Chapter 114 - 103: Beyond the World

Chapter 114: Chapter 103: Beyond the World

Ke Taichiro was actually incredibly obedient.

It hugged the black ball in its arms, its carapace shining so brightly it reflected light. Against the light, it looked black, but from different angles, it seemed to be a glossy ink-blue or a bizarre, fluorescent moss-green. Its two front claws hugged the round ball. Huai Yu wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt this ball was slightly larger than the one brought back last time.

Its remaining four legs evenly supported its body. Right now, it allowed Boss Tang to lift it and place it into the bag inside the woven basket, behaving perfectly and not making a single sound.

Seeing this, Huai Yu truly couldn’t bear to refuse.

Boss Tang’s rambling continued, though it wasn’t directed at Huai Yu, but at Ke Taichiro:

"Our Taichiro is really so obedient... He can’t even speak. What if he suffers grievances?

"Taichiro, it’s not that I don’t want you. Please don’t be sad... It’s just that May Day is here! You know about the Labor Day holiday, right? Everyone has to go out and do manual labor, and the market will be closed... I really have no choice...

"We’re Holy Beetles, after all. You can rest assured about Little Sister Yu. She’s a good person and won’t do anything to you! Just follow her, eat well, and drink well...

"At the end of the day, it’s all Gao Ming’s fault... He truly has zero sense of responsibility! He messes with all sorts of weird things, yet he can’t get anything right..."

Listening from the side, Huai Yu was truly rendered speechless. She strapped the woven basket onto her back. Feeling Boss Tang’s earnest, pleading gaze, she really couldn’t handle it anymore and asked, "Labor Day... Do we really have to do manual labor?"

As someone from the mountains, she honestly had no idea!

"What else?" Boss Tang’s expression remained mournful, but he answered the question as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "The weather isn’t that hot in early May, and the temperature difference between day and night isn’t too drastic. It’s the perfect time for plants to grow. Of course we have to plant more crops and clear more wasteland.

"After all, the weather is quite unstable nowadays. We often get late spring cold snaps in March and April... You remember, right? You were still wearing a padded jacket in the middle of the month."

Huai Yu certainly remembered, but she lacked general knowledge. She had just assumed she felt cold because of her weak constitution! So it turned out that late spring cold snaps could drag on all the way to April!

"There’s nothing we can do about it. The environment was already pretty unstable before the apocalypse. It would often snow in April and May. Ugh, it made people worry about food every single day... Now that the apocalypse has happened, life is harder, but surprisingly, the weather is a bit more stable.

"Scientists all say it’s because of the large-scale mutation of flora and fauna, and the reconstruction of the food chain where humans were once at the top... Ah, why am I even telling you all this..."

But Huai Yu leaned in, intrigued. "Tell me about it. My family doesn’t tell me these things, so I don’t know anything."

Boss Tang, however, was very understanding. "If I had a daughter, I’d protect her too... Oh, my Taichiro..."

He dawdled, gazing at Ke Taichiro, a bit reluctant for Huai Yu to leave so quickly. Thus, he took the opportunity to explain.

"There’s not much to say. Back then, when the plants mutated severely, many could communicate, and some could even speak... You know how our country operates. The main policy is ’no unprovoked aggression unless absolutely necessary.’

"At the joint summit back then, they said we could negotiate and shouldn’t act recklessly. After all, the poor environment in recent years had already impacted us greatly. But they wouldn’t listen!

"Some dropped nukes, some set fires... You know the World’s Lung, that massive forest, right? They bombed it, but didn’t bomb it clean. They burned it, but didn’t burn it all.

"In the end, it spawned a colossal Strangling Vine that directly took over the entire city and even allied itself with several animal tribes..."

As he spoke, he suddenly realized something. "Didn’t they organize for everyone to watch the final recording of that Strangling Vine back then? Did you not watch it?"

Huai Yu didn’t change her expression. "I wasn’t paying close attention at the time."

"Oh." Boss Tang didn’t mind and merely sighed. "Anyway, Xia Country is fighting back while continuing to plant crops. It’s for the future, after all. Now that life has stabilized again, when Labor Day comes around, shouldn’t we do what needs to be done?"

Huai Yu nodded, having gained some understanding of the environment outside Xia Country. Satisfied, she said, "Mhm, got it! Then, I’ll take Ke Taichiro back now?"

She looked at Boss Tang, her eyes filled with inquiry.

Boss Tang’s nose tingled with emotion. "Taichiro..."

Huai Yu was speechless. It wasn’t that serious! It really wasn’t that serious! She hurriedly hoisted the basket onto her back, said her goodbyes, and left.

Ke Taichiro was truly very quiet. It wasn’t even heavy; carrying it felt very light. This was Huai Yu’s first time visiting the trading market, all to bring it back, yet in the end, she hadn’t bought a single thing. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Now, hugging the basket to her chest, she carefully followed the flow of the crowd onto the bus.

Perhaps because Labor Day was approaching, everyone on the bus was lugging and holding armfuls of items. Huai Yu couldn’t find a seat. Squeezed in the middle of the crowd, she had no choice but to wrap her arms tightly around the basket, especially worried that someone might flip open the lid.

Fortunately, everyone else’s hands were full too. The crowd just jostled back and forth, and people inevitably swayed from side to side, causing the basket in her arms to wobble along with them. Yet, as Huai Yu listened nervously, she truly didn’t hear Ke Taichiro make a single sound or movement.

It made her tempted to lift the lid just to take a peek.

Standing straight again after another sway, she remembered Boss Tang’s reluctant gaze when she left, and surprisingly, she kind of understood it now. Regardless of what Ke Taichiro looked like, it was genuinely hard not to feel fond of a pet when it was this well-behaved!

Then she thought about the several rebellious species back home... and fell silent in her mind.

She began to seriously ponder if it was possible that Gao Ming was actually a genius, truly skilled at taming mutated creatures. Whether it was the two goslings that were perfectly obedient right out of their shells—surely they must have received some sort of prenatal education while still in the egg, right?—or the current Ke Taichiro... they were all very sensible.

She wondered if he knew how to teach plants. If there was a chance, she absolutely had to invite him over to teach Kuang Biao a lesson or two. That bamboo growing a mouth was a true misfortune!

And then there were those two barnyard grass trees. The one filtering the water was still working tirelessly, but if Huai Yu got too close, it would deliberately spray a clump of water on her. As for the smaller barnyard grass tree produced from the purification, it hadn’t shown any signs of activity yet.

Thinking it over, she wondered if the power she had provided wasn’t enough. Was purification alone insufficient? Maybe the two needed to be paired together? But one troublemaking filter tree was already enough. If there was another one...

Huai Yu thought for a moment and ultimately pinned her hopes on Big Pup and Second Pup. Their beaks could peck and destroy things anyway. If the trees didn’t behave, she would just have the geese peck them a few more times!

And then there was Ke Taichiro. Where should she keep it once they got back? After all, even though she had six hundred acres of land, the usable space was incredibly scarce. Moreover, fondness was one thing, but she hadn’t actually mentally prepared herself to share a room with Ke Taichiro!

In that case... if she built a new little shed next to the chicken coop, would Boss Tang be heartbroken if he found out?