Chapter 183: Chapter 186: Military Meat Cans

The 20 members of the longbow team each carried a large burlap backpack and held a recurve bow, curiously watched the little beastkin children.

“Lady Mina, do we need to keep moving? Should we rest for a bit?” Niu Da asked, turning his head. He had received orders the night before and set out at dawn this morning, moving all day following the marks left by Mina. They had finally encountered the group they were to escort.

“Mhmm! Let’s rest. We’ll set out early tomorrow morning and should reach West Sun City by evening,” Mina nodded. She could see that the beastkin children were exhausted and could barely continue.

“Alright, I’ll get started on making some porridge.” Niu Da immediately went to instruct the soldiers to set up camp. While they were on the outer edge of the Forbidden Mountain Range, it was still crucial to stay vigilant as carelessness could cause deaths.

For example, Mina had scouted ahead by several thousand meters, shooting and driving away wild animals, as the beastkin children and the elderly were basically just free food to the wild animals.

Upon hearing that they could rest, the beastkin children cheered. Many of them slumped to the ground, their faces showing signs of pain. After four days of continuous travel, even at a slow pace, they were utterly exhausted.

Mary and the other elderly beastkin watched Niu Da and the others with caution, gathering the beastkin children together and chatting with Weya.

“Weya, are those people the knights of the noble?” Mary asked in a low voice.

“They could be considered knights…” Weya thought for a moment and said, “However, Lord calls them soldiers, and knights are quite rare. For example, Sir Niu Da is a knight.”

“Soldiers? Not a lot of knights?” Mary was puzzled. In her understanding, the number of knights indicated the strength of a noble. Is the noble Weya mentioned a really weak one?

“Let’s not worry about that. We’ll be in West Sun City tomorrow, and you’ll see for yourselves how wonderful it is,” Weya reassured everyone.

“…” Mary could only nod. It was too late now. The noble had sent knights, so they couldn’t leave even if they wanted to.

“I’ll help out and see what food they brought,” Weya said, licking her lips. For her and all the beastkins in the castle, mealtime was the most anticipated part of the day.

“Hmm?” Just as Weya took a couple of steps, her clothing was tugged again. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Sumi, who clung to her all the time.

“Big sis Weya, I want to see too,” Sumi’s soft voice piped up.

“Okay, let’s go.” Weya said dotingly. The little deer girl had always been clingy to her back in the tribe, and now, after not seeing her for a few days, Sumi followed her everywhere, afraid she might leave again.

Before they arrived, they could already smell the fragrance of the porridge. Sumi’s mouth watered, and her small eyes fixed on a large iron pot not far away.

“Sir Niu Da, do you need any help?” Weya called out before she even reached them.

“Teacher Weya! No need, we’re almost done,” Niu Da quickly shook his head.

“Sorry for the trouble,” Weya said gratefully. Having someone come to pick them up was deeply moving.

“It’s no trouble. It’s what we’re supposed to do,” Niu Da said, shaking his head.

Growl…

Sumi’s cheeks reddened as her stomach growled. She quickly hid behind Weya.

“Hahaha… It’ll be ready soon, just wait a little longer,” Niu Da said, laughing heartily. He took out an iron can from his backpack, scraped off a layer of grayish gel with a military knife, and pried open the can. A rich, meaty aroma wafted out.

“What’s this?” Weya asked curiously.

“This is a military meat can, a semi-finished product. We’re testing it this time,” Niu Da said, pouring the meat from the can into the porridge and increasing the heat to cook it all together.

Mina knew about military meat cans. Having been around Liu Feng, she was familiar with many things, especially military matters. According to Liu Feng, military technology was about 10 to 20 years ahead of civilian technology to ensure that the foundation of West Sun City remains secret.

For example, this military meat can was a step up from ceramic meat cans in terms of storage, transportation, and nutrition. The sealing method for military meat cans had undergone numerous trials before Liu Feng suggested temporarily using animal glue.

The research department produced dozens of military cans to test their storage capabilities. Since Niu Da was on a mission, they took some along to test transportation and the effects of environmental changes on the cans.

“Alright, time to eat.”

Niu Da stirred the porridge and called out to the longbow team, “Get the food boxes out and let the children eat first.”

The longbow team members took iron lunch boxes from their backpacks and placed them in front of the large iron pot, then stepped aside. A large ladle of porridge with a bit of meat was scooped into the lunch boxes, making the beastkin children’s mouths water. They looked at Mary, waiting for her approval.

“Eat up!” Mary said, smiling helplessly. She was also very hungry.

“Here, Grandma Mary, this is yours.”A

Weya handed the porridge to Mary with a light smile, “It’s really delicious. There will be more after this.”

“Mm!” Mary nodded silently, her rough fingers gripping the iron spoon as she turned to look at the children. Two people shared a lunch box and ate happily.

“This is delicious, so good, the meat is so fragrant.”

“Mm-hmm! This is better than Grandma Mary’s wild vegetable soup.”

“Are there more after this? I can eat a lot more!”

“…”

The innocent voices of the beastkin children made Mary smile. As she scooped the porridge into her mouth, her murky eyes suddenly brightened. At 65 years old, she had just discovered that such delicious food existed in the world. The food in the beastkin palace must be just like this, right?

As Mary grew up, she always had the impression that the best food was in the beastkin palace. Now, she felt that what she was eating was no worse than palace food.

Of course, all this was just Mary’s imagination. She had never tasted food from the beastkin palace; she was only from a remote village in the beastkin kingdom.