Chapter 79: Hat
Chu Jiu subconsciously covered his cheek.
During the midterms last semester, his wisdom teeth had become inflamed, and the pain…
How to put it? Let’s just say he understood why some people in history would rather smash their own teeth with a hammer to pull them out.
Now, judging from Kaja’s teeth, the pain this giant seal was enduring probably exceeded his imagination.
Chu Jiu speculated that due to prolonged chewing on ice, Kaja’s incisors and canines had long been severely worn down and their roots loosened. As time went on, its teeth worsened, and its gums began to become inflamed and even fester…
Finally, the originally gentle and peaceful sea beast, the giant seal that only knew it was in pain but didn’t know why, was driven into a “ferocious beast” by the agony.
It began to thrash around, trying to bite randomly, instinctively wanting to relieve the pain by colliding with the painful areas.
But thinking carefully, although it had become so “crazy,” it had never actually hurt any of its own kind or the Snow Beastmen.
On the contrary, it would even actively avoid Bai Lin and the others, driving them away from itself.
This giant seal…
This giant seal, driven mad by pain, was enduring a lot.
“Dang dang dang! So that’s how it is!” After Chu Jiu finished speaking, worry filled Kakaba’s small face. “Then what can we do for it?
Can we fix its teeth so it doesn’t hurt so much?”
Chu Jiu thought for a moment and said, “Fixing teeth… that’s impossible.”
Even on Earth, fixing teeth was a major problem, requiring various suitable drugs and physical methods.
“And with its teeth worn down like this, even if its teeth don’t hurt anymore, it will be difficult to fish again, and even eating will be difficult.”
Now even Rawr Rawr Rabbit started to get anxious: “Roar roar roar? Then what do we do, Roar roar roar?”
Chu Jiu: “Pull the teeth. Then make it a set of dentures.”
After his wisdom teeth became inflamed and he had them pulled at the school hospital, Chu Jiu holed up in his dorm room, unable to do anything. He simply applied ice packs and watched videos like “The Complete Record of Tooth Extraction” on some small, dilapidated website for half a day, learning the basic steps of tooth extraction more or less.
Of course, knowing these steps didn’t mean he could directly start pulling human teeth.
But considering Kaja’s current condition, if these bad teeth weren’t pulled out, this giant seal probably wouldn’t live much longer.
He might as well give it a try.
*
How to pull the teeth of a giant spotted alien seal?
Step one: Make the seal lie down.
Step two: Make the seal open its mouth.
Step three: Extract.
How simple!
Chu Jiu wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and asked Kakaba, “Is it possible to communicate with Kaja to make it lie down?”
Kakaba shook its head: “Dang dang dang! No way… it’s not responding to my words anymore…”
Chu Jiu looked at the giant seal in its “frozen state,” thought for a moment, and then said to the large black cat, “Little Can, if it falls asleep now, can you make it lie on its back on this reef?”
Large black cat: “I can.”
The large cat hesitated for a moment, a little uncertain: “Is it… to knock it unconscious?”
Although that wasn’t entirely out of the question…
Chu Jiu quickly shook his head: “No, no, don’t knock it out, I have other methods.”
With that, Chu Jiu took out two things from his backpack:
[Bamboo tube water gun], [Mouthparts of a giant bloodsucking mosquito].
The bamboo tube water gun was made earlier in Bean Village to kill wasps and was now being reused.
The mouthparts of the giant bloodsucking mosquito came from the bloodsucking mosquitoes in the swamp area of the Forgotten Forest. After removing both ends and cleaning and disinfecting these thick, steel-pipe-like mouthparts, they became “sharp needles.” Combined with the bamboo tube water gun, they could become a [simple syringe for giant beasts].
As for the liquid to be injected, it came from the [hallucinogenic ghost-faced bat] captured by Little Can during their exploration along the underground river with the little squirrels.
