Shamelessly Proud (First Update)

"...Then what counts as a dirty thing?" Xia Chujian asked curiously.

She had originally been judging Blood Kirin's cleanliness obsession from a human perspective, but now she realized that probably was not the case.

San Zong smiled innocently as he pawed through the humus on the ground. "Other than the humus it grows in, clean air, and rainwater from the sky, everything else probably counts as pollution. Blood, urine, ashes... mm..."

Xia Chujian understood at once.

The corner of her mouth twitched.

San Zong skillfully dug a hole beneath the Blood Kirin, excavating all its roots. He held it in his hands and presented it to Xia Chujian. "Female Sire! Look! This is the freshest Blood Kirin San Zong has ever seen!"

This Blood Kirin really did look like a small bluish-green beast, even the two horns on its head were vividly lifelike.

Unfortunately, it was not a beast, but a plant.

But Xia Chujian was not looking at the Blood Kirin.

Her gaze wandered continuously over the area surrounding it, trying to find Blood Kirin's companion plant—Kongsang.

According to Academician Tantai Sinian's records, Kongsang was an herbaceous plant. It looked so fragile that a gust of wind seemed capable of blowing it away. Its stalk was slender, and its leaves resembled orchid grass, though they were half as short.

Its petals were moon-white with a faint blush of pink, while its leaves were a hazy mist-green.

This plant was said to grow alongside bluish-green Blood Kirin.

Yet at a glance, there was nothing beside the small pit where the Blood Kirin had been dug up.

There was not even a single withered blade of grass, much less a mist-green orchid-like plant.

There was nothing but black humus, then more black humus.

San Zong held up the Blood Kirin for quite a while, but Xia Chujian still did not reach out to take it. He looked at her in confusion and asked softly, "Female Sire, do you not like this Blood Kirin?"

Xia Chujian's mind raced, but her face remained calm and collected. "It's only for a mission. There's no question of liking it or not. But one Blood Kirin isn't enough..."

San Zong said, "Oh," then hurriedly added, "San Zong heard the plantation manager say that the Exotic Beast Forest produces ten Blood Kirin plants a year. This is one, so there should be nine more!"

He looked at Xia Chujian eagerly, ready to help her find them the moment she gave the word.

Xia Chujian thought that according to Academician Tantai Sinian's article, that Kongsang from a million years ago had been found beside a cluster of Blood Kirin.

Could the measure word "cluster" be important too?

Right now, she saw only one Blood Kirin here, which clearly did not fit the concept of a cluster.

Xia Chujian's eyes shifted, but she kept her expression calm as she asked, "San Zong, do Blood Kirin always grow one by one like this? Are there any that grow together in clusters?"

San Zong's eyes widened. He thought for a moment before saying, "San Zong has never heard of that, but it should be possible... However, the humus would need to be extremely fertile, far more fertile than ordinary humus!"

"How so?"

"...Female Sire, look here. There is one Blood Kirin here, and no other plants around it. That's because Blood Kirin consumes an extraordinary amount of nutrients. The humus across roughly one mu of land here is only enough to support the growth of one Blood Kirin."

"If several Blood Kirin grew together as a cluster, then the humus supporting their growth would not only need to cover a vast area, it would also need to be exceptionally fertile. Not merely ordinarily fertile—it would need to have gone many, many years without growing anything else, so it could accumulate enough nutrients."

Xia Chujian frowned. "...How many years is many, many years?"

San Zong scratched his pig face awkwardly. "Well, San Zong heard the manager say it would need to be at least several hundred thousand years..."

So it would take humus that had not grown anything else for at least several hundred thousand years! And the area of that humus would have to be especially vast.

Even San Zong, who knew how to farm, had no idea how vast exactly. Xia Chujian had even less of an idea.

Xia Chujian frowned almost imperceptibly.

How was she supposed to find it?

Even if she spent every day from now until next March here, she could not possibly survey every inch of this land...

If she could not find Kongsang before next March, then Aunt could only wait another year.

But from what Doctor Shen Junyi had implied, Aunt probably could not last until next year...

Thinking of Aunt, who had raised her from childhood and depended on each other with her, Xia Chujian felt as though the sky had fallen. No, she absolutely could not wait until next year! Xia Chujian hardened her heart, turned an unfriendly gaze on San Zong, and asked in a low voice, "Is there any way to quickly locate the other Blood Kirin?"

San Zong scratched his head. "San Zong can sniff for them, but this place is too large. It will probably take a long time..."

"How long would it take you to sniff out every place?"

"...Every place?!" San Zong's little pig face nearly crumpled. "San Zong could sniff until he died and still not finish! This place is way, way, way too big!"

Xia Chujian's thoughts were in a tangle as she paced back and forth through the grove, muttering, "Is there really no way? Is there really no way?"

Her voice was quiet, but it carried a deep despair and sorrow.

Not only did San Zong, the Pig-head Humanoid, feel sympathy rise within him, even Small Dog sensed it.

It looked up at Xia Chujian, its tiny black-bean eyes seemingly brimming with tears that had yet to fall.

Before long, ten minutes had passed.

