The wicked female is extremely fierce, but she's pampered by her seven beast husbands.

Chapter 192 The Giant Spider Knows Green
This was not the first time Ling Chengen had seen chestnuts.

Chestnut trees can occasionally be seen in the mountains and forests near the Stone Forest, but there are not many of them and they are scattered. In addition, it was not the season for chestnuts to ripen before, so Ling Chengen did not have any intention of taking the chestnut trees in the forest.

Compared to the chestnut trees in front of them, the few near their house seemed insignificant.

Perhaps because the Luolu Mountains are sparsely populated and few people come here to cut down trees, every tree here is quite old and grows exceptionally tall.

In this forest, only by seizing every opportunity, desperately growing upwards, and fiercely competing with nearby plants for sunlight and nutrients, can one survive in this dense forest where the sun rarely shines.

In my previous life, chestnut trees only grew to a height of about twenty meters, and they were mostly pruned and fertilized every year, so they looked short and plump with layers of fruit hanging from their branches.

However, these chestnut trees in the Luolu Mountains, which are left unattended, grow wildly on their own. Naturally, they don't bear as much fruit as those that are artificially managed, but the trees are still very large.

Seeing Ling Chengen examining the fallen chestnuts on the ground, Su Weihua reverted to human form, picked up the green fruit from the ground, and asked in confusion, "Are you interested in these chestnuts?"

"These chestnuts may look big, but they don't taste very good. Most orcs don't eat them. However, the small animals in the mountains will stock up on some for the winter."

Ling Chengen looked around and said with a smile, "This is good stuff. If you don't like it raw, you might really like it cooked."

Su Weihua thought about the vegetables and fruits she had eaten at home recently, and swallowed the rest of her words: "You're right."

Previously, the major tribes in the Northern Wilderness had little concept of cooking. A few exiled nobles made some cooked food, but because they were not good at cooking, the taste was indescribable. Therefore, cooked food never developed in the Northern Wilderness.

But cooked food tastes better, that much is undeniable.

Furthermore, for orcs with weaker constitutions, eating cooked food reduces their chances of getting sick.

"However, this stuff is not easy to store. If it's too hot, the outer layer will easily get moldy after a few days."

Ling Chengen peeled open the chestnut in his hand and ate one raw. He squinted his eyes slightly; the flesh was fresh, crisp, and tender, and quite juicy.

"Chestnuts are actually quite durable for storage. If the storage method is chosen properly, they can be stored for several months without any problem."

"Should we store it directly at low temperatures with ice?" Su Weihua asked.

Ling Chengen shook his head: "That's definitely not enough."

Although there is still some ice in her space, there is not much left, and she estimates that it will all melt away in another half month.

While the ice could lower the temperature inside the space, it couldn't turn it into an icebox.

"Let's use the sand method."

She knew a few ways to preserve chestnuts.

During my university years, one of my female classmates' families owned two mountains with wild chestnut trees. Every year during chestnut season, she would bring a lot of chestnuts from her home and distribute them to the girls in the nearby dormitories.

Out of curiosity, she asked some questions about chestnuts, and she never expected that they would actually come in handy.

The sand preservation method is simple, but it also requires a good grasp of the moisture content of the sand. If there are no problems, it can generally be preserved for three to four months.

Su Weihua did not question Ling Chengen's words. Looking at the thorny green chestnuts all over the ground, she was still a little surprised. She did not expect that something that looked unappetizing could actually be preserved and become a staple food for winter.

Unbelievable.

In the past, many orcs would starve to death during the cold season. If a way to store this fruit had been discovered earlier, it could have saved many lives.

Su Weihua asked, "Then I'll arrange for a team to collect all the chestnuts in this area?"

Ling Chengen estimated that there were at least a hundred chestnut trees nearby, each over a hundred meters tall, and there were almost no branches to step on from the roots up to thirty meters, making it very difficult to climb and harvest the chestnuts.

However, the canopy above 100 meters is unusually large, and the closer to the top, the thicker and denser the fruit.

Conservatively estimated, each tree can yield at least 700 to 800 catties of chestnuts.

Based on this calculation, at least nearly 10,000 catties of chestnuts can be harvested.

Ling Chengen was a little excited, but he tried his best to remain calm and said with a smile, "Have the orcs who are good at climbing take their weapons and go up to cut down the branches with thicker fruit. Those who can't climb trees can just pick the fruit from below."

Su Weihua quickly arranged for six orcs who were good at climbing trees. Four of them were ape-like creatures, and one was a giant spider. The orcs looked fierce and dangerous, but they did not have venom glands. They were just incredibly good at jumping and climbing.

