However, the Wood Tribe has no shortage of meat these days; in fact, they have more than they can eat, so they have to trade it. Therefore, it would be a waste for so many orc warriors to only hunt.
Then Shen Nong put his long-planned scheme on the agenda. He merged the hunting teams of the Wood Tribe, Water Tribe, and Wushan Tribe into a new team—the Military Guard.
This approach facilitates unified management and maximizes the power of these orcs.
They will become the Wood Tribe's strongest weapon.
Ze, Hu Xiao, and Mao Yun were appointed as the captain and two deputy captains of the military guard, respectively. The three of them were responsible for training and managing all matters related to the military guard.
Shen Nong had high expectations for the military guard; if they were going to do it, they had to do it properly.
He drew inspiration from the militarized management and high-intensity training of interstellar armies to develop a management and training system suitable for orcs. Because orcs were physically and genetically superior to interstellar humans, Shen Nong adjusted the intensity of strength and endurance training to suit the orcs' physical limits.
The interstellar army's various firearms training also evolved into training in both beast-like combat and humanoid melee combat.
The military guard was surrounded by mountains on three sides, located on the very edge of the tribe, and it was a long way to get back to the tribe. Since Tiger Roar and Cat Cloud came to the military guard, they had never gone back to their hut to sleep, and had always slept directly in the military guard's wooden hut.
The distance was simply too far, and the military guards had a lot of training, starting early and ending late every day. They had no desire to travel back and forth across the entire tribe.
But Ze is an exception among the three.
The sun had completely set, and the sky was already dark. Hu Xiao held a bowl of pork rib soup in his hand, pointed at Ze's departing figure, shook his head, and muttered to Mao Yun, "Ze is like an unweaned cub; he can't stand not seeing the priest for a day."
Every time Hu Xiao saw Ze traversing the entire tribe just to meet the priest, he would shake his head and say this.
Cat Cloud never responded; she pretended not to hear and walked right past Tiger Roar. Cat Cloud thought that maybe only Tiger Roar in the entire tribe couldn't see that Ze and the priest were partners.
Before joining the guard, Ze was inseparable from the priestess, taking care of her in every way and prioritizing her needs. Moreover, Ze always lived with the priestess in the same cave, never leaving even during the spring mating season. Not to mention, during spring, Ze would become very unhappy if any other orc even glanced at the priestess. The orc's possessiveness towards their mate was vividly displayed in Ze.
Cat Cloud couldn't understand whether Tiger Roar's eyes and head were just for show. How could he not have noticed something so obvious?
...
The summer nights in the Beast World weren't so hot; there was even a gentle breeze outside the cave. Shen Nong listened to the intermittent rustling of the leaves in the wind, hugging a plush pillow, and leaned against the headboard, feeling drowsy.
Tuanzi is growing bigger and bigger, and it's so big that it can no longer fit into Shen Nong's cave. Now it sleeps with Da Hei.
At first, Shen Nong was afraid she wouldn't be able to sleep without Tuanzi, so she made a large plush pillow out of Tuanzi's fur to replace Tuanzi. After getting used to the plush pillow for two days, Shen Nong was able to fall asleep leaning against it, and the pillow completely replaced Tuanzi's place.
The wooden door to the cave was opened and then gently closed.
Shen Nong's drowsy mind cleared up a little, and soon he let his guard down and lazily slid down onto the bed, falling asleep.
"priest."
A magnetic and alluring voice rang in her ears. Shen Nong first felt a fleeting coolness on her cheeks, followed by a humid heat that was enough to raise the temperature of the surrounding area.
In the dark cave, Shen Nong couldn't see Ze's face clearly, and his drowsiness prevented him from opening his eyes to make a proper look. Shen Nong was incredibly sleepy, but he still wanted to give his beloved a goodnight kiss. He raised his hand to hug Ze's neck and followed his memory of where Ze's lips were to kiss him, but he didn't know where he kissed—it was hard.
Shen Nong was too lazy to think about it, and fell asleep immediately after kissing him. Ze looked at the priest's sleeping face, touched his nose, and chuckled softly.
After lying down, Ze kept a certain distance from Shen Nong.
He remembered that the priest disliked the heat, so after the summer arrived, he stopped transforming into his beast form at night and stopped cuddling with the priest to sleep, for fear that the priest would feel uncomfortable.
Just before falling asleep, Ze held the priest's hand and drifted off to sleep with a smile.
Shen Nong was awakened by the chirping of birds. He sat up sleepily, and the seat next to him was empty. Shen Nong habitually touched it, but he still couldn't feel any warmth.
