All The Furry Creatures In The Beast World Are Farming With Me – CH19

Chapter 19

Lang Yan’s mood was extremely complicated.

The group of sub-adults before him had a bit of cleverness, but not much. A few casual words were enough to trick the truth out of them, leaving him unsure what to say for a while. In the end, he looked toward Lang Yong, who stood at the front, and asked, “What prey did you catch? How much food did you exchange it for?”

Lang Yan had led this group of sub-adults himself two days ago and knew they had their own stubbornness. They rejected all prey that were too small and only stared at larger prey. But judging from the state of these young wolves now, they did not seem to have eaten much food. Lang Yan was rather curious how they had exchanged it.

Lang Yong knew he could not hide it anymore and told the truth. “We exchanged one curved-horned beast for one box of jerky.” After speaking, he even took out the box.

The Black Wolf Tribe used animal hides to hold food. This was the first time the young wolves had seen such a box, so even after eating all the jerky, they could not bear to throw the box away and had brought it back with them.

Lang Yan took the box and opened it. After estimating its capacity, he looked back at the young wolves and raised a hand to rub between his brows.

Between him and this group of sub-adults, one of them definitely had a broken brain.

He suspected he was hallucinating. Otherwise, how could he witness such an absurd transaction?

Lang Yan took several deep breaths in a row and told himself not to be angry. Do not be angry. Do not be angry.

But he was still so angry.

Lang Yan had never doubted one thing as much as he did now.

Did he have to be this chief?

Had his father died young because he encountered a half-evolved primitive beast, or because the tribe’s annoyances had forced him to choose to disappear under another name?

At this moment, Lang Yan thought of many things. He wished he could close both eyes and directly end this day.

However, dreams were called dreams because they had not yet come true. When he opened his eyes again, before him were still the sub-adults, each with a confused face and no idea what had happened.

Lang Yan: “…”

His head hurt.

Lang Yan said, “Why didn’t you just move all the tribe’s food over there?”

Lang Yong was surprised. “Eh? We can do that?”

They did not have to hunt tomorrow? There was such a good thing?

Lang Yan sneered. “Of course you can. Once all the food is eaten, the whole tribe can starve together. If everyone starves to death, we can even be buried together.”

How convenient. They would not even need to dig more pits.

Hearing this, even the slowest sub-adults understood. The chief was angry.

As for the reason he was angry, it was naturally because they had used too much prey and exchanged for too little food.

The young wolves looked at one another. In the end, it was still Lang Yong who braced himself and explained, “At that time, we were almost out of strength. We couldn’t drag the prey anymore.”

Lang Yan said nothing.

Just as the young wolves thought their reason was perfectly justified, Lang Qi beside them voiced a sincere question.

“Why didn’t you choose one person to come back and call for help?”

The young wolves were collectively shocked. “Ah?”

They could do that?

Lang Yan: “…”

He felt even more exhausted.

Waiting for them to realize things on their own was impossible. Lang Yan could only teach them bit by bit. “Every time you go out hunting, you must leave at least one or two members behind. The more people there are, the more members you leave. They are responsible for watching the surroundings. If you encounter danger, they can also come back to report it.”

No matter which hunting party went out to hunt, they would never have all members rush forward together. Instead, they would leave a few members responsible for keeping watch. This was a habit passed down through generations of wolves while hunting. When beastmen learned hunting from older beastmen, they would also preserve these habits.

He had originally thought that after following them for a few days, the young wolves would notice something besides dragging everyone down. Now it seemed they had thought too much.

The young wolves only had prey in their eyes. Everything else was outside the scope of their concern. Even though Lang Yan and the other tribe members knew the young wolves were unreliable, they had not expected them to fail to notice even this.

They had learned absolutely nothing.

Compared with this, exchanging one curved-horned beast for a small box of jerky became unimportant. After all, the loss of food was only temporary. Bad hunting habits, however, would affect them for a lifetime.

