Chapter 68

Chapter 68

The deer paced at the cave entrance, hesitant to go inside.

It had just killed the tiger, and if it entered, the cub might detect the lingering scent on it and resent Cheng Zhiyu and the others.

So, after leading them there, it turned and left.

Cheng Zhiyu and the others exchanged glances, then entered the cave and indeed found a tiger cub inside.

The cub appeared to be just a month old. Upon seeing them, its fur bristled, and it bared its teeth warily.

Cheng Zhiyu: "Oh my, it's so cute!"

They kept their distance, afraid of startling the cub.

Lin Jiashu attempted to communicate with the cub, but it was too young to express itself fully. They could only discern that it was hungry and searching for its mother.

Everyone fell silent. The cub's mother was already…

A one-month-old cub clearly couldn't survive on its own. Since Cheng Zhiyu had his spatial ability, he took out a piece of meat, chopped it into minced meat on the spot, placed it in a small bowl, and set it before the cub.

The cub, with its round, tiger-like head, was initially very wary. But then it caught the delicious scent and couldn't resist, stumbling toward the source of the smell.

It sniffed the minced meat in the bowl, and everyone held their breath nervously.

Fortunately, the cub was willing to eat. It tentatively licked the meat and was instantly captivated by the flavor, wobbling as it buried its head in the bowl to eat.

In no time, the small bowl of minced meat was completely devoured.

The cub began to whimper.

Lin Jiashu: "It says it wants more."

Cheng Zhiyu seized the opportunity to gently feel the cub's belly. Confirming it was still a bit flat, he took out another piece of meat.

Now the cub knew that the delicious food it had just eaten came from this. It waddled over on its short legs, squatting in front of Cheng Zhiyu and looking at him eagerly.

Ah! It's too adorable! Who could resist?

Cheng Mo could. Seeing Cheng Zhiyu staring at the cub with a doting smile, he immediately became wary.

Cheng Zhiyu adored fluffy creatures, especially tiny animals like this, which were at their most adorable age.

Cheng Mo quickly picked up the cub and placed it in front of Lin Jiashu.

The cub: "?"

Lin Jiashu: "?"

Cheng Mo calmly explained: "Aren't you able to communicate with supernatural beasts? It's most likely a supernatural beast, so it's best left to you."

As he spoke, he glanced at Cheng Zhiyu and winked: "Right, Zhi Yu?"

Cheng Zhiyu didn't answer but gave a small smile: "Come chop the meat."

Cheng Mo immediately replied: "Alright."

Taking the knife from Cheng Zhiyu, he began chopping forcefully.

Then, he saw Cheng Zhiyu and the others crowd around the cub.

Zhou Min worried: "Let's give it some space so we don't scare it."

"It seems pretty brave," Tian Qiao said. "It's even batting at my hand."

Lin Jiashu exclaimed excitedly: "Oh my, I've only ever seen tigers in zoos. A tiger this small is too adorable! Its paws are so big—will they get as big as my hands one day? So cute."

Cheng Zhiyu gently pinched the cub's ear. The cub bared its teeth fiercely, but halfway through, it seemed to realize that this was the person who had just fed it the minced meat. A bit embarrassed, it pulled back its teeth and made two cute little grunts.

Cheng Zhiyu clutched his chest: "So adorable!"

Watching this, Cheng Mo gritted his teeth, annoyed. Damn it, wasn't he adorable too? Who had called him cute before? That fickle man!

He was so annoyed that he gripped the knife and chopped more forcefully, the sound growing louder.

Cheng Zhiyu hurriedly covered the cub's ears: "Quiet down, don't scare it."

Cheng Mo: "…"

He was really getting mad.

Once the meat was minced, it tasted even better this time because Cheng Mo had chopped it with extra force, making the texture extra tender.

Cheng Zhiyu took the bowl and smiled: "I'll feed it."

Cheng Mo said flatly: "It can eat by itself!"

Cheng Zhiyu pitied the cub: "It's still so young, of course it needs to be fed."

Cheng Mo said angrily: "You never fed me when I was little."

Cheng Zhiyu laughed: "You were so distant back then, you didn't need anyone to feed you."

Cheng Mo: "…" So mad. Why had he acted so cool before?

Lin Jiashu, who wasn't quite sure what was going on: "?"

