Chapter 78: Reason
“Brother! But he helped us!” Before Chu Jiu could speak, Bai Mu cried out anxiously.
Chief: “Those are two separate matters.”
He looked at Chu Jiu again: “Human, you generously helped my brothers, gave them abundant food, and a warm place to spend the night. I should thank you.”
“I am willing to gift you a sharpened whale bone as a token.”
“But the method to reach the Azure Icefield, I cannot tell you.”
Chu Jiu: “..Your Excellency, I am a very experienced pioneer, and one of my titles is ‘Friend of Spirits’.”
“My companions and I once restored the water supply of the underground river for the dwarf beastmen and retrieved the spirit spring water for the Feathered Clan.”
“We have also grown food and built chicken coops in our own village—perhaps we can offer you some support.”
Chief: “Human, I will say it again, I cannot tell you the method to reach the Azure Icefield.”
This blunt and cold refusal, as cold as stone, made Little Can immediately straighten up, even letting out a low growl from its throat.
Chu Jiu quickly reached out to press down on Little Can and said to the chief at the same time:
“In that case, we won’t disturb you any further.”
After turning to leave, Chu Jiu said to the spirit beasts:
“We’ll continue heading north. Kakaba, pay attention to whether there are any magical creatures in the forest that we can communicate with to ask for directions. Glup-Glup, go higher to observe the terrain. Rawr Rawr Rabbit and Little Can will clear the way for the Bodo bird.”
“The days are too short here. Starting today, we’ll postpone setting up camp and cross these hills as quickly as possible.”
“Let’s get going.”
Since the other party was completely unwilling to communicate, and even mentioning the title “Friend of Spirits” had no effect, they would have to explore on their own.
At least he had opened up so many maps before, and with the spirit beast babies helping this time, they should be able to figure it out with a little more effort.
As long as they could enter the Azure Icefield before May, it wouldn’t delay the overall progress.
Thinking this, Chu Jiu walked out of the Snow Beastmen’s settlement plain and was about to whistle for the Bodo bird to come over when he heard a shout from behind—
“Chu Jiu! Two-legged beast!”
Turning around, he saw Bai Mu with a worried expression.
“Chu Jiu, have you seen Bai Lin and Bai Sen?” Bai Mu said anxiously.
Chu Jiu: “Bai Lin and Bai Sen? No…”
Although in Chu Jiu’s eyes, these Snow Beastmen were all balls of fur, he remembered that Bai Lin and Bai Sen both wore coral decorations on their chests, so they were somewhat distinguishable.
Bai Mu scratched his head anxiously, his triangular ears twitching constantly:
“Ah ah, that Bai Lin, he must have started acting recklessly again after being told off by eldest brother just now. He might have secretly run into the forest by himself.”
“That little tagalong Bai Sen will definitely have run off with Bai Lin…”
As he was speaking, another fur ball ran over: “Bai Mu! I just heard that someone saw Bai Lin and the others go to the seaside!”
Bai Mu was stunned for a moment: “Go to the seaside? At this time?!”
It was too strange. According to Bai Lin’s personality, shouldn’t he have gone to the forest to look for prey regardless?
Then he thought again and suddenly understood, his ears even stiffened:
“Crap! I know! He must be trying to ‘persuade’ Kaja again, to stop Kaja from going crazy!”
With that, he didn’t even bother to explain further to Chu Jiu. He went down on all fours, pushed off with his hind legs, and ran quickly towards the coastline on the east side of the plain.
Chu Jiu watched the ball of fur running away quickly, sighed, and said to the spirit beasts, “How about we postpone setting off a little bit?”
Rawr Rawr Rabbit shook its ears vigorously: “Roar roar roar okay okay, let’s go see that silly bunny, I’m a little worried about it!”
That silly bunny from yesterday had jumped out to save him even when it knew there were fierce two-legged beasts around.
Chu Jiu: “Yeah, let’s see if we can do anything.”
*
When Chu Jiu arrived at the seaside, he only saw Bai Mu and Bai Sen standing on a beach full of black pebbles.
The seawater here, just as Bai Mu had said yesterday, was stirred up like “boiling water.”
And the one causing the seawater to churn like this was a giant sea beast in the distance.
