I Became The Chief of A Primitive Village

Chapter 24: Clever Way of Getting Water

Trees surrounded the small lake, blocking Su Bai’s view.

He turned to Yan Jiao and the others, calmly saying, "Take me around the small lake."

"Alright," Yan Jiao nodded, taking the lead to scout ahead.

Su Bai observed as they came to a high slope by the lake’s edge, essentially a small cliff, about seven or eight metres above the lake surface.

Standing at the cliff edge looking down, he muttered softly, "If we made some buckets to draw water from here, it seems like we would not need to go to the lake’s edge for water."

"That’s right, why didn’t I think of that?" Yan Jiao’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, thinking it was an excellent idea.

Hei Ya revealed a mouthful of sharp teeth, saying, "I’ll go back later and have people gather more vines."

"No. The efficiency is still too low. It only reduces the danger level but it doesn’t solve the situation of Totem Warriors needing to go back and forth to fetch water," Su Bai shook his head, rejecting this idea.

"Huh?" Yan Jiao, Hei Ya, and the others were dumbfounded. [How is this not feasible?]

"Let’s keep walking," Su Bai did not bother to explain.

"Alright." Yan Jiao reluctantly led the way, but inwardly decided to have Totem Warriors fetch water from the cliff in the future.

The group of five came to a low-lying area overgrown with wild grass.

"Oh? This place is quite good," Su Bai’s eyes brightened as he surveyed the surrounding terrain, discovering that this depression was the lowest point around the small lake.

Thinking of the dried-up stream’s terrain, he softly said, "If the stream was to cut through here, the water level of this small lake would definitely drop by more than half."

"What do you mean?" Yan Jiao, Yan Hua, and the others did not quite understand.

"It’s okay if you don’t understand. You’ll get it in a moment." Su Bai’s lips curled into a smile as he pointed at the wild grass in the depression, instructing, "Pull out the grass here, but be careful of snakes."

"Okay," everyone responded in unison.

Yan Jiao and Hei Ya entered the depression. The experienced Totem Warriors first explored the grass, startling away any wild animals that might be hiding inside.

Su Bai stood to the side, watching the four enthusiastically pulling grass. His peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the cow horned girl bending over, her buttocks wrapped in the animal hide skirt. It had created an urge for him to give it a pat.

He quickly suppressed his emotions and scanned the surroundings, measuring the distance from the depression to the lake’s edge.

[The depression is less than ten metres away. With Totem Warriors helping, digging a channel over shouldn’t take too long," Su Bai glanced at Yan Jiao and the others. As expected of Totem Warriors, the grass was diminishing at a quick pace.

*Roar…* A beast’s roar came from the distant forest.

Su Bai was startled by the roar and frowned, warning, "Damn it. We can’t directly dig a channel to it."

The roar reminded him that if they dug a channel, it would immediately be occupied by other Ferocious Beasts. Their presence would contaminate the water source.

"Water pollution is a big problem right now. There are over a dozen Ferocious Beasts in the small lake, and I don’t want to be covered in parasites." Su Bai knocked his head with the side of his fist. He muttered softly, "Filtering at the water source is too impractical…"

"Shaman, all the grass has been pulled out," Yan Jiao called softly.

"Oh?" Su Bai came to his senses, looking at the somewhat muddy depression. After removing the wild grass, the depression was lower than he had imagined.

He went to the depression, stepped on the muddy soil, crouched down to dig some mud, kneaded it forcefully. He found that it contained a lot of moisture.

"Someone come here and dig down from this spot until you see sand," Su Bai said with a smile all over his face.

He had figured out how to solve the impractical idea of filtering the water source. [Isn’t soil the best filter?]

"I’ll do it," Hei Ya immediately responded, his ten fingers curling as he quickly began to dig up the soil.

Su Bai watched the ‘dog-digging’ Hei Ya speechlessly. The scene was too novel. Soil was being scattered several metres high, forcing the others to helplessly step back.

"Shaman, what’s the purpose of digging a hole here?" Yan Jiao asked curiously.

"Haven’t you ever dug a well?" Su Bai asked in surprise.

"What’s a well?" Yan Hua asked in a clear voice.

"Uh…" Su Bai was at a loss for words, helplessly explaining, "It’s digging a hole from the ground down, to access underground water for use."

"Digging a hole provides us water to use?" Yan Jiao and Yan Hua exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, not every place you dig a hole will have water," Su Bai sighed.

Like in forested areas, it’s very difficult to dig wells for water. The geological structures are different  depending on the surrounding area. Su Bai had Hei Ya dig the hole because there was a lake nearby, and water could seep through underground.

"Then if we dig a well in the Tribe, can we get water?" Yan Jiao asked hopefully.

"No." Su Bai shook his head mercilessly. The Tribe’s location was very poor. It had few natural trees around, indicating how little underground water there was underground.

"…" The hopeful gazes of Yan Jiao, Yan Hua, and the other Totem Warrior immediately dimmed.

"By the way, do you know of any plants that are hollow in the middle?" Su Bai asked expectantly.

He did not know if bamboo existed in this primitive society. If not, he would temporarily abandon the idea of transporting water to the Tribe. They could only have all Totem Warriors escort the Tribe’s people to transport water, carrying enough for several days of drinking at once.

"Yes, there are several kinds," Yan Hua said in a clear voice.

"Several kinds?" Su Bai was surprised.

"Yes, there’s the Hollow Tree, Red Knot Tree, and Hollow Grass," Yan Hua expertly listed three plant names.

"Are any of these three plants nearby?" Su Bai asked urgently, wanting to see if there was something similar to bamboo.

"We’ve only seen Hollow Trees nearby. The other two plants are only found near the Ancestral Land," Yan Jiao further elaborated.

"Are there many? How tall are they? Are they easy to cut down?" Su Bai asked three questions in succession.

"There seem to be quite a lot. They’re about twenty or so knots tall," Yan Jiao frowned in thought, then continued, "They’re very easy to cut down. I can break a Hollow Tree with just a few punches."

"Twenty-some knots, that’s equivalent to about ten metres long. That’s great," Su Bai felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Unexpectedly, they had indeed found a plant that could substitute for bamboo.

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