Ye Shijie's voice came through Xia Chujian's bone-conduction earpiece. "Xia Chujian, are you coming back on your own, or should I send Li Fu and Song Mingqian to drag you back?"

Xia Chujian had no other options for the moment.

She checked her Smart Bracelet. It was only a little past one in the afternoon, yet the sky was already nearly dark.

Because this area was close to the Land of the Far North, daylight lasted no more than six hours during winter.

The farther north one went, the shorter the daylight became.

At the core Restricted Life Zone of the Land of the Far North, it was night all year round, with no sunlight to be seen.

The snow had stopped. Nightfall was like a layer of gauze descending from the sky, about to envelop heaven, earth, and all things.

The temperature dropped even further.

Although Xia Chujian wore the ivory-white woolen hat Aunt had knitted for her, as well as a coat of the same material that was especially warm, she could still feel the cold spreading in waves, layer by layer.

Better go back first.

She would think of something tomorrow.

Xia Chujian said gloomily, "I'm coming back."

Ye Shijie said nothing more and immediately ended the call.

Xia Chujian took out a storage bag that could preserve freshness, placed the Blood Kirin with its clump of soil inside, then turned around and headed back along the same route.

Just then, a clear bird cry cut through the gradually darkening sky.

Xia Chujian looked up and saw that the Griffon Sea Eagle had returned.

The dark chain around its neck stood out sharply against its golden feathers.

But the Griffon Sea Eagle was not ashamed of it at all. It was proud of it.

As it raised its head and cried out in midair, it seemed to wish every bird in the Exotic Beast Forest could see the "necklace" around its neck.

The corner of Xia Chujian's mouth twitched as she stopped walking.

Before long, the Griffon Sea Eagle landed beside her, lowered its fluffy lion head, and nuzzled against Xia Chujian's hand in a fawning manner.

Xia Chujian: "..."

She had not expected this Griffon Sea Eagle, which had looked arrogant as hell before, to become so obedient after being tamed.

She casually ruffled the long golden fur atop its head, then flipped herself onto its back.

Then she extended a hand toward San Zong and Small Dog. "You two, get up here too."

San Zong looked up at her in shock. His black-bean-like eyes were as pure and untainted as Small Dog's.

"Female Sire! No need! San Zong can run alongside you!" He waved his hands repeatedly, as if he could not believe a normal human would treat him this well.

But Small Dog was thrilled.

It yipped, "Wuerfu, wuerfu," and tried its hardest to jump onto the Griffon Sea Eagle's back.

But the Griffon Sea Eagle was too tall. Even crouching on the ground, it stood two meters high. Small Dog's round little body would be doing well if it could jump one meter.

Though Xia Chujian was feeling miserable, she could not help curling her lips when she saw Small Dog repeatedly fail yet keep trying.

She said to San Zong, "Carry Small Dog up. You can run, but Small Dog can't. It's too small, and it's too cold here. We need to get back quickly."

San Zong was so excited that he did not know what to say. He rubbed his large, callused hands awkwardly, looked at Xia Chujian, then at Small Dog, who was still eagerly jumping and failing over and over. At last, he nodded. "Okay, San Zong is doing it for Small Dog!"

He picked up Small Dog and lightly leaped onto the Griffon Sea Eagle's broad back.

Xia Chujian raised an eyebrow.

She had not expected this seemingly clumsy Pig-head Humanoid, who was supposedly only good at farming, to be quite capable physically.

San Zong did not know what Xia Chujian was thinking. He simply huddled near the Griffon Sea Eagle's tail, holding Small Dog with one hand and secretly gripping one of the Griffon Sea Eagle's feathers with the other, steadying himself.

Xia Chujian tugged on the chain around the Griffon Sea Eagle's neck and said calmly, "A'Diao, let's go."

The Griffon Sea Eagle let out a joyful cry, spread its broad wings, gave them a powerful shake, and shot upward into the night sky that had already turned dark.

Once they were in the sky, the wind grew stronger, howling past their ears.

Xia Chujian wore a self-heating mask, protective goggles, and a woolen hat, but they ultimately did not seal as tightly as a Helmet. The biting wind found its way through the crack where her mask met her woolen hat, stabbing in like needles.

The moment it touched her skin, the extreme cold, enough to freeze someone to death in an instant, inflicted serious harm on Xia Chujian.

She sucked in a breath and hurriedly lay flat, burying her entire face in the soft fur on the Griffon Sea Eagle's neck.

Fortunately, the cold immediately receded, and warmth returned to her entire body.

The Griffon Sea Eagle seemed to know she was freezing. It spread its wings and flew even faster.

Xia Chujian let out a comfortable breath and turned her head to look at the night sky.

It was like swimming through a lake filled with diamonds. Those twinkling stars were the diamonds within it, pure, gleaming white, and lustrous.

With the Griffon Sea Eagle, a journey that had previously taken half an hour on foot now took only a few minutes.

There's another update after this.

I went with the flow and posted both updates together.

Everyone, work hard!

(I use a double-pinyin input method, and I suddenly realized that "work hard" and "slaves" have the same double-pinyin input. My feelings are complicated now. Humble.JPG)