The saliva of the [hallucinogenic ghost-faced bat] contained a special anesthetic substance that made its prey feel no pain while being sucked dry. Once extracted, it could become a [powerful anesthetic that could make even giant beasts fall asleep].
Next, it was up to the spirit beast babies to cooperate and inject the anesthetic into the giant seal.
Little Can was responsible for hard-controlling the giant seal, Kakaba was responsible for observing the giant seal’s condition, and Glup-Glup was responsible for the injection.
Once the injection was complete and the giant seal was anesthetized, Little Can would “assist” the giant seal in falling onto the reef at the correct angle, with Rawr Rawr Rabbit waiting below to catch it.
Glup-Glup’s movements were flexible and precise.
In just a few minutes, the giant seal’s round eyes were about to close.
Its body began to sway left and right, and it looked like it was about to fall into the sea—Little Can gently pushed it, sending it belly-up onto the reef with a loud thud.
And its mouth was open.
Rawr Rawr Rabbit immediately propped the bamboo and leather rope mouth gag into the seal’s mouth.
Glup-Glup quickly lassoed the base of the broken teeth with a rope.
Little Can, maintaining its large cat form, used its paws to pull the rope sharply—
“Clang!”
A seal’s canine tooth, as tall as half a person, fell out.
Repeating this operation, Kaja’s broken canines and incisors were all pulled out.
Chu Jiu, who was directing from the side, was covered in sweat and asked Kakaba, “How is Kaja’s condition?”
Kakaba carefully observed the muscles on Kaja’s face: “Dang dang dang! It should be quite relaxed! It’ll probably wake up in a little while!”
“Should we put in the dentures now?”
While using warm salt water and cotton to clean Kaja’s extraction wounds, Chu Jiu said, “No, let’s wait until its wounds heal a bit more before putting them in.”
Half an hour later, the effects of the anesthetic gradually wore off.
Kaja slowly opened its round eyes.
It was still lying on its back, its eyeballs rolled around, looking at the two-legged beast beside it and the strange little animals next to the two-legged beast with confusion.
Even without Kakaba’s explanation, Chu Jiu could tell that Kaja’s condition had improved a lot, at least its eyes were much clearer.
Kakaba quickly jumped onto a higher rock to the side and performed a joyful dance for Kaja.
Besides confusion, other emotions gradually appeared in Kaja’s eyes.
The whiskers on its lips twitched a few times, and it began to make intermittent “woof woof” and “woof woof” sounds, just like a large injured dog.
Chu Jiu’s heart softened, and he couldn’t help but tiptoe over and gently touch Kaja’s forehead with his hand.
Although his comforting wasn’t as effective as Kakaba’s, it could convey some goodwill.
After a while, Kakaba jumped to Chu Jiu’s side: “It just said that it doesn’t know what happened, but its head and mouth don’t hurt as much.”
“It said it was in so much pain before that it just wanted to smash its head against something, but it didn’t know how to express it.”
“Later, the pain became too severe, and it went crazy and almost bit the little sea beasts, so it simply roared and jumped around in place, telling its companions to stay away from it.”
“And the Snow Beastmen too, it missed them very much, but it was afraid of biting them when the pain flared up, so it drove them away.”
Chu Jiu thought, as expected…
He had Kakaba tell the giant seal that it was in so much pain before because its teeth were bad. Now that the bad teeth had been pulled out, it wouldn’t be in so much pain that it wanted to go crazy once the wounds healed.
Also, tell it not to panic, new teeth would be put in for it soon, and then it could eat happily again.
Kakaba “translated” very earnestly.
As the giant seal listened, two large tears welled up in its round eyes.
Finally, Chu Jiu made an agreement with it: they would come back here in seven days, and he would check its teeth and wounds. If there were no problems, he would put in the dentures for it.
In addition to this, Chu Jiu also left it some specially made food: meatballs, “vegetable meatballs.”
The meat meatballs were ordinary meat; the “vegetable meatballs” were made by kneading herbs together.
