Building a Civilization and Raising Cubs in the Beast World – Chapter 98

Chapter 98

I don’t know if it was because he had just finished making the pancake, but the moment he saw the braised pork, Bai Tu first thought of another snack, roujiamo.

There was still some flour that had just been ground, and the kitchen had plenty of various raw materials. Bai Tu touched his stomach and decided to give it a try. He couldn’t make a one-to-one reproduction of the dish, but how could he not make a simple one?

The roujiamo in every restaurant is different. Bai Tu decided to make crispy roujiamo. The method is not difficult. Just mix the dough with warm water, pinch out the appropriate dough, knead it into strips, roll it into a pancake, and bake it on the stove.

For the sake of food, the kitchen has undergone several renovations to meet various cooking needs as much as possible. The orcs grew up eating barbecue, and even though there are more food choices now, their love for barbecue has not diminished. Moreover, because there are more barbecue flavors and dipping sauces, their appetite has even tended to increase.

The tribe has the most stoves for barbecue, from small to large, direct baking, stone slabs, iron mesh partitions… there is everything. There is no need to find additional tools to bake steamed buns.

When the pancake is baked until golden brown on the outside, it is almost done. Bai Tu takes it out with a bamboo clip and picks up a knife with his other hand to cut it.

Lang Qi immediately took over the task: “Let me do it.” Then he took the knife and bamboo clips and split the cake in the middle according to Bai Tu’s request.

The steaming crispy bread is wrapped with chopped braised meat. The juice seeps out of the braised meat, dyeing the crust golden. Bai Tu’s stomach starts growling when he smells the mixed aroma of the braised meat and bread.

The Roujiamo has a crispy outer layer and is filled with soft and tasty braised meat. One bite of it makes you want to swallow your tongue.

Six pancakes were baked at a time. Bai Tu ate two of them himself. Lang Qi didn’t say a word as usual, but just put the rest in front of him.

Bai Tu originally wanted to leave one for Tu Mu, after all, he had troubled Tu Mu for so long, but he didn’t expect that Tu Mu was very resistant.

Tu Mu waved his hand, firmly refusing Bai Tu’s offer to give him what he made, and said, “I’ll make it myself, you guys eat it.” Tu Mu looked at the two of them with a smile, and he looked happier than if he had eaten it himself.

Bai Tu thought that he was not keen on pasta, so he didn’t refuse. Roujiamo tastes best when it is hot, so he didn’t leave any for Langze and the others. Anyway, Tu Mu was there, so they could come over and make new ones.

Lang Qi ate all four in one go, showing his preference with practical actions.

After eating a dinner that was nearly twice as much as usual and drinking half a bowl of porridge, Bai Tu finally felt full. He went up the mountain with Lang Qi, and when they reached the cave, they began to look through the bamboo slips that recorded the orcs’ skills.

There are a total of more than 600 native orcs in the two tribes. Some of them are responsible for important jobs and cannot be moved casually, while the rest can be adjusted. Bai Tu calculated the increase in the number of people and also counted the orcs who can cook, and added a few people to the canteen in each area.

The demand for food is higher in winter, and everyone has a heavy workload recently, so it is reasonable to pay attention to food. Because they used to grill their own meat, most orcs know how to cook, it’s just a matter of how good their skills are. He selected those with relatively stable cooking skills. Those like Langze, whose skills fluctuated and who could only cook well while eating, were directly excluded. He was afraid that if he arranged for the food to be served, it would have been eaten up before it was even served.

The orcs’ appetite is like a freely expandable bottomless pit. There is no maximum, only higher. Bai Tu doesn’t want anyone to be so full that they can’t walk and come asking for digestive medicine in a few days, so for the sake of everyone’s health, he selected more stable orcs.

After selecting the candidates, Bai Tu looked outside, called Bai Dong who was playing around to come up, and explained a few words: “These are numbers. Send them to the clan leader and Chen and the others. There are new arrangements for their work.”

