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

Chapter 61 Spice and Wolf

After piling the giant wolf's carcass haphazardly on the ground, Xia Minghao led the group to begin disposing of the body while waiting for the main force to arrive.

The women were tasked with finding sharp stones like flint in the vicinity, while Xia Minghao personally began skinning the giant wolf, aiming to remove the pelt as intact as possible with his survival knife.

In the past, wild boar hides and the like were only roughly processed because there was neither the time nor the resources.

Now things are different. Once we reach the salt spring, we'll have salt!
Salt is key to fur tanning!

Salt can be used to degrease and preserve the fur, making this precious wolf pelt soft and durable.

After painstakingly skinning a giant wolf, the women took the carcass and began cutting the flesh with freshly forged, sharp flint.

After dealing with three or four of them, Xia Minghao, drenched in sweat, heard Wangcai barking again.

Turning my head to look at the shore, I saw that the main force had finally arrived.

"Chief, Chief!"

Lipa on the lead ship was very excited to see Xia Minghao, but as soon as he called out, he suddenly discovered giant wolves all over the place and stumbled in fright.

The rest of the crew were also terrified, thinking that the chief was being surrounded by wolves.

Lipa quickly squatted down to steady himself.

Looking again, they realized that the wolves were already dead, and some of them had their flesh cut into pieces and laid out to dry on the newly made meat drying rack.

"You've finally arrived! Quickly get ashore, find some rocks, and cut some wolf meat."

After saying something to the people who had come ashore, Xia Minghao ignored them and continued to skin the wolf.

The primitive people on the boat were dumbfounded. It turned out that the chief had not only reached the shore, but also raided a wolf den!
This isn't some crippled wolf like Wangcai that's obviously not a threat; it's a real giant wolf!
The chief, leading only about twenty men, managed to kill nearly twenty giant wolves without a single one being injured.

The deep-seated fear of the giant wolf in their hearts contrasted sharply with the scene before them.

The primitive people were all dumbfounded. After coming ashore, they all gathered around the giant wolf carcass piled up like a small mountain, staring wide-eyed and talking in astonishment.

Feeling that the already dim light was being blocked by this group of people, Xia Minghao looked up and urged them on.

"What are you babbling about? Quick, find some stones! Cut the flesh off all these corpses!"

With this reminder, everyone seemed to wake up from a dream and began to search in groups for flint or stones that could be used after being slightly polished.

These men and women, who were not originally from the Xi tribe, returned with stones and, upon seeing the chief and the small mountain of giant wolf corpses beside him, all had the same thought.

"The chief really can protect us. Following him, we not only don't have to fear the giant wolves, but we can also kill them!"

In an instant, everyone felt a strong sense of security being by the chief's side.

After finally managing to peel off a relatively intact wolf pelt, he wiped his sweat, only to find everyone else staring at him expectantly.

Only then did Xia Minghao notice that the skinned giant wolf carcasses had already been disposed of.

Indeed, there is strength in numbers.

It seemed that having everyone here to deal with the wolf carcasses was a bit of a labor surplus, so Xia Minghao thought for a moment and decided to send forty people to do other things.

That is to dig earthen kilns, light fires, and roast wolf meat for preservation.

"Damn, Wangcai, aren't you a male wolf?"

As the sun set, Xia Minghao stood up, exhausted after finally managing to deal with ten wolves.

Turning around, I discovered a strange scene.

I hadn't noticed before, but I didn't expect that all the wolf cubs would gather in Wangcai's arms and start drinking milk.

I clearly remember that Wangcai is a male wolf, could I be mistaken?

Walking up to Wangcai, I observed him again and confirmed his gender once more.

"How perverted, Wangcai! You male dog, oh no, male wolf, how come you're showing such maternal instincts?"

Although the scene was a bit strange, Xia Minghao could tell that Wangcai had accepted the wolf cubs.

It would be good if Wangcai could become the "nanny" of these wolf cubs.

Not only does it save some trouble, but Wangcai is also so dog-like.

With Wangcai by their side, these wolf cubs might even be easier to tame.

But Wangcai is ultimately a male wolf, and since he can't nurse the wolf cubs, he has to find his own food.

Of course, you can't feed wolf cubs wolf meat, otherwise that would be too hellish. More importantly, there's the risk of cannibalism leading to prions or something similar.

Why not just have Hima find someone to catch a few fish in the river with a fish trap? The wolf cubs don't eat much anyway, it'll be done in no time.

