Chapter 76: At the Welcome Party

Yun Qimu smiled and handed the plucked chicken she was carrying to Chief Masa, who was quietly standing off to the side like a wallflower.

“For me? Really?” Masa stared at the chicken, subconsciously swallowing hard as he stammered out his question.

The fiery, eager gazes of the other tribespeople all turned toward him, making Masa’s face flush bright red—whether from excitement or embarrassment, it was hard to say.

Yun Qimu glanced at him with a smile. “Well, yes and no. I wanted to give everyone a little extra food. I have fifty treasure chests, but who knows how much meat I’ll get from them. It probably won’t be enough to fill everyone up, so I thought I’d open them tonight and share whatever meat comes out as a late-night snack.”

“Really?” Masa’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re just giving us such good meat for free?”

“Yup, that’s right.” Yun Qimu answered seriously, her face beaming with a smile.

Of course it was true—she needed to offer some real benefits to win over her future villagers and establish her image as a kind and generous village chief. That way, things would go more smoothly for her in the future. What’s a little meat, anyway, when she had her perfect luck on her side?

But she was never one to do business at a loss. The Tengu Tribe had brought way more people than she’d promised the main brain she’d recruit, so naturally she’d be asking for extra rewards for the surplus. If today had just been about hiring workers or recruiting a tour group, she wouldn’t have been nearly this generous.

Seeing Masa and the others looking at her with such grateful, almost overwhelmed expressions, Yun Qimu blinked and chuckled. “If you really want to thank me, you can always bring me something nice as a gift after you’ve hunted good stuff in Earth Village.”

Masa’s smile froze, and he looked at her suspiciously.

But the other, more straightforward tribespeople were all grinning with relief, quickly agreeing, “Of course, of course!”

“When I catch something good, I’ll definitely bring it to you, Chief Yun!”

The plaza was once again filled with a cheerful, harmonious atmosphere. Masa snapped out of it, rubbed his hands together in excitement, and took the chicken. Then he called over a few tribesmen skilled at roasting meat to set up the bonfire.

After that, everyone threw themselves back into the treasure chest opening event with renewed enthusiasm.

Thick cotton coats, strength cards, agility rings, speed boots, knives, swords, wooden clubs—every single item made the men of the tribe green with envy.

Jade pendants, hair ornaments, jade hairpins, bracelets, and all sorts of jewelry with various attributes made the young women, wives, and aunties swoon with desire—especially since these pieces weren’t just effective, but also exquisitely crafted and beautiful.

Women who usually had to dig through trash heaps for something to wear went wild, even more eager and excited than the men.

Even some of the shy, delicate girls were emboldened, itching to go fight the little monsters in Earth Village right now.

Some of the men, hoping to impress their sweethearts or wives, started eyeing the beautiful jewelry that was being opened.

If they could get their hands on such fine jewelry, would they ever have to worry about finding a wife?

The chest-opening feast continued with everyone’s excitement running high, finally ending amid the mouthwatering aroma of roasting meat.

Yun Qimu’s luck was off the charts—every single chest yielded a whole, plucked Danghu chicken. Fifty plump, white chickens were skewered on sticks, roasting over the fire. Their skin turned crispy, the meat tender and juicy, with bright, sizzling juices dripping down.

The plaza was filled with the sound of people swallowing hungrily. Everyone clamped their mouths shut to keep from drooling, staring longingly at the row of roast chickens.

It wasn’t until someone shouted, “Time to share the chicken!” that they snapped out of their trance, all raising their hands and shouting over each other.

“Me, me, me! Give me some!”

“I want a drumstick! Give me a big drumstick!”

“The chicken butt—save the chicken butt for me, that’s my favorite!”

...

Fifty chickens just weren’t enough to satisfy over a hundred people, so in the end, everyone only got a small piece.

But even that little piece was enough to give them a wonderful impression of the Danghu monster: tender, juicy, and delicious.

They’d never tasted meat this good before. Just a simple roast with a sprinkle of salt, and it was so tasty they wanted to savor every bite—and even swallow their tongues just to keep the flavor lingering.

There was more than one person so bewitched by the taste that they rolled their eyes in bliss, which startled the people who came to investigate—some were so spooked they screamed about ghosts and ran off.

Ge Miao, grinning, pulled his tongue back into his mouth and curiously asked Masa, “Dad, did you see someone running off just now?”

Masa, taking advantage of his “chicken distributor” duties, had secretly squirreled away some chicken bones for himself. He was happily gnawing on them and had no mind for anything else.

Annoyed at being interrupted, he said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s probably someone from a nearby tribe checking out the commotion. We’re leaving tomorrow anyway.”

“Oh, true.” Ge Miao licked his lips and quickly forgot about it, turning to his friends to discuss their grand dream of teaming up to hunt monsters in Earth Village and eating chicken every day.

Black Bear Tribe.

A burly man, looking terrified and disheveled, rushed into the tribe.

The guards at the gate laughed, “What happened to you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

The burly man’s eyes bulged as he protested, still shaken, “I really did see a ghost! There was a whole patch of ghostly fire in the Tengu Tribe’s plaza, lighting up the place. And there were a bunch of ghosts with their eyes rolled back and no tongues—scared me half to death!”

Seeing how serious he looked, the guards were half-convinced, half-skeptical. “You really saw ghosts?”

“I did!”

“What’s all this about ghosts?” Blackbeard strode over with a group of tribesmen. Beside him was a man with handsome features, dressed in an elegant light blue suit, a gentle smile on his lips, looking refined and cultured.

Blackbeard walked up, frowning at the burly man. “So, what did you find out? What’s going on with the Tengu Tribe? The Red Fox Tribe said that the Mu family’s second-in-command was captured by the Tengu Tribe—did you see where they were being held?”

The burly man’s sturdy frame trembled as he nervously repeated what he’d just told the guards.

Blackbeard flew into a rage. “There’s no such thing as ghosts! I think you’re just a fool making up stories because you messed up your job!”

Pfft—some of the other tribesmen covered their mouths, shoulders shaking with laughter."