Chapter 7: The Cotton Sheep

Chujiu understood the confusion in Little Can’s eyes.

He pulled his "special weapon" from his backpack and explained, "The fruit on this tree is a specialty of the Forest of Oblivion, called the 'Cotton Sheep.'"

"It’s actually a type of plant."

"Look at those big, fluffy clumps. Don't they look just like cotton?"

"The pulp beneath that 'cotton' tastes exactly like genuine lamb."

Little Can’s mouth fell open, its tiny cat face filled with shock and disbelief: *What? Really?*

Chujiu chuckled and loaded his slingshot with a water balloon he had crafted from a fish bladder, now filled with clear water.

"These fruits grow too high up, and the trunks are covered in slippery moss, making them impossible to climb."

"But if you drench them with a little water, the Cotton Sheep become heavy and fall from the branches on their own."

"We just need to hit the Cotton Sheep with these water balloons."

Chujiu squinted, trying to aim the slingshot at the swaying tufts of cotton high in the canopy.

Little Can gave a soft meow, as if saying: *It sounds bizarre, but... good luck.*

Chujiu took a deep breath, pulled the rubber band back to its limit—and fired!

*Plop!*

The first water balloon hit the tree trunk. The water splashed out, soaking the moss.

Little Can: ...This human is a bit of a klutz.

Chujiu: "Ahem. Just a slight miscalculation."

In truth, Chujiu wasn't very skilled with a slingshot. Moreover, the Cotton Sheep were high up and dancing in the wind. He took out another water balloon and whispered, "This one will hit for sure!"

*Plop!*

The second balloon hit a branch. It was higher than the first, but unfortunately, it still missed the Cotton Sheep.

Chujiu scratched his head: "Shooting is really hard."

Little Can shook its head in despair: *No, no, this human is hopeless.*

With a meow, it leaped from its pouch onto Chujiu’s arm, waving its four short legs frantically: *Let me do it! Let me!*

Curiously, Chujiu understood the little creature's gestures: "You’re saying... I should hold the slingshot, and you’ll take care of aiming and pulling the band?"

Little Can nodded.

Chujiu: "This band is very tight. You’re so tiny, how will you manage to pull it..."

Little Can let out an indignant "Awoo," its whiskers twitching as its round eyes narrowed into cartoonish semicircles: *What did you say?*

Seeing the little guy getting angry, Chujiu laughed. "Alright, let’s try it your way."

He held the slingshot in his right hand, while Little Can braced itself against his forearm, gripping the rubber band in its mouth and holding the water balloon with its front paws, straining backward...

Little Can looked up at the constantly swaying Cotton Sheep, its icy blue eyes narrowing slightly before it let go.

*Thwack!*

A direct hit.

The balloon burst, and the water cascaded out, soaking the cotton.

Heavy with moisture, the Cotton Sheep plummeted and landed with a soft *thud* on the grass.

Chujiu cheered in surprise: "You hit it! Wow, Little Can, you’re amazing!"

Little Can licked its paw with an air of nonchalance: *Hmph, that was nothing.*

*I remember back in shooting class...*

*Wait.*

*Have I... used a gun before? Have I hit anything?*

*I can't remember...*

Chujiu excitedly patted Little Can’s head: "Let’s keep going! We still have plenty of water balloons!"

***

Half an hour later, Chujiu had harvested 10 Cotton Sheep Fruits and 20 Cotton Sheep Skins.

[Cotton Sheep Fruit: No matter how experienced the gourmet, they will insist: This is top-tier lamb! Who would believe this is actually a plant...]

[Cotton Sheep Skin: The outer layer of the fruit, used exactly like sheepskin. Because of this, just like real hide, it must be tanned before it can be made into leather goods.]

Unfortunately, the wool—that outer layer of "cotton"—withered away completely once the fruit hit the ground, making it impossible to collect.

However, Chujiu was more than satisfied with the harvest.

"That's enough," he told Little Can with a wide grin. "Besides the lamb for Cheng Yue, we’ll have plenty left over!"

"The meat is for eating, and we can make leather jackets from these skins. They’ll be incredibly useful when winter comes!"

Little Can felt immensely proud.

It tried its best to remain stoic, refusing to show how pleased it was, instead walking in circles around the Cotton Sheep with a grave expression, occasionally glancing at Chujiu as if to say: *See? This is all my hard work!*

Just as Chujiu was about to praise the "serious" little cat, a system notification popped up:

[Host has collected over 10 types of materials. Map exploration range has expanded.]

[Regional exploration progress increased to 0.2%.]

[Host level increased. You are now a Level 2 Explorer.]

[Please don't get complacent, keep up the good work.]

Ah! The exploration progress had increased! And his own level had gone up too!

Chujiu, already in high spirits, was now absolutely delighted. He scooped Little Can up and couldn't resist rubbing his head against its tiny forehead:

"This is great! The exploration progress is up!"