These herbs all came from the back mountain of Bean Village. Grandpa Du had once said proudly, “If anyone in the village got a bump or bruise, I’d use this herb with that flower, boil it into a paste, and after drinking it, the wound would heal quickly!” So Chu Jiu, following Grandpa Du’s instructions, picked some extra flowers and herbs and put them in his backpack for emergencies.
As a result, he and the spirit beast babies had never used these herbs themselves, but the giant seal got to use them first.
*
“Kaja is alright now? It won’t thrash around and bite in the sea anymore?”
“It became like that before because it couldn’t stand the toothache?” After listening to Chu Jiu’s explanation, Bai Mu was overjoyed but also a little incredulous.
“Great, great, I want to go see Kaja!” Bai Sen hopped up and down, expressing his excitement.
“I knew it! I knew Kaja wasn’t a ferocious beast! It’s always been our good friend—eldest brother, did you hear that?!” Bai Lin excitedly waved his arms while asking his chief brother with a hint of defiance.
The chief, who usually sternly scolded them, didn’t speak.
He sat silently on the chair, his ears twitched slightly, and he only said, “That’s great.”
Bai Lin “hmph-ed” and said to Bai Mu, “Second brother, I’m going to see Kaja!”
With that, the reckless little bunny dashed out, and Bai Mu and Bai Sen couldn’t stop him even when they tried—
But he hadn’t run a few steps before he ran back, quickly jumped on Chu Jiu and gave him several hugs, shouting “Thank you, brave two-legged beast,” before running off again in a flash.
Bai Mu and Bai Sen both looked at their eldest brother, the chief.
The chief said, “Go. There are no ferocious beasts in the sea anymore, only our friend Kaja.”
Bai Mu and Bai Sen also cheered and ran off.
The chief sighed, raised his paw to rub his face, wiped away a tear no one saw from the corner of his eye, stood up, and bowed to Chu Jiu: “Thank you!”
“I didn’t expect that you could really heal Kaja and restore its sanity!”
“After Kaja recovers, I will definitely have it take you to the Azure Icefield!”
“Before you set off, the fish in the sea will probably have returned, and I will definitely serve you the most delicious grilled fish!”
Although the chief emphasized “delicious grilled fish” so much, Little Can just continued to doze off on Chu Jiu’s shoulder, completely unmoved.
Chu Jiu said, “You mentioned ‘the fish in the sea will have returned’—that will probably take some time, right?”
The chief estimated in his mind and said with a wry smile, “Ah, I’m afraid it will take some time. After all, Kaja’s appearance before scared all the fish in this vicinity away, otherwise we wouldn’t have had to swim so far to catch any.”
Chu Jiu said directly, “Then during this time, your tribe’s food… I’m afraid it’s not much, is it?”
Chief: “……I will think of another way.”
“I asked the elder, and they said… some seaweed can also be eaten.”
Chu Jiu: “…Aren’t you guys meat-eaters?”
Although they were both beastmen, the Snow Beastmen and the Dwarf Beastmen were vastly different in their food choices:
Snow Beastmen almost only ate meat, occasionally eating some nuts they found; Dwarf Beastmen never ate meat and loved nuts the most.
Asking Snow Beastmen to switch to eating seaweed was a bit too difficult.
Chief: “……I heard……that chopped seaweed has a bit of a meaty taste.”
Chu Jiu: “……”
He sighed, “I have an idea, would you like to try building a ‘ranch’ near the plain?”
Actually, before Chu Jiu figured out exactly why Kaja had gone mad, he had a backup plan in mind:
If he could help the Snow Beastmen get food from the land, then at least Bai Mu and the others wouldn’t have to kill Kaja themselves.
Considering the complex terrain of this forest and the Snow Beastmen’s poor hunting skills in the forest—according to Little Can, even if they practiced for another half a year, they probably wouldn’t be able to catch any prey here—the best way to get food was “farming.”
