86. Gotham/Smallville: The Dog-Sending God
94.
"...What dinosaur?"
This question was a little difficult for the farmer to answer. She thought about it and simply made a circle the size of a hen in her hand: "About this big?" It seemed that this kind of dinosaur had grown up as soon as it hatched from the egg. Although its size might be different from what everyone knew, it was still a dinosaur after all.
If it was really as big as in the documentary, she might as well just open Jurassic Park instead of being a farmer.
"It's green all over and has dorsal spines," she added, "I don't know what species it is, but it looks ugly and cute..." It's prettier than a pig. Of course, you can't say this in front of a pig, or it will be sad.
"What's ugly about it!" Damian, who hadn't even seen the dinosaur yet, was already eager to defend it, his tone full of protection: "It will grow taller and stronger! According to your description, it's only in its juvenile stage now... But is the Ridgeback really that small when it was a child?" He remembered that the juvenile was also about one meter tall, right?
"So, when does our contract start?" Damian folded his arms, his face serious. He'd observed the farmer before—she had no professional training, and it was obvious whether she was lying or not. This time, he chose to believe her. After all, a dinosaur was a dinosaur, even if it was created by magic.
"What's my job description? How much work do I need to do in exchange for dinosaur eggs? And when does it start?" Damian spoke rapidly, not giving the farmer a chance to interrupt. "By the way, don't schedule it during school hours, and not at night either—I have night patrols." He spoke decisively, his last sentence being the key point: "Can I see dinosaurs if I sign the contract now?"
The answer is no. The farmer thought about the dinosaur eggs he had dug up from the ancient spots, which were now gathering dust in a box, and the chicken coop under construction. He felt that this was a process that needed to be taken slowly: "The chicken coop isn't finished yet, and it will take a few days to hatch the eggs after it is built."
Damian frowned, clearly unhappy with the progress. But for the sake of the dinosaurs, he compromised. "Then I'll take care of the eggs first, and then I'll help you take care of the other animals' food, drink, and toilet..."
"Wait, wait," Aria wondered if he had misunderstood something—at least there was a disagreement about the workload. "I think I forgot to tell you that my animals don't require this kind of trouble."
Damian:?
Areya counted on her fingers the things she needed to do to become a livestock player: "You just need to touch the animals every day to keep them in a good mood, milk the cows, shear the sheep every once in a while, and collect the dropped products - of course, if you don't know how to do the latter work, you can just play with them every day." She mainly serves as an automatic petting machine.
It was getting more and more magical. Damian felt that the hallucinogen might not have been completely metabolized in his body: "Are you a princess? Do you have to sing and dance with them every morning?" He couldn't do that, so Damian could only show them the eighteen ways to sheath the knife. If they liked... it was not impossible.
Sometimes children's imagination is amazing. The farmers were amused: "Have you ever seen a princess getting up at six o'clock every day to farm?" Not only does she have to farm, but she also has to be proficient in fishing, smelting, and the art of killing monsters. Such a princess could probably establish a country on the spot even if she was exiled to a deserted island.
"But the most crucial issue is not this," Aria pointed at Damian's watch concisely: "You just looked at the time, so you were still restricted by Bruce after you returned home last time?" Damian should have found a reasonable reason not to let Wayne find out that he was working for Batman, otherwise, out of a father's concern for his child, Bruce Wayne would definitely keep a close eye on Damian and even confine him.
"That's my business. I'll take care of it." Damian snorted, his tone still cold. Although time was running out, he said seriously, "Let's schedule a time. You just need to tell me how to get to the farm and how to place the commission."
He had not forgotten what the farmer had said about the pearl necklace. He looked up and said seriously, "This is a secret between the two of us. I don't want anyone else to know about the pearl necklace."
Aria agreed with this very much. After all, she didn't want the mission to be snatched away by others.
As they chatted, they walked along the sewers that led to the town hall. On the way, the farmer explained to Damian the specific route to the farm: "There is an undercurrent deep in the sewers that leads to the mine on my farm."
Damian took note. "That doesn't sound very scientific."
"Well," the farmer agreed, looking helpless, "but that's the truth."
Considering that Damian wasn't the kind of angelic child who would obey orders, she simply explained the taboos clearly: "That floor of the mine is the safe level, with an elevator going directly upwards. There are monsters on both the upper and lower floors. For your own safety, it is recommended that you do not attempt to challenge them lightly."
"Our contract begins around the time the dinosaurs hatch. I'll take you on a tour for the first time and introduce you to my farm." She paused and smiled. "Come to think of it, you're the first guest I invited."
