He was too lazy to bicker with Shen Lan about these irrelevant things, whether he was fatter or thinner. He paddled some water forward with his feet, then turned around and moved a few more steps away from Shen Lan, continuing to coldly wash the mud stains on his clothes.

Shen Lan "tsk-ed" and circled around like a clingy bug to take another look, saying, "Am I seeing wrong or is your face really a bit red?"

This time Xia Chuan truly froze into ice. Without lifting his head, he sent two words to that guy: "Bullshit!"

Given that this fellow Shen Lan really couldn't say a few appropriate human words, the two of them bathed in quite an awkward manner. Of course, maybe this awkwardness was only one-sided on Xia Chuan's part; the overlord himself was very happy.

After the two finished washing and waited for their clothes to dry a bit, at least not being so terribly wet, they simply left the forest and went back up the slope.

They casually picked up some dry wood branches in the forest. As soon as they returned, they went straight back to their own house. They piled the wood branches in the pit inside the house and used the lighter from Dennis' waterproof bag to start a small fire.

Shen Lan didn't want to keep wearing wet clothes to warm by the fire. Taking advantage of there being no outsiders here, he casually picked up the animal skin skirt and wide leaves he had thrown by the bed earlier. He stripped himself bare and leisurely changed into the simple attire with the same style as the commoners.

Xia Chuan stared at the fire pit the whole time without looking sideways, occasionally poking at it.

Shen Lan was used to going naked to begin with. Putting on the animal skin skirt actually didn't look out of place at all. He even wandered around in front of Xia Chuan and asked, "How is it?"

"..." Xia Chuan couldn't bear to look at him. He was originally too lazy to answer this kind of question, but he couldn't stand Shen Lan lingering in front of him without speaking.

Before getting dizzy from the swaying, Xia Chuan gave a cold laugh, grabbed the black vest and casual shorts that Shen Lan was originally wearing, shook them and said, "Very well, I think animal skin suits you. Don't change back into these clothes, they're mine now."

Shen Lan was stunned for a moment and wanted to retort, but then he thought that he did mind a little when his clothes were worn by others. It was the same principle as guarding his own territory and not wanting others to step in. But there was no problem at all with Xia Chuan wearing them, so he nodded and replied, "Okay."

Xia Chuan: "..."

They made a fire in the house to dry the clothes, but it was quite lively outside, with occasional laughter from women and chatter from men. Those people had rolled around in the mud to their heart's content and finally remembered the proper business at hand - there was still a pile of food waiting for them to deal with.

So they stopped playing around and quickly started preparing food for the whole tribe to eat.

This tribe had obviously existed for many, many years, not just a day or two. Judging from their ability to collaborate and their tacit understanding, it must have been around for a very long time. So naturally, the division of labor for hunting, cooking and so on was orderly, and there was no need for Xia Chuan and the others to meddle.

So when the two of them were free, they simply leaned against the high platform that barely counted as a bed, resting against the wall with their eyes closed, and incidentally thinking about how they could find the exit and return to the normal world without the oscilloscope.

"This time there are no wild thoughts, I guess there won't be any more disasters in this place..." Xia Chuan leaned the back of his head against the wall, with one leg stretched out and one bent, his arm loosely resting on his knee as he spoke lightly. Although it was a question, there was no questioning tone at the end of the sentence.

Shen Lan leaned next to him, also closing his eyes and folding his arms to rest, replying in a low voice, "Perhaps."

Laura had told them earlier that this tribe seemed to only eat two meals a day, but that wasn't actually the case. To be precise, this tribe didn't really have any fixed eating habits.

Generally speaking, if the food was running low, they would get up early to hunt. If they were lucky, they could have a good meal when they returned, and then eat a couple of wild fruits to fill in the gaps in the evening. If they were unlucky, they could only have a simple snack to pad their stomachs, and then go to bed early in the evening.

If food was plentiful and there was no need to go out hunting for the time being, then they could eat some simple wild fruit and shredded meat when they got up early, and then have a full meal in the afternoon, with no other meals for the day.

Xia Chuan and the others encountered the first situation this time - they went out early and the hunting was very smooth.

It was just that due to the celebration and other reasons, a lot of time was wasted, so by the time the people in the tribe had really prepared the food, it was already afternoon.

Fortunately, Xia Chuan and the others had been tempered in the dinosaur world for a long time, so they were not particular about meal times and their stomachs were not delicate, so they adapted quite well and did not tremble with hunger.

When it was time to eat, the two of them were personally called out by the chief.