Each job has a direct person in charge. After he has selected the person, he needs the consent of the person who previously managed the other party before he can actually transfer the person over. Running back and forth, especially this kind of job running up and down the mountain, is a bit difficult for Bai Tu, so the job of running errands is usually given to whoever is less busy. Each time he runs errands, he is given a few points, and it is the children’s favorite job.

“Okay!” After hearing Bai Tu’s words, Bai Dong took the list and ran away. When he agreed, he was almost around the corner.

Bai Tu sorted out the bamboo slips on the table, then took out another book and started writing. These were about the Vulture Clan. All rewards and punishments were recorded in the book to prevent anyone from cheating.

Just like the lion tribe of the Mad Lion Tribe treated them differently, the vulture tribe was also divided into several groups.

The largest group of people are those who accept their fate. They take things one step at a time. If they are caught, they will obey orders obediently. If they are assigned a job, they will do it well. Anyway, they followed orders in the Red Eagle Tribe before, and they do the same now, but the orders they follow are not issued by the same person. This kind of person is the easiest to manage, but can also be easily instigated.

Next are the wait-and-see faction. On the surface, they obey orders and work hard, but in fact they are always thinking about whether there is a chance to escape. Once there is a chance to escape, they will run away without hesitation, even at the cost of killing the orcs guarding them. These people may seem honest at first glance, but in fact they are time bombs and must be kept under close watch.

There was also a group of resistance. Most of them were people who had power in the tribe before. Suddenly, when they came here, they went from giving orders to obeying orders and having to do various tasks every day. They could not accept the difference in status and were always thinking about how to escape and then destroy the rabbit and wolf tribes. They also tried to find opportunities to contact allies.

The three types of orcs enjoy different treatments. Those orcs who work honestly are treated the best. As long as they complete their work, the tribe will prepare food, clothes, etc. The group that appeared to be obedient were treated slightly worse and did not have much freedom. The worst treatment was given to those who kept shouting that they wanted to beat them up, and no one in the tribe tolerated them. Whoever cursed would be kicked. When people thought of those skinny cubs, they lost all their sympathy when they saw the vulture tribe.

The vulture tribe is large in number, and the list cannot be compiled in a short time, but it must be compiled well to facilitate settlement of accounts later. All crimes of stealing cubs will be aggravated.

They stayed up all night to complete the list of the vulture tribe, and were divided into different teams after dinner the next day. Bai Tu did not return to the cave where he had rested, but went to another cave to see the cubs.

With the careful care along the way and the conditioning after arriving at the tribe, the cubs’ appetite has increased a lot compared to before. However, Bai Tu still reminded everyone to feed them in small amounts and multiple times. They had been locked up in the cave for too long, and many of the cubs had some gastrointestinal problems, especially some who had been locked up for a long time.

There are a total of thirty-three lion cubs. After hearing this number, the lions who lost their children became excited. The Crazy Lion Tribe has lost a total of thirty-six cubs in the past few years, which proves that their cubs are very likely still alive.

What made the lion tribe helpless was that Bai Tu still didn’t let anyone else get close to the cubs. In addition to the group that fed the cubs on the way, a few members of the rabbit tribe were also taking care of the cubs, and they never mentioned when they would recognize the cubs.

The Lion Tribe was somewhat dissatisfied, but the order was given by Bai Tu, so even Bai An and Langze would have no objection to what he said. Their treatment was better than that of the Vulture Tribe, but to be precise, they were still the defeated party and had no right to bargain with Bai Tu.

As the lions waited anxiously, Bai Tu finally gave in and asked everyone to come and identify their children.

Bai Tu didn’t mean to hold the cubs back from finding their mother. After all, having so many cubs was a big pressure on the tribe, and it would be better to return them all. No matter how cute other people’s cubs were, they were not as cute as his own. What’s more, there were nearly 200 of them. Even if they took good care of them, it would not be as good as returning them to their relatives. Everyone has experience in taking care of rabbit and wolf cubs, so they feel a little hesitant when it comes to taking care of cubs of other races. He would be happier if they could all find their parents.

