We made you the chief, and now you've become the world's chief?

Chapter 57 What's on the other side of the river?
After sailing for an unknown period of time, the flagship had long since distanced itself from the other man-powered wooden boats behind it.

After roughly estimating the speed, Xia Minghao felt that it was no different from running on the shore.

Looking at the leaves, I couldn't help but marvel once again at the wondrous power of the totem.

It's a pity that Ye Zi doesn't know where the other members of the Wind Tribe are; otherwise, she could recruit them all, which would be a great help.

"Chief! Look! It's moo-moo!"

"Moo moo moo?"

Hearing Una's delighted shout, Xia Minghao immediately shifted his gaze from Ye Zi to the side of the boat.

Fifteen or sixteen exceptionally large creatures appeared in the woods on the riverbank not far away.

The creature was entirely dark black, but the long horn on its nose was the most striking feature.

The horn is enormous, like a tree branch with two forks, and the shape formed by these two forks looks somewhat like a heart at first glance.

So this is the "兕" that Una mentioned before!
If viewed from the front, it does indeed look exactly like the character "兕".

"This is... a rhinoceros? No, it's more like a water buffalo."

After comparing the two in his mind, Xia Minghao noticed that Si seemed to want to go into the water, so he immediately said to Ye Zi.

"Leaf, wind, stop the boat, quick."

Upon hearing this, Ye Zi's cheeks immediately puffed out, and her whole body seemed to be exerting force.

The airflow pushing the sail went from being there to being gone, and then immediately reversed direction, coming back up from being gone, effectively bringing the boat to a stop.

The flagship then slowly came to a stop, and the rhinoceroses lined up and entered the water one by one.

"Usa, what if this comes over and rams the ship?"

Looking at the enormous size of the rhinoceros, Xia Minghao was still a little worried and asked Usa.

Upon hearing the chief's question, Usa thought for a moment before speaking.

“We picked fruit right next to them without getting hurt.”

After Usa finished speaking, Liba, who had been silent the whole way, suddenly spoke up excitedly, with a hint of fear in his eyes.

“They are terrifying. When we hunted them before, our wooden spears couldn’t even pierce their skin! They are very strong. One of them knocked my tribesmen away, and he died.”

After hearing what Li Ba said, Xia Minghao raised his eyebrows.

Look at what you're saying! You want to hunt it down, but if it doesn't fight back, it'll be a waste of this big guy.

You say the rhinoceros is scary? In the rhinoceros's opinion, you guys are probably the scariest. You're eating your meal and suddenly you poke it with a big toothpick.

Looking again at the rhinoceros already swimming in the river, Xia Minghao made a deduction in his mind.

These large animals are likely herbivorous and have a docile temperament; they won't attack people unless provoked, so there's no need to worry.

No wonder every corner of it is shaped like a love for you.

After observing the rhinoceros swimming slowly in the river for a while, Xia Minghao suddenly felt that something was wrong...

By the way, there are schools of blackfish in this river that feed on large fish covered in scales.

Don't these rhinos know this? Or aren't they afraid?
Then, by using the leaves to exert force and controlling the airflow, the boat was propelled forward a short distance.

Only then could one barely make out that as the rhinoceros swam, the tails of blackfish would occasionally appear on the surface of the water around it.

Clearly, there must be a larger school of blackfish underwater, attacking the rhinoceros.

But Si remained calm and composed, seemingly unaffected.

No wonder Li Ba said that even wooden spears couldn't pierce their skin; it's so thick that even blackfish couldn't do anything to them.

With such strong defenses, and plenty of food for herbivores in the forest, there shouldn't be only fifteen or sixteen of them.

As Xia Minghao watched the rhinoceros walk ashore, puzzled, a sudden and unexpected change occurred!
Across the river was a swamp. The herd of rhinoceroses had just come ashore when one of them suddenly went berserk, emitting a sharp, rapid moo!

Its body began to twist wildly, causing a large, rotten piece of wood next to it to fly up.

More rotten wood drifted over.

Wait, why is the rotten wood still moving?
Xia Minghao's eyes widened, and only then could he see clearly.

That's not rotten wood, it's clearly a crocodile! And a huge, enormous crocodile at that!

It seems these giant crocodiles in the swamp had been lying in wait, just waiting for the herd of rhinoceroses to come ashore.

