Picking fruit (5)
Sun Chenyuan said, "I can try my best to find such a pomegranate. Just now, we found a pomegranate with 625 seeds and a pomegranate with 610 seeds. As long as we find a pomegranate with a weight between the two, it is very likely that we can realize this idea."
Fan Siqi asked, "Are you sure that what you found is less than 622, and not more than 622?"
"I can't be sure, I can only estimate. If I could be sure, wouldn't it be easier for me to just find a pomegranate with 622 seeds?"
"That's true."
After measuring for a period of time, Sun Chenyuan found a pomegranate that he considered suitable.
Jian Tanxi asked, "I have three Ruyi Flowers. Does anyone else have any?"
Fan Siqi said, "I have 5 flowers."
Sun Chenyuan: "I have 4 flowers."
No one else did.
Jian Tanxi said, "Then let's set an order for using the Ruyi flowers. I'll go first, and if I don't have enough, Fan Siqi will. If we still don't have enough, we'll use the flowers from Editor-in-Chief Sun. That way, the three of us won't make a mistake about the number of pomegranate seeds if we all act at the same time."
Sun Chenyuan and Fan Siqi both agreed to the plan.
So everyone continued up the mountain and offered the freshly picked pomegranates to the dog king.
Following the same method as last time, the dog king first laid 600 pomegranate seeds flat in a 60×10 grid.
There were also 28 pomegranate seeds floating in the air, arranged in three rows, making them easy to see.
Since there were more than 622 pieces, the players couldn't tamper with them, and their attempt failed this time.
Back in the orchard, Sun Chenyuan continued to use a weighing pen to select suitable pomegranates.
This is a do-or-die situation; if they fail again, all the players will be wiped out.
However, no one can guarantee 100% success; it all comes down to luck.
Sun Chenyuan broke out in a cold sweat. He tried his best to remain calm and even took a fearlessness pill.
Finally, he picked out a suitable pomegranate and said, "This is it, there's no one more suitable... If it doesn't work this time, I'll admit I'm sorry. If there's a next life, then..."
Fan Siqi said, "Don't talk such discouraging things. Maybe this time it will work. Without your weighing pen, we wouldn't even have this much of a chance. Come with me up the mountain, I'll lead the way."
The group carried the new pomegranates up the mountain.
This time, the big and small dogs they encountered on the road all looked at the players with longing expressions, as if they knew that the players would definitely not be able to escape this time.
Everyone clenched their fists, both to encourage themselves and to prepare for battle.
If we can't get through this time, we'll definitely have to fight a big battle with the dog tribe; we can't just let them kill us.
They came to the golden house and presented pomegranates.
The dog king peeled the pomegranates and counted them again.
This time, there were 21 pomegranate seeds floating in the air, making a total of 621 seeds.
It's only one short of 622.
Jian Tanxi immediately murmured, "Ruyi Flower, according to my wish, turn into pomegranate seeds."
Now, there are 22 pomegranate seeds in the air.
The dog king thought it was seeing things. It had clearly seen that there were 21 pomegranate seeds in the air. How come there was one extra?
He counted them himself several times, and then had his subordinates count them several times as well; they both counted as 22.
So, including the 600 pomegranates in the table, there are a total of 622 pomegranates, and the players have cleared the level.
Although the Dog King was very reluctant, he still kept his promise and let the players leave.
Jian Tanxi was already covered in a cold sweat.
As soon as everyone returned to the orchard, the farmer John appeared: "Congratulations on passing the second level. Next is the third level: pick fruit for the King Bird."
The Bird King, who lives on Moonlit Mountain in the south, loves to eat fruit, but it hasn't had a good appetite lately and hasn't eaten in a long time. Players need to find the Bird King's favorite fruit and get it to eat it to complete the level. Players only have two chances.
If the attempt fails, the player will turn into meat soup and end up on the Bird King's table.
This time, the time limit is also six hours, and players can go up the mountain at any time without restrictions.
After saying that, the farmer John disappeared.
Everyone decided to go up the mountain first to find out what the bird king liked.
On the way, Qin Man asked, "What kind of bird do you think the Bird King is?"
Jian Tanxi: "It should be a peacock or a phoenix, right? But there are no real phoenixes on Earth, so I don't know if there are any here. Maybe it's a bird we don't recognize."
Soon, they arrived at Mount Yueming in the south.
Along the way, they carefully observed the birds in the vicinity.
Most of the birds they saw were common birds such as sparrows, magpies, swallows, crows, and parrots, none of which looked like the king of birds.
Halfway up the mountain, the players saw a group of peacocks strolling and playing by the lake.
One of the peacocks was very colorful and quite large, with a long tail that trailed on the ground, swaying gracefully.
Although all the peacocks here are beautiful, none can compare to this giant peacock.
Moreover, this large peacock had an arrogant expression, as if it didn't care about anyone.
Several peacocks brought food to the big peacock, but the big peacock ignored it and knocked the food into the lake instead.
Qin Man said, "Judging from its demeanor, could it be the King of Birds?"
