After a wild night with her Beast Husband, Si Shuo had thought she wouldn't be able to get up today and would miss the gathering.
But since she had accepted Zhi Le's Beast Mark, aside from a bit of soreness in her lower back, her body felt more relaxed and comfortable than ever before!
She stroked the Snow Leopard head-shaped Beast Mark on the inside of her left wrist. 'It looks so cool and stylish, no matter how I look at it.'
Si Shuo sipped her meat broth and took the opportunity to check the rewards for Main Quest 1: one survival package and one thousand Beast Coins.
She opened the survival package. Out dropped a Beast World Continent Plant Atlas, a dusty gray Tibetan knife sharp enough to cut through iron, a twenty-meter-long large shrimp cage, a pottery making recipe, and one Superpower Awakening Pill!
Every single one of these rewards was something she desperately needed right now.
Si Shuo opened the plant atlas, and the book dissolved into starlight, flowing into her mind. Her eyes flickered. She took out the purple wild strawberries she had put into her space yesterday, and the system immediately provided a detailed description: name, appearance, distribution, growth habits, reproduction methods, species classification, value, and so on. 'This function is an absolute must-have for gathering.'
She stored the other items in her space. Unsure how long the Superpower Awakening Pill would take to work or if it would cause any discomfort, she didn't dare take it immediately, planning to wait until after she returned from gathering.
The system had also unlocked a store. The variety of items and their prices were the same as a supermarket's.
Looking at the dazzling array of goods, even though Si Shuo only had one thousand Beast Coins, she felt a great sense of security.
After she claimed her rewards, the system immediately issued new quests!
Main Quest 2: Give birth to a litter of cubs.
Main Quest 3: Form a bond with a second Beast Husband whose Combat Power is Level 6 or higher.
Side Quest 1: Awaken a superpower.
Daily Quest: Gather supplies.
Si Shuo's face flushed crimson. She was once again reminded of her intimacy with Zhi Le last night. 'He's a virile Beastman, all right,' she thought. 'That raw strength is both thrilling and terrifying.'
She hadn't even processed it all yet, and the system was already pushing her to have children and take a second Beast Husband...
"Si Shuo," Yimei, already packed, called out while waving from the cave entrance. "Are you ready? We have to go gather at the tribe's entrance."
Si Shuo nodded, quickly grabbing the waterskin Zhi Le had filled with boiled water for her, shouldered her wicker basket, and walked out.
Without Zhi Le to carry her down, Si Shuo had to carefully climb down the stone steps using both her hands and feet.
The tribe's gathering tasks weren't mandatory. The females could go if they wanted, or they could stay home and wait to be tended to by the males.
However, most females felt for their Beast Husbands, Fathers, and brothers at home and were willing to share some of the labor.
The Luoni Tribe had several regular gathering spots, each equipped with a person-in-charge and a powerful Guard Team.
Yimei pulled Si Shuo along and confidently got in line. "Right now, there are lots of tasty wild fruits in the thickets to the Southwest. We should pick a lot and dry them into dried fruit while the weather is good.
Are you going again tomorrow? If you are, we can go to the mountains to dig for wild vegetables. If we're lucky, we might catch a few stupid rabbits. A couple of days ago, one of the females dug up a whole nest of bamboo rats!"
Si Shuo hummed in agreement. "I'll go. Zhi Le is very determined. He wants to stockpile a lot of meat for me before the spring hunt, so he's hunting every day. So I'll go out gathering every day."
Yimei happily grabbed her hand. "Okay, from now on, we'll gather together."
As she spoke, she introduced Si Shuo to several other easygoing females. All of them had below-average fertility and Beast Husbands with ordinary Combat Power.
After everyone had assembled, the Beastmen of the Guard Team all transformed into their Beast Forms. Each Beastman carried four females, and they sprinted toward the thickets.
The Beastmen were fast and steady. After only about ten minutes, they arrived in a large expanse of shrubland.
After they got down, Yimei grabbed Si Shuo's arm and gave her some earnest advice: "In a bit, we'll spread out and gather deeper inside. There are guards patrolling this area, and Eagle Beastmen are watching from the sky.
If you're in danger, just shout. When you hear the horn, head back to regroup and return to the tribe. That's usually when the sun is high overhead.
If you run into other females gathering, don't get too close. Just find another spot…"
Si Shuo smiled and agreed to everything, then waved goodbye to Yimei.
She walked slowly for a bit, found a hidden spot, and spent three Beast Coins in the store to get a leopard-print scrunchie. She used it to tie back her wind-tousled hair.
Her sense of direction was poor, and she was afraid of getting lost, so she spent another twenty Beast Coins on a retro-style compass. 'Of course, a watch and a towel are must-buys, too!'
After checking her direction, Si Shuo walked briskly southward, her ears pricked to catch the sounds of birds in the forest.
Since there were plenty of berries this season, there were bound to be birds gathered to peck at them. She soon locked onto their location and jogged over.
The closer she got, the more bird calls she heard. The incessant CHIRPING gave her a headache.
However, when she arrived, she froze.
The shrubland was full of short, stout trees with dense canopies. From the outside, they looked like a continuous mass, preventing the Eagle Beastmen above from seeing what was below.
But besides the trees, there were also many thorny, tangled, interconnected bramble-like plants. The berries on the outside had already been picked clean.
Si Shuo couldn't see what was inside even when she jumped, but hearing the lively chirping of the birds, she didn't need to see to know just how many goodies were inside!
She looked up through the gaps in the leaves and saw the patrolling Eagle Beastmen circling overhead from time to time. After a moment of thought, she jogged along the edge of the thorns and, sure enough, found a small path that a previous female had broken open.
Clearing out a path like this was too difficult; the previous female had only made it five meters deep before giving up.
After squeezing inside, she gritted her teeth and spent seven hundred Beast Coins in the store on a set of scratch-resistant outerwear, a pair of discounted sneakers, a pair of work gloves, protective goggles, and a face mask.
Fully kitted out, Si Shuo found a slightly less dense spot, curled up, and painstakingly squeezed her way in. After about a meter, she took out her Tibetan knife to clear a new path.
The thorny branches weren't too thick and were quite brittle; they broke with just a little force.
Si Shuo cut the thorny stems at the base and pushed them aside. The tangled tops of the brambles stayed in place, but the lower branches moved to form a small path. This way, she wouldn't attract the attention of the Eagle Beastmen, and clearing the path wasn't too strenuous for her.
After a few minutes of cutting, the sweet fragrance of fruit filled the air around her.
Si Shuo looked up and saw clusters of wild grapes, so purple they were almost black!
Her eyes sparkled. She took off a glove, plucked one, and popped it in her mouth. It was sweet, tangy, and bursting with juice—quenching her thirst and delicious.
Si Shuo immediately bought a pair of scissors, snipped off a cluster of grapes, and weighed it in her hand. It was about a pound heavy.
She rinsed them with some water and, after satisfyingly devouring half the cluster, she got back to work, storing the snipped clusters of grapes in her space!
Besides the grapes, there were also vermilion fruits, snakeberries, purple mulberries, and yellow cherries that the original owner of her body recognized. There were so many patches of fruit that she could just reach up and pick them. Occasionally, she even lucked into finding a few birds that had gotten trapped in the branches.