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Chapter 277: Chapter 278: New Discovery
All the strange species that Su Tang had collected so far, together with the ones never seen before, gathered by the tribe members over the past few days, were all piled up in one corner of the cave.
The floor of the cave had been leveled and was very clean, with no scattered stones or the like, so Su Tang sat cross-legged in front of these items.
She had Gaiyin help hold the flashlight, while she went through each item to see if she recognized any of them.
The first thing she picked up was a ’big guy’ that resembled a bean pod, but it was purple and as long as half of Su Tang’s arm!
After examining it, she didn’t think it was a type of bean, so Su Tang carefully used the golden knife that Gaiyin had created for her to cut along the plant’s veins.
Just as she had pierced it with the golden knife, the pod-like plant suddenly opened its mouth, and many white granules jumped out from inside.
Su Tang was first startled; but when she saw clearly what these white granules were, her pupils shrank in disbelief!
"This, this, this..."
Gaiyin crushed one, sniffed it, and only felt a faint fragrance that he couldn’t quite name, without noticing anything out of the ordinary.
So he curiously asked, "What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with this?"
Su Tang, with a face flushed from excitement, quickly shook her head, "Of course not! Do you know what it’s called? Where else can we find it?"
Gaiyin thought for a moment before replying, "I don’t know what it’s called. There are many in the valley. I saw the Gugu Beasts eating it, so I figured it wasn’t poisonous. So I picked a couple and put them here. Do you recognize them?"
Su Tang examined the rice grain in her hand again and was sure it was indeed rice. It was as big as a mung bean back on her home planet, and it smelled almost the same!
Suppressing her excitement, she explained to Gaiyin, "As I’ve mentioned before, as long as we find flour, rice, corn, our tribe’s people won’t have to worry about hunger! Soft Fruits can be used as flour, and this in my hand, it’s rice!"
Gaiyin raised his eyebrows with interest.
Considering the wonders of the Soft Fruits, he was sure that this rice, which was comparable to them, would not disappoint!
Su Tang slapped her forehead in vexation, "How could I have overlooked this kind of fruit in the valley? Tomorrow, I’ll have people gather all of them! If the quantity is not enough, we’ll have to wait until the warm season next year to replant!"
Gaiyin nodded, put the pod full of rice aside, and said, "Check the others!"
Su Tang was overjoyed. Regardless of what the other items were, finding this rice alone was enough to make her ecstatic!
"Huh?"
She picked up a cluster of small fruits. Before she could bring them up to her eyes, a pungent smell hit her!
"Achoo..."
A loud sneeze echoed in the cave.
Gaiyin frowned and was about to take them away, "These are Numbing Fruits, they cause an unpleasant sensation when they touch the mouth. They must have been put here by mistake, I’ll throw them away!"
Su Tang quickly dodged, "Hey...Don’t! These are good stuff!"
Gaiyin looked at her, puzzled.
Seeing that Gaiyin no longer tried to snatch it, Su Tang finally sat back down, "This is Sichuan pepper; it can be used for cooking and medicinal purposes. It’s exceptionally good! This should grow on a tree, right? When the time comes, we’ll move the tree to the valley! We can also have the tribesmen pick some, dry and store them!"
Gaiyin silently withdrew his hand.
