48: I want to be a salted fish
"Damn it! There's something in the lake! Something took away the Qingling Lotus!"
"The Qingling Lotus, the Qingling Lotus is gone! All the essence of the sun and moon on the Qingling Lotus!"
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! There's a shadow in the river! Attack the shadow quickly! It must be the shadow that took away the Qingling Lotus!"
In this instant...
Not only did Xu Hongbin, the tall boy, and others start shouting in alarm, but the other two teams nearby also noticed the situation!
Damn it!
When the snipe and the clamp fought with each other, it was the fisherman who got the benefit!
Almost everyone's mind flashed with this phrase simultaneously, immediately halting the contract beasts in battle and hurriedly commanding them to attack the water's surface.
Boom boom boom! ——
Bang bang bang bang bang! ——
However.
After a series of attacks, apart from splashing water everywhere, there was no sign of any shadow!
*****
While eating an apple, Song Yu continued walking forward, with the banging sound behind her getting louder and louder.
She paused. At this point, she was not afraid of the dizziness anymore. She quickly summoned Qiuqiu, clutched Qiuqiu's fur, and rushed towards the planned location.
Damn, they said it was a low-level wilderness area, very safe!
This is like an 8-magnitude earthquake, where is it safe?
Slipped away, slipped away, she had to run quickly!
So...
The destination that would have originally taken another hour or two to reach, with Qiuqiu, arrived in less than ten minutes.
Song Yu tremblingly got off the Cat's back, and her legs trembled.
After resting for half an hour, she quickly found a piece of open space and set up a simple tent.
After lighting a fire, cooking the simplest instant noodles, and casting her fishing rod, she started fishing.
She didn't ask for much, just hoped to catch a fish every day.
However...
Ten minutes later.
Song Yu: ... My hands are tired.
Twenty minutes later.
Song Yu: ... How about we don't fish today?
Thirty minutes later.
Song Yu: ... The fish must be targeting me. Otherwise, where are all the fish? How come I haven't caught a single one?
"Ah..."
Song Yu sighed and prepared to reel in the fishing rod.
It was almost dark; she had travelled so far today, it wouldn't be too much to sleep early, right?
"Huh...?" However, just as Song Yu was about to reel in the fishing rod, a tremendous force suddenly came from the fishing rod, swinging wildly in her hand! Song Yu's face lit up with joy, quickly gripped the fishing rod with both hands!
It's here! The fish she wanted!
Song Yu's cheeks turned red from excitement!
The huge pulling force from the fishing rod almost pulled Song Yu into the lake!
She desperately held onto the fishing rod, her cheeks swollen and red.
Hey! She couldn't beat the wilderness beasts, could it be that she couldn't even reel in a fish?!
Impossible! Song Yu couldn't be this useless!
"You, you come up... come up... you, come up quickly...!"
Song Yu gritted her teeth and pulled on the fishing rod with all her might, using all her strength, her fair little face turning crimson, her neck even redder.
She, Song Fishing Expert Yu, absolutely won't return empty-handed!
However...
The fish in this Qingshan Wilderness area seemed to have eaten spinach, remaining unmoved despite her desperate tugging, even dragging her and the rod into the river!
"???"
"Damn it! Why is this fish so strong?!"
Song Yu was dumbfounded as her left leg was pulled to the riverbank, soaking her pants cuffs in the chilly water.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Qiuqiu, come help me!"
At this point, Song Yu dared not struggle anymore, so she called for reinforcements.
Qiuqiu, who was lying nearby pretending to be asleep, immediately stood up, stretched its three tails forward, and promptly wrapped them around the fishing rod in Song Yu's hand.
Splash! ——
Without exerting much force, Qiuqiu used its tail to instantly pull up the fishing rod that was about to drag Song Yu into the water!
Qiuqiu was truly amazing!
Song Yu's eyes lit up as she eagerly looked at the fishing rod, wondering what fish she had caught this time.
"A fish that can drag a big person like me into the water must be huge, right?! At least several tens of pounds?!"
Excited, Song Yu's eyes sparkled. "Such a big fish must be delicious!"
Steamed, braised, stir-fried...
In an instant, Song Yu came up with dozens of ways to cook the fish in her mind.
However...
When Qiuqiu swung its tail, brought the fish up and placed it in front of Song Yu.
Song Yu: "???"
Song Yu: "..."
Song Yu silently stared at the fishing rod, which now held a palm-sized crucian carp flapping its tail furiously under the setting sun, feeling a bit doubtful about life.
"Why... is there only a small crucian carp?" Song Yu wiped the water splashes from her face, looking confused.
The small silver crucian carp was the most common type found in supermarkets, lively and still adorned with fresh water grass...
But no matter how lively it was, it couldn't change the fact that it weighed only a few ounces.
Inside, Song Yu felt like crying.
Was she really that incompetent? Could she be dragged into the water by such a small fish?
