Chapter 59: Salt
Chu Jiu returned to the vicinity of the large pit where the behemoth lay and used [Enemy Detection] once more.
[Detecting….]
[Detection Result: These are two giant Deck Beasts with familial ties.
The adult is approximately 2300 years old, and the juvenile is approximately 200 years old.
Giant Deck Beasts are gentle, herbivorous ancient behemoths.
They have enormous appetites and will graze all the vegetation near their habitat roughly every 300 years before migrating to another area.
Their ability to live for so long as non-aggressive herbivores is inseparable from the set of special bone plates on their bodies, which resemble armor.
This set of bone plates is not only impact-resistant and cut-resistant but also possesses extremely high heat resistance.
Adult Deck Beasts with fully developed bone plates can move freely in extremely high-temperature environments where ordinary animals cannot survive.]
[Suggestion: Observe the Deck Beasts further and interact with them when the opportunity arises to obtain more detailed information.]
Although the existing information wasn’t comprehensive, it was enough to confirm one thing:
Deck Beasts could move in extremely high-temperature environments.
In other words, to cross the boiling lake and reach the central island, it was necessary to rely on the Deck Beasts.
The markings left by the dwarf beastman predecessors were not wrong—finding the Deck Beasts was indeed a necessary step to finding the [Earthfire Primordial Stone].
But how could they get the Deck Beasts to carry everyone across?
Chu Jiu had originally wanted to go to the bottom of the pit and have a “friendly chat” with the Deck Beasts, but after waiting for a long time, both behemoths remained lying down with their eyes closed, as if fast asleep.
“Do not awaken a sleeping beast” was one of the most basic principles of wilderness survival. Even if the other party was a gentle herbivore, the same applied.
It was better to find a place to rest for a while and wait for the Deck Beasts to wake up on their own.
Chu Jiu observed the surrounding terrain and nearby found an [Ancient Bread Tree] with an incredibly thick trunk and a flat top like a giant candlestick.
He had originally wanted to climb to the treetop using vines, but Little Can saw through his intention: “Want to go up? I’ll send you.”
Chu Jiu had wanted to say, how could a small cat like you send me? I’m not a little hamster. However, when Little Can extended its cat paw towards him, he still subconsciously grasped the round paw…
The next second, a gust of wind swept past.
Light and darkness flickered before Chu Jiu’s eyes. When he regained his senses, he was already standing on the treetop.
Chu Jiu: ….
Was it really treating me like a little hamster?
He shook his head, telling himself not to overthink it at this moment, and opened his backpack to tinker and repair things.
Compared to the ground, the treetop was noticeably cooler because the tree was tall enough and there was a constant mountain breeze blowing from afar.
More importantly, there was no “fire rain” here, and no small sparks would burn the little squirrels’ big tails.
Chu Jiu spent some effort first assembling the [Raft Suitable for Drifting in the Underground River] on the spot, and then firmly secured this square raft with sturdy vines to ensure it wouldn’t fall due to wind or any slight movement.
Next, he took out a few wooden buckets, used saltpeter to create a large amount of ice, filled the buckets with ice, and placed them in an upwind position. He also sprayed a sufficient amount of [Lemongrass Juice] nearby.
In this way, a cool and refreshing “treetop veranda” was added to the canopy of the [Ancient Bread Tree].
The wind brushed through the treetops and branches, picking up the fresh scent of lemongrass and carrying the coolness of the ice, making one feel refreshed and happy.
The three little squirrels, who had been drooping and listless, spread out on the naturally cooling bamboo deck and enjoyed the breeze for a while. One by one, they regained their spirits, and their eyes became bright again:
“Here, magical!”
“Here, comfortable!”
“Chu Jiu, amazing!”
Chu Jiu was also very satisfied with this veranda that came with a lookout effect.
Now, he could sit by the railing, drinking iced grape juice, while observing the two Deck Beasts from the best angle!
*
After the group rested on the veranda for most of the day, the two Deck Beasts finally stirred.
The smaller Deck Beast baby woke up first.
It nudged the larger Deck Beast with its head and mouth, but received no response. So, it stood up on its own, walked out of the large pit with its thick, short legs waddling.