A small part of its body was exposed above the sea surface, constantly twisting and creating small and large whirlpools; its forelimbs were constantly slapping the seawater, causing the waves to roll.
In a patch of white waves, the sea beast’s round eyes, short neck, lack of ears, and cat-like whiskers on its lips, as well as the spots on its skin, could be seen.
This spotted sea beast… could it be—
[Encyclopedia Card] popped into Chu Jiu’s mind.
[Giant Spotted Alien Seal:
Several times larger than the polar seals on Earth, it shares many characteristics with Earth’s polar seals—especially its round eyes and whiskers, as well as its forelimbs that clap.
Not only does it resemble them in appearance, but its habits also share similarities with Earth’s polar seals.
For example, they both swim under the ice floes and use their teeth to “punch holes” in the ice floes.
However, don’t expect to be able to pull a seal out of a breathing hole in the ice like you could on Earth.
Overall, the Spotted Alien Seal is a relatively gentle creature that can coexist peacefully with intelligent beings. If you accidentally get lost on the icefield and happen to see this behemoth, don’t panic and don’t run around—it not only won’t attack you, but it might even show you the way!]
So this was the sea beast the Snow Beastmen were talking about…
Chu Jiu looked at the words “relatively gentle” and felt strange again: if it was gentle by nature and had once been a partner in fishing with the Snow Beastmen, why would it suddenly go crazy?
Just as he was thinking, Chu Jiu heard Bai Sen’s exclamation, “Third brother!”
He saw a small white dot leap out of the water, trying to jump onto the seal.
However, the seal twisted its body and avoided Bai Lin’s approach.
Then, the seal opened its mouth, showing its bloody fangs and hissing a few times, before turning and swimming towards a protruding reef in the sea, its large head crashing hard against the reef!
Chu Jiu and the Snow Beastmen were stunned.
Bai Mu murmured, “No good, no good, Kaja has really gone crazy…”
However, Bai Lin in the distance clearly hadn’t given up.
He jumped onto the reef and shouted loudly at the seal, trying to communicate something.
After the seal looked at him for a few seconds, it simply plunged into the seawater and swam further away on its own.
Seeing this scene, Bai Lin also jumped in, and another ball of fur sank into the water.
The Snow Beastmen were excellent swimmers and could stay underwater for twenty minutes without breathing. So when Bai Mu saw Bai Lin’s figure disappear into the seawater, he wasn’t anxious at first.
Until he took a few steps into the water and felt something unusual.
His expression changed drastically. He untied the fish skin rope from his waist, threw it to Bai Sen to hold onto tightly, and then leaped into the water himself.
Less than half a minute later, Bai Mu struggled to surface and shouted at Bai Sen, “Pull!”
Bai Sen’s face turned black with fright, and he hurriedly tried his best to pull the rope back—
Rawr Rawr Rabbit quickly went over to help, and with a strong pull, they managed to drag Bai Mu back to shore.
While choking and coughing, Bai Mu said to Bai Sen intermittently, “Go find eldest brother! Undertow!!”
Undertow!!
Bai Sen didn’t waste a second and ran off on all fours.
Without Bai Mu explaining, Chu Jiu also knew how terrifying undertows were.
The causes of this phenomenon were complex. A distant earthquake or a nearby hot spring could trigger an undertow. Once an undertow formed, even the best swimmers could face danger or even drown.
Judging from Bai Mu’s reaction just now, this undertow was clearly extraordinary, and even the Snow Beastmen, who were skilled at diving, needed to rely on a safety rope to return to shore.
Then…
Chu Jiu looked at the distant sea.
Could Bai Lin, who had swum so far out, hold on until their eldest brother came to rescue him?
And even if the chief was an excellent swimmer, could he really retrieve someone from the turbulent undertow?
Chu Jiu made an immediate decision.
“Glup-Glup! Fly over there! Get him!” Chu Jiu shouted loudly.
“Glup glup glup!” The little sapling immediately rotated its leaves and flew swiftly towards the center of the sea.
However, after flying a short distance forward, Glup-Glup stopped.
It said to Chu Jiu with some embarrassment, “Gulp glup glup, I’m on the water surface, I don’t seem to be able to fly much further…”
Perhaps because it wasn’t an aquatic plant after all? So its swimming skills were poor?