Um, Cheng Mo looked older than Cheng Zhiyu. She was confused.

In the end, Cheng Zhiyu didn't feed the cub—he had just been messing with Cheng Mo. The cub could eat on its own and didn't need to be fed.

It just ended up with food all over its face. As Cheng Zhiyu was about to wipe it clean, a splash of water appeared and cleaned the cub's mouth.

Cheng Zhiyu: "…"

Cheng Mo: Not letting Cheng Zhiyu have a chance!

The cub, now full, played alone, chasing insects. The group discussed what to do.

"It definitely can't survive on its own," Lin Jiashu said softly.

Cheng Mo crossed his arms, standing firm: "Then give it to the deer. It killed its mother—it deserves it."

Cheng Zhiyu gave him a look: "Watch what you say, the cub is right here."

Don't let the child hear.

Cheng Mo: "…" His heart sank. Wasn't he the most important anymore?

Zhou Min said, "Let's take it back. Wasn't Lin Jiashu planning to raise a supernatural beast before?"

But Lin Jiashu had intended to raise a cat or a dog—she just never came across one—and ended up encountering a large wild cat instead.

Lin Jiashu was still a bit afraid; after all, tigers are wild animals, and she worried she might not be able to control it properly.

Still, she was willing to give it a try. Her ability had always been rather limited; among the Superhumans in the base, she could be called useless.

But who wants to be useless?

Though, to be realistic, isn’t usefulness determined by strength? If she could raise the tiger cub well, no one would dare look down on her again.

So, it wasn’t just out of pity for the cub having no one to care for it—she was also thinking of herself.

Thus, Lin Jiashu said seriously, "I'm willing to try."

After speaking, she gently called the tiger cub over. It tilted its head in confusion before tottering toward her under her nervous gaze.

Being so young, it wasn’t very cautious, and having just eaten something delicious, it had grown fond of everyone.

The cub’s behavior gave Lin Jiashu confidence. She picked it up and said earnestly, "I’ll do my best to raise it well."

If she couldn’t control it, she was at least willing to care for it until it could fend for itself before releasing it back into the wild.

Cheng Zhiyu couldn’t take his eyes off the tiger cub, but given Lin Jiashu’s special ability, she was undoubtedly the best caretaker. He nodded and said, "If you run into any problems, you can always ask us for help."

"Yeah, yeah," Zhou Min chimed in, also unable to look away from the cub.

Tian Qiao said enviously, "Whoa, you’re so lucky! A tiger!"

Even Tian Manman glanced at the cub a few more times; usually, he was only interested in food.

Only Cheng Mo breathed a sigh of relief. Great—as long as Cheng Zhiyu wasn’t the one raising it, he didn’t care who did.

On the way back, he deliberately blocked Cheng Zhiyu’s view to keep him from staring at the cub.

Unable to see the tiger, Cheng Zhiyu complained, "So childish!"

He really wanted to keep looking at the cub!

But his boyfriend was too jealous, so he had to tone it down a little.

Seeing this, Cheng Mo was pleased and took the opportunity to try and hold Cheng Zhiyu’s hand. Cheng Zhiyu dodged him and gave him a look that said, "One month."

Cheng Mo: "..."

Lin Jiashu was about to take the cub home, and Tian Qiao and the others were reluctant to see it go.

Zhou Min said pleadingly, "Jiashu, can you handle the cub on your own?"

Tian Qiao, unable to look away, added, "Yeah, this little tiger needs to eat meat. If you can’t handle it, how about we help take care of it for a few days?"

Maybe get a few days of petting in, heh.

Lin Jiashu held the cub tightly and declined firmly, "Haha, no need. The cub doesn’t eat much, and I can afford the meat for it."

As Tian Qiao watched her prepare to leave with the cub, he said sadly, "Can’t you let me pet it for a couple of days? It’s a tiger cub, not a kitten or puppy."

Tiger cubs are rare!

But as soon as he said this, he realized something and turned to Cheng Mo, quickly adding, "Brother Black, I didn’t mean that dogs aren’t good—dogs are great too, haha."

Cheng Mo: "..."

Why explain it to him? He’s not a dog!

Cheng Zhiyu couldn’t hold back: "...Pfft."

Cheng Mo said pitifully, "Zhi Yu, you’re laughing at me."

