Chapter 22: The Excellent Pig
The mushroom forest was chilly and humid. With a lake nearby, mosquitos were a dime a dozen.
Sun Yuan had been hiding and squatting within the grass for an hour as he waited for his prey. He had sustained over a dozen mosquito bites but endured and remained in position.
As the saying goes, no pain, no gain!
There were two methods to clear this game.
The first method requires poking all the honeydew mushrooms he finds with a stick to check if they will explode. However, this takes too much time.
There were too many explosive mushrooms in the forest. Even if the players risked their lives, they might not even gather 300 mushrooms in three days.
The second method utilizes a fragrant pig to seek out the honeydew mushrooms.
Like how pandas eat bamboo, this breed of fragrant pig here eats honeydew mushrooms.
Nature is miraculous; every species has a natural predator. He didn’t know how the fragrant pig did it. Still, they could detect and differentiate a honeydew mushroom from an explosive mushroom.
While he didn’t know where their nest was, he had seen Animal Planet before. He knew how wild animals would approach a body of water and decided to hide nearby for his prey.
Two hours passed.
Sun Yuan’s phone was at 75%, and he had tons of movies and novels downloaded. Although he could have entertained himself with his phone, he didn’t.
He ignored all the mosquito bites and stared silently at the lakeside.
“Sun Yuan, trust your own judgment. You’re not wrong!”
He encouraged himself with a pep talk.
He thought back to how predators in the show hid for hours as they waited for their prey.
Now that his life had detracted from the civilization he knew, he had to learn how to endure, preserve, and recover from setbacks if he wanted to survive in the world.
Sun Yuan adjusted his mind while he waited.
There were monkeys, sika deer, and even wild boars, but they were not who he was waiting for.
The wind started blowing.
The sky grew dark, and it seemed like it was about to rain.
He suddenly heard a rustling sound nearby.
Looking over, he saw a one-foot-long chubby fragrant pig trotting over to the lake with his stubby legs.
“It’s here!”
Sun Yuan regained his focus as he stared at the clump of red hair on its head. He found it funny how it was simultaneously ugly and cute.
Actually, Silver Trojan had provided them with a hint to clear this game.
There was a nursery rhyme called the little girl that picks mushrooms.
When everyone heard that the game was called the little red riding hood that picks mushrooms, they assumed that it was a play on the nursery rhyme.
There was a fairy tale in Europe known as the little red riding hood.
And the little red riding hood was a little girl.
But in fact, the little red riding hood referred to the fragrant pig with a clump of red hair on its head. The game tested the players on their observational and association abilities.
Sun Yuan lowered his body to the ground and held his breath.
He then slowly took out the Hunting boomerang from his back.
Although the fragrant pig was drinking from the lake, it maintained its vigilance. It looked up around itself every few sips.
The second time it lowered its head to drink from the lake, Sun Yuan threw the Hunting boomerang with all his strength at the fragrant pig.
Swish!
The hunting boomerang sliced through the air as it headed towards the fragrant pig.
Sun Yuan wasn’t idling after he threw the boomerang. He dashed out immediately to block off the fragrant pig’s retreat. However, it seemed like he was too cautious.
Squeak!
The little fragrant pig cried out as it fell to the ground.
Sun Yuan sprinted and lifted the pig by its hind leg into the air.
“Got it!”
He didn’t let his happiness get in the way of his action. He quickly tied up the fragrant pig’s legs with his belt to prevent it from escaping. He then retrieved his Hunting boomerang that landed in the bush.
He was very grateful to Chu Yuntao for his freebies. Sun Yuan would have had to use the Angry slingshot to catch the fragrant pig without his gifts. The problem he faced was the difficulty in controlling the slingshot’s power.
Furthermore, the explosive effect of the bird projectile on its target might kill the fragrant pig instead.
With his trophy in hand, Sun Yuan managed to find a three-meter-long vine that he used to loop around the little fragrant pig’s neck.
“Come on, be nice. I promise I’ll let you go if you help me find 100 honeydew mushrooms.”
As he didn’t have anything to eat on him, he grabbed a bunch of grass to feed the pig.
It turned its head in disgust.
Sun Yuan laughed but didn’t take it to heart.
“Be obedient, or I’ll be having roast pork for dinner.”
Noting the time when he checked his phone, he was worried Zhen Yu would be panicked at his long absence.
He got to work right away and began picking honeydew mushrooms on his way back to Zhen Yu.
Sun Yuan was able to work around the low intellect of the little fragrant pig.
All he had to do was to push its head towards a mushroom. If it was an explosive mushroom, the little fragrant pig would squirm and struggle to get away from the threat.
After a few more attempts, the little fragrant pig finally understood that the two-legged being was searching for honeydew mushrooms.
It was the best in the business when it came to honeydew mushrooms.
It started working its magic as its nose sniffled around for the scent of honeydew mushrooms.
…
Taking precautions against snakes, Zhen Yu climbed up a six-meter tall mushroom onto the mushroom cap the size of an opened umbrella. She sat hugging her knees as she looked in the direction of the lake.
Remote and deserted areas like this forest are creepy and eerie.
“If only I can conduct a live stream here, my popularity will shoot through the roof!”
Zhen Yu muttered as she habitually took out a piece of chocolate. She was about to remove the wrappers but held herself back.
I should save it for senior!
It’s okay if I miss a few meals. It’s not like I’m doing much as a dead weight.
Zhen Yu was bored, but she couldn’t fall asleep.
Neither could she bear to waste her phone’s battery; she could only sit there in silence. Just as she was on the verge of turning into an Amah Rock, she heard a gentle but powerful voice.
“Zhen Yu!”
Swish!
Her back straightened at the call.
“It’s senior!”
Zhen Yu was elated. She stood up hastily and got through the gap in the mushroom cap. She then hugged and slid down the mushroom stem.
“Senior, I’m over here!”
She ran towards Sun Yuan and let out a sigh of relief when she was sure he wasn’t hurt, “Why were you away for so long?”
Her gaze landed on the little fragrant pig.
“Haha, what kind of pig is this? Why is there a clump of red hair on the crown of its head?”
“Did anything big happen?”
Sun Yuan asked.
“I counted three waves of students with varying degrees of injuries among them. They were also searching for the mushrooms with a long branch.”
She reported, “And the mushrooms exploded on contact!”
“Okay.”
Sun Yuan nodded.
“Senior, I probed, and they told me that honeydew mushrooms were scarce. None of them managed to find a single one so far; what should we do?”
Zhen Yu was anxious.
Their situation was equivalent to searching for some wheat seedlings within several acres of plantations. They were basically searching for a needle in the haystack; it was going to take a long time.
“We should search for some high-protein food and sleep for eight hours. We need to keep our body fed and rested.”
Sun Yuan already had a plan prepared.
“Huh?”
Zhen Yu was confused, “What about the mushrooms?”
“I’ve already found enough for two!”
Sun Yuan slightly smiled.
“Ah?”
Zhen Yu’s eyes rounded and asked with doubt, “How did you find them?”
“Using this fellow.”
Sun Yuan tugged on the leash made of vine.
Squeak!
The little fragrant pig let out a dissatisfied cry.
“This…”
Scratching her head, Zhen Yu smiled sheepishly, “Senior, I don’t understand.”
She couldn’t connect the pig to the mushroom.
Sun Yuan then explained it to her.
Zhen Yu was stunned when she heard the story, and her gaze towards him changed drastically. It was as though she was laying eyes on a deity.
“Senior, are you really human?”
She was amazed.
However, Sun Yuan gently smacked her on the head.
Pah!
“What nonsense are you sprouting this time?”
He frowned.
“Aren’t you a monster in disguise?”
Zhen Yu defended herself, “You didn’t see how those people look just now. They looked as though they were 10,000,000 yuan in debt; they could collapse any moment.”
“On the other hand, you easily found six honeydew mushrooms.”
Zhen Yu suddenly felt blissful when she stopped talking.
It turned out that there was nothing to worry about.
Senior would carry me all the way!
“It’s merely luck.”
Sun Yuan was modest.
“I also want your luck!”
The four hours Zhen Yu waited felt like four years as she worried about the honeydew mushrooms. In the end, the problem was solved the moment senior came back.
Wait.
Isn’t meeting senior my greatest blessing?
How else would I be able to leisurely clear the game?
Arriving at such a conclusion, Zhen Yu mischievously placed her palms together and prayed towards Sun Yuan. “Bodhisattva Sun, I want a boyfriend with a huge beep. Please grant me my wish!”
Zhen Yu had a pious look on her face.
Seeing this, Sun Yuan couldn’t help but laugh.
Who the heck would censor their wish?
“Hee hee, senior, why don’t I hold the leash for you?”
Zhen Yu looked toward the little fragrant pig and sighed, “I thought this was our dinner tonight!”
“Don’t get too carried away. It isn’t time to celebrate yet!”
Sun Yuan warned.
“Of course, I understand!”
She realized she was getting careless and quickly brought herself under control, “What now? Are we looking for food?”
“Yeah, we’ll hunt our dinner and pick mushrooms at the same time.”
Deciding on a direction, Sun Yuan set off.
“Senior is a good guy!”
Zhen Yu praised. He was obviously picking mushrooms for the others.
“I’m not that great.”
Sun Yuan gave a stifled smile, “I just want to earn some points!”
“Earn some points?”
Zhen Yu was startled but reacted quickly, “You’re selling the mushrooms?”
“That’s right. Since Cui Xueren had cheated many points from the students, I would be letting him down if I didn’t bask in his glory.”
Sun Yuan sneered.
10,000 points per mushroom, don’t you dare complain it’s expensive!
You aren’t getting any discount!
~~~
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