Mao, who had rendered great merit, quickly went around shouting until everyone in the tribe knew that he had done a tremendously good deed. The fruit he had previously picked up turned out to be extremely useful.
When Qing received the news, she hurried over at once and asked anxiously, “Divine Envoy, is what Mao said true? Can that kind of fruit really be used?”
“Yes. This fruit is called the Tung fruit. Just as you said, it’s poisonous and inedible, but it has other uses.”
Yang Yi said with a smile, in an excellent mood.
He had learned from Mao that Tung fruit trees were extremely abundant, covering a vast stretch of land.
The place Mao had gone to was only the edge of it, yet there were already a great many Tung fruits scattered about. If one went further in, it was an entire forest of Tung trees!
This also matched the characteristics of the Tung tree. Its vitality was extremely strong, and it wasn’t picky about soil. Once planted, it required little management to produce a plentiful yield.
Qing was utterly shocked. In her previous way of thinking, she had always judged the value of plants by whether they could be eaten.
At most, she might add whether they could repel mosquitoes or insects. In short, all standards were based on whether they could help humans survive.
She had never thought that there could be other kinds of uses.
“Then… what can this fruit be used for?”
“It can be pressed for oil. Just like how we render oil from animal fat, some plants can also be pressed for oil. Some plant oils, like animal oils, are edible; some, like Tung oil, are not edible.”
In the past, the people here had neither the habit nor the means to stir-fry food. Now that they had a large iron wok, their recipes had become much richer.
Stir-fried dishes had become one of the tribe’s favorite kinds of food. Yang Yi had roughly explained some cooking methods to the cooking group, and later even gave them a household recipe book.
Those who couldn’t read would ask the children from the study class to translate for them. Although many seasonings and ingredients were still unavailable, the head cooks in charge of meals had gradually mastered the methods.
Now the stir-fried dishes were starting to take proper shape, about on par with the average standard of a university cafeteria. That was already enough to make the people of the Spark Tribe, who had long been eating nothing but monotonous barbecue, find it incomparably delicious.
The members of the cooking group also worked hard every day to change things up, hoping everyone could enjoy happiness through good food.
Everyone’s wish was not merely to be full. They wanted to eat well.
At present, however, cooking standards have reached a stable level. To go further would have to wait until ingredients and seasonings became richer and more varied; only then could the problem be addressed.
Cooking in large pots still prioritized efficiency, so it was impossible to make dishes too refined.
For them to achieve this level already was extremely impressive. Yang Yi now eats happily every day.
Stir-frying required rendered oil. Right now, the tribe was using animal oil, which was nothing unfamiliar to everyone.
With this as an explanation, Qing quickly understood what was going on.
“Plants can actually be pressed for oil?!”
Qing felt as though a door had been opened in her mind. She had always thought oil was something exclusive to animals.
In the past, although they hadn’t used oil to cook food, whenever they roasted meat, it would drip with oil, so they knew of this substance.
But she had never thought that oil could also be pressed from plants!
“Yes. The rapeseed, sesame, peanuts, and so on that we plant can all be pressed for oil.”
There were too many things growing in the fields, with seeds of all kinds sown everywhere, so Yang Yi hadn’t gone through and explained each one to Qing in detail.
“What uses does Tung oil have, then?”
“When we build houses, we need to use a large amount of wood. If we coat the wood with Tung oil, it can make it waterproof and insect-resistant. It can also be used to make rain gear, so that when it rains, we won’t have to worry about getting soaked. At night, it can also be used for lighting. Although it’s not as bright as solar lamps, it can still bring light. When the gods take back their gift, we’ll still be able to see clearly at night. The Tung cake left over from pressing the oil can also be used to make pesticides, insect repellents, base fertilizer, and so on. You could say every part of it is a treasure.”
In the past, Tung oil had even been classified as a strategic material, which showed its importance.
Not only that, but Tung oil also had a very important use. It could be made into biodiesel.