"Little Can, this is all thanks to you!"

"I'll go catch some blunt-head fish later and make you some fresh fish soup!"

Little Can was about to raise a paw to protest this sudden "face-rubbing" ritual, but at the mention of "fresh fish soup," it immediately forgot to fight back.

By the time it snapped out of it, its fur was all ruffled.

Little Can chided the human in its heart for having no manners, while secretly thinking: *Fresh fish soup? What does that taste like?*

***

Bean Village. Cheng Yue’s wooden cabin.

Chujiu took one [Cotton Sheep Fruit] from his bag and placed it on the table.

The ingredient looked exactly like a small lamb leg, its skin fresh, red, and moist, with beautiful marbling.

Cheng Yue was both surprised and delighted, exclaiming that she hadn't expected Chujiu to return with a leg of lamb so quickly.

As they were talking, someone opened the door to the inner room—

A thin, small boy stood in the doorway, looking shy and curious. "Sister, do we have guests?"

This must be Cheng Yue’s younger brother, Cheng Lin.

Cheng Yue quickly said, "It’s Brother Chujiu, who Ah Man mentioned—this Brother Chujiu helped us find the freshest lamb."

Cheng Lin let out a "Wow," turning his face toward the sound, and finally smiled at the empty air. "Thank you, Brother Chujiu!"

Chujiu had realized a moment ago that Cheng Lin’s eyes were covered in a white mist; it seemed he was blind.

He walked over gently, crouched down, and said, "You're very welcome."

As Cheng Yue asked for instructions on how to cook the meat, she brought out a pair of socks and a roll of cloth she had prepared for Chujiu, adding a large handful of beans for good measure.

The fabric was rough, coarse linen, just like the clothes the siblings wore, a far cry from the soft cotton fabric Chujiu wore.

But the socks were thick, warm, and made of wool.

Cheng Yue explained that she had woven the cloth and the socks herself, adding that they would be very useful once the weather turned cold.

Chujiu was curious about where the wool came from, since there were no sheep in the village. As for the linen, he had seen the flax fields in the village, with their pretty, pale blue flowers.

Cheng Yue said, "Wool only comes from the town; we rely on traveling merchants to bring it to us."

It turned out that, besides farming beans and corn, Cheng Yue would buy wool from merchants to weave, then trade the finished goods for other supplies.

Chujiu asked casually, "Do you know how to weave cloth from cotton?"

Although there was no cotton in the "Forest of Oblivion" map, he would surely be able to collect this versatile crop in the next map.

Cheng Yue shook her head. "Cotton? Weaving cloth from flowers? I’ve never heard of that..."

She thought for a moment. "There’s a market tomorrow. Perhaps you could ask Aris—the merchant who comes to the village to trade. He travels to many places and has seen many things."

***

Chujiu wasn't too surprised that Cheng Yue had never seen cotton.

It confirmed his earlier suspicion: the people of this world, or at least this village, had a "technology tree" quite different from ancient China; it felt more like medieval Europe on Earth.

In medieval Europe, cotton was rare, and most regions grew flax and nettles. Ordinary people’s clothing was primarily made of coarse, stiff linen.

Perhaps that well-traveled merchant had heard of cotton and cotton cloth?

Chujiu decided to ask.

Besides inquiring about cotton, he also wanted to buy other daily necessities, like blankets, iron pots, and kitchen knives.

But for now...

The most important task was to make a pot of delicious fish soup to reward Little Can!

***

On the way back to Bean Village after picking the Cotton Sheep, Chujiu caught two more dim-witted blunt-head fish and found [Scallions] and [Ginger] by the stream.

These two hadn't mutated at all; they looked exactly like the scallions and ginger from Earth.

Chujiu remembered laughing to himself when he checked the encyclopedia earlier: *Aren't these just the scallions and ginger from the grocery store? That’s not very creative.*

Fortunately, these "uncreative" materials didn't require any special collection methods; he could easily harvest them with a shovel.

He washed and chopped the scallions, peeled and sliced the ginger, and cut half a blunt-head fish into three-centimeter chunks before tossing them into the water.

Before long, the water boiled.

The fish soup naturally turned a milky white, bubbling away and filling the air with the aroma of fish.

The scent tempted Little Can to stand up and stretch its neck, peering at the pot every now and then.

Though it didn't say a word and maintained a "I'm not in a hurry" look on its cat face, Chujiu could tell exactly what the little guy was thinking: *When is dinner ready? When is dinner ready?*

Chujiu gently tapped its wet little nose. "Almost ready, don't worry."

Little Can turned its face away. *Hmph, I wasn't worried! I wouldn't be in a hurry for something like fish soup!*

Chujiu smiled to himself as he sliced the lamb, skewered it on a branch with the fat and lean meat alternating, rubbed it with salt, and set it over the fire.