"I merely wish to understand the environment surrounding our Tribe," Su Bai said indifferently.
He could sense the profound wariness emanating from her, evident from her several movements.
"Our Tribe has nothing of value; there is no need for you to inspect it," The green haired girl immediately replied.
She continued retreating backwards, gripping her spear tightly in her hand. Even when her grip grew weary, she dared not switch to her other hand.
"We do not need anything from your Tribe, so you don’t have to worry. I am not your enemy." Su Bai said earnestly.
At this juncture, he found himself without alternative options. The other party remained as vigilant as could be, and without expressing himself clearly, he would face misunderstanding.
The green haired girl spoke no further, standing silently in place while observing those individuals.
"You are here to catch fish, right? If you keep doing that, you won’t be able to catch any fish." Su Bai said, raising his eyebrows slightly.
"You… how do you know I came here to catch fish?" The green haired girl asked in astonishment.
"If you wish to catch fish, you won’t be able to do so that way." Su Bai laughed heartily.
The green haired girl immediately concealed her spear behind her back, her cheeks flushing slightly as she said, "Don’t say nonsense; I am not catching fish."
She had no desire for others to know that she had been striking the ice surface with her spear for quite some time, yet had achieved nothing.
The ice surface bore only minimal marks, with ice fragments scattered everywhere from the impacts, while the fish beneath the ice continued swimming leisurely as if mocking her.
"Ha ha ha…" Su Bai chuckled softly, then turned to instruct others to begin chiselling a hole in the ice surface.
He Chuan and the others followed his instructions, beginning to excavate the ice surface. Within moments, they had used a sharp stone spear to chisel open a hole.
"This is the proper way to catch fish." Su Bai said, taking the spear and thrusting it forcefully at the fish swimming near the surface.
*Splash!* The sound of water splashing arose as he withdrew the spear from his hand, revealing a fish impaled upon the spear’s tip.
"This is how you catch fish." Su Bai said, passing the spear to someone nearby and continuing, "If you wish to catch some fish to take back, just do what I did."
The green haired girl stood stunned, never having imagined that all her efforts had been futile, while the other party had caught a fish in merely a few minutes.
Her previously tight grip began to relax, her expression softening as she asked, "I am called Ah Liv, and I belong to the Green Vine Tribe."
"I am from the Flame Dragon Tribe. I am called Su Bai." Su Bai said, raising his eyebrows slightly. Given the girl’s demeanour, she had certainly relaxed her guard.
Having revealed both her name and Tribe, she naturally no longer displayed the constraint she had shown initially.
"Flame Dragon Tribe? I have heard of this Tribe," Ah Liv said, blinking her green eyes, her facial expression quite subtle.
"Oh? Where did you hear of it?" Su Bai asked with some surprise, turning to ask the Sha Lan, "Do you not know of the Green Vine Tribe?"
"I have heard of it before, but my understanding of it is not much to speak of. I just heard of the name before." Sha Lan replied, shaking her head.
"Was the Flame Dragon Tribe not previously occupied by the Black Snake Tribe? Are you refugees who escaped from the Tribe?" Ah Liv enquired.
Su Bai smiled slightly, shaking his head and saying, "No, we have reclaimed everything and the Black Snake Tribe has been destroyed."
The lack of information flow presented a problem here. Although that matter had concluded several months ago, many still only knew of such old details.
"I see. Then why are you out here? Does your Tribe not still exist? Why are you looking for other Tribes? Are you looking to trade food?" Ah Liv asked.
She considered this and concluded it was indeed the only reasonable explanation. However, the Green Vine Tribe had very little to trade in terms of food. In fact, her reason for coming out to catch fish was that her Father wanted fish, yet the Tribe did not have any fish.
Had she not witnessed the method used by Su Bai to catch fish, she believes she would have been as friendly with these strangers.
Though, who could blame her for being unable to catch fish despite spending so long on the ice surface, while the other party had merely chiselled a hole, placed something on the water’s surface, and caught a fish?
She was unwilling to leave, yet having witnessed this profound method of catching fish, she could only be somewhat more friendly to learn more.
"Trade for food? No, we have more than enough food." Su Bai replied, shaking his head.
"Then what is your goal?" Ah Liv asked with complete bewilderment.
"Are you familiar with the surrounding Tribes?" Su Bai asked earnestly. His reason for teaching the girl this fishing method was to prevent her from being overly suspicious. That way, future discussions of cooperation would prove easier.
"Hmm? I am quite familiar with the surrounding area. What do you want to know?" Ah Liv asked with confusion.
Her expression began to grow wary once more, as the other party had inexplicably raised this topic for unknown reasons.
She felt that apart from the other party’s attractive appearance and superior attire, everything else was untrustworthy.
Moreover, the other party had for some reason asked about the surrounding environment, which reminded her of her Father’s words about not casually trusting someone merely because they appeared attractive.
Generally, such individuals possessed glib tongues, and nine out of ten sentences they spoke were deceptive, making them complete natural born liars.
Observing the series of expressions crossing the other party’s face, Su Bai could not help but twitch the corners of his mouth twice, wondering what she might be thinking.
He sighed, organised his words, and said, "Look, I have no ill-intention against you or your Tribe. In fact, I appreciate cooperation."
"Cooperation?" Ah Liv frowned and continued without hesitation, "Unnecessary. Our Tribe has enough food and does not need to cooperate with anyone."
The girl required no such thing, feeling that the other party harboured some ill intention.
"So, you won’t hear me out?" Su Bai said, waving his hand and turning as if to depart.
As he turned, he gave Yu Ying a meaningful look, and she immediately understood.
Yu Ying deliberately approached carrying an opened container of preserved meat, feigning distress as she asked. "Shaman, we have so much food here. Shall we throw it away?"
Hearing this, Ah Liv widened her green eyes, suspecting she had misheard.
Her mouth fell open in shock, and she stammered for quite some time before managing to said, "You are the Flame Dragon Tribe’s Shaman?"
Simultaneously, she caught the aroma emanating from the preserved meat tin, a scent that was truly delightful.