Chapter 24

After counting the people brought back from the Blackwater Tribe, there were a total of 502 individuals, including 353 adult males, 133 adult females, and 16 underage children.

It must be said that the number of children was even fewer than Lu Yu had expected, possibly due to poor living conditions leading to a low infant survival rate.

These people were basically slaves, and besides those escaped warriors from the Blackwater Tribe, there were also many people from their own tribe whom Lu Yu hadn’t brought along.

Because he had to consider the “hearts of the people.” These long-oppressed slaves, not to mention anything else, at least wouldn’t lean towards the Blackwater Tribe in their hearts.

After all, they had killed many people from the Blackwater Tribe, and what the people from those original tribes would think was unknown.

If they needed more manpower, Lu Yu wouldn’t take any risks.

Regarding the place to settle them, Lu Yu had also surveyed it. It was in an area behind their village that resembled a basin, and the position of the Matai Village was not far from the entrance of this basin-like area.

The land was not too large or too small. When choosing the location for the village before, Lu Yu had considered it, but he was afraid that as the village upgraded, it would occupy more land, so he had given up on it.

It was completely capable of accommodating these hundreds of people.

After taking these people to the place, Lu Yu said to them, “This is it. Who among you knows how to build wooden houses?”

After a few seconds, more than a dozen men raised their hands, and one of them said, “We only know how to build simple grass huts. Those wooden houses in the Blackwater Tribe were built by workers invited from the Beast Plain.”

The Beast Plain?

What place was that?

Lu Yu was puzzled, but now wasn’t the time to ask about this. “Then let’s build grass huts. You guys handle the construction, and the others can help you gather the necessary materials and assist. Is that okay?”

Originally, Lu Yu had only agreed to find them a place to settle, and he didn’t need to manage how they lived or where they lived.

However, these people were used to obeying orders as slaves for many years, like scattered sand without organization or leadership.

Lu Yu had to temporarily take on the role of commanding.

The man who had just replied said, “Sure.” Others also echoed.

Lu Yu pondered for a moment. “Alright, that’s settled then. Women will be responsible for gathering fruits, men for building houses, and as for the children…”

Lu Yu turned his head to call for Shi Tou, patted him on the shoulder, then turned back to the crowd. “As for the children, they’ll work together with this child to collect materials. After collecting them, they can come to us to exchange for meat.”

They really didn’t lack meat now.

Those leopards they hunted last time were still in his ring, and they also had the function of guiding. The most important point of the guiding system wasn’t to indicate the direction of dropped items but to “find beasts.”

In this era of food scarcity, finding suitable herds of wild beasts for hunting was the most crucial information.

Lu Yu could organize hunting teams based on the threat of the beasts, and with the guarantee of the red potion, it was no problem for the Matai people to hunt thousands of catties of meat at a time.

When they heard him mention exchanging for meat again, the crowd still couldn’t believe it and asked cautiously, “Is it true? How could there be such a good thing…”

Lu Yu smiled. “You’ll know when you come to exchange.”

After that, he suddenly remembered something. “Oh right, do any of you know why the Blackwater Tribe suddenly needed to gather so much food and wood today?”

The crowd looked at each other, and they didn’t know either.

A skinny boy suddenly raised his hand, stuttering, “I-I know!”

Lu Yu walked over to him with a gentle tone. “Can you tell me?”

Shu Tai, covered in dirt, as thin as a rib, looked at a clean, neat young man in a deer-hide skirt with embarrassment.

He tugged at his ragged beast skin skirt and whispered, “Today, when I was gathering fruits, I heard a few people saying that these things seemed to be sent to the Beast Plain for something.”

The Beast Plain again…

Lu Yu furrowed his brow. “Did you hear what they said they were going to do?”

Shu Tai shook his head, looking somewhat ashamed. “I-I didn’t hear it.”

Lu Yu patted his messy head. “It’s alright.”

He temporarily put the matter aside.

Once the arrangements were made, the people enthusiastically began working.

Perhaps it was because this young man in front of them had always been gentle in attitude, or perhaps it was because his words were gradually being realized step by step, but the tiny flames of hope in the hearts of the people, who had only harbored slight expectations, suddenly blazed up like adding fuel to a fire.

The once bleak days seemed to have a glimmer of hope.

Who wouldn’t hope to live well with dignity?

—

As Lu Yu walked toward the village, he muttered to himself, “…Asking for help to attack us? What exactly is the Beast Plain…”

“Witch, don’t you know about the Beast Plain?” Xia Cao, who had been accompanying him, suddenly asked upon hearing his murmurs.

Lu Yu was startled and raised his head. “You know?” Why had they never mentioned it before?

“I do,” Xia Cao nodded. “It’s a majestic stone city.”

A stone city?

