All The Furry Creatures In The Beast World Are Farming With Me – CH55

Chapter 55

“I’ll go take a look.”

The situation was urgent, so Lang Shuo could no longer care about anything else. He first went to check the place where the sub-adults were digging the cellar.

Lang Nuo had originally only been complaining a couple of times. Seeing Lang Shuo suddenly leave, he was confused for an instant, then quickly followed.

The other sub-adults looked at one another. Between eating and following Lang Shuo, they hesitated for only a moment before choosing the latter.

After all, the food was right here. It would not run away. Something that could make Lang Shuo care this much had to be important.

Lang Yun, who had returned after serving the food: “???”

Where were they? Why had everyone suddenly disappeared?

Lang Yun held the food and stared wide-eyed at the cubs in the cradle.

The cubs looked around blankly. Lang Shuo, who should have been feeding them, had vanished without a trace.

Seeing Lang Yun’s confusion, the beastman cooking beside her helped explain for Lang Shuo. “Nuo said something about black stones. Shuo said he was going to take a look.”

“Nuo said that?” Lang Yun thought of the sub-adults’ work today. They were digging a cellar behind the mountain. In that case, Lang Shuo should have gone over there. Knowing the exact location, she was not worried. It was very close to here, so there would be no danger. Lang Yun picked up the cubs. “Come, I’ll feed you today.”

If something could make Lang Shuo put even feeding cubs aside for later, it had to be something extraordinary.

It did not matter if they could not help. At the very least, they could not make trouble for Lang Shuo.

The cubs seemed to hear Lang Yun’s thoughts and hummed twice in agreement.

…

On the other side, Lang Shuo had already reached the small hill.

From the moment Lang Shuo saw the color on the sub-adults’ bodies, he had had a guess. After all, ordinary color transfer could not dye them so deeply.

When he heard Lang Nuo complain that there were too many black stones, his certainty increased by several points. However, without seeing it with his own eyes, Lang Shuo still could not be one hundred percent certain.

Until he personally saw the “stones” the sub-adults had dug out.

That pile of black stones—if that was not coal, what was it?

The last time he had been this excited was when he discovered potatoes.

Lang Shuo could hardly hide the excitement in his heart. He grabbed the coal and placed it into the back basket.

The sub-adults did not know what he was packing these for, but they all crouched down to help without needing to be told.

The sooner the basket was filled, the sooner they could go back and eat.

However, Lang Shuo called for a stop before they filled the back basket. “Enough. Let’s take it back and test it first.”

Hearing this, the sub-adults stopped what they were doing.

“I’ll carry it.” Lang Nuo snatched the back basket over and carried it on his back.

Lang Shuo did not fight him for it. Although it was only a few hundred meters from the residence, the path was not flat. If he carried something, he definitely would not walk as fast as the sub-adults who ran around every day.

The group returned to the eating area. Lang Shuo told the sub-adults to eat, while he took out a long pair of tongs made from bamboo.

Several sub-adults did not go far. They held their bowls and gathered around him, curious about what he was going to do.

Lang Shuo soaked the bamboo tongs in water, then picked up a fist-sized piece of coal and placed it into the stove.

The sub-adults: “???”

Burning stones? What was he doing now?

The sub-adults who had seen Lang Shuo fire pottery immediately thought that black stones could be fired into usable items. But they could not imagine what use such stones had. After all, they were round and could neither hold food nor be eaten.

Under the sub-adults’ puzzled gazes, Lang Shuo placed several more pieces of coal of different sizes inside.

When they were first placed inside, nothing changed in the stove. However, only a moment later, the fire in the stove suddenly surged up, frightening the group of sub-adults watching the fun.

If there had not been a stone pot on top of the stove, the flame just now probably could have leapt half a person high.

Lang Nuo still felt lingering fear. “Shuo, why did the fire suddenly become so big?”

“This kind of black stone is coal. It can be used to start fires. In the future, we won’t need to pick up so many branches.”

