones should eat and how to raise them when they had just hatched.

Using precious rice to feed chickens made everyone reluctant. After all, they themselves didn’t have enough to eat.

Ever since the children learned that the chicks had hatched, they had volunteered to go dig for worms.

According to Yang Yi, young chicks couldn’t eat just anything, so they hadn’t dared to feed them carelessly, and now they had saved up quite a lot.

Yang Yi looked around, and the only thought in his mind was: This shouldn’t be happening. He couldn’t think of anything else.

While he was there, Yang Yi didn’t give them any specific advice, just told them to keep experimenting on their own. He had already told them before what kinds of food poultry could eat.

Although the people here had never raised poultry, they still had some understanding of these little creatures’ habits. After all, they needed that knowledge to catch them in the wild. Now, that knowledge was coming in handy again.

What the gods had brought was a little different from what they were used to, but according to the Divine Envoy’s earlier explanation, it wasn’t far off. So during the feeding process, Li and the others weren’t at a loss, completely unsure of what to do. They could handle it.

“What’s wrong? Is something not right?”

After leaving the hatching base, Hei Lie asked.

Yang Yi looked confused. “I don’t know if something went wrong somewhere, but logically speaking, they shouldn’t have grown this big.”

The items from the marketplace were no different from those on Earth. This was something the transmigration god had told him before. Even the purchasing rules followed the same procedures as proper stores and online shops.

Everything he had taken out so far had confirmed this.

At most, the only difference was that the goods sold in the marketplace didn’t need him to filter or verify them. What they were labeled as was exactly what they were, with no deception or fakes.

But these hatched poultry were clearly different from what he knew. Their appearance was still the same, but it was as if they had eaten a growth enhancer. They were noticeably larger.

For example, the first chicks he had seen should, by their size, have already shed their fluffy yellow down and turned mottled. But they hadn’t.

The other poultry were in roughly the same situation. His strongest impression was of the chicks, since his family had always raised the most chickens. He had never bought eggs. He only ever ate the ones laid by the chickens his parents raised themselves.

“I think they’re more like the chickens from your side,” Yang Yi said, unsure of what kind of expression he should have.

The breeds of chickens he had chosen were his mother’s favorites to raise. Many things here were similar to Earth, yet also very different.

Originally, he had thought he could see familiar living creatures here. He had even planned to raise a goose when the time came.

When he was little, he had raised one—a beautiful yet fiercely aggressive goose that had once protected him. If not for that goose, he might have been abducted by human traffickers back then.

That goose had later died of old age, and Yang Yi had personally dug its grave. From that day on, he had never raised any pets again.

Coming here, he had hoped to find a sense of familiarity from the past. He hadn’t expected the eggs to hatch into mutated creatures!

Sensing his disappointment, Hei Lie gently patted his shoulder in comfort.

“At least they’re better suited to surviving here, aren’t they?”

Yang Yi smiled faintly, pulling himself out of his low mood.

Normally, he wouldn’t be like this. He would feel disappointment, yes, but only for a moment. He had already accepted the fact that he was in another world.

He wouldn’t dwell on it on purpose, though inevitably, some emotions would occasionally slip through.

“Come to think of it, this is actually good news. If they can grow as big as the animals here, then we’ll have even more food than expected. Judging from now, the hatching rate is quite good, with losses under five percent.”

Then, as a thought struck him, Yang Yi’s eyes lit up. “Even they have adapted to the local ways. Do you think I might also become like you?”

Hei Lie paused, looked at Yang Yi’s hopeful face, and swallowed the words that had come to mind.

“There’s a chance.”

Yang Yi hadn’t stayed cheerful for long before his eyelids drooped again.

“If that’s really the case, why don’t I feel anything at all? Those chickens haven’t even been around for that long!”

“Humans aren’t the same as them. It might be slower for you.”

Yang Yi let out a deep sigh, looking as if he had lost all hope.

Since coming here, he had indeed grown a bit stronger, but that was only because he was getting more exercise, unlike before, when he was either hunched over his computer or lying in bed.

“With me here, even if you don’t change, I can still guarantee your safety,” Hei Lie said seriously. “Haven’t you always wanted to keep a connection to your former world? Your existence, everything about you, is the best connection.”