Since the beginning of summer, he has been extremely busy every day, settling the salt tribe's orcs and cannibals, arranging numerous matters related to the iron mines and the seaside, and building a market.
I wish I had three heads and six arms.
Ze was also so busy that he was nowhere to be seen, and the only time the two could meet was when they went to sleep at night.
Shen Nong sighed softly. Fortunately, Shen Yi was in charge of the iron mine, and Shen Er had been sent to the seaside, which made things much easier for him.
Now the iron mine is on track, and all kinds of civilian iron products are emerging under Shen Yi's supervision.
The android warriors and their masters can establish a separate communication window on the system platform. Just two days ago, Shen Yi mentioned that next time the Feather Tribe orcs come to the Wood Tribe to pick up goods, he asked them to help deliver a few large iron pots.
Shen Nong was really looking forward to cooking with an iron wok. She thought that the food preparation team would make several large stoves according to the size of the iron wok, so that they could cook a lot of meat at once each time, which would save a lot of time.
Stepping out of the cave, Shen Nong went to her usual washing area, removed the lid from the wooden tub, and was greeted by a wave of heat.
He stared at the half-filled bucket of boiled water, thinking that it seemed like he hadn't seen Ze during the day in a long time.
Ze was busy at the military guard unit until very late every day. By the time he got back, he was already so tired that he could fall asleep as soon as he was next to someone, and he didn't even have time to take a good look at Ze.
However, if Ze doesn't come back, he won't be able to sleep all night. Shen Nong chuckled at his strange habit, thinking that once the market was almost finished, he would go to the military guard to see Ze.
After washing up, Shen Nong used one infrastructure point from the system to buy a steamed bun and then went directly to the market.
The market wasn't built in the Mu tribe's own territory, but rather in an area between the Yan and Mu tribes. The market's construction is now nearing completion; the cement stalls and cement floor have dried completely in just three to five days. All that's left is to put on the roofs to protect the stalls from the wind and rain.
Previously, in order to make the cement dry faster, the roof was not installed.
Instead of covering the roof with mud tiles, the shed was covered with dried straw. The summer winds and rains in the Beast World are very strong. If it were covered with mud tiles, the tiles that had been painstakingly fired would shatter overnight in a storm.
If you use straw, you won't feel bad even if the roof is blown off.
The raincoat grass would actually take several more months to grow, but Shen Nong used her supernatural ability to accelerate its growth so as not to delay it. After all, the raincoat grass wasn't for eating, so its poor taste wouldn't affect its use.
Summer is rainy, so to make it easier for people to travel, Shen Nong taught his people how to weave raincoats. The remaining straw was all woven into raincoats, and matching bamboo hats were also made from bamboo strips.
After the straw mats were laid on top and secured, the construction of the market was finally completed, and all that was left was for the various tribes to come and trade.
Shen Nong considered making a choice, but he felt it wasn't worth traveling all that way just to see someone, so he went to the medical team instead.
When they came out again, all the orcs in the medical team followed Shen Nong and went with him to the military guard.
When the group arrived at the military guard post, Ze, Hu Xiao, and Mao Yun were already waiting at the door.
The orcs here are all of high level, and we had already sensed that quite a few orcs were approaching the guard.
Tiger Roar climbed onto the watchtower made of giant trees. He couldn't see anyone clearly, but he recognized the strangely dressed priest in the center. He turned around and shouted, "Stop training! The priest is here!"
Shen Nong was wearing the shorts and short-sleeved shirt he wore when he first transmigrated. He was the only one dressed like that in the entire Beast World, so it's no wonder that Hu Xiao recognized him at a glance.
After hearing that the priest had arrived, Ze's eyes never left the doorway.
Tiger Roar shook his head again upon seeing this.
"Why are you all out here? How's the training going?" Shen Nong looked at the three of them with a smile, and finally fixed her gaze on Ze, her smile widening.
Tiger Roar, with his loud voice, said directly, "I can't explain it. Priest, you can just look at it yourself."
Then he stepped forward, blocking Shen Nong and Ze's view, forcefully cutting off their line of sight. He waved at Shen Nong and asked curiously, "Priest, what are you looking at? What's so interesting?"
As Hu Xiao spoke, he followed Shen Nong's gaze, and in that direction, besides the choice, there was only the lookout tower.
Shen Nong realized that her gaze was too exposed, so she looked away. Then she heard Hu Xiao say happily, "Priest, you like watchtowers too? I like them too. You can see very far from up there. How did you come up with this thing, Priest?"
Unable to bear it any longer, Maoyun stepped forward and asked, "Priest, what mission do the orcs from the medical team have at the military guard?"
Shen Nong nodded, "They are here to teach the orc guards how to treat their wounds simply, and also to learn about some hemostatic herbs."
