Chapter 41 Someone: "Someone, a friend."
There are two types of pet food produced by the system.
One type is general pet food that all pets can eat, and the other type is exclusive pet food that the host must explore the recipe, unlock the complete recipe, and then synthesize.
The system mentioned this feature to Xiao Jiu more than half a year ago.
However, Xiao Jiu's mind was much sharper now. He could recall the time when Taotie had just hatched, so after the system gave him a few pointers, he immediately remembered it.
Xiao Jiu's eyes widened: "Flowers, and sweet potatoes!"
System: [You're right, this flower looks just like a sweet potato.]
It was an accident that sweet potatoes were discovered to be one of the exclusive food recipes for Taotie. At the time, the system only showed that Taotie particularly liked to grow sweet potatoes. But when I opened the pet function, I saw that Taotie's recipe was 20% unlocked.
The formulas and flavors of special pet food can be incredibly varied, but for that particular pet, it is an absolute delicacy.
Moreover, the effects of the exclusive food are doubled.
This effect naturally includes rapidly increasing the hatching rate of the "fetus" Taotie!
So the system quickly taught Xiao Jiu how to check the pet information.
Unlike when entering the warehouse and the mall, the surrounding scenery did not change when the pet information appeared. There were just a few more holographic semi-transparent images in Xiao Jiu's field of vision.
[Name: Taotie (Unnamed), Age: ?]
[Level: ? Upgrade Value: ? Growth Value: ?, ......]
The system felt a pang of frustration seeing all those question marks. It gestured for Xiao Jiu to look ahead and said, "[The information about the exclusive food is below.]"
At this moment, in the virtual projection displayed in front of Xiao Jiu, there is a white question mark at the top and an icon showing the unlocking progress below.
The image currently displayed is "100%".
The system was ecstatic: [Host, the dog's exclusive food recipe is fully unlocked!]
Xiao Jiu: "Aww!"
He followed the instructions in the system and looked at the following instructions.
Below the 100% image, there are two rows of object projections, which are the materials needed to make the special food.
The five projections are a plump red sweet potato, a wrinkled brown sweet potato, a stream of flowing water, two mint leaves, and a spiritual hyacinth.
Now that the recipe is out, we should at least try synthesizing it once.
It's not a big problem if you run out of sweet potatoes; you can just exchange them in Xiao Jiu's shop.
However, because sweet potatoes are too expensive and spirit hyacinths are meant to be used for two purposes, the system strongly suggested that its host only exchange ten for now.
[Redeem successful. Points deducted: 50,000. Remaining points: 200,000]
The two sweet potato images were clearly different. The system looked at the records so far and guessed that one was a raw sweet potato and the other was a roasted sweet potato.
Xiao Jiu squatted down in front of Suanni with two sweet potatoes in his hands: "Meow meow, help me, fire."
The Suanni was also curious about what this so-called exclusive food was, so it didn't say anything, but just flicked its tail, and a cluster of flames appeared in front of Xiao Jiu.
While the sweet potatoes were still roasting, Xiao Jiu followed the system's instructions and placed the raw sweet potatoes in the positions corresponding to the virtual projections.
A miraculous scene unfolded.
Previously, when Xiao Jiu reached out to touch the projection, his hand passed right through the image. But now, it was as if something had swallowed the sweet potato in Xiao Jiu's hand.
At the same time, the translucent image representing a raw sweet potato in front of him also disappeared.
A broadcast sounded in the space: [Materials collection progress: 20%, please continue adding]
Xiao Jiu was initially looking down at his suddenly empty hand with a puzzled expression, but as soon as the announcement came on, he seemed to be encouraged and continued to follow the image, placing the remaining materials one by one.
[Materials collected: 100%, production has begun]
[Production progress: 1%......20%......90%......]
Fuyu, who was watching from inside the water sphere, was so nervous that he even blew a string of bubbles.
Soon, the announcement rang out again in the space.
[Ding—Congratulations on completing your first grain block crafting]
Rewards: 500 points, 1 Universal Evolution Fruit
Under everyone's expectant gaze, nothing happened around Xiao Jiu.
System: [Wait a minute... wait, the warehouse!]
Xiao Jiu immediately turned his head to look at Taotie, and the others followed suit.
