Dinosaur Egg

Without realizing it, Lu Zhiyu had spent a whole week wandering through the depths of Shennongjia. Drinking crisp mountain spring water, setting up his tent, and roasting the game he caught, Lu Zhiyu found himself truly reluctant to leave such a relaxed and carefree life. He was even able to use his mental power to engage in rudimentary communication with some of the animals in Shennongjia, though their intelligence was quite low and their thoughts were unsystematic and chaotic; sometimes they would give non-sequitur answers, yet it was still quite fascinating.

However, Lu Zhiyu knew he could not stay any longer. He had already collected enough animal and plant samples, many of which had already begun to breed and thrive in Maria World, forming large populations.

The plant life, in particular, with the rich botanical inventory of Shennongjia, had basically perfected the plant ecosystem of Maria World for Lu Zhiyu. The biosphere had begun to take shape, but relatively speaking, the perfection of the rules and the world had affected Lu Zhiyu's time acceleration, which had been continuously decreasing and had now dropped to about seven thousand times.

With his predetermined goals basically achieved, Lu Zhiyu prepared to head back; after all, there were still quite a few things to do once he returned.

After packing his things and checking the map, Lu Zhiyu headed toward Laojun Mountain. By detouring through there, he could find the trail and make his way back smoothly. This route was a popular hiking trail with well-developed infrastructure and was very safe, so there were quite a few tourists.

While passing through, Lu Zhiyu encountered a group of tourists taking photos. To his surprise, there were over a dozen monkeys appearing here. It had to be said that these little creatures were very cute and captured everyone's attention.

Lu Zhiyu also took out his camera and started shooting. If there hadn't been people around, he might have been tempted to pack these little guys up. However, when one of the tourists fed them, it seemed to anger the monkey troop, causing them to start attacking the humans.

These monkeys had sharp teeth and claws; a single swipe would tear away a chunk of flesh. The young man who had just provoked the troop was immediately struck in several places and let out a scream. Another person from the same team tried to come to his rescue, but this action only further enraged the monkeys, who immediately pelted them with a large number of stones.

At this moment, Lu Zhiyu stepped forward and blew a whistle a few times. Immediately, the monkeys acted as if they had encountered a natural predator and fled in a panic. This sudden turn of events instantly drew everyone's gaze.

Several girls who had been frightened to the ground by the monkey riot looked over. Lu Zhiyu didn't pay them any mind. Watching the monkey troop scatter, he put away his whistle. In truth, the whistle was just a gimmick. Whenever Lu Zhiyu encountered wild beasts on the road that he didn't want to capture or had already captured, he would blow the whistle to distract them while using his mental power to project the aura of an apex predator, thereby scaring them off.

However, to ordinary people, this move appeared quite miraculous. Lu Zhiyu looked at the people who had been scratched and asked, "How are you? Are you alright? I have a first-aid kit with me; do you need it?"

At this time, the leader of the hiking team stepped forward and said to Lu Zhiyu, "Thanks, we have a first-aid kit. Thank you for your help just now. My name is Xue Kai, and I'm the leader of this team!"

Lu Zhiyu shook hands with Xue Kai: "My name is Lu Zhiyu. I'm just here for a trip, and I happened to run into this. Don't mention it!"

Xue Kai immediately arranged for a few people to help the injured with bandaging. Most were just skin abrasions and the injuries weren't serious, though they looked quite bloody and frightening. At the same time, the members of the hiking team kept looking at Lu Zhiyu with curiosity, especially since Lu Zhiyu was an exceptionally handsome man; the female members were practically swooning over him.

After Xue Kai finished arranging his teammates, he walked to Lu Zhiyu's side and took out a pack of cigarettes: "Do you smoke?"

Lu Zhiyu had had weak lungs since he was a child, so he never smoked and immediately declined politely. Xue Kai quickly put the cigarettes away, didn't smoke himself, and started chatting with Lu Zhiyu. Just then, Lu Zhiyu suddenly noticed a strange, fist-sized stone on the ground. He lowered his head, bent down, and picked it up.

It seemed to have been thrown out when the monkey troop was attacking people. It was still covered in quite a bit of dirt and must have just been dug out of the ground. Lu Zhiyu took a look and felt it was very beautiful; the shape was very smooth, and it had large, cracked patterns on the surface.

Xue Kai also leaned over to take a look: "Hey, this looks like a dinosaur egg fossil!"

Lu Zhiyu looked at Xue Kai, a look of surprise appearing on his face: "What? A dinosaur egg? Really?"

Xue Kai nodded: "It should be. I've seen this kind of thing before. Ordinary dinosaur eggs only cost a few thousand yuan each; the price isn't too expensive, but they have great collection value. This of yours should be a dinosaur egg, though I don't know what kind of dinosaur it's from. It's not very big, so it shouldn't be from a large dinosaur!"

Lu Zhiyu nodded, not feeling the slightest bit disappointed. Regardless of the dinosaur, it was still a dinosaur, and this was a dinosaur egg.

"A dinosaur egg, is there actually one here?"

Immediately, many people from the hiking team behind them crowded over, gathering around Lu Zhiyu. Lu Zhiyu wasn't stingy and let them have a good look. It was something he had discovered, and according to Xue Kai, its value wasn't high; it was mainly a novelty with collection value.

Everyone looked at the dinosaur egg fossil with amazement, as if they could see the appearance of the Earth's overlords from hundreds of millions of years ago. Finally, it returned to Lu Zhiyu's hands, and he carefully put it away.

Because someone had been injured, the entire hiking team had no interest in continuing their trip. They prepared to take a shortcut to the nearest point and then take a vehicle from there to a nearby clinic. After all, after being scratched by monkeys, there was a risk of infection or other issues, so they had to be careful.

Lu Zhiyu happened to leave Shennongjia with their team. Along the way, Lu Zhiyu got along well with them. It was clear that this team of travel enthusiasts consisted mostly of outgoing and cheerful people. Everyone took group photos with Lu Zhiyu, adding quite a bit of flair to his trip.

Especially the few girls in the team; although they weren't exceptionally beautiful, their personalities were very straightforward and unpretentious. They kept pulling Lu Zhiyu to take photos, and one chubby girl even stole a kiss from him, leaving Lu Zhiyu's shocked expression captured in the frame. The entire return journey was filled with laughter.

When they finally parted ways, Xue Kai even left his phone number for Lu Zhiyu: "We are all from E Province. We usually like to organize some travel activities and also hold some group projects. If you're interested, you can join our group and participate. It's all very interesting!"

Lu Zhiyu nodded: "I think that sounds great. If I have time, I will definitely come to participate!"