Banished to Another World

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 (Part 1): Punishment Always Comes the Moment You Forget

By the time Yan Mo clumsily finished skinning the vole, the sky had already turned dark. The setting sun cast a brilliant red glow across the horizon.

Around him, the tribe was alive with activity. Most people had already eaten or were in the process of preparing dinner. The rich aroma of roasted meat filled the air, teasing Yan Mo's nose and making his stomach churn with hunger. He swallowed several times to suppress his salivating mouth.

Next door, the efficient Cao Ting had already finished roasting her master's meal. After delivering it, she returned to help Yan Mo with the second vole.

"You've been hungry for a while now, haven't you?" Cao Ting remarked as she twisted the vole's neck with ease. Using a stone knife, she made a clean circular cut around the neck, severed the tendons, and peeled the skin off in one smooth motion. The entire skin came off intact, leaving the carcass bare.

Yan Mo watched in awe. The people here were strong and skilled. He glanced at his own hands and wondered if his weakness was due to hunger. Probably 90% of it, he guessed.

Feeling guilty for letting Cao Ting do all the work, Yan Mo picked up a stone knife and began cutting into the first vole. His determination to work quickly was a habit carried over from his previous life. Though this new body felt strange, his skills remained intact.

He struggled at first with the internal organs but improved significantly by the second vole.

"You don't need to mince it like that," Cao Ting said, noticing his efforts. "For a small prairie rat like this, it's better to roast it whole."

Yan Mo paused, realizing his mistake. Out of habit, he'd started cutting the meat into smaller pieces, imagining braising or stir-frying it—concepts that didn't exist here.

Cao Ting helped him finish preparing the second vole. She sprinkled coarse salt over the carcass and placed it directly on the fire pit.

"Chopped meat is only good for boiling," she explained. "But remember, it's best not to boil meat. The salt we use turns bitter in water. Roasting it over fire keeps the bitterness away."

Yan Mo nodded but couldn't help adding, "The bitterness comes from other minerals mixed with the salt. If you boil it a few more times, it'll get a lot better."

Cao Ting gave him a puzzled look. "Boil it a few more times? That's wasteful! Don't you know how precious salt, water, and grass for burning are? Yuan Zhan must be in a good mood to let you use so much without scolding you. Any other master would've beaten and starved you for days."

Her words made Yan Mo realize the truth: it wasn't that people here didn't know how to improve their lives, but they couldn't afford to. The Exile Transformation Guide hadn't rewarded him for this knowledge because it wasn't new to anyone—it simply wasn't practical in their current circumstances.

Yan Mo blushed slightly, though his thick skin kept it from showing.

If only the guide's "Water Geography" article was unlocked, he thought wistfully. In this climate, there must be natural salt ponds or lakes. The heat and sunlight would make harvesting salt easy—much more economical and sustainable than boiling it.

But until his scum points dropped below 100 million, such ideas were nothing more than pipe dreams.

Realizing he lacked skewers for kebabs, Yan Mo abandoned the idea and let Cao Ting continue roasting the voles whole.

Yuan Zhan returned with a full water tank, his muscles flexing as he carried the heavy container back to the tent. He glanced at Yan Mo preparing to boil meat and scowled.