Taotie tilted its head in confusion, then suddenly spat out a bag with a "whoosh".
The bag was bright red with a slightly wrinkled surface, like a gluttonous beast vomiting its internal organs, which was quite striking.
The onlookers, Suanni, Qianchuan, and Fuyu: ...
Suanni: "Luckily, I didn't exchange for grain blocks before."
Qianchuan: "...Hmm."
Xiao Jiu didn't feel anything. He opened the blood-red bag, and in an instant, the bag disappeared into thin air, leaving only five irregularly shaped solid objects and a small purple fruit.
The glutton's saliva immediately started flowing.
Xiao Jiu was about to put the grain near Taotie's mouth when Taotie rushed over and bit Xiao Jiu's hand while she was still some distance away.
"Awoo!"
His teeth had all grown in by now, but Xiao Jiu still didn't dodge at all, just like before. The next moment, Taotie pushed Xiao Jiu's hand out with its tongue, just like before.
The gluttonous beast ate with great relish, its tail wagging wildly behind it.
The Suanni curiously raised its head and carefully sniffed the surrounding air, then immediately stuck out its tongue as if it was disgusted.
He looked at the gluttonous beast with suspicion: "Wow... this tastes really good?"
Taotie didn't even have time to lift its head, only muttering something incoherently.
Although no one except Suanni could understand what Taotie was saying, their actions showed that this thing was absolutely delicious to Taotie.
However, for the other monsters, the taste was indescribable.
When Xiao Jiu asked him what it tasted like, Qian Chuan thought for a while before saying, "It's very sweet, but also a bit pungent, and has a strange aroma. I don't know how to describe it."
This was the second time Xiao Jiu had heard the description "sweet".
He tried to make a "sniffing" motion by turning his head like a lion, then looked blankly at his hands that had touched the ingredients and grains.
Just as Xiao Jiu was silent and his facial muscles twitched slightly, a thud suddenly came from behind him.
Xiao Jiu immediately turned around and saw Taotie lying motionless on the soil.
His eyes widened instantly, but before he could run over, he heard a sweet snore.
[Don't worry, host.]
The system explained in Xiao Jiu's mind while writing in the red mist: "[The gluttonous beast is just as full as before.]"
The Suanni slowly wiped its face with its paw.
At that moment, he suddenly didn't want to admit that he knew this Taotie.
It's so embarrassing to eat until you faint!
Taotie slept for a rather long time this time.
Before he even woke up, the mint plant that had been transplanted earlier started having problems.
Mint thrives in sunlight and warmth. When grown in fields with natural growth advantages, mint can grow healthily regardless of external conditions. However, when transplanted, it faces a challenge.
Light and temperature.
Other things might be fine, but they couldn't control the sunlight at all, so before long, the transplanted mint leaves turned yellow due to insufficient sunlight.
After all, Taotie was still asleep, and the seeds couldn't be retrieved even after being exchanged. With no guaranteed points for crops, the system focused its attention on the transplanting experiment.
It watched the mint gradually wither and was so worried that its data was about to go haywire.
The system glanced at the still-sleeping Taotie, then ran to the Suanni and wrote in small characters using the red mist: 【I have a question for you: In its normal form, can Taotie eat the sun?】
A glimpse of Qianchuan by chance: ?
The Suanni being asked: ?
Suanni: "Are you crazy?"
[Don't you have a saying in your worlds about celestial dogs eating the sun? The Taotie can eat so much, what if it happens?]
The system drifted into a fantasy: [Then, with one open of its gluttonous mouth, whoosh—unlimited sunlight!]
The characters generated by the system were crooked and distorted, as if they had been poisoned.
Suanni took two steps back in disgust, utterly speechless: "Stop daydreaming. Aren't you a garden system? Get some items."
This idea makes sense.
After all, planting is a matter that is highly dependent on the right time and place. Who can guarantee that the natural amount of sunlight will meet the needs of crops?
Suanni: "It's not just about sunlight, there's also temperature, humidity, and even soil fertility..."
The Suanni was taken aback.
Wait, why does this sound so familiar?
Sure enough, the next second the system displayed in front of him: 【Would you like to guess why my farmland has a growth buff?】
The growth buff is so convenient that the system doesn't have a function to exchange for or synthesize similar items.
