With that, the two women playfully shoved each other before disappearing into the cave like a gust of wind.
She tightened the grass vine at her waist and reached for the pitch-black ball the woman had left behind.
"What is this?"
It was soft to the touch. From a distance, it looked pitch-black, but once in her hand, she saw it had hints of green.
She hesitated for a moment before bringing the pitch-black ball to her nose. A faint, fresh plant-like scent drifted up from it.
'So, this thing is actually made of plants?'
Gazing at the food in her hand, Wu Yue gulped, broke off a small piece, and put it in her mouth. The black ball didn't taste very good; it was likely just wild vegetables mashed together by the people of the Snow Tiger Tribe.
'But at a time like this, filling my stomach is more important than anything else.'
In the original owner's memories, their small tribe never had enough to eat, especially during the lean seasons.
One or two people starving to death was considered a small matter.
'System, identify food.' This vegetable ball should count as food, right? And it looks like it's made from more than one kind of plant, so I should be able to accumulate some energy.
However, reality was as cruel as ever. A cold voice echoed in her mind, "Unable to identify."
Wu Yue stared blankly at the vegetable ball in her hand and asked the System, 'Why? Isn't this food?'
But to her disappointment, this temporary system clearly lacked the high intelligence of her old System. In response to her question, it had only one answer: "Unable to identify."
Wu Yue: "..."
'Oh, System, even though we were only together for less than a day, my longing for you is as vast and endless as a mighty river, as uncontrollable as the Yellow River bursting its dikes!'
'Right now, all I want to do is belt out a song for you: Come back soon~ I can't take this all alone~'
Silently swallowing her complaints about the temporary system, Wu Yue resignedly picked up the vegetable ball and began to gnaw on it.
After eating her fill, Wu Yue, unable to accept the idea of running around naked, once again picked up the grass mat beside her and resumed weaving.
Thanks to her morning practice, her weaving speed in the afternoon was noticeably faster.
By the time the two women arrived with the evening meal, Wu Yue had woven enough of the grass mat to make a short skirt and a tube top.
"Can you go out and gather tomorrow?" the sturdier of the two women asked, frowning at Wu Yue.
Wu Yue thought for a moment before nodding. "I can. My body feels much better."
The sturdy woman let out a sigh of relief, and her gaze toward Wu Yue softened. "The tribe will only provide you with food for three days. If you can't go out to gather, you won't have anything to eat after tomorrow."
Wu Yue smiled and nodded. "Thank you for the reminder. My name is Wu Yue. And you are?"
The sturdy woman handed her the vegetable ball. "I'm Qinghua."
The more slender woman beside her smiled shyly at Wu Yue. "I'm Qingcao."
Wu Yue nodded earnestly, showing she'd remembered. "What time do we gather tomorrow? And where do we meet?"
Qinghua pointed to an open area not far outside the cave. "The Collection Team and the Hunting Team set out at the same time. We gather at dawn, so you'll need to wake up early.
You aren't a member of the tribe's Collection Team. If you just go with them, you'll have to turn over half of the food you gather to the tribe; only the remainder will be yours."
Wu Yue's eyes lit up. 'There's a deal like that?' She had assumed that everything gathered was communal property belonging to the tribe.