Chapter 63: The Difference in Zhou Xu

The Evil Wolf never expected Zhou Xu to propose such a thing.

Rationality in his heart told him that even if he accepted this proposal and won, it might not change his current predicament.

Rejecting the proposal might allow him to live a more peaceful life in the future.

However, humans are creatures that cannot maintain rationality at all times! To let him just completely accept defeat like that? He had to admit that there was still a part of him that simply could not let it go.

In short, he was unconvinced!

Thinking of this, the Evil Wolf clenched his teeth.

"Fine, I accept!"

Meanwhile, as the sky gradually darkened over the Salt Lake Camp, fires were being lit and dinner was being prepared.

Since the battle had ended in the morning, and Zhou Xu had immediately sent people to the Black Moon Camp to inform them of the situation,

Ye Jinghong, who was in charge of the Black Moon Camp at the time, had long since dispatched people carrying a substantial amount of fresh water and food.

Of course, considering transport efficiency, even with more manpower mobilized, it was impossible to ensure that everyone could eat and drink their fill.

Therefore, Zhou Xu's current idea was to first distribute a bite of food to everyone to stabilize their emotions.

With this in mind, he immediately pulled Shi Lei aside and gave him some instructions.

"The number of people this time is a bit large, and the food delivered is limited. For dinner, divide each roasted fish into four pieces for distribution."

"Understood."

Hearing the instructions, Shi Lei nodded briskly.

Having also been a tribal leader, Shi Lei naturally understood Zhou Xu's intentions at this moment.

Normally, members of their tribe would each have a bowl of fish soup and half a roasted fish per meal.

This time, however, the Evil Wolf's tribe had a considerable population.

After all, in this era, actual combat casualties were rarely high; most deaths resulted from untreated wounds getting infected after the battle.

Fortunately, this problem had basically been resolved on Zhou Xu's side.

This allowed them to virtually take over the entire population of the opposing tribe, numbering a total of forty-six people.

Based on this premise, since their own tribe already had sixty-eight members, the addition of these forty-six people instantly accounted for nearly half of their total population.

At the same time, it instantly pushed their tribe's total population past the hundred-person mark, reaching one hundred and fourteen!

In an era where even agriculture had yet to begin, a tribe with a scale of over a hundred people was already quite incredible.

Normally, given the hunting standards of this era, relying solely on hunting would never generate the efficiency required to sustain the normal operation of a hundred-person tribe.

The reason Zhou Xu had the confidence to absorb these tribal populations was entirely due to the fact that his tribe had already developed "fishing" and "aquaculture," which could relatively steadily provide them with meat, rather than relying entirely on highly unstable hunting activities.

Even so, this sudden increase in population would undoubtedly significantly escalate the food pressure on their tribe.

*It seems I'll have to increase the number of rafts again later, adding at least one more, otherwise the food supply won't keep up.*

Just as Zhou Xu was pondering this, accompanied by the bubbling sounds echoing within the camp, the gradually spreading aroma of fish soup caused the starving prisoners, including the Evil Wolf, to unconsciously flare their nostrils.

For the Evil Wolf and his men, who were still living savagely and consuming raw meat, they had never smelled such an aroma before.

"What is this smell?"

Inhaling the fragrance, saliva uncontrollably began to secrete in their mouths, while their stomachs emitted waves of wailing.

The feeling of hunger had never been as intense as it was right now.

Faced with the Evil Wolf's question, Zhou Xu merely replied casually, "Dinner."

He had been both hungry and exhausted all day, and his mind was still occupied with the settlement of this group of people and the subsequent development of the tribe.

At this moment, he had little mood for idle chatter.

Dinner was prepared quickly. Looking at the tumbling fish meat in the pot, the Evil Wolf and his men unconsciously stretched their necks and swallowed hard.

Having fled all the way here, they had basically not had a decent meal, relying entirely on gnawing tree bark and roots to fill their stomachs. The temptation of the food right before their eyes needed no elaboration.

"Looks like dinner is almost ready."

Smelling the aroma as well, Zhou Xu stretched his back and stood up. Having taken just two steps, as if remembering something, he turned back to look at the Evil Wolf, who was still sprawled on the ground.

"You've been lying there all afternoon, you should have rested enough by now. Surely you can walk a few steps on your own?"

*Could it be...*

Hearing Zhou Xu's words, the Evil Wolf inevitably harbored a few speculations in his heart.

To be honest, although their new leader had previously sworn that as long as he had a bite to eat, they would too,

as a prisoner, the Evil Wolf still possessed a modicum of self-awareness.

In this era, food had always been precious. They had just been captured, having done nothing and contributed nothing to this tribe, yet they wanted to share valuable food?

That idea was somewhat too naive.

However, judging by their new leader's tone, it seemed they might actually receive something.

During this time, Zhou Xu paid him no mind and directly beckoned to Ye Yan, who had already started helping process the medicinal herbs.

"Ye Yan, come eat."

Saying this, Zhou Xu paused for a moment, then looked around.

"The same goes for all of you. I said, as long as I have a bite to eat, you will have a bite to eat, and today is no exception."

Clearly, after calming down, very few of these prisoners had taken Zhou Xu's words seriously.

Yet Zhou Xu's current actions genuinely left them somewhat at a loss, and not even the Evil Wolf was an exception to this.

On the contrary, Ye Yan behaved very decisively.

As a smart man, Ye Yan certainly knew his own value. Unlike when he followed the Evil Wolf previously, despite their brief contact, he could sense the high regard Zhou Xu held for him!

This was different from the Evil Wolf.

Although the Evil Wolf understood his value, essentially, he still treated him from a superior's stance, merely ordering him around.

This allowed Ye Yan to develop quite a favorable impression of Zhou Xu during their brief interaction.

Undoubtedly, this was thanks to Zhou Xu's upbringing in modern society, where various modern ideologies and concepts were deeply rooted.

Although after crossing over, he gave tasks to his tribal members without any ambiguity, he never acted condescendingly or bossily.

This prevented those following his commands from feeling resentment. On this point alone, he had already surpassed the vast majority of tribal leaders in this era.

Yet Zhou Xu himself seemed entirely unaware of this.