Chapter 52
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Chapter 52: Funeral and Adjustments
For Zhao He’s funeral, Luo Ji did not force anyone to attend.
Except for the patrol team that needed to continue guarding the surroundings and those far away at the Black Rock Tribe who couldn’t make it back in time.
Everyone in the Mirror Tribe still gathered together at this moment.
In this sorrowful atmosphere, perhaps being together could make them feel a little better.
The funeral was not complicated.
Luo Ji chose a simple cremation.
After all, keeping the body would carry the risk of infectious diseases.
No one stepped forward to question his decision.
At this time, they did not yet have the concept that bodies must be buried intact, and it was estimated they wouldn’t have it in the future either.
After the body was burned to ash, Luo Ji gestured for everyone to put the ashes into a small wooden box that could only be described as crude.
Then, a tombstone with a name written on it and a mound of earth burying the ashes.
This was Zhao He’s final resting place.
However, what Luo Ji did not expect was that his willful act at this time produced an effect that exceeded his expectations.
The tribal people who participated in Zhao He’s funeral quickly moved past their sadness.
They did not even need Luo Ji to say much.
One by one, they already regained their spirits and directly returned to their respective work.
Actually, the reason was not complicated.
It was because their emotions were vented and released during the entire funeral process.
When they saw Zhao He’s remains burned to ash and then buried in the grave, they might have been sad, perhaps shed tears, but they also clearly realized at the same time that Zhao He’s life had ended at this moment, concluded with this funeral.
Their lives, however, had to continue.
Through this funeral, everyone clearly realized this point.
The entire tribe once again operated at high speed.
Luo Ji, who had just recovered from a serious illness, did not choose to stay in his tent to continue recuperating.
Instead, as the spiritual pillar of the entire tribe, he inspected the work everywhere.
Of course, to avoid his small body getting sick again, he wrapped himself in two more layers of thick animal hides.
He looked extremely bulky, even a bit clumsy, but he clearly wouldn’t care about that.
Their era didn’t really have any particularly good heating methods.
Besides warming themselves by fires and drinking soup, it was just wearing more clothes.
However, even so, staying on the ice to fish all day long could still completely freeze them, even causing frostbite, which also led to decreased fishing efficiency.
To solve this problem, Luo Ji didn’t have any clever methods, so he could only use the most straightforward method.
He had the women in the tribe continuously boil hot water, and at the same time, he reduced the number of fishing nets by half.
Originally, the members of the fishing team all worked all day.
Now, it was changed to a shift system.
Two people used one fishing net, taking turns to fish at the same location.
When one person was fishing, the other would go to the shore to exercise, warm themselves by the fire, thereby minimizing the possibility of them getting frostbite and ensuring that each person was in relatively good condition when on shift.
This prevented them from being too sluggish to react when a fish swam into the net, letting it escape for nothing in the end.
At the same time, regarding food, Luo Ji also made some changes.
All the original roasted meat and roasted fish were canceled, and everything was stewed into soup.
The reason was simple.
When food was insufficient, soupy things were easier to fill the stomach.
This might not make you full, but after two bowls of soup, at least your stomach would be full.
More importantly, doing this could reduce food consumption.
Fortunately, most people in this era were used to hardship, and they also knew the difficulties of the tribe during this time.
Regarding these soupy things, they didn’t have too much dissatisfaction.
This made Luo Ji slightly relieved, but it didn’t make him happy, because he knew very well that doing this was a last resort, a solution that wasn’t really a solution.
And the flaw in his method quickly became apparent.
Only one day had passed, which was the fourth day after the temperature plummeted, and three more people collapsed from exhaustion.
At the same time, among the sick tribal members, one person died because their condition worsened…
This situation undoubtedly dealt Luo Ji a heavy blow.
Even having psychological preparation was useless.
At the moment the event actually happened, a trace of wavering still arose in his heart.
“Did I make the wrong decision before?”
“No, that’s not right!”
“If I didn’t do this, the daily food simply wouldn’t be enough for everyone in the tribe!”
At this time, he clearly realized that this was the pressure he had to bear as chieftain.
Bearing this pressure, Luo Ji almost invested all the tribe’s manpower into obtaining food and coal.
By the fifth day, the three people who had collapsed from exhaustion before seemed to have recovered some energy after a night’s rest and returned to work, which made Luo Ji slightly relieved.
By the sixth day, two more people in the tribe fell ill, but their condition was not serious.
To be safe, Luo Ji had those two people temporarily put down their work and rest well.
On the seventh day, among the five patients, one person’s condition clearly worsened.
There was not a trace of blood on that patient’s face.
He said he had difficulty breathing, and his violent coughing sounded like he was coughing up his lungs.
He looked like he was about to die.
On the eighth day, after a night of ideological struggle, Luo Ji decided to further isolate the patient whose condition had worsened.
He even began to worry whether the people who went to deliver water and food would be infected by that patient.
This thought tormented his spirit.
On the ninth day, the patient whose condition had worsened did not make it.
He died of illness in the tent in the early morning of this day.
However, this was just the beginning.
Bad news arrived one after another.
An old hunter from the hunting team slipped and rolled down a hill while chasing a roe deer.
He sprained his foot and would likely be unable to participate in hunting for some time.
This was undoubtedly adding insult to injury for the Mirror Tribe, which was gradually running short on food.
On the tenth day, the person who was previously responsible for delivering water and food to that patient was unfortunately infected.
At the same time, a member of the fishing team fell into an ice hole due to overwork, and couldn’t save him.
People were constantly collapsing from exhaustion recently. Everyone was hungry and tired.
The situation was becoming increasingly worse.
On the eleventh day, another group of uninvited guests broke into the tribe’s vicinity.
Luo Ji led his warriors and permanently left that group of uninvited guests in that forest.
During the battle, one warrior was accidentally injured.
Fortunately, the injury was not serious.
On the twelfth day, the temperature drop seemed to have stopped, but there was no sign of it rising.
The atmosphere in the tribe was much more tense than before.
Many people started to panic.
An atmosphere of unease spread among them…
On the thirteenth day, those two patients from before recovered.
This was absolutely the most wonderful sentence Luo Ji had heard in nearly half a month, making him overjoyed.
On the fourteenth day, a ray of sunlight penetrated the thick clouds and shone down.
Unlike before, Luo Ji could swear to the heavens, he felt a trace of warmth.
Was the temperature rising?
In any case, the sky, which had been gloomy for nearly half a month, cleared up…
