Chapter 50: That Actually Doesn't Sound Too Bad

Don't forget, it is spring right now, and the weather is gradually warming up. A rough guess puts the maximum daytime temperature at around twenty degrees Celsius. All things are awakening, and it is once again the mating season for animals.

Many of the wild rabbits they captured are probably already capable of mating.

It is even possible that some of the captured wild rabbits were already pregnant.

With such thoughts in mind, Zhou Xu looked at the wild rabbits in the cage.

At that moment, the litter of wild rabbits suddenly stirred. Looking closely, he saw that one rabbit had suddenly attacked another one that was close to it.

All of this happened quite quickly. If not for the passive bonus of the 'Eye of Insight,' he might not have noticed it at all.

"This rabbit..."

The attacked wild rabbit fled to the side in a rather disheveled state, while the attacking rabbit was currently curled up in the corner of the cage, with a significant amount of hay piled around its body.

"Could it be pregnant?"

[Generally, after a female animal becomes pregnant, her aggressiveness increases in order to protect the unborn young in her belly...]

Thinking of this, Zhou Xu immediately signaled the tribe member standing nearby.

"Move that rabbit curled up in the corner to the cage next to it."

To provide a more stable and safe environment for pregnant rabbits, after making the first rabbit cage, they had specially prepared an adjacent cage dedicated to pregnant rabbits to facilitate their care.

The people responsible for taking care of these rabbits were members of the 'Agricultural Department' within their tribe.

Although their tribe had not yet found any crops to usher in the agricultural era, the breeding and raising of livestock is, in itself, a part of agriculture.

Therefore, within the tribe, the fishermen catching fish on the lake and the breeding personnel responsible for tending to the rabbits here both belonged to the Agricultural Department.

Aside from them, there was, of course, a proper farming personnel—though there was only one...

After all, there were no crops to cultivate at the moment, and it was hard to say when any would be found. With the tribe's manpower already tight, assigning too many farming personnel would simply be a waste of labor.

Given this premise, the reason for appointing such a farming personnel naturally had a purpose.

While there were no crops yet, preliminary preparatory work still had to be done.

For example, loosening the soil and accumulating fertilizer.

Doing these things took time, too. You couldn't just wait until the crops were brought right in front of you before starting to fuss over this; that would be far too inefficient.

All of these tasks had to be prepared in advance.

Once the crops arrived, planting could begin immediately.

The land planned for agriculture was currently designated on the outer periphery of the Black Moon Camp. Zhou Xu had provisioned plenty of space for the future expansion of the camp's area.

With the Black Moon Camp as the center, Zhou Xu had already roughly planned the future layout of the surrounding area, and now he was simply waiting to implement it step by step.

"Chieftain, the trees you requested have all been chopped down and brought back."

Just as he finished arranging matters for the pregnant rabbit, someone from the logging team ran over.

Along with the development of the tribe, their demand for timber was constantly increasing.

Therefore, Zhou Xu had specially formed a logging team, which currently consisted of five relatively capable tribe members.

By this time, the felled trees had all been piled up by the lakeside.

According to his previous plan and arrangement, these trees were to be used to build rafts.

When it came to making rafts, the people from the original Black Moon Tribe had already accumulated some experience, whereas Zhou Xu himself had zero practical experience.

That didn't matter, however, because what he intended to do, in short, was to upgrade the binding method of the rafts based on existing techniques to make them sturdier.

Although it sounded simple, transporting those trees was already hard physical work, and securing and binding them together was even more tiring. It unexpectedly turned out to be a major project.

Working together and lending each other a hand, a few of them spent roughly the entire afternoon binding the two rafts.

"Hoo—"

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Zhou Xu let out a long breath, taking a long while to recover.

When eating only one meal a day, such physical labor placed a heavy burden on the body. A single session was enough to leave them dizzy with fatigue.

Such a condition undoubtedly affected their work efficiency.

By this time, Zhou Xu was already contemplating the idea of increasing the frequency of meals to two meals a day.

In fact, he had always had this plan in mind.

However, according to the original plan, this arrangement was supposed to take place after the successful breeding and raising of the wild rabbits.

After all, once the rabbit breeding reached a certain scale, having two meals a day would no longer be a problem.

Yet, wanting to switch to two meals a day right now...

[It doesn't seem completely impossible either.]

As this thought flashed through his mind, Zhou Xu's gaze fell upon the raft in front of him, which was ready to be officially launched into the water.

Feeling the gazes of the tribe members fixed upon him, Zhou Xu, having caught his breath, mustered up his spirits, stepped forward, and placed his foot on the edge of the raft.

With a sudden burst of strength, he kicked the raft directly toward the lake's surface!

At the same time, he seized the opportunity to jump onto the raft, drifting along with it toward the lake. Amidst the cheers of the crowd, the raft's launching ceremony was successfully completed.

Unlike the two rafts they originally owned, the change in the binding method made the new raft more compact and sturdy, granting it much better stability.

The sweat poured over an entire afternoon yielded visible results and rewards in the most direct way possible. This feeling was both fulfilling and exhilarating.

The tribe members who helped build the raft were in an extremely excited state. At the same time, the fishermen currently fishing on the lake cast their glances over, instantly turning them into the center of attention on this lake.

[That's right, switching to two meals a day right now isn't entirely unfeasible. In just a couple of days, the number of operational rafts in the tribe will officially increase to four. Meanwhile, over at the equipment department, the fishing nets should be just about finished weaving as well. By then, fishing efficiency will directly double!]

Thinking of this, Zhou Xu instantly perked up.

As they returned to the shore, the fishermen were just wrapping up their day's work, preparing to spread out their fishing nets and hang them on the racks by the lakeside.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhou Xu called the fishermen over to make arrangements.

"Starting tomorrow, the two newly built rafts will be used for fishing, while the two older rafts need to be reinforced again."

Clearly, in Zhou Xu's view, the two old rafts were somewhat hazardous. For safety's sake, he needed to make time to reinforce them properly.

Once the reinforcement was complete, all four rafts could be put into simultaneous use!