Volume 1, Chapter 40: Maomao's Abnormality

Although Lin Yifan did not yet fully understand how much difference there was between the mutated king ginger and ordinary unmutated ginger, the fact that good-grade cultivating soil could cause plants to mutate was truly mind-boggling.

However, why hadn't the mugwort, mint, and wild blueberries he planted previously undergone any mutation?

Lin Yifan was utterly baffled.

Perhaps it was simply a matter of probability?

Since he couldn't figure it out, he decided not to dwell on it. Even if it was just a matter of probability, being able to mutate one king ginger meant he could potentially mutate other things as well.

Moreover, above the good-grade cultivating soil, there was superior-grade soil!

If he could acquire even better cultivating soil, the mutation probability might increase further.

However, ginger only required a small piece to reproduce. With such a massive king ginger, after setting aside what he needed to replant, a significant amount would still be left over.

Recently, quite a few people had caught colds and fevers from getting caught in the rain. Brewing more ginger soup in the evening would allow him to make a handsome profit using this king ginger.

After dividing the king ginger into several small pieces and planting them in ordinary-grade cultivating soil, Lin Yifan replanted the mugwort and mint back into the good-grade cultivating soil.

This way, by tonight, he would have more than enough materials to craft the [High-Efficiency Mosquito Repellent].

As for the medicinal herbs planted in the ordinary cultivating soil, although they were growing much better than when they were first planted, they still fell far short compared to the growth bonus provided by the good-grade cultivating soil.

It had been a full night, yet the blueberries that already bore flower buds when planted last night still had not finished fruiting.

Lin Yifan estimated that it would take at least three more days for this cluster of blueberries to fully ripen.

Calculated this way, the growth efficiency of the good-grade cultivating soil was more than three times higher than that of the ordinary soil.

It seemed that if the opportunity arose, he still needed to acquire higher-grade cultivating soil. He hadn't yet found good seeds for crops like wheat and rice, but once he did, he would definitely need to cultivate them properly.

As a person from China, living without wheat and rice felt utterly devoid of flavor and zest.

Especially since Lin Yifan was a southerner whose greatest love was steamed rice; having gone without it for just two or three days, he was already missing it terribly.

Once everything that needed transplanting was done, he thoroughly watered all the plants in the cultivating soil and finally let out a sigh of relief.

At that moment, however, he suddenly heard a series of "cooing" sounds nearby.

Turning his head quickly, he suddenly remembered that "Mao Mao," the golden eagle hatchling that had fallen into a deep sleep after breaking out of its shell, had finally woken up.

After Mao Mao fell asleep, Lin Yifan had fashioned a nest for it out of a cardboard box and lined it with a silk quilt!

He had been terrified that this precious little bundle would catch a cold!

In the middle of the night, he had even gotten up to check on Mao Mao, worried it might starve to death, and had even thought about feeding it some meat.

That's right, golden eagles ate meat!

They were entirely carnivorous animals, which explained why adult golden eagles were so fierce.

However, since Mao Mao hadn't woken up, and after carefully observing its healthy state and noticing that its feathers were becoming increasingly glossy even in sleep, Lin Yifan had finally set his mind at ease.

Seeing that Mao Mao was now awake, he hurried over to the box and discovered that, compared to its fragile appearance just yesterday upon hatching, Mao Mao had grown considerably.

When it first hatched yesterday, it was only the size of a fist, covered entirely in soft, limp down feathers, and hadn't even fully opened its eyes.

Today, however, the little creature had grown quite a bit, and a few small feathers had even sprouted among its down.

Its eyelids were fully open as well, and its golden eyes clearly radiated attachment toward Lin Yifan.

"Mao Mao, I didn't expect you to grow up so fast!"

Lin Yifan spoke with a hint of surprise. Having not spoken aloud for two or three days, he felt momentarily unaccustomed to the sound of his own voice.

It seemed that staying alone for too long could genuinely cause one's language skills to atrophy.

