Chapter 28: The So-Called 'Happiness'

The Black Forest is a place that, depending on how you look at it, could be considered a dump or a treasure trove. It produces salt, and now it has been confirmed to contain coal deposits. With those two resources alone, one could hardly call it a dump.

However, if you wanted to call it a good place, you would be hard-pressed. It is surrounded by barren land, lacks a stable source of fresh water, and even animals avoid it; only resilient rats and insects manage to survive here. The trees themselves grow in bizarre, twisted shapes, looking like something out of a horror movie at night. Living here means surviving on rats, insects, tree bark, and roots.

Initially, Zhou Xu saw this place only as a temporary stopping point for their tribe. They had settled here out of sheer necessity. The plan was to stay for two or three months, gather enough food, map out the surrounding area, and once a better location was found, they would pack up and leave without a second thought.

But now... the presence of these two resources made him reluctant to leave. The appearance of coal is vital for the future development of their blacksmithing industry. Even setting aside blacksmithing, coal is simply a better fuel than tree branches; it is easier to store, takes up less space, and burns much longer. Having coal as a primary fuel source would allow them to drastically reduce the time spent gathering firewood, freeing up precious manpower for other tasks—like exploration!

Why was their exploration efficiency so low before? Because they lacked a dedicated scouting team. When Dashan and his group explored the Black Forest, they were burdened with the secondary tasks of gathering supplies—collecting branches, gathering stones, and catching insects. Since the responsibility for resource supply fell on their shoulders, their workload was immense. They had to forage as they moved, and once they reached a certain capacity, the weight would hinder their mobility, forcing them to return to the tribal camp. This back-and-forth wasted a significant amount of time, making it difficult to improve their scouting efficiency.

But there was no other way. If they didn't bring back enough supplies, the tribe’s survival would be at stake. When faced with a choice between exploration and survival, survival always comes first. Zhou Xu had previously devised bark ropes to help Dashan and the others bundle more branches, thereby increasing their overall efficiency, but even that wasn't enough to allow them to focus solely on scouting.

The discovery of coal changes everything. Of course, to mine it, the craft team would need a new task: grinding stone pickaxes. Zhou Xu had already mapped out a rough plan in his mind, and now it was just a matter of executing it step by step.

But for today, the priority was to feast!

The spider legs were incredibly thick—the widest part was as thick as an adult man’s waist. It was impossible to roast the leg in one piece. Even after using stone axes to hack them at the joints, they remained enormous. Yet, no one complained; they just stared at the massive legs with grins on their faces.

The five stone stoves in the tribe were quickly lit, and without further ado, they began to roast the meat. It was the kind of food Zhou Xu had only ever seen in anime—something that didn't exist in reality. He never imagined he would have the chance to eat it himself. Having no experience cooking such a beast, he had to rely on intuition.

Sniffing the air, he guessed it was done and used a stone axe to crack open the outer shell. Immediately, a visible plume of steam escaped, carrying an even more distinct, mouth-watering aroma. Prying open the shattered shell, the sight that greeted him made Zhou Xu grin broadly, while the surrounding tribe members couldn't help but swallow hard.

The interior of the carapace was packed with white, plump meat, which looked incredibly firm. Using two bark-stripped branches as makeshift chopsticks, he tore off a large chunk to check if it was cooked through.

"Hmm... it seems ready."

Muttering to himself, Zhou Xu used the broken shell as a plate. The piece of meat he pulled out was the size of a fist, its white, tender, steaming appearance so tempting that his stomach began to growl in protest. He sprinkled a bit of coarse salt on it and, without hesitation, took a massive bite.

In that instant, the feeling of his entire mouth being filled with meat made him tilt his head back toward the sky.

*Is this what they call 'happiness'?*

That was his most genuine thought at that moment.

"Everyone, divide it up."

There was no pushing or shoving. With Zhou Xu’s permission, the group began to divide the food in an orderly fashion. The amount of meat on a single spider leg was unexpectedly large. Without the goal of stuffing themselves, but simply to stave off hunger, two spider legs were enough to feed the entire tribe for one meal. Eating once a day, the eight legs would last them four days. During these four days, they could turn all the rats they caught into salted meat, increasing their food reserves and preparing for their next move.

The next day, perhaps because of the hearty meal they had the night before, everyone was in high spirits. Dashan and Feique had already set out with the hunting and foraging teams, while Zhou Xu remained in the camp, directing the craft team to grind stone pickaxes. After all, without pickaxes, they couldn't mine the coal, which would derail his subsequent plans. This was easy enough to solve; now that they had mastered grinding stone axes, grinding pickaxes was well within their capabilities. The demand for stone axes within the tribe had begun to decline, allowing Zhou Xu to easily reallocate manpower to the pickaxes.

During this time, Dashan and his group had essentially finished exploring the entire Black Forest. It was now confirmed that the cavernous fissure, which served as the giant spider’s nest, was located in the center of the forest, though nothing else of note had been discovered.

Considering the expanding scope of their exploration, Zhou Xu had been pondering the creation of a map.

*Although I lack ink and dyes, I should be able to use plant juices with color instead. A twig can serve as a pen, and as for paper... I certainly can't make that yet, but I could start with animal hide...*