The chief was quite surprised: “Ranch? Us? But we can’t even catch land animals, how can we raise…?”
Chu Jiu: “I can help you with the first batch of animals.”
After all, it would take some time for Kaja to recover. He might as well build a ranch to increase the regional pioneering degree and help the Snow Beastmen improve their diet.
Chief: !
Chu Jiu: “You’ll have to learn how to raise them yourselves later—my partner Kakaba will teach you.”
Kakaba jumped out of Chu Jiu’s backpack and waved its little paws at the chief.
The chief was speechless for a moment.
Finally, he could only press his paw to his chest and give Chu Jiu the most solemn bow: “Kind and generous pioneer, you will forever be the dearest friend of our Snow Beastman tribe.”
The animal Chu Jiu planned to raise on the ranch this time was a type of magical creature called the [Pinecone Pig].
[Pinecone Pig: A miniature pig covered in a thick layer of brown scales. They love the taste of pine needles and enjoy both eating them and collecting them to build their nests. If you don’t recognize this animal, even if you see a Pinecone Pig and its nest on the road, you’ll definitely think it’s just fallen pinecones.
Although its appearance is almost indistinguishable from pinecones, once you peel off its scales to reveal the pink flesh inside, you’ll find that it’s indeed a genuine pig!
Not only is its meat tender and delicious, but it also has excellent reproductive capabilities—as long as it has a warm environment and sufficient food, it can quickly reproduce offspring in multiples.
However, because the areas they live in are usually very cold, their numbers are naturally limited.
Collection site: Coniferous forests in cold regions]
This magical creature was not only delicious and highly reproductive, but most importantly:
The blue heart and red heart representing [can be lured] were clearly visible in the lower right corner of its Encyclopedia Card.
Chu Jiu, with Little Can providing intimidation and Kakaba providing friendliness, quickly filled the blue heart representing fear and the red heart representing affection, successfully luring a group of ignorant Pinecone Pigs.
The moment the lure was successful, Chu Jiu received the [Pinecone Pig-Specific Ranch with Attached Warm Hut] blueprint.
He gave the blueprint to Glup-Glup and had the chief arrange a team of Snow Beastmen to work with Glup-Glup. In just three days, the ranch was built!
Seeing the completed ranch, Chu Jiu couldn’t help but have his eyes light up:
This is… this is too cute, isn’t it?
On the blue-green grassland, a brown fence enclosed a circle of land, inside which stood several small round-roofed houses—these houses were simply miniature versions of the Snow Beastmen’s flower houses, with either pink or white small flowers blooming on the roofs.
However, what ran out of the small houses wasn’t Snow Beastmen with swaying white tails, but miniature pigs waddling in a line.
Looking at this unique ranch, Chu Jiu asked curiously, “Glup-Glup, were the styles of these small houses on the blueprint? They’re so similar to the Snow Beastmen’s own small houses!”
Glup-Glup was a little embarrassed, and also had a faint expectation of being praised: “Glup-Glup, it’s like this…”
“Originally, the Pinecone Pigs’ warm shelters on the blueprint weren’t like this…”
“But I thought the Snow Beastmen’s houses were really too cute, so I couldn’t help but learn from them… and then I upgraded the original warm shelters to look like this…”
“H-how is it? It’s not ugly, is it?”
Chu Jiu gave it a thumbs up: “It’s too beautiful! It’s a perfect match for this plain!”
Really, what a fairy-tale cottage outside the ice plains!
At this time, Bai Lin and Bai Sen also gathered around, standing with the other tribe members in front of the fence, praising the Pinecone Pigs in the ranch.
“Ah, look at the way they waddle!”
“Haha, that one fell over!”
These Snow Beastmen would soon learn from Kakaba how to feed the Pinecone Pigs.
Seeing Bai Lin and Bai Sen staring at the Pinecone Pigs and giggling foolishly, Chu Jiu was a little worried that the children might develop feelings for the little piggies…
Until he saw Bai Sen wiping his drool and asking Bai Lin, “Third brother, how big do we have to raise them before we can roast them?”