It actually walked directly to the edge of the “boiling lake.”
The Deck Beast baby opened its large, bulldozer-like mouth and yawned, then splashed into the water, moving its limbs in the constantly churning and bubbling lake that resembled the springs of hell, swimming easily and happily!
Chu Jiu: …?!
M-morning swim?
Such a healthy Deck Beast baby!
It’s just that the temperature of this swimming pool was truly beyond human imagination.
The little squirrels squeezed beside Chu Jiu had already cried out in surprise, “It! Not afraid of heat! Going to the center of the lake!”
Chu Jiu wasn’t so optimistic.
After all, the system prompt had said that only “adult Deck Beasts with fully developed bone plates” could move freely in extreme heat.
Indeed, as Chu Jiu had guessed, the little Deck Beast didn’t swim too far.
It just splashed around a bit near the shore, and then its body noticeably jolted, as if it had finally felt, “Ah, it’s so hot here!”
It paddled back to the shore, shook off the red lake water, looked up and cried out, then walked towards another hilltop.
Chu Jiu guessed that it had finished its washing and exercising and was getting ready for breakfast.
Sure enough.
The Deck Beast walked to a valley not far away and, like humans eating fresh salad, rolled the tall plants in the valley into its mouth and crunched loudly.
After eating a small patch of forest, the Deck Beast found a mud pit several meters deep, lay down, extended its blanket-like tongue, and licked the reddish-brown soil at the bottom of the pit.
“It, eats dirt?!” the little squirrels exclaimed in unison.
Chu Jiu didn’t respond but continued to stare intently at the Deck Beast.
About half an hour later, the Deck Beast baby raised its head and let out a thunderous burp.
It was truly full.
However, the Deck Beast baby didn’t leave but used its not-so-sharp but wide enough teeth to bite off plant stems and pile them to the side. Then, it used its shovel-like chin to scoop up a large amount of reddish-brown soil, mixed it with the plants, and then held it in its mouth, slowly walking towards the large pit.
“Roar roar roar, what is it going to do, roar roar roar?” Rawr Rawr Rabbit’s ears bent into a question mark.
The little squirrels also bit their paws, very curious.
Chu Jiu wasn’t sure: “Perhaps… delivering food?”
Delivering food to the large Deck Beast?
Chu Jiu wasn’t sure because in nature, it was usually the adults who took care of the young and brought food back to them, not the other way around.
Before long, the Deck Beast baby’s behavior verified Chu Jiu’s guess:
It was indeed delivering food to the large Deck Beast.
It piled the leaves and branches mixed with reddish-brown soil in front of the large Deck Beast, then nudged the large Deck Beast’s head with its mouth while making two “buzzing” sounds, probably indicating to the other party that “it’s time to eat.”
The large Deck Beast finally opened its eyes.
Just one eye socket was as large as a round bathtub, and its yellowish-brown eyeballs seemed to be covered in a layer of mist.
It groaned from its throat and then tried to lift its heavy, locomotive-sized head from the bottom of the pit—but failed.
Finally, it could only slightly tilt its head, slowly open its mouth, take a small bite of the leaves and soil, and then stopped eating.
Seeing this, even without communicating with the Deck Beast using the “monster common language,” Chu Jiu could guess a few things:
The large Deck Beast was sick. The small Deck Beast was taking care of it. That’s why the unusual situation of “the young going out to find food and then feeding the parent” had occurred.
Without even thinking, the sick Deck Beast couldn’t even manage to get up to eat, so how could it possibly carry them to the central island?
After listening to Chu Jiu’s explanation that “the big Deck Beast is sick, and we need to find a way to cure it,” the little squirrels raised their tiny paws in confusion and asked, “It, is it, ate dirt, and got sick?”
Such a good herbivore, how could it eat so much dirt!
Even if you are uncultured animals who don’t know how to wash your food, you can’t eat this much dirt…
Rawr Rawr Rabbit’s ears also swayed back and forth, “Roar roar roar, is there not enough leaves to eat? Can they only eat dirt, so they got a stomachache, roar roar roar…”
Chu Jiu pondered for a long time, didn’t immediately give a conclusion, but said, “Let’s go take a look at the Deck Beast’s ‘dining hall’.”