The heat value of biodiesel is 89% that of chemical diesel. If machines are used in the future, they can serve as a power source.
If petroleum could be found and diesel produced, adding some biodiesel to it could even synthesize a form of diesel with lower pollution.
However, industrialization was still far too distant at present, so Yang Yi didn’t mention this part to Qing for now.
“Pesticides? Base fertilizer?”
Qing had already learned a little about the earlier uses from Mao. Although she still felt excitement and delight, it was nothing compared to this last use.
She was in charge of cultivating crops and was especially sensitive to these things.
Plants, like humans, needed food. At present, the land was still sufficient to supply them, but that also meant the “food” in the soil was gradually decreasing bit by bit.
If it wasn’t replenished, in the future, the soil would no longer have the “food” plants needed to grow well.
How to make fertilizer and feed those crops was a very important matter.
Now that the weather was warming up, those annoying little insects had also begun to appear. Lately, she had been quite troubled over the matter of killing pests.
Just relying on people to catch them was far too slow to keep up.
For now, the situation was still under control. But if there were more of them, there would be no way to manage it. Catching them by hand would be much too slow.
“All things in the world restrain and counterbalance one another. God created so many things, and they are all interconnected and affect each other. What we need to do is discover and make use of the relationships between them.”
Qing suddenly saw the light, and many ideas sprang to mind.
She finally understood that her previous understanding and use of abilities were still too shallow and too limited. No wonder she had never been able to improve.
“Divine Envoy, you have given me great inspiration.”
Yang Yi smiled and said, “This is all thanks to Mao’s discovery. Otherwise, we might have missed it entirely.”
With his frail body, he didn’t dare venture into the forest for now, so it was hard for him to discover these truly valuable things that had been ignored simply because they were inedible.
He wasn’t someone who could think of everything. Without this lucky encounter, he would have just been an ordinary homebody.
From childhood until now, he had never handled such a big responsibility. Games and reality were two completely different things.
Many of his current plans were still immature and had gaps.
The people here, limited in their understanding, couldn’t easily break through that limitation, so they found it hard to discover the other values of such things, and thus they went to waste.
“Hehehe.” Mao, who had at some point popped up beside them, grinned foolishly, thoroughly enjoying Yang Yi’s praise.
Yang Yi rubbed his head. “Mao, you’ve made great merit today. God will grant you a reward.”
Mao timidly raised his hand. “Divine Envoy, could you maybe… speak to God for me? I’d like to change my reward.”
“Mao, are you trying to negotiate terms with God?” Qing pretended to be stern.
“N-no, no, that’s not it. I just think God is so great, so kind… I… I…”
“Go on, tell me what you want. If it’s not too excessive, I think God will agree.”
Yang Yi knew that while Mao could be mischievous, he wasn’t the kind of unreasonable brat who didn’t know right from wrong.
Besides, Mao had always longed for the multifunctional army knife. For him to change his mind now, there had to be a good reason.
Mao’s eyes lit up instantly, and he spoke without hesitation:
“Divine Envoy, could you ask God if I can trade the army knife for a solar lamp instead? A small one would be fine!”
Yang Yi was surprised. “What do you want that for?”
The tribe had solar lamps placed in quite a few spots, most of them in the central square.
Every evening, people liked to gather there, chatting while working on things with their hands.
For this group, those lamps were already more than enough.
Normally, with moonlight and campfires, they could already see clearly, and their night vision was excellent.
“I want to give it to Lan Jian.” Mao scratched his head in embarrassment.
“There are too many people in the places with lamps in the tribe. When she wants to read, she can’t squeeze in, or the light isn’t bright enough. Divine Envoy, didn’t you say that reading in poor light is bad for the eyes? So I want her to have her own lamp.”
Qing burst out laughing. “Mao, I didn’t expect you to be so considerate! Looks like in a few years, you and Lan Jian will be just like Jing and Rong. Your children will definitely be both smart and capable!”
