This Is My Primitive Tribe-Chapter 46 - 42: A Nest of Large Bamboo Rats

An hour later, Jiang Xuan and the others passed through the dense Miscanthus grass and finally found the place they saw from the tree.

Chi Shao squatted down to observe carefully and found several spots on the ground that had been excavated, and many of the Miscanthus sprouts had been gnawed.

"These bite marks on the sprouts are still fresh. They must have been made last night or today, and the soil from these shallow holes is also fresh."

Chi Shao stood up and said, "Look around nearby to see if there are any holes. The bamboo rats should be nearby."

Jiang Xuan and Gou Teng bent over and continued to burrow through the nearby Miscanthus grass. Luckily, there were quite a few gaps beneath the tall Miscanthus grass; otherwise, it would be really difficult to squeeze through.

Jiang Xuan didn’t walk far when he suddenly discovered a small path, about fifteen centimeters wide, very smooth, with no moss or gravel on the ground, obviously regularly used by some wild animal.

"Could this be the path made by the bamboo rats?"

Jiang Xuan followed the small path and continued moving forward. The further he went, the more soil holes he found dug into the ground, and the traces of gnawed sprouts increased as well.

This made Jiang Xuan very excited; he felt like he was getting closer to the bamboo rats’ lair.

After crawling about five or six meters, Jiang Xuan suddenly noticed a large pile of granular soil on the ground but couldn’t see a hole anywhere.

The top layer of this soil was fairly fresh and still moist, while the bottom layer was older and had already dried.

Next to this big pile of soil, the traces of activity by the bamboo rats were even more evident, with many Miscanthus grasses toppled over with their bases eaten away.

"Sis, come over here quick."

Jiang Xuan called out, and Chi Shao and Gou Teng pushed aside the Miscanthus grass and crawled over to where Jiang Xuan was.

Jiang Xuan pointed to the big pile of soil and said, "Sis, do you think this is dug by bamboo rats? But I’m not seeing any holes on the ground."

Chi Shao walked over and first stepped on the nearby Miscanthus grass with her feet to clear out a space for movement, then pulled out a piece of recently wilted Miscanthus from the soil pile and took a look.

The Miscanthus looked like it was still growing on the ground, but its roots had been completely gnawed off a long time ago, making it easy to pull out, which was why it wilted.

Chi Shao then pulled out the other Miscanthus in the soil pile, finding that they were the same; their roots had long been gnawed away.

"That’s right, it’s here."

Excited to hear that the bamboo rats were there, Gou Teng eagerly searched the ground, hoping to find the entrance to their den.

Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, he couldn’t find it and puzzled, said, "The soil is piled here, so why can’t I see the bamboo rats’ holes?"

Chi Shao said, "Bamboo rats are very clever. After entering their holes during the day, they dig soil themselves to cover them up so that predatory beasts can’t find them."

"Look, I just need to clear away all this soil to find the real bamboo rats’ holes."

Chi Shao pulled out all the rootless Miscanthus and then quickly dug out the whole pile of soil with the Bone Plow, clearing it to one side.

Sure enough, when the real ground was exposed, the bamboo rats’ nest was revealed.

Chi Shao dug out the relatively loose soil and then dug deeply with the Bone Plow, going more than twenty or thirty centimeters deep. An elliptical hole mouth suddenly appeared in front of the three.

Inside this hole were many Miscanthus stems, which Chi Shao pulled out entirely; some were still oozing sap, indicating the bamboo rats were gnawing on them just now.

Chi Shao continued to dig with the Bone Plow, and after digging about half a meter, she had already cleared out a big pile of soil.

Luckily, Chi Shao was a Warrior and very strong, because using such a primitive tool as the Bone Plow to dig that much soil was exhausting.

"Sis, let me do it."

Jiang Xuan volunteered and took the Bone Plow from Chi Shao’s hands, continuing to dig inside.

Unexpectedly, after digging for not too long, the soil hole suddenly split into two forks.

"This..."

Jiang Xuan was dumbfounded; he thought he just needed to keep digging down to find the bamboo rats, but no one expected the bamboo rats to have dug two tunnels; which way should they dig?

Chi Shao said, "Bamboo rats are very cunning; where they sleep and where they really hide are separate."

"The place where they sleep usually has a nest made of soft grass, and next to it there will be a food storage granary. Even if they encounter a predator blocking them outside, they can survive inside relying on the food for seven or eight days."