*
The valley where the Deck Beasts fed covered a wide area, filled with tall ferns.
The most lush and dense among them was a type of tree called “cycad.”
On Earth, this extremely resilient tree survived even after the ancient behemoths of the same era had gone extinct. Then, due to the rich starch content in its pith, it became a food source for humans.
What the Deck Beast had eaten the most just now was this “cycad.”
Chu Jiu walked around the valley and easily discovered that the cycads here were still very lush. Even estimating based on the Deck Beast’s appetite, there shouldn’t be “not enough to eat.”
Not only that, but Chu Jiu had noticed since entering this “Land of the Past” that the air here was humid and the sunlight was abundant, making the plants grow very quickly.
Large patches of ferns, after being eaten, would sprout new shoots in no time.
Taking this valley as an example, the vegetation coverage here was not much different from other places, not at all like it was about to be eaten bare.
But the prompt did indeed say, “Giant Deck Beasts have enormous appetites and will graze all the vegetation near their habitat roughly every 300 years”…
A thought flashed in Chu Jiu’s mind. He quickly ran to the reddish-brown mud pit that the Deck Beast baby had licked, grabbed a handful of soil, and smelled it—uh, apart from the smell of soil, he couldn’t smell anything else.
It didn’t matter that he couldn’t smell it; the spirit beasts definitely could!
He put Rawr Rawr Rabbit, who was sitting in his backpack, on the ground: “Rawr Rawr Rabbit, come on, use your [Soil Analysis] to see what’s so special about this soil!”
He also pointed to the edge of the large mud pit: “Besides the soil at the bottom of the pit, also analyze the soil remaining on the sides above.”
Rawr Rawr Rabbit’s body and ears stood up straight: “Roar roar roar, yay yay, Rawr Rawr Rabbit has a new mission, Rawr Rawr Rabbit is so happy, roar roar roar!”
After saying that, the little guy rolled over, rolled into the soil, and began to dig, dig, chew, and oh.
The little squirrels following behind looked completely puzzled: “Why, let Rawr Rawr Rabbit, eat dirt?”
Chu Jiu: ….
Because I’m a ruthless capitalist?
*
About an hour later, Rawr Rawr Rabbit finished eating dirt and ran towards Chu Jiu with its conclusions.
Chu Jiu nodded as he listened, and he had roughly understood the situation.
He used [Enemy Detection] again.
[Detecting…]
[Detection Result: For some reason, the adult Deck Beast has not been able to obtain sufficient necessary nutrients from its food. But it hasn’t noticed it itself.
Over time, its body has become very weak. It has begun to feel tired, weak, has a poor appetite, and is drowsy. If it can receive this lacking necessary nutrient in time, perhaps it will get better?]
Chu Jiu had a plan.
He ran directly to the large pit where the Deck Beast was, circled around the adult Deck Beast three times to the left and three times to the right, trying to express “I have no malice” and “I can help you.”
The final result was…
The originally weak adult Deck Beast struggled to prop up its head, then changed direction, closed its eyes, and lay down again, using all its strength to express one meaning:
Stop dancing.
…Undoubtedly, he was disliked again.
Fortunately, the Deck Beast baby didn’t dislike Chu Jiu.
It looked at Chu Jiu with a bit of confusion, a bit of sadness, and a bit of curiosity. Its light yellow eyes seemed to say: What exactly is wrong with my mother? Can you really help my mother?
Chu Jiu took a deep breath, took out the largest wooden bucket from his backpack, left only a small pinch of the “coarse salt” he was carrying, poured the rest into the bucket, stirred it with clean water for a while, and then pushed this bucket of salt water in front of the Deck Beast baby, gesturing: This is for your mother.
To increase the Deck Beast baby’s trust, Chu Jiu even scooped up a handful of salt water himself and drank it in front of it.
Really salty.
Really not tasty.
But the Deck Beast understood.
It used its front paws to push the large wooden bucket in front of the adult Deck Beast’s head, making a series of somewhat anxious “ao ao buzzing” sounds, as if urging the other to drink quickly.
However, the adult Deck Beast was too weak.
It couldn’t even lift its head to directly bite the bucket and swallow it.
