The first year of the Vine Tribe's establishment, night of May 8th, clear.
"Buzz buzz buzz...…"
"Slap!"
Jiang Xuan lay in bed, accurately swatting a mosquito that was intending to land on his thigh to suck blood.
However, not long after, two more mosquitoes flew over, circling around him, searching for the best spot to suck blood, incredibly annoying.
After swatting five mosquitoes, Jiang Xuan finally sat up helplessly, completely awake.
As the weather became increasingly hot, the mosquito population surged, becoming quite rampant, occasionally biting people, sucking out a drop of blood, leaving an itchy welt, making people very uncomfortable.
Not just mosquitoes, other bugs also increased in number, various flying insects sneaking through the cracks of the bamboo house, then flying around the fire pit, some even plunging into the fire, turning to ash.
Sitting on the bed, Jiang Xuan said helplessly, "If only we had mosquito coils."
If there were mosquito coils, mosquitoes would not dare to come openly to bite, and those bugs would be repelled or knocked out.
Unfortunately, the mosquito coils that could be bought for a few bucks in the previous life couldn't be found in this barbaric primordial world.
Just as Jiang Xuan was feeling helpless, Chi Shao seemed to hear the noise and walked over to him.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" Chi Shao asked concernedly.
"Too many mosquitoes, can't sleep with the bites." Jiang Xuan's expression was very helpless.
After hearing Jiang Xuan's words, Chi Shao thought for a while, picked up a spear, and said: "Take a torch, come with me outside."
"Okay!"
Jiang Xuan didn't know what Chi Shao was going to do outside, but he was very curious.
There were more than a dozen already made torches in the bamboo house, made by splitting bamboo, bundling large amounts of resin-rich branches together.
Since the tribe didn't have electrical appliances, torches were the most important lighting tool at night, usually made in advance, and when needing to use, one would just light it at the fire pit.
Jiang Xuan took a torch, lit it, and followed Chi Shao to open the door of the bamboo house.
Going out at night is actually a dangerous act, but the Vine Tribe was protected by Ancient Vine, and there were no beasts nearby, so as long as they didn't go far, it was relatively safe.
"Chirp chirp chirp chirp..."
After stepping out of the bamboo house, the surrounding insect cries became more evident, rising and falling, bustling but not rowdy, adding a sense of life to the summer night.
"Coo coo coo..."
"Croak, croak, croak..."
Unidentified birds called in the trees, by the pond and creek, various frogs competed to call out, some attracting mates, others simply having nothing to do after a fill.
Hearing all kinds of animal sounds and feeling the cool night breeze, Jiang Xuan felt much of his irritation ease away.
If it weren't for the annoying bugs drawn to the firelight, the night walk would have felt even better.
"Slap!"
A snake appeared ahead, unmoved by the firelight, until Chi Shao used the spear to press down on the snake's head at a point behind the eyes and then used a Stone Knife to cut off the snake's head, placing its body in her Beast Hide Bag.
Chi Shao's moves were smooth as flowing water, very fluid, without even a change in her facial expression.
Many animals are attracted to the firelight at night, snakes included, and this unlucky snake stayed around a bit too long, thus becoming food for the Vine Tribe.
Then, Chi Shao caught two unlucky frogs, an unlucky large insect, and finally reached a forest on the left side of the bamboo house, where she found a cluster of low plants.
It was a type of wild grass that looked much like regular wild grass, but when approached, emitted a strange, unpleasant smell.
This scent couldn't be classified as either fragrant or stinky, it was just unpleasant to the nose.
As Chi Shao cut the grass with a Stone Knife, she explained to Jiang Xuan, "This is called Stinky Grass. When the Hunting Team spends the night outside, they like to cut some, occasionally tossing a bit into the fire to ward off bugs."
She cut a large heap, then found a vine nearby to tie it up, carrying it back.
When the juice inside this bundle of Stinky Grass leaked out, the foul scent became even more pronounced. Jiang Xuan was surprised to notice that even the bugs attracted by the firelight had decreased.
After returning to the bamboo house, Chi Shao placed the large bundle of Stinky Grass beside the fire pit, pulled out some burning charcoal from the fire, then took a handful of the Stinky Grass, bundled it together, and placed it above the charcoal.
With the heat of the charcoal fire, the Stinky Grass emitted some smoke, the unpleasant smell instantly spreading, permeating the entire bamboo house.
Even the three teenagers in their sleep frowned slightly, opened their sleepy eyes to glance at the fire pit, reassured, then went back to sleep.
Although the smell was strong, its effectiveness was obvious.
Jiang Xuan was surprised to find that the flies around the fire pit, as well as those annoying mosquitoes, were nearly all repelled by the smoke.
Chi Shao said, "Bundling the Stinky Grass and placing it over the charcoal can make it burn longer. If thrown directly into the fire, it would soon turn to ash."
Jiang Xuan nodded and said, "If mosquitoes come back in the middle of the night, I'll put another bundle of Stinky Grass on."
"You know it, so I'll start handling these catches."
Chi Shao yawned, efficiently cleaned the snake, frogs, and large bug caught on the way, then hung them above the fire for smoking.
She thought for a moment, washed her hands, and then went to sleep.
The hand washing wasn't due to cleanliness, the tribe didn't care about that.
It was mostly because Jiang Xuan liked cleanliness, and after getting his hands dirty each time, he would carefully wash up. Over time, Chi Shao also cultivated this habit of washing hands.
Jiang Xuan lay back on the bed, and, after waiting for a while, sure enough, no more annoying mosquitoes came to bite.
Smelling that strange scent, he gradually drifted into slumber…
The next day, just after Jiang Xuan stepped out of the bamboo house, an anxious Gan Song ran over with a few Wanderers.
"Chief, it's bad, a lot of bugs came to the field, and our crops are nearly eaten up."
"What?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Xuan instantly sobered up, immediately thinking of a pest disaster.
He didn't even have time to wash his face, urgently saying, "Quick, take me to see."
The crops in the field were crucial winter food supplies for the Vine Tribe.
After working so hard to clear so much land, planting so many food crops, they couldn't let a pest disaster ruin it all.
Jiang Xuan followed Gan Song to the field, and saw countless bugs ferociously devouring the crops, stripping leaves from many plants, with even the tenderer stalks not spared.
The Wanderers were working hard catching bugs, but their speed was too slow, practically a drop in the bucket compared to the massive number of bugs.
Both surprised and furious, Jiang Xuan knew it was indeed a pest disaster!
"Chief, what should we do? There are too many bugs, we can't catch them all."
The usually calm Gan Song also lost his composure, as these crops bore much of his efforts, and watching them be consumed by bugs felt like heartache.
"Don't rush, I'm working on a solution."
Jiang Xuan forced himself to calm down, relentlessly searching his memory for any knowledge on pest disaster management, trying to figure out a method suitable for their current situation.