Chapter 66: Mountain Eagle?
Black Wheat Village.
This was a small village north of Bean Village.
Several months after the previous monster riot, Black Wheat Village had been completely abandoned.
Now, only a few dilapidated wooden houses remained in the village. Weeds grew rampant in the former fields, and occasionally a rat or two would dart through the undergrowth.
The village’s road sign had long since lost its color under the sun and rain, and the words “Black Wheat Village” on it were already blurred.
This village had long lost all signs of life, with only the cold wind blowing, mixed with the occasional chirping of insects and birds.
Today, outsiders broke this silence.
“Creak, creak…”
“Clatter, clatter…”
Several black carriages parked in a long line at the village entrance one after another.
The sparrows on the ground were startled and flew up, landing on withered branches to observe these uninvited guests.
After the lead carriage came to a stop, the coachman jumped down, opened the door, and respectfully greeted the long-nosed man dressed in a black cloak.
The long-nosed man got out and took a few steps, but did not go deeper into the village. Instead, he directly gestured to the several black-robed figures who followed him out of the carriage: “Burn it.”
The black-robed figures moved quickly.
The sparrows cried out and flew away.
Most of the day passed.
The sharp-mouthed man who followed beside the long-nosed man hunched over and came to report: this small, dilapidated village had now become scorched earth. Not a single piece of wood or a grain of wild wheat remained.
The long-nosed man nodded in satisfaction: “Good.”
The sharp-mouthed man’s eyes darted around: “Sir, this land was actually already ruined, so what we did was for…?”
The long-nosed man did not answer him directly, but waved his hand: “Lay soil.”
The black-robed figures then carried out baskets of soil from the carriages and spread them over the ruins of Black Wheat Village.
As these black and yellow soils were laid down layer by layer, the long-nosed man smiled:
“What we do is, of course, to practice the Association’s philosophy, ‘Serve the True God, Benefit the People’.”
“Such a good village, so much uncultivated land, what a pity.”
“We’ll help this village. When this village ‘thrives,’ it will be a good companion for Bean Village to the south, wouldn’t that be perfect?”
The sharp-mouthed man didn’t quite understand.
He still lowered his head and flattered, “Naturally, it’s very good, very good…”
He paused for a second, then said cautiously, “Then, what about Bean Village at that time…?”
The long-nosed man’s smile almost stretched to his ears: “When spring comes, Bean Village will definitely very, very much like these new neighbors.”
*
Galewind Rock Area.
The spirited little gray bird immediately assigned all the remaining guards of the Feathered Folk to Chu Jiu.
Now, Chu Jiu was issuing orders to these elite gray birds—
“Team A members, according to the requirements on the blueprints, work with Glup-Glup to clear the plains and build the winery.”
“You may not be able to understand Glup-Glup’s language, but the blueprints list detailed steps. Operate according to the blueprints.”
Glup-Glup flew into the air and shook its tentacles: “Glup-Glup!”
Chu Jiu turned to another group of gray birds:
“Team B members, cooperate with Rawr Rawr Rabbit to mix the soil dug up by Team A with [organic fertilizer] and [volcanic ash].”
“The proportion placed, the strength of stirring, strictly follow the ratio on the blueprints!”
Rawr Rawr Rabbit bent its ears at the gray birds: “Roar roar roar!”
This time, the [facility blueprints] dropped by the system were not simple blueprints for spirit beasts like before, but more like the blueprints used by humans when building facilities in the honor area of Bean Village.
Chu Jiu, Glup-Glup, Rawr Rawr Rabbit, and the captain of the guards discussed for a whole night, marking clear divisions of labor on the blueprints.
This way, as long as everyone focused on doing their own work, even if the Feathered Folk couldn’t understand the spirit beasts’ language, it wouldn’t affect their cooperation in speeding up the progress.
Moreover, Glup-Glup and Rawr Rawr Rabbit both knew how to use their tentacles and ears to convey information, so even if something unexpected happened, they wouldn’t be completely unable to communicate.
After Chu Jiu finished speaking, the gray birds all raised their right wings towards him and gave a neat salute before flying towards the plains under the leadership of the spirit beasts.
Chu Jiu stood in place, looking up at the rocky area above the hillside—
To build “slope terraces” here, a large amount of stone was needed to build walls layer by layer, and then enough fertile soil had to be piled up behind them.
