Chapter 65: Illumination

The laughter came to an abrupt halt.

The king and queen both changed countenance, and the little gray bird was so alarmed that it flew straight up to the attendant: "What? What's going on?"

The attendant gray bird's two slender little legs were already trembling uncontrollably with fright. He stammered that he had no idea what the situation was, only that the attendants who had gone ahead to fetch the celestial nectar had not returned after a long time. Feeling uneasy, he had flown over to inspect the grotto, and this was what he saw—

The ground had caved in, leaving a crater as huge as a small mountain. The air was thick with the scent of celestial nectar, and the attendants lay scattered haphazardly to the side.

The only attendant still able to speak told him through tears: they were fetching the celestial nectar just as they always did, when suddenly the surrounding rocks rumbled, and the rocks overhead began to crash and fall down!

They flew outward by instinct, and the moment they caught sight of the sunlight outside, they heard the deafening roar of the heavens collapsing and the earth splitting behind them!

Turning back, sure enough, the grotto had completely caved in! The precious celestial nectar was gushing out like mountain spring water, flowing into the rock crevices and the soil, and disappearing completely!

They wept as they tried to salvage some of the celestial nectar, but the scent was too overpowering, and before they could do anything, they toppled to the ground one after another!

The king's gray face turned dark.

He flew into the air, his voice low: "At least everyone came out."

"I shall go inspect it myself. Have the guard unit go rescue the people."

The queen followed silently beside him, while the little gray bird fluttered its wings: "I'm going too! I'm going too!"

Chujiu, who had not spoken until now, stepped forward: "Wait a moment!"

The large and small gray birds halted in mid-air, turning their heads in unison to look at this furry biped.

Chujiu produced several tiny [Avian-Specific Anti-Toxic Masks]:

"Even more formidable than my 'Mightily Powerful Raptor, Handsome and Dashing Swiftwing'!"

Looking from afar, one could see that the brownish soil had caved in to form a massive crater.

It would surely take a very long time to adapt.

Chujiu: "No, wait!"

"…We ourselves… learn to plant grapes? And brew wine?"

The Hopping Rabbit shook its head: "Hohohoh no, that's still not right either. Even if the soil is hauled up there, it will all be washed away the moment it rains…"

The Hopping Rabbit tilted its ears: "Hohohoh no, the soil on the mountain slopes here is too thin to grow any crops…"

Chujiu scratched his head, thinking to himself that if only he knew how to perform cross-talk…

…Perhaps because they had never been away from the celestial nectar since birth, they had never known that their singing was also connected to it.

He looked back at the Hopping Rabbit with its ears pricked up on the ground, Gululu floating beside the wild weeds, and Kakaba holding a small cradle, pointing toward the mountainside: "The mountains! The grapes back then must have been grown on the mountains!"

The large gray bird nodded gratefully to Chujiu, and having no time to ask for details at the moment, led the group rushing out of the "giant bird egg."

Seeing this, the queen gray bird gave orders once more that anyone without a mask was strictly forbidden from approaching this area, while she couldn't help but turn to Chujiu for advice:

Ah, ah, what should be done in this situation?

That was already an impossible feat.

In the end, Chujiu let out a long, helpless sigh.

"Ah, terraced fields are a kind of land like this—"

Until this very morning.

Where did the people of several centuries ago grow grapes, anyway?

"Gululu, these must all be parts of medium-sized structures; they were clearly carved out by humans…"

Setting aside Chujiu's desire to start work as quickly as possible, he simply couldn't bring himself to do something like "leaving the crying little gray bird behind."

The little gray bird: "…Hmm?"

Chujiu found the little gray bird in Swiftwing's room.

Kakaba tried to nudge it with its beak, but the little gray bird remained completely unresponsive;

Chujiu had originally thought that upon hearing this news, the little gray bird would instantly regain its spirit, perhaps even spring up from the bed, flap its wings, and shout loudly, "Chirp chirp chirp, then let's start right now!"

Chujiu rubbed the tip of his nose and did not speak immediately.

Gululu poked its head out and used its tentacles to form a heart shape, but the little gray bird remained completely unresponsive;

Centuries ago, there used to be a winery in this place.

Why did Chujiu know that wearing a mask would prevent dizziness?

It finally managed to rouse the depressed avian subjects back to high spirits.

Although the workload was substantial, it was by no means unfeasible!

Wait, although he didn't know how to perform cross-talk, he had that thing!

That's right, even without their favorite pastime, it wasn't as if they truly couldn't go on living.

Chujiu remembered the earnest promise made by the little gray bird's family: Since we have made a promise to you, we will definitely make the avians go to Bean Village to sing for you and help you farm!

"But, to say nothing of our guard unit, even the royal family can't sing anymore now, can they?"

The little birds of the guard unit landed one after another, lifting the fallen birds onto specially made small stretchers one by one.

"What should I do? I can't sing at all anymore, I can't sing anything anymore!"

One had to push aside wild weeds and skirt around trees to find scattered stone pillars, boulders, and rubble that didn't look like natural debris lying across the barren land.

Walking toward the palace, Chujiu could hear the weeping of the commoner gray birds.

These avians didn't even have a psychological counselor or anything; were they really just going to leave this little fellow here hanging and ignore him?

The little gray bird: "Wahaha, chirp chirp chirp! If my mom and dad disagree in the future, I can tell them that the title Chujiu chose for himself is even more unique than mine!"