The little Deck Beast wasn’t a spirit beast with enough intelligence to know how to use its front paws to help the other, so it could only call out more anxiously.
What to do?
Just as Chu Jiu couldn’t help but feel a little anxious, Little Can said, “Make it open its mouth.”
Chu Jiu quickly gestured.
The large Deck Beast did as he indicated.
Little Can walked to the side of the wooden bucket, and with a forceful push of its two small paws—
The large wooden bucket, almost as tall as Chu Jiu, was thrown into the Deck Beast’s mouth like a small sandbag.
Not a single drop of salt water spilled outside.
Chu Jiu blinked, thinking that Little Can was really getting more and more amazing.
Over there, the large Deck Beast slowly closed its mouth.
Chu Jiu guessed… for a behemoth of this size, the bucket of water that had just been thrown in was probably like a saltwater toffee?
He wondered how long it would take for the salt water to take effect.
*
An hour later.
The large Deck Beast, which had previously been able only to lie on the ground and didn’t even have the strength to eat leaves, could now slightly prop itself up and also straighten its head to nuzzle the Deck Beast baby beside it.
The little Deck Beast was overjoyed, vigorously rubbing back with its black, hard-armored head, calling out happily, “Ao ao ao ao!”
The little squirrels beside them were both surprised and delighted:
“Ah, it’s better!”
“Why? Magical! Magical!”
Chu Jiu let out a long breath and sat down on the spot to explain:
It’s actually very simple.
The large Deck Beast was “salt deficient.”
Salt is not just a seasoning. It can maintain the osmotic pressure balance in living organisms and maintain the normal excitability of nerves and muscles.
The large Deck Beast’s symptoms were actually caused by long-term insufficient salt intake.
He had just made a large bucket of salt water for it, which naturally relieved these symptoms.
As for why it was salt deficient…
Humans, or civilized races like the dwarf beastmen, add an appropriate amount of salt when cooking.
For carnivores, they can obtain salt from the flesh and blood of other animals.
And for herbivores, the most important way for them to obtain salt is by licking soil or rocks that contain salt.
In other words, the Deck Beast baby’s “eating dirt” was actually “supplementing salt.”
Rawr Rawr Rabbit had just analyzed that reddish-brown mud pit and confirmed that the soil did contain minerals, including salt.
It had compared the soil at the edge of the pit with the soil at the bottom, as Chu Jiu had requested, and found that the small amount of soil remaining on the surface layer had a much higher salt content than the soil at the bottom.
This meant that the salt contained in this large mud pit was decreasing day by day as the Deck Beasts licked it.
It wouldn’t take long for it to be completely depleted.
This was what the system prompt meant by “will graze all the vegetation near their habitat roughly every 300 years.”
Minerals aren’t plants; once they’re used up, they won’t grow back.
Actually, under normal circumstances, the Deck Beasts could avoid this “salt deficiency” by migrating every 300 years.
But this time, this Deck Beast had conceived a baby.
They shared leaves and soil, accelerating the consumption of salt.
But the Deck Beasts themselves weren’t aware of this.
They still followed their habits, going to the same place every day to lick mud and eat soil, unknowingly becoming weaker and weaker.
Compared to the “small” Deck Beast baby, the massive adult Deck Beast developed symptoms of salt deficiency much faster.
The little squirrels suddenly understood:
“So, salt deficiency.”
“Salt, important!”
“We, dig salt mine!”
Chu Jiu knew that humans in this other world obtained edible salt by drying sea salt. And dwarf beastmen like the little squirrels mined rock salt from between rocks.
Moreover, in the dwarf beastmen’s “ore exchange table,” rock salt was even classified as a “rare ore.”
The little squirrels, finally understanding the reason, now looked excited:
“It, better?”
“We, center lake island?”
Now that the big Deck Beast had recovered, it could take them to the central lake island! It could also migrate early and find the next salt-rich habitat for itself!
Chu Jiu shook his head: “I’m afraid it’s not that easy.”
Now, the big Deck Beast could barely manage to prop up its upper body and occasionally nudge heads with the little Deck Beast, comforting the other with its actions.
But that was all.
Chu Jiu knew that the salt he had just poured in was a “drop in the bucket” for a behemoth of this size and couldn’t truly alleviate its symptoms.
