Chapter 6: Mutton?

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Fortunately, the other party didn’t ask for something cruel.
The young woman named Yue Cheng told Chu Jiu that she wanted some “mutton.”
The back mountain behind Douzi Village was relatively safe; there were no monsters there. Occasionally, villagers would manage to hunt a wild rabbit or even catch a wild pheasant.
However, there were no wild sheep in the back mountain.
Yue Cheng said that many years ago, her family once made mutton soup.
That fragrant, rich taste—just thinking about it made Yue Cheng salivate, and she had repeatedly told her younger brother that mutton was the most delicious meat in the world.
Her younger brother, Lin Cheng, who was more than ten years her junior, had never tasted anything good and didn’t know what mutton actually tasted like.
So Yue Cheng promised him that on his birthday this year, she would definitely go to the town to trade for some mutton.
But this year’s harvest was poor, and the price of mutton in town had risen. The few beans and corn they had left at home were simply not enough to exchange for mutton.
Originally, Yue Cheng had given up hope. Later, however, she heard from A Man, the village chief’s son, that the new pioneers had found edible mushrooms in the Forgotten Forest—mushrooms that tasted surprisingly like chicken.
She also heard from Grandma Zhu that the new pioneers had caught a fish in the Forgotten Forest longer than an arm, big enough to last several meals, and that the fish smelled delicious when boiled in clear water.
So, after hesitating for two days and thinking “maybe it’s worth a try,” Yue Cheng wanted to ask Chu Jiu for help, hoping he could find some mutton in the Forgotten Forest.
After hearing Yue Cheng’s story, Chu Jiu propped his chin with one hand and tried hard to recall the entries in his mental bestiary.
After a moment, he said, “I can try.”
“But it won’t be quick—probably one or two days.”
The ordinary sheep that grazed all over the place weren’t in his bestiary.
However, there was a kind of monster whose meat could rival mutton, even tasting better.
Of course, Chu Jiu made sure to clarify that what he could find was a “monster with mutton flavor,” not real sheep.
Yue Cheng repeatedly said it didn’t matter, as long as it tasted like mutton.

*

After accepting Yue Cheng’s request, Chu Jiu went home with the little kitten.
He roasted some potatoes for himself and fed the kitten some dried grilled fish.
He had thought that since the kitten had eaten such a large piece of dried fish in the morning and had done nothing but sleep all morning, it wouldn't have much appetite now.
But the kitten devoured two large slices of fish at once. After finishing, it jumped onto Chu Jiu’s hand and, with its short legs, climbed all the way into his shirt pocket, closing its eyes and going back to sleep.
... Eat and sleep, that’s all it does.
But it was easy to take care of.
Chu Jiu smiled and petted the kitten’s warm, fluffy little head before starting to make furniture.
Using the “Recipe Comprehension” skill made the building process faster, but it still took quite a bit of effort to understand the recipes and mentally plan the steps.
After several hours, Chu Jiu obtained the recipes for a wooden table, wooden chair, bedside cabinet, and storage rack.
Even though constantly reading recipes was tiring, Chu Jiu couldn’t suppress his excitement. He spent all his remaining spiritual energy to create a small square table, a fairly sturdy chair with a backrest, a simple bedside cabinet, and a storage rack for small items.
He placed the storage rack against the wall, the bedside cabinet next to the single bed, the square table in the center as a dining table, and the chair beside the table—
Hey, this shabby and spacious little house instantly felt much more lively, now looking like a place someone could really live in.
Chu Jiu sat in the chair, resting his elbow on the smoothly planed tabletop, and smiled, “Now it’s great, we can eat dinner at the table.”
Perhaps his laughter caused a vibration in his chest because the kitten, who had been sleeping soundly in his pocket, lifted its face and let out a confused “meow.”
Chu Jiu stroked its little head and smiled, “We have a table and chair now.”

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“Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten yours—I’m about to make some furniture for you.”
Of course, the Furniture Manual had no chapter on “how to make cat furniture.”
Besides, Chu Jiu had no spiritual energy left.
He simply took some wood and slowly carved two small plates with his machete to serve as the kitten’s food and water bowls; then he hollowed out a wooden cup about the size of a can and lined it with some dry grass.
While doing the woodworking, the kitten quietly watched, its icy blue eyes wide open, as if curious about what this human was doing.
When the woodworking was finished, Chu Jiu exhaled and placed the kitten in front of the small plates: “Here, these are your food bowl and water bowl. From now on, we’ll use these to eat.”
The kitten sniffed them but didn’t seem very interested.
Chu Jiu then led the little one to the wooden cup and took off the scarf around his neck, placing it inside.
The kitten sniffed the scarf, which carried Chu Jiu’s warmth, and before he could explain, “This is your little cat bed,” it had already climbed into this simple makeshift miniature bed, curled into a ball, and purred softly.
Its head rested on its paws as it looked at Chu Jiu with a side glance, slowly closing its eyes again.
Within seconds, its eyes were half-closed and finally fully shut—it had clearly fallen asleep again.
Apparently, the kitten really liked this canned cat bed.
Chu Jiu thought happily.
Hmm... Speaking of which, he hadn’t gotten around to naming the kitten yet.
Looking at the little black cat lying in the can-shaped bed, blending perfectly with it as if naturally made for it, Chu Jiu thought, “How about calling you ‘Little Can’ from now on?”
The kitten’s fluffy little tail suddenly lifted and wagged twice.
Chu Jiu took this as its approval.
“Alright, then you’re Little Can. Sleep well, Little Can. When you wake up, there’ll be dried fish.”

