HCB Chapter 37 Balance
Chapter 37 Balance
Leyou's suggestion was unanimously supported by Lezhi and Maoqiu, since there weren't many cucumbers, and the two of them worked together to pick them all in no time.
Thinking of the taste of the cucumber she had just eaten, Lezhi had an idea. "Leyou, what do you think cucumber seeds are? Can we take the seeds back and try planting some in the tribe? That way, we can pick them in the tribe whenever we want to eat them, instead of having to come out and look for them."
"Hmm, that's a good idea. The seed should be inside the fruit, but we'll have to wait until it's fully grown before we can collect it. By then, the fruit won't be edible anymore, and such fruits are hard to find in the forest."
"I see. Let me take another look." Lezhi looked at the lush vines. Indeed, if they could find such good fruit, other birds and insects could certainly find it too. How could they bear to miss it?
"It's alright, I'll keep an eye on things for you from now on. But how do you plan to plant it? The ground in the clan's land is full of the branches and vines of the house vine, so other creatures don't grow very well."
"Huh? What?" Rakuchi, who was originally thinking about developing a large-scale planting business, was stunned by Rakuyu's sudden words.
"Oh right, you didn't know?" Following Lezhi's wide-eyed expression, Leyou's eyes also widened. Only after voicing the question did Leyou realize his blunder. "Oh right, I forgot to tell you, the ground beneath our clan's land is entirely covered in the tendrils of the house-wood vine. People have tried planting other plants before, but they never grew very big; the house-wood vines took all the nutrients. Only some wildflowers and weeds, with their stronger vitality, survived, so..."
Seeing that Lezhi's hair had drooped down after being hit by his words, Leyou felt a little guilty. He really hadn't expected Lezhi to have the idea of planting, so he had forgotten to explain the special features of the tribe's land to him.
Pulling the dejected Lezhi back to the group, Leyou began searching for other plants to try and distract Lezhi. However, this time his luck wasn't so good; from here all the way to the valley where they reached their destination, Leyou didn't find anything new.
As the view opened up, the group gradually slowed their pace. Ahead, Le Jing had already begun assigning people to different sections for data collection. The group moved forward slowly, and finally it was Le You and Le Zhi's turn.
"You two little ones, go over there. Be careful, and if anything happens, just call out. We'll be right next to you, understand?"
Le Jing arranged a small hillside for Le You and Le Zhi, giving them earnest instructions, fearing that the two little ones might encounter an accident.
"Got it." "Mhm." The two nodded in agreement, and then, at Le Jing's wave, they headed towards their assigned collection points.
The valley is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the slopes are not very high. The valley area is very large, and the less than one hundred people in the collection team are scattered and cannot be heard if they speak softly.
They were given a sunny hillside, and the closest people nearby were Le Nian and his friends at the foot of the hill. Perhaps because the environment was suitable, stone fruits were everywhere, and Le You pointed out what a stone fruit looked like to Le Zhi.
Looking at the fruit that seemed to blend into the earth, Lezhi marveled at how fitting its name was. Having already recognized the characteristics of the Stone Fruit, finding more became much easier, and Lezhi easily found many nearby.
"No wonder we had to walk so long to come here to collect them, the stone fruits here are growing so densely."
"Yes, the tribes that gather resources keep records of these places. They come here at a fixed time every year. We've been gathering for so long, and we always come back with a lot of harvests."
While chatting with Lezhi, Leyou peeled stone fruits. Collecting stone fruits is simple; they like loose soil, so they can be pulled out without much effort. However, it requires squatting down to work, which is quite tiring.
"So the tribespeople haven't tried to grow crops because they've always been able to get enough food from the forest?"
Upon hearing Leyou's words, Lezhi shared his guess.
"Pretty much. It's not difficult for us Winged Race members to come out, and we also have space. If it weren't for the constant need to guard against insect attacks, which would force us to rely on collective action, the gathering itself wouldn't be too difficult for us."
Speaking of insects, Leyou pouted, somewhat indignant. Lezhi nodded thoughtfully, roughly understanding the current situation.
"Those insects seem like a real problem. Isn't there a way to completely get rid of them?"
"No, and we can't have it."
Upon hearing Leyou's words, Lezhi paused, glanced at Leyou, and listened carefully to his reasoning.
"You know the origin of our tree spirit race, right?" Seeing Lezhi nod, Leyou continued, "That's right. Our race are the guardians of the mother tree, and our mission is to maintain the ecological balance of Jormungandr. Although those insects are annoying, the mother tree cannot completely do without them. Many ecological processes require their participation."
"However, the Zerg themselves are not intelligent. Their lifelong pursuit is reproduction, and they do not understand balance. Their natural enemies, birds and beasts, are the same. Therefore, there is a reason for the existence of our Treant race. We must curb their excessive expansion, but at the same time, we must maintain a good balance."
Tilting his head, Lezhi finally understood what Leyou meant. "So, we are actually forest rangers, and our mission is to maintain the ecological balance and healthy development of Jormungandr."
"Yes, you've grasped the essence, that's great."
Leyou gave Lezhi a thumbs-up to express his appreciation, and continued with a smile, "So all of our tree spirits are proud to join the guard team. Those who haven't joined the guard team also need to undergo training and be ready at any time."
"Everyone's a soldier," Lezhi clicked his tongue in amazement. But thinking of the monstrous insects he'd encountered before, Lezhi understood his people's actions. Jormungand wasn't as peaceful as he'd imagined. These intelligent races didn't have internal conflicts, but they faced the ever-present threat of the insectoid race.
Thinking of the terrifying reproductive capacity of those insects in his past life, Lezhi felt a chill run down his spine. No wonder the mother tree specially bred the tree spirits to manage him; the key was that these insects were just too prolific, their dense swarms making one dizzy just looking at them.
The two chatted from time to time, and in their casual conversation, Lezhi quickly filled the small space. At the same time, the basket he brought was also filled to the brim. When Lezhi stood up, he stumbled and almost couldn't stand up because of the weight of the basket on his back.
"Hey, Lezhi, be careful. You can't do this. Give me some."
Unable to assess his own capacity, Lezhi's cheeks flushed. He wasn't one to push himself, so he followed Leyou's lead and let him collect more than half of the stone fruits from the basket, stopping only when he was sure that Lezhi could carry the rest without difficulty.
"Thank you, Leyou, I'm really sorry to bother you. My space is just too full."
"Oh, it's nothing. Lejing told me everything about you. You stayed in the shell for so long, we almost thought we were going to lose you. It's a pleasant surprise that you were able to hatch successfully. You just have a talent deficiency. We'll just do what we can from now on and not push ourselves too hard. Take it slow, and we'll definitely find a way later."
"Yes, I know." Although Leyou was comforting himself, only he knew how his talent came about.
Therefore, he also knew that as long as he found the right method, improving his talent was not just empty talk, so he was particularly relaxed when facing this topic.