The cry also attracted the attention of the other rhinoceroses. The closest one rushed over quickly and headbutted it!
The first crocodile to attack was immediately launched into the air, spinning more than ten times before landing back in the swamp. But the other crocodiles had already arrived and began tearing at the injured crocodile.

The herd of rhinoceroses reacted immediately and began to huddle together to form a defense.

But it was too late. In the end, the giant crocodiles succeeded, biting the rhinoceros several times, skin and flesh splattering blood that stained the nearby swamp red.

The rhinoceros had already collapsed weakly in the swamp, its eyes wide open, emitting painful groans.

The giant crocodiles stopped attacking and hid in the distance, waiting.

Once the herd of rhinoceroses leaves, the dead rhinoceros becomes their feast.

Witnessing the brutal reality of survival of the fittest in nature firsthand was far more shocking to Xia Minghao than watching "Animal World."

When he came to his senses, he realized that everyone on the ship was tightly surrounding him.

Meanwhile, Shia, Una, and Yezi all clung to him like koalas.

Everyone looked at the dozen or so giant crocodiles that lay dormant in the swamp like dead trees, their eyes filled with fear.

Only Xia Minghao's eyes lit up when he looked at it again.

Crocodile meat is absolutely delicious!

Xia Minghao had eaten there once when he went to Guangzhou. That was the first and only time he had ever eaten it.

When summer vacation ended and school started, Xia Minghao still couldn't forget the delicious taste of crocodile meat. At that time, he set a goal that he must eat it again after he started working.

I was too busy to go, but I never expected that this wish would be fulfilled in the primitive era.

The herd of rhinoceroses eventually left, but they became more cautious.

The small, young rhinoceroses, whose skin wasn't yet thick enough, were surrounded in the middle.

The strongest are on the periphery, always on guard.

The swamp returned to calm, and Xia Minghao's gaze no longer lingered on the crocodiles. He gave Ye Zi the order to set sail.

As the wooden boat started moving again, propelled by the wind created by the leaves, the marshland on the opposite bank of the river began to recede.

Looking back at the swamp on the opposite bank of the river, Xia Minghao stroked his chin, deep in thought.

I hadn't really had a chance to observe the situation on the other side of the river carefully before. After all, I hadn't even figured out my own little plot of land on this side of the river yet, and there were so many things to deal with, so naturally I didn't have the time.

Do you remember the location of the Xi tribe? The other side of the river wasn't a swamp or wetland, but a forest, only the riverbank was lower.

Unexpectedly, after traveling a certain distance downstream, a swampy terrain was formed.

In such a large swamp, we might be able to find some crops that can be domesticated.

Stable water sources, fertile silt, and a moist microenvironment are the three main characteristics of marsh wetlands.

Therefore, it is very suitable for the growth of wild grains and tuber plants.

Even if they can't find the original rice or anything like that, they can still obtain a lot of edible resources, and there might even be other tribes there.

It's certainly worth exploring, but we should wait until the salt springs stabilize before making detailed plans.

The ship's speed increased again, but the people on board were still in shock.

This won't do. We don't know what dangers we might face when we get there. We can't let things be like this now...

After a moment's thought, Xia Minghao decided to tell them about the taste of crocodile meat he had eaten.

"Chief, you've eaten that, that terrible thing?"

Before they had even started, someone in the crowd exclaimed in surprise that their chieftain had actually eaten that terrifying thing that could bite off a whole rhinoceros's flesh!
"Of course, and it tastes delicious, much better than pheasant, wild boar, or black carp."

Having attracted everyone's attention, Xia Minghao continued speaking.

Of all things under heaven, food is the most important, especially for these primitive people who had just escaped hunger.

The fear on his face was immediately replaced by a longing for the delicious food Xia Minghao had described.

The cold sweat disappeared, replaced by drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Having talked until his throat was dry, Xia Minghao saw the reactions of the crowd and knew he had achieved his goal, so he stopped wasting his breath.

He turned to face the front of the ship, opened his military water bottle, and was about to take a sip of water to moisten his throat.

But when he saw the faintly visible spectacle in the distance, Xia Minghao momentarily forgot his thirst, his eyes widening in disbelief...

(End of this chapter)