Chapter 44 Exquisite Fruit

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As night deepened and the bright moon was obscured by floating clouds, the sounds of people inside the house gradually faded, replaced by the snoring of sound sleepers. After confirming that no one was around, Ya Ya flew down from the tree and perched on the iron cage in the corner of the yard.

She Ning then released a android that was a one-to-one replica of herself from the system's storage compartment. After possessing it, she tiptoed to the front of the iron cage.

The rusty iron cages in the corner emitted a pungent, fishy stench when approached. The 60x60 cm cages were stacked together, with the animals huddled in a corner of each cage. Upon hearing any noise, they moved even closer together, as if trying to shrink into a ball.

Besides wild animals, there were also many dogs and cats in the cage. She Ning watched as they, despite being abused by humans, still had a heart that longed to be close to people. Their wet eyes stared at people, and they came closer to the cage, wagging their tails and whimpering softly.

She Ning was incredibly soft-hearted, and immediately sped up the process of opening the cage. Perhaps that Master Hong was very confident in his strength and felt that no one would dare to cause trouble in his territory. The iron cage in the corner was not locked. She Ning pulled out the iron bolt on the door, and the door opened.

In the last smuggling case, in order to prevent cultural relics from leaving the country, She Ning packed a lot of gold, silver, jewelry, antiques and famous paintings in the system's storage compartment. Although all the items were later handed over to the state, there were still extra wooden boxes used to pack them, which are now piled up in the storage compartment she redeemed with five points.

This was just the right moment to come in handy. To prevent the small animals from struggling and to reduce their pain, She Ning took out half a stick of incense and lit it. On a windless night, a wisp of white smoke meandered upwards. After touching the object, the white smoke gradually dispersed and filled the surrounding space.

I hope they have sweet dreams.

Standing not far away, She Ning watched as the animals, under the influence of the incense, gradually lay down, their expressions peaceful, and slowly closed their eyes. She silently prayed in her heart.

Once all the animals were fast asleep, She Ning quickly placed the wooden box on the ground and then transferred all the animals from the iron cage into the wooden box.

She secured the earthworms that had crawled out of the ground to bask in the moonlight and placed them in an iron cage. Then, using the same trick, She Ning took out the Ever-Changing Gloves from the system and transformed them on a large scale. She bent down and carefully examined them, and only stood up after finding no flaws.

This restaurant still needs to be closely monitored. She left Ya Ya behind and watched it fly to a tree branch to find an excellent surveillance position and hide itself. Only then did she put on her magic cloak and lead all the animals to the backyard of the Taoist temple in Deer Cave Mountain.

The place is sparsely populated, and there is a tall and lush pine tree with a long history. Every year, that pine tree produces a lot of pine cones, which no one collects. Over time, a thick layer has accumulated under the tree, and many of them have sprouted and grown into small pine trees.

The squirrels get their food from here; they can't possibly finish it all.

The animals were in relatively good condition, with only superficial injuries, but they looked quite horrifying due to the blood. After feeding them all with spirit rice, She Ning applied medicine to them.

Awakened by the noise in the backyard, Xiao Song ran over and, seeing that it was She Ning, familiarly stood on her left shoulder.

"Was this done by those bad guys?" Suppressing his anger, the little squirrel clenched his fists and asked quietly after She Ning finished applying the medicine.

In the struggle for survival, they accept the survival of the fittest in the food chain, eating meat and plants. But they do not accept human cruelty and unrestrained hunting. Today it is them, but tomorrow, will it be the other one?

The little squirrel that had gained some intelligence after eating the spirit rice felt a sense of shared sorrow, like a rabbit mourning the death of a fox.

“Those people will be punished.” After wiping the medicine off her hands, She Ning said calmly, leading the little squirrel out of the backyard, leaving a quiet space for the animals to rest.

"Have you noticed anything these past two days?" She Ning asked as they entered the front yard.

The little squirrel nodded. It had originally planned to go find She Ning tomorrow. "People have been coming to the nearby mountains frequently these past few days, and thunder can be heard from time to time."

"According to the animals that escaped, there used to be a mother and daughter black bear on the mountain next door. Now the cub is missing, and the mother black bear is frantically searching for her cub."

The missing bear cub the squirrel mentioned must be the one with the broken leg that she had seen before. She tapped the back of her hand with her fingers as she thought to herself.

The little squirrel continued to recount the information it had gathered, and She Ning listened attentively.

"You mean there's another group of people dressed in the color of leaves who went into the mountains this morning and haven't come out yet? Those people remind you a lot of the people who were stationed at the back wall before?" Upon hearing this, She Ning paused in her finger movements, interrupting the little squirrel, and asked.

"Um, what's wrong?" Not understanding the meaning of her question, the little squirrel paused for a moment before replying.

"It's alright, you can continue." She Ning waved her hand, signaling it to continue.

If what the little squirrel described is true, then that group of people must be military personnel. Did they also go into the mountains because of the poachers? They went in this morning and are still in the mountains. Are they lying in ambush?

She Ning guessed.

"Little Squirrel, please continue to help me inquire." Turning to look at the little squirrel on her left shoulder, She Ning reached out and touched its head. In her other hand, she held the Linglong Fruit, which she had redeemed from the system and which was a favorite food of spirit beasts in the cultivation world. The fruit looked a bit like the crabapple they had eaten before.