Chu Jiu said, “Don’t worry, just stay where you are and try extending your tentacles, turn them into a safety rope to grab the little bunny!”
Glup-Glup immediately did as it was told.
However, the strength of Glup-Glup’s slender tentacles was greatly reduced in the water, and they were disturbed by the undertow, so they couldn’t exert much force at all.
Little Can “meowed” once, lightly tapped its cat paw, and leaped forward on the seawater, its posture as if flying on the surface!
In just two seconds, Little Can was standing in the middle of the sea!
It turned its head towards Glup-Glup and said, “Tentacles, let me stand on you for a moment!”
Glup-Glup’s tentacles returned to the water surface and wove into a net floating on the sea.
Little Can used this net to steady its center of gravity, faced the seawater, observed, identified, judged, and finally, with a burst of energy, scratched!
The seawater was struck and splashed into a high water column, like a whale suddenly spouting water.
And within this water column was a white, fluffy figure!
Glup-Glup steadily caught the fluffy figure and quickly returned to shore with Little Can below.
At this time, the chief, having received the news, had just barely arrived.
Seeing this scene, the chief didn’t ask any unnecessary questions. He immediately held the unconscious Bai Lin in his arms, then grabbed his large tail and pulled it hard—
“Cough cough cough!” Bai Lin choked out a mouthful of water, still with his eyes closed.
The chief twisted the large tail another turn.
Bai Lin coughed violently again and finally opened his eyes.
This time, the reckless little bunny wailed loudly.
Chu Jiu was completely dumbfounded: what kind of miraculous Snow Beastman-specific drowning rescue plan was this?
That fluffy big tail, could it actually be used as a wind-up key?!
Over here, the chief saw that Bai Lin was finally crying, and a look of relief flashed across his face before he shouted sternly, “Still crying?!”
Bai Lin was immediately so scared that he only dared to sob softly.
The chief still held Bai Lin in his arms, turned his head to look at Chu Jiu, and said, “Pioneer Chu Jiu, you saved my brother.”
“I… thank you.”
The chief’s voice was much gentler than before.
His triangular ears twitched, and he said slowly, “If you don’t mind, could you return with me? I… have something to tell you.”
Chu Jiu certainly didn’t mind.
*
Although he knew that Snow Beastmen were strong and recovered quickly, Chu Jiu still took out ginger and honey from his backpack and had someone make a bowl of ginger and brown sugar water for Bai Lin.
Bai Lin lay in his small bed, drinking it very obediently.
After drinking, this bunny who had almost lost his life hugged the blanket made of sea deer skin and fell fast asleep.
The chief sat by the bedside, watching Bai Lin sleep soundly the whole time.
He stood up and said to Chu Jiu, “Please forgive my rudeness earlier…”
“You wanted to know ‘the method to reach the Azure Icefield.’ At that time… considering some reasons, I decided I couldn’t tell you.”
“But…”
A conflicted look appeared on the chief’s face again.
Chu Jiu thought for a moment and said, “The reason you couldn’t say it directly is because this method is related to ‘Kaja’?”
The chief was startled: “You… guessed it?”
Chu Jiu said, “I can guess a little.”
The Encyclopedia Card said that “if you get lost, the Giant Spotted Alien Seal might show you the way.” Coupled with the chief’s strange attitude towards this matter, Chu Jiu had this guess.
It seemed he had guessed correctly.
The chief sighed deeply: “Since you’ve already guessed, there’s no need for me to hesitate anymore.”
“That’s right.”
“To reach the Azure Icefield, you need Kaja to lead the way for you.”
“Because the ice and snow melt during this season, the border between the Frost Shadow Hills and the Azure Icefield will turn into seawater scattered with ice floes.”
“Without Kaja to guide you, it’s easy to lose your way in the sea.”
“Kaja, as the leader of the Spotted Sea Beasts… will know clearly how to cross this dangerous area.”
The chief lowered his head, his voice becoming softer and softer: “This is something only the chief of our tribe knows… my brothers don’t know…”
“The reason I didn’t say it…”
The chief’s voice actually trembled slightly.
Chu Jiu guessed that the reason he didn’t say it was because he was worried that his brothers would be even more unwilling to kill Kaja because of it.