Little Pao, a stupid fish...
Sure enough...
Song Yu wiped her face fiercely.
She decided to study liberal arts or early childhood education after the college entrance examination.
After graduating from university, she would leave the Song family's house QAQ!
"Meow! ——"
Suddenly!
Qiuqiu, with its three tails holding the fishing rod, swung its tail violently and slammed the fishing rod and the small crucian carp hanging from the hook onto the ground!
A pair of golden cat eyes stared at the small crucian carp on the ground, claws raised.
Song Yu was dumbfounded: "???"
Instinctively, Song Yu looked down at the small crucian carp on the ground again, following the direction of the fishing rod...
Only to see the thin yellow vine-like strands entwined around the small crucian carp slowly, very slowly, twisting a bit!
But it behaved like a limp doll, and with a "snap," it fell to the ground.
Song Yu was dumbfounded: "Plant-type beast?"
"No way? How could I catch a plant-type beast while fishing? Don't plant-type beasts usually eat sunlight, water vapor, and soil?"
In the "Beast Encyclopedia," most plant-type beasts were indistinguishable from ordinary plants.
They only needed to anchor their roots in the soil, absorb water, and bask in the sunlight to grow and evolve slowly.
Only a few plant-type beasts, such as the Flame King Flower and the Star River Man-Eating Flower, hunted actively for food.
If it weren't for the fact that the growth and evolution of plant-type beasts were too slow, relying solely on their "poor upbringing" characteristics, many people would choose plant-type beasts.
"This vine-like... yellow plant-type beast... does it want to eat fish?" Song Yu was somewhat uncertain as she picked up the fishing rod from the ground. Keeping a safe distance, she cautiously extended the other end of the fishing rod towards the small vine-like beast, which remained motionless.
Seeing that the other party moved slightly but showed no sign of attacking, Song Yu approached cautiously and observed carefully, furrowing her brows.
She carefully examined it and took several more glances. "This vine looks thin and small... completely different from the second and third-tier plant-type beasts that Teacher Zhang showed us in the practical combat class... Uh...? But this little thing looks a bit like... a 0th-tier beast, Tussilago Vine?"
Tussilago Vine—
A low-level plant-type beast that attaches to ordinary plants.
Usually, it relied on absorbing nutrients from other plants to grow and birds or other mobile creatures to carry its seeds to distant places.
This type of plant-type beast is so low-level that it can't even attach itself to other people or beasts; it can only attach itself to ordinary plants.
According to the records in the Beast Encyclopedia, Tussilago Vine only has two moves in its lifetime: one is called "suction," and the other is called "entanglement."
Since the surface of the absorption target is stiff, the suction move of Tussilago Vine is ineffective.
Entanglement is also of little use; the strength of an adult Tussilago Vine is even weaker than that of a small ordinary snake on Blue Star. It is a beast recognized in the Beast Encyclopedia as having no cultivation value whatsoever!
It doesn't even have high intelligence. It is said to be the weakest plant-type beast, and it serves no purpose.
"Ah... no wonder this Tussilago Vine looks so damaged... the whole plant is wilted."
Song Yu looked at it sympathetically. At this moment, the wilted Tussilago Vine was lying on the ground, with many vines broken and contaminated with dust and debris.
She pushed the small crucian carp she had caught earlier forward with the fishing rod directly in front of the Tussilago Vine.
Song Yu said sympathetically, "Go ahead and eat, this fish belongs to you..."
Although she didn't know why this Tussilago Vine differed from the one recorded in the Beast Encyclopedia, it actually wanted to eat fish.
But thinking back to watching gardening videos before, many gardening enthusiasts buried fish intestines, fish heads, and small fish in the soil as fertilizer in winter... so it wasn't so strange for plant-type beasts to eat fish.
After fishing for so long and only catching such a small crucian carp, Song Yu didn't feel like continuing to fish.
Seeing that the Tussilago Vine remained motionless on the ground, Song Yu blinked, knowing the little guy was scared. She quickly tidied up the fishing rod, set up a pot over the fire, and cooked the instant noodles she had brought in her backpack.
Qiuqiu glanced at the Tussilago Vine lying on the ground, shook its tail, and followed Song Yu to the nearby tent...
Such a weak plant-type beast was completely ignored by it.
Pat, pat...
The Tussilago Vine, burying its entire small face in the ground, shook its slender, tiny, pale-yellow body and tried to pull itself out of the grass and rock crevices.
A trace of confusion appeared in its tiny pea-sized eyes, barely visible if not for careful observation.
It looked at the large crucian carp lying motionless beside it and paused for a moment...
The slender, tiny, pale-yellow vines moved and spread, covering the entire body of the crucian carp.
The Tussilago Vine felt unlucky today. It had guarded a lotus seed by the waterfall for almost two years, waiting to sprout and bloom, but it hadn't started yet.
