Chapter 20

Although the owl’s admission of defeat was somewhat unexpected, Kong Bi didn’t think much of it and simply said, “Since you agree with me, then come with me.”

“Hoo?”

The owl immediately perked up, scrambling out of the ruins in a flurry. It flapped its wings and waddled over to Kong Bi like a chicken.

It still remembered the other party’s size when they fought yesterday. It naturally wanted to have such an enviable size. If they weren’t both female, Tianba would have shamelessly sold its body long ago.

You know, its size hasn’t increased at all since a year ago. Even though it doesn’t understand what exactly happened to it, it understands that Kong Bi must have a solution.

As a monster, Tianba has the intelligence it should have. It’s not like it hasn’t seen other members of its kind grow up, so it naturally understands how rare Kong Bi’s size is. It’s been tormented by hunger for so long, and it’s been thinking about solving it all the time.

Unfortunately, because of their conflict, Tianba was prepared to be driven away. It didn’t expect the other party to disregard past grudges, and its heart surged with excitement as it walked to Kong Bi’s feet, determined to follow Kong Bi wherever she went, as long as she didn’t kill it.

Kong Bi didn’t pay attention to it. She looked around. Because of the conflict between the owl and her, the surrounding birds had fallen to the ground and fainted. However, with her keen sense of smell, she didn’t smell any blood. They had simply fainted under the pressure released by the owl.

Unlike Kong Bi, who can precisely control her aura, the unschooled owl cannot precisely control its aura, instead releasing it as an indiscriminate attack. Nevertheless, it can be considered a genius among demons, as this is a skill that a fledgling demon can master.

Generally speaking, this skill begins to be gradually mastered by demons during their juvenile stage, usually requiring the assistance of calls, actions, and other things to release, and it cannot be precisely controlled, often accidentally injuring allies.

Kong Bi didn’t need any of these things. On the first night she received the Demon King’s inheritance, she inherited the use of pressure from her ancestors’ bloodline inheritance. The basic pressure was all directed towards the owls.

Kong Bi was a little disappointed that she couldn’t use her newly learned fighting skills. Pressure wasn’t an offensive skill. It could only bring a sense of oppression to the enemy, causing a certain ‘delay’ in their attacks, giving them the illusion of being stuck in a quagmire, unable to move an inch. But as long as their spirit was strong enough, or their realms were equal, the pressure would be useless.

The entire forest of birds had fainted on the ground. If anyone had passed by, they would have been terrified. Kong Bi immediately used the supernatural power ‘Gathering Beasts and Summoning Birds’ that she used to summon them, waking them all up.

In Kong Bi’s view, this was the most convenient and practical supernatural power. Whether they were unconscious or asleep, they could immediately perk up at her call. Otherwise, Kong Bi wouldn’t have been able to summon those animals that slept during the day and came out at night to run over with the others when she summoned them earlier.

Kong Bi didn’t have any more thoughts of summoning nearby animals. After all the surrounding birds had regained consciousness, she immediately stopped releasing her supernatural power.

“Chirp chirp?”

“Tweet tweet?”

“Caw caw?”

The birds that had awakened from their unconsciousness didn’t know what they had experienced. They chirped in confusion, some still on the ground, some hovering in the air, and some perched on branches. The various cries, high and low, instantly made the quiet forest lively again. The two sparrows that had initially stayed at the cave entrance were the first to react. They quickly landed on Kong Bi’s shoulders, their intelligent eyes with a hint of cunning.

Kong Bi glanced at them, but couldn’t help but wonder: ‘Will they poop on me?’

As everyone knows, birds have straight intestines, and they can’t control their bowel movements. So even if they didn’t intend to poop on Kong Bi, it could still happen.

Despite this, Kong Bi didn’t shoo them away. She remembered that the tree sparrows guarding the cave entrance when she arrived seemed to be these two. Although to humans these sparrows all look the same, as a bird demon, Kong Bi could still tell the difference between them.

