Chapter 11: Walking Right Into the Trap

The Black Forest did not appear to be excessively large to the naked eye, but it was certainly not something they could clear out in a short amount of time.

Throughout this process, they inevitably caught sight of the rats darting and scurrying into every corner of the woods. Many tribe members wanted to rush forward and catch them, but Zhou Xu called them off.

"Alright, don't waste your energy. These rats move too quickly. If they could be caught by hand, we would have caught them yesterday instead of waiting until today. Let's save our strength for now."

As he spoke, he picked up a flat stone from the ground that was slightly larger than his palm.

"Look at this. You should pick stones like this one."

Zhou Xu demonstrated while speaking to the tribe members responsible for gathering supplies.

During this time, every tribe member was already holding branches they had picked up along the way, some even clutching them with both arms. This was one of the reasons their efficiency in gathering firewood was so low. At the rate they were hauling them, they would soon be unable to carry any more and would have to make a trip back, wasting even more time.

Seeing this, Zhou Xu waved them over.

"Come here, all of you. Take a bundle of the bark rope I gave you before we set out."

Taking the bark rope handed to him by the tribe members, Zhou Xu spread it out on the ground.

"Put the branches on top."

Upon receiving the order, the tribe members did as they were told without question. The branches they had gathered soon piled up on the ground. Once he saw the pile was sufficient, Zhou Xu stepped on the branches, pulled the bark rope tight with his hands, and expertly tied them into a bundle in a few swift motions.

Back home, he used to always save cardboard boxes from daily life to sell later; the technique he used for those boxes worked perfectly here.

"Look, like this. You can just grab the bark rope and sling it over your shoulder. One person can carry all these branches at once."

Before, it would have taken at least five or six people to carry that same amount of wood, but now, Zhou Xu had easily lifted it with one hand using a single strip of bark rope. The surrounding tribe members couldn't help but gasp in amazement. The binding technique itself wasn't difficult; the hard part was simply being the first one to think of it.

"Alright, the supply gathering squad, split into two groups of five and head to the areas on either side to collect resources. Do not go near this area. The rest of you, come with me."

Although the members of the gathering squad were curious about what their leader was planning to do next, they dared not delay now that he had issued an order. They quickly split into two teams and moved toward the designated areas.

Once the two squads were far enough away, Zhou Xu finally began his work.

"Feique, place the insect heads and internal organs here. Not too much, just a little bit is enough."

"Yes."

Feique replied immediately and followed his instructions, placing the bait exactly where Zhou Xu had pointed.

"Good. Now, bring out that small, forked branch and the basket we picked up earlier, and set it up like this."

A small basket trap was quickly set up. Of course, Zhou Xu couldn't rely solely on the rats bumping into the branch or the basket to trigger the trap. To this end, he had already tied a thin bark rope to the small branch.

There were two types of bark rope he had taught Butterfly and the others to weave the previous night. One was thicker, woven from multiple strips of bark, which was now being used by the gathering squad to bundle firewood. The other was the thin, simple twisted rope he was using now as a trigger line.

To avoid pulling the branch prematurely, Zhou Xu carefully backed away while letting out the rope, hiding behind a large tree not far off.

"All of you, go hide nearby and stay quiet. What we are doing now is waiting for the prey to come to us."

Zhou Xu's words left Feique and the others at a loss for what to say. However, considering the various miracles their leader had already shown them, they followed his orders and hid nearby.

Truth be told, Zhou Xu himself wasn't entirely confident. It wasn't just a matter of whether the trap would catch a rat, but whether these rats were even edible. According to his modern perspective, rats were mostly carriers of viruses, and the risk of eating them was too high. But then, he reconsidered—the environment of this primitive world was different from the modern one.

Simply put, in this near-pristine, primitive world, there weren't as many bacteria and viruses. Since the rats were eating cleaner food, they would naturally be much cleaner themselves.

*There are quite a lot of rats in this Black Forest, and in this world, I doubt anyone has ever used this trap to catch them before. It might actually be quite easy to lure them in.*

At this moment, while Zhou Xu told himself he was analyzing the situation, he was also comforting himself. On this barren land, the food they could obtain was simply too scarce. If they couldn't catch anything, they would go hungry; there was no room for choice.

Just as he was thinking this, within his field of vision, Zhou Xu quickly spotted a rat sneaking into the vicinity.

*Now that I think about it, my eyesight has improved a lot. I used to have slight nearsightedness, but since I crossed over, even without glasses, I can see so clearly, and my observational skills have also become sharper.*

*That rat hiding in the corner—I might not have noticed it before, but now I saw it at a single glance. Not only has my field of vision widened, but it has also become much clearer.*

*Is this a passive enhancement from the Eye of Insight? Even when I'm not directly using the ability, have my vision and observational skills been permanently boosted?*

He had no time to ponder further. The rat in the distance had clearly smelled the scent of the insect heads and organs. After cautiously observing its surroundings, it scurried into the trap.

Just as it grabbed the bait and prepared to eat, Zhou Xu gave the thin rope in his hand a gentle tug.

As the small branch was pulled away, the basket fell instantly, trapping the rat underneath.

In that moment, the rat was clearly startled and began to scramble wildly inside, causing the entire basket to sway. The basket itself wasn't heavy, and since the ground in the wild wasn't perfectly flat, there was a risk the rat might escape if it struggled hard enough.

Therefore, the moment the prey was trapped, Zhou Xu moved with lightning speed. He lunged forward, and to the incredulous gasps of the tribe members, he pressed his hand firmly onto the violently shaking basket.

Clearly, none of them had expected that the rat they couldn't catch despite their best efforts would actually walk right into their leader's basket.

In retrospect, the logic behind it wasn't hard to understand. But that didn't diminish the impact of that moment when the rat walked right into the trap. At this instant, it felt as though a door to a new world was slowly opening before them.