Chapter 115
Su Jing leaned against the ancient tree trunk, her fingertips lightly gliding across the monster map on the communicator—
Within the pale green area of spiritual plants, a small, flashing white dot is hovering about 1 mile to the east, marked with the following: [Tier 1 Friendly Beast: Treasure-Hunting Rat (Active), Habits: Loves to eat spiritual herbs, good at digging burrows, can be guided to areas where spiritual herbs/ores gather].
She put away her communicator and scanned the woodland ahead: narrow passages were left between the vine-entwined tree trunks, and small claw marks could occasionally be seen under the layer of decaying leaves, clearly indicating the presence of small monsters, which was the route that the treasure-hunting rats might have taken.
"First, confirm there are no signs of ferocious beasts around." Su Jing mobilized her mental energy, expanding her perception range to 5 meters.
No energy fluctuations from the red-named ferocious beast were detected; only a faint roar came from afar, far enough away that it posed no immediate threat.
She raised her hand to manipulate the flight wing membrane, and the pale blue membrane instantly unfolded, but she deliberately lowered the light intensity, leaving only a very faint halo to avoid attracting unnecessary attention.
With feet lightly off the ground, move forward at a height of 1 meter, controlling the speed at 20 km/h. This is faster than walking and allows for timely response to unexpected situations. The airflow generated by the wing membrane blows away the dew on the decaying leaves, leaving shallow airflow traces on the ground.
When Su Jing moved about 500 meters eastward, she heard a soft rustling sound coming from ahead, as if something was rummaging through the decaying leaves.
She immediately retracted her wing membranes and landed beside a fern. Parting the leaves, she looked out—not far away, on a layer of decaying leaves, a small beast about 30 centimeters long was busy: its body was covered with soft, golden-yellow short fur, like it was wrapped in a layer of gold dust, with a few crumbs of decaying leaves clinging to the tips of its round ears, and a pair of black grape-like eyes focused intently on the ground. Its small but agile front paws were quickly digging through the decaying leaves, and it would sniff around from time to time, as if searching for something. It was the Tier 1 Treasure-Hunting Rat marked on the map.
Su Jing did not approach rashly, but observed for a minute first. The treasure-hunting rat's movements were very regular. It would pause for 2 seconds after digging up a piece of rotten leaf, its nose twitching rapidly. It was obviously looking for the scent of spiritual herbs. Behind it, there was already a small pile of fresh grass leaves with white fuzz. It should be a low-level spiritual herb that it had found, but it seemed not to be satisfied and continued to dig forward.
“It’s looking for more spiritual herbs, so this is a good way to build a closer relationship.” Su Jing had an idea in mind. She quietly pulled out a fresh “Qi-gathering Grass” from the “Medicinal Plant Area” in her space. This was a low-level spiritual herb that she had collected from the edge of the “Alien Mineral World” instance. Its leaves were light green and had tiny white flower buds at the top. It was exactly the kind of herb that the treasure-hunting rat liked to eat. She gently placed the spiritual herb in her palm and slowly stretched her hand forward, making her movements extremely light to avoid disturbing the other party.
The treasure-hunting rat seemed to sense the movement, abruptly stopping its actions. Its round ears perked up instantly, its black eyes warily looked in Su Jing's direction, its body slightly retracted, its front paws tensed, ready to escape.
Su Jing immediately stopped what she was doing, keeping her palm facing upwards, and spoke softly in a gentle tone: "Don't be afraid, here, have this." She deliberately offered the herb forward; its pale green leaves shimmered in the sunlight and emitted a faint, fresh herbal fragrance.
The treasure-hunting rat stared at the spirit herb for a few seconds, then sniffed the air, its vigilance gradually decreasing—it cautiously took two steps forward, its black eyes still fixed on Su Jing, but it couldn't help stick out its little tongue and lick its lips.
Seeing that Su Jing didn't move, it finally mustered up its courage, quickly ran to Su Jing's palm, gently touched the spirit herb with its little paw, and after confirming that there was no danger, it bit the root of the spirit herb, turned around and ran back to its little pile of grass leaves, and quickly began to gnaw on it. Its golden fur trembled gently with the chewing action, making it look exceptionally cute.