To collect stone, this rocky area was naturally the best place.
Yesterday, after he and Glup-Glup surveyed this area together, their conclusion was: they couldn’t dig indiscriminately anymore.
Hundreds of years ago, when humans first built terraces and manors here, they had already done a round of excavation, taking away most of the exposed and easily moved rocks.
Now, to use local materials, it would inevitably require digging or quarrying.
The terrain here was complex, and if the internal structure of the mountain was damaged, causing a collapse, it would be a devastating disaster.
So Chu Jiu wasn’t in a hurry to collect stones and build walls.
He was going to go to “Sanctuary Valley” to ask for a team of external helpers.
A team that knew stones best and was best at excavation.
*
Sanctuary Valley, Underground City.
“We, help, dig stones?” The chief squirrel with the golden belt tilted its head, blinking its round, black eyes.
“Yes.” Chu Jiu explained the whole story, while taking out the nuts and candies he had prepared earlier.
The chief squirrel patted its chest: “Friend, help, no problem.”
It pointed to the little squirrel next to it carrying a shovel: “Guard captain, lead the team, don’t worry.”
The little shovel squirrel hesitated for half a second, then patted its chest to indicate it would obey.
This half-second of hesitation still caught the chief’s attention.
“You, have thoughts?” the chief asked.
The little shovel squirrel’s big tail twitched twice, and finally it told the truth.
It turned out that in the long history of the dwarf beastmen living in the underground city, these neighbors living in the sky were all chattering and noisy little birds.
Unlike them dwarf beastmen, who were down-to-earth, steady and mature, thoughtful in everything they did, and knew how to plan ahead.
These little bird-people, what else could they do besides flapping their wings, screaming, and running away when they encountered something?
Therefore, the little shovel squirrel was worried that after it went over, the temperament difference between it and the little bird-people would be too great, and the two sides would not get along well, eventually leading to an unpleasant breakup.
Chu Jiu: ……
Hmm… actually, your differences aren’t that big…
But the chief squirrel had obviously listened.
It nodded in deep agreement: “We, steady, mature.”
Chu Jiu: ……
The chief squirrel raised its small paw and said to the little shovel squirrel: “You, work hard, set an example!”
The little shovel squirrel immediately became energetic: “Yes, sir!”
Chu Jiu: ……
Okay, okay then.
Anyway, the result seemed good.
*
Galewind Rock, construction area at the foot of the mountain.
“Cheep? Chu Jiu, you really invited those dwarf beastmen?” The little gray bird flapped its wings in surprise.
“That’s right. Once you two have formally met, I plan to have them start mining stones,” Chu Jiu said.
Little Gray Bird: “Oh… then I’ll go see them now…”
The little gray bird’s drawn-out “oh” aroused Chu Jiu’s curiosity.
“What’s wrong? Are you worried about the dwarf beastmen’s craftsmanship…?” Chu Jiu asked.
Little Gray Bird sighed: “It’s not that. After all, the dwarf beastmen’s mining and smelting are famous throughout the Carrot Continent.”
“Right…” Little Gray Bird scratched its head with the tip of its wing, “It’s just that… they’re all gray and dusty, not handsome at all.”
Chu Jiu: ….?
Have you ever taken a look at the color of your own feathers?
Little Gray Bird shook its head: “They always stay underground, digging and digging, hammering and hammering, usually silent and not fond of talking.”
“Unlike us, who collect beautiful feathers and sing loudly under the blue sky…”
“Ah, I’m so worried. They’re too dull. I’m afraid they won’t get along well with our heroic guards.”
Little Gray Bird quickly perked up: “But it doesn’t matter. Our romantic atmosphere will definitely move them, and we’ll give them a little shock from the Feathered Folk!”
Chu Jiu: ……
Little Gray Bird followed Chu Jiu out of the tent and went to the ten dwarf beastmen from Sanctuary Valley.
“Eh eh?”
“What are those things they’re carrying on their backs?”
Little Gray Bird widened its eyes and whispered to Chu Jiu.
“On their backs? Oh, those are the dwarf beastmen’s inseparable tools. That’s a square shovel, that’s a pointed shovel, that’s a spade…”
Little Gray Bird’s eyes grew wider and wider, and before it could even finish listening to Chu Jiu’s introduction, it flew over impatiently and stopped in front of the little shovel squirrel:
“You guys are so mighty!”