However, the little gray bird raised its small head and looked blankly at Chujiu: "Chirp?"

The attendant gray bird told Chujiu that the valley where the king and queen had gone hunting was very far away, and it was expected to take several days for them to bring back the rock rabbits.

Once the royal avians confirmed that the "grotto" had completely collapsed and not a single drop of celestial nectar remained, they were all at their wits' end, and could only fly back in low spirits.

*

Chujiu: "…Wait, this…"

Chujiu: "…Huh?"

Chujiu: "…Ah?"

"It must be because I've finally met a biped who shares my tastes!"

Without celestial nectar, were the avians unable to sing?

That strange, sour taste—how could anyone possibly like drinking it?

The little gray bird was already flapping its wings and taking flight with tremendous energy: "Hooray! I'm full of strength all over right now!"

However, no matter how large and cool the cellar was dug, what use was it if qualified grapes could not be harvested?

The wind on the cliff carried the conversation of the little birds into his ears.

Indeed, the sunlight on the mountain was truly wonderful!

I didn't choose this title voluntarily, so please don't have any misconceptions about my aesthetic sense, hey!

Yet for the avians, this "celestial nectar," drunk cup by cup with every meal since early childhood, could be said to constitute a part of their lives. To have it suddenly snatched away…

Whether it was the Forgotten Forest or the foot of the mountain here, the problem lay not in the soil, but in the "sunlight."

"Mom and dad both dislike this title, but I knew it—only you, you would definitely understand how majestic this title is!"

Arriving at the collapsed site, several ashen little birds were indeed lying scattered on the grass nearby.

"Now I can't even sing. I'm just a useless, stupid bird, boo-hoo…"

Chujiu nodded, then said: "Gululu, can you use your little tentacles to probe that collapsed 'grotto'?"

This defied common sense.

Chujiu smiled: "Correct! Therefore, we are going to try building 'sloped terraced fields'!"

Every gray bird's face bore a look of listless despondency.

Soon, the guard unit carried away all the "casualties."

[Congratulations to the host for unlocking the hidden condition: 'Attempting to build facilities on different barren lands'! ]

The system paused for a few seconds before popping up another prompt:

Chujiu squatted down on the ground and said to Gululu: "Gululu, take a look at those stone pillars and boulders. Can you tell if there's anything special about them?"

"These sloped terraced fields allow the grapes to receive adequate sunlight, and furthermore, thanks to the sun heating the rocks by day and the rocks cooling at night, we can use this temperature difference to cultivate grapes with a better flavor!"

[Now the host only needs to secure the support of 'the manager of this region, or the legal heir of the manager,' to arrange for spiritual beasts to work alongside local residents in this region! ]

The queen gray bird landed beside him and gently nudged his head with her beak.

*

Little Canned Goods said nothing more, merely rubbing its furry little face gently against Chujiu's cheek.

Are there any other environments nearby suitable for growing grapes?

No wonder the little gray bird kept postponing the trip to Bean Village; it turned out he was practicing desperately, trying to find his singing voice.

After listening to this, Chujiu understood completely.

Thus, the attempt to "produce celestial nectar" was forced to halt at the very first step—obtaining the materials.

That way, there's no need to worry that after Hopping Rabbit, Gululu, and the others repair the facilities, the avians won't know how to use or maintain them!

The spiritual beasts instantly shrank their necks: That sounds really serious!

"What your avian race drinks…"

"I… used to sing pretty well, everyone liked listening to me sing…"

After a short while, Gululu "explored" and returned. Retracting its little tentacles and shaking its little leaves, it described the place to Chujiu in meticulous detail.

"If I'm not mistaken, if you fly over there, you'll pass out too. Please wear this beforehand."

"Where we come from, there is also terrain with drastic fluctuations, much like the Rock of Raging Winds. In order to grow food on such steep mountain slopes, we modified the slopes and turned them into 'terraced fields'!"

"The wine you speak of, although its color is somewhat similar to our celestial nectar, is entirely different in taste."

*

Unfortunately, this magical wine cellar that had stood quietly and proudly underground for hundreds of years had ultimately collapsed into an unusable crater due to years of disrepair and a lack of maintenance.

The little gray bird raised its head, stood stunned for quite a long moment, and then its eyes gradually brightened. Sniffling, it flapped its wings and lunged forward: "Chujiu!"

Chujiu pulled out a charcoal pencil and a wooden board from his backpack:

The king and queen had taken a team of gray birds to the valley to hunt rock rabbits.

Chujiu: "We can haul the soil from the foot of the mountain up there!"

In other words, as long as they secured the support of the king and the others, Hopping Rabbit and the rest could start working right now?

Just moments ago, Chujiu had tasted wild grapes during the banquet and heard the avians mention that "the overly intense aura of the celestial nectar was enough to cause them to tople to the ground." He had already guessed most of the truth in his heart, which was why he had the guards wear masks to avoid getting drunk.

The little gray bird slowly landed on the cushion woven from soft rabbit fur and wiped its eyes with the tips of its wings.

"There are also many kinds of terraced fields, such as level terraced fields, slope-interval terraced fields…"

Combined with the real scene he had later seen with his own eyes near the collapsed pit, as well as Gululu's description after probing the crevices with its tentacles, Chujiu confirmed: