Chapter 122 – Pao Xiao and Dang Hu
Tu Ran never thought she would one day see a chicken look shy.
Glancing at its weight, she guessed why it couldn’t fly.
She suddenly felt that she didn’t necessarily need this kind of subordinate.
Right now, it seemed that aside from gaining the pheasant leader’s trust, it wasn’t very useful.
Maybe she should just leave it here.
She could find another suitable candidate.
“Are you going to abandon Pangpang?”
Feeling guilty, Tu Ran instinctively denied, “No.”
“That’s good. Then go find something for Pangpang to eat. Pangpang is hungry.”
Tu Ran bit her lip. What should she do? She felt like shooting it.
“If Pangpang eats, Pangpang will recover quickly. Pangpang has great recovery ability and can heal in a day.”
The plump pheasant monster was unaware of the life-and-death situation it was in.
A day, Tu Ran thought, touching her chin. If it could recover in a day, it might be worth keeping an eye on it.
“What do you eat?” Tu Ran asked.
“I eat anything,” Pangpang said proudly, patting its belly with its wing.
Tu Ran looked at the ground seriously. “Well, you said you eat anything, right? Here’s some dirt. Eat it.”
Pangpang’s beady green eyes filled with insulted sadness. “You two-legged beasts are so mean! You’re bullying Pangpang!”
Tu Ran sneered. “Didn’t you say you’d eat anything?”
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!”
Pangpang puffed up.
The feathers on its neck stood on end, looking fierce, and the black eyebrows above its eyes furrowed like an angry, fluffed-up bird.
Tu Ran stopped teasing it and turned to walk into the dense forest nearby.
She had food in her backpack, but there wasn’t much. She planned to stay in the wilderness for a while longer, so she needed to conserve as much as possible.
With its body dimensions nearly equal in length, width, and height, that bit of food would be gone in one meal for the chubby creature.
So it was better to find something more suitable for it to eat.
When Tu Ran had previously read its memories, she had seen some of its eating scenes and had some impressions of the food it could eat.
For instance, a type of melon with red skin and black flesh.
Tu Ran had seen this type of melon in the forest.
She retraced her steps and, after only a few steps, she indeed saw many red fruits at the top of a tree.
The fruits were larger than a human head and had red skin.
These fruits had been brought back by pioneers before and were documented in the research institute.
Tests had shown that they were not poisonous and were quite nutritious.
The reason they were not included in the pioneer team’s diet was that they were extremely bitter.
A bitterness that humans simply could not tolerate.
Tu Ran climbed up the tree, twisted, and picked one melon.
The melon was heavier than she had expected.
Tu Ran estimated that just one melon wouldn’t be enough to fill the pheasant monster.
She needed to pick a few more.
Looking at the height from the ground, she realized that dropping them might smash them.
Tu Ran took a rope from her backpack, wrapped it around the melon, and carefully lowered it.
Then she pulled the rope back up and found three more melons in succession.
With four head-sized melons, Tu Ran estimated that it might not be enough to fill it completely, but it should at least be half-full.
Climbing down from the tree, Tu Ran carried two melons back to where Pangpang was.
Pangpang was lying flat on the ground, legs in the air, comfortably swinging its feet.
Having someone to find food for it was fantastic!
It even wanted to become the leader!
Seeing its leisurely manner, Tu Ran suddenly wondered if she had gained a subordinate or if she had gone to be someone else’s subordinate.
“Eat up!” Tu Ran threw the melons in front of it, speaking irritably.
Pangpang sat up quickly and, upon seeing the melons, exclaimed with joy, “Pangpang loves red-skin melons the most!”
It used its wings to skillfully crack the melon on the ground, splitting it in half.
The inside revealed green flesh.
It pecked at the flesh with its beak, eating with great enjoyment.
In no time, it finished half of the melon and, while switching to the other half, it said, “Pangpang could never reach such melons before because I couldn’t fly.”
Tu Ran watched it eat, its mouth covered in green juice, and began to doubt if the melon was really as bitter as legend had it.
Why did it seem to be enjoying it as if the melon were incredibly sweet?
Was it a difference in taste between humans and this creature?
Since she had eaten the inner core of the Gu Diao (the chicken monster), would she also find this melon sweet?
With this in mind, Tu Ran looked at another melon.
Using a knife, she cut a small piece of the green flesh.
It didn’t look very appetizing.
But she still wanted to try it.
Tu Ran put it in her mouth, prepared for the worst.
Unexpectedly, or perhaps predictably, the flesh was not bitter at all but slightly sweet.
It was very juicy, filling her mouth, quenching her thirst, and satisfying her hunger.
It turned out that the Gu Diao’s inner core was the hidden treasure.
By swallowing the Gu Diao’s inner core, she could eat many foods in the wilderness, alleviating her concern about staying there long without sustenance.
“I picked two more. Stay here while I go get them,” Tu Ran said, standing up.
Hearing there were two more, Pangpang’s eyes lit up.
It was truly great to follow the two-legged beast and be able to eat to its heart’s content.
“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!”
It wanted to follow the two-legged beast forever!
Tu Ran had already left, returning to where she had picked the melons.
From a distance, she saw the two melons she had picked still lying quietly.
As she approached, she noticed a black shadow behind the tree.
A large mass, hiding behind the tree trunk.
Its tail was not fully concealed, more than half of it was exposed, swaying back and forth.
It was guarding the two melons, waiting for its prey to come closer.
Tu Ran quickly retreated, running toward the oblivious Pangpang.
Pangpang was still eating the second melon.
“Stop eating! There’s a black-tailed creature over there, we need to go now.”
Pangpang lifted its head from the melon flesh, “Black tail? Is it a Pao Xiao?”
“I don’t know.”
Tu Ran said quickly, yanking the melon out of its grasp and throwing it away. She turned her back to it and bent her knees slightly.
“Get on quickly.”
Pangpang was shocked by her action, incredulous, “Are you going to carry Pangpang?”
“Less talk! If you don’t want me to leave you here, get on now!”
Startled by her shout, Pangpang sat there, feeling wronged, “Don’t leave Pangpang behind. The Pao Xiao will eat Pangpang.”
“Then get on quickly!” Tu Ran was about to lose her patience.
“Oh.”
Finally, it climbed onto Tu Ran’s back.
Its wings firmly gripped her shoulders.
“Boss, boss, run this way. This is our Dang Hu territory.” Pangpang directed from atop Tu Ran’s head.
So the pheasant monster was actually called a “Dang Hu.”
“Are you sure your territory is so formidable? Can it really intimidate it?”
Tu Ran worried about leading the wolf into the sheepfold.
“Of course it can!” Pangpang said confidently, “Dang Hu live in flocks. In Dang Hu territory, there are many adult Dang Hu birds. They are very strong. The Pao Xiao, being alone, can’t defeat a group of adult Dang Hu.”
Following Pangpang’s direction, Tu Ran ran in the indicated direction.
thank you for chapters 🌤️