Chapter 12: The Obstacle That Must Be Overcome

At this moment, Zhou Xu himself felt incredibly excited. After all, he had not done something like this since he was a child. Holding the cage down, he could feel the rat scurrying wildly inside. After the initial wave of excitement, the reality of what he had to do next hit him, and his body visibly tensed up.

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Xu opened the cage just a crack. Noticing the opening, the rat immediately scrambled toward it, and he snatched it up! In the process, he deftly used his thumb and index finger to pin the rat’s head.

"Look, you grab it like this to keep the rat from biting you in its desperation. Next..." Zhou Xu paused.

They couldn't possibly carry live rats with them; the best method was to kill them immediately upon capture. Under these circumstances, he certainly felt no pity for a rat, but as a city dweller who had never killed anything other than cockroaches and insects, having a living creature in his hands and having to take its life required some serious mental preparation.

In truth, he had other options. He could hand the rat over to Fei Que, who stood by his side, or to any other tribe member to handle. He was certain they would be swift and ruthless. However, Zhou Xu knew in his heart that doing so would simply be an act of avoidance. Now that he was in this primitive world, if he wanted to survive, he had to overcome this hurdle!

*Don't hesitate. Just snap its neck. It will only take an instant.*

With that thought, his other hand gripped the rat's head and made a twisting motion. Sensing what was about to happen, the rat began to struggle violently, letting out a continuous squeaking sound. The rat's frantic thrashing made Zhou Xu feel involuntarily nervous, and he realized he could no longer hesitate. He took a deep breath, steeled his resolve, and exerted force with both hands!

In that instant, he clearly heard the sound of the rat’s neck snapping. The spasms and tremors of the creature’s body transmitted through his hands. As a perfectly normal law-abiding citizen in his previous life, he had never broken the neck of a living thing with his own two hands. The sensation made his scalp tingle, and his stomach churned with a wave of nausea. But he quickly suppressed the feeling. He knew he was now the leader of the Salt Lake Tribe, and his men were all watching him.

He had to maintain a sense of authority.

"Alright, that’s how you snap its neck," Zhou Xu said, having adjusted his emotions. He calmly opened his palm, presenting the lifeless rat to the tribe members. "This is quite simple. It just requires patience and seizing the right moment. You all understand now, right?"

The tribe members nodded in unison.

"We have eight traps now. If we focus them all in one spot, the efficiency will be too low. So, we need to spread out and cover different areas." As he spoke, Zhou Xu handed the dead rat to Fei Que. "Today, I will confirm the positions for the traps for everyone. From now on, every day..."

Zhou Xu paused, his gaze falling on Fei Que. "Fei Que, after you finish distributing the water to everyone in the morning, you can bring the hunting party here to set the traps. You don’t need to wait for me to come out and arrange things one by one. If there are any other instructions, I will let you know later."

"Understood!"

After the eight traps were assigned, Zhou Xu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as though he had accomplished something significant. He looked up at the sky; it was fully bright now. It wasn't as gloomy as yesterday, and through the clouds, one could faintly see the sun hiding behind them. Judging by the time, it was probably around nine or ten in the morning. Since they had started early, the day had only just begun.

However, Zhou Xu didn't intend to stay in the Black Woods any longer; he had plenty of other things to do according to his plans. He needed to head back to the tribe. The tribe wasn't far away, and after walking for a short while, its silhouette came into view. The members he had assigned to patrol and guard the perimeter immediately came forward to salute him when they saw him.

"You've come at the right time. The other squad will continue patrolling; you three, come with me and help out."

"Understood!"

With that, Zhou Xu led them directly to the salt lake. *If there are fish in this lake, at least half of our food problems will be solved,* he thought as he looked at the water.

He had two hypotheses about this salt lake. The first was that the bottom of the lake connected to the sea, and it was formed by seawater flooding in. If that were the case, there would definitely be sea fish swimming in, and their food supply would successfully increase.

As for the second hypothesis... it was that the salt lake was formed by an upwelling of groundwater, and the water was salty because there were salt deposits deep underground. For Zhou Xu, he naturally hoped for the former.

"Have you ever caught fish?"

Facing the question, the three tribe members who had followed him looked at each other, clearly not understanding what he was talking about.

"The things that swim in the water," Zhou Xu said, gesturing in an attempt to make them understand. However, the three of them shook their heads in unison, confirming to Zhou Xu that they had no concept of fishing.

*It seems I'll have to do it myself.*

With that thought, Zhou Xu waded into the lake until the water reached his calves and scooped up a handful of mud. The mushy, slimy texture was exactly what he had expected. "You three, pile some of this mud up. I’m going to take a look in the lake and will be back up in a moment."

He used to swim in the village pond or river during the summer as a child, so he didn't hesitate to dive into the lake, leaving the three tribe members standing on the shore in a daze. Zhou Xu had no time to worry about them. Holding his breath, he dove and surfaced about ten meters away from the shore.

"Hah—"

Wiping the lake water from his face, he took a quick breath of fresh air and dove back down. After diving twice more, he swam slowly back to the shore. Once he reached the bank, he slumped down, exhausted, limbs splayed, breathing heavily.

*Sigh, it must be groundwater.*