Jian Tanxi activated her ability to communicate with animals and asked the giant peacock, "Are you the King of Birds?"
The great peacock replied, "Yes. Who are you?"
"We are workers on the farm. We heard that the King Bird has not had a good appetite lately, so we would like to offer him some delicious food. What kind of fruit would you like to eat?"
"you guess."
Jian Tanxi: "..."
Jian Tanxi never expected that the peacock would answer like that.
She had no choice but to ask again patiently, but the peacock just wouldn't tell her.
After a while, her special ability time was up, and Jian Tanxi could no longer ask questions.
She was somewhat frustrated, and also a little angry. She was so close to finding out what the Bird King liked. Now she had to figure it out herself.
However, the king of birds is a king after all, so it's normal for him to have a temper.
Jian Tanxi relayed the conversation to her teammates.
Professor Pan said, "I've raised peacocks before. Peacocks generally like to eat fruits such as pears and yellow raspberries. Or we can hide to the side and see what the other peacocks give it to eat. What the other peacocks bring is definitely something it usually likes."
Everyone agreed that this made sense, so they pretended to go down the mountain. In reality, Jian Tanxi and Professor Pan secretly hid in the nearby woods to observe the flock of peacocks.
Other players descended the mountain normally, creating the illusion that everyone had left.
After a while, the other peacocks brought the big peacock pears, persimmons, pomegranates, oranges, yellow pomegranates, corn, soybeans and other food.
The peacock ate only one segment of orange, throwing the rest into the water. But the peacock, which had offered the orange as tribute, wasn't angry at all; instead, it continued searching for other food.
Having seen enough, Jian Tanxi and Professor Pan secretly went down the mountain.
The orchard has pears, persimmons, pomegranates, oranges, and wild raspberries—all the fruits are there. But the worry is that even if players give them to the Bird King, it won't eat them.
Qin Man said, "Since the bird king ate a segment of orange just now, let's pick a few oranges for it. It should eat them, right?"
Professor Pan said, "It might not be that simple. The king bird seems to be a picky eater. If it doesn't eat, we'll have wasted an opportunity."
Jian Tanxi said, "Professor Pan, don't you have a special ability called 'Natural Affinity'? This ability seems to increase animals' favorability?"
"Yes, but its main purpose is to prevent animals from attacking me. It probably won't work if you want the animals to obey me and eat the food I give them."
"I think we can try this ability later, just in case it works. Also, let's try to find as much fruit as possible. The referee didn't specify how many we can pick in this round. We can pick one or two of every kind of fruit so that the Bird King has a choice. That way, the Bird King might take a bite or two."
Everyone agreed with the idea, so they went off separately to pick fruit.
About half an hour later, the group had picked more than 30 kinds of fruit, including apples, pears, oranges, pomelos, tangerines, water chestnuts, mangosteens, star fruit, ground cherry, peaches, kiwis, and so on.
The items were laid out side by side, a dazzling array. The players, who weren't hungry at first, started to feel a bit hungry after seeing them.
Professor Pan said, "I almost forgot, I have a special ability called grafting. I can graft two different branches together and they can immediately bear fruit, and the fruit will have the characteristics of both plants. I use this ability to create some fruits that I'm not afraid the Bird King won't eat."
Everyone agreed.
So, Professor Pan used his special ability to graft dozens of new varieties, such as grapefruit lemon, prickly pear kiwi, hawthorn olive, etc.
The grafted fruit has the appearance and taste of two different fruits.
Jian Tanxi and the others were very envious and said that after the mission was over, they would ask Professor Pan to graft a few more for everyone to try.
Professor Pan smiled and said, "Of course."
Sun Chenyuan said, "I have a special ability that can enhance the charm of a certain food, but I can only use it once per game. Which fruit do you think I should enhance the charm of?"
Qin Man said, "How about oranges? Didn't the Bird King just eat a segment of orange?"
Others also felt that this was the safest option, so they asked Sun Chenyuan to increase the orange's charm value.
Then, full of confidence, everyone took all the fruit to the peacock's nest and fed it to the bird king.
However, the Bird King glanced at all the fruit and seemed uninterested, intending to sweep them all into the lake.
Professor Pan quickly activated his "Natural Affinity" ability to soothe the Bird King's emotions.
The king bird was no longer irritable, but it simply didn't throw away the food; it still showed no intention of eating the fruit.
Jian Tanxi picked up some fruit and offered it to the bird king's beak, but unexpectedly the bird king pecked Jian Tanxi's wrist, almost severing her carotid artery.
Jian Tanxi winced in pain and quickly withdrew her hand, feeling very angry.
But she knew she couldn't kill the Bird King, since she still needed the Bird King to clear the level.
Seeing that Jian Tanxi's hands were covered in blood, Qin Man quickly gave her a healing pill. After taking it, Jian Tanxi immediately felt no pain.
Sun Chenyuan gave some fruit to the other peacocks, and they ate it happily.
Sun Chenyuan turned to the Bird King and said, "Bird King, look, these fruits are delicious, and your companions all like them. Have a bite, they're very tasty."
However, the bird king completely ignored him.
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