Chapter 21: What a Sly Fox

Turning my head, I saw Shaobing struggling to break free from the briar patch, only to be entangled by one thorny vine after another, covered in bloody welts in the blink of an eye.

Qin Bainian and his two sons rushed over with shovels, hacking away at the thicket until they finally managed to rescue Shaobing. Seeing the sorry state of the dog, Tiegou grew quiet, burying his head into Qin Xiaoyu’s arms.

*Ah, Master smells so good!*

Daxia, unfazed by his mother’s lashes earlier, was truly frightened by Shaobing’s appearance; his crying stopped abruptly.

“Brother Daxia, this world has changed. Monsters will appear from now on, and they love to eat humans and animals alike.” I sized him up and added, “Even though you’re thin and don’t have much meat on your bones, they love bone meal just as much.”

Daxia: ...

Daxia’s eyes widened, momentarily terrified, though he still couldn’t quite grasp the gravity of the situation. The fear lasted only a second before turning into excitement; his expression and gestures shifted, and he began acting like the Monkey King.

“Watch the Great Sage!”

Qin Xiaoyu’s mouth twitched. She turned to look at her mother, and meeting that cold, grim face, she silently shifted her gaze to her father.

Qin Baisong: ...

Why are you looking at me?

“Looking at you because your son takes after you,” An Xian huffed.

Qin Baisong glanced at his son, looked around for a stick, and finally broke off a branch from a mango tree.

*You brat, let me show you who’s boss.*

*You’ve made your mother look at me with disdain. With my high IQ, how could I have such a stupid son?*

Seeing the situation turn dire, Daxia shivered in fear and tried to bolt, but his short legs didn’t get him far before he was caught. What awaited him was another sound thrashing.

Only after the boy was sufficiently cowed did Qin Baisong turn to his mother and ask, “Mom, are you sure my son wasn’t switched at birth?”

Grandma Qin: ...

Grandma Qin chuckled. “Daxia is carved from the same mold as you. Even if he weren’t your biological son, it would still be fate.”

An Xian nodded in agreement. “I was just saying he takes after you.”

Qin Baisong: ...

*No, a stupid son is nothing like me.*

*It’s one thing to have a slow brain, but he doesn’t even have the looks to make up for it.*

“Look! Is that the olive tree?” Fan Zhenzhen suddenly exclaimed, pointing toward the sky ahead.

Everyone instinctively looked up and saw a towering tree; even from a distance, it was heavy with green olives. It was only June—were the olives ripening already?

“Let’s go, but be careful,” Qin Bainian said, frowning. For some reason, he had a bad feeling. He wasn’t the only one; everyone else felt a sense of impending danger the moment they laid eyes on the tree.

Qin Xiaoyu looked up, her eyelids twitching, and her expression flickered with shock. Noticing the red glow was quite deep, she realized it was likely at least a Level 2 mutation. She quickly shared her discovery.

The group’s expressions changed instantly.

“What should we do? Should we go?” Qin Bainian asked.

“Will it be very dangerous?” Gu Suyun frowned, looking worriedly at the two elders and the two children. She couldn't help but glance at the dog and the goose as well.

An Xian tapped her oversized frying pan with a serious look. “We go. How could we not? Level 1 mutated plants are everywhere now, and in half a month, they’ll be ubiquitous, with Level 2s becoming common. If we’re afraid now, how will we cope later? Do we want the whole family to end up as fertilizer together?”

The words were blunt but true, and no one backed down.

Fan Zhenzhen felt a deep curiosity gnawing at her like a kitten. How did Aunt An know so much about mutated plants? The question reached the tip of her tongue, but she subconsciously swallowed it back.

The mountain path after the rain was overgrown with plants, each taller than the last. Many grasses grew taller than a person, making the trail difficult to navigate. What should have been a ten-minute climb took nearly an hour.

Strangely, while the mountainside was choked with vegetation, the summit itself was clear. Looking around, aside from a small bamboo grove pushed to the edge, there was nothing but the old olive tree.

“According to the map, the pet beast egg should be at the base of the trunk.”

Fan Zhenzhen stood on her tiptoes, peering intently at the base. Suddenly, she saw something, her eyes widening in horror as if she had seen a ghost.

Following her gaze, the others didn't notice anything at first, but a closer look broke them out in a cold sweat. The gnarled roots of the old olive tree were deceptive; what looked like a root was actually a snake as thick as an adult man's arm. It had been tightly constricted by the roots, seemingly having struggled for a long time before finally dying there.

“Is that a king cobra?” An Xian asked.

“Yes, it’s a king cobra.” Old Qin, with his wealth of experience, recognized it immediately. It was rare to see one that thick; usually, they reached the thickness of a wrist, but this one was as thick as an arm.

“Aren’t these snakes usually cunning and alert? How could it be so dull as to not notice the roots and get itself trapped?” Grandma Qin asked, baffled.

“Is there a possibility it wasn’t dull, but simply didn’t have the time to react?”

[Congratulations to the host for finding the target. Please proceed to slit open the snake's belly and retrieve your reward.]

Fan Zhenzhen: ...

*What did you say? Say that again!*

*Pfft!*

Qin Xiaoyu couldn't help it, but this time she wasn't laughing—she was stunned. *This is a system? It’s clearly a troll.*

“What’s wrong?” An Xian asked, looking down at her daughter.

Qin Xiaoyu didn’t answer, turning her head to look at Fan Zhenzhen.

Fan Zhenzhen felt inexplicably guilty and anxious. “The system just said my reward is inside the belly of that dead snake.”

An Xian: ...

Everyone: ...

*What a troll. Are you sure this is a system?*

“So, are you going to get it?” An Xian asked.

Fan Zhenzhen shook her head like a rattle. “I don’t want to. I don’t want this reward anymore.”

Just as she finished, the system’s voice rang out again.

[Main mission initiated: Hatch the pet beast egg provided by the system. Upon completion, you will be rewarded with a pet taming rune.]

Fan Zhenzhen shivered, her face stiffening. “Well... although I don’t want it, the system says if I hatch this egg, it will reward me with a pet taming rune.”

Even though she had spent her first sixteen years on compulsory education and various hobbies, never finding time to read many novels, she knew what a “Beast Tamer” was. The online games she played in secret weren’t fake; her favorite thing was to have a team of battle beasts at her side and engage in group fights.

Unfortunately, every time she spent money on the game, she was caught, and her parents would take turns yelling at her over video calls from thousands of miles away, before remotely accessing her computer to delete her accounts.

She couldn't look back on it.

The moment she did, even though she missed them, she felt angry—so angry she didn't even want to see them.

The group looked at each other. They had to admit, the reward was very tempting.