Bai Qingyu and Wu Zhuo, who were flying overhead, noticed that the team below had fallen behind. They flew back a distance before finally locating the team in the dense forest where they could hardly see anyone.

Bai Qingyu called out to Bao Bao, and then dropped directly from the sky with Wu Zhuo.

When Ling Chengen saw him walking over, he realized he had forgotten to inform him.

Seeing the guilty look on her face, Bai Qingyu felt both annoyed and amused, but in the end, she didn't say anything. She just said with a headache, "Remember to let me know next time the group stops."

Otherwise, he really would have taken Wu Zhuofei out of the Luolu Mountains.

"However, this mountain range is really not suitable for flying."

Because the forest was so dense, the route the team took below was almost invisible from above.

Therefore, he had no way to detect nearby dangers for them.

"If we don't leave the Luolu Mountains today, then we'll come down and join the team. What do you think?"

Ling Chengen nodded: "Okay, you can make the decision yourself."

"But remember to keep an eye on your bag, don't let it get lost or fall behind."

Bai Qingyu nodded, and after watching Wu Zhuo land through the gap in the trees with his bag, he heard a dull "crack" sound, followed by something falling from above.

He frowned slightly, and upon closer inspection, he realized that several orcs were chopping tree branches with sharp giant axes.

The beastmen below kept their distance from the chestnut trees. As soon as the branches laden with layers of green fruit fell to the ground, some wood-type beastmen used vines to grab the fallen branches and drag them to their sides, so that the beastmen around them could quickly pluck the prickly fruit and put them all into vine baskets.

These wicker baskets were prepared some time ago. After experiencing the wheat harvest, she realized that you can't lack containers, otherwise you can see them but not hold them in your arms, let alone take them all at once. That feeling is really unbearable.

So after the wheat harvest, all the orcs in the tribe, young and old, whoever could move their fingers, would seize every spare moment to weave baskets and hampers with bamboo strips and other sturdy materials.

She collected a batch of supplies from the tribe during this trip, which can be used now.

After observing for a while, Bai Qingyu guessed that the wind chestnut was probably what Ling Chengen wanted, estimating that she had some special preservation method, so he didn't ask any further questions.

There's no need to waste the entire 30-person team here.

Bai Qingyu tilted his head and said, "I'll send fifteen people with me. There's an orchard ahead with a variety of fruits, but I know a few that can be stored for a longer time. Shall we go and get them?" Ling Chengen immediately nodded, "I'll go with you. Let Su Weihua stay here."

Bai Qingyu selected twelve more people and also took Wu Zhuo and Bao Bao away.

The remaining twelve people could neither fly nor climb trees.

Therefore, the task of climbing trees to pick the fruit basically fell to Bai Qingyu, Ling Chengen, Wu Zhuo, and Bao Bao.

Fruits cannot be harvested as roughly as chestnuts, but fortunately the fruit trees here are not tall and there are many shrubs nearby, so you can catch the low-lying trees and pick the fruit from the lower parts.

Ling Chengen carried the largest bamboo basket on his back, hooked one hand on the tree trunk, and picked the best-quality fruits.

In this orchard, there are many mutated apple trees with huge fruits, but they are not as sweet as those cultivated in later generations. Some are a beautiful golden yellow, some are just ordinary greenish-red, and some are strange-looking purple and black.

Ling Chengen, holding a purplish-black apple that looked similar to a grapefruit, called out to Bai Qingyu on the next tree branch, asking doubtfully, "Are you sure this color of fruit is edible?"

"The color doesn't matter; none of these are poisonous. In fact, the darker the color, the sweeter the fruit. Haven't you noticed that there aren't many dark-colored fruits on the tree? And many of the larger ones have already been gnawed and pitted by animals in the mountains."

Seeing her put the apple into the basket behind her, Bai Qingyu smiled and pointed to the shorter trees on the lower level, which were still able to be illuminated by the sunlight filtering through from above.

"Those are crabapple trees, which are actually the same species as these forest fruits, only smaller and not as sweet, so they are called crabapples."

Ling Chengen used his superpower to pick two crabapples, had Bai Qingyu help him wash them with water, and then took a bite.

They are not as sweet as these large apples; they have a sweet and sour taste. If you are used to the high-sweetness fruits cultivated in later generations, these crabapples will be hard to eat.

Despite experiencing severe shortages of supplies in the apocalypse and the challenging environment of the beast world, Ling Chengen calmly ate both sand fruits in his hand.

Although the taste is not great, these are excellent for the cubs who don't usually have many snacks or fruits to eat, and both crabapples and jujubes are fruits that keep very well.

Unlike the wild grape vineyard near the bushes, she hadn't yet figured out how to deal with it.

