bookcurios Chapter 36 Digging a Cave
Chapter 36 Digging a Cave
Cat Feather, seeing that they hadn't gotten their turn yet after all that talking, grew a little anxious. "What about us? Priest brother, what are we going to do?"
Lin Baiyan couldn't help but pat Maoyu's little head with a smile, "Of course you guys have to work too! You can come with the priest brother and we'll clean up the cave until it looks beautiful, okay?"
Cat Feather loudly echoed, "No problem!"
"The remaining orcs who haven't been assigned are the third group. You'll come with me, and we'll dig a few more caves."
Now there are more and more things in the cave, and the cave is becoming crowded, but Lin Baiyan has no intention of assigning labor to them to build houses.
After all, the most important thing right now is to solve the problem of food and clothing. However, we can expand this cave and dig out a few small passages on both sides.
"That's all for now. Does anyone have any questions?"
"No problem, we'll all listen to the priest!"
"That's right!"
Rabbit Forest watched the young man's figure with a hint of satisfaction amidst the beastmen. Wolf Cang was right; given some time, Bai Yan would grow into a qualified priest.
Lin Baiyan had already observed the cave where they were staying. The cave faced south and was located on a relatively high rocky mountain, somewhat like a cliff, but a gentler one. Their cave was at the bottom of the cliff, with a forest on the opposite side.
The cave they lived in had very solid stone walls, which didn't look like they were carved by hand, but rather like a naturally formed cave.
However, how to dig was a very serious question. Before starting work, Lin Baiyan carefully walked around most of the rocky mountain.
The ones left behind to guard the tribe this time were Xiong Fei, Niu Lie, and another leopard-shaped beastman, Bao Lu. Among the three, Niu Lie and Bao Lu were more reserved. They just watched the priest lead them around for a long time.
Xiong Fei was a little confused, and since he and Lin Baiyan were quite familiar with each other after their previous salt-hunting trip, he asked, "Priest, what are we doing?"
Lin Baiyan said with a serious expression, "Let's wander around and see what the stone mountain looks like!"
The male beastmen were speechless at Lin Baiyan's answer.
The young man then smiled and said, "I can't just wander around for fun. I want to survey the surrounding terrain and see what our tribe is like."
Xiong Fei subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. He knew it; their priests couldn't be that unreliable.
The four orcs finally reached the summit of the stone mountain. The stone mountain was not very high. From the top, it was indeed a plain. To the south of the stone mountain were large forests, and to the east were flat land and a river that ran through the entire plain.
Lin Baiyan carefully observed the structure of the stone mountain while climbing it; the mountain was smooth and solid. The young man determined that it could be carved out.
The young man was finally relieved. Luckily, he had come to check it out beforehand. He was afraid that if the mountain collapsed halfway through the tunneling, he wouldn't be able to escape.
After he finished looking at it, he led several male orcs down the mountain. By then, the contents of the cave had already been cleared out.
You don't know until you look inside that they've stored so many things in the cave.
The unfinished baskets, the wicker baskets for food, as well as animal hides and bones, stone pots and bowls, were scattered on the flat ground outside the cave, keeping company with the three colorful phoenix chickens.
During the few days they lived here, the beastmen also cleared out the weeds and vines outside the cave, creating a large area where people could move around.
Several younger cubs were obediently squatting beside the supplies, their eyes wide open, watching their surroundings as if they were guarding them. Xia the kitten was one of them.
The young man scratched Xia the kitten's chin as a reward.
The old orcs were weaving baskets on a relatively flat open space on the other side of the cave.
Lu Xiao had already picked up the stone axe, looking somewhat impatient. "Bai Yan, what should we do?"
Lin Baiyan's idea was to use their current cave as the main structure, extending inwards from the inside of the stone wall. Then, he would carve out various passages on the left and right sides, creating small rooms.
But after drawing for a while, he rejected the idea, because the oxygen content decreased as you went deeper into the cave, and it was very dark.
So he thought, why not carve simple stone steps on the hillside and excavate a cave directly from the outside of the rocky mountain?
Carve one row at the bottom, and another row on the second floor. That should be enough for them to live in.
However, the cave still needs to be dug inside. The further in you go, the lower the temperature becomes, making it ideal for storing food and supplies.
Lin Baiyan decided to first dig tunnels and smaller caves inside the main cave to store supplies, thus making room for the larger cave outside.
As for the caves on the outer wall of the rocky mountain, they can take their time.
He gathered the orcs around, squatted down, drew a rough outline, and explained his ideas.
When he looked up, he saw several heads surrounding him, all looking confused and seemingly not understanding what he was saying.
Lin Baiyan sighed deeply. Indeed, this required a bit of spatial imagination.
Just when the young man had given up hope, a voice suddenly rang out, "Just like a big tree, these houses are like the fruit that the tree bears, right?"
"Then carve stone steps in these places to make it easier for the orcs to walk, right?"
Lin Baiyan's face lit up with joy. Who was so clever? Let him come and take a look!
He turned left and right but didn't see anyone. Then he looked up and saw Lu Xiao's big face right above his head.
He chuckled, "Am I right?"
The young man nodded repeatedly, like a chick pecking at rice, "Yes, yes, yes!"
He has finally found the second wise person after Lang Cang!
Lu Xiao scratched his head. "It's not that hard to understand."
Then he looked up and around, and all the beastmen around him were looking at him and Lin Baiyan with mournful expressions.
Isn't it easy to understand? Why can't they understand?
Fortunately, there was someone who understood. Lin Baiyan simply pulled Lu Xiao aside and whispered to her for a long time, deciding that the two of them would divide the work.
Let's establish a main passage first.
Although the orcs' comprehension skills were not very good, their execution skills were all excellent.
Lin Baiyan pointed and struck. Since they had no sharp tools, they made stone hammers and awls out of stones. The thumping sound of the stones hitting the rock face made the young man feel very reassured.
He picked up a stone and used it as a hammer to strike the sharp stone cone, but only a shallow mark was left on the cave wall.
However, he was not discouraged. The orcs were much stronger than he had previously thought. With many hands, there was strength. The group worked all day, and when they got tired, they would go out to rest for a while, stretch their legs, and have a drink of water.
It wasn't until sunset that Lin Baiyan told everyone to stop. By then, they had dug a short tunnel about three or four meters long and two meters high, big enough for three people to walk side by side.
The young man originally planned to dig a tunnel about five meters long, and then carve out two stone caves of more than thirty square meters on each side.
Lin Baiyan was already quite satisfied with how much he had dug up in just one day.
In this way, they can not only carve out caves to store supplies, but also carve out a few more small caves for individual living when Lang Cang returns with the hunting team.