“The reason I didn’t say it… was because I was worried that after saying it, I would have even more reason… not to kill Kaja.” The chief finally said it.
But what he said surprised Chu Jiu a little.
It sounded like the chief himself didn’t want to kill that seal at all?
Perhaps once someone started talking, it was hard to stop.
The chief sat down on the chair and said slowly, “When we were little… Kaja was also small.”
“It was much smaller than it is now… hmm, probably about the same length as you humans.”
Chu Jiu, who was being used as a reference point: ……
“At that time… our parents were gone, and it was Kaja who accompanied us to the sea to fish.”
“Sometimes we couldn’t catch any, and we would get anxious. Kaja would use its mouth to nudge the fish towards us.”
Chu Jiu noticed that the chief’s ears had drooped down at some point, and the serious expression he had when dealing with tribal affairs was gone. The chief’s tail wrapped around from behind to the front. He hugged his tail and continued to reminisce:
“Once, it was early spring, and the ice in the northern sea hadn’t completely melted yet…”
“Kaja and I were chasing fish in the water. As we chased, I wanted to go up for air. But I found that I had already swum under the ice floe.”
“The sea surface was thick ice, and I couldn’t breathe at all.”
“At that time, I couldn’t find the way back either—even if I could, I probably wouldn’t have had the strength to swim out.”
“It was Kaja—Kaja used its strength to? (zhuàng – ram/collide with) the ice floe, and then used its teeth to gnaw at the ice.”
“Was the underwater world too quiet at that time? I still remember the cracking sound of the ice being gnawed away by it.”
“Such thick ice…”
“I remember the ice getting thinner and thinner, but the ice was also gradually covered in blood.” “That hole… the entire circle was its blood.”
“I was about to sink, and it was Kaja who scooped me up with its flipper.”
“Its face, its mouth were all covered in blood…”
“Before I passed out, it finally gnawed through the ice hole and nudged me onto the shore…”
Speaking up to this point, the chief’s voice became lower and lower, and finally stopped.
After a moment, he spoke again.
“Later, we all grew up.”
“We had a period of… seamless cooperation.”
“It knew where the most fish were, it helped us catch sea deer and defeat sea lions. We… we were all very grateful to it.”
“But now, it’s not right.”
“It spends all day slapping the water and roaring…”
“We tried countless times to comfort it, but it pushed us away.”
“It’s not an ordinary sea beast. Its voice and movements can deter the surrounding animals…”
“Finally, no more schools of fish dared to approach this sea area.”
“We… as you can see, the tribe’s food is getting less and less.”
“I know that as the leader of the tribe, I should have made a decision earlier, I should have dealt with Kaja.”
“But I…”
The chief’s paws covered his furry face.
Hearing this, Chu Jiu also felt a bit sad.
For the chief and the others, Kaja wasn’t just a friendly sea beast? It was clearly a companion who had been by their side since childhood.
The oath of “finding food on land within a month, otherwise killing the ferocious beast” was actually a way to try their best not to kill it.
Could he do something to help?
Speaking of which, if he really couldn’t save Kaja, then the difficulty of him going to the Azure Icefield would also greatly increase.
Chu Jiu scratched his head in distress.
He whispered to Kakaba, “Kakaba, you saw Kaja just now. Do you think there’s still a chance to ‘talk’ to it and ask what exactly happened?”
Kakaba: “Dang dang dang, it’s worth a try… but it’ll probably be very difficult.”
“Because Kaja’s state is indeed already frantic.”
“And it looks like it completely refuses to communicate with the Snow Beastmen, who were originally its good friends.”
“This… means its condition is already very bad.”
“However, I will try my best! Dang dang dang!”
Chu Jiu nodded.
At this moment, Little Can said, “It’s okay, I’ll make it want to communicate.”
Chu Jiu: “?”
Little Can: “Just like with the bald mountain eagle.”
Chu Jiu: …Well, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
The bald mountain eagle, which was catching field mice somewhere, sneezed twice in a row: ??
Having discussed it with the spirit beast babies, Chu Jiu felt more confident.
He turned to look at the dejected and helpless chief: “Your Excellency, I am willing to try to communicate with Kaja.”
The chief looked at Chu Jiu with disbelief: “You…?”
