Chapter 78

When Zhang Tie returned to the treehouse with his ugly mining basket, Bari, Doug, Sista, Baghdad, and Shaven, who had gone hunting with him today, were already back. Lei had kept watch in the second half of the night, so he stayed at the base today to rest.

As soon as he saw the listless faces of Doug and Shaven, Zhang Tie knew that the five of them must have come back empty-handed. It was too unlikely for a group of rookies with no hunting experience to bring back prey on their first expedition.

Seeing Zhang Tie with the ugly mining basket on his back, the few people sitting by the fire under the dragon claw tree all turned their heads.

"Did you really go to work as a miner?" Bari asked.

"I brought back all the equipment, so it can't be fake. By the way, I met Gris and the others at the Wild Wolf Castle today!" Zhang Tie said.

Upon hearing that Zhang Tie had met Gris and the others, the members of the Airplane Brotherhood all became tense.

"Did they give you a hard time?" Lei asked.

"Who dares to bully our brother? Let's go find them and settle the score right now!" Doug stood up and went to grab a weapon.

Zhang Tie quickly pressed down on Doug's shoulder, "They didn't bully me; instead, I bullied them a bit!"

"You bullied them?" Bari exclaimed, "Did they get hurt?"

"No!"

"Then what happened?"

So, Zhang Tie recounted the scene in the square with Gris and the others. When he mentioned that Gris and his gang were pelted out of the square with wild vegetables and fruits, the members of the brotherhood were already rolling on the ground laughing.

Tears streamed down Sista's face, "Ha... Ha... That was too good, too good! I really want to see what Gris and the others looked like at that moment!"

"The wolf skins those guys used to pad their activities were too disgusting, too dirty, but I like it, Ha... Ha..." Baghdad slapped his thigh hard.

"I never thought you, Bighead, would be so straightforward. That move was really vicious. Gris and the others probably won't find any girls willing to partner with them in this trial, Ha... Ha... I've decided that if I encounter such a situation in the future, I'll use this move to deal with those annoying guys. It's more satisfying than slapping them!" Sista said, his mouth twisted with laughter.

The members of the brotherhood laughed for a long time before they finally calmed down and started talking about serious matters.

"Be careful. After this, I'm worried that Gris and the others will take even more aggressive revenge!" Bari said seriously, looking at Zhang Tie. "Maybe going to mine is a good choice. The mines are not far from the Wild Wolf Castle, and there are many people around, so Gris and the others won't dare to cause trouble openly. But if you're in the wild, you might be ambushed by Gris and the others at any time. Zahir is a venomous snake who can come up with all sorts of schemes!"

Zhang Tie shrugged nonchalantly, "Whatever. Even without today's incident, I don't think Gris and the others would give up on revenge. Let's talk about something else. How did your hunting go today?"

The guys who went hunting today all shrugged, "Don't even mention it. We saw some prey a few times, but before we could catch up, they ran away..." Shaven said helplessly.

"Those wild wolves are too cunning, hard to catch. To chase a wild boar, Baghdad almost fell into a ravine..."

"Too many people went hunting together, scaring away many prey!"

"Maybe bringing T21 Iron Gate would be a good choice, but it's too heavy and would greatly affect our mobility. It's only suitable for waiting for prey!"

"By the way, we met a guy today who was very skilled. He brought a bow and hunted two wild deer in the afternoon. That guy doesn't seem to be any worse than Gris!"

The guys chattered on, and as they spoke, Zhang Tie could picture their misfortunes that afternoon. It was truly a miserable day.

"By the way, what did you get today?" Bari asked Zhang Tie, then looked at the mining basket on his back, frowning slightly, "Is something moving inside?"

Hearing Bari's words, Zhang Tie slapped his head, remembering that he hadn't even put down the mining basket or taken out the contents.

"Almost forgot, I'll treat everyone to fish soup tonight!" Zhang Tie smiled...

At the mention of fish, everyone's eyes lit up. Even in Black Flame City, fish meat was very expensive, and they rarely got to eat it, let alone here.