Its old home was bombed away. Fortunately, it ran fast, and the lotus was not big...
After eating the fish...
The slender, tiny Tussilago Vine burped loudly.
Burp~
*****
Song Yu sipped her brewed black tea and ate instant noodles, her eyes fixed on the TV series on her phone, not blinking.
The fresh autumn wind in the wilderness forest blew through the trees, and the warm orange campfire was enough to make people sigh in comfort.
If she hadn't been sitting in the wild grass, Song Yu would have felt quite comfortable on such a day.
However, as she ate and watched...
Song Yu suddenly felt that something was wrong...
It seemed like the weight of the instant noodle bowl had increased slightly.
She looked down.
She saw a slender, tiny Tussilago Vine with multiple branches climbing up her body along the grass, almost reaching her bowl.
Song Yu: "???"
Song Yu was puzzled. Didn't this little guy just eat a fish? Why is it hungry again?
Song Yu expressionlessly tore the octopus-like Tussilago Vine from the edge of her instant noodle bowl.
Although the crucian carp she had just caught was only the size of an adult's palm, its weight was several times or even dozens of times that of the Tussilago Vine.
When the crucian carp and the Tussilago Vine were both hooked by the fishing hook earlier, she even mistook the Tussilago Vine for a piece of waterweed hanging on the fish...
Song Yu pulled the obvious Tussilago Vine and pushed it to the side on the grass.
She firmly refused, "You can't eat anymore. What if you get bloated like a goldfish?"
According to the book, plant-type beasts have low intelligence, which might be evident in this aspect.
These days, she had been in contact with contract beasts like Qiuqiu at home.
Song Yu also knew that although beasts had powerful abilities and could fight dozens or even hundreds at a time, their stomachs were not bottomless pits. She kindly gave the fish to the other party, but it wouldn't be good if it got bloated.
Rustle, rustle...
The Tussilago Vine looked at Song Yu pitifully, its two tiny bean-sized eyes and two tender green leaves waving urgently with the tiny vines, making a rustling sound. The Tussilago Vine emitted a pitiful smell all over its body, like a begging little puppy.
Song Yu: "?"
Song Yu: "..."
Hmm.
It had to be said.
Although she couldn't understand what the Tussilago Vine was saying at all, from its urgent waving of vines and its previous actions of scraping the bowl...
Song Yu could easily guess that it probably still wanted to eat the instant noodles in her bowl.
But how could that be?
Song Yu instinctively protected her bowl of instant noodles.
Not to mention, what if this little guy got bloated?
Moreover, as a climbing parasitic plant-type beast, the Tussilago Vine's usual food was various trees in the wilderness forest...
For the little guy, instant noodles were snacks, but for her, they were the food for survival in the wilderness area for the next time.
She wanted to finish the 1,000 hours of work and go back early. How could she waste time by repeatedly going back to the supply base?
So...
One minute later.
"Ah... What? You said you're full and don't want to eat anymore?"
Song Yu pretended to understand, nodding quickly suddenly, and quickly scraped the last two mouthfuls of noodles into her mouth, revealing two small tiger teeth as she smiled, "Okay, I got it. I also think you're full. Can such a big fish not be enough for you?"
*Rustle, rustle, rustle~!*
The Tussilago Vine jumped in a hurry, its slender, tiny vines jumping up and down, dancing wildly.
"Ah... What? You said you're still stuffed? You need to walk around and digest for a bit?"
Song Yu imitated the deaf old man in the TV drama, pretending not to hear, with a pleased expression, "Very good, as a beast, you need to have the determination to persist in exercising your physique."
Tussilago Vine: "..."
"Off you go, off you go... I think climbing trees and mountains are good ways to exercise."
Song Yu waved with a smile, pushed the Tussilago Vine, and urged it to go deep into the dense forest quickly.
In this wilderness area forest, various plants and trees were everywhere, all of which were food for this little guy. Why hang around on her crooked-neck tree?
Tussilago Vine: ...
Like an octopus, the Tussilago Vine drooped all its tiny yellow vines all over its body, showing a withered appearance, and in its bean-sized eyes looking at Song Yu, there was an expression of disbelief.
How did this human's attitude change so quickly?
Clearly, just now in the river, the other party lured it with food, and it was so eager.
It didn't want to take the bait at first, but the fishhook with the fragrant food kept swaying in front of it, challenging its will and stirring its mind...
After barely resisting the temptation and giving up the fragrance...
The other party tempted it with fish again.
Tussilago Vine: QAQ~
Just now, it was attacked by other beasts and injured. How could it resist such temptation?
Even though it had eaten the energy-rich lotus flower earlier, its injuries still hadn't fully healed, and it still needed a lot of nutrition and energy to repair itself.
But why did the other party urge it to leave after it had eaten just one fish?
Tussilago Vine: QAQ~
The Tussilago Vine looked dejected, its vines drooping, its energy far too little compared to ordinary trees.
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