"Batman doesn't know the exact location of your farm?" Damian found it a little unbelievable. He knew that his father had been investigating Aria - it must be the magic that blocked the clues about her, which prevented the investigation from making any crucial progress.
"Ah, he didn't ask?" The farmer scratched his head: "My farm is still under construction. Batman may not be interested in these things." After all, he was busy saving Zuzu City, and sharing such trivial matters seemed to be a waste of his time.
Damian closed his mouth gravely.
…
After successfully completing the mission and returning from Zuzu City, the farmer rode back to town and hurriedly bought some seeds for other crops before the general store owner closed. Although Batman's mission bonus had already been deposited, she was still habitually careful with her budget, fearing that impulsive spending would delay the development of the desert map.
This time she finally fulfilled her wish. She jumped off her horse lightly and nimbly entered the grocery store, saying with a dusty and cheerful tone: "Good afternoon, Jackson. Say hello to Elena for me! Please exchange all this money for seeds other than hops." Hops will be in good supply tomorrow, and Aria doesn't need to plant more for the time being. Maybe some blueberries would be better.
Jackson was packing up to close the store when he was startled by the farmer's sudden enthusiasm. He then cheerfully took the money and rummaged around behind him for seeds. As he searched, he couldn't help but sigh—ever since the farmer's arrival, his grocery store had practically become a seed store. "Are you going to expand your plantings again?"
"That's right, I'm going to do something big in the summer!" Aria's tone was full of enthusiasm.
"So you must be planning to upgrade your equipment, right?" Jackson placed several small bags of seeds on the table and casually placed a flyer on top. "Someone came to sell me some equipment the other day and asked for a few flyers. I thought you might need them, so I saved one for you."
"Here," he pointed at the pattern on the brochure. The huge LexCrop logo was extremely eye-catching. "Did you know? Wayne and Luther are in the midst of a heated business war lately."
Jackson wasn't interested in the battle between the two giants. Even his slight resentment towards Wayne had almost disappeared because the farmer frequently visited his shop. Now he wanted to take advantage of the situation and even enthusiastically recommended that the farmer buy some. "If you want to replace your equipment, now's the time. What model of tractor did you use before? They have an all-in-one machine this time, and I heard it's very efficient..."
The farmer, who currently relies entirely on her own hands to farm, fell silent. She glanced at the tractor in the brochure - its smooth lines and high-tech feel made it seem as if it was tailor-made for the farm. She felt that she was now going through a difficult test of whether to continue being an honest farmer.
"Thank you for your recommendation, Jackson." Faced with his enthusiastic recommendation, the farmer's expression was solemn, as if he was facing some difficult choice: "I'll consider it!"
Leave this place full of desire and temptation as soon as possible!
…
Li Bao didn't understand what kind of inner struggle the farmer was going through. Li Bao just slowed down his pace when Smallville stopped running, snorted softly, and let Aria hold the reins to catch up with this particularly beautiful sunset.
The sunset here was even more distant and boundless than that of Zuzu City. The sky was azure, and the rolling wool fell low on the horizon. The setting sun deliberately dyed the clouds golden orange. In the intersection of light and shadow, Smallville fell into a molten gold.
...You can tell tomorrow will be a good day without even checking the weather forecast.
The horse stamped its hooves, switching from a gallop to a slow walk. The farmer reached out and scratched Li Bao's head, inevitably joking, "Such a large expanse of golden orange. Are you hinting that I shouldn't forget to feed you carrots when I get back?"
Whoosh——
A sudden gust of wind blew by, sweeping dust from beneath Li Bao's feet and blowing thick bangs into his mane. Unlike the gentle evening breeze, the sudden change in direction of this gust made the farmer raise his head sharply and look towards the sky.
Looking up at the sky, I only saw cumulus clouds in the distance drawing a track that looked like an airplane's path.
"Strange, the weather forecast only said that it will be sunny tomorrow..." She didn't use the rain totem, so why was there a strange wind?
The next second, a flash of red broke through the clouds and fell straight towards Aria like a meteor!
That was Superman flying over the terminator, passing through the continuous cumulus clouds, and descending from the sky to this vast land.
The golden-orange afterglow of the sunset gave him a golden edge, and his soft cloak half fluttered and half hung on his chest, as if it was used to wrap something.
"Woof!"
A small cry of life came from his arms. Superman lowered his head and looked at the little life in his arms with tenderness. When he raised his head again, Superman's eyes were bright and he smiled at the farmer.
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*Chapter 50, Aria: "I don't have any requirements for the dog's breed. As long as it has nowhere else to go, I want it."
Someone remembered it
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