Flames lit up in Bai Lin’s eyes: “Soon! Don’t worry! Third brother will definitely roast it until the skin is crispy and golden, and the inside is fragrant and tender!”
Chu Jiu: ……
Alright then.
The Snow Beastmen did have feelings for the little piggies: very pure, beautiful feelings for food.
*
Two days later, Chu Jiu brought Bai Mu and the others back to the reef in the sea.
Kaja was already there obediently waiting for Chu Jiu.
Seeing Chu Jiu approaching on the bamboo raft, Kaja proactively lay down and even patted its belly repeatedly with its front flippers.
Chu Jiu had Kakaba tell it, “Don’t be afraid, we’re going to put your teeth in this time. Very strong teeth!”
Kaja patted its belly with a thumping sound: Got it! So excited!
Chu Jiu first had Kaja open its mouth wide and checked the previous wounds.
Hmm, no bleeding, no abscesses, they all looked healed.
Chu Jiu nodded with satisfaction, took out the [seal dentures] carved from [shieldskin fish bone fragments], and then took out the [slime adhesive].
Chu Jiu carefully inserted the dentures with adhesive on the ends into the empty sockets in Kaja’s mouth.
A perfect fit.
Under the effect of the strong adhesive, the dentures were quickly fixed in place.
Chu Jiu patted Kaja’s head: “New teeth can catch fish, can eat fish—but, you can’t bite ice anymore, okay!” Kaja blinked its big eyes understandingly and patted its belly hard again.
Confirming that the teeth wouldn’t come loose again, Chu Jiu said, “Alright, go try out your new teeth!”
Kaja laboriously turned its body, changing from lying on its back to lying on its stomach.
It stretched its head towards Chu Jiu and gently bumped foreheads with its huge head.
Even without Kakaba’s translation, Chu Jiu knew what the giant seal was saying.
He smiled and stroked the giant seal’s whiskers, saying again, “You’re welcome.”
Kaja slid into the sea.
Bai Mu and the others followed behind, like a group of little seals, plunging into the water headfirst.
Although there weren’t many fish in this sea yet, it didn’t prevent them from enjoying the joy of the moment.
Chu Jiu stretched his arms: “Alright, let’s set off tomorrow.”
The current Kaja would definitely lead the way well!
*
Knowing that Chu Jiu and the others were anxious to go to the Azure Icefield, the chief neither made futile attempts to keep them nor insisted on holding a banquet.
However, before Chu Jiu departed, he personally went to retrieve a wooden box.
“Pioneer Chu Jiu, please allow me to use this gift to represent the heart of our tribe towards you.”
With that, the chief first took out a pendant:
Deep blue, teardrop-shaped, the material seemed to be jade, or perhaps some kind of gemstone, with a hint of pearl luster.
The chief said:
“This is a token given to our ancestors by the Sea Clan many years ago.”
“You said before that after collecting the branches of the ‘Primal Tree’ in the ‘Azure Icefield,’ you will go to the southern sea.”
“Although I don’t know if the Sea Clan still lives in that area, if you encounter them, this token might be of some use.”
“It is said that for those who possess this token, regardless of their race, the Sea Clan will be willing to come out of the sea to talk to them, rather than—”
The chief paused and continued, “Rather than directly dragging them into the sea and leaving them to fend for themselves.”
…Directly drag them into the sea?
Chu Jiu, who wasn’t a very good swimmer, shivered and solemnly accepted the deep blue pendant.
The chief then took out another item.
Chu Jiu couldn’t help but be slightly surprised when he saw this item.
It was a hat.
A woolly hat that fit a human head and looked very warm.
It’s just… how come there were two small triangular furry ears on this hat…?
The chief said, “Ah, this, please forgive my poor craftsmanship.”
“This is something I had the tribe members rush to make.”
