Chapter 44: Waiting

One day, Feng Yu brought back some diamond crystals for Qi Yue. Of course, Feng Yu had no idea what they actually were. Qi Yue stared with glowing eyes at the fist-sized raw diamonds, feeling completely thrilled. Back in the modern world, she had only ever seen tiny little diamonds in shopping malls that cost hundreds of thousands of yuan, and her mother owned a single one-carat diamond ring that she never dared to wear. Even the smallest of these stones was many times larger than the Heart of the Ocean from Titanic. How could Qi Yue not be excited?

She told Feng Yu that diamonds were even scarcer than crystal stones and might one day become a currency far more precious than crystals. From then on, whenever they had free time, they would go to the place where Feng Yu had found the raw diamonds and dig around. In her modern days, she had heard stories about people going to South Africa to mine diamonds. She had never had the chance back then, but now, in this otherworldly realm, she had actually run into them, so she was determined to satisfy her craving.

Qi Yue had sensed the energy of the beast world's crystal stones and, judging by their melting point and hardness, they were quite similar to modern gemstones. The black stone tablet her father had left her strongly resembled obsidian. She wondered if she could find jade here. Jade usually formed at the collision zones of two continental tectonic plates, meaning it was mostly found within earthquake belts. Better not to think about it—the beast world was already primitive enough, and if she were to encounter an earthquake on top of that, wouldn't she essentially be cursing herself?

Hehe, why even think about such things? Did she seriously aspire to be an otherworldly jeweler? Although females adored anything shiny and bright, the current primitive era did not seem suited for that sort of enterprise.

Qi Yue spent her days happily hunting for treasures. Of course, the variety of these "treasures" was rather eclectic; anything she found useful or simply liked—whether it appealed to her modern soul or her beast-world soul—was considered a treasure.

Once, while chasing prey, Feng Yu inadvertently discovered a small, secluded hot spring. When he returned and mentioned it to his mate, Qi Yue excitedly urged him to take her there immediately. After that, every couple of days, she would have Feng Yu carry her there for a soak, which also saved Feng Yu the trouble of preparing bathwater.

One day, a small creature resembling a modern hedgehog darted out of the jungle and stole food from the vegetable patch she had transplanted. Catching sight of it, Qi Yue had Feng Yu capture it. She instructed him to scald it with boiling water so the fur would come off easily, but as soon as the boiling water hit, all the stiff quills fell right out. Qi Yue picked one up, inspected it, and beamed with delight. It was a natural sewing needle! The surface was smooth, the tip was sharp, and the tail—the part that originally penetrated the skin—actually had a tiny eye. Qi Yue named this little creature a "needle rat," seeing as it was about the same size as the bamboo rats Feng Yu usually caught.

Qi Yue had Feng Yu fish out all the quills and lay them on a large flat rock to dry in the sun. A few of them were slightly bent, and though Feng Yu wanted to throw those away, Qi Yue treated them like treasures, carefully drying and storing them. She even made a small purple bamboo cylinder specifically to hold the needles, boring a small hole at the top which she usually plugged with a soft cork.

However, after forty-nine days had passed, Chi Er still did not emerge. Qi Yue grew very worried. This meant her theory of the Great Derivation of Forty-nine was invalid. Just how long was he going to stay in there? Feng Yu had no idea either, so he could only stay by her side, comforting her and assuring her that Chi Er was doing well and was in no danger whatsoever.

With no other options, the two of them could only keep waiting. As time dragged on, Qi Yue clearly noticed that she was growing more restless than in previous days, so she desperately tried to find things to do to distract herself. Yet, for the life of him, she couldn't think of what to make next.

She had already woven straw mats, and made several pairs of straw sandals. She had also used the hide of a young calf Feng Yu had hunted to craft two pairs of soft leather boots for her trips into the jungle. Fruit wine had been brewed, and there were no more jars left to store any more of it. She was already weaving her fifth spider-silk blanket; apart from the white ones, each blanket was a different color.