As he spoke, the sub-adults became increasingly guilty, until their heads were nearly hanging down to their chests.

It was not that they had not seen it. It was that they had thought the few members calmly staying behind while the main group chased prey were distracted and had failed to keep up with the group.

As for why they had such an idea, the reason was simple: they judged others by themselves. Because they themselves slacked off, they assumed others did too.

Thinking of this, the sub-adults lowered their heads even further.

They had run out to hunt in high spirits that morning, then used up all their strength in one morning. Thanks to the jerky, they had replenished a little, but after walking so far, they truly had no strength left now. They had not eaten, and although Lang Yan was strict, he had not shouted loudly at them. As they listened, the group of young wolves grew drowsy.

They were lowering their heads anyway, so they would not be discovered, the sub-adults thought.

If only one sub-adult thought this, Lang Yan might not have noticed. After all, he could not look at all of them at once. There would always be those who were blocked by others because they were not tall enough. If the movements were small enough, they could muddle through.

The problem was that more than one had fallen asleep.

What was even more terrifying was that several had begun snoring.

Lang Yan stopped halfway through speaking. In the silent surroundings, the snoring was extremely clear.

Even the smile on Lang Qi’s face, which he usually wore, could no longer be maintained. He stared in disbelief at the sub-adults in the middle, who seemed to be sleeping very soundly.

They fell asleep just like that?

They fell asleep in front of the chief?

Did they not want to live anymore?

What had this group of young wolves eaten to grow up like this? Did they really think Lang Yan’s position as chief had been inherited?

What shocked Lang Qi even more was that Lang Yan actually did not lose his temper and simply let it go so lightly.

Could it be that because no one had challenged the chief for too long, the chief’s temper had improved?

Lang Yan, who guessed what he was thinking, fell silent for a moment.

Perhaps because there had been too many strange incidents, no matter what the sub-adults did now, he had already grown used to it. Falling asleep while being lectured seemed unimaginable to other beastmen, but it was very consistent with the sub-adults’ way of doing things.

Although he really did not want to admit it, the truth was right before his eyes. He had no choice but to accept that changing the sub-adults was far more difficult than he had imagined.

Since he could not change the sub-adults’ habits in a short time, he could only change himself. At least when the sub-adults did something unusual, he could maintain a stable mindset and not be angered to death at such a young age.

Lang Yan, whose temper was about to be worn flat by the sub-adults, quickly accepted reality. For the sake of his own life, Lang Yan felt he could not lead this group of sub-adults in the same way he led the other hunting parties before.

There was no good solution for the moment. Seeing that the sky was getting late, Lang Yan did not waste any more time. He waved his hand and told the sub-adults to go eat. “Go eat.”

Although the sub-adults had not brought prey back today, they had handed in prey almost every day over the past few days. The food distributed to them would not be reduced.

Hearing the word “eat,” whether they had been asleep or not, all of them woke up and raised their heads in unison.

Lang Yan: “…”

…

Unlike the Black Wolf Tribe, tonight’s teaching at the Snow Wolf Tribe went relatively smoothly.

If only Lang Yu had been here, the situation might not have been this good. But tonight, Lang Shuo was beside them. The sub-adults were all afraid that not listening carefully would anger Lang Yu.

Angering Lang Yu equaled angering Lang Shuo, and the consequences of Lang Shuo being angry were relatively serious.

Even though Lang Shuo had not been angry recently and had always been gentle, the sub-adults could still feel that the food they ate every day was related to Lang Shuo’s mood. The better Lang Shuo’s mood, the more delicious that day’s food would be, and the amount would also increase a little.

Then if Lang Shuo was in a bad mood…

The young wolves quickly shook their heads, tossing out this terrifying assumption. No, Lang Shuo definitely would not get angry!

Thinking of this, the sub-adults sat even straighter. If one ignored the way their gazes drifted from time to time toward the jerky by the fire, they looked exactly like well-behaved students.