It seems the system convenience store has recently been sourcing goods from the cultivation world, as most of the items on the shelves are from that world, and the prices appear to be on clearance sale.

She bought 100 catties of Lingmi for 15 points, and with 210 points left, she bought it directly. This Linglong Fruit only costs 2 points for 10 pieces. The description says that it contains rich spiritual energy and is one of the favorite snacks of spirit beasts. She Ning directly bought the maximum quantity within the purchase limit, spending 8 points to buy 40 pieces.

"This is for me?" The little squirrel stared wide-eyed at the fruit, which smelled even better than the spirit rice, and said with a look of surprise.

"This is your reward, and this is for your little friend." She Ning took out a small cloth bag and gave it to it, which was filled with a lot of spirit rice.

The little squirrel was stunned.

It helped them gather information out of affection for She Ning, without expecting anything in return. It had always taken She Ning's offer of payment as just polite talk. But She Ning actually did pay them, and it was even their favorite thing.

"Chirp chirp chirp!" The little squirrel chirped excitedly, carefully putting the spirit fruit and spirit rice back into the tree hole. It then crawled out again, stood on a branch, and bowed to She Ning with its paws.

With these things, it can live for a very, very long time.

It was getting late, and noticing her mother moving around in the same bed, worried that she might notice something was wrong, She Ning quickly gave the little squirrel a few instructions before leaving in her magic cloak. Before leaving Deer Cave Mountain, she also went to visit the big black bear and the small animals.

The big black bear sat dutifully guarding the cave entrance. When it saw someone coming, it stood up and stared at the person warily. Only when it saw that it was She Ning did it sit back down.

She Ning stepped forward and glanced inside the cave. Seeing that the animals were all in good condition, she took out a spirit fruit from her system and gave it to the big black bear.

Unlike the little squirrel's cautious approach, the big black bear took the Linglong fruit, sniffed it, and ate it in one bite. The warm sensation slid down its throat, into its stomach, and then spread throughout its body, making it hum with pleasure.

When it looked up again, its gaze toward She Ning was noticeably brighter and more affectionate than before.

She Ning reached out and touched its head. The big black bear rubbed against her palm, its stiff fur a little prickly.

After instructing it to be careful, She Ning put away the android. Without anything to attach to, her consciousness instantly returned to her body. The switching process was a bit fast, and she felt a little dizzy the moment her consciousness returned to its original state.

The person next to her was turning over. She Ning closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. A rustling sound came, and someone quietly got out of bed. Then she felt a warmth on her body as a blanket was pulled over her. Soon after, the sound of the door being pushed open rang out.

After the door was closed, She Ning opened her eyes. It was not yet four o'clock, and She Hongmei had already started working.

There was a small window under the roof beam, and moonlight streamed in through it. Staring at the bright white light, She Ning thought for a long time.

The next day, She Ning got up early and, keeping her promise to She Hongmei, went to the store with her.

"Didn't you go to bed early yesterday? Why are your dark circles so heavy?" She Hongmei asked, looking at the dark circles under She Ning's eyes.

She Ning has had fair skin since she was a child, and especially recently, after taking good care of it, her skin is fair with a rosy glow, as tender as a peeled egg. Now that she has stayed up all night, her dark circles are particularly noticeable.

"I didn't sleep well, I had a nightmare," She Ning replied, gently pressing her dry eyelids.

She didn't lie; she slept for an hour and had a nightmare for an hour. When she woke up, she was still shaken, but she couldn't remember the content of the dream.

"You can stay home today, you don't need to come to the store with me," She Hongmei said with concern. "After breakfast, go back to your room and continue sleeping."

She Ning waved her hand in refusal, saying that she had many things to do today and couldn't waste time sleeping.

"Mom, shall we go to the police station to explain the situation to Sister Shengnan?" She Ning suggested from the back seat.

Although the historical process of this world and later generations is similar, there are still some differences in the details. As early as 1979, the country officially promulgated the "Wildlife Protection Law", which clearly defined pangolins, black bears, monkeys, birds and other animals as protected animals. According to different levels, the relevant poaching penalties are also different.

This progress was about ten years ahead of later progress.

Based on what she had seen, She Ning roughly calculated that those people would need at least ten years' worth of silver handcuffs.

"So early, Investigator Chen hasn't started work yet, has he?" As she pedaled her bicycle ahead, She Hongmei looked up at the sky. The rainy season was approaching, and the air was damp. The sky was overcast and not bright at all.

"Then let's go to the shop to prepare." She was too eager to catch those people, and forgot that it was only 5:30. Ya Ya, who was staking out Hong Ye's restaurant, had just sent back a message that those people had woken up.

The tall man packed his things and left the restaurant with his henchmen, asking if anyone wanted to follow.

She Ning immediately shared her vision with Ya Ya. Those people were riding their bikes out of town. There were many villages in the direction they were heading. Obviously, the tall man was not from the town. They were going back to their hideout.

Maintaining a shared view, She Ning watched as the tall man and his companion entered a village outside the town. Once they were inside a house and didn't come out again, she told Ya Ya to stay behind and keep watch, and to report to her if anything happened.