"You caught fish, but it might not be enough. We have seven..." Bari said, then his eyes widened as Zhang Tie took off the mining basket and dumped out its contents. The three large fish were tied together with water grass. Although they had been out of water for over twenty minutes, they were still alive. When they hit the ground, two of them gasped for air and thrashed their tails, while the third one jumped vigorously. Not just Bari, but the other guys' eyes bulged out. The three fish together weighed about seven to eight kilograms, enough for everyone to eat.

"Quickly catch the fish, one for each person. Wash them in the stream, gut them, and remove the scales, then put them in the pot..." Zhang Tie quickly caught the most active fish, and the other two were quickly grabbed by the guys, who were drooling.

Bari also caught one. When he saw the golden line on the fish, the fat guy exclaimed happily, "No way, a golden line fish..."

"Do you recognize this fish? Can't we eat it?" Zhang Tie was worried. If he caught inedible fish, he would be the one to suffer.

"Ha... Ha... This is the best freshwater fish you can eat in Black Flame City. Brothers, we're in for a treat tonight..." Bari laughed heartily.

Everyone cheered. Seeing that they would have fish for dinner, the guys, who had been in low spirits, suddenly became excited. They busily prepared the fish, heated water, added firewood, and cleaned the fish. For a moment, the entire treehouse base was filled with laughter and joy. When they were processing the fish by the stream, Doug, the clumsy one, slipped and let the fish fall into the water. The fish almost escaped, but fortunately, the stream was not wide, and the water was only about 20 to 30 centimeters deep. After a frantic chase, they finally caught the fish again, though everyone was soaked.

"Don't throw away the guts from the fish. Wrap them in leaves and give them to me; I have a use for them!" Seeing that Lei was about to throw away the guts after gutting the fish, Zhang Tie quickly called out to Sista. He then found some large leaves and wrapped the guts of the three fish.

"These can't be eaten, so why keep them?" Doug asked curiously.

"We may not eat them, but other animals might!" Zhang Tie smiled mysteriously...

...

The golden line fish were cut into pieces and put into a pot of boiling water. Shaven found some wild Sichuan pepper and added it, along with a bit of salt. Soon, the pot of water boiled again, and a rich, mouth-watering aroma of fish soup filled the air. The color of the soup turned milky white, making everyone's appetite grow.

This dinner was so delicious that everyone wished they could lick the bottom of the pot. The three fish and a pot of soup were completely finished, not a drop left. The golden line fish were indeed delicious, and except for Bari, everyone was eating such good food for the first time.

After the meal, everyone sat by the fire and chatted. Out of curiosity, Zhang Tie explained in detail the principle and location of the fish trap he had set up. Hearing that Zhang Tie had effortlessly caught these large fish with such a method, the guys were all amazed.

Zhang Tie poked the firewood under the pot with a stick, roasting the pine cones he had taken that day. The hard pine cones expanded when heated, exposing the pine seeds inside. Zhang Tie picked a roasted pine cone and threw it to Doug, who eagerly broke it open and started eating the pine seeds, mumbling.

"So, Bighead, you don't have to do anything else, and you have a daily food source of one kilogram?"

"Ha ha, if the fish I catch from that spot are less than one kilogram, it's mine. If it's more, it's for everyone. It's not just my food source that's secured, but everyone's!" Zhang Tie smiled, not caring about the food. "Actually, I think everyone should think about it. There are many ways to hunt. Gris has strong combat skills and can fight the prey directly. The guy with the bow has excellent archery skills and can use a bow to hunt. I heard that Bulvik has many people around him, and he is using this advantage to practice large-scale hunting tactics. To get food and prey, you need to combine your strengths and specialties. None of us brothers can match Gris in combat, and we don't have as many people as Bulvik. Since we are new here, it will take time to adapt to the environment and gain experience. So, I think we can use this time to explore other methods!"

Everyone's eyes slowly lit up.

"What kind of hunting method do you think is suitable for us?" Lei asked.

"Others are using bow and arrow, combat, and large-scale tactics. How about we try traps?" Zhang Tie suggested...

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