But things are not that easy. The cubs were frightened in the Red Eagle Tribe, and it will take them more than a day or two to recover. Even though they are treated well now and no one will hurt them, the cubs will still be afraid when they see strange orcs.

Previously on the road, although the orcs taking care of the cubs did not change, the environment changed almost every day. Now that they have lived in this cave for several days in a row, the cubs are more familiar with this environment, and it is less frightening for the cubs when the lion tribe comes to look for their own cubs.

The lion tribe identifies people by smell. Even if they have been separated for several years, they can still recognize the scent of their loved ones. The first one to come over was Shijia.

Shi Zhen went to the Red Eagle Tribe. Shi Jia knew on the day everyone came back that there were more than 30 lion cubs, and had been waiting for this opportunity. When she had no chance to see the cubs, she took on the job of washing clothes for the cubs, hoping to smell the scent of her own cubs, but the cubs’ clothes were all piled together, and she couldn’t tell whether her own cubs were among them.

Finally, the wait has come to this day. When Shijia heard the news, she thought she was hallucinating because she was too excited. It was not until the child who conveyed Bai Tu’s order repeated it that she seemed to wake up from a dream and ran directly outside the cave to wait.

In order to avoid making a mistake and also to avoid scaring the cubs, Shi Jia chose to come in and identify them herself. When she entered, there were only Bai Tu and the cubs in the cave. Lang Qi was driven to the corner on the other side by Bai Tu.

“Don’t be nervous, just smell them one by one.” Bai Tu said. The adult orcs have a strong scent, and too many of them will interfere with the lioness’s judgment. The cubs of other races and the orcs who take care of the cubs are all on the other side. He is the only one watching here, so it is convenient for him to comfort the frightened cubs as soon as possible.

Shijia changed into a beast form. Her body size was considered strong among the lionesses, even stronger than some male lions. She used to be the captain of a hunting team in the Crazy Lion Tribe. She could face tons of bison without hesitation. But at this moment, the lioness, who had never feared life and death, was very cautious when facing a group of lion cubs whose claws were almost as strong as hers, for fear that she would hurt them if she used too much force.

Shijia approached the cub and sniffed its head when the cub didn’t notice her approaching. She was afraid that it would affect the next lion to recognize it, so she even stopped breathing.

No… Shijia walked towards the next cub, but it was no longer the same… She kept walking forward, but it still wasn’t right…

She sniffed the thirty-plus little lions one by one, but none of them smelled right. The further she walked, the more disappointed she felt. She walked all the way to the other end, and the last cub also smelled wrong. Shijia froze instantly.

What is more despairing than despair is that you thought there was a turn for the better, but in the end your fate still couldn’t be changed. Shijia slowly fell to the ground and experienced the pain of losing her child once again. It was a huge blow to a new mother. The probability of a lion cub successfully growing up to adulthood is very low, because lions are warlike and require a lot of food, so even the largest tribe can only watch helplessly during the winter. But no matter how many times you have seen this kind of pain, you will only feel how desperate it is when it happens to you.

Shijia felt that all the blood in her body had frozen. Before she saw these little lions, she could still lie to herself that the cubs were actually captured by the people of the Red Eagle Tribe and were still alive and well. But now all the cubs captured by the Red Eagle Tribe were here, but her cubs were not there, proving that her cubs were really gone.

Overwhelmed by despair, Shijia looked at the lively cubs in front of her, one of which had already climbed onto Bai Tu’s knees. The pain of losing the cubs turned into resentment in an instant.

This is something that many lions will experience. A lioness who has lost her cubs will have two reactions when she sees other healthy cubs. One is to treat those cubs as her own cubs, and the other is to be jealous of the living cubs. Some lionesses who have lost their minds because of the death of their cubs will even hurt their cubs like male lions.

Among the lion tribe, even more lion cubs die at the hands of their own tribe than at the hands of other orcs.