Lang Yu understood that one could not bite off more than one could chew, so he did not explain too much at once. Seeing that the young wolves’ bodies were here, but their hearts had already run off toward the food, he let them move freely.

Dinner had already been eaten, but for sub-adults, as long as there was food, they could eat. If they were stuffed, standing up would let them eat a bit more. Being unable to eat? That did not exist.

Several fires were roasting jerky, while others were grilling steaks on stone slabs. A portion of this was food for the young wolves tomorrow during the day, and the rest was all to make up for the Black Wolf Tribe’s sub-adults. Roasted skewers and bamboo-tube roasted meat required branches or bamboo tubes and were more troublesome, so they did not make those this time.

Lang Yu agreed to the result of Lang Shuo and Lang Yun’s discussion after he returned and heard about it.

Since they had decided to make up for it, how much to make up was also a question. In the end, Lang Shuo calculated according to a two-to-one ratio of edible portions. After removing the hide, fur, and bones from a curved-horned beast, the pure meat portion was roughly half its total weight. Therefore, they prepared meat chunks equal to a quarter of a curved-horned beast’s weight.

After processing, these raw ingredients could fill two or three back baskets. The young wolves would bring them over tomorrow.

There was a lot of meat being prepared, and the aroma was very obvious. After the young wolves were dismissed, they gathered around the fires. They did not make trouble and instead took the initiative to help.

Even the children in their teens were all busy moving branches and ingredients, rushing around in circles.

Seeing them work so actively, neither Lang Shuo nor Lang Yu, including the members roasting meat, could bear to let them work for nothing. With Lang Yu’s tacit permission, Lang Shuo picked some out and placed it beside the young wolves. “Try these.”

The young wolves had been waiting for exactly this sentence. Hearing it, they immediately picked up a piece and put it into their mouths, only to discover that the flavor did not seem as good as what they had eaten during the day.

“This doesn’t have salt,” Lang Shuo explained.

The Snow Wolf Tribe had not lacked prey these past two days, but other necessities were somewhat insufficient. Therefore, the meat currently being roasted had no added salt.

“The tribe doesn’t have much salt left,” the beastman roasting meat added. “It’ll barely last until the end of the snow season.”

During the migration, not only had many tribe members died, but quite a lot of supplies had also been stolen. What remained were things the tribe had protected with great difficulty, and the amount of salt was truly not enough.

Fortunately, the young wolves were not picky at all. Unsalted meat tasted a little worse, but it was still chewy. Besides, the quantity completely made up for this flaw.

Seeing them eat so happily, Lang Shuo felt reassured. Based on his observations these past two days, the sub-adults of the two tribes were actually about the same. The things Lang Nuo and the others liked to eat should not be disliked by the Black Wolf Tribe’s sub-adults either.

There was a lot of meat. Several members roasted it outside the cave until the middle of the night. The finished food was packed into back baskets and handed to the sub-adults.

The sub-adults liked the task of delivering food very much, because the amount of supplies packed in back baskets was not fixed. Some were full, and some were level. They could help on the road by eating the food in the baskets until all the baskets contained the same amount.

This time, carrying food on their backs, they did not waste time on the road. Lang Nuo and the others arrived at the edge of the tribe’s territory early.

When they arrived, the members of the Black Wolf Tribe had already been waiting for a while. This could be seen from the melted snow around them.

Because of the rich resources within their territory and their racial advantage, the sub-adults of the Black Wolf Tribe were sturdier than Lang Nuo and the others. Their way of doing things was also more casual. When they grew bored from waiting, they simply sat on the ground.

If it were before, Lang Nuo might not have felt that there was anything wrong with this. But recently, they had been following beside Lang Shuo. Lang Shuo did not have many requirements in other aspects, but he paid attention to many things regarding hygiene. For example, he told everyone not to sit directly on the ground, because it would easily dirty their animal hides. If they wanted to stay somewhere, they should first sweep away the accumulated snow and then lay down a layer of dry grass. That way, no matter how long they sat, they would not have to worry about melted snow.

