Beast Language

When Xiao Jie used Identify Beast again, he couldn't find a trace of the Strange Goat anywhere.

Could the system have despawned the quest NPC?

Looking at the remaining sheep, Xiao Jie felt a shiver run down his spine. Forget it; he had already sworn an oath, and it wasn't something he could easily break. If it was gone, it was gone.

He felt a measure of regret. He had only learned one of the three skills, which really highlighted how low his base stats were. It seemed he needed to hurry up and prepare to level up.

But before that, he had to test the effectiveness of Beast Language.

This skill wasn't a passive effect; it required activation and maintaining a state of focus.

Xiao Jie opened his Skill Bar: Beast Language—Activate!

The chaotic bleating of the sheep instantly transformed into a language he could understand.

Goat: "Eat grass, eat grass. Oh my, this is so delicious."

Goat: "Eat quickly. In a little while, that kid is going to drive us back to the pen."

Goat: "The grass tastes off today. It's a bit salty. Which one of you peed on the grass?"

Good grief... Xiao Jie was speechless. The things these sheep were saying were hilarious.

He didn't make a scene, silently driving the flock back to the Livestock Pen. After collecting his 100 coins, he was just about to leave when Old Yang suddenly shouted, "Boy, how did you manage to lose one of my sheep?"

Xiao Jie was startled and hurriedly counted. Sure enough, there were only 49 sheep left.

Old Yang snapped, "What kind of work are you doing, young man? Losing a sheep! I'm deducting your pay, definitely deducting it."

System Prompt: Old Yang demands 200 coins in compensation. Do you accept? Yes/No.

A dialog box popped up before him.

Option 1: Pay 200 coins and accept the penalty.

Option 2: "I don't have the money, but I have my life."

Option 3: "Old man, how about I herd the sheep for another two hours to make up for the wages?"

This...

Xiao Jie was speechless. He couldn't possibly fall out with Old Yang, and he had no interest in herding sheep any longer, so he had no choice but to pay up and leave.

Leaving the Livestock Pen, Xiao Jie felt quite frustrated.

Great, not only did he work all morning for nothing, but he also ended up losing 100 Copper Coins.

Fortunately, he had saved up quite a bit of money, so it wasn't a devastating blow.

That missing sheep was undoubtedly the Strange Goat. It seemed this Serendipitous Encounter was a one-time event; once he triggered it, it was unlikely anyone else would ever encounter it.

But he had already sworn an oath, so why did it still run away?

Did it not trust the integrity of a dignified Returnee? Hmph, how insulting.

Still, at least he had learned the most valuable skill, so it wasn't a total loss.

Xiao Jie was quite looking forward to the Beast Language skill.

If used correctly, this thing would be incredibly valuable.

One had to know that players usually triggered quests by interacting with NPCs.

There were only so many NPCs in the village. According to Wang Kai, over two hundred players had passed through in the last three years, so it was likely that all the special quests that could be triggered openly had already been discovered.

What remained were either quests too difficult to complete or open-ended chores like farming and herding.

But now, he had a whole host of animals to interact with. This meant he had a massive new pool of NPCs to engage. If there were any hidden quests tied to these animals, he had a high probability of stumbling upon them.

After all, there were plenty of animals in the village.

Furthermore, since basically no one had ever communicated with these animal NPCs, if they had any quests, there would be absolutely no one to compete with him for them.

The more Xiao Jie thought about it, the more excited he became. He couldn't wait to start chatting with the animals.

First were the Old Yellow Oxen near the farmland. As the main labor force for plowing, they were always out in the Farmland whenever someone was farming.

Since no players were farming at the moment, the three oxen were gathered around a patch of grass, resting and grazing.

Exhausted Old Ox: "So tired. Working every day, when will it ever end?"

Resigned Old Ox: "Sigh, such is life. Who told us to be oxen? Let's hope to be reborn as humans in the next life; then we can be the ones driving the oxen to work."

Thinking Old Ox: "I have been pondering a question: why do we work for humans? We don't eat wheat or millet; we only need grass. And since grass is everywhere, why should we slave away for them? We should go outside the village and seek our freedom."

Xiao Jie found it interesting and couldn't help but chime in, "Hey buddy, there are a lot of monsters outside the village. You three are livestock; you probably don't have much combat power. Going outside the village would just be suicide."

Resigned Old Ox: "He's right. I heard those monsters are terrifying. Better to just stick to farming."

Thinking Old Ox: "Moo—that must be something you humans made up to scare us. Don't think you can fool me."

