The Fruit Had No Effect (Continued)

All the foxes agreed.

"Mmm..."

--The old clan chief has protected us for so many years. It was his idea to get these fruits this time. If it weren't for the little fox cubs, it would be only right to give them all to the old clan chief.

--Yes, yes, we all hope the old clan chief will get better soon. Clan chief, please take the fruit to him quickly.

"Chieftain? Don't worry, we'll catch the prey for the Snow Bird tomorrow; it will surely satisfy him."

Urged on by their kind, the Red Fox and the White Fox excitedly ran into the mountains with the fruit.

The old clan chief treated them like his own children, so they were probably the ones who most wanted him to recover from his illness as soon as possible.

In the dead of night, the moonlight was blocked by the dense foliage, and the forest was pitch black, but this did not have much of an impact on animals with excellent night vision.

In the center of the forest, on the largest tung tree, a long-tailed White Fox lay dozing on a thick branch, its incredibly long tail drooping down like a waterfall of white snow.

The White Fox's fur was still thick, but its color had noticeably faded, and its brows and eyes showed signs of age, along with a lingering sense of fatigue.

Hearing the noise, he opened his long, narrow eyes. His black pupils gleamed with shrewdness, but the bloodshot eyes added to his sickly appearance.

A hero's twilight years are nothing more than this.

The old fox has lost count of its own age; it was among the first animals to mutate, probably over a hundred years ago.

Before his mutation, he was just one of many ordinary foxes in a fox farm. Because he was weak, couldn't eat, and didn't grow well, his fur, which was meant to be skinned and sold for money, was dry and ugly, so the farm owner disliked him very much.

When business at the farm is bad, the owner will drag him out, beat and trample him to vent his anger, but he won't kill him completely; instead, he'll leave him half-dead to continue torturing him.

Fortunately, the foxes at the farm were relatively friendly to him, especially his siblings, who would protect him when the owner caught him, lick his wounds, and comfort him after he was injured.

Later, his brothers and sisters were killed, skinned, and sold as merchandise, leaving him the only survivor in the family. The farm owner's abuse of him became even more unrestrained.

Just as he was dying, disaster struck. An earthquake caused most of the farm to collapse, and many foxes took advantage of the chaos to escape. One kind old fox, before fleeing for his life, didn't forget to snatch him away.

Then a mutation occurred, and no one expected that the weakest fox would mutate and gradually grow into the leader of the entire fox pack.

Because of his experience living on the farm, he harbors extreme hatred for humans. He always participates in every attack on human bases, and he is also one of the most cannibalistic mutated monsters.

The farm owner died at his hands; at the time, a group of mutated monsters breached a small base, and the owner was among the fleeing crowd.

He recognized the owner, and the owner recognized him too.

He retaliated against all the humiliation the owner had inflicted on him, but unfortunately, humans are too weak. He was quickly tormented and killed, eventually becoming the owner's meal.

If it weren't for that cataclysmic event dozens of springs ago, he and the other mutated monsters might have already destroyed all the nearby human bases.

Later, he retreated to the mountains, and because of illness, he rarely came down the mountain anymore. Unless someone deliberately wandered in, he rarely went to eat humans anymore.

The Snow Bird that Red Fox mentioned this time was actually related to humans, which surprised him greatly.

What surprised him even more was that the Snow Bird actually possessed such a miraculous fruit.

Nature is never short of miracles.

The Red Fox and the White Fox came to the tree, lay down on their forelegs, and adopted a posture of juniors fawning over their elders.

The old fox leaped down from the branch and gently nuzzled the two foxes, expressing its affection for them.

The Red Fox pushed the tomato in front of the old fox, its eyes filled with expectation, and said, "Aww, aww."

"Thanks to your strategy, Elder Chief, we managed to get the red fruit. Try it and see if it works."

The White Fox also said, "Waaaaah."

--This red berry, like the berry pieces the Gray Fox brought back, has a particularly pleasant fragrance; the Snow Bird probably didn't try to fool us with fakes.

As the White Fox spoke, a hint of instinctive craving was revealed in its eyes.

The old fox looked at the round, bright red, beautiful fruit before him and couldn't help but admire it. He hadn't seen such a perfectly shaped fruit in many years.

But upon hearing the White Fox's words, he paused, taken aback. What fragrance? He could smell fruit, but surely not as exaggerated as the White Fox was making it out to be?

Thinking it might be due to his own diminished sense of smell, or perhaps it was just a difference in taste between foxes, the old fox didn't voice his thoughts.

Under the eager gaze of the two foxes, the old fox lowered its head and took a few bites of the tomato.

