Lan Qing didn’t expect that his clever furry teammate couldn’t learn the simple gesture-based code. After the teammate angrily left, Lan Qing decided not to bring up the gestures again to avoid hurting his teammate’s self-esteem.
Lan Qing still couldn’t help but feel puzzled and regretful. Would the useful and simple gesture code he invented be lost?
After a while, Shu Bao, who had left, calmed down. Looking at his furry self, he couldn’t help but secretly pat his little belly, thinking it felt quite solid and clearly wasn’t something that could be easily slimmed down.
Accepting the fact that he was naturally furry and not just slightly chubby, Shu Bao gradually calmed down. Mice are born this way; there’s no need to force things. It’s more practical to focus on the task at hand. Suddenly filled with a professional spirit, Shu Bao immediately went to watch the hunting team handle the prey, preparing to submit the mission once enough cat demon eyes were collected.
The hunting team took the prey to the riverbank to clean them. They first dealt with the cat demons, as these were the prey the deity paid the most attention to.
However, after following the normal procedures, they found that the actual results were somewhat different from usual. The originally expected intact fur was messy and the cat demon eyes the deity mentioned were in a sorry state.
After wasting two cat demons, the hunting team realized that handling magical creatures required different methods than ordinary animals. Some parts could even disappear entirely if not collected properly.
Realizing this, the hunting team started practicing on other magical creatures. After two hours of effort, they finally made some progress. Handling magical creatures, though tricky and somewhat luck-dependent, yielded directly usable products, like fur that was incredibly soft without needing to be tanned, feeling better than any fur they had treated.
After processing all the prey, the hunting team finally returned to the challenge of the cat demons, targeting their fur, claws, and eyes. Finally, they managed to extract the first intact cat demon eye, with the claws and fur relatively intact as well.
Moreover, the extracted cat eyes were no longer fragile; instead, they quickly hardened, becoming as gem-like as real stones.
When Shu Bao received the cat eyes handed over by the Xia Wang tribe members, he was surprised to find that these cat eyes indeed looked very similar to the cat’s eye gemstones. If he hadn’t known the source beforehand, he wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.
Shu Bao took the cat eyes to the mission hall to submit the task. As soon as he entered, he saw Lan Qing, who nervously waved the tip of his tail in greeting. “Hi, Shu Bao. Are you here to submit the task?”
Shu Bao nodded, walking over while happily humming an unknown tune. “Yes, rewards~ rewards~ I want my rewards~”
Seeing the cheerful mouse, Lan Qing relaxed and didn’t mention the gesture code again. He followed the fluffy mouse to the system panel.
Shu Bao placed ten cat eyes into the task capsule and submitted two completed tasks one by one.
The technology task was quickly completed, lighting up the blueprint for a furnace on the technology tree. The description revealed that this furnace could smelt metal ores and was easy to operate. Although its efficiency, smelting purity, and smelting templates were limited, it was perfect for the current situation.
Glancing at the task capsule, Shu Bao saw that the cat’s eye necklace was still being printed. He quickly ran out to find a place to set up the furnace blueprint, knowing the furnace would generate high temperatures and should be kept away from the residential area.
The Xia Wang tribe noticed that the deity had placed another divine artifact and curiously gathered around. After hearing the explanation, they scratched their heads, wondering what iron and copper were.
People from the Stone Age couldn’t yet understand metals, but after listening to the deity’s description, they became very interested in this new divine artifact.
Everyone began collecting building materials. There weren’t many needed for the furnace—just ten units of stone with a hardness of seven or higher. Based on the system’s scanned icons, the Xia Wang tribe quickly identified the required stone and set out to find it.
Of course, besides the team collecting materials, there was another team today specifically cutting trees and repairing the fence. Although they weren’t sure what happened last night, they were preparing for a repeat tonight.
After placing the furnace blueprint, Shu Bao and Lan Qing returned to the mission hall and found that the cat’s eye necklace was also completed. The necklace had a very simple design, just a basic stringing together of cat eyes, which had become much smaller but more numerous. Each one emitted a subtle yet captivating luster, showcasing the charm of the cat’s eyes from every angle.