Xiao Jie couldn't help but laugh. "Fine, whatever makes you happy. By the way, do you want me to help you escape? If you have something to offer me, I might consider it."

Thinking Old Ox: "Moo, what is an 'offer'? Is it edible?"

"It means equipment, skills, treasures, things like that. Do you have any?"

Thinking Old Ox: "We are oxen, how could we possibly have the things you speak of? I do know how to plow a field, though; would you like to learn?"

"Uh, I think I'll pass."

Xiao Jie decisively walked away, then set his sights on the Big Goose waddling around the village.

Big Goose: "Honk honk honk honk, the weather is fine today, honk honk honk honk, I want to eat my fill, honk honk honk honk, who dares block my path, honk honk honk honk, I'll peck them until they run away."

It actually rhymed...

Next were the fat pigs in the sty, followed by the flock of chickens raised by the auntie at the east end of the village...

After a full circle, Xiao Jie had listened to the conversations of every animal in the village.

It was interesting enough, but he didn't gain anything of substance; the hidden quests he had envisioned were nowhere to be found.

It made sense, really. A bunch of livestock didn't possess private belongings, and even if they did issue quests, the rewards wouldn't be anything decent—they couldn't exactly give him a handful of grass or a scoop of rice.

As for skills, those were out of the question. These beasts did nothing but plow fields or lay eggs, and the pigs just knew how to eat and wait for death; there was nothing there for a player to learn.

Furthermore, animals didn't seem to be NPCs in the strict sense; he could communicate with them, but they lacked the functionality to issue quests.

The Strange Goat from earlier, he supposed, was an exception.

However, he did pick up quite a bit of useful information.

Whose wife was cheating, which militiaman was slacking off in the middle of the night, and so on.

Finally, Xiao Jie arrived at the Hunter's Cabin.

Yang Baichuan did not live inside the village, but had built his home on a hillside to the north, constructing a detached wooden cabin with a long row of kennels outside, where he kept a pack of hunting dogs.

These hunting dogs were completely different from the Wild Dogs outside the village; each one looked formidable and appeared as a friendly unit with a green name.

Their combat prowess looked quite impressive.

Seeing several hunting dogs with an average level of four or five made Xiao Jie envious. If he could take one out to level up, it would definitely make his work twice as effective with half the effort.

Unfortunately, he possessed neither Taming nor Dog Training, so he was out of luck.

A thought suddenly struck Xiao Jie. Although he lacked Taming, since he could converse with animals, couldn't he just sweet-talk a hunting dog into tagging along? It felt a bit absurd, but there was no harm in trying.

Action followed thought, and Xiao Jie walked straight toward the kennels.

Seeing Xiao Jie approach, the hunting dogs all looked toward him. He had visited once two days ago while investigating errands, so they were familiar with him.

Xiao Jie looked at the pack of dogs with a beaming smile.

"Tell me, any of you interested in hanging out with me? Follow me, and I guarantee you'll have meat buns at every meal."

Scar (Hunting Dog): "Woof, you think you can bribe us with meat buns? Keep dreaming."

Black Claw (Hunting Dog): "We only obey our master's orders. You are not our master, go away."

Meatball (Hunting Dog): "Exactly, exactly. What's a meat bun? At the very least, it should be roast chicken or smoked meat."

Broken Tooth (Hunting Dog): "Meatball, all you ever think about is meat, meat, meat. I never see you being that active when we're actually hunting."

Meatball (Hunting Dog): "That's because I wasn't full, so of course I couldn't run."

"All of you, shut up! Woof!" A low growl suddenly rang out, causing all the dogs present to fall silent instantly.

Then, a massive black dog slowly emerged from the shadows of the kennel.

It looked to be of some age, with a coat of jet-black fur, though a tuft of white hair grew on its chin.

Missing an eye and an ear, it looked weathered and aged, yet its burly frame showed no signs of frailty.

This was the first time he had seen this dog. Xiao Jie used Identify Beast to inspect it, and a line of data immediately appeared before his eyes.

Black Whirlwind (Pack Leader): Elite unit. Level 7. HP: 190.

Taming Difficulty: Hard.

Skills: Bite LV4, Tendon Severing LV3, Tracking LV2, Sprint LV1, Pack Leader LV2.

As Xiao Jie sized up the opponent, the large black dog was sizing him up as well.

"Human, you can actually understand the language of our kind?"

Huh? Xiao Jie was startled. This dog was quite extraordinary; it was actually capable of grasping the crux of the matter.

Most of the animals he had encountered didn't seem to realize there was anything special about him being able to communicate with them—likely due to a lack of intelligence. This dog was the first one he had met that could realize it.