Chapter 22: The Grand Reward Package

Chapter 22: The Grand Reward Package

Wen Ran emerged from the tent, grabbing Hu Di’s fox ears with unreserved force, making Hu Di yelp and tilt his head in pain.

"What are you yelping for?" Wen Ran snapped, "Now you feel the pain? Where was all that bravado last night? All bark and no bite, huh?!"

After venting his frustration on Hu Di, Wen Ran turned to Lang Zhi, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Guess our wolf beastmen really do have irresistible charm, enough to drive females wild."

"......"

Lang Zhi looked a bit uncomfortable. He stepped forward and gently took Wen Ran’s arm. "What happened?"

Wen Ran huffed in annoyance. "Last night, this idiot, along with Hu Lai and Cat Tooth, snuck into the den in the dead of night. They planned to steal all our meat while we were asleep. Then, when we were starving, Hu Lai would 'generously' offer you her meat, hoping you'd fall into her arms and join her den. This brilliant scheme was cooked up by this guy for that pretty fool, Hu Lai. You decide how to deal with him."

"Oh, and one more thing," Wen Ran added, patting Hu Di’s cheek with a smile, "I forgot to tell you—after I caught you last night, Hu Lai and Cat Tooth just casually walked back to their den without a second thought. They really didn't care about your fate at all."

Upon hearing that his beloved female hadn't cared for his well-being after his capture, and had simply left with another male, Hu Di’s fox eyes quickly welled up with tears, on the verge of spilling. He was clearly heartbroken.

"Look at you, such a pathetic sight. Have you never seen another female in your life? A grown male crying over a female who doesn't care if you live or die—how embarrassing!"

Wen Ran rolled his eyes, disgusted by his sniveling. Wanting to make him see Hu Lai's true colors, he continued, "At least Cat Tooth cared about you. When they left, he asked Hu Lai what to do about you. Do you know what your beloved female said?"

Hu Di looked at Wen Ran expectantly, only to see a mischievous grin spread across his lips.

Hu Di instinctively felt the smile was full of ill intent, and his entire body tensed. Then, he watched Wen Ran’s red lips part and close, "Hu Lai’s exact words were: 'Don’t worry about him. Wen Ran doesn’t eat beastmen. Hu Di will find his way back on his own.'"

"......"

Are you sure that wasn't a bone knife straight to my heart?

Hu Di’s innocent fox eyes stared at Wen Ran, and he cried even louder, tears streaming down his face, even snot bubbles forming.

Wen Ran recoiled in distaste, deliberately putting on a terrifying expression and threatening fiercely, "Who said I don’t eat beastmen? Sand fox is the most delicious! Whether stewed or roasted, it’s incredibly sweet. I’m going to slice your meat right now, skewer it on a spit, and roast it over the fire!"

"Ahhh! No, no, no! I’ll never do it again! Wen Ran, please don’t eat me! I have game meat! I’ll give you all my game meat!"

Hu Di shrieked and babbled uncontrollably, clearly terrified out of his mind, even letting out fox yips.

Wen Ran clapped his hands over his ears and stepped farther away. Watching Hu Di’s utterly shattered and terrified appearance, he bit his lip to stifle his laughter, not wanting to hurt the young fox’s tender feelings by laughing too loudly.

Honestly, when he thought about it, this newly adult fox was quite pitiable. Just starting to pursue females, he had the misfortune of falling for a beautiful fool like Hu Lai. After this ordeal, the little fox probably wouldn't be thinking about females for a while.

Later, because of this incident, Hu Di actually changed his orientation and ended up with a skilled hunter from another tribe—and he was the submissive one.

When Wen Ran found out, he was shocked. Afterward, he asked himself more than once: Am I really that scary? Did I mess him up so much that he doesn’t even like females anymore and instead prefers the same sex?!

For the first time, Wen Ran wondered if he had gone too far. But as soon as the thought entered his mind, he shook his head and dismissed it. Not at all! This little fox provoked him first! He was just defending himself. Back on Earth, that would be considered legitimate self-defense!

Even though he said that and didn’t think he’d gone too far, upon reflection, it was still a bit ruthless—directly making the guy cut off his lineage. Wen Ran rubbed his nose. How awful.

But that was all later.

Lang Zhi watched Wen Ran’s mischief fondly and only pulled Hu Di out of the den once he’d had his fun. He tugged down the pelt covering Hu Di’s eyes and said coldly, "If there’s a next time, your legs will end up like Mao Lu’s—broken by me!"

Hu Di’s whole body trembled. He had heard everything that happened outside clearly from inside the den, and he knew about Mao Lu’s miserable fate—being driven out of the tribe with a broken leg.

Terrified of suffering the same fate, Hu Di nodded repeatedly, promising he wouldn’t dare do it again.

Lang Zhi said coldly, "Now scram."

Hu Di scurried away, running back to his own den in the center of the tribe.

Wen Ran heated up some braised pork head for Lang Zhi, and after he finished eating, shooed him off to sleep in the tent. Even the strongest beastmen would be tired after hunting all night.

Lang Zhi lay in the tent, staring at the ceiling, his emotions flickering with mixed feelings.

This tent is so soft. The inflatable mattress underneath is several times more comfortable than animal pelts. This comfortable, soft feeling is like a dream. Life these past few days has indeed felt like a dream—unbelievably wonderful.

All these changes were brought by Wen Ran. He knew clearly that Wen Ran was different from them. Maybe they weren’t even from the same world. But selfishly, he still wanted to keep him. He desperately craved this kind of beauty.