“This hat… uses the fur that sheds when our Snow Beastmen molt, so it has a special effect—”
“No matter how cold it is outside, even in blizzards, it can help your body maintain a comfortable temperature.”
“That way, when you go to the ‘Azure Icefield’ later, you won’t have to worry about freezing.”
Chu Jiu: !
So this was actually a good thing!
It’s just these little ears on top…
Chu Jiu accepted it with complicated feelings.
At this moment, the chief rarely showed a smile: “Seeing how much you cherish that cat-like companion by your side, I specially ordered people to make these ears in a shape similar to its.”
Chu Jiu, with even more complicated feelings: “…Thank you, you’re too thoughtful.”
Chief: “Also, since the tribe members have never made human clothing before, would you like to put it on and see if the size is right?”
…Since this hat was so useful, he should try it on.
So Chu Jiu obediently put the hat on his head.
At that moment, he only heard the surrounding Snow Beastmen exclaiming “Wow,” “It fits so well,” and “It looks really good.”
Chu Jiu was a little embarrassed and didn’t want to take the hat off immediately, so he whispered to the spirit beasts, “What do you guys think?”
Rawr Rawr Rabbit: “Roar roar roar, so cute! Chu Jiu is so cute!”
Glup-Glup: “Glup-Glup, Glup-Glup, likes it very much, Chu Jiu also has cat ears now.”
Kakaba: “Dang dang dang! A very nice hat! It suits Chu Jiu very well!”
Only Little Can remained silent.
Chu Jiu turned his head and saw that Little Can had jumped onto a wooden shelf to the side, staring at him blankly, without blinking.
Those ice-blue eyes were even deeper than the seawater here.
That kind of gaze…
No, this wasn’t Little Can’s gaze!
Chu Jiu’s heart trembled, and he almost blurted out, “Lu Qingyan?”
However, in the next second, Little Can blinked, then shook its fur, rubbed its face with its cat paws, and meowed softly, “N-not bad…”
This was Little Can’s voice, Little Can’s movements, Little Can’s expression.
Chu Jiu’s wildly beating heart calmed down again.
He secretly laughed at himself for letting his imagination run wild to this extent. Little Can wouldn’t summon Lu Qingyan for no reason.
He took off the cat-eared hat and carefully put it into his backpack.
*
Arsa Star.
On a certain military aircraft.
Lu Qingyan took off the real-time projection device.
Adjutant He next to Lu Qingyan looked at him with concern: “Your Excellency, is there some emergency in that world?”
A minute ago, the Marshal, who had been using his light brain to browse pre-meeting materials, suddenly changed his expression and put on the projection device.
But in less than 30 seconds, the Marshal took off the goggle-like device, revealing an expression Adjutant He had never seen before.
This expression…
How to describe it?
In short, the Marshal’s face was slightly flushed, and he propped his chin with his knuckles.
It looked like he was angry, but also a little embarrassed?
Adjutant He naturally became very worried.
After a long while, the Marshal finally replied, “Nothing.”
Since the Marshal said it was nothing, then it must be nothing. Adjutant He told himself.
Lu Qingyan’s fingertips rested on his brow bone, and he sighed inwardly.
The spiritual entity located at WT0906 had just suddenly released a strong tremor, making him think something extremely critical had happened.
However, after projecting over, he realized…
It turned out that Chu Jiu had solved a bunch of problems for the natives again and had been given a hat as a gift.
A hat with white cat ears sewn on it.
White cat ears.
White cat ears had grown on Chu Jiu’s head.
That image… that look…
Marshal Lu Qingyan, whose calmness had always been beyond description, felt a ticklish sensation somewhere in his heart, as if it had been scratched by some furry little thing, making him very…
Uncomfortable.
He half-closed his eyes and sighed again.
Adjutant He, who had never seen the Marshal sigh like this, felt deep worry in his heart:
…Your Excellency, is everything really alright?
