I've been transported to the orc continent.

In this era without electricity, there was naturally no nightlife. The tribespeople would return to their caves to rest as soon as it got dark, and the tribespeople responsible for cooking would start a fire before dawn.

Bai Ling lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), wrapped in animal skin, looking towards the entrance of the cave. A leather curtain hung at the entrance, completely obscuring it. Only when the clansmen entered or exited could Bai Ling see outside through the gaps in the curtain.

It's still pitch black outside.

No, there's still some light. Bai Ling opened her eyes wide to look closely and realized it was snowing outside.

This snowfall is much larger than the light snowfalls of the past few days; the trees not far from the cave entrance are already covered with a layer of white snow.

His memories told him that this snowfall marked the beginning of a harsh winter. From today onward, the weather would grow colder, and the snow would fall more frequently. In the past, the most difficult winter for the beastmen began on this day.

This winter will be much better. Bai Ling listened to the sounds coming from outside the cave and learned that the tribesmen had already started heating the kang (a traditional heated bed).

With a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) and enough food, this winter was finally not so hard to get through.

Bai Ling closed his eyes again. He had no assignments, so he could stay in bed in the morning and get up when breakfast was ready.

Many beastmen were still lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), wrapped in animal skins and chatting. Bai Ling was resting with his eyes closed when suddenly something ran over and jumped on him.

Then came the second, the third, a group of things jumping over and stepping on him. Bai Ling didn't even need to open his eyes to know that these were the cubs of the clan playing around.

The cubs are always very energetic. They wake up very early and then run around and play in groups on the kang (a heated brick bed). Sometimes they will run to the side of the clansmen who are still sleeping and stick out their tongues to lick their faces.

Bai Ling was licked by the cubs like that, and he couldn't even muster any anger. After all, what human would be angry when faced with fluffy fur, adorable faces, and big, round eyes glistening with moisture looking at you?

*

Bai Ling lingered in bed for a while before getting dressed and getting up. Nowadays, people in the tribe wear a shirt and pants underneath, and then a robe on top, which is much warmer than wearing a robe alone before.

However, Bai Ling still felt cold, so he had to wear an extra robe compared to his clansmen.

Bai Ling lifted the curtain at the cave entrance, but before he even stepped out of the cave, a gust of cold wind rushed towards him.

It's much colder today than yesterday. Bai Ling took a deep breath, and the cool air made him feel refreshed.

Both sides of the cave entrance were cooking areas. Bai Ling had built sheds out of mud bricks, and right now, people from the tribe were busy working in both sheds.

Seeing that Bai Ling had gotten up, Cai waved to him: "Ling, there's hot water in the pot. Go brush your teeth and wash your face. We'll eat in a bit."

Brushing teeth is Bai Ling's habit. After learning that brushing teeth can prevent toothache, many people in the tribe also started brushing their teeth. To make it easier for the tribesmen to brush their teeth and wash their faces, the orc in charge of cooking boils a large pot of water every morning.

The firewood in the pot will never go out, so that the tribespeople can always have hot water.

Chen followed Bai Ling out and Cai greeted him, "Chen, there's meat soup and cassava pancakes this morning. Go brush your teeth, we'll eat in a bit."

Chen's eyes lit up: "Okay, Grandpa Cai, give me a couple more slices of ginger later, I love eating ginger."

Cai smiled and nodded. Chen then walked to the stove, looked at it, and gently smelled the aroma of the broth before stopping.

The tribe has over two hundred or so orcs, and all orcs are big eaters. The tribe has four large iron pots for cooking, and the amount of cassava consumed every day is enormous.

This year, the tribe has plenty of food, and the people are able to eat their fill. In previous winters, the people couldn't even get half full. They would eat as little as possible and save the food for the children, cubs, and young people who had to go out hunting even in winter.

They have enough to eat and warm caves to sleep in, all thanks to Bai Ling. The colder the weather gets, the more grateful the tribespeople become to Bai Ling.

*

Since it snowed, they could no longer go out to collect materials. Bai Ling decided to make a scalpel, as he had promised the shaman of the Snow Mountain tribe. He also needed to make a saw, nails, chisels, and other similar items.

Shan is currently managing the iron smelting workshop. He was very happy to see Bai Ling and pulled Bai Ling aside to ask, "Ling, you're finally back. What do you want to do this time? I'll help you."

Bai Ling explained what she wanted to do, then pointed to Yue standing beside her: "With Yue's help, Uncle Shan, you can go ahead and do your work."

Shan laughed and said, "Alright, Ling, if you want to make molds, go find Shui. He's in charge of making molds now."

Bai Ling: "We came from Uncle Shui. He has already made the mold for us, and we can use it tomorrow."

The furnace in the ironworks never goes out from morning till night, making it warmer than the cave. In winter, young tribesmen who have nothing to do like to come to the ironworks to play. Even if they have nothing to do, it is very comfortable to sit in the ironworks and warm themselves by the fire.

Chieftain Zhan didn't let them stay in the ironworks for long. The young orcs were too noisy, laughing and playing around non-stop. As long as they were there, even the sound of hammering was drowned out, and all you could hear in the ironworks was their laughter.

They had only been there a short while when Zhan chased them away. The young orcs weren't angry; they would even walk around the iron furnace and warm themselves by the fire before leaving. The next day, they would come back as usual, play for a while, and then be chased away by Zhan again.

And so they did it day after day, enjoying it immensely.

Zhan also considered having these young clansmen help with blacksmithing, since they were strong enough. However, the space in the ironworks was too small to accommodate too many blacksmithing tables, so he had to abandon the idea.

Scissors aren't complicated, and awls are even simpler. What gives Bai Ling a headache is nails, and the most difficult thing is, of course, scalpels.

The nail, which was an insignificant little thing in his previous life, actually gave Bai Ling a lot of trouble.

This thing is too small, and we have to make sure the nail tip is sharp and long. It's hard to achieve this with a hand-made mold. Also, there are many nails, so we need many molds. Bai Ling and Shui spent a lot of time and effort, but in the end, they relied on a clever method to carve nail models out of a hard wood. Then they pressed the wooden nail models onto the shaped clay, and that was how a nail model was made.

To make it easier to use, Bai Ling made several nail models, and he also used this rudimentary method to make a screw model.

The tribespeople could roughly guess the purpose of the models Bai Ling had made before, but when faced with nails and screws, they really couldn't figure out what these things were for.