Wen Ran sat at the entrance of the tent, too excited to sit still. He kept searching for information about agave in the system store, and the more he searched, the more thrilled he became, his face flushing slightly with excitement.

This agave is truly a treasure! Besides being able to make alcohol, the nearly mature agave core stores a large amount of sugar—it can even be used to make agave nectar, which is as sweet as honey!

That means he wouldn’t have to spend extra coins on rock sugar anymore. That small bag of rock sugar he bought last time cost him dozens of coins, and it was used up in no time. It pained him to spend that much. But with agave nectar, he could use it however he wanted without having to buy it!

While Lang Zhi rested at noon, Wen Ran went outside the den to check on the chili peppers—they had actually sprouted!

Even though they were just small green shoots, this was the desert!

Wen Ran couldn’t help but marvel. This Spiritual Spring is amazing! It can even grow chili peppers in this barren land!

"Ding—"

"Congratulations to student No. 78999, Wen Ran, for successfully growing a Level 1 green plant—chili pepper. You have completed the system’s Level 1 planting task. Random reward: Mega Pack, plus 100 coins and 10 life force."

Wen Ran quickly opened the task options and saw that, among a list of pending tasks, the Level 1 planting task had a small green checkmark next to it, indicating it was completed.

He glanced at his total assets. After recent expenses and the newly rewarded 100 coins, he now had 10,100 coins.

Aside from the slight changes in coins and life force, the Spiritual Spring and space hadn’t changed. The level was still Level 1 Novice, the spring flow hadn’t thickened, and the space hadn’t expanded.

It seems he’ll need to complete higher-level tasks for better rewards when he gets the chance.

Wen Ran closed the assets page and eagerly opened the Mega Pack. It contained 10 potatoes!

Wen Ran’s eyes widened slightly. Excellent! With potatoes, they won’t have to worry about going hungry anymore!

Potatoes are a staple food crop—filling and satisfying, and they’re easy to grow! Plus, since chili peppers grew with Spiritual Spring irrigation, potatoes should be able to grow in the desert too!

But to plant potatoes, you need to cut them into pieces and encourage sprouting first. After sprouting for about 10 days, you can plant them for a higher survival rate.

Wen Ran got right to work. He didn’t eat a single one of the 10 potatoes. Instead, he cut them into pieces, sprinkled them with water, and placed them in a hollow part of the den to encourage sprouting. Once the sprouts appeared, he would plant them.

Normally, potatoes are planted in spring and harvested in June or July, taking nearly three to four months.

But he was using Spiritual Spring water. The chili peppers had only taken a few days to grow from planting to sprouting, even in the dry desert. The Spiritual Spring must have growth-accelerating properties. Maybe they could harvest a batch within about two months, during the dry season.

Speaking of two months, Wen Ran thought of the dry season. What the desert lacks most during the dry season, besides food, is water. He couldn’t make it rain, but if he could grow water-rich fruits and vegetables, it might help alleviate the water shortage.

When he thought of water-rich fruits and vegetables, Wen Ran immediately thought of watermelons and radishes.

Wen Ran checked the system store. Watermelon and radish seeds weren’t expensive—4 coins per bag. He spent 100 coins to buy 25 bags of seeds. Since chili peppers could grow with Spiritual Spring, watermelons and radishes shouldn’t be a problem either.

Wen Ran bought 13 bags of watermelon seeds and 12 bags of radish seeds. Besides planting some himself, he planned to distribute them to the beastmen in the tribe so they could grow them too.

He would only need to irrigate their fields with Spiritual Spring after they watered them. Maybe then, they wouldn’t have to migrate to other tribes’ territories during the dry season.

Wen Ran decided to wait until Hu Ya gathered all the tribe’s females, Lesser Females, and beastmen together before showing them the grown chili peppers and sprouting potatoes. That would be more convincing. He could also teach them how to plant watermelons and radishes at that time.

Wen Ran covered all the potatoes awaiting sprouting with a layer of moist leaves. The desert climate was too arid, and this would help retain moisture in the potato pieces and accelerate germination.

After completing this task, he picked up a branch and began carving marks on the cave wall—one stroke at a time. With the final stroke, a “zheng” character appeared on the wall—six in total, perfectly aligned.

Today marked precisely the 30th day since Wen Ran’s arrival. The chili peppers he’d planted had bloomed, the potatoes had been cut and were ready to sprout, and each day felt increasingly promising.

As Wen Ran gazed thoughtfully at the six neatly inscribed “zheng” characters on the wall, he turned and noticed Lang Zhi had awakened. His eyes lit up, and he immediately pulled Lang Zhi outside to gather agave.

He could wait no longer. He didn’t even process the three antelopes—simply tossed them into his spatial storage for later, planning to deal with them after collecting the agave.

Wen Ran also stored the tent, iron pot, iron bucket, and other supplies into his spatial storage. With no one guarding the cave, if these items were stolen again, he’d be out of luck. Moreover, he couldn’t risk other tribespeople discovering them.

Earlier, when Mao Shi and Mao Fei visited, they’d witnessed his cooking process and the rendered fat. That was only because the two enjoyed a good relationship with Lang Zhi, and Wen Ran trusted they wouldn’t gossip about it.

Even if rumors did spread, he had a way to handle it: by then, he could simply store everything in his spatial storage—items vanishing into thin air. No matter how much they talked, no one would believe them.

Still, he preferred to avoid such measures. So, whenever he left the cave unattended, he always secured all these items first.