That was a crocodile.
It was only three feet long, and even looked somewhat "petite," completely incomparable to the Demonic Beast crocodiles that were several feet long in the Douluo Continent or the Big Dipper Star Domain.
Its eyes seemed somewhat dull, and its movements were a bit slow. After crawling out of the sandpit, it paused in place, tilted its head left and right, and then slowly crawled a few steps toward Ji Ziyue and Lin Hao. It stopped again, raised its head, and "looked" at them with its slightly lifeless eyes.
Ji Ziyue was taken aback at first, then overjoyed!
"Crocodiles! Crocodiles on Mars?!"
She was so excited she almost jumped up, pointed at the seemingly bewildered little crocodile, turned to Lin Hao, and said, her eyes curving into crescents.
"Grandpa, look! There really is a 'specialty'! It's a bit small, but it'll definitely smell delicious when grilled! Shall we have grilled crocodile?"
She was eager to try, and a faint purple light was already flowing around her fingertips. That was the Magic Power fluctuation of the Ji Family's Void Scripture. Although it was weak, it was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut when dealing with a three-foot-long, seemingly silly little crocodile.
Lin Hao's gaze swept over the little crocodile, then he glanced meaningfully at the desolate direction of the Great Thunderclap Temple in the distance. He then smiled and nodded to Ji Ziyue, whose face was full of expectation.
"Good."
Deep underground, a gigantic eye, resembling a blood-red lake, smugly gleamed:
Luckily, I was smart enough not to let that person 'find' it... otherwise, I wouldn't know which 'crocodile' would be roasted over the fire...
Ji Ziyue cheered after receiving Lin Hao's approval.
With a light tap of his finger, a beam of purple light shot out and precisely pierced the head of the little crocodile.
The baby crocodile didn't even struggle; it simply stiffened, collapsed, and died.
"Set up a fire! Set up a fire!"
Ji Ziyue was in high spirits. She took out clean water from her storage magic artifact and skillfully began to process the "ingredients".
Although she was the Ji Family, she was not naive and had already mastered these survival skills during her early years of training.
With a casual wave of his hand, Lin Hao sent several jagged rocks flying over, which automatically stacked into a simple stove.
Ji Ziyue then took out the finest fruitwood charcoal—heaven knows why she always kept this in her storage artifact—and a wisp of Nanming Li Fire shot out from her fingertips, igniting the charcoal.
Soon, the cleaned crocodile meat was skewered on sharpened stone sticks and placed over the fire.
The fruitwood charcoal burned steadily, its flames gently licking the tender crocodile meat.
Ji Ziyue then magically produced several jade bottles, containing ground spices, fine salt, and even a bottle of wildflower honey.
She carefully turned the roasting fork, sprinkling on spices from time to time and brushing on a thin layer of honey glaze.
As the grease dripped onto the charcoal fire, it sizzled pleasantly, and a unique aroma, a blend of the fragrance of fruit and wood and the smoky scent of meat, began to permeate the red desert that had been silent for countless millennia.
This fragrance, so different from the desolate, barren, and ominous atmosphere of the Yinghuo Ancient Star, carries a strange vitality.
The meat was quickly roasted, golden brown and slightly charred on the outside, and snow-white and tender on the inside.
Ji Ziyue carefully tore off the most delicate piece near the tip of the tail, gently blew on it, and then offered it to Lin Hao's lips, her eyes sparkling.
"Grandpa, try the first bite! Be careful, it's hot!"
Lin Hao shook his head slightly. "You eat it yourself."
"No!"
Ji Ziyue immediately hugged his arm and gently shook it, her voice soft and sweet, with a girlish charm, "I specially baked this for you!"
"Just one bite! Let's see if my cooking skills have gotten worse!"
"My great-grandmother even praised my roasted deer leg last time!"
Looking at the expectant eyes of the girl in front of him, and then at the fragrant roasted meat offered to his lips, Lin Hao finally smiled helplessly and opened his mouth to eat it.
"How is it? How is it?" Ji Ziyue asked nervously.
"Acceptable."
Lin Hao chewed a few times and gave his evaluation.
"It's just passable..."
Ji Ziyue pouted slightly, but the smile in her eyes was hard to hide. She knew that her great-grandfather was of a mild temperament, and to receive a "passable" was already a high compliment.
She tore off a large piece for herself, took a big bite, and gasped for breath from the heat, yet squinted her eyes in satisfaction.
"Delicious! Mars crocodile, the taste is quite unique!"
The two enjoyed a simple yet heartwarming picnic on the edge of this Yinghuo Ancient Star, Great Ferocious Land, beside the ruins where Buddha suppressed demons.
Lin Hao didn't eat much; most of the time he just quietly watched Ji Ziyue, who was like a happy little squirrel with her cheeks bulging, and kept talking about the interesting things that had happened in the Ji Family in recent years.
Those two elders are arguing again over a medicinal herb, and she caught her brother sneaking out again...
After a while, she gently tilted her head and leaned against Lin Hao's leg.
"Grandpa, let me tell you a joke?"
Lin Hao withdrew his gaze, glanced down at her, and saw that the girl's bright eyes were still sparkling in the dark red light of the sky, carrying a hint of cunning and ingratiation.
He raised an eyebrow slightly, seemingly curious about what tricks this girl was up to this time.
Seeing that he didn't object, Ji Ziyue immediately perked up, cleared her throat, and began to speak in a clear and resonant voice, like a storyteller:
"Speaking of which, on that distant Planet Cybertron, smoke signals rise everywhere, and war rages across the land!"
Lin Hao's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.
One day, Megatron led the Decepticons army with unstoppable momentum, and the Autobots were forced into retreat. Optimus Prime was on the verge of collapse, unable to hold out alone!
Ji Ziyue described it vividly, even gesturing with her hands.
"At this critical juncture of life and death! Suddenly, a figure appeared, adorned with a feather fan and a silk turban, eight feet tall, with a face like jade, exuding an ethereal, otherworldly aura! He rode a... well... a wooden ox and flowing horse... no, it was his 'Divine Transformation - Flowing Horse Form' mount, descending from the sky!"
Several dark lines quietly appeared on Lin Hao's forehead.
"The visitor is none other than Zhuge Kongming!"
Ji Ziyue suppressed a laugh and continued, "But we saw that Master Kongming remained calm and composed, setting up the Eight Trigrams Data Array in front of the two armies, and also establishing Empty City Firewall, and even sending Zhao Yun... oh no, I mean, sending Bumblebee to lure the enemy."
"That Megatron, brave but reckless, fell right into the Qimen Dunjia and was led into the ' Source Code Labyrinth Array,' where he struggled left and right but couldn't escape!"
"Thus, Master Kongming, with his strategic planning and decisive victories, repeatedly captured or released the Lifetime Megatron and his Decepticons on seven separate occasions, manipulating them at will!"
"This enraged Megatron so much that his circuit board overheated, the hydraulic oil boiled, and he roared to the sky: 'Since Megatron was born, why was Zhuge Liang born too!'"
Finally, after being captured for the seventh time, Megatron was completely convinced of his superiority, bowed down, and pledged to lead the Decepticons to submit and jointly protect the peace of Cybertron!
After Ji Ziyue finished speaking in one breath, she couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, her shoulders shaking.
"Hahaha, great-grandpa, isn't it funny?"
Lin Hao remained silent.
After all, this was... a 'joke' he had told Tantai Gu Yue when he had just transmigrated...