Take it off, it won't keep well.

I wanted to make a fruit bar, but the conditions didn't allow it.

If we don't pick them, it's such a waste to let them rot.

Ling Chengen had a headache, but he decided to pick the ones he could manage first. As for the wild grapes, he would deal with them later.

The chestnut harvesting team was a bit faster than their orchard harvesting team.

They basically just chopped down trees and pruned branches, and then the rest of the people put something on their hands and pulled the chestnuts off the trees and threw them into the basket.

As for those that fell to the ground, he used his supernatural ability to scoop them up, discarding the rotten ones and those infested with insects, and sweeping the rest into the basket. Then he waited for Ling Chengen to store these chestnuts in his spatial storage.

When Su Weihua arrived with her people, Ling Chengen was still hanging miserably on the tree, carefully picking the ripe fruit and putting it into his basket.

Upon seeing this, several ape-like beastmen immediately carried their bamboo baskets on their backs, climbed up the tree using both hands and feet, and greeted Ling Chengen with smiles, saying, "Young clan leader, you go and collect those chestnuts. We can handle the fruit picking."

The giant spider beastman below looked up for a while, then said to Su Weihua beside him, "I have a way to collect these fruits faster."

Upon hearing this, Su Weihua told him to give it a try.

The giant spider orc is named Zhilu, and she is one of only two female orcs in the entire group.

Zhilu just turned eighteen this year and currently only has one beast husband, but he is a few years older than her. Because he is quite strong, he went hunting with Lingxiao's hunting team.

Since the couple did not yet have any offspring, and Zhilu was a rare giant spider beastman who, although lacking superpowers, was still quite strong in combat, she took the initiative to sign up with Ling Chengen to join the team's long hunt.

Ling Chengen assessed her abilities and immediately agreed.

In fact, Ling Chengen was quite willing for the female orcs in the tribe to sign up for her hunting team, but perhaps because of deeply ingrained old ideas, or perhaps because they were tied up with their cubs and other matters, most of the female orcs were only willing to stay near the tribe to gather resources and were unwilling to go on long hunts and endure the elements with the team.

However, there is still a chance to change things in the future, so she is not in a hurry and will take it slowly.

With her taking the lead, the number of female orcs willing to leave their tribes and hone their skills will only increase.

Zhilu took off the basket from her back, walked a distance away, and transformed into her beast form.

A giant green spider appeared directly in the open space below the orchard. Because of its enormous size, the bushes that were originally far away from it were crushed and fell under its long legs.

Because the spider has many eyes and is about five or six meters long and four or five meters tall including its legs, it is quite frightening at first glance. However, because it is covered with short, smooth, glossy green hairs and some beautiful light gold patterns, Ling Chengen's eyes gradually showed some appreciation.

Zhi Lü moved its eight legs on the ground a few times, and then suddenly disappeared from the ground.

Ling Chengen slightly widened his eyes and looked up at the sky.

Several white spider silk threads had appeared in the air, and Zhilu's huge body was being steadily held up by those threads, which didn't look very thick.

As she rapidly spun silk, numerous spiderwebs gradually formed on the nearby tree branches.

Su Weihua shouted to the people picking fruit above, "You can throw the fruit onto the spider web. The spider web will cushion and slow down the fall, making the fruit less likely to break."

"This way you won't have to carry them down basket by basket anymore, which will save you a lot of effort."

Seeing this, Wu Zhuo, who was picking fruit with a bitter face, suddenly brightened up and shouted to Zhi Lü, who was still weaving a net, "Sister Zhi Lü, you are really smart. This way we can be much faster."

And my shoulders won't get so tired.

He's still a minor, and in his human form, he slowly moves around carrying over a hundred pounds of fruit on his shoulders. Only those who have carried him know how hard and tiring it is!

After unloading their baskets, the people in the tree returned to the tree and began using both hands to pick fruit and throw it into the spider webs of the green spider.

The spider web was specially woven with one side higher than the other. Lin Guo rolled down the sloping spider web and finally fell directly into the hands of several orcs guarding below at the lowest point.

With a clear division of labor, the process was incredibly fast.

After filling one basket, they immediately replaced it with another.

Before the three beasts were even used, most of the fruit and sand fruit in the forest had already been picked.

Some of the remaining ones were not picked because some were not yet ripe. There are still many animals in this forest that need food to survive the winter, so we have to leave some for them.

Ling Chengen was happily stuffing the fruits from the basket into his spatial dimension when he suddenly heard a series of exclamations coming from not far away.

She looked up toward the source of the sound and saw several younger orcs in the group jumping around with joy on their faces.