Cheng Zhiyu hurriedly replied, "Ahem, I’m not laughing at you. I just thought of something happy."

Cheng Mo: You think I believe that?

Ever since Tian Qiao found out his childhood friend was with Cheng Mo: "..."

Before, when Cheng Mo was all touchy-feely, he didn’t think much of it, figuring it was normal since Brother Black used to be a dog—his behavior would naturally differ from humans’.

Now, even though the two weren’t physically touching, he felt... kind of uncomfortable.

Not that he had any issue with it—he just felt like a third wheel.

Luckily, he wasn’t the only third wheel there.

Amid everyone’s reluctant gazes, Lin Jiashu carried the cub away.

Zhou Min sighed, "Ugh, why isn’t my ability to communicate with supernatural beasts? How annoying!"

It’s a tiger—I’ve only ever seen them in zoos before, never even touched one.

Everyone returned feeling down. After Cheng Zhiyu got home, he entered the system space, as he did almost every day, picking ripe plants, loosening the soil, and watering Little Two and the others.

Cheng Zhiyu first checked on Little Umbrella’s condition. It had now entered its growth phase and would likely mature soon.

The other plants had also leveled up to varying degrees. He’d given them all the crystal cores the base had allocated to him.

Big Strong had gone from level two to level three, Little Roll from level three to level four, and Ball from level two to level three.

As for Little Iron, it was already at level four, so leveling up further would be difficult unless it got a level five zombie crystal core like Little Two had.

And Little Two—level five was even harder. The Fire Crystal Cores given to it didn’t have much effect after absorption.

But what surprised Cheng Zhiyu the most was that Little Yellow had finally leveled up from level three to level four. This meant that eating its fruit would make level four and lower zombies unable to detect the consumer for five minutes.

That was absolutely amazing. Considering how hard it was to deal with level four zombies now, having Little Yellow’s fruit could really turn the tide in battle.

However, Little Yellow hadn’t produced any level four fruit yet—only level three ones. Cheng Zhiyu distributed those to his parents, Uncle Tian, Aunt Tian, and the others, so they’d have them useful in an emergency.

What made Cheng Zhiyu happiest was that, thanks to the plants leveling up, the system space had expanded from 16*16 to 20*20, gaining over 100 square meters!

He was thrilled. He’d been wanting to plant other things, and now he finally had the space.

Since the green beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes had already passed their fruiting period, Cheng Zhiyu found time to uproot them all.

That freed up a large area where he could plant something else.

What Cheng Zhiyu most wanted to plant now was soybeans. Soybeans are incredibly useful—they can be made into tofu, dried tofu sheets, and all sorts of delicious foods, and they can also be pressed for oil. The leftover tofu dregs can even be used to feed pigs or other livestock.

He’d always wanted to raise poultry, but given the current situation at the base, it wasn’t really suitable—people didn’t even have enough to eat themselves.

However, once everyone's food issues are resolved, it could be considered.

By then, it would be too late to plant soybeans, so it's better to start preparing in advance.

Moreover, Cheng Zhiyu himself is craving tofu. He didn’t used to like it much before, but now that it’s gone, he misses it terribly.

Besides soybeans, Cheng Zhiyu also wants to plant cotton. He has a hunch this winter won’t be very warm, so he needs to plant the cotton ASAP.

It’s probably impossible to plant and harvest cotton on a large scale within the base before winter.

So he really needs to hurry.

For the cotton planting locations, he first chose the spots near Little Roll and Little Yellow.

Little Roll can provide heat to the plants around it, so the cotton grown there will likely produce heat, making it even more insulating.

Plants near Little Yellow can yield multiple harvests, greatly increasing output, saving both space and effort.

As for soybeans, he’ll plant them near Big Strong. Food that grows several times larger is really appealing.

Plants near Little Roll tend to grow longer—well, that’s still beneficial. He plans to plant sweet potatoes there.

As for Ball, any plant near it will grow thorns.

Cheng Zhiyu doesn’t know what to plant there, so he’ll just plant sweet potatoes as well.

Actually, Cheng Zhiyu originally intended to plant rice near Big Strong, but he also wanted to plant soybeans. After careful consideration, he decided on soybeans.