Seeing her utterly bored out of her mind—and despite the occasional lingering rain showers—Feng Yu suggested they venture further out to explore more distant regions. With nothing better to do, Qi Yue agreed. Flying across three mountain ranges, they arrived at a new expanse of jungle. This time, Qi Yue wasn't holding out hope for any particular finds; she simply wanted to appreciate the surrounding scenery.

Even so, she still happened to stumble upon a wild purple ginseng that was over seven hundred years old. When she carefully dug up the entire plant, she was overjoyed and immediately asked Feng Yu to carve a wooden box to store it properly. This was a supreme tonic, calming to the mind and invigorating to the vital energy, capable of sustaining a person's life at a critical moment.

Following that, Qi Yue discovered a type of plant whose leaves and stems, when crushed, possessed an anesthetic effect. She carefully transplanted a few stalks back with her and collected all the surrounding ones she could find, grinding them into juice with a small stone pestle. She named this plant " anesthetic grass." Qi Yue thought to herself with a self-deprecating smile that her naming conventions were truly childish, but at least they were straightforward—you knew what it was used for just by hearing the name.

Qi Yue discovered new things every day, though she didn't bring most of them back. It felt more like she was giving Feng Yu a daily botany lesson. Feng Yu had an exceptional memory and could remember everything after Qi Yue explained it just once. Sometimes Qi Yue wasn't even aware she had already told him a certain fact, yet Feng Yu wouldn't remind her; he simply listened with infinite patience, finding her enthusiastic demeanor utterly charming.

And so, another sixty days passed, meaning the rainy season had ended, yet Feng Chi had still not returned. During the rainy season, Qi Yue had foraged numerous mushrooms, wood ears, and white fungus in the jungle, as the rainy season was the prime time for them to thrive. Now, she laid them all out to dry in the sun outside the cave. Earlier, she had simply strung the mushrooms together with tough grass inside the cave and hung them up to dry and prevent rotting. In the end, Qi Yue harvested six or seven sacks of various mushrooms, three sacks of wood ears, and two sacks of white fungus.

It was only then that Qi Yue realized she was acting just like a hamster, constantly hoarding and storing food. Qi Yue possessed a fused soul from two lives, yet deep down, she always felt a sense of insecurity. She figured her modern soul must be the dominant one, while her beast-world soul had previously lacked agency and simply accepted whatever fate dealt her. In this rather primitive beast world, leaving aside medical care and sanitation, she still found it difficult to adapt to the living conditions and meals. The dwellings were crude, the diet consisted primarily of meat, and a beastman ate around a hundred pounds of food a day. The only convenient part of traveling was that she could be carried by a beastman in flight, which was even more convenient than modern airplanes. Yet she always felt her survival lacked a guarantee, and for now, she had no way to completely rely on the beastmen the way native females of the beast continent did.

Although the Fire Phoenix's rank was currently very high, and she hadn't encountered any massive, dangerous creatures yet—while those venomous insects and snakes didn't dare approach her either—she still felt unsettled. She didn't know the exact reason, which drove her to frantically collect anything edible and useful.

Qi Yue recalled a modern saying: "Humans are social animals." It seemed they would still need to find a tribe and settle down. The greatest crises on the beast continent were natural disasters and beast tides, neither of which could be resisted by a single individual alone.

This was probably why her father and mother had had no choice but to choose Lu Yu. The larger tribes in the vicinity were only: Mo Qi, Qing Luan, Feng Yan, and Lu Yu, with the first three being single-species tribes. Hehe, she truly had to admire her father and mother's romance—they actually had the courage to abandon their own tribe for the sake of love.

What about Feng Yu? If she eventually accepted him, would he truly be content? Years later, would he hold any resentment toward her? Hehe, why was her mind wandering here? Could it be that because of his constant companionship during this time, he had already begun to influence her emotions?

In truth, she understood well in her heart that Feng Yu had invested genuine feelings in her. One only had to look at the way he gazed at her these days to understand everything. Those eyes held obsession, persistence, adoration, yearning, care, worry, and deep tenderness.

She had never been in a relationship in her modern world, so she had no idea how to romance someone, especially in this beast world where the two of them had essentially had a child first, married second, and were only now beginning to date. Let everything flow naturally!