Because most of what Shen Lan had caught was sea fish, and they didn't know much about other ways of eating it, they simply roasted it over the fire, which was really quite monotonous. Fortunately, their fish roasting skills were not bad, and the fish had a dry fragrance when smelled, causing many people to swallow their saliva just by sitting there, looking eager and impatient.

In this tribe, the afternoon meal was always the big one, where the whole tribe gathered to eat together and only dispersed after finishing.

Although there were many people, there were even more fish that Shen Lan had caught, and it was definitely impossible to finish them in one meal. So they picked out a portion to roast first, and the rest were hung up on the roof to dry under Laura's guidance.

When Shen Lan caught the fish, he didn't think too much. After all, he was familiar with the sea fish of the original world, but not with those on this side. He didn't know which species were tasty and which were not, so he simply caught them all in one net and tried each kind.

However, he still intentionally avoided those that looked unappetizing or colorful ones that might be poisonous, choosing mostly ordinary-looking ones.

These tribespeople were the same as him, not particular about the appearance of what they ate. They were even rougher than Shen Lan and didn't care about the taste either. They only had one requirement - plenty of meat.

As long as there was enough meat for them to eat and fill their stomachs, it was good.

So when the chief signaled for everyone to start eating, all the tribespeople reached for the large fish in the middle. Only the swarthy, strong man sitting to Xia Chuan's right hesitated slightly.

Xia Chuan was always a bit picky when it came to food. He didn't follow the crowd, but scanned the various roasted fish in front of him and picked up a skinny, elongated roasted fish that didn't look too bad. There weren't many fish like this, only seven or eight of them, probably caught by Shen Lan in passing. Because they didn't seem to have much meat, they were ignored by the other tribespeople.

The swarthy, strong man probably had some respect for Xia Chuan and Shen Lan, thinking that what Xia Chuan chose must not be bad, so he followed suit and took two. He handed one to the woman beside him and started eating the other himself.

In fact, although this fish didn't look like it had much meat, the meat quality was really good and the roasted flavor was also excellent. Xia Chuan ate one and was quite satisfied with his judgment, so he didn't bother picking others. He just focused on this fish and took two more, handing one to Shen Lan and saying, "Try it."

Although this fish didn't have much meat, one was enough to fill half the stomach. Because they hadn't eaten the day before, Xia Chuan ate relatively more, but only swallowed three.

The swarthy man beside him ate one, and although he wanted to take more, seeing that Xia Chuan liked to eat this and didn't seem to touch the others much, he didn't fight with him and silently reached for the other fish. So the remaining two were swallowed by Shen Lan.

The tribespeople were all very satisfied with this meal. Because there was so much food left over, they didn't have to rush out to hunt again, so the men and women all stayed within the walls, taking care of various household chores, sharpening new stone arrows and stone knives, making new clay pots, tidying up houses, reinforcing roofs and walls, and so on...

Looking at it, Xia Chuan felt that although this kind of life was extremely simple, it was not uninteresting. They occasionally helped out inside, lending a hand, and the afternoon passed quickly.

As night approached, some of the women gathered wild fruits from the edge of the forest and distributed them to each family, giving an especially generous portion to Shen Lan and Xia Chuan.

Shen Lan accepted without hesitation, immediately popping one into his mouth. Together with Xia Chuan, they placed some fruits beside Dennis's bed before returning to their own room.

After all the running around, the faint moonlight had already begun to spill from the horizon, though it was largely obscured by the still somewhat gloomy clouds, making it appear rather feeble. Naturally, the light inside the room was even dimmer, with only the vague outlines of objects visible. The only things that seemed a bit brighter were probably just their eyes.

They fumbled in the dark to ignite the remaining dry branches, gathering them into a small fire. The flames were not large, looking as if they might go out at any moment, but for Shen Lan, it was already a bit drying.

Following the local customs, the two of them lay down on the bed as the sky darkened, just like the other people in the tribe.

However, Xia Chuan felt particularly uncomfortable this day because, while Shen Lan had at least worn a vest and shorts the day before, today he was only wrapped in an animal skin skirt. Yet, he still held Xia Chuan tightly, just as he had the previous day.

Xia Chuan silently rolled his eyes at the wall, but he worried that if he truly didn't let Shen Lan hold him, Shen Lan might turn into a frozen fish by the time they woke up.

The entire tribe gradually quieted down in the night, with only the crackling of that small fire heard, and who knew how long it would burn...

Xia Chuan felt his body had become much warmer tonight, perhaps due to the presence of the fire. Just as he thought to take advantage of the warmth to quickly fall asleep, he felt Shen Lan continuously moving behind him, changing his posture slightly almost every ten seconds or so, as if completely unable to settle down.