He would need to talk more often in the future; Mao Mao's arrival was truly timely.

Lin Yifan was quite astonished by the fact that Mao Mao had doubled in size overnight.

Normally, although birds grew faster than primates, it was impossible for them to grow this fast!

He had previously inquired around, and it took birds at least three to five days from hatching to open their eyes.

As for growing fine feathers, that usually took a week or more.

Yet Mao Mao had gone through the entire week-long growth process overnight.

How could Lin Yifan not be shocked?

Could it be because it ate its own eggshell?

That hypothesis clearly didn't hold up. For birds to eat their eggshells after hatching was a completely ordinary occurrence.

Other birds did the same, yet they didn't grow this fast simply from eating eggshells.

The only thing Lin Yifan had done to Mao Mao was drip a drop of mysterious blood onto the egg before it hatched—blood that might potentially awaken a special lineage in the fledgling.

After Mao Mao hatched, he had observed it closely, hoping to see what kind of special bloodline this little golden eagle would manifest.

Unfortunately, Lin Yifan could not detect any unusual signs at all, leading him to believe that the drop of mysterious blood had been ineffective.

Now, however, it was clear that Mao Mao had definitely awakened a special bloodline. Leaving everything else aside, its growth rate alone was enough to prove that this special bloodline was extraordinary.

At that moment, Mao Mao jumped out of the box, opened its beak at Lin Yifan, and continuously let out "coo, coo, coo" sounds.

There was a hint of impatience in the sound, mixed with a touch of affectionate greeting.

Although Lin Yifan couldn't understand the bird language, he could roughly guess that Mao Mao was hungry.

"Hungry, are you? Wait a moment, I'll get you some meat right now!"

Muttering to himself, Lin Yifan retrieved the wild boar meat that Hong Shaoqiang had traded to him the previous night from his spatial ring, and used an axe to slice the meat into fine shreds.

Meanwhile, Mao Mao was hopping up and down nearby, its tiny mung-bean-sized eyes staring at the meat shreds as if they were about to glow green.

Lacking the heart to let it suffer from hunger any longer, Lin Yifan quickly fed the meat shreds right to Mao Mao's beak.

After eagerly swallowing the few strands of meat, Mao Mao suddenly flapped its wings, leaped a good half-meter into the air, and snatched the remaining fist-sized chunk of wild boar meat straight out of Lin Yifan's hand in a single gulp.

Lin Yifan froze for a moment, instinctively reaching out to snatch it back.

It wasn't that he was stingy with the food; he was simply worried that a piece of meat that large would choke Mao Mao.

However, the moment he extended his hand, he watched as Mao Mao swallowed the entire chunk of wild boar meat down into its stomach in one go.

The speed of it was as smooth as certain brands of chocolate, leaving Lin Yifan completely dumbfounded.

Startled, he anxiously blurted out:

"Mao Mao, you just swallowed a piece of meat that huge?! Aren't you going to get indigestion from that?!"

In response, Mao Mao merely shot him a sideways glance, displaying a look of utter and complete disdain.

This left Lin Yifan utterly speechless, and he grumbled with exasperation:

"I'm worried about you, and you have the nerve to look down on me! Fine, I couldn't care less. If you choke to death, it's your own fault!"

Despite his harsh words, seeing that dawn was breaking, he picked Mao Mao up and tucked it safely into his shirt pocket.

Patting its little head, he instructed:

"Dawn is almost here, and I'm heading out to scavenge for supplies. Be a good boy and stay right here. Sleep if you want, and call me if you get hungry, understand?"

Mao Mao's intelligence was not low; based on Lin Yifan's judgment, it was roughly comparable to a seven or eight-year-old child.

Therefore, it fully understood what he was saying.

He would have preferred to leave Mao Mao behind in the shelter, but the little creature was still far too young, and he had no idea how often it needed to eat.

He was terrified that if he stayed out all day, he might literally starve Mao Mao to death!