"Oh? What about food? How much food do we have in total? Tianxiang moved on to another topic.

"There isn't much food anymore! The little bit of worm meat I got last time has been almost eaten in the past few days. If we don't add more, I'm afraid it will only take another two days, and the whole camp will no longer find anything to eat. Speaking of this, the old man's face put away the joy just now, and replaced it with a kind of solemnity and anxiety.

"How many people are currently able to participate in the hunt?" Tianxiang continued his question.

"In addition to the old and infirm old people and children who are unable to move, there should be seventy-four people, including me, who can barely make up the numbers. However, the vast majority of them are women. As for the young and strong men, there were only six. Speaking of this, the old man looked at Tianxiang with some encouragement: "Say it! What to do? ”

"I remember, you seem to be able to use a gun. Is it? After frowning and thinking for a long time, Tianxiang turned his head to the old man and asked.

Liu Rui nodded.

"Well, it's yours." Tianxiang smiled slightly, took out the M5G43 that had been placed in the camp from behind him, and handed it to the old man along with six fully loaded magazines, and said: "There are not many people who can use guns, and I am somewhat relieved that you will keep them." ”

Immediately afterwards, Tianxiang took the P104 pistol and several equally full magazines from the library from the hands of his sister who was listening to him with wide eyes on the side, and stuffed them into the hands of Ye Zhanfeng, who was staring at the submachine gun in the old man's hand: "This is yours, you should be able to use it!" Stay out for a while to get acquainted, just don't hurt your own people. ”

"As for the others, tell them to get ready to go. Tomorrow when the hunt is over, we will set off. ”

Tianxiang's last order surprised the old man: "Go? Where to? Are we going to get out of here? ”

"Not bad!" Tianxiang nodded: "It's not safe here, and there are relatively few food sources." I know a nice place that is much safer. And most importantly, there are weapons there, weapons that we most urgently need at the moment. ”

A few hours later, when the timer on Tianxiang's wrist just jumped to the early morning position, Old Man Liu Rui led the other seventy-three hunters to the front of the new patriarch.

Tianxiang looked at the uneven hunting team in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Although just before, he already knew the strength of this weak hunting group. But now, when all the people who claimed to be "capable of participating in the hunt" in Liu Rui's mouth were concentrated in front of him, he was still moved again by this hunting team composed almost entirely of old people and women.

Because, in this team of seventy-four people, counting carefully, there are more than fifty people who are so old that they need to rely on spears and guns to move around. Of the remainder, with the exception of six able-bodied men, the rest were made up entirely of women. To make matters worse, seven of the more than a dozen women appeared to be powerful. The others are simply weak.

"You don't have to go." Without saying much, Tianxiang silently pointed out the more than ten people he liked from the team, and calmly said to the rest: "You stay in the camp and wait for us to come back!" ”

"We have the strength, we can fight!" An old man was in a hurry, hurriedly held the spear gun in his hand, rushed to Tianxiang in a few steps, and shouted breathlessly: "Don't, don't leave us。。。。。。 We also have 。。。。。。 Ahem, ahem, we, we are not waste. ”

As if this was a signal, all the hunters immediately gathered around and expressed their earnest wishes to the new patriarch.

"Please, don't leave my mother behind. She's still useful, she can hunt with us! ”

"I'm not old, I'm in my sixties。。。。。。 Me, I can still throw throwing guns from a distance! ”

"Don't abandon us, we can carry, we can move, we can carry our prey. We don't have much to eat, just a little bit of food。。。。。。 ”

"Don't Leave Me 。。。。。。"

If you don't hunt, you can't eat. Similarly, people who do not participate in hunting are unlikely to find any other source of food unless the hunter is willing to share the food himself. Moreover, the elderly and infirm do not have priority rights in the distribution of food. They can only eat the rotten meat left over by others and gnaw on the bones that others can't chew. In many cases, even their own children don't even think to ask. After all, you can't survive without food. In the face of the threat of hunger, the value of a piece of satisfying insect meat is far more important than the warmth between parents and children.

Tianxiang didn't expect that a simple order of his own would cause such a big reaction among this group of poor people. Especially when he saw a few sturdy young men who did not hesitate to argue with him in order to let their elderly mother hunt with the team, his eyes couldn't help but moisten slightly.