To get the Deck Beast back on its feet and able to carry people across the water, it needed more salt.
More salt…
Chu Jiu looked at the little squirrels in front of him, a kind smile, reminiscent of when he had lured Glup-Glup and Kakaba, appearing on his face: “Little guys, do you want to try looking for a salt mine here?”
*
The little squirrels immediately sprang into action.
For the dwarf beastmen, whose mining talent was directly maxed out, finding an underground salt mine near “salt-rich soil” wasn’t difficult.
They indeed made discoveries quickly.
But after some exploration, the little squirrels scratched their heads and found Chu Jiu, looking troubled:
About ten meters below the ground rocks, there was indeed “salt.”
But this salt was mixed in with groundwater, not solid rock salt.
The little squirrels had never mined this kind of salt before and didn’t know how to get it out.
Chu Jiu was stunned for a moment, then smiled: “Since there’s ‘water,’ then let’s dig a well.”
The little squirrels were still blank: “But, how does water become salt?”
Chu Jiu said, “Ah, humans do have a way to turn this underground brine into salt—filtering, boiling, separating impurities, and finally drying it in the sun will give us edible salt.”
He paused, the corners of his eyes curving into a smile: “But, the one who needs salt this time doesn’t need ‘human edible salt’.”
The other party was a behemoth!
A behemoth that directly ate dirt to supplement salt!
Just use buckets to draw out the brine for it; there was no need for artificial purification.
The three little squirrels woke up from their daze again, cheering and running off to dig a well.
*
In Earth’s history, digging a salt well, even the most primitive “large, shallow well,” required a long time and considerable manpower and resources.
But for the dwarf beastmen…
This was a small project that took two days.
Moreover, Chu Jiu had said that this well was only for temporary use, as long as it could fit wooden buckets to extract brine, so there was no need to reserve any “space for people to descend.”
Thus, the dwarf beastmen’s actions were even faster.
Chu Jiu squatted aside, watching the dwarf beastmen coordinate and dig in response to each other’s calls, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly:
It was good that he brought the little squirrels along.
It was good… that this was originally underground, so they didn’t need to spend a long time and use complex processes to extract precious salt from the depths of the earth like ancient Chinese people.
Chu Jiu knew that in Chinese history, there was a type of small-bore salt well called “Zhuotong Well.”
Its wellhead diameter was only about 15 centimeters, but its depth could reach an astonishing hundreds of meters!
Such a small-diameter well was naturally not dug manually using traditional methods but was created using primitive “impact drilling technology,” with manpower repeatedly driving the drill bit up and down above the wellhead until it reached the brine layer.
The mechanical principles, drilling tools, brine extraction methods, and so on, used in the entire process of drilling wells and extracting salt amazed people thousands of years later.
Chu Jiu could only sigh again: Fortunately, this was the “Land of the Past,” where you could find salt mines by digging casually, without needing to drill “Zhuotong Wells.”
*
Two days later, the “salt well” was dug.
Chu Jiu set up the simplest windlass at the wellhead, lifted buckets of yellow brine one by one, and then poured them into large wooden buckets, making [Deck Beast Exclusive Saltwater Toffee].
After Little Can fed the adult Deck Beast ten saltwater toffees in a row, this behemoth, which had originally been too weak to even eat and could only lie listlessly on the ground with its eyes seemingly covered in a layer of mist, slowly stood up and let out a long, joyful roar!
Chu Jiu was immediately overjoyed and punched the air repeatedly: It’s better, it’s better!
This time it was truly better!
The behemoth lowered its head, staring at the gesticulating Chu Jiu, the expression in its yellowish-brown eyes somewhat complex.
…Was that… a look of gratitude?
Chu Jiu wasn’t quite sure.
Chu Jiu met its gaze for a few seconds, suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and quickly opened [Enemy Detection].
[Detecting…]
[Detection Result: This is an adult Deck Beast that has been rescued! Its current physical condition is good enough to support it in finding a new habitat!
It is very grateful to the small bipedal creature that rescued it and is willing to help the bipedal creature reach its destination! There’s just one thing: could this bipedal creature please stop dancing?]