Mainly because wheat is already available and is grown on a large scale. Wheat can fully replace rice, so there’s no hurry to plant it.

Finally, after planting everything, Cheng Zhiyu decided to plant fruit trees. Yes, he wants to eat other kinds of fruit.

Right now, what he craves most are peaches and cherries.

Coincidentally, both types of fruit trees are available in their area, though the trees currently look withered and don’t bear much fruit. Even when they do, the fruit is small and sour, nothing like they used to be.

Cheng Zhiyu is really craving fruit, so he decides to dig up a couple of fruit trees and plant them.

After finishing up in the system space, Cheng Zhiyu comes out and tells Cheng Mo.

Cheng Mo naturally offers to go with him.

So the next day, the two head out. There are no fruit trees inside the base, but Cheng Mo remembers there used to be an orchard in their village.

Some households would plant a few acres of fruit trees, with cherries and peaches being the most common.

They decide to go straight to the orchard to look.

Cheng Zhiyu plans to dig up the trees and put them right in his space. Since it’s a simple task, only he and Cheng Mo go.

Cheng Mo is in a good mood. They don’t drive; Cheng Zhiyu says the orchard isn’t far from the village, so they can walk.

Cheng Mo asks, "Zhi Yu, are you tired? If you’re tired, you can ride me."

Before, Cheng Zhiyu wouldn’t have thought much of it, but now he coughs lightly: What kind of talk is that!

Cheng Zhiyu: "No need, it’s not far. Let’s just take our time walking."

They used to rush everything, but now they’ve slowed down.

"Okay." Though a little disappointed, Cheng Mo quickly perks up. It’s just the two of them, and walking slowly isn’t so bad.

"By the way, do you have any favorite fruits?" Cheng Zhiyu asks him. If they come across any, they could dig them up and plant them.

Cheng Mo seems confused: "I don’t know."

He’s only eaten watermelon, and that was grown by Cheng Zhiyu. He says, "Well, watermelon is tasty."

Cheng Zhiyu is taken aback, then looks at Cheng Mo: "Huh? You’ve never eaten any before? What did you eat?"

It seems like Cheng Mo's home and this place have different diets. He’s curious about what kind of different foods they might have.

"Ah... over there, we eat meat." Cheng Mo scratches his nose, realizing his home planet is a complete food desert.

"You eat meat?" Cheng Zhiyu doesn’t think twice about it, figuring it’s normal since Cheng Mo and his kind are beasts who love meat.

Thinking about that place he’s never been, Cheng Zhiyu grows even more curious: "Do you have any special food preparations over there?"

"Uh..." Cheng Mo lowers his head. What special ways could they possibly have?

Cooking it at all is already an accomplishment. Since many of them are naturally beasts, even in human form, they keep animal instincts—many eat raw meat.

But as part of the royal family, Cheng Mo is a bit more particular. This refinement means... he eats cooked food.

Over there, being able to cook food without burning it already qualifies someone as a great chef.

After hearing this, Cheng Zhiyu: "..."

He looks at Cheng Mo, his eyes full of sympathy. Logically, Cheng Mo’s planet is supposed to be an advanced civilization, so why are they living like it’s the stone age?

But then again, oh right, they’re originally furry beings. How can you expect furry beings to make delicious food? Okay.

"Wait, I remember you mentioned that there are pure humans in your galaxy too," Cheng Zhiyu says.

Pure humans probably don’t live like that, right? Mostly because humans can’t digest raw meat.

Cheng Mo nods: "There are, but they live on their own planet, and their numbers are small—I don’t know the exact count. These humans do farm and produce food, and they know how to cook, but they’re self-sufficient and rarely export to us. Also, pure humans and beast races don’t have a good relationship."

"Why?" Cheng Zhiyu asks curiously. "Can you talk about it?"

There’s no reason not to. Seeing his interest, Cheng Mo explains earnestly.

Because beast races live impulsively, even in human form, they retain their animal habits.

At first, the two races weren’t so at odds. Beast races would travel to human planets, and humans would visit beast territories.

However, beast races who went traveling would often get drunk, let loose, change back to beast form, and cause chaos, causing widespread panic.

Humans in beast territories also had problems—beast races often ran around wildly in their original forms, and one especially weak human was nearly killed.