At that moment, he remembered his dead father. In order to prevent his young self and sister from starving, his father did not hesitate to cut off the meat on his thigh, roasted it and divided it into two pieces, and stuffed it into his hands。。。。。。

It is precisely because of this that the father, who has limited mobility, never came back during a hunting trip.

"Don't mess around, listen to me!" Tianxiang, who tried his best to control his emotions, said slowly: "This hunt, you don't need to go to so many people. We just need to get some necessary food, so we don't have to wait too long. What's more, if the old man goes, it will only bring unnecessary trouble to the hunt. Therefore, it is enough to have us. As for those who remain, I promise that all food will be distributed to everyone in accordance with the fairest principle. After all, I'm your new patriarch! New Leader! ”

"Don't mess up, everything is up to the patriarch!" Liu Rui separated the crowd, inserted into it, raised Tianxiang's right hand and said loudly: "Trust our patriarch, he will never abandon anyone." Since the patriarch said that he would only bring so many people, then he must have his own reasons. Is there anything else in mind about our leaders? ”

No one spoke up anymore, and it could be seen that Tianxiang and Liu Rui's words had moved them. I saw that the old people who were not targeted, after silently handing over the weapons in their hands to the young people, they supported each other, and with some expectation, slowly turned around and walked towards the camp。。。。。。

Although it was early in the morning, it was still dark. The bright sunlight could not penetrate the barrier that drifted in the sky, and could only dimly emit its own light, faintly through some of the meager gaps, and appeared in the sky with a faint reddish tinge that was almost indistinguishable.

Although the light was blocked, the temperature was like that of a soldier who bravely crossed the blockade line, ignoring the layers of obstacles, and still faithfully sprinkled everything he had on every piece of rubble and rubble.

Bugs love the night. However, they are clearly more inclined to the daytime in comparison. This is due to the fact that the temperature at night is too low, sometimes even below freezing. Whenever this happens, these reptiles, who have dominated the planet with their numerical superiority, can only huddle their bodies, crowd each other, and honestly stay in the narrow but warm nests underground, bored but quite patient, waiting for the warmth to come back in a few hours.

Bugs don't like the sun, not at all. It's no exaggeration to say that the damned star that glows with a fiery red glare shouldn't be in the bugs' world at all. Sunlight dries out the ground and carries away a large number of other microorganisms that inhabit the surface of the insect. As a result, many insects that have to rely on their symbiosis to decompose their food have to face the threat of death. Among them, carnivorous insects are especially few.

A dark world without the threat of sunlight, but without losing its warmth, is destined to become a paradise for bugs.

Fifteen people, such a hunting group is really pitifully small compared to those powerful groups of hundreds of people at every turn. Hunting is a necessary means of obtaining food for humans living in a dark world. Compared with individuals, group hunting can not only hunt larger and more ferocious insects, but also far more food can be obtained than individual hunting. So, in contrast, every lone survivor feels honored to be part of a powerful race. Because, of course, it means more and more abundant food, and the threat of hunger is obviously much smaller.

And, most importantly, group hunting is safe. When you are being chased by a carnivorous insect, if you can throw a few sharp spears when you need them most, it will undoubtedly mean that your precious life has been reborn again.

From this point of view, it is clear that the stronger the hunting group, the better. Of course, the more people who participate in the hunt, the safer.

Tianxiang, who has been fighting in the pile of insects since he was a child, naturally knows this truth. But there is no way, at present, there are only fifteen people in total, including themselves. As for the old men, it is better to stay in the camp in peace than to let them die in vain. After all, as things stand, it's always good to have one more person. Even if the person is too old to walk, he is only left to breathe.

When he returned from the base, Tianxiang noticed that about five kilometers away from the camp, there was a low-lying wetland full of musty black water. Although the living environment around that area is harsh, even those who are at ease with the encounter cannot bear it at all and flee. However, the bugs obviously don't think so. The wet mud, with enough water, and a piece of reinforced concrete slabs that had collapsed from a nearby building, just blocked by a few pieces of rubble, covered the wetland and formed a natural refuge. It would be a pity if such a piece of land was not used to build a nest and settle down.