After becoming used to clean and tidy places, when Lang Nuo looked at the environment over there now, he felt somewhat disdainful and did not want to go over.

The other sub-adult snow wolves had the same thought.

The few of them exchanged a glance and divided the work. Beside the sub-adult black wolves, they swept out an area, then dug out some dry grass from beneath the snow and spread it on top.

From the moment they arrived, the black wolves’ gazes had locked onto their back baskets. Although they could not see clearly what was inside, with so many baskets, surely one or two of them contained food?

The result the snow wolves displayed surprised them greatly. The three back baskets were actually all filled with jerky and grilled meat. Even though the food was cold, they could still smell the fragrance wafting from within.

The sub-adult black wolves swallowed.

Lang Yong was somewhat embarrassed. “We don’t have that much prey today.”

After nearly failing to return after catching one prey animal yesterday, the group of sub-adult black wolves did not dare start running as soon as they left the tribe like they had yesterday. They honestly put on their animal hides and walked over in human form. They planned to first use the meat they had been given yesterday to exchange for some food, eat it, and then go catch prey. Seeing the other side bring so much now, they could not help feeling a bit regretful. A huge pile of food—if they could not exchange for it, that would be too much of a pity. If they had known, they would have caught a prey animal before coming.

Just as the sub-adult black wolves were feeling regretful, Lang Nuo explained, “This is food our tribe is making up to you.”

As he spoke, he pushed the three back baskets forward.

“Mm?” The sub-adult black wolves had never expected such a good thing. How was this any different from giving it to them for free?

Seeing that they did not believe it, Lang Nuo pushed the food forward. “It’s yours.”

Lang Yong quickly took out their food. “These are for you.”

After speaking, he could not help scratching his head. Compared with what the Snow Wolf Tribe had given, what they took out was far too little.

Lang Nuo asked, “Is this for tomorrow?”

“What?” Lang Yong, whose attention was entirely on the baskets, did not understand what Lang Nuo meant.

“Is this in exchange for tomorrow’s food? Our chief won’t let us take your prey for nothing,” Lang Nuo continued explaining. “We’ll bring back what you gave, process it, and after it’s done, we’ll give you half tomorrow. How does that sound?”

Last night, when Lang Shuo calculated the finished product, Lang Nuo had been beside him. He decided to follow the ratio Lang Shuo had mentioned. The chief would not let them take food from another tribe for nothing. Helping process it did not count as taking it for free.

“Really?” Lang Yong could not believe it. Food they sent out could actually come back, and processed at that. The members of the Snow Wolf Tribe were truly good to them.

Lang Nuo nodded. “In the future, any food you bring, we can help process it. But you can’t let anyone else know.”

They would also not let the other members of their tribe know. If they mixed it into their own food for processing at night, they could eat an extra portion of food.

Lang Yong was so amazed by this idea that he slapped his thigh.

This method was good!

Both sides agreed, deciding that from now on, they would come to exchange supplies every day at noon. This way, it would not delay them searching for prey. After gathering together to eat, each side could return to its own tribe.

After they finished discussing, the black wolves began eating the food in the back baskets. After eating, they discovered something wrong.

There was no salt.

When this issue was brought up, Lang Nuo felt a little embarrassed. “Our tribe’s salt is almost gone. In the future, we can only cook it for you. We can’t sprinkle salt.”

The tribe’s salt was limited. Even if they took half of the black wolves’ meat as processing fees, they still could not add salt. Otherwise, there would not be enough salt to eat.

When Lang Yong heard this, he discovered that he could solve this problem. “We’ll bring salt tomorrow.”

The Black Wolf Tribe was a prosperous large tribe. This prosperity was reflected in every aspect: their territory was vast, resources were abundant, and their tribe members were strong and healthy. Therefore, although salt was precious to them, they did not need to save it to the point of not adding any salt.

