Chapter 90 - 89: What a Huge Appetite!

Chapter 90: Chapter 89: What a Huge Appetite!

The two novice breeders stared at the chubby goslings, completely at a loss for what to do.

The goslings, entirely oblivious to their confusion, remained surprisingly calm. They didn’t make a peep, slowly preening the few sparse tufts of down on their bodies before turning their flat bills back to peck at the eggshells.

Boss Tang watched them for a while, a fatherly smile inevitably creeping onto his face. "They’re actually quite cute..."

Before he could finish, a loud CRACK rang out. One of the goslings had slipped while pecking at the shell, its bill striking the counter instead.

The glass shattered completely.

Boss Tang was speechless.

Huai Yu’s eyes widened. "Is... is the glass broken?"

It was more than just broken. A large, flat hole gaped in the surface, its edges littered with shattered glass shards. The previously smooth glass counter now looked as if it had been shot by a bullet.

Well, this was awkward...

"Is the glass expensive?" Huai Yu asked sheepishly. Seeing that the two little goslings were still trying to peck at the eggshells, she quickly reached out to grab one—it was surprisingly heavy! She had to use both hands to scoop them up and place them back into the cardboard box.

The words of caution stalled on Boss Tang’s lips. Seeing how docile the goslings were in her hands despite their fierce strength, he swallowed his warning as if nothing had happened.

"Forget it," he said magnanimously. "I’ll just find a sticker to cover it up later. No need to replace it right now. But these geese are something else... Why are they pecking at the eggshells? Are they hungry?"

It was no wonder that keeping mutated pets was all the rage in the Imperial Capital right now. Who wouldn’t want a powerful yet obedient and docile little companion by their side? He decided he definitely had to get one for himself later!

With that thought, he hurried toward the storeroom. "I’ll get them a cabbage."

Huai Yu actually felt quite guilty. She suspected that the goslings’ incredibly strong bills were a direct result of being stimulated by her ability.

Seeing them peck an eggshell out of the box again, she quickly reached out to pinch it, only to have her finger instantly sliced open by its razor-sharp edge. A drop of crimson blood beaded on her skin.

She stared in sheer disbelief.

It was an eggshell, not a piece of broken glass! She hadn’t even squeezed it; she had barely touched it while trying to pick it up.

She looked back at the two goslings. They were still foolishly and frantically pecking at the shells with their heads down, but their dark, flat bills struck the shells with dull thuds, leaving them completely undamaged.

Huai Yu didn’t know what to say. She really began to reflect on her actions. Had she channeled too much energy into them earlier? The shells had definitely burst open from the sheer force of her ability, hadn’t they?

Her guilt deepened. She silently vowed never to use her powers like that again!

After making this promise to herself, she glanced at the hole in the glass counter. Huai Yu fell silent for a moment before grabbing a paper towel to carefully wrap and collect all the eggshell fragments.

With nothing left to peck, the two goslings finally grew restless and let out high-pitched, tender cries. They sounded like chicks, a bit like ducklings, and somewhat like goslings. But more accurately, they sounded like—

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

She couldn’t help but feel a wave of speechlessness. Was this really how baby geese sounded?

Just then, Boss Tang emerged from the storeroom, carefully carrying a small cabbage.

"Here we go, this is the half left over from yesterday. Nowadays, we don’t chop up the whole cabbage like we used to; we just peel off the leaves one by one to eat. Looks pretty fresh still, doesn’t it?

"The Mutant Value is only 15... Hiss! Wait, they’re so small. Should I chop it up before feeding them?"

After he said that, both of them fell silent again.

After a while, Huai Yu said awkwardly, "There’s probably no need to chop it... Let’s just try it as is."

Next time, she would definitely bring something good for Boss Tang! Like the ginseng from her own home!

However, the stalks of the ginseng planted in the perforated bricks by her door had all been sliced off last time. Even though she had replenished them with a bit of her ability, and they had since grown new stalks and leaves... didn’t ginseng take many years to mature?

Huai Yu sank into a state of distress.

Human distress was completely irrelevant to geese.

The two gray-feathered goslings were no longer dripping wet, their fluffy down barely visible. The moment they saw Boss Tang’s cabbage, they lunged for it without a second thought. Despite having dark, flat, duck-like bills, they made a loud rustling, CRUNCHING sound as they ate.

Their bills acted like electric drills. A single peck bored a hole into the cabbage, and they ate deeper and deeper into the hole... until their entire necks were stuck inside.

But their bodies were too round; their chests and bellies couldn’t fit. As a result, their wings and feet were left dangling in the air, flapping and thrashing about.

It was incredibly comical.

Boss Tang quickly ducked under the counter, rummaging around before pulling out a camera.

"Come on, let me take a picture!"

Good heavens! If he hadn’t pulled out that camera, Huai Yu would still have been under the impression that technology had regressed! Only now did it belatedly occur to her that smartphones still existed in this era.

It was just that they were too expensive—costing well over five thousand points. Moreover, without the internet, many functions were useless, and they drained batteries incredibly fast. Because of this, ordinary communicators priced around two thousand points were far more popular.

In comparison, cameras were actually cheaper. Many second-hand ones could be snagged for just two to three thousand points. But there was a catch: film was hard to come by, and card readers and memory cards were quite pricey.

Thus, when all was said and done, they still weren’t as popular as the game consoles in Boss Tang’s shop.

The two little goslings never managed to pull themselves out of the cabbage. However, as the outer layer of leaves began to softly cave in, accompanied by the ceaseless crunching sounds from within, it was safe to say the cabbage was nearly hollowed out on the inside.

Boss Tang eagerly snapped photos from every angle with his camera, overjoyed, and even recorded a video.

He muttered continuously, "This hundred points was absolutely worth it! So worth it! Ah, I knew Gao Ming wouldn’t let us down. The dung beetles might have just been a momentary lapse in judgment, but these geese are the real highlight!

"Good thing we snagged this bargain ourselves, or I’d be heartbroken later..."

He rambled on, immensely happy. Only Huai Yu watched the cabbage, then the two goslings.

"Aren’t they eating a bit too much?"

Hearing this, Boss Tang put his camera away.

Although the cabbage he brought over was left over, a single person wouldn’t peel off more than a few leaves for a meal, so it was still quite large. Yet, in just this short amount of time, the two goslings hadn’t stopped eating, and it looked like only the two outermost layers of leaves remained.

Their bellies were still perfectly round, leaving one to wonder where all that food had even gone. Logically speaking, geese should know when they were full, right?

And they had just hatched!

If they grew bigger, how much would they eat in a single meal? With this kind of appetite, an ordinary family simply wouldn’t be able to afford to feed them.

Finally, Huai Yu sighed. "Forget it. What’s done is done. Thank goodness they’re herbivores... If worse comes to worst, I’ll figure something out later!"

If worse came to worst, she would just drive them to the other side of the Rose Corridor to forage for wild greens, and have them come back once they were full!

Boss Tang thought about it and agreed. Even though they had huge appetites, Huai Yu’s living conditions meant she wouldn’t be unable to feed them. Feeling reassured, he began rummaging around again.

"Let me find a suitable cardboard box for you to carry them in."