"The place they really use to hide from predators is much deeper than where they sleep, and some even dig into other nests to escape directly."

Chi Shao went over to observe the positions of the two holes and then chose to first dig the left side tunnel with the Bone Plow, soon discovering a "granary" there, storing a large number of Miscanthus roots and sprouts about an inch long.

Digging a bit further, Chi Shao finally found a nest woven from soft grass leaves, which clearly was where the bamboo rats usually slept.

The tunnel ended here, clearly, the bamboo rats had hidden in the deeper tunnels.

Chi Shao found a Miscanthus stem nearly two meters long, pushed it into the unfound tunnel for probing, discovered it was quite deep.

Chi Shao said helplessly, "Continue digging. Fortunately, the soil here is rather thick without many stones; otherwise, we might dig until the end only to find the bamboo rats’ tunnels hidden under a large stone and impossible to dig out."

"Gou Teng, you clear the Miscanthus in front carefully and watch the ground. If the bamboo rats’ tunnels go upward, they might burst open the ground to escape."

"Understood!"

Gou Teng immediately cleared away the Miscanthus along the tunnel extension direction vigorously, then guarded there, listening carefully to the underground movements, not allowing the bamboo rats any chance to escape.

Jiang Xuan and Chi Shao took turns digging, and as they dug deeper, sounds finally came from within the tunnels.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

There was the sound of soil rolling inside the tunnel, and the noise of bamboo rats digging sounded from within.

Chi Shao perked up and said, "Quickly reach the bottom, the bamboo rats are trying to dig and escape!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xuan dug faster; he was a One-Color Warrior and had eaten multiple Whip Tree fruits, his strength greatly increased, so even though he was using the Bone Plow, he dug soil quickly.

"Stop!"

Suddenly, Chi Shao ordered Jiang Xuan to stop, her eyes fixed on the tunnel.

She discovered that a furry head had protruded from the tunnel — it was a young bamboo rat.

This juvenile bamboo rat was about the size of an adult fist; clearly having no escape route, it simply crawled out to try its luck in escaping.

As soon as the young bamboo rat emerged from the tunnel and tried to crawl outside, Chi Shao’s quick eyes and hands pinned its head with a wooden stick, not daring to use too much force, lest she crush it to death.

With her other hand, she grabbed the young bamboo rat’s tail and lifted it up.

"Huff, huff..."

"Clack, clack, clack..."

Though the young bamboo rat was small, it was fierce, making intimidating sounds from its mouth, moving its two large front teeth rapidly to scare off people.

However, it looked too cute, coming off as adorable rather than frightening.

"Put it in the beast hide bag first. Such a deep tunnel couldn’t have been dug by this young bamboo rat; there must be more inside."

Chi Shao instructed Jiang Xuan to take down a beast hide bag and put the young bamboo rat inside, then continued monitoring the tunnel.

After waiting for a long time without other bamboo rats emerging, the soil digging sound in the tunnel persisted instead.

Chi Shao immediately picked up the Bone Plow and resumed digging.

Not long after digging, two more young bamboo rats came out, which Chi Shao caught and put into the beast hide bag as well.

Chi Shao continued digging, and after a short while, the large bamboo rat inside realized it couldn’t escape and finally gave up trying to dig, like the previous three young bamboo rats, opting to crawl out.

Chi Shao pinned down this large bamboo rat with the Bone Plow, then grabbed its hairless tail and lifted it upside down.

"Clack, clack, clack..."

This large bamboo rat was much bigger than the bamboo rats Jiang Xuan had seen in his previous life, weighing about twenty to thirty pounds and was extremely ferocious.

Its two large incisors continuously knocked against its bottom teeth threateningly, meanwhile turning its head in an attempt to bite Chi Shao’s hand.

Unfortunately, once lifted upside down, it couldn’t reach Chi Shao’s hand holding its tail.

Chi Shao put this large bamboo rat into the sturdy beast hide bag and smiled, saying, "Lucky catch, getting a bamboo rat with cubs, perfect for taking back to tame."

Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Thanks to sister’s experience, otherwise even if we found this place, we wouldn’t have caught them."

Chi Shao said, "I learned this experience from the Hunting Team back in the day."

"We’ve been out for a while today, let’s go home."

The three set off for their return to the tribe with joyous hearts.