After several incidents, the human side demanded that beast races not revert to their original forms when visiting human planets. As for beast races running wild on their own planets, they couldn’t control that, so they simply told their people to avoid traveling to beast territories.

But beast races thought this was too hard—when they’re happy, they love to go wild.

Seeing that they couldn’t enforce the rule, the human side outright banned beast races from their planets. Somehow, the two sides stopped interacting.

At that time, Cheng Mo was still young and focused solely on building his powers, so he wasn’t aware of the specifics.

Hearing about beast races reverting to their forms and causing chaos, Cheng Zhiyu immediately pictures cats causing trouble.

Um... it might really be the nature of the beast folk.

Fortunately, his Big Black is quite calm.

Haha, though the relationship between humans and beast folk there is kinda interesting.

Still, no wonder Little Black jumped onto the coffee table earlier and ate almost half of the beef when he wasn’t paying attention.

Probably really never had decent food.

Kinda sad.

Cheng Mo, whose past embarrassment was brought up: "...Can we not talk about this?"

"Haha." Cheng Zhiyu was about to die laughing. It was so funny. He hadn’t thought much of it before, but now, looking at Cheng Mo’s face, the more he thought about it, the funnier it seemed.

"Ah! Stop laughing!" Cheng Mo’s tanned face flushed slightly as he reached out to cover Cheng Zhiyu’s mouth.

Cheng Zhiyu: "Mmf!"

Cheng Mo warily asked: "You won’t say anymore?"

Cheng Zhiyu nodded obediently: "Uh-huh."

Only then did Cheng Mo release him, emphasizing again: "Don’t say it."

Cheng Zhiyu coughed: "Actually, I think it’s quite cute."

Cheng Mo gave him a deadpan look: "Say it again and I’ll kiss you."

Cheng Zhiyu’s face grew hot, and he immediately shut up. No more, no more.

Cheng Mo: "..." He felt a little disappointed.

The two of them roughhoused and bantered all the way until they finally reached the orchard. The trees looked drooping and listless, with barely any leaves left, and the few that remained were dry and yellow.

Even the weeds were sparse.

Cheng Zhiyu shook his head and picked out a peach tree. He loved peaches most of all and described them to Cheng Mo: "Super sweet, with a sweet peachy scent."

Cheng Mo couldn’t really imagine it.

Feeling bad for him, Cheng Zhiyu said: "It’s okay. When I grow the first one, I’ll give it to you. It’s really delicious."

Cheng Mo’s mouth quirked up: "Okay, then I’ll look forward to the first fruit you grow."

See, that was his spot in Zhi Yu’s heart.

Haha, Big Black is such a goof. Don’t fruits usually ripen together? There’s no such thing as a "first" one—just the first one picked.

Then, Cheng Zhiyu and the others dug up a cherry tree too.

They didn’t plant it immediately but tucked it into their space to plant later when they returned.

"Ah, it’s a pity there’s no durian here." Cheng Zhiyu was really craving durian.

Cheng Mo asked curiously: "What’s durian?"

Cheng Zhiyu: "It’s super fragrant and super sweet. I’ll definitely let you try it someday when I get the chance."

Cheng Mo, completely unaware of his evil plan, nodded with some anticipation.

Durian—even the name sounded incredibly fragrant and delicious.

But Cheng Zhiyu wasn’t holding out much hope for durian. Finding a tree was impossible, but finding durian seeds might be possible. However, durian trees take 4 to 8 years to bear fruit, and even with the space’s help, it would take a long time.

Ugh, no telling when he’d get to eat it.

The problem was, he couldn’t even find seeds now.

No, no, he had to stop thinking about it. He hadn’t been craving it that much before, but now the more he thought about it, the more he wanted it. He was afraid if he kept obsessing over it, he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

Cheng Zhiyu shook his head to clear it and stopped thinking about durian.

The two of them had dug up enough trees and went to visit the fawn on their way, feeding it some mutant cabbage before heading back to the base.

When they arrived at the base, Cheng Zhiyu figured he’d check on the wheat in the fields.

But as he approached, he saw several members of the farming department gathered together, their expressions grim. He was too far away to hear clearly what they were saying.

Cheng Zhiyu walked over and asked what had happened.

Fang Guowei sighed angrily: "There’s a bad apple in our base!"

Cheng Zhiyu: "Huh?"