Supernatural Ability

"Hey, don't run!"

In the small courtyard enclosed by a simple wooden fence, Xiao Yan was running after a butterfly on her short little legs.

Lu Qing sat on a stone stool, holding a plant with tiny red flowers in his hand and examining it.

At that moment, in his field of vision, the plant with red flowers was giving off a faint white glow, and two lines of text appeared above it.

Cow Bone Grass: Average quality, can be used medicinally.

It seemed quite effective for bone injuries and might come in handy when wounded.

After spending some time on it, Lu Qing had more or less figured out what the words before his eyes meant.

Simply put, perhaps because he had transmigrated, he had gained a Supernatural Ability.

At present, the main manifestation of this ability was that as long as he focused his gaze on an object, after a certain amount of time, the object would emit a layer of light and display a simple written description.

Moreover, the longer his gaze lingered, the more information he could obtain. But that information was not unlimited; it seemed to follow some kind of standard.

For now, Lu Qing guessed that this standard was related to the light emitted by the objects.

For objects with gray light, no matter how long he looked, there would only be one line of description.

Objects with white light, on the other hand, had two or more lines of description.

And this Cow Bone Grass in Lu Qing's hand was the only plant he had found around the small courtyard that gave off white light.

What was this, a game interface? Lu Qing recalled some exploration games he had occasionally played in his previous life.

After thinking for a moment, he beckoned. "Xiao Yan, come here for a moment."

"Big brother, what is it?"

The little girl scampered over eagerly.

"Let Big Brother have a look at you."

Lu Qing helped the little girl remove the dried grass stuck in her hair and lowered his gaze to her face.

After a while, a faint white glow appeared around Xiao Yan, and a line of text floated above her.

Lu Xiaoyan: A human cub, female.

What kind of lousy description was that?!

Several black lines seemed to appear across Lu Qing's forehead.

But he continued looking.

After another while, another line appeared.

A pitiful human cub. She seemed to be a little malnourished.

Lu Qing froze. Looking at the little girl's dry, yellowish hair, he fell silent.

"Big brother, are you done looking?"

Xiao Yan tilted her head up and asked innocently.

"Mm, I'm done. When Xiao Yan grows up, she'll definitely be a great beauty."

Lu Qing rubbed the little girl's hair, his heart filled with pity.

Xiao Yan tilted her head. "What's a great beauty?"

"Haha, you'll know when you grow up."

Hearing the little girl's childish words, Lu Qing could not help feeling much better.

No matter what the future held, the most important thing right now was to take good care of this little girl who depended on him for life.

This could also be considered the greatest lingering obsession left behind by the original owner before his death.

And if he wanted to live well in this unfamiliar world, he would have to rely on the Supernatural Ability he had inexplicably acquired.

With that thought, Lu Qing picked up the Cow Bone Grass and held it before Xiao Yan.

"Xiao Yan, do you know what kind of grass this is and what it's used for?"

Xiao Yan looked at the plant with its little blue flowers, furrowed her tiny brows as she racked her brains, then shook her head.

"I don't know. But Big Ox from Grandpa Zhang's house seems to really like eating this kind of grass."

Seeing that Xiao Yan did not know, Lu Qing laughed at himself. He really had been muddleheaded.

Even the original owner's memories contained no information about Cow Bone Grass, yet he had actually expected a child of only a few years old to know.

But Xiao Yan's next words made him pause.

"Big brother, if you want to know what kind of grass it is, you can ask Grandpa Chen. Grandpa Chen likes flowers and grasses the most, and he also likes boiling them into bitter water for us to drink."

As she said this, Xiao Yan seemed to recall something. Her entire little face scrunched up.

Grandpa Chen? Lu Qing searched through his memories, and soon the image of a kindly, lean old man appeared in his mind.

Oh, that was the Old Doctor respected by everyone in the village.

A doctor?

Lu Qing's heart stirred.

According to the description, Cow Bone Grass was undoubtedly a medicinal herb. He wondered whether Old Doctor Chen knew how to use it.

"Xiao Yan, did Grandpa Chen come when Big Brother was sick?"

"He did. Big Brother kept sleeping then, and no matter how Xiao Yan called you, you wouldn't wake up. I was scared, so I kept crying. Then Grandpa Chen came. After looking at Big Brother, he said you were sick, something like Wind-Cold. He boiled bitter medicine for you. After you drank it, you woke up the next day."

When Xiao Yan reached this point, she suddenly exclaimed in admiration, "Grandpa Chen is amazing! Big Brother only drank one bowl of bitter water, and you got better!"

Lu Qing fell silent.

Only he knew that the medicine Old Doctor Chen had prescribed had not saved that Youth's life.

But now he remembered that while his consciousness had been muddled, he had indeed vaguely felt someone force something down his throat. It gave his chilled body a thread of warmth that protected his heart, helping him endure that difficult period when his consciousness was merging.

Otherwise, with this frail body of his, it was uncertain whether he could have awakened successfully at all.

So it seemed this Old Doctor Chen truly had real skill, and he had done Lu Qing a favor.

As Lu Qing was pondering this, he suddenly felt a gaze on him. Looking down, he saw Xiao Yan staring at him.

"What is it, Xiao Yan?"

"Big brother, Xiao Yan is hungry."

Lu Qing felt hungry as well.

He had not been full to begin with, and the half steamed bun he had eaten earlier had long since been digested.

But he had checked earlier. There was not a scrap of food left in the house.

The rice jar was so clean that even rats would not bother visiting it. If not for Grandpa Zhang next door helping them out, Xiao Yan would probably have starved badly during the two days he had been unconscious.

Only then did Lu Qing remember that he should thank Grandpa Zhang and Old Doctor Chen. Without their care, it was uncertain whether the two siblings could have survived.

But the family was truly too poor now. The house was bare to the four walls, empty as a hollow shell, and they could not even produce a small gift of thanks.

They should first find a way to fill their stomachs. Gratitude could wait a little longer.

But where could they find food? Most of the family's farmland had been sold by the original owner to bury his parents.

The little that remained had been neglected and yielded almost nothing.

So for the time being, trying to dig food out of the fields was hopeless.

Distant water could not put out a nearby fire. Even if he planted something now, it would be too late. Before the crops could grow, the siblings would starve to death.

After thinking for a while, Lu Qing entered the room where the original owner's parents had lived. He searched for a while, then finally found an iron needle and some hemp thread in a small box.

The iron needle was much thicker than the embroidery needles from his previous life and looked quite tough.

Lu Qing took out the needle, heated it over the fire a few times, then used wooden chopsticks to press it into a hook shape. He took several strands of hemp thread and carefully twisted them into a slightly thicker, sturdier cord before tightly tying it to the iron hook.

Next, he cut down a stalk of flexible bamboo from the bamboo grove behind the house and tied the other end of the hemp cord to it.

Finally, he tied a piece of dry wood onto the hemp cord some distance above the iron hook to serve as a float.

Just like that, Lu Qing made a simple fishing rod.