“Aren’t you just like the legendary holy sword knights, carrying huge iron weapons everywhere?”
“Wow, ah ah ah, so cool!”
Chu Jiu: …???
The little shovel squirrel, who had just boasted about being mature and steady and disliking the little bird-people’s chattering: …??
It was made completely red in the face by this little gray bird flying around it, wanting to speak but unable to say a complete sentence smoothly, finally only blurting out one word: “We… dig stones.”
Little Gray Bird’s eyes shone, and it nodded repeatedly:
“Yes, yes, yes! You dwarf beastmen are the best at digging stones!”
“We’ll cooperate well by your side!”
The little shovel squirrel’s tail even started to sway randomly, and it said solemnly, “We… will work hard!”
Little Gray Bird: “Wow, ah ah, the way you dwarf beastmen talk is so cool! Only saying one word at a time, just like the knights in the books!”
“I’ll take you over there now! Ah, this is our guard team, they will definitely all like you!”
“Let me introduce you…”
Chu Jiu: ……
Ahem.
Didn’t quite understand the little gray bird’s thought process. But the result was pretty good anyway.
*
With the addition of the dwarf beastmen, the construction progress of the [terraces] advanced by leaps and bounds.
In just three days, circles upon circles of black walls built along the contour lines appeared on the hillside.
According to the previous agreement between Chu Jiu and the dwarf beastmen, they could actually return to Sanctuary Valley after completing this circle of walls.
The little shovel squirrel said that working with the Feathered Folk was very pleasant. The dwarf beastmen were happy to mine stones, build walls, and listen to the little gray bird’s stories every day, so they wanted to continue working here for a while.
Chu Jiu naturally welcomed them with open arms.
As a result, the construction went even smoother.
In less than two days, thick soil had been piled up behind the stone walls, and the original hillside had been transformed into step-by-step dryland terraces suitable for cultivation.
Chu Jiu was preparing to plant grapes.
Under normal circumstances, it would take ten or even dozens of years to re-cultivate the existing wild mountain grapes into high-quality wine grapes; it would take another three to five years for these grapes to germinate and bear fruit.
Relying on Rawr Rawr Rabbit’s [Creative Breeding] skill, coupled with Chu Jiu’s [Master of Detail], it only took five days for Chu Jiu to obtain [Mountain Grapes Suitable for Winemaking].
And in another three days, small green sprouts emerged from the terraces!
Whether it was the little bird-people or the little squirrels, they all exclaimed in amazement around the terraces:
“Heavens! They’ve really grown!”
“Grapes are really going to grow in the ground!”
For the Feathered Folk, who usually gathered nuts for food, and the dwarf beastmen, who usually hunted rock rabbits for a living, “planting a seed and watching it slowly poke its head out of the ground and gradually grow up” was a truly novel experience.
The little squirrels lay by the edge of the field, staring at the small green sprouts with unblinking eyes, wanting to reach out and touch them but fearing that a single paw would destroy these fragile and delicate little lives.
Little Gray Bird stopped beside the field, its small wings flapping excitedly back and forth:
“Ah, watering! Is it time to water them again today? Can I water them? Will they be thirsty? Let me water them!”
The little shovel squirrel grabbed the little guy’s neck and dragged him to the side:
“Don’t… mess around.”
“Listen… to the spirit beast.”
Having its fate held by the back of its neck, the little gray bird was not afraid at all. Instead, it giggled foolishly and grabbed the little shovel squirrel’s paw:
“Yes, yes, we have to listen to Rawr Rawr Rabbit.”
“Let’s go, let’s go find Rawr Rawr Rabbit together!”
The little squirrel swayed its big tail, muttering “So… so noisy” while trotting after the little gray bird.
*
According to the estimation Chu Jiu received from the system, this [terrace] would be able to harvest the first batch of grapes in about 10 days.
This land reclamation was very smooth.
What puzzled Chu Jiu was that the [winery], which he thought would only take five or six days to complete, had only just finished laying the foundation.
How strange.
Was there a problem?
