Chapter 5: Food in the Water
The Chief’s body was placed on the open ground in front of the cave, temporarily covered with grass. In Luo Chong’s memory, the dead in this tribe were generally cremated. Perhaps they had buried bodies before, but shallow graves would be dug up by wild animals. It was cleaner to burn them.
However, the funeral would have to wait until all the clan members returned in the evening for a collective burning. The two adults had already gone out to collect firewood.
For the time being, no one paid attention to them. The children were still gathered around the Terror Bird, while a few women were studying how to butcher it. They hadn’t handled such a large prey before.
Luo Chong thought for a moment. It was impossible to scald the bird like a chicken since there was no pot big enough to boil water. He decided to simply skin it. Luo Chong told them to leave the feathers for him and let them handle the rest.
He didn’t want the feathers for any feather crown; perhaps they could be used later when making bow and arrows. Anyway, he might as well stockpile them now. Being so poor, one must learn to live frugally and gather materials to make equipment in the future.
With the danger now gone, those who worked continued working, and those who spectated continued spectating. Luo Chong went back to weaving his basket.
For some reason, Luo Chong always felt that time passed especially slowly here. So much had happened today, yet the sun had just risen to its zenith. He felt that a day here was longer than before. This was an intuition, for in the past, he completed tasks in the military by the hour, which made his biological clock quite sensitive.
“Damn, maybe this isn’t even Earth. Who knows where we are if the rotation time is different from Earth’s.”
He couldn’t afford to dwell on these thoughts anymore, so Luo Chong focused on weaving the basket. Storing food was most important now. He didn’t want to live through those days when one ate only once every two days.
About an hour later, Luo Chong had finished weaving two baskets and twisted some grass ropes using the grass pulled by the children. There were still some vines left, probably enough to weave three more baskets. These baskets were mainly for fishing, so the gaps were relatively large, saving material.
Luo Chong filled the baskets with the Terror Bird’s innards and headed to the river. Most of it couldn’t be eaten except for the heart and liver. Everything else had to be discarded. The stomach couldn’t be eaten either—it probably still contained bits of the Chief’s flesh. The intestines could be kept, washed, dried, and used as ropes. Luo Chong planned to use the innards as fish bait.
The river was to the north of the cave, less than a kilometer away. A woman saw Luo Chong heading to the river alone and tried to stop him, but Luo Chong insisted. Having no choice, the woman followed him. She carried a stone basin, the only container in the whole tribe that could hold water, which had been polished for years. Since they were going to the river anyway, she figured they could fetch a basin of water. Once the cave was sealed at night, they’d have to drink from the basin.
In her mind, Luo Chong was an extraordinary child. She had to watch over him and ensure he didn’t fall into the river. The two boys who had just recognized Luo Chong as their leader also followed quickly after seeing him prepare something strange again.
The group of four reached the river. The woman fetched a basin of water and waited nearby, unsure what Luo Chong intended to do.
Luo Chong stood on the bank observing for a while, suddenly feeling a chill down his spine, instantly reminding him of his junior high school textbook.
Fish, I desire them, and I am also desired by fish. Both cannot be obtained simultaneously. Abandoning myself for the fish is justified.
Cough, this wasn’t the original text, but saying so was because he noticed carnivorous fish in the river. Within five minutes of standing on the bank, he witnessed three cases of larger fish eating smaller ones. If someone fell into the river, it was uncertain who would eat whom.
Though this place was impoverished, the ecological environment here was undeniably excellent. The water in the small river was very clear, allowing one to see the bottom easily. The shallow parts near the bank were about a meter deep, and the river was teeming with fish. Though not densely packed, one could spot several fish within sight in any direction. The density was considerable, certainly more than in the Amazon River.
Choosing a good spot, Luo Chong took out the chopped-up innards and smashed them further. Then he placed the baskets in the river, tying three grass ropes to the top edge of each basket, which then converged into one rope in the middle, making it easier to pull up.
Seeing Luo Chong had no intention of entering the river, the woman did not interfere. She silently stood aside watching him handle the basket, full of questions—was the boy washing the basket?
Whatever the case, nothing would matter until the fish were caught. Only then could he show them that the fish were edible, reducing their fear of the river.
The basket Luo Chong had woven was about fifty centimeters high, roughly the distance from the tip of his middle finger to his elbow. He chose a gentle slope near the riverbank where the water was about a meter deep. When the basket sank to the bottom, it tilted slightly, lowering the opening to make it easier for the fish to enter.
He threw a handful of the smashed innards into the basket. The meaty smell quickly spread through the water, agitating fish within twenty meters. They swam toward the source of the scent.
Five fish, each about forty centimeters long, were the first to arrive. They darted into the basket and began fighting over the pieces of innards, stirring the water inside turbid.
Luo Chong acted swiftly, pulling the grass rope and dragging the basket out of the water. In the chaos, one fish escaped, but he managed to catch four. Even so, it was impressive—a single basket yielded four fish, and the fish in the river weren’t fleeing; instead, they were gathering below the basket, competing for the bait. Luo Chong felt as though he were feeding koi fish in a park—throwing a handful of feed and watching a swarm of fish scramble for it.
“Holy crap, do these fish even have brains? They can’t even detect such a simple trap?” Luo Chong laughed so hard his eyes nearly shut. The scene gave him a sense of superiority, like he was intellectually dominating across eras. He probably was the first person in the world to fish this way—fish had never seen anything like it.
The two children and the adult woman were astonished. Placing that strange object in the water and pulling it up brought out those legless creatures from the water, but they still didn’t understand why.
Luo Chong dumped the four fish onto the ground. The fish thrashed around, and the woman and the two children came over to touch them. When the fish jumped, they quickly withdrew their hands in fright.
Afraid of fish? That wouldn’t do—they’d have to eat them eventually.
Luo Chong picked up a stone from the riverside to stun the fish, then crushed a cobblestone, finding a sharp shard to use as a stone knife. He skillfully scaled the fish, removed the gills, and gutted them. Although it was his first time doing this here, he had done it countless times in his previous life.
He cleaned the fish by rinsing the gills in the river, then placed them on a large rock and cut off a piece of raw fish to eat.
Seeing the fresh red blood flowing from the fish’s belly and Luo Chong chewing on the raw fish, even a fool could tell that fish were edible. The woman and the two children watched hungrily.
Luo Chong didn’t intentionally tease them. Eating raw fish without seasoning wasn’t pleasant, but his purpose was merely to demonstrate that fish could be eaten.
He cut a slice of fish for each of them. They all tasted it and seemed delighted. They hadn’t experienced seasoned food, so they didn’t think about it. As far as they were concerned, as long as it could be eaten, it was fine. They weren’t picky eaters—when starving, they’d even eaten tree roots, let alone meat.