"Eat slowly, there's more." Su Jing watched it wolf down its food, then took out two more Qi-gathering grasses from her spatial storage and placed them on the decaying leaves not far from it.
After the treasure-hunting rat finished eating the first herb, its eyes lit up instantly when it saw the new spiritual herb. This time, without any hesitation, it ran over, picked up the herb, and continued eating.
Just as it finished eating the second plant, Su Jing's communicator suddenly popped up a notification: [Detected that the first-tier treasure-hunting rat's favorability has increased: Stranger → Friendly. You can try naming it. After naming, an initial connection will be established, and the monster will be more likely to follow guidance.]
"Let's call you 'Little Gold', it suits your fur perfectly."
Su Jing smiled and typed "Xiao Jin" on the communicator with her fingertips.
The next second, as if it understood, the treasure-hunting rat raised its head and chirped twice at Su Jing, its voice clear and crisp like a bell. Then it picked up the third spiritual herb, but did not eat it immediately. Instead, it turned and ran to the east. After running a few steps, it stopped and looked back at Su Jing, its dark eyes clearly conveying a "come quickly" message.
"Where are you taking me?" Su Jing's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly followed.
Seeing that she was catching up, Xiao Jin immediately sped up, but always kept 3 meters ahead of Su Jing, occasionally turning around to make sure she hadn't fallen behind.
It was very familiar with this woodland. When it encountered tangled vines, it would nimbly squeeze through the gaps. When it encountered small mounds, it would quickly dig small pits with its front paws to make it easier for Su Jing to step on them. Even when passing a damp pool of water, it would walk around in front of Su Jing and point to the stones by the pool with its little paws, indicating that she should walk on the stones to avoid stepping into the mud.
As Su Jing followed behind Xiao Jin, a warmth gradually grew in her heart—this little demon beast, though of low rank, was exceptionally clever and knew how to take care of her.
Along the way, she would occasionally take out spiritual herbs from her space and hand them to Xiao Jin. Each time, Xiao Jin would happily take them in its mouth, and its favorability was slowly increasing. Next to the "friendly" icon on the communicator, there was a small "close" progress bar, which had already increased by 30%.
After running for about 20 minutes, the woodland ahead suddenly opened up, and the fragrance of grass and trees in the air became richer. Xiao Jin stopped, called out twice towards the front, and then turned to look at Su Jing, his dark eyes filled with the excitement of "we've arrived."
Su Jing followed its gaze and was instantly stunned—the open ground in front of her was densely covered with various low-level spiritual herbs, including pale green Qi-gathering herbs, pale red hemostatic herbs, and pale yellow body-strengthening herbs, numbering in the hundreds. The leaves were spread out, full of vitality, clearly a natural "spiritual herb cluster".
"So that's why you brought me here." Su Jing suddenly realized, watching Xiao Jin carrying spirit herbs and running happily among the herbs. She knew that this was Xiao Jin's way of repaying her for feeding her spirit herbs.
She reached out and patted Xiao Jin's head. Xiao Jin rubbed against her fingertips comfortably, and the favorability bar increased by another 10%. Su Jing took out her communicator and looked at the scale of the herb cluster. She thought to herself: With so many herbs, manually digging them would be too slow. She could just call on the mining robot in her space to dig them in batches and store them in her space. She could also reserve some seeds to take back to the villa to plant. This way, she could complete the dungeon mission and replenish her resources at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.
Little Jin seemed to sense her thoughts, ran up to her with a hemostatic herb in its mouth, placed the herb in her palm, and then barked twice at the herb cluster, as if to say, "You can take these."
Su Jing smiled and accepted the spiritual herbs, saying softly, "Thank you, Xiao Jin. I'll need you to keep an eye on the surroundings for me now." She took out her communicator, preparing to summon a mining robot to start collecting the spiritual herbs, while Xiao Jin sat obediently at her feet, its round ears perked up, vigilantly observing the surrounding movements, becoming her temporary "guardian."
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