After clicking to view, a description box popped up.
【Exquisite Cat’s Eye Necklace: Enchanted with Night Vision, Eagle Eye, and Spirit Aid.】
Shu Bao was thrilled to see an item with three attributes for the first time. No wonder it was called exquisite; they immediately put it on to try it out.
However, the necklace just lay on the mouse’s body without shrinking to a suitable size. At most, it could only wrap around eight cat eyes. Shu Bao turned to look at the long necklace dragging on the ground behind him, feeling a bit disappointed.
The next moment, Lan Qing grabbed the necklace and wrapped it around Shu Bao again. “If one loop isn’t enough, then two.”
So, the cat’s eye necklace turned into a cat’s eye hula hoop, which still required Shu Bao to hold it up with his paws.
Lan Qing curled his tail, “How about trying three loops?”
Shu Bao was speechless. Not to mention if three loops could fit, the combined height of three layers of cat eyes would nearly match Shu Bao’s height. Shu Bao felt like the system was targeting him, making it so he couldn’t even wear a necklace properly.
Shu Bao took off the necklace and stepped out of the loop. “It’s okay; it would be good for someone else.”
As a result, the high priest naturally became the test subject. Following the tight leather skirt, the high priest also wore the cat’s eye necklace. Delighted to receive a divine gift, the high priest felt as if he was glowing with the necklace around his neck.
Lan Qing tilted his head, not commenting on the high priest’s outfit. To test the necklace’s attributes, the three went outside and had the high priest try various things.
After a few minutes, they concluded that the night vision attribute hadn’t been tested yet, but it likely meant the ability to see clearly at night. Eagle Eye enhanced the wearer’s vision, especially dynamic vision, assisting in aiming and attacking. Spirit Aid sped up mana recovery, allowing the high priest to cast the next fireball more quickly.
Overall, these three attributes were very useful, especially after the previous night’s situation, where night vision would have been extremely important. If they needed to go out to gather magical materials in the future, the night vision attribute would greatly enhance their scouting efficiency.
Besides the tangible task rewards, the tribe members quickly noticed a slight change in their afternoon work after eating magical animal meat. Those who ate the crimson-eyed rabbit meat found that their movement speed increased, those who ate the frog gained better jumping ability, and those who ate the fish with legs often found themselves hiccuping and spitting out bubbles.
The Xia Wang tribe members: “…”
The ones who ate the fish with legs: “…” Of all the things to eat, why did we eat fish!
Shu Bao also noticed this phenomenon. Looking at Lan Qing and then at the people spitting bubbles, he suddenly thought that if he found a non-toxic magical snake to eat, he might become slim and be able to easily strike various poses. With this thought, Shu Bao couldn’t help but rub his paws together, feeling a bit excited for the night.
Lan Qing didn’t know what his furry teammate was thinking. He was trying to understand the cause of the strange events at night. Having only experienced one night with limited exploration, there was too little to speculate on.
“Don’t worry about it. If it can happen, it means it follows the rules of this universe. Maybe it’s just a unique feature of this universe.” Seeing his snake friend starting to bite his tail again, Shu Bao spoke up.
Lan Qing let go of the tip of his tail, “I know, but it still feels strange.”
Shu Bao thought for a moment and then clapped his paws, “Let me tell you a story.”
Lan Qing immediately coiled up, ready to listen.
“In the beginning, the universe was in chaos. In this chaos, there was a giant named Pan Gu. After waking up, the giant wielded a mighty axe and split the sky and earth apart. Only then did the world and all things come into being.” Shu Bao finished the story earnestly and then looked at his snake friend, “Do you understand?”
Lan Qing was puzzled for a couple of seconds, then suddenly realized, “I understand! You’re saying that the nighttime world is a chaotic world, and this universe might be in a state of chaos and disorder!”
Shu Bao frowned, “What I meant was, why worry about all that? Just chop it all down!”
Lan Qing: “…”
