“Why did you get up so early too?” During this period, Ye Huo had been accompanying Chen Qi on the city wall. Even though Chen Qi spent most of the time staring blankly at the plains, Ye Huo still learned a lot from him. Those written symbols fascinated him deeply. After living for decades, it was the first time Ye Huo realized that such strange symbols could express so many meanings — and that one could understand another person’s thoughts without speaking face-to-face.

Ye Huo walked up and said, “It’s not that early anymore. Ale has already gone fishing with today’s hunting team.”

“Recently, it seems the fish in the Chishui River haven’t been so easy to catch, right?” Chen Qi asked.

After entering the season for storing food for winter, the tribe’s hunting teams not only had to hunt enough food for the entire tribe to survive the cold months, but some females who already had partners would also hunt alone at other times to make their partners’ winter more plentiful. The prey they caught during those times did not need to be shared equally with the whole tribe.

Although Qi Ze City’s winter food supply was no longer as tight as in previous years due to the crops that had been planted, Azhang still forbade the beastmen from entering the forest for safety reasons—especially since the hydrochoerus dragons had vanished early, and dragons were occasionally seen on the plains.

With meat now coming only from fish in the Chishui River, the supply had become insufficient. After the first snow, the females of the hunting teams began setting out for the river before dawn each day. Perhaps because of the heavy fishing, the fish population in the Chishui River had either declined naturally or sensed danger and moved to other stretches of the river. Now, it took an entire day to catch as much as they could in half a day during summer.

As the fish decreased, the beastmen began fishing farther along other river sections. With the longer distances, the hunting teams set out earlier and earlier each day.

Although the number of fish caught was not as large as before, the quantity was still far better than in Ye Huo’s old tribe. The current food stores alone were enough to last through the winter. Ye Huo smiled and said with emotion, “This is the first time I’ve experienced a winter where we can store so much food.”

The Salt-Water Tribe also relied on aquatic creatures for food. Although they could occasionally hunt during winter, their catches were few. Other than the females who guarded the tribe and ensured their own daily food intake, the rest—including males—could only eat once a day to maintain their strength.

Now, Qi Ze City was clearly different from the Salt-Water Tribe. Judging from their food reserves, it was obvious they planned to keep everyone well-fed through winter, just like in summer—something previously unimaginable.

“There will be more and more in the future.”

A female jumped down from the wall and, after taking the full cloth bag from Ye Huo’s hand and Chen Qi’s belongings, climbed back up. Chen Qi and Ye Huo had become regular visitors on the city wall lately.

“Are you printing stories today?” the female asked with a cheerful smile. Every time Chen Qi came over, he would bring a few storybooks that Ajing had copied. The female guards were very interested in those beautifully written tales. After hearing that Chen Qi planned to print and distribute some of the books to everyone, the two of them were warmly asked about it every time they came.

“No, today we’re still printing The Thousand Character Classic.” After climbing up the wall, Ye Huo took back the items from the female and skillfully laid them out on a nearby table. Another female had already brought out the large boxes filled with wooden printing blocks.