Chapter 29: A New Phase

The importance of a map is beyond doubt; it not only facilitates record-keeping but also allows them to determine their current location.

Following the train of thought in his mind, he had the animal skins and branches ready. As for the plant sap used as a substitute for ink, it was also available in the Black Forest, and he had already sent people to gather it.

"Dashan, come here for a moment."

Taking advantage of the time before dinner, he called Dashan over.

"Starting tomorrow morning, you don't need to continue collecting supplies in the Black Forest. I plan to assign you to an exploration mission."

"Yes!"

Zhou Xu was not surprised by Dashan's readiness. In fact, as their tribe's current strongest individual combatant, keeping him in the Black Forest to collect supplies was undoubtedly a waste. Previously, he had no choice, but now that he did, Zhou Xu preferred to give Dashan more opportunities for growth.

"Now, I will teach you how to draw a map."

"A map?"

Clearly, the concept of a map did not yet exist for Dashan and the others.

"Watch closely."

As he spoke, Zhou Xu spread out the animal skin. He picked up a stone and crushed the gathered plants, explaining as he worked.

"The sap of these plants is colored. I will use it as dye. It’s about right once it’s crushed like this."

While speaking, Zhou Xu picked up the branch he had prepared earlier.

"Dip the tip of this branch in, then draw on this animal skin."

As he spoke, Zhou Xu began drawing triangles in the center of the skin. However, the branch pen and plant dye were not very smooth, and even these simple strokes took quite a bit of effort. Seeing the three triangles clustered together, he drew a small circle around them to enclose them.

"This is our tribal camp, and this over here is the Saltwater Lake..."

As he spoke, Zhou Xu drew another circle next to the camp, adding a few wavy lines inside to represent the lake water.

"And this is the Black Forest."

While drawing these symbols, he explained to Dashan what each one represented. After briefly sketching the surrounding terrain, he drew a cross-shaped arrow in the top-left corner of the map. Based on the premise of the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, he marked the cardinal directions and explained them one by one to Dashan.

These things were not actually complicated; as long as one had a normal level of intelligence, they were not difficult to memorize. As it turned out, Dashan learned it very quickly.

"Very good, Dashan. You can pick two people from the original gathering squad to form a three-man team with you and carry out the exploration mission."

As Zhou Xu spoke, he handed the completed animal skin map to Dashan, signifying that he was entrusting this task to him. He then shifted his gaze to Feique, who was standing to the side.

"Feique, I am going to pull away the five people who were transferred from the gathering squad. The remaining members of the hunting squad will continue to be led by you, but starting tomorrow, the hunting area will be fully expanded to the periphery of the entire Black Forest. You will be responsible for confirming the specific deployment locations."

Keeping the hunting squad's activity range to the periphery was undoubtedly a decision he had made after careful consideration. This Black Forest was not as large as he had initially imagined. Given this, the spider web in the central area serving as their hunting trap was already sufficient.

The reason the giant spider had struggled to wait for prey in the past was because it lacked bait. Previously, besides relying on its "patient waiting" specialty, it mainly relied on the prey being foolish. It was fortunate that it was the only predator in this area, or it would never have survived until now. This was the main reason why the giant spider's hunting difficulty had skyrocketed since they arrived.

Now, they had taken over the spider web used for hunting near the mine. As long as they placed some bait to attract prey, that web would likely be even more effective than their basket traps. As for the hunting squad, although their numbers had decreased, their hunting area had expanded. In other words, the "competitive" pressure between each trap was reduced, and under normal circumstances, they should be able to catch more prey.

After arranging the new tasks for Dashan's exploration squad and Feique's hunting squad, Zhou Xu turned his attention to the remaining seven people. Their main task remained the collection of resources, but with a difference...

"You three will continue to be responsible for gathering supplies in the Black Forest. As for you four, you are responsible for going to that mine to extract coal."

With this personnel adjustment, the Salt Lake Tribe officially entered a new phase.

Early the next morning, the three-man exploration squad led by Dashan set out. Dashan had actually performed similar exploration tasks when the former leader was still alive, so he was not unfamiliar with it.

As it turned out, just as they reached the edge of the Black Forest, Dashan, who had noticed something thanks to the visual enhancement provided by Zhou Xu, quickly gave a warning.

"Quick, hide!"

Following this low shout, the other two reacted quickly and immediately hid behind the trunks of nearby black trees. At this moment, Dashan leaned against the trunk, carefully poking out half his head to scan the area outside.

Soon, two figures wrapped in animal skins came into their view.

"It's people from another tribe."

The other two team members, who had also discovered the others, saw their expressions turn grim.

"Dashan, should we take action?"

"They're too far away. If they run, it will be hard for us to catch them. Let's wait until they get closer."

Faced with this unexpected situation, Dashan kept a cool head. After a simple judgment of the distance, he made a wise decision. However, for some reason, from a great distance away, the two people stopped upon seeing the Black Forest. After speaking a few words to each other, they turned around and left.

This situation caused the expressions of the three-man exploration squad to darken.

"Should we pursue them?"

"We can't catch them."

Dashan said these words with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"You, hurry back to the tribe and tell the leader about this! We'll keep watch here! Go!"

Urged by Dashan, the tribe member didn't have time to think; he rushed back to the tribe at full speed.

Upon receiving the news, Zhou Xu’s brow furrowed involuntarily. Since he had crossed over to this world, he had never seen an outsider besides the people of his own tribe. Of course, he knew that other tribes existed, but that did not mean he wanted to encounter them.

From Zhou Xu's current perspective, this was a resource-poor primitive world. It was no exaggeration to say that since he had arrived, he had lost a significant amount of weight. In such a situation, what did the appearance of people from other tribes mean? It meant that they would likely enter a competitive relationship over limited resources! This was by no means a good thing.