At the mention of winter, Ji Nuan's already skinny face instantly scrunches up.
The winters here are indeed deadly, with the frigid wind ravaging the landscape throughout the season. Aside from the occasional few days when it is possible to venture outside, one can only hibernate in their cave for the rest of the time.
As a disabled individual without a mate, Ji Nuan's only consolation is that there is more than half of the scorching season remaining before winter arrives, which is roughly three months on Earth.
In the Orc Continent, a year consists of the rainy season of two months, the scorching season of six months, and the winter season of four months. When she arrived, it was in the scorching season where forest prey was fat and fruits were starting to ripen.
In order to survive, Ji Nuan, a disabled little she-cub not provided for by Orcs, needs to make the most of these times and hoard food!
Orcs primarily consume a variety of meats. Females will eat some fruits, but the fruits that the females of this world eat are of just a few basic types. Vegetables and such, to the Orcs, are grass and are not edible.
Ji Nuan leaves the cave and gathers some broken branches under a few trees not far away. Then she binds the newly grown, softer twigs together to make a simple "broom".
After cleaning the three caves, she goes to the little river in the middle of the tribe and soaks a worn piece of Beast Skin. She scrubs her own two-meter bed clean and then spreads all her own belongings—several pieces of large Beast Skin—on the bed.
Looking at the bare patches here and there on the bed, Ji Nuan wordlessly gives up on the illusion of covering her two-meter bed entirely with the Beast Skin—she simply doesn't have enough.
She can only spread one piece under her body and keep another to use as a blanket. After sleeping under a blanket for over 20 odd years, she feels insecure without one.
She dwells sadly on it as she puts the food ration distributed by the tribe today in the large cave to her right. This is all her belongings, a few pieces of Beast Skin, a palm-sized piece of meat, and a few green, obviously unripe fruits.
Her lips twitch as it seems the most pressing issue right now is feeding herself.
Although her physical form is a struggling mother tiger, her inner self is a human being~
She really can't eat this bloody raw meat!
Luckily, she managed to scrounge a portion of grilled meat today from the witchdoctor. Otherwise, she would be a starving and weak mother tiger tomorrow.
The sky outside the cave is beginning to darken, and the Orcs who returned from their hunt were gathering in the middle of the clearing to process their prey.
The females, laughing and chatting, accept the Beast Skins that the males peeled off and hang them up in the common cave. These Beast Skins are crucial for warmth in the winter.
Here the wild beasts are huge and deadly. The Orcs go hunting in groups and share the kill when they return to the tribe. Despite the size of the prey, after removing the unusable parts like the skin and internal organs, each Orc doesn't get much. Many Orc families can only eat till they're half-full and still must save some for the next day, as they cannot guarantee successful hunting every day.
Although there are some powerful Orcs who can single-handedly or in small groups secure a kill, such warriors are few. As far as Ji Nuan knows, it seems only Uncle Xiu Li and the Clan Leader's family have enough to eat and surplus.
Uncle Xiu Li has three Orc cubs, two of whom have already come of age in the past few years. Like Ji Nuan's beast mother, Uncle Xiu Li's female and Ji Nuan's beast mother have only one male mate, which is rare in the tribe.