Although their tribe only had a little over a hundred members, the amount of fuel they consumed was not small. Aside from the fixed three meals a day, they also had to fire a batch of pottery every few days, consuming a lot of firewood and charcoal. Over several months, most of the dead branches that had accumulated around the trees and under the trees for who knew how many years had been used by them.

Previously, Lang Shuo had even worried about what to do once all the surrounding branches had been picked clean. After all, they could not cut down every branch to burn. That would be drinking poison to quench thirst. Now, this coal directly solved the problem.

With coal, the places where firewood was needed in the future would decrease greatly. Coal burned longer than wood and was also convenient to use. Most importantly, the coal mine was right behind the mountain.

Lang Shuo even suspected that the mountain they lived on was actually part of the coal mine area too. It was just that the depth of the coal seam varied in different locations, which was why they had not dug any up.

They did not plan to change residences in the short term, and Lang Shuo was not in a hurry to dig on this side. The coal on the small hill’s side was enough for them to use for a very long time.

Aside from Lang Shuo, the other members were all hearing about something like coal for the first time. It looked like black stone, only it was not as hard as other stones. It could be broken just by dropping it or smashing it with a large stone. Yet this ordinary-looking black stone could actually replace firewood.

The happiest ones were naturally the young wolves around ten years old. Picking up branches had originally been their job. Now that their workload would be reduced, of course they were happy.

However, their happiness did not last very long. After eating, Lang Shuo handed them a new job.

Loading coal.

The sub-adults had accomplished quite a lot in one morning. Judging from the color rubbed onto their bodies, they had not been idle for a single morning.

The coal they dug out naturally had to be transported back. It could be used for cooking or firing pottery. Especially for firing pottery, it would even save the step of making charcoal.

The sub-adults would continue digging coal in the afternoon. Work like loading it into back baskets was most suitable for the young wolves in their teens. They were shorter, and after scooping up coal, they could directly throw it into the back baskets behind them. Unlike the sub-adults and adult members, they did not need to bend over while working.

This job was much better than picking up branches nearby before, because they only needed to put the coal into the back baskets. The remaining work did not need them. Other members were responsible for carrying it.

At dusk, when the hunting party and gathering team returned to the tribe one after another, they clearly felt that the atmosphere in the tribe was different from the morning. Everyone seemed very happy.

The members who did not understand what was going on looked at one another, but none of them could see what was different in the tribe.

Until a group of pitch-black young wolves passed in front of them, running toward the river.

The members who had just returned to the tribe: “???”

What just ran past?

Before the group of members could react, an even blacker group of sub-adults appeared in front of them and, like the young wolves, ran toward the river.

For an instant, they felt as if they had walked into the wrong tribe. Otherwise, why did the young wolves and sub-adults look almost the same as black wolves?

The young wolves were still fine. Aside from their heads and limbs, their bodies were at least still light-colored, so they could barely be recognized as belonging to their tribe. But the sub-adults looked exactly like black wolf sub-adults. If they did not know that there were many black wolf sub-adults, they would have suspected those black wolves had come again.

Lang Shuo carried two back baskets behind the sub-adults. He placed the back baskets on the open ground, patted the coal dust off his hands, and saw Lang Yu and the others return without speaking or going to eat, only standing there. He found it strange. “Brother, what are you doing?”

Before Lang Yu could speak, Lang Shi pointed in the direction where the sub-adults had run off just now. “Who ran away just now?”

“Nuo and the others.” Lang Shuo was puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

“They…” Lang Shi paused, pointed at his own hair, arms, stomach, legs, and finally his feet. “They were all black.”

Lang Shuo said, “Mm. They dug coal for a day, so they went to wash.”

The wolf race’s best tools were their claws. It just so happened that the coal seam of the mine they had discovered was not hard, so the sub-adults dug it without much effort. It was only that after digging a lot, they inevitably rubbed it onto their bodies. The sub-adults also had the habit of lying down anywhere when tired. After a day, their whole bodies had been dyed evenly.

The young wolves were a little better. After all, they had only worked half a day, and at the beginning, they were still wearing animal hides. They had only taken off the animal hides later when they got hot.