“Glup-Glup…” Faced with Chu Jiu’s inquiry, Glup-Glup shook its little tentacles in distress, “Glup-Glup, I feel something is a bit strange.”
“At the beginning, everyone was very energetic.”
“Gradually, the Feathered Folk guards seem to be getting more and more tired…”
“The framework that could be built in half a day before now takes two days…”
Glup-Glup’s tentacles were all tangled together, and its mouth turned into a downward-sloping arc: “Glup-Glup… is it that the steps I envisioned are not very reasonable…”
In fact, if all this work was done by Glup-Glup alone, it would be finished in at most two days.
Chu Jiu had said before that the winery and cellar would be used by the Feathered Folk in the future, so the Feathered Folk must build them together so that they would know how to maintain them themselves.
Chu Jiu stroked his chin and thought for a moment: “No, these steps were all discussed with the Feathered Folk captain. If they were unreasonable, they would have brought it up long ago.”
“So it’s not a problem with the division of labor and arrangements.”
Then where exactly was the problem?
Chu Jiu found the captain of the Feathered Folk guards again.
However, before Chu Jiu even started asking, he had already noticed: why were this elite little bird-person’s eye sockets dark, its feathers dull, and the whole bird looked like it hadn’t slept for ten days?
Chu Jiu quickly said, “Why are you so tired? Is it because of the winery construction?”
The captain shook his head: “No, it’s not…”
“We… build the winery during the day… and hunt at night…”
“Just… not enough sleep…”
As he spoke, the captain gray bird’s head drooped, and he looked like he was about to fall asleep.
His sense of responsibility and honor quickly jolted him awake, and he tried hard to puff out his chest: “Our recent progress has been a bit slow, but we’ll work harder!”
Chu Jiu thought to himself, what’s the point of working harder? If you work any harder, you won’t be gray birds anymore, but skeleton birds.
He frowned and said, “Why do you have to hunt at night? Isn’t there a dedicated hunting team?”
Captain Gray Bird said, “Yes. Ever since the nectar was gone, the King and Queen decided to use rock rabbit meat and fur as a reward instead of nectar. The consumption of rock rabbits has suddenly increased.”
“Plus, now that we’re reclaiming terraces and building cellars, everyone needs a lot of rabbit meat to eat…”
“So, some time ago, the King and Queen had to personally lead the hunting team to hunt rock rabbits in the distant nameless valley.”
Hearing this, Chu Jiu remembered: That’s right. He had heard the little gray bird and the others say before that the King and Queen had personally led the hunting team to a very far place.
He was a little puzzled: “Why go hunting so far away? Aren’t there enough rock rabbits nearby anymore?”
Chu Jiu remembered that according to the illustrated guide, [Rock Rabbits] were creatures that, in addition to their natural camouflage and ability to hide, had one major characteristic: extremely strong reproductive ability.
If it weren’t for the Feathered Folk constantly eating rock rabbits, this area would probably have been plagued by rabbits long ago.
Captain Gray Bird, with big dark circles under his eyes, said worriedly, “It’s strange…”
“Before, at the border between Galewind Rock and Sanctuary Valley, there were rock rabbits everywhere. But starting more than a month ago, the rock rabbits here suddenly changed.”
“If it was still like before, where you could catch rock rabbits with a casual grab, I don’t think we would be short of manpower.”
“Now, even if the hunting team hunts day and night, and the King and Queen haven’t even returned yet, we’re still overwhelmed.”
“Seeing the hunting team so busy, we… we spontaneously went out to hunt at night…”
As he spoke, Captain Gray Bird showed a ashamed expression: “It was our misjudgment that delayed the progress of the project!”
Chu Jiu was silent for a second, then clapped his hands: “Ah, that’s right!”
Captain Gray Bird: “?”
Chu Jiu: “I remembered, I plan to add a… a… pressing workshop to this winery!”
“Yes, that way we can squeeze more grape juice!”
“Hmm, I’ll discuss with Glup-Glup where the best place to build this pressing workshop is.”
“So the cellar construction will be temporarily suspended today. Wait until we update the blueprints, and then you can resume work.”
Captain Gray Bird looked relieved, said “Understood,” and went to inform the other team members.
In less than a minute, Chu Jiu noticed that the group of gray birds had fallen to the ground or onto the trees in disarray, all fast asleep.
