The special eggs came from the Xia clan in the forest.
Jiang Yunlan gave 022 a high five, then withdrew her hand and asked, "022, has the gathering team returned?" She had spent two days in the forest with Grey Honey and the others, while the gathering team had been out for four days.
The transparent slime raised a round hand and shook it from side to side twice. "Not yet."
The gathering team carries more food than the hunting team, probably because they are going to farther places and will be away for several days longer. Jiang Yunlan nodded thoughtfully.
She talked with the wolf-beastmen who had arrived for a while, then led several Grey Honey beastmen to pull the cart to the food storage area.
Walk to the upper right from the food storage area, and you'll reach the area where the animals are kept. After putting away the food, you can take the eggs to the animals in the enclosure to incubate.
The clan didn't have many birds, so they could only randomly catch a few docile animals to incubate the eggs.
"022, which of these eggs are dead?" Jiang Yunlan and the beastmen stopped at the food storage area and took the vine baskets containing eggs and food off the wooden cart.
The intact eggs she and the beastmen found were mostly lifeless, unfertilized, or dead eggs. There were only a few eggs with weak vitality, and a few scattered hatchling eggs that the beastmen had secretly stolen from the beastmen's nests.
She had already picked out the dead eggs she found while she was in the woods, but there were definitely some she hadn't discovered yet.
"This one, this one, and these few." 022 floated onto the pile of eggs, stretched out its round hand, and pointed to a few.
Jiang Yunlan followed behind it, picked up a few eggs it had touched, and handed them to the orcs, including Gray Honey, saying, "Take these and deal with them."
Dead eggs are inedible; they all have to be thrown away.
After examining all the eggs, 022 stopped in front of a plain-colored egg, hesitated for a few seconds before confirming that it was still alive.
Seeing Lan pick it up, 022 asked curiously, "Does Lan want to save them?"
“Hmm, I want to know what kind of animals they are.” Jiang Yunlan said, leading 022 and the beastmen to the place where the animals were kept.
The lifeless eggs we brought back from this trip are enough to give the beastmen an extra meal, so we can keep the living eggs.
Grey Honey, carrying the patterned egg she had found along with the plain egg, slowed her pace and walked beside Lan. She sniffed, then suddenly frowned, her gaze shifting to Lan's hand. "Lan, the one in your hand doesn't seem to be a beast. Its aura is strange."
She could smell the scent left on the eggshell by the animal that had incubated it. The one in her arms had a bird's scent, but she couldn't identify the creature in Lan's arms. She had initially thought it was a bird, but upon closer inspection, the scent didn't seem quite right.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yunlan looked down at the black mass in her hand and said in a light tone, "It's alright. Once it's born, we'll know what it is."
She stood under the wooden shed in the enclosure, holding the black egg, watching helplessly as the large blue bird tried to hide in the haystack. "Little Chirp. Don't hide, I see you."
The big bird was a bird that liked to tease other animals, often bullying herbivores like the stone tree beast, and making "caw caw caw" laughs at them. Despite its arrogant nature, the big bird was afraid of her, as if it had a phobia of her.
She remembered one time when she came to feed the animals, and as soon as she walked up to the big bird with the food, the bird panicked and backed away, weakly letting out a "chirp".
From that day on, the big bird was given the name "Little Chirp".
"Little Chirp, I think your size is perfect for incubating this egg in my hand. Come and try it. It's just the right size to fit in your nest." Jiang Yunlan placed the black egg down and waved to the large bird that was secretly looking up at her.
The black weak egg is several times larger than the eggs laid by the little chick, but when the little chick lies in the nest, it can just cover the black egg, so it can definitely incubate the egg.
Little Chick burrowed itself into the haystack, watching Lan's movements as if a swarm of poisonous mushrooms were beckoning to it, making it even more afraid to move. Its nerves were on edge as it stared intently at Lan, oblivious to the lemming beastman that had appeared behind it.
Kurotsuchi reached out and grabbed Little Chick's wing, then lifted Little Chick and placed it on top of the black egg.
The little chick, now free, fluttered its wings, ready to fly away, but its body remained obediently perched atop the black egg. It had laid many eggs, but none had hatched successfully. Now, with a hatchable egg, it was completely captivated. Even if it wasn't its own egg, it was determined to incubate it.
Seeing the little chick's shifty gaze, its reaction of wanting to fly away yet also wanting to stay, Jiang Yunlan silently got up and stepped back away from the chick, who was afraid of her, lest the chick really abandon its nest and run away.
The pheasants raised by the tribe laid their own eggs, and she secretly slipped a few bird eggs of similar size into them before turning away to find other animals.
The stone tree beast, which is a medium-sized animal, has been kept very docile. Unfortunately, its exterior always feels cold to the touch, making it unsuitable for incubating eggs.
After walking around the enclosure, Jiang Yunlan still couldn't find a suitable incubator for the large egg that Yan Dahe had discovered. Frustrated, she sighed, "It seems we'll have to find a beastman to take care of it."
“Lan, I’m here. I’m not a member of the hunting party… or the gathering party,” Iwata said, her ears twitching. She lowered her gaze to the grass on the ground. “I’ve always been with the tribe. I can take care of it.”
Jiang Yunlan noticed that her lips were unconsciously pursed, as if she was worried about being rejected, and encouraged her, "Okay, you can take care of it from now on, and 022 and I will help you."
She tried to smile, but failed, so she could only nod and suppress her smile.
Her reaction was a bit strange. Jiang Yunlan didn't understand why, and vaguely realized that she had overlooked something.
Don't you like animals?
Upon hearing Lan's question, Yan Dahe looked up at the animals raised by the tribe, shook his head, and said, "I don't dislike them. Lan tamed them, so we can have meat to eat without hunting."
She wasn't afraid of the beasts in her tribe; she was only afraid of wild animals. Despite being raised as a potential warrior, she had become a weakling who dared not face wild beasts.
She had let down her mother, Yan Duoyu, and she had let down Lan. She had become a cowardly beastman.
Jiang Yunlan was unaware of the unspoken sadness in Yan Dahe's heart. She hesitated for a moment, then smiled and said to Yan Dahe, "Yes, raising animals is just as important as farming. So, the important task of taking care of the large egg is entrusted to you. I believe you can take good care of it."
Yan Dahe subconsciously looked up, his gaze meeting Lan's smiling eyes. She unconsciously widened her eyes, her slightly parted lips curving into a smile, and she nodded vigorously.
"Lan, we and the wolf beastmen have reclaimed new fields. We've already cleared one plot, and soon we'll be able to clear as many fields as we did before," Yan Duoyu, who had come to help, said at the opportune moment.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yunlan raised her hand and called 022 to come over quickly. She then turned to Yan Duoyu and said, "Take me to see."
She took 022 and Yan Duoyu and ran to the edge of the farmland. Yan Dahe stayed in the enclosure to look after the large eggs and did not go with her.
The farmland is located below the enclosure and closer to the cleaning area.
The curly-leaved chrysanthemums in the field were growing very well and would be ready for harvest in another twenty or thirty days. Jiang Yunlan glanced at them and strode over to the wolf-beastman who was raking the ground with his claws.
With guidance from orcs like Yan Duoyu, who had experience cultivating fields, the wolf-orcs dug the soil to a depth suitable for planting new crops. From now on, some of the wolf-orcs can be assigned to farming tasks.
Jiang Yunlan silently reconsidered the tasks she could assign to the working beastmen and prepared to rearrange their work.
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Author's Note: Little angel "Xiao Tai" dropped 1 nutrient solution, and the large egg received nutritional replenishment, with its health value increasing by 1.
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