The Survival of the Wild Tribe

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The Kru Lion tribe is quite far from the Tiger Lion tribe, and they only have a general direction, so it was already a month later when Luo Zhen reached the territory near the Kru Lion tribe.
During this time, they encountered many beast attacks. Even Lu Zhan had some injuries, but Luo Zhen and Achun, protected by the orc warriors, remained unscathed.
Along the way, Luo Zhen collected many seeds and picked two big bags of wild peaches two days ago. However, these wild peaches aren't like the ones Luo Zhen had eaten before; they aren't as sweet and the flesh is harder with a sour taste, making them less palatable when eaten directly.
Usually, Luo Zhen cooks them as vegetables to reduce their sourness and soften the flesh. When stewed together, the peach meat filled with gravy becomes more delicious. Even Lu Zhan, who doesn't usually like wild vegetables, can't help but eat a lot.
They found a cave in a hidden mountain near the edge of the Kru Lion tribe's territory. Tall grass grew outside, and the cave entrance wasn't visible from outside. They didn't know how Lu Zhan discovered this place.
Despite the small entrance, the cave is spacious inside. After walking for more than ten meters, the space widens significantly. Luo Zhen also found some old animal hair and bones, indicating that any previous inhabitants had left long ago.
Using the lanterns they brought, they illuminated the entire cave, revealing cool water droplets dripping from the rocks, forming small puddles on the ground. It's much cooler than outside, so the deerhorn horses prefer staying in the cave, except when going out for food.
Near the cave entrance, a river smaller than the Heihe River flows. It surrounds the entire Kru Lion tribe and is their main water source. Luo Zhen and the others are located upstream of the Kru Lion tribe, with two mountains between them. With no orc warriors hunting nearby, they don't worry about being discovered.
Shanqi went to the river to fetch water and observe the surroundings. Lu Zhan took A Qing to the Klushi tribe to gather information, leaving only a few deerhorn horses in the cave with Luo Zhen and Achun.
After lighting the lamp grass, Luo Zhen unloaded the luggage from the deerhorn horses, allowing them to relax. Then, he used a broom made of miscanthus to clear the cave floor.

The fluff on the miscanthus head is too soft to clean up uneven places, so the broom uses the soft roots of the front part. While miscanthus has medicinal functions, Luo Zhen is more interested in using them to make dye seeds. Currently, their tribe can only dye with indigo, using Polygonum vulgare, mainly because most of the cloth in the tribe is linen, with only a small amount made from wool, resulting in limited demand for dyes.

Once the silkworm babies grow and produce the first batch of silk, they'll likely need various colors of dye. Therefore, along the way, even if some plants can't be eaten, as long as they can be used as dyes, Luo Zhen will collect them for later large-scale planting upon returning to the Sun Tribe.

"We should stay here for a while and live in this cave for the time being."

"Yeah," A Chun responded and began to help clean up. During their time together, A Chun has already been doing tasks she previously didn't understand.

They placed their luggage aside in an orderly manner based on its value to prevent any unexpected accidents. After clearing the messy gravel and bones on the ground, A Chun used a bone knife to cut some weed branches to make beds. They then placed soft animal skins on the weeds for comfortable bedding.

Because of a dripping stalactite next to the cave wall, Luo Zhen placed several larger bamboo tubes on the ground to catch water, ensuring they wouldn't run out even without going to the river.

Nearby, they made a simple firepit with broken stones, placed hay branches inside, started a fire with flint, and put the pottery pot on it. The prey hunted the previous night, half of it being simply smoked dried meat, was then filled with water and slowly simmered for when Lu Zhan and the others returned.