He took the initiative to offer salt, but Lang Nuo did not dare accept it casually. He still remembered the result of taking the curved-horned beast yesterday. “If you bring the tribe’s salt, what will the other wolves eat?”

“We’ll only bring our own.”

Unlike the Snow Wolf Tribe, which kept its supplies together, the Black Wolf Tribe had many people, and supplies were distributed at regular intervals. Once prey was distributed into someone’s hands, they could eat it however they wanted. Whether they finished it in one day or divided it into ten days, no one cared. However, everyone knew the sub-adults’ personalities. No matter how much was distributed at once, nothing would remain. So food was distributed to them one day at a time.

Food needed to be forcibly restricted, but something like salt did not need to be distributed every day. Usually, it was distributed once every one or two months. After all, no matter how much the sub-adults wanted to eat, they could not possibly eat salt by itself.

Hearing that it was their own, Lang Nuo breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it did not involve the tribe’s supplies, there was no problem exchanging between them.

…

At dusk, the sub-adult black wolves returned to the tribe happily and told the chief what had happened during the day. “The Snow Wolf Tribe made the curved-horned beast into jerky and grilled steaks and gave them to us!”

Lang Yan truly had not expected the Snow Wolf Tribe to specifically make food and send it over. Generally speaking, once both parties agreed to an exchange, after it ended, they could no longer discuss which side had suffered a loss. Once the transaction was over, it was over. Old accounts could not be overturned. The Snow Wolf Tribe was clearly different. After discovering they had given too much, they immediately made up food.

Lang Yan could not help shaking his head. With a personality like that, the Snow Wolf Tribe would suffer losses.

The brothers Lang Yu and Lang Shuo, who had decided to compensate the Black Wolf Tribe with food, did not know Lang Yan’s thoughts. They were currently making cages for the long-eared beasts to live in.

Lang Yu had caught one long-eared beast that night, and yesterday, the sub-adults had brought back two more. It was not suitable to put three long-eared beasts in the same cave. Unfamiliar long-eared beasts would make the one that had just given birth uneasy, and among the two newly brought long-eared beasts, one was male and needed to be separated.

Lang Shuo planned to make two cages. One would be used to raise the first long-eared beast and her babies, while the other would be used to raise the two caught later. Once the second long-eared beast became pregnant, they would make a new cage and separate those two.

A long-eared beast’s teeth would continuously grow, and they had a habit of grinding their teeth. Therefore, Lang Shuo decided to make the cages double-layered. The outside would use hard wooden sticks, while the inside layer would be ordinary wood. When the long-eared beasts gnawed through the inner layer, they could replace that layer, preventing the long-eared beasts from escaping.

Most members of the tribe were very talented at handiwork. However, every time they made a new item, Lang Shuo liked to call Lang Yu over to help. Perhaps because they were biological brothers, Lang Yu could always be the first to understand what he meant. Communication was much more convenient. Once Lang Yu learned it, teaching the other members would be much simpler.

The brothers made the outer cage, while the two members helping made the inner layer. Because there was an outer barrier, it did not matter if the inner layer had some small flaws.

They began preparing after the hunting party returned. Only after everyone gradually began resting was the cage finally finished.

They moved the long-eared beasts into the cages and still kept them in the cave above at night. Lang Shuo watched Lang Yu carry the two cages up the mountain, clapped his hands, and suddenly felt that something was off.

Tonight, it seemed somewhat empty around him. He had been busy making cages just now and had not noticed. Now that he was no longer busy, he felt it was hollow and quiet.

Lang Shuo thought for a moment and understood where the problem was.

The sub-adults had not come over.

Before, no matter what he was doing, the sub-adults would gather around. Even if they did nothing, it was still the same. Today, he had been busy for so long, yet the sub-adults had not even asked a question and had been quiet the whole time.

This kind of quiet was far too abnormal when placed on sub-adults.

Lang Shuo asked Lang Yun, “What did Nuo and the others do after they came back?”