To put it simply, the system is essentially a garden management category, and it is primarily geared towards entertainment purposes.
Even the synthesis function that Qianchuan used when he was seriously injured was originally just to increase the fun and experience of cultivating flowers for the host.
If it hadn't inexplicably upgraded to version 2.0 along with Xiao Jiu's tribulation, its practicality would probably have dropped two levels further.
The Suanni flicked its tail but didn't say anything.
Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Qian Chuan stepped forward and advised the wisp of red mist, "System, don't be too anxious. If you want to expand the planting area, we can continue to accumulate points like before, and upgrade the farmland when we have enough points."
He suggested, "As for this ordinary soil, let's put it aside for now. Once we find flowers that can grow in this environment, we can try transplanting them together."
Upon hearing this, the system could only sigh and console itself.
—Yes, anyway, with the Elf Tree, this spatial rift is relatively stable for now, so we can take it slow.
It admits: "I was greedy again, thank you."
Although no one said it outright, everyone knew that most of the transplanted mint plants wouldn't survive.
The system originally thought that since things were already like this, it would be more cost-effective to just pull them all out and decompose them, but Xiao Jiu stubbornly stayed by her side every day.
Seeing this, the system had no choice but to let him be.
Before making the special food for Taotie, the system originally wanted Xiao Jiu to try synthesizing it with three kinds of spirit flowers, but then Taotie fell asleep again and the warehouse was locked again, so this plan had to be put on hold for the time being.
With no flowers to grow and no hope of ever growing mint, and nothing to do, life suddenly became both boring and leisurely.
Taotie was still asleep, Suanni was sunbathing and taking a nap, occasionally bickering with the system and Fuyu.
On the other side, Qianchuan, who had shrunk to the size of a child, was either meditating to calm his mind or talking to Xiao □□, which seemed quite pleasant.
When it got dark, Fuyu came to play with Xiaojiu, while Qianchuan, who didn't need to rest recently, went to the side to discuss the arrangements for planting flowers with the system.
Qian Chuan was saying that he should plant another batch of sweet potatoes next time and store them so that they could be used as his exclusive food when Taotie woke up, but suddenly, he caught a glimpse of red in the corner of his eye.
He looked and saw that Fuyu was sitting alone by the lake, playing with the water by stirring it with its tail.
He walked over curiously and asked, "Where's Xiao Jiu?"
Upon hearing this, Fu Yu's face immediately fell, and she said dejectedly, "Xiao Jiu went to see Bo He."
Qianchuan was extremely surprised: "Bohe? That's impossible. I just came from there and didn't see him."
Fu Yu's eyes widened as well: "How could this be?"
Although the spatial rift is not small, the area with light after dark is only a small area. Zombies have poor night vision, so where can Xiao Jiu go?
The next second, a loud bang suddenly rang out not far away.
"Bang!"
Qianchuan shouted "System!" and immediately took off running in that direction.
"Bang--"
With another loud bang, dust flew everywhere, and the surrounding air was filled with flying particles of dirt. After the dust settled down a bit, a short figure could be seen standing upright.
"Xiao Jiu!"
Upon hearing the call, the figure immediately turned around and shouted, "Xiao Jiu, here!"
After rushing over, Qianchuan quickly checked Xiao Jiu over and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that Xiao Jiu was not injured.
There were no tree roots of the Elf Tree around Xiao Jiu's location, so the system could only stop several meters away, anxiously flipping through a wisp of red mist.
Qian Chuan gestured in that direction to indicate that Xiao Jiu was alright, then took Xiao Jiu's hand and asked in a soft voice, "Xiao Jiu, why did you attack the ground?"
Qianchuan's night vision was pretty good. He had seen Xiao Jiu raising her fist and slamming it into the ground from a distance, which startled him. He thought Xiao Jiu had been attacked by something.
When asked this question, Xiao Jiu did not answer immediately.
Yes, um...
Xiao Jiu tilted her head, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Yes, someone, a friend."
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Author's Note: I plan to go VIP on the 31st. If it's successful, I'll update 10,000 words on the morning of the 31st. If it fails, I'll continue updating 3,000 words that evening and slowly build up my collection. _(:з」∠)_
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