Chapter 17

Lin Bei carefully made his way into the valley, staying close to the stone wall. For every step forward, he would first use his tail to test whether the ground ahead was soil or bird droppings. If it was impassable, Lin Bei would directly climb the stone wall, using the strength of the grapevines. This cautious approach prevented him from experiencing the same embarrassment as the first time.

The valley was not very large, so although his speed was slow, he quickly entered the inner area. Here, there were more grapevines, thicker and with larger leaves, like a green carpet. Lin Bei even felt that he could roll around on it without falling off. Thus, he began to search for food, hoping to find some grapes that looked ripe.

Although the fruits grew on the same tree, their ripening times varied. Some could ripen a month earlier than others. Lin Bei wanted to see if there were any grapes that had been overlooked. However, instead of grapes, he saw many bird eggs in the nests.

Various bird calls echoed above Lin Bei, but no birds dared to fly down to protect their young and fight against him. In such a flock, there were no birds of prey like eagles or hawks; they were all very gentle and timid birds. The flock might seem intimidating, but it could only scare unintelligent predators. Smart ones, like Lin Bei, wouldn't be frightened.

Seeing the bird eggs, Lin Bei's eyes lit up.

Lin Bei was less averse to eating raw bird eggs than raw meat. He had a history of drinking raw eggs in bars, which colleagues said was good for virility. Later, Lin Bei checked and found that the claim was baseless, but he did notice that many people had the habit of eating a raw egg in the morning.

"If there are no fruits, eating raw bird eggs is a good choice."

Lin Bei looked at the bird eggs. There were many, as there were many nests here. Even if only one in ten nests had eggs, the number would be enough for several meals. If he saved them, he could have even more meals.

"Even if I can only eat for two or three meals, with a snake's endurance, I can last nine days. Yes, that's good. Next time I trade with the hunters, I shouldn't be like yesterday. It would be best to trade for some fire-making tools to cook food."

Most wild animals fear fire, but Lin Bei clearly did not. The forest was full of wood, and as long as he maintained the fire, he could continuously cook meat. Previously, Lin Bei thought fruits were the easiest to find in the forest, but now he realized that meat was actually more abundant.

With food, Lin Bei was no longer anxious. He patrolled the valley as if inspecting his territory. Finally, he stuck his head under the grapevines to look at the clusters of grapes hanging below.

There were many birds here, and the presence of bird droppings provided a lot of fertilizer. Insects could not grow on the grapevines, so the grapes grew exceptionally well, hanging like pearls and jade, looking very tempting. Unfortunately, Lin Bei found that many grapes had already been pecked by the birds.

Birds are actually food connoisseurs; they would never eat unripe grapes, only the ripe ones. Unless Lin Bei stayed here all the time, he would never get to eat the ripe grapes.

Since he was not hungry, Lin Bei did not eat the bird eggs immediately. Instead, he carefully retreated to the outside of the valley, where the birds had already returned to their nests, clearly not planning to leave.

"Since there are so many birds in this valley, let's call it Bird Valley." Lin Bei casually named it, then looked at the bird droppings on the ground, deep in thought.

Although bird droppings were smelly and dirty, they could be very useful if utilized properly. Lin Bei thought of biogas. In this ancient era, creating biogas would be a forward-thinking invention. More importantly, biogas had many uses and was very convenient. Without hands, Lin Bei needed things to be as easy to use as possible.

"If I get the chance, I'll build a biogas digester." Lin Bei made up his mind.

However, for a snake to build a biogas digester was extremely difficult. The technology itself was not complex, but the digester needed to be very airtight. In modern times, it would be easy to build one with cement, but in ancient times, it would require top-notch craftsmen. Digging a pit would not suffice.

"To build these things, I need to interact more with humans and make them understand my intentions. It's a long and arduous task."

Lin Bei memorized the location of Bird Valley and continued his patrol. Since he considered this his territory, he needed to know what was in it.

On the first day, Lin Bei found nothing else besides Bird Valley. He spent the night resting in a locust tree by Dragon Pond and set out again the next day. This time, he found the trail of a wild boar herd.

The wild boar herd did not come to Dragon Pond to drink water that night, and Lin Bei thought they had left. However, they had not gone far.

This location was about sixty miles southeast of Dragon Pond, in another valley. Lin Bei heard the howling and went to investigate. What he saw was truly remarkable.

There should have been a water source here, as the ground was very muddy, even though it had not rained the previous night. The wild boars were rolling in the mud and digging up a plant. The plant had shield-like leaves, long and thick stems, and was green and tall, reaching two to three meters. Lin Bei was certain that these plants were taro.

Taro, often called water taro, usually grows in paddy fields because it requires a lot of water. Its tubers, the taro, are very nutritious. The taro here had been growing for years, and almost every one dug up by the wild boars was as big as a fist, some even as big as watermelons. There were many taro and many wild boars. By the time Lin Bei arrived, the taro had been dug up and scattered, making him very upset.

Without hesitation, Lin Bei rushed into the valley, swinging his body and standing upright to intimidate the wild boars. However, this time, he did not slaughter them, as he believed the wild boars were useful.

Wild boars love to dig for food underground, and they can naturally find deep-buried food. Although Lin Bei's senses were sharp, he admitted he was not as good at this. He hoped to keep them around in case they found something useful in the future, like sweet potatoes or potatoes.

Although these things are said to have been introduced from abroad, Lin Bei firmly believed that ancient China had such things, but they were not widely promoted for various reasons. Now that he was back in ancient times, it was the perfect opportunity to verify this.

The wild boars were quite unfortunate. They had been driven away by Lin Bei from the water pond the night before, and now, just when they found a mud pit to roll in, they were driven away again. The wild boars were so angry that they puffed and panted. If they had not remembered Lin Bei the first time, they certainly would now. He was a bane to them.

No matter how unwilling the wild boars were, they were still driven away by Lin Bei. There was nothing they could do, as they did not unite to resist him. Encountering Lin Bei, they could only say they had bad luck.