Of course, not all bugs like this kind of environment. In addition to the flat beetle called "black lice", which was favored by Tianxiang and became the target of this hunt, I am afraid that only molluscs such as rot maggots will be more or less interested here.

The black lice, which wallow in the rancid mud all day long, is a herbivorous insect. Although its nest is quite dirty, in terms of taste for food, black lice are actually the absolute gentleman of insects. Because, compared to the almost predatory gnawing and devouring of other herbivorous insects, the black lice only gnaw off the plump parts of the plant at a time, which is undoubtedly like an ancient human herd.

They are smart and only eat half at a time. Even when you are hungry, you will never eat the rhizomes of plants buried in the soil. Instead, they waited quite patiently, waiting for this precious plant to grow tall and grow again and provide more and better food for themselves.

In this sense, black lice already have the most difficult intelligence among insects.

Although, such wisdom is quite low-level. From the point of view of humans, it is not worth the sun at all.

Tianxiang, who has obtained all the information of the base, will naturally not be unfamiliar with this kind of bug. From the knowledge of the ancients, he had guessed that the black lice were probably a small insect that had mutated from hundreds of years ago, but now it was hundreds of times larger than before. But no matter what, in Tianxiang's opinion, even if this insect has come a long way on the road of evolution. But in the end, they still can't escape the fate of being ruled and used by humans.

Just like now, for a small race that has just gained dominance, these half-sized bugs that look rather terrifying are nothing more than food that can be used for the stomach.

Fifteen people, divided into three teams. Tianxiang brought a team, and Ye Zhanfeng led a team. There was also a young man named Xia Dong, who was selected from the hunt and looked quite clever and strong, and was also temporarily designated by Tianxiang as the commander of the last squad.

Tianxiang's plan is simple: three teams of people will completely surround the entire wetland from three sides. Throw spears from a distance to eliminate individual black lice individuals. As for the black lice swarms that are wrapped together, they are left for the final concentrated elimination. Tianxiang calculated that more than 240 throwing guns in the entire group were enough to deal with this group of black lice, which numbered only about 100. As long as there are no accidents, he is completely sure that in half an hour, he will bring a fresh and delicious meal to all his people.

The location of each squad is precisely calculated. Not only is the distance between each other exactly the same, but even the distance between people is very particular. Moreover, Tianxiang, the road near the hunting ground, had already strictly explained to everyone, and repeatedly told them that when they were attacked, they must follow the action route they gave and converge with the nearby response group. Running or assertion without permission is not permitted.

Discipline, this is something that the ancients mentioned again and again in many books. Hunting is a kind of cooperative behavior that requires cooperation, and if there is no discipline, no matter how strong one's individual ability is, it can only obtain the smallest benefit after all.

For the "discipline" that Tianxiang repeatedly emphasized, many people are quite unimpressed. On the one hand, this is of course because they still have a little bit of indifference to this new patriarch in their hearts! More so because these theories sound to them just useless nonsense.

Isn't it? Isn't hunting like piercing the body of a bug with a spear gun? Why bother talking so much?

It's just that in the face of the majesty of the patriarch, no one showed such thoughts on their faces.

"Sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine。。。。。。" Tianxiang silently counted all the insects that could be detected by his eyes, and his powerful sense of thought had already spread throughout the wetland. According to the target he perceived, the number of black lice in this whole group should be one hundred and thirty-two. In the clearing that appeared in front of him, there were only ninety-one insects that exposed their bodies.

In other words, there are more than forty bugs, which are safely hiding in the soft black mud below the wetland.

Tianxiang didn't speak, just turned around and smiled at the four clansmen he led, and Xuan Ji took out one of the throwing spears placed on the ground, gently swept it, and threw it at a black lice that was gnawing on plant leaves fifty or sixty meters away from him.

The spear that broke through the air was very accurate, and only a "poof-" sound was heard, and the black lice, which were about one meter long, still did not give up the delicious food in front of them after suffering the tragic fate of piercing the back and abdomen. After just continuing to chew and humming a few times in a low voice, he twisted his six legs uselessly in the air, and was unable to make any more moves.

(Everyone who collects rags should have seen it!) "Who has waste paper, waste iron, and waste bottles to take out and sell!". In fact, I'm also collecting, but the shouting is different: "Who has **SMS ticket*** to take it out and vote!" ”）