To be honest, the taste is indeed much, many times better than those sour, bitter, and hard fruits from the mountains. If you simply consider it as a fruit, it can be called excellent.

But he didn't experience the special effects that the Red Fox White Fox had mentioned.

The old fox stopped eating after finishing half a fruit. If a tiny piece of fruit could stabilize a dying fox cub, and it worked for him too, then half a fruit would be enough to test it out.

Seeing that the old fox had finished eating and remained silent, the Red Fox and the White Fox also kept quiet.

They were waiting for the fruit to take effect; the brown-furred fox cub would see results quickly after eating it, and the old chieftain should be able to as well.

He waited and waited, until even the moon in the sky had moved, and nearly twice as much time had passed since the little fox cub's death, before the Red Fox cautiously asked, "Hmm?"

--Old clan leader? How are you? Have you noticed any changes in your body?

The old fox shook his head.

A look of surprise and disappointment flashed in both foxes' eyes at the same time, but they quickly comforted themselves and the old fox.

Red Fox: "Mmm..."

--Your situation is different from the little fox cub's? Perhaps you won't realize the difference until the illness manifests.

White Fox: "Mmm..."

--We came back in a hurry and forgot to ask Snow Bird what the normal reaction should be after eating it. Maybe there won't be any reaction at all, since it's the first time she's eaten it, no rush.

Seeing them like this, the old fox couldn't bear to say, "Maybe the fruit won't work for me?"

He wasn't actually afraid of death. After discovering that he would become delirious and unable to distinguish friend from foe after his illness started, he considered suicide.

He protected the Fox Clan his entire life, yet in the end, he might become the biggest culprit to harm them—something he couldn't accept.

But faced with the foxes' earnest hope that he could continue living, the old fox was truly reluctant to leave them so soon. So even though he had to hide in the mountains and forests all these years, and even though each time he fell ill he was in excruciating pain, he still managed to cling to life until today.

The fruit was useless to him; perhaps it was just fate. His death was finally approaching.

If he hadn't mutated, he should have died in that farm back then. He's lived so many more years and even avenged himself; he should be content.

The two foxes, leading their Fox Clan, had been traveling for most of the night. The old fox advised them to go back and rest, saying they could discuss anything else the next morning.

The Red Fox White Fox left, deep in thought. The old fox asked them to take the remaining half of the red fruit and share it with the other foxes, but they refused, saying that it was a token of their affection, and even if they took it back, the other foxes wouldn't eat it.

The two foxes returned to their den and barely slept for the rest of the night.

The next day, at daybreak, the two of them went to the brown fox's burrow.

Upon seeing the Red Fox White Fox, the brown fox family was overjoyed and kept thanking them for bringing the red berries, which saved their little fox cub's life.

The brown fox said that not long after they went to look for the Snow Bird last night, the little fox cub had already woken up, but he was too weak to move and could only be cared for by his parents.

Last night, considering the little fox cubs' urgent situation, everyone shared most of the tomato with them.

They chewed up a piece and fed it to the little fox cub. The little fox cub couldn't even drink milk before, but it loved the crushed red berries. As soon as it smelled them, it would whine and say it wanted to eat them. After being fed them, it swallowed them without even chewing them.

This morning, the little fox cub was able to stand up on its own and even took a few unsteady steps. It then said it was hungry and wanted milk and fruit pieces.

The Red Fox, watching the excited brown fox couple, feigned composure and asked, as if discussing something trivial, "Hmm?"

--Did the little fox cub mention what its body's reaction was after eating the fruit?

"Mmm!" the brown fox immediately replied, "Mmm-mmm-mmm."

--Yes, yes! The little one said that after eating, he felt warm all over, inside and out, like winter, as if he were being held in his mother's arms.

White Fox: "Mmm?"

--I've had this feeling every time I've eaten it?

The brown fox couple nodded.

After asking which foxes had received the red fruit, the Red Fox and the White Fox went to each of them and received the same answer.

So eating red berries usually causes a rapid reaction in the body? Why didn't that old fox react? Could it be...?

The Red Fox and White Fox dared not think too much. They tried their best to convince themselves that the fox cubs were born weak, while the old patriarch had contracted an illness. The symptoms were different, so the reactions were bound to be different as well, which was perfectly normal.

Before delivering prey to the Snow Bird, the Red Fox White Fox went to the mountains again.

Seeing the two foxes' hesitant expressions, the old fox roughly guessed what was going on.

He didn't intend to hide it any longer and said directly, "Mmm..."

--Actually, last night you all said the fruit had a special fragrance, but I didn't smell it. To me, it's just an ordinary fruit.

Both foxes were taken aback.

The old fox continued, "Mmm... mmm..."