Chu Jiu smiled: “I told you, I am a very experienced pioneer.”
“I…” Chu Jiu’s ears turned slightly red as he announced his full title, “I am Chu Jiu, the pioneer from Bean Village, Friend of Spirits, Explosives Enthusiast, the Indomitable.”
Perhaps it was the “title” that worked, as a bit more confidence appeared in the chief’s eyes.
He jumped up from the chair, his large tail swished up behind him and wagged twice: “Then, I beg you! Brave pioneer!”
*
After the dangerous undertow in the sea disappeared, Chu Jiu and the spirit beasts boarded the bamboo raft that could float on the sea and headed towards the giant spotted alien seal. Before they could even get close, the seal had already noticed the existence of the raft.
It opened its mouth wide at the strange two-legged beast and the strange furry creatures, revealing its bloody teeth and letting out a terrifying roar.
Chu Jiu didn’t retreat. Instead, he stood on the raft, holding onto the railing, and stared unblinkingly at the seal’s “bloody maw.”
Bloody teeth…
Using its teeth to gnaw holes in the ice floe…
Just like the seals on Earth, it makes holes in the ice…
!
A guess suddenly jumped into Chu Jiu’s mind!
He looked around, directed Rawr Rawr Rabbit to row towards the nearest reef that emerged from the sea, and said to Little Can and Kakaba, “Try to communicate with it, ask it if it’s in ‘a lot of pain’.”
Little Can stepped on the seawater and “flew” to the seal, starting to make “wurulu wurulu” sounds.
The seal’s round eyes widened even further.
It angrily slapped the seawater with both front flippers, opened its mouth wide, and “woofed woof woof woof” at Little Can—
The heat actually blew the light Little Can backwards several rolls, and finally it fell into the water!
“Little Can!” Even though he knew Little Can wouldn’t be easily injured, Chu Jiu couldn’t help but call out.
A few seconds later, the wet Little Can emerged from the water, silently shook its head, and shook off countless water droplets.
Its eyes turned into half-circles, and it suddenly shot out of the water, leaped into the air, and flipped several times in mid-air—
Finally, it transformed into a large black cat covered in water droplets!
It landed on the bamboo raft that Chu Jiu had deliberately left on the sea surface, faced the seal again, and let out a low purr from its throat.
This time, the seal opened its mouth but didn’t dare to roar at Big Can.
But it didn’t turn around and run away either.
It didn’t even admit defeat on the spot like the mountain eagle.
It just stood stiffly in the water, looking dazed.
Seeing the seal’s state, Kakaba, standing on the reef, immediately said to Glup-Glup, “Dang dang dang! Quickly throw me over there!”
Glup-Glup used its tentacles to wrap around Kakaba and “threw” it onto the bamboo raft.
After Kakaba stood firm, it began to make unintelligible sounds while gesturing wildly at the seal.
The seal’s mouth was still open, its whiskers on its lips twitched a few times, and a continuous “wang ming wang wu” sound came from its throat, as if responding to Kakaba’s words.
Kakaba nodded.
It signaled Glup-Glup to wrap it back and said to Chu Jiu, “Dang dang dang! That’s right! It says it’s in a lot of pain!”
“It didn’t react to anything else, only when asked about this, it said it hurts, it hurts a lot!”
Chu Jiu understood.
He said to the large black cat, “Little Can, I want to get closer and look at the seal’s mouth!”
Hearing this, Big Canned Food lightly tapped the sea surface with its four paws a few times and quickly “flew” to the reef, its body obediently lowering, signaling Chu Jiu to ride on it.
After Chu Jiu hugged its neck and lay prone, it leaped back onto the bamboo raft, its two hind paws standing on the railing of the raft, and its front paws steadily lifted Chu Jiu, allowing Chu Jiu to clearly see the seal’s open mouth.
This time, Chu Jiu saw very clearly.
He had Big Canned Food carry him back to the reef and said to the spirit beasts, “I know why Kaja went crazy.”
Rawr Rawr Rabbit: “Roar roar roar, what on earth is it?”
Chu Jiu: “Its teeth… are very badly damaged.”
“Simply put: it has a toothache, and it’s been hurting for a long time.”
With a toothache like that, who wouldn’t go crazy?