“That’s not it at all! Lan Jian is a very capable person. She has too many things to do during the day and only has time at night. The Divine Envoy said that books contain God’s wisdom, which can lead the tribe to grow stronger and stronger. I’m doing this for the sake of the tribe, too!”
Mao stuck out his neck in protest, his little face flushed red.
Seeing the fearless little rascal looking so shy made Qing laugh even harder.
Mao was furious but couldn’t beat Qing, so he spun around in place in frustration.
Yang Yi couldn’t help but chuckle, but he didn’t have the bad taste to add fuel to the fire.
“This was my oversight. You don’t need to trade your reward for a lamp. I’ll set up a dedicated reading corner.”
He had always been telling everyone to learn to read and study, but Yang Yi had forgotten to provide the supporting facilities, only remembering the initial training phase.
Now, the children in the study class already recognized quite a few characters, and some bright ones even had the ability to self-study, able to guess the general meaning of a sentence with partial recognition and inference, and from there, learn new characters.
As for Lan Jian, there was no need to mention it. She already had the ability to read independently.
They were now capable of reading on their own. As for what they excelled in or enjoyed, they could find the answers themselves in the books.
“Reading corner?”
“Yes. There will be plenty of bright lamps there, and also some books. You can go there to read whenever you have free time.”
Yang Yi didn’t have much time to oversee things, nor could he personally guide every matter bit by bit. For now, he only kept a grasp on the general direction. As for the finer details, he only thought of solutions when problems arose.
He put more books of various kinds in the reading corner. When someone encountered a problem, they could ask Lan Jian or other children who could read to look it up.
Even if the efficiency was low at first, it gave everyone a way to search for information instead of relying solely on getting knowledge from him.
Mao jumped up and started spinning circles on the ground again, cheering, “That’s really great! Lan Jian will definitely be very happy to hear this.”
“Your chance for a reward is still reserved. What do you want as a reward now?”
“Of course, the multifunctional army knife!” Mao blurted out without hesitation.
Yang Yi told Hei Lie about the reading corner. Hei Lie also thought it was a very good idea.
“Let’s set it up inside the temple. That’s where God’s wisdom is kept.”
Yang Yi agreed that the temple was very suitable. It could make full use of the most luxurious building in the tribe.
Otherwise, if it were just used as a transit warehouse, it would be such a waste. It would just be sitting empty most of the time, so it was better to do something meaningful with it.
“Inside, we can put some tables and chairs and nail in some bookshelves,” Yang Yi said excitedly. “Those are all golden nanmu wood!”
Yang Yi had brought back quite a few golden nanmu wood planks from the space. Although they weren’t fully dried yet, they could already be used to make desks.
This little reading corner was more accurately a reading room. Whether on Earth or here, it was extremely precious. Just the direction of its preciousness was different.
Yang Yi took out the golden nanmu planks and a full set of woodworking tools, but there were no nails. He used mortise-and-tenon joinery to make the furniture.
The desks were simple for now, just a plank with four legs; the stools were the same.
It was a perfect opportunity to practice woodworking skills by making tables and chairs.
The woodworking was chosen by Jiao. During the construction of the houses, some people revealed their talents in this area.
Among them, the most skillful was an ordinary person named Mu. He wasn’t very old but was very careful and patient.
The rattan products he made were the best in the tribe, some practically works of art.
The warriors mostly thought of themselves as strong fighters and liked to prove their strength through combat, so these more delicate crafting jobs were better suited for the ordinary people.
The warriors preferred to use their physical power. Even when they used their brains, it was mostly about how to improve their fighting ability.
This way, everyone in the tribe had their own specialties and could cooperate and complement each other.
“I require uniform sizes and consistent styles. So you can first design each part, record what is needed and the dimensions, then assign different parts to different people to make, and finally assemble them.”
Yang Yi handed Mu a blank sketchbook and a bucket of pencils.