Why are my cubs gone, but these cubs are fine… The resentment in Shijia’s eyes became more and more intense. Langqi, who was guarding not far from Baitu, stared at him.

Baitu, whose attention was all on the cubs, did not notice Shijia’s change. He was reasoning with the cub who was trying to climb onto him for the third time: “Be good, I’ll hold you later.” If the cubs are held for too long, they will be contaminated with his scent, which will hinder their recognition. Such an important matter cannot be delayed.

Bai Tu’s voice was not loud, but Shijia seemed to be suddenly awakened. She trembled all over and shook her head to regain consciousness. Shijia took a last look at the little lions in the cave. These were all cubs of her own clan.

After waking up, Shijia slowly stood up and was about to walk out when the animal skin next to him suddenly moved. A chubby little lion crawled out from the skin with its eyes blocked. The little lion cried pitifully, wanting someone to rescue it.

Bai Tu looked over when he heard the sound and couldn’t help laughing: “Running around again.” This was the little lion that was about to die on the day they went to the Red Eagle Tribe. It was thinner than the other little lions. It was not known whether it was because it had bled too many times and was frightened too seriously. This little lion was more clingy than the others and liked to burrow into piles of animal skins. Afraid that it would climb up and be unwilling to come down, which would affect the lioness’s judgment, Bai Tu placed it at the other end of the team. These animal skins had just been washed and were originally intended to be laid out on the cubs after the parent-child recognition process was over, but this one discovered them and secretly crawled in at some point.

Bai Tu stood up and wanted to go over to help remove the animal skin on the cub’s head. The animal skin blocked the cub’s vision. The anxious cub had already started to bump around. Fortunately, there were no hard objects around, only animal skins, so it would not hurt even if it bumped into something.

Before Bai Tu got closer, Shijia had already walked up to the lion cub and carefully peeled off the hide with her teeth. She could see the cub’s full appearance and smell its scent.

Shijia’s eyes lit up and she sniffed the cub a few times. Confirming a fact, Shijia gently picked up the cub and signaled to Baitu.

“Is this your cub?” Bai Tu asked. Shijia had been here for such a long time without making any noise, so he had already guessed the result. He couldn’t bear to drive away a mother who had lost her cub, so he remained silent and waited for her to adjust herself. Unexpectedly, there was a sudden turn of events, and the most timid one happened to be Shijia’s cub.

Shijia nodded. Even in animal form, her eyes still revealed an unconcealable joy. Her cub, she found her cub.

Although there was only one left, after experiencing the most desperate thing, even if only one was alive, the surprise it brought was enough to make up for the previous sadness. The cub struggled a little in Shijia’s mouth, and Shijia immediately became nervous. The excitement of getting the cub had made her forget her instincts, forgetting that the cub would not get hurt, and she was only afraid that if she used too much strength, the cub would feel uncomfortable.

“Get familiar with the cub.” Seeing that the cub showed no obvious resistance, Bai Tu did not waste any more precious time for Shijia and the cub to recognize each other. The mother must be very happy to find the cub, so there was no need to disturb them at this time.

Shijia nodded and took the cub out. Every step she took showed her happy mood, which was completely different from the nervousness and uneasiness she had when she came in.

Perhaps it was because Shijia’s success gave other lions more confidence, or perhaps they were impatient after seeing her taking the cubs out, so the two lions at the back came in together. Apparently, they planned to look for their child together.

Bai Tu did not interfere with their search process. He nodded, reminded them to be careful, and sat aside to rest.

Bai Tu rubbed his head. There weren’t a lot of things to do recently, at least much less than before going to the market, but he felt more tired than before. In the past, he would be full of energy after a night’s sleep, but now he often woke up at noon, and sometimes he went to bed earlier than before.

But he was very sure that there was no problem with his health. He could eat and drink, and his appetite was twice as much as before. He was as healthy as he could be.