Seeing Hei Lie racking his brains to comfort him, Yang Yi couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, it’s not bad, actually. This way, I eat less and am easier to feed.”

The people here had enormous appetites. Although their hunting results had become very good after getting weapons, they still couldn’t manage to eat their fill every single day.

Yang Yi was different. Without relying on his status as the Divine Envoy, he could still eat his fill just from his equal share in the group’s distribution, and often had leftovers.

Because of this, many people liked to gather around him at mealtimes. Not only because of his Divine Envoy status, but also in hopes of getting his leftovers.

Yang Yi had suggested they not give him so much food, but they insisted on giving him a full portion and didn’t mind at all if he left some behind. They even considered it an honor to eat his leftovers, so he could only let them be.

Still, whenever he ate, he would consciously set aside half of his portion from the start and leave it untouched.

Others might not mind, but he still had to observe proper manners.

It had to be mentioned here that the one who ate the most was none other than the tall, handsome chieftain at his side.

As a level-four warrior, his appetite was far greater than anyone else’s.

The greater the ability, the greater the consumption. He ate more of everything. Whatever entered his mouth seemed like a rare delicacy. Every time Yang Yi watched him eat, he could eat a little more himself.

“That is indeed enviable,” Hei Lie said with utmost sincerity.

“The egg-hatching results are good. We need to start reorganizing into new groups,” Yang Yi said, his mind now clear and back to business.

“Hatching and raising should be separate. The raising group also needs a dedicated team for finding food. If we rely solely on digging in the wild, efficiency will be low, and it’ll be hard to increase the numbers. We still have to cultivate our own supply.”

Yang Yi planned that once these birds grew a bit bigger, he would fence off an area for free-range raising, letting them forage on the grassland themselves.

But relying on just one piece of land definitely wouldn’t be enough. The fenced area couldn’t be too large. Otherwise, they might all end up in the mouths of ‘thieves’.

Feed still had to be made. For now, they hadn’t grown any grain, though he could provide a portion himself. But they couldn’t rely on him entirely. It was necessary to start training people in this skill.

“You’re going to raise insects?” Hei Lie knew that insects were one of the food sources for these birds.

“You could say that.”

“This can be assigned to the children in the tribe. They can handle it.”

Yang Yi nodded. The elderly, sick, and weak in the tribe were already well arranged for; now only the younger children were left.

They did have daily tasks, but compared to others, it would be relatively easy to free them up for this work.

“In the future, the division of labor will become more and more detailed. We simply don’t have enough people.”

“We can’t rush it now. It’ll still take some time for our tribe to become more stable,” Hei Lie said.

Yang Yi understood that as well. What he said just now had only been a casual remark.

Hei Lie continued, “Once the next batch of pottery is fired, I plan to organize a team to visit the Green Python Tribe.”

“The Green Python Tribe? Don’t they dislike contact with outsiders?”

Yang Yi knew a bit about the Green Python Tribe. As their closest neighbors, he had always been in a state of wanting to approach them, but also keeping his guard up.

It was said that this tribe was very powerful, living deep within the dense forest, and was extremely xenophobic.

At first, he had been very worried that they might see their tribe as weak and simply swallow them up. Fortunately, they hadn’t made any moves.

As long as no one trespassed into their territory, they seemed to have no interest in them.

“They need to trade, too. I’ve dealt with them before,” Hei Lie said.

Yang Yi nodded. Necessary exchanges between tribes were important to complement each other’s needs.

Besides, with all the commotion their tribe had been making, it was impossible that the other side knew nothing.

Neighbors often ended up being both threats and trouble.

If they don’t come to us, then we should take the initiative.

Establishing contact would also let them understand the other party’s stance and prepare accordingly.

If they could cooperate, then all the better.

“What do they like?”

“Pottery, salt, sugar, and so on. Their chieftain is a woman. She’s very fond of beauty. She’s always covered in all sorts of beautiful ornaments.”

Hearing that, Yang Yi instantly broke into a smile.

“In that case, I have a gift she’ll definitely love.”