The animal hides they took off were all inside the back basket. Animal hides could not be washed often, otherwise they would become stiff and need to be tanned again. Lang Shuo simply had them come back after bathing and wear clean ones, while using this set of animal hides as work clothes.

Lang Yu caught the key word. “What is coal?”

Something that could make the sub-adults dig for an entire day was undoubtedly useful. Lang Yu was rather curious.

“Coal. It’s similar to charcoal, but it doesn’t need to be made by burning. It can be used after being dug out. It’s this kind.” Lang Shuo pointed beside the stove. “Go take a look. It’s easier to use than firewood.”

The members who had just returned to the tribe followed him over to look.

As before, Lang Shuo soaked the tongs in water, then poked at the coal under the stove.

The fire beneath the stove burned very strongly, and there were no branches or charcoal inside, only pieces of black stone.

Stones were burning.

This overturned their understanding. It was the first time in history they had seen such a scene, and even Lang Yu was somewhat surprised.

“You found it?” Lang Yu asked.

“It doesn’t count as me finding it. I chose a place to dig a cellar and had Nuo and the others help dig it. They dug this out from over there.” Lang Shuo explained. It could only be called a coincidence.

Lang Yu asked, “How much is there?”

The fact that it could be used right after being dug out was very attractive. During growing season, there would be more rain than usual. The branches picked back would need to be dried somewhere before they could be used. In comparison, this coal was very convenient and had appeared at an extremely timely moment.

However, Lang Yu was worried there would not be enough. If there was only a little, they should still use branches now and only use coal when it rained.

Lang Shuo said, “A lot. What’s here now is only a small part of what was dug out today. It’ll take at least several years to finish digging.”

Lang Shuo’s words were actually a conservative estimate. Based on the speed at which beastmen manually dug, if they dug up the surroundings and searched once, they could dig for even longer.

The members behind Lang Yu no longer knew whether they should be shocked that stones could burn or shocked by the amount of this kind of stone.

They kept feeling that the tribe had suddenly become wealthy. In the future, during snow season, they would no longer have to carefully calculate whether the branches were enough.

Although Lang Shuo could not hear everyone’s thoughts, he could tell from their expressions that they were all very happy. He directly told them the location. “If you’re interested, you can go take a look. On your way back, carry a few back baskets back too.”

The crowd rushed mightily toward the place Lang Shuo mentioned. They all knew the small hill. A few days ago, Lang Shuo had wanted to choose it as the place to let the curved-horned beasts graze. The location there was good, but because the grass did not grow well, it had been eliminated.

At the time, they had felt regretful. Such a good place, behind the residence, with a hidden location. Even if members of other tribes came, they would not think that they would raise prey behind the mountain. In the end, only a few days had passed, and they discovered there was actually something good underneath.

The group of members ran over to the small hill, and each carried one back basket back. They truly felt what Lang Shuo had meant by “a lot.”

There really was a lot. No matter which direction they dug inside the cave, there was coal. A few members changed into beast form and dug a few times, and a large patch fell off with a clatter.

Their tribe actually had so much of something this useful. Now even the members who did not cook often became excited along with everyone else.

Lang Shuo let them celebrate because of the coal. After everyone finished being happy, he said, “Young wolves can’t carry coal. From now on, you help carry one load every day.”

While it was not raining yet and this road was still relatively easy to walk, they should store more coal. When there was no time to transport it or when it rained, they could use it directly.

“No problem.” The adult members in the tribe immediately agreed. What was carrying one back basket? Even if they were asked to carry for an entire day, it would be no problem.

Lang Shuo reminded the members who were only focused on excitement. “If it gets rubbed onto your body, wash quickly. If it stays too long, it’ll be hard to wash off.”

Snow wolf fur was very easy to stain. The sub-adults had originally been white, but because they had rolled and crawled around in the coal pile for an entire day, even after washing now, they looked like a dirty gray. If they wanted to return to their original color, they would at least have to wait until they stopped digging coal.

However, there was nothing that could be done about this. The entire tribe had the same fur color. Whoever dug would be the same.

No, Lang Shuo suddenly paused and thought of another option.

White was easily dyed black. Then why not change his thinking and let black ones help?

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