Mu took them and asked, “Why doesn’t one person make a complete set by themselves?”
“This way is more efficient. It also lowers the skill requirement for each maker. They’ll get better faster with practice,” Yang Yi explained.
“They only need to learn how to make one part, but in the end, they can still complete the whole set. However, precision is very important, or the pieces won’t fit together at the end. This method sacrifices some artistry, but for now, efficiency comes first.”
Mu didn’t fully understand some of Yang Yi’s terms, but he roughly guessed the general meaning of the sentence.
At first, Yang Yi also tried to use the local language to describe his ideas, but some words were just too difficult to translate, especially ones that didn’t exist there. It made his explanations really challenging.
But he found that by connecting the context and surrounding words, everyone could roughly understand what he was saying. Yang Yi then started to get lazy and stopped thinking so hard about how to express himself in the local language.
In the end, this didn’t hinder their communication at all.
Everyone even thought that what he said was the language of the gods, full of mysterious power, which only deepened their admiration.
Many of the new words he used were adopted by the locals, enriching their native language.
“Divine Envoy, I roughly understand now.”
“You can add some of your own ideas while completing the mission requirements, as long as you don’t exceed the time limit. That set of tools is over there. Feel free to use it whenever you want to make something.”
Yang Yi didn’t want the pursuit of efficiency to stifle individual creativity. People long for beautiful things, and having art fill their lives is something to be happy about. ‘Wasting’ a little time on it was worth it.
“Thank you, Divine Envoy!” Mu was extremely excited. When he saw that set of tools, he couldn’t take his eyes off them. He had never known there were so many interesting things.
Mu left Yang Yi’s tent carrying a bunch of stuff. He still slept in a hammock, but outside the tent was built inside a grass hut, where he usually worked.
Though he acted approachable, not many people dared to come to him directly. Only close acquaintances or those he sent for.
“Divine Envoy, are you looking for me?”
A woman entered, carrying a child on her back, her expression a little nervous.
“You must be Cai Yun, right?”
“Yes, Divine Envoy. Thanks to you, my child was able to survive,” Cai Yun said, her eyes involuntarily reddening at this point.
Cai Yun was one of the earliest exiles; she was both an unfortunate and a fortunate person.
The father of her child was a strong warrior who died during a hunt, leaving her and the newborn child behind.
If it weren’t for everyone’s care along the way, combined with the child inheriting half of the father’s strong genes, the child definitely wouldn’t have survived.
Even so, by the time they reached the Black Forest, the child was already very weak. It was Yang Yi’s arrival that snatched the child back from the hands of death. Every day, the child could still drink precious milk powder.
Now the child was very healthy and strong. Although still young, it already looked like they would become a very formidable warrior in the future.
“I heard your hands are very skillful. Here is some wool. See if you can spin it into rope and then weave it into clothes.”
Yang Yi pointed to the wool beside them, then took out a book and handed it to Cai Yun.
“It has pictures showing how to use a few sticks to weave clothes. You can follow and learn.”
The book was full of pictures, and the simple stitching could be understood even without reading the text.
“Is this the task you’re giving me? If I can make it, does that mean I can be in charge of it?” Cai Yun asked excitedly.
Her child was still small, the youngest in the entire tribe. Before, Jiao helped watch the child so she could go gather resources.
Now Jiao was very busy and didn’t have time to look after such a small child, so she had to take care of the child herself.
She also did chores, but compared to collecting, she always felt there was too little she could do, and her heart was uneasy. She really wanted to prove herself.
“Yes, this is very important. You must study it carefully.”
“Divine Envoy, I will definitely do it well!”
Cai Yun left excitedly, holding the book, while the wool was carried by others into her hut.
Today, one after another, people took books recording the wisdom of the gods from Yang Yi. Everyone couldn’t help but feel extremely envious.
Many people had never even touched a book. They only watched from afar.
