We made you the chief, and now you've become the world's chief?

Chapter 62 First Contact

It seems the salt springs attracted not only various wild animals, but also other tribes...

Xia Minghao squinted and continued to carefully observe the group of people through the binoculars.

There weren't many of them, just a dozen or so, all men, each carrying a basket on their back.

Xia Minghao didn't need to guess to know what it could be that came out of the salt spring in the mountains carrying something; it could be salt crystals, salt rocks, or salt soil.

Apart from that, no other tools or weapons were seen on him, presumably they were placed in his basket.

"Why do these people walk in such a strange way?"

All of the dozen or so men were squatting down, and with each step they took, they first placed their hands on the ground before stepping on their hands.

They walked out in that line, with the two or three people behind them walking backwards.

After watching for a while, Xia Minghao naturally understood that the strange way of walking was to minimize the noise it made.

The few walking backwards behind were clearly on guard against the human-faced bear in the mountains.

This at least proves one thing: the human-faced bear is still in the mountains; otherwise, these people would have no reason to do this.

Moreover, they possess such unique movement patterns and formations, and they appear to be quite skilled at it.

These dozen or so primitive people must have had extensive experience in salt mining from this salt spring.

If we could learn these experiences ourselves, then there would be no need for reconnaissance...

What troubled Xia Minghao the most was not killing the bear, but the reconnaissance before killing it.

The human-faced bear is not to be trifled with. If his group of not-so-bright primitives goes wrong, there could be a serious accident.

Even the death of one person is unacceptable to Xia Minghao now.

It's not just the loss of valuable labor; it will also severely damage morale.

The previous attempt to boost everyone's courage by killing wolves would only cause that fear to return if someone were to die while exploring the salt spring.

If useful information can be obtained from these experienced primitive people from other tribes, the original worries will almost disappear.

"We need to find a way to get information from these dozen or so primitive people who are mining salt."

Having dealt with primitive people for so long, I've come to some conclusions.

After a moment's thought, Xia Minghao immediately came up with an idea.

Putting down the binoculars, he immediately led the Xi tribe's hunting team, keeping their bodies low, and quickly headed in the direction the group of primitive tribesmen from outside the tribe were traveling.

The formation was also spread out as it had been when they surrounded the wolf den yesterday, again in order to encircle the group later.

But the intention wasn't to attack; rather, it was to create a show of force to intimidate the group.

This is a threatening but not hostile approach.

First, intimidate the person, and then seize the initiative; everything will be easier.

Just like when Li Ba led his men to attack him, once he intimidated them, it became much easier to talk about "mermaid trading".

"Pass this down: when you see people, stand up, and do not raise your spears."

Xia Minghao whispered something to Shifa, who understood and also whispered the message to Sheila beside him.

Just as everyone was wondering where the people the chief had mentioned were, finally, the Da tribe's salt-harvesting team, walking as slowly and quietly as snails, came into view.

Daka was very happy today because he arrived at the perfect time; all three human-faced bears were sleeping.

In this way, not only could the manpower responsible for guard duty be transferred back to salt mining, but they could also swing the stone axes with more force, and the amount of salt mined was much greater than usual.

There's enough salt for the tribe until the next heavy rain.

This way, the salt mining team can have more time to rest.

Just as they were wondering if they could reach the old tree to rest as night fell, the bushes in front of them suddenly rustled. Then, several figures abruptly stood up from the bushes.

"Uh-huh~"

The salt-harvesting team was startled. Daka's eyes widened, and he sat down on the ground with a thud, spilling salt stones from his basket all over the ground.

"Friend, please don't hurt me!"

Xia Minghao stood up, looked down at the group of primitive people, and whispered gently, while taking out a piece of wolf meat that had just been roasted yesterday and tossing it over.

Actions speak louder than words. They've given you all the food. According to Xia Minghao's understanding, this is the greatest act of kindness in primitive times.

Daka saw that there were twice as many people as his salt-collecting team, and they were all carrying wooden spears!

Although none of them raised their weapons at them, it still terrified them.

He was about to run away when the meat was suddenly thrown at him, leaving Daka completely bewildered.

"friend?"

Once his mind calmed down, looking at the piece of roasted, brownish meat in front of him, Daka finally realized what the man in the strange animal skin had been talking about.

friend……

Because of the different accents, Daka didn't understand before, but now that he felt Xia Minghao's kindness, he finally understood the meaning.

After glancing at Xia Minghao and then at the women of the hunting team, and seeing that they indeed had no intention of harming him, Daka reluctantly lowered his guard slightly.

"You've just migrated here?"

"Yes, we just arrived."

Seeing that a peaceful connection had finally been established with the primitive people of this external tribe, Xia Minghao finally felt relieved.

Although this is only a small step, it is the most important one, a breakthrough in "diplomatic relations" from zero to one.

"My friend, it's delicious."

Seizing the opportunity, Xia Minghao pointed to the meat again.

This is not only a reminder to Daka to eat meat, but also a way of expressing goodwill once again.

The other salt-mining teams also realized what was happening and gathered around Daka, clearly still afraid.

At Xia Minghao's prompting, Daka looked at the meat on the ground again.

After thinking about it, he picked it up anyway, but instead of eating it, he carefully put it into his basket.

Then he started rummaging through the basket, seemingly trying to take something out.

He paused for a moment, said something to the others, and everyone started rummaging through their baskets.

Because the group spoke with a heavy accent, Xia Minghao didn't understand very well. He only roughly understood that they seemed to be asking others to look for something as well.

It wasn't until he saw the group of people take out some irregularly shaped clods of soil wrapped in mud, about a dozen in total, which Daka held up and handed to Xia Minghao.

"Friend, you should eat too."

Wow, I never expected these primitive people to understand the principle of reciprocity. This is quite unexpected for Xia Minghao.

This means that a peaceful relationship has been basically established, laying the foundation for obtaining information about the mountains from this group of people.

Xia Minghao took the pile of dirt, intending to quickly find a way to extract information, but once he had it in his hands, he realized something was amiss.

Looking at the clod of earth again, Xia Minghao picked one up, rubbed off the mud, and saw the true nature of the soil inside. His eyes brimmed with joy.

It's taro!

(End of this chapter)