"Priest, leave this to me and Hu Xiao. We can handle it."
Mao Yun spoke earnestly and seriously, deliberately omitting the word "choice." Shen Nong knew it couldn't be because of exclusion, but she still sensed her true intention.
This surprised Shen Nong. Was she really that obvious?
However, Shen Nong did not refuse, but instead let Tu Dong lead the medical team of orcs to follow Mao Yun and Hu Xiao.
As he was leaving, Hu Xiao glanced at Ze Kan, looking as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. Before he could speak, Mao Yun pulled him away.
"Cat Cloud, why are you pulling me?"
Cat Cloud ignored him.
Tiger Roar leaned close to Cat Cloud's ear and whispered, "Why didn't you let Ze come along? Ze seems to be quite attached to the priest. We're all beastmen from the same tribe; we should help Ze correct this. Otherwise, how will the three of us manage to live in one cave when Ze finds a partner?"
Tiger Roar paused for a moment, then said, "Perhaps once Ze finds a partner, he won't want to cling to the priest anymore. Cat Cloud, don't you have a partner? You can..."
Tiger Roar's words became increasingly outrageous, and Cat Cloud couldn't help but interrupt, "Shut up!"
The aura of a high-level orc when enraged made the low-level orcs in the medical team tremble. Cat Cloud glanced at Rabbit Winter, who was standing next to her and was trembling slightly, then suppressed her aura and decided to ignore Tiger Roar.
Shen Nong couldn't hear what Hu Xiao said as he walked away, but Ze could still hear it clearly.
He ignored everything else Hu Xiao said and stared intently at the priest standing in front of him.
companion.
Would the priest be willing to be his partner?
Shen Nong was unaware of Ze's thoughts. He followed his heart and carefully traced Ze's incomparably handsome face, deep eyes, and high nose bridge. Suddenly, a sentence popped into Shen Nong's mind: "I have kissed all these places."
Shen Nong's heart raced because of this sudden thought. He then realized that it was already summer, and Ze wouldn't be affected by his heat cycle. He could go and verify whether Ze also had feelings for him.
Shen Nong was also completely clueless when it came to matters of the heart. He didn't know how to be tactful or subtle, nor did he know how to be alluring or seductive. He wanted to test the waters, but he didn't have any good methods.
Finally, following her heart, she walked step by step to Ze and asked with a smile, "Want to kiss?"
Shen Nong, who should have held absolute control, lost his footing after saying those words. All his thoughts were focused on how to deal with the wildly aggressive kiss, hoping not to suffocate from it.
Shen Nong's chin was gripped tightly, her head was spinning, and all she could think about was "I regret it now."
He shouldn't have asked.
Finally, Shen Nong couldn't bear it any longer. She gritted her teeth and bit down hard on Ze's lip, the metallic taste of blood spreading between them. This pain was nothing to Ze; he didn't even feel it. Only after smelling the blood did he assume Shen Nong was injured, and he frantically examined his face, extremely worried.
Shen Nong's face was being held up, forcing him to tilt his head back. The unbearable height difference made his neck a little sore. Shen Nong frowned and said, "You're the one I bit, why are you looking at me like that?"
Ze then realized what had happened, but by then the wound on his lip had already healed, with only a trace of blood on his lip proving that he had been injured there.
Ze casually wiped the blood from his lips, his gaze burning as he looked at the priest. The words in his heart were almost bursting forth; he couldn't wait to ask the priest if she would be his partner.
Shen Nong felt a chill run down her spine from Ze's gaze, thinking that this guy wanted to kiss her again. Terrified, she quickly turned her face away and changed the subject, "How's training lately?"
Before he could say it, Shen Nong interrupted him, leaving him speechless and caught in a dilemma.
Shen Nong asked casually, not really wanting to know how the training was going. His mind was preoccupied with how he couldn't even handle kissing, let alone anything else. Having experienced it before, he was certain he couldn't manage.
Maybe we should just forget about it. What's more important than life than love?
Shen Nong's heart was pounding with the urge to back down, and the sensitive orc keenly sensed the priest's intention to retreat.
A huge sense of crisis rose in Ze's heart, and he subconsciously gripped Shen Nong's wrist tightly.
Shen Nong felt a sharp pain in her wrist, snapped out of her daze, and looked at Ze with a puzzled expression, "What's wrong?"
Ze's eyes were filled with the image of a priest. The other party frowned slightly, and Ze immediately loosened his grip, but did not let go.
Shen Nong felt a chill run down his spine at the seriousness of Ze's expression, which he had never seen before. Then he heard Ze's deep voice, trembling noticeably, "Priest, may I be your partner?"