Those books recorded the wisdom of the gods and inspired reverence.
But before long, everyone gained this right.
A reading room was opened inside the temple!
Inside, there were abundant books covering all sorts of topics. Anyone who wanted to read could go in and browse.
However, everyone had to follow the rules; otherwise, they would never be allowed to enter again.
Books were fragile, and the people here were too strong. So before entering, they had to wash their hands and turn the pages gently and slowly. Inside the temple, they could not make loud noises, eat, or do anything besides reading and writing.
At the same time, the books belonged to everyone and could not be taken out of the temple unless permission was requested from the Divine Envoy and granted.
Otherwise, one would face the punishment of the gods and be permanently expelled from the tribe.
Even without such punishments, no one would dare to mess around inside the temple, since it was a place where the gods could hear and see everyone.
“Chi, you went to read books too? Can you even understand them? You probably can’t even recognize all the numbers now.”
Xi Hou suddenly jumped out, landing in front of Chi, who had just come out of the temple.
Not everyone liked studying; some felt dizzy at the sight of those characters and got goosebumps at the thought of math. Chi was one of them.
“I want to go take a look, is that not allowed? The Divine Envoy said anyone interested can go!” Chi’s face flushed red.
“I never said you can’t, why are you so anxious?” Xi Hou sneered. “So, what did you look at?”
“Some of the books only have pictures, so even if you can’t read, you can understand them. They’re really fun!”
After saying that, Chi still felt a bit regretful: “But it’s better to know how to read so you can understand exactly what’s inside.”
“There are books like that, too?”
“Yeah, you should just go see for yourself!”
The book Chi was reading was a comic book Yang Yi had put in, full of vivid little stories.
There weren’t many, because Yang Yi still had to select ones that were suitable and educational. For now, only a few were released, mostly aimed at children.
Stories like Journey to the West, which are too full of rebellious spirit, Yang Yi didn’t dare to put out yet.
A monkey born from a stone daring to cause chaos in Heaven and challenge the gods—that was way too shocking for the people here.
But for this primitive world lacking cultural entertainment, these little stories were already mind-blowing.
Yang Yi put them out to stimulate some people’s desire to learn to read.
Although many wanted to learn literacy and read books, there were still many who felt it was irrelevant to them.
After all, in their understanding, only a very few people in the tribe—like shamans—would study such things.
Moreover, they couldn’t see any direct benefit from literacy, especially the warriors with high fighting power, who believed that having strong fists was enough.
They would use their minds to think about how to improve themselves, how to hunt better, how to defeat enemies, but none of this required literacy.
So, many people had little interest in it.
After the reading room officially opened, warriors were the least likely to come in.
But when some people found interesting little stories in the reading corner and talked about them outside, it sparked new understanding and interest in books among many.
“Oh, so there are things like this inside books!”
Most people didn’t know much about writing; they just thought it recorded some major events of the tribe.
In their minds, this wasn’t something ordinary people should access. The content was significant.
Although Yang Yi had said before that many kinds of knowledge could be found in books, some people just heard it and didn’t think much about it, always feeling it was too far removed from themselves.
Now it was different. The comic books were like a pierced crack, making people want to explore if the books were really as described.
This led some bold and curious people to also take time to go in and look.
The reading room had solar lamps lit all night, making the room as bright as daytime.
No matter what time, people could go in and read.
Inside were desks, pens, and paper; books couldn’t be taken away, but copying by hand onto paper and taking that was allowed.
So far, it couldn’t be said that the whole tribe was enthusiastic about learning, but at least the idea was gradually taking root in everyone’s hearts.
Step by step, the deep-rooted impression of writing was being changed.
Only this way could universal literacy be better achieved, and the many books in Yang Yi’s space could be truly put to use.
![The Villains Are All My Reserve Food [Quick Transmigration]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Villains-are-Reserve-Food-1.jpg "The Villains Are All My Reserve Food [Quick Transmigration]")