Lang Yun needed to take care of the cubs, and since yesterday’s matter had been resolved, she had not paid much attention to the sub-adults. Hearing this, she recalled briefly. “They seemed to be roasting meat and grilling meat the whole time? They were probably very hungry. They roasted for quite a long time.”

Hearing that the sub-adults had been roasting meat the whole time, Lang Shuo felt relieved. Their activity level over these past two days was greater than before, so it was only right for them to eat more.

The first day something was off, Lang Shuo thought they had been extremely hungry and had been eating the whole time, not paying attention to anything else, so he did not take it to heart. However, over the next few days, the more Lang Shuo watched, the more he felt something was wrong.

When the sub-adults returned to the tribe, the first thing they did was roast meat. After roasting it, they did not eat it hot right away. Instead, they avoided people and hid somewhere to eat secretly. Lang Shuo could not help feeling puzzled.

Their tribe was very harmonious. No one would snatch another person’s food. Why would the group of sub-adults do something so unnecessary and insist on taking it to a corner to eat? That scene looked like they were conducting some shady transaction. It was truly too suspicious.

Lang Shuo felt something was strange and told Lang Yun about his discovery. Recently, the latter had also been muttering to herself about it. “Shuo, have they been eating too much recently? Yesterday, Nuo roasted meat the entire night.”

Lang Shuo nodded. “It is a bit much.”

Recently, the sub-adults had made remarkable progress in hunting. Not only had they caught three more long-eared beasts, they had also caught four cluck-cluck birds. Cluck-cluck birds looked similar to wild chickens, only a bit larger. After laying eggs, they would constantly cluck, hence the name. Lang Shuo had likewise raised them in the cave above.

Every time the sub-adults caught small prey, the tribe would compensate them with food equal to half the prey’s weight. Their daily food distribution also included their share. Therefore, the sub-adults had quite a lot of food on hand. They were growing, so it was normal for them to eat a little more every day. But this was far too much. Even the hunting party with the greatest activity level did not return to the tribe and keep eating until midnight.

However, aside from eating a lot, there seemed to be no other problems. Every day, when they returned, the first thing they did was share that day’s harvest, and their moods had always been good. The two discussed for a long time but still could not figure out what was going on.

“We’ll watch again tonight.” Lang Shuo could not feel at ease unless they figured out what the sub-adults were up to. If they were merely hungry and wanted to eat, that was fine. What he feared was that they had encountered something and were hiding it from the adults.

At dusk, the returning sub-adults shared today’s harvest with Lang Shuo: two cluck-cluck birds. Unfortunately, one had been crushed to death by them.

“Be more careful when chasing them next time.” Lang Shuo felt more distressed for the young wolves. Falling must have hurt. “It’s fine if you can’t catch them. It’s bad if you fall and get hurt. Where did you fall? Does it hurt?”

“Mm-hm, we’ll be careful next time. Didn’t fall, not hurt.” Lang Nuo answered casually. He had not been the one who crushed it. He was not that stupid.

After sharing, the sub-adults divided the work. One went to process the cluck-cluck bird that had been crushed to death, while the others went to collect today’s food. Then, just like the previous days, they chose a corner with their backs to everyone, lit a fire, and began roasting meat.

Afraid of making the sub-adults suspicious, Lang Shuo did not immediately follow them. Instead, he stayed where he was for a while, estimated the time, and only when the first batch of meat was almost done did he slowly approach on his crutches.

Lang Shuo’s footsteps were relatively light, and the sub-adults did not notice. But when he walked behind Lang Nuo and saw clearly what the sub-adults were holding, Lang Shuo froze for a moment. He loosened his grip on his crutches, raised his hand, and rubbed his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Lang Yun had been paying attention to this side. Seeing Lang Shuo’s movement, she quickly walked over.

“Nothing.” Lang Shuo closed his eyes, only opening them after a moment. “Maybe I didn’t sleep well. My eyes are playing tricks on me.”

He had actually seen a cluck-cluck bird with four legs.

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