Lu Yu asked in surprise, “Where is it? Who built it? Some big tribe?”

“It’s quite far from here, and I’m not sure,” Xia Cao hesitated. “As for who built it, it’s said to have been built by a powerful sorcerer. There are many big tribes stationed in the Beast Plain, where you can exchange goods and buy slaves and such. I’m not very clear about the specifics because our Chief said there’s a lot of danger there and doesn’t allow us to go…”

As she spoke, Lu Yu’s eyes widened in shock.

Large buildings, coexistence, trade…

This was already a basic urban place.

Had things developed to this extent here? Was this still the primitive society he knew?

Could it be that he had actually traveled to a parallel universe in time? Or were there other travelers besides him interfering with the development process of this society?

Lu Yu frowned slightly. If there were indeed other transmigrator, would he also have a game panel as a golden finger? Or was there something else? How would the appearance of this person affect him and Matai…

“Witch, what’s wrong with you?” Xia Cao noticed that he hadn’t spoken for a long time and his expression was a bit unpleasant, so she asked worriedly.

Lu Yu came back to his senses, saw her expression, and reassured her, “It’s nothing, really.”

Forget it, what’s the use of thinking about these useless things now?

It’s better to focus on developing their village.

As long as they became strong, they wouldn’t fear any danger!

So, with renewed determination, Lu Yu quickly made plans for himself.

Developing the area in the basin first, not only could they help gather resources, but also strengthen their connections. When the opportunity arose, they could also start arming them.

As for the Matais, Lu Yu had already noticed that although the Matai people were incredibly strong and had inhuman physical qualities, their combat skills were not refined enough.

But there was nothing he could do about this aspect, so he could only leave the problem to Tai Lie.

Tai Lie had a natural sensitivity to combat. Skills were something people discovered through trial and error. If others could do it, he believed Tai Lie could too.

As for himself, besides observing the area in the basin, the most important thing was to upgrade the panel and the village…

Lu Yu thought, last time he discovered that getting injured could increase favorability, so could he come up with some ideas in this regard…

Hmm… Should he push Tai Lie into a beast’s den and have him be the hero who saves the day, or should he go and feed the beasts, letting the hero come to his rescue?

Lu Yu scratched his chin. If he pushed Tai Lie into an ordinary beast’s den, he would probably come out unscathed. But if it was too difficult of a beast, Lu Yu wasn’t confident.

Maybe he should sacrifice himself?

Go find a wolf… no, a wild dog… it feels like a wild lamb would be more suitable…

At this moment, he didn’t even consider how his injury would cause a riot among the entire Matai tribe.

—

Before Lu Yu could figure out how to “fall into the sheep’s mouth,” he found a new problem.

Over in the basin, after the grass sheds were gradually built, people not only went to find food but also had spare time to collect materials.

Firstly, this was in accordance with Lu Yu’s agreement, and secondly, when they saw those children trading meat for stones and branches, everyone’s eyes turned red.

So these things were quickly collected by Lu Yu.

However, in addition to these, several new materials appeared on the panel.

[Shellstone 0/3000]

[Obsidian wood 0/300]

[Submarine Mud 0/3000]

Lu Yu wasn’t worried when he saw these materials before. Although he had never heard of them, he thought the local Matai people must know. But after asking around, he found out that they didn’t know what these things were either.

Lu Yu was dumbfounded.

He didn’t give up and asked around the basin area again.

People shook their heads one after another.

They hadn’t heard of them either. Where could they find them?

Just as he was about to despair, an old man suddenly trembled and said, “Perhaps, you can find them in the Beast Plain.”

Lu Yu hurriedly asked, “Have you seen it, old man?”

The old man replied, “Some people from the tribe I used to stay in have been to the Beast Plain and exchanged for obsidianwood there. It’s a kind of completely black and very hard wood. As for shellstone, I think the Beast Plain should also have it. After all, the days of the Great Drift are not far away, and the Beast Plain is conveniently located at the mouth of the land, so the sea water might come up…”

Lu Yu was filled with question marks. “Old man, can I ask what the Great Drift is?”

The old man looked at him in confusion. “You don’t know what the Great Drift is?”

Seeing Lu Yu’s bewildered expression, the old man kindly explained, “Every few years, this vast land where we are located will drift and will connect with other adjacent land.”

“Ah, who knows what strange tribes we’ll encounter when that happens…”

???!!!

Drift? Bordering? What are you talking about??

Lu Yu was utterly confused x10.

—

After hearing multiple words from these people, Lu Yu finally accepted the fact that the land under his feet could “run with long legs”.

Sitting alone in the wooden house at night, he looked at the panel, tangled for a long time, and finally thought helplessly.

It seems that he would have to make a trip to the Beast Plain…