The items from the shop weren’t everlasting, but that didn’t mean they vanished instantly once their duration expired. Instead, they would become damaged or otherwise unusable, then gradually disappear naturally.

Moreover, the time limit was measured in years, so giving it as a gift wouldn’t seem like some cheap trick.

“For her to receive a gift from the Divine Envoy would be her honor.”

Yang Yi shot him a sidelong glance. “Your flattery skills are improving.”

“Flattery?”

“It means buttering someone up.”

Hei Lie shook his head in disagreement. “I’m only speaking the truth.”

“Alright, alright, I get it.” Yang Yi waved his hand, sounding a bit impatient.

Hei Lie blinked, seeming to be thinking about something.

Before they even reached Yang Yi’s tent, Mao came bouncing over like a furry cannonball, braking just in time in front of him.

“Divine Envoy, you’re finally back!”

Yang Yi ruffled his hair. “You little rascal, where have you been playing today? Where’s Lan Jian?”

Ever since Mao had been paired up with Lan Jian, he’d become very busy, hardly having time to follow Yang Yi around like a little tail anymore.

“Lan Jian is still organizing the data. I heard you were back, so she wants to give you a report later.”

Lan Jian had now learned how to organize data and identify the key points, producing reports that were concise yet struck directly at the heart of the matter. Her skill in this was even higher than Yang Yi’s.

Yang Yi could only sigh. Once a study genius, always a study genius. Before long, she’d probably be able to read books that even he couldn’t be bothered to touch!

What an exciting thought.

“Has anything happened in the tribe these past few days?”

Mao nodded vigorously. “Yes!”

“What is it?” Seeing his expression, Yang Yi’s face instantly grew serious.

“Everyone really, really missed you!”

Yang Yi chuckled and pinched his cheeks.

“Divine Envoy, I’m not lying. Now that you’re back, everyone’s working with more energy.”

“Alright, alright, I know you all love me.”

Only then did Mao look satisfied.

“I even went with the collecting team to pick wild fruits and vegetables, thinking I could give them to you when you got back!”

“Really? What did you find?”

Mao let out a deep sigh, his little mouth pouting high.

“I found these dried seeds on the ground. I thought they could be eaten, so I brought them back. But Qing said they were poisonous, not like pine nuts at all.”

The more Mao thought about it, the more frustrated he became. “There are so many of them on the ground. If only they were edible! But Qing said that no matter how you process them, they’re still poisonous. So annoying!”

“Oh? What do they look like?”

“Divine Envoy, wait here. I’ll go get them. I haven’t thrown them away yet.”

Mao dashed off like a gust of wind and quickly came running back to Yang Yi.

“Divine Envoy, these are the seeds I picked. Look. Don’t they look delicious? Are you sure they’re not edible like pine nuts?”

Yang Yi took the dried seeds, surprise flashing in his eyes. This fruit…

“Hold on, let me check the book first.”

Yang Yi pulled out a book and flipped through it.

“Yes, these are tung seeds!”

Mao peeked at the book and nodded vigorously. “They look exactly like the ones in the Divine Book! Divine Envoy, can’t we eat them?”

“No.”

At that, Mao immediately wilted.

“But they’re actually more useful than food! Tung seeds can be pressed to extract tung oil. Tung oil can be used to coat wood to prevent insect damage, and it can also be used in oil lamps. It’s very useful!”

“Really?!” Mao jumped up. “Divine Envoy, I know where there’s a place with tons of them! When I saw it, there were so, so, so many. I thought if they were edible, it’d be amazing. So I made sure to remember the spot clearly.”

If something was lying all over the ground without anyone picking it up, chances were it wasn’t edible.

But Mao still wasn’t willing to give up. He wanted to borrow Qing’s ability, hoping to find a way to solve the problem.

Many plants were poisonous when eaten raw, but after proper processing, they posed no problem.

Yang Yi hadn’t expected to stumble upon such a good thing. Could it be that not even animals had taken them?

Tung seeds couldn’t be eaten by humans, but that didn’t mean some animals couldn’t. Yang Yi wasn’t sure if that was the case on Earth, but as long as it was possible here, that was enough!

“Mao, you’ve made a great contribution!”

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