*
Of course, Chu Jiu didn’t plan to add any pressing workshop.
He just didn’t want these little bird-people to work in a state where they were about to fall asleep even while standing.
Building a wine cellar wasn’t like building a trench; there was no need to push people like this.
Besides, he was really curious as to why the rock rabbits nearby had suddenly disappeared.
And the timing of this disappearance was very coincidental—more than a month ago.
More than a month ago was exactly when he had obtained the Earthfire Stone and drilled out of the volcano.
Were these two coinciding time points just a simple coincidence? Or was there another reason?
Chu Jiu decided to go to the valley where the rock rabbits now lived.
If he didn’t find the reason, then maybe after a while, even the more distant valleys wouldn’t have any rock rabbits left.
*
For this trip to find rock rabbits, in addition to Little Can, who always stayed perched on his shoulder, Chu Jiu decided to bring Kakaba along.
“Dang dang dang? Are we going to see rabbits?” Kakaba had just finished feeding milk to the baby triceratops with its little pottery pot and was playing with them.
“Yes, rabbits,” Chu Jiu said.
“Dang dang dang! Okay!” Kakaba happily put the little triceratops into the special small cradle, obviously planning to take both of them.
Chu Jiu looked at these two “ancient behemoths” with three small horns on their heads and asked curiously, “Kakaba, will they always stay this small?”
Had they changed in size because they left the world’s core?
Kakaba shook its head: “Dang dang dang! No, no.”
“Although they don’t look much different, they are actually growing slowly.”
“Maybe when the time is right,” Kakaba stood on its two hind legs and excitedly gestured a large circle with its front legs, “they will whoosh, and become very, very big!”
Chu Jiu: “…Oh…”
Kakaba smiled and hung up the little triceratops baby cradle, then crawled into Chu Jiu’s backpack.
*
It didn’t take much effort for Chu Jiu—or rather, Little Can—to catch a rock rabbit in the valley.
However, since the rock rabbit’s intelligence was almost completely undeveloped, even Kakaba couldn’t communicate with it.
Chu Jiu couldn’t help but walk around the valley with Kakaba for several laps, observing what was different about this nameless valley with Kakaba.
As they observed, they really found some clues:
These rock rabbits were all very fond of a small fruit that grew in the rock crevices.
Even knowing that there were Feathered Folk hunting nearby, they couldn’t help but stop to eat this dark red fruit, so much so that they were eventually caught by the Feathered Folk.
It truly embodied the saying “rabbits die for food.”
Could this small fruit be the reason why the rock rabbits migrated here?
Chu Jiu picked a handful of the small fruits—
[Mountain Coffee Fruit: That’s right, it’s the kind of coffee you’re thinking of!
Although natural coffee fruit tastes very bitter, after eating it, people feel very invigorated. The more they eat, the more they want to eat, and they feel uncomfortable if they can’t eat it.
Not only humans, but rabbits and mountain rats also really like this invigorating feeling! After eating enough coffee fruit, these usually non-aggressive small animals might even fight each other!
Friendly reminder: Coffee intake must be moderate!
Collection location: The junction of Galewind Rock and Sheltered Valley, the nameless valley southeast of Galewind Rock]
Chu Jiu: ….?!
Huh?
So these rock rabbits… were addicted to coffee?
Did they follow the coffee fruit to this place?
But according to the prompt, the junction of “Galewind Rock and Sanctuary Valley” was the primary collection location.
Why didn’t they stay there and instead went far away?
Chu Jiu looked at the coffee fruit’s prompt again.
“Rabbits, mountain rats, all really like coffee fruit,” “After eating enough coffee fruit… they will fight each other…”
Could it be that the rabbits and mountain rats fought, and the rabbits lost and were driven away?
A month ago…
The junction of Galewind Rock and Sanctuary Valley…
Mountain rats suddenly strong enough to drive away rabbits…
A thought suddenly flashed through Chu Jiu’s mind!
That’s it! That mountain eagle!
He turned around and jumped onto the Bodo bird, saying to the capybara, “Kakaba, let’s go find that bald mountain eagle!”
Kakaba: “Dang dang dang? Why look for it?”
Chu Jiu said, “Of course, it’s to—”
“Give it some work!”
This way, it might help the bald mountain eagle reform itself and become a good eagle!