*

Planet Arsa.
Lu Qingyan activated the holographic projection mode of his light brain in the study.
This was his third time watching the boy’s livestream.
The boy’s face was more vivid than the previous two nights, as if he had encountered something good.
Sure enough, the boy cheerfully said he had a very, very cute new companion today.
“But the new companion is shy, so I won’t talk about it much here.”
A new companion?
Lu Qingyan’s fingertips lightly tapped the armrest.
The boy happily gestured at the camera, saying he had made a table, a chair, and even a storage rack today.
...
Lu Qingyan’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Over these past days, he had formed a rough guess about what and why the boy was doing what he was saying.
The boy’s recent words confirmed his suspicions.
He contacted Deputy Officer He: “Major He, do we have a way to send messages to the other party now?”
He Fang: “Not yet. We’ve tried every method—As you can see on the right side of the livestream screen, our military investigators disguised as ‘viewers’ can send messages in the chat like any other viewer.”
“But those messages can only be seen by the ‘viewers’ themselves; the other party cannot see the messages we send.”

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“We’ve also tried transmitting messages via mental energy, but the result is the same—no matter what, the messages cannot be sent through.”
On the right side of the screen floated layer upon layer of chat messages; on the left was the boy’s actual livestream, pristine and unmarked.
There was regret and anxiety in He Fang’s voice: “Marshal, I’m terribly sorry.”
“So far, we haven’t made any substantial progress. We cannot locate the source of this video, nor can we determine which time and space it originated from...”
Seeing Major He’s face as if he wanted to volunteer for punishment, Lu Qingyan said calmly, “No need to panic.”
“This matter is not as bad as you think.”
Deputy Officer He: “...You mean...?”
Lu Qingyan: “...Let’s watch a little longer.”
The boy’s livestream still hadn’t reached five minutes.
After the screen went black, Lu Qingyan, as usual, took out a special mental stabilizer and prepared to inject himself.
But unlike usual...
Today, his headache seemed a little less severe?
Frowning slightly, Lu Qingyan looked at his mental landscape.
In that barren wasteland of endless yellow sand, the “big cat” that hadn’t closed its eyes for almost three years was curled up beneath the last remaining rock formation, paws tucked in, soundly sleeping.
Its sleeping posture and expression were unlike anything seen before—relaxed, even sweet, as if it had truly become a cat.
Lu Qingyan: ...?

*

The sky was gradually brightening.
Chu Jiu had already packed his backpack and was holding his machete as he set out.
He hadn’t originally planned to bring Little Can with him that morning.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened the door, the little kitten, who had been sleeping soundly in its can-shaped bed, leapt up and, at a speed too fast for the naked eye to see, jumped into Chu Jiu’s chest pocket.
The message was clear: wherever you go, I go! Don’t even think about leaving me behind!
Chu Jiu had to tell it that he was going deep into the forest, where there might be danger and possibly scary insects...
Mentioning the insects made Little Can’s fur stand on end, and it howled loudly, each cry seeming to say: “All the more reason I should come!”
Even the system popped up a warning:
【If the host forcibly separates from the spirit beast against its will, the spirit beast’s hidden favorability will greatly drop. Please act cautiously.】
With no choice, Chu Jiu put Little Can in his chest pocket and repeatedly admonished it: no running around, don’t stick your head out unless necessary, and just sleep quietly along the way...
Little Can ignored his words, keeping its head held high and its bright eyes scanning its surroundings.
Chu Jiu’s [Stealth] skill was fully effective.
Little Can watched as several fiery, vividly spotted [Spicy Poison Frogs], as tall as a person, hopped past; then saw a [Bloodthirsty Bee] with two-meter-long poisonous stingers on its rear fly away from above; and then observed a [Voracious Carnivorous Plant] slowly passing by Chu Jiu...
None of the monsters noticed them.
Following the hints from the bestiary card in his memory, Chu Jiu walked along a small path heading east for about two hours.
When the map opened up to 6%, Chu Jiu finally found what he was looking for:
Amidst lush green grass stood several tall trees with brownish bark covered in dark moss, each tree reaching over ten meters high, their treetops gently swaying in the breeze.