Feeling curious, Bai Tu shifted his gaze to the two lions who were looking for cubs. The two had already walked to the back. One of the lions stopped, as if to confirm, while the other walked to the back, performing exactly the same as Shi Jia just now.

No matter how many times he saw the same scene, Bai Tu felt a little bit reluctant. The most terrible thing was to be disappointed after having hope again. How happy the lions were when they found their cubs, and how sad they were when they couldn’t find their cubs.

But this was not an outcome he could control. Bai Tu could only provide a quiet environment, remain silent, and wait for the mother to adjust herself.

The lion that found the cub picked up its own cub and placed it next to another lion. It raised its head and gently rubbed the sister who had been with it for more than 20 years.

They grew up together and later partnered with the same male lion. Unless there are accidents, the two of them will stay together until death. Their relationship is closer than that with their partners.

With the comfort of their sisters, the lions who failed to find their cubs quickly recovered from their pain. They sniffed the cubs gently and licked them carefully. Lions with close relationships will raise their cubs together, and there is no difference between this cub and her cubs.

I don’t know if it was influenced by the two lions in front, but many of the lions behind came in groups of two or three. Some found cubs and some didn’t. Those who didn’t find any were quickly cheered up by the encouragement of the lions next to them.

Before the salt-exchanging team returned, they had already prepared for the possibility that the cubs had actually died. Now being able to find the cubs was good news. Even if their own cubs were not among them, everyone knew that the salt-exchanging team had tried their best. After all, no cubs died after the salt-exchanging team arrived at the Red Eagle tribe.

In the end, nineteen of the thirty-three little lions were taken away, leaving fourteen without finding their mother.

This ratio surprised everyone a little. After all, Foxbu has a close relationship with the Red Eagle Tribe, and they have always thought that all the little lions are from the Crazy Lion Tribe.

After Shi Zhen and other lion tribe members had gone out, he looked for Bai Tu: “Did they also capture other lion tribe members?”

“Probably.” Bai Tu nodded and took out a list, “These are people with some status in the Red Eagle tribe. We should be able to get some information from them.”

The Red Eagle tribe has many people and is widely distributed. They just drugged most of them. Some of them were still outside catching cubs and did not return. Those were dealt with by Hei Xiao. Perhaps they think that as long as they don’t say anything, the investigation will not proceed. Some vultures who have stolen cubs are harder than stone and won’t say a word, especially when it comes to the cub tribe. They think that as long as they don’t say anything, no one can do anything to them.

It was for this reason that Bai Tu arranged jobs for these people so early. If he continued to interrogate them slowly, it would take who knows when he would be able to get the detailed information. It was totally unjustifiable to let them eat and drink for free in the tribe for such a long time. It’s better to push everyone into the work. Don’t say anything, just get the work done first.

There are many people in the Vulture Tribe, and it is difficult to determine the origins of all the cubs from the few words revealed by those people, not to mention the Lion Tribe. Of the more than 30 cubs taken away from the Mad Lion Tribe, only less than 20 are alive now. According to this ratio, at least 300 cubs have been stolen in recent years alone.

It will take some time to pry open the vultures’ mouths. If we want to find the cubs’ relatives as soon as possible, we may have to work on other aspects, such as asking which tribe has lost a cub.

It’s always faster to wait for people to come and look for it than to send them over one by one.

“I’ll go ask!” Shi Zhen said. Not to mention that Shi Jia’s other child died because of the vultures, just the fact that these lions trusted him so much, he had to be responsible for the lions, for the dozen or so lion cubs that died.

“Yeah.” Bai Tu had no objection to him interrogating the vultures. Asking a few more times would make it easier to get to the bottom of things.

After Shi Zhen left, Bai Tu rubbed the remaining little lions one by one. Suddenly, he saw many lions that were much larger than himself. Some of the little lions were excited while others were scared.

After pacifying the little lions, Bai Tu was just about to call others to come in and make the cubs’ beds, when Shi Zhen returned.

Shi Zhen: “Picture, the leader of the Yellow Lion Tribe is here.”