There is already enough timber, and the earthen kiln has been dug.

The barbecue and rice cooking were done simultaneously, and everything was quickly arranged perfectly.

Five earthenware pots contained the meat of a whole giant wolf, along with the rare spice Xia Minghao had acquired that day: oregano.

However, he didn't put in any of those small red chilies. Xia Minghao decided to use all the small red chilies he brought as seeds and plant them all when he had time. After simmering for a long time, it was finally cooked, and the aroma of the meat mixed with a spicy fragrance they had never smelled before wafted out.

After Xia Minghao started eating, everyone else began to share the wolf meat in the pot.

At this moment, a man from the Li tribe, while hissing and swallowing the scalding hot wolf meat, spoke up.

"Chief, wolf meat, it smells delicious!"

Xia Minghao also tasted a small bite of the still-hot wolf meat and was equally pleasantly surprised.

Not only does it have little fishy smell, but it also has a spicy and slightly sour citrus flavor.

The richness of the meat has increased significantly!

This is all thanks to oregano.

"No, it's not wolf meat, it's oregano. I added oregano."

Then, Xia Minghao picked up a branch of an oregano bush, which still had many leaves on it.

"Smell it, isn't this the fragrance?"

As the oregano was passed from hand to hand among the primitive people, everyone smelled a unique aroma similar to the one they had just tasted in the wolf meat.

"Remember this in the future. If you see this, bring it back to your tribe and add it to your pot. It will make the food taste better."

The oregano leaves, which had been bitten a few times by someone, were returned to Xia Minghao's hands. Xia Minghao then addressed the crowd.

Everyone nodded in agreement, and the men and women who were originally from the Li tribe all remembered the words that Lipa had repeatedly said.

The chief is definitely right.

It seems that this is indeed the case now; migrating here meant finding something that would make the meat taste better.

Besides, there was nothing to worry about to begin with. The chief had only brought more than twenty people and had already killed so many wolves!
Most of the women had already eaten their fill, while some of the men were still wolfing down their food, with a considerable amount of meat still left in the pot.

Most of those who had finished eating started chatting, naturally focusing on the people on Xia Minghao's flagship.

Everyone wanted to know what had happened before they arrived.

After eating several large pieces of wolf meat, Xia Minghao let out a satisfied burp. Sure enough, he was tired before he ate, and this first meal after the migration was incredibly enjoyable.

The branches that hadn't been dried crackled as they burned. After dinner, Xia Minghao arranged for many people to keep watch while continuing to roast the wolf meat.

Seeing everyone exhausted after eating and drinking their fill, leaning against each other and falling asleep, Xia Minghao also crawled into his tent, waiting for the next day to arrive.

……

……

……

"Wam, are you sure you didn't miss the cave you mentioned?"

Looking up at the sun, which had already slipped below the horizon, Xia Minghao wiped his sweat and asked Wamu somewhat uncertainly.

Wamu nodded immediately.

It's so far?
If we haven't missed the cave entrance that Wamu mentioned, then this distance is not good news.

It's too far from the river.

Having received a positive reply from Wamu, Xia Minghao did not delay and continued forward.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, just as they were about to confirm with Wamu again, they heard Wamu's excited voice.

"Chief, there, under that giant tree, is the cave."

Giant tree?

Upon hearing this, Xia Minghao immediately looked over and indeed saw an incredibly thick tree, at least ten people could hug it, and its height was estimated to be as tall as a ten-story building.

The area around the tree was quite open, making it particularly conspicuous in the dense forest. Presumably, the giant tree had drained the surrounding area of ​​nutrients, leaving it barren.

With such a distinctive feature, Wamu would most likely not mistake it, and Xia Minghao was now certain.

"Shifa, take some men and come with me to investigate. Usa, have someone search the area for signs of a bear. If you find a bear outside trying to return to the cave, tell me immediately."

After arranging the manpower, Xia Minghao led his men toward the cave entrance.

Once they could see what was inside the cave entrance, they stopped, bent down, and carefully observed.

Just as Wamu had said, the cave was not pitch black inside, but rather a hidden world; the mountain was indeed hollow.

Taking out his binoculars, Xia Minghao peered through the cave to observe the interior of the mountain and see if he could spot any traces of a bear.

But they found nothing, and they didn't know whether the object was inside the mountain or hidden in some secluded corner.

Just as they were about to get closer, a head suddenly popped out from the mountain.

In this salt spring land where the human-faced bear dwells, there are actually other people?!
(End of this chapter)