She took out her phone and looked at it.

【Capture: The monster you repelled is licking its wounds in the dark, ready to make a comeback at any time! Capture it to eliminate future troubles! The task reward depends on the completion. 】

【Current task completed, completion level: Excellent! 】

【Reward obtained: 500ml of Spiritual Spring Water, Unnamed Feather*1】

【A new task has been generated, click here to view details】

【Stance: The monster has been successfully captured by you, kill it or contain it. Task reward: ???】 

Kong Bi raised her eyebrows in surprise.

To explore the game, Kong Bi had tried low-completion playthroughs before achieving a perfect clear, and naturally, she had also accepted stance-related tasks. Simply put, this task represented future alignments. If actions were more violent, the alignment would lean towards evil, and the zoo would become a place of survival of the fittest. Eventually, a perfectly good management game would even turn into a world domination scenario, with the gray areas of the animal market being completely controlled by the player’s character.

On the other hand, a more righteous approach would simply result in a normal management game, with a harmonious and friendly atmosphere throughout the zoo.

As the fourth natural disaster^[1]The phrase “fourth natural disaster” is a common internet idiom used in the context of video games, particularly strategy or simulation games. It refers to the player’s … Continue reading, players can naturally do whatever they want in the game. But reality is not like that. Kong Bi couldn’t take the ‘evil’ route. She pondered for a moment, wondering what would happen if she didn’t choose either option and just let the owl go.

After thinking about it, Kong Bi didn’t rush to make a decision. She decided to observe the owl’s character first. If she felt uncomfortable and the owl wasn’t utterly heinous, then letting it go wouldn’t be a problem.

After all, she couldn’t really kill it. Kong Bi had killed chickens, fish, and even pigs with the villagers. But to make her kill a creature she could communicate with, she still couldn’t bring herself to do it.

She put it aside for the time being, opened the backpack bar, chose to take out 500ml of spiritual spring water, and looked at the phone curiously.

In the game, the function of spiritual spring water is to promote wound healing, strengthen physical fitness, and make food more delicious.

In the inherited memory, this was just the daily drinking water of the former green peacock clan and the spring water used to irrigate heavenly treasures to make them grow better. However, the spring of spiritual spring water in the memory has dried up, because there is not enough Qi in the world to allow these to still exist.

Under Kong Bi’s gaze, the surrounding space rippled like water waves. Then, a ball of water floated in the air in a way that defied scientific explanation. As the ripples in the air gradually subsided, Kong Bi subconsciously reached out and gathered her demon power above her palm, preventing the spiritual spring water from spilling directly onto the ground.

Sure enough, when the surrounding vibrations subsided, the spiritual spring water immediately lost its support. If Kong Bi hadn’t been prepared, this spiritual spring water would have likely fallen directly to the ground and been absorbed by the plant roots.

“Go!”

Kong Bi stretched out her free hand, and the spiritual spring water gathered in her palm immediately scattered, forming droplets that floated in the air. The surrounding animals immediately stirred, their eyes revealing undisguised desire.

“Eat it.”

Kong Bi gave orders to the animals whose bodies she had previously injected with the owl’s aura.

“Chirp chirp!”

Various sharp cries rose and fell. Although Kong Bi had dispersed the spiritual spring water into droplets, trying her best to accommodate all the animals that came to help find the owl, the spiritual spring water was limited, and there would always be some who couldn’t get any. At this time, they could only rely on their own abilities.

“Chirp chirp!”

The tree sparrows standing on Kong Bi’s shoulders immediately jumped up and down anxiously, their eyes filled with longing as they stared at Kong Bi.

“They’re quite clever.” Kong Bi couldn’t help but chuckle, realizing that these two tree sparrows were clearly among the smartest of their kind, knowing to come directly to her for a reward instead of competing with the other animals.

She separately extracted 50ml from the remaining 500ml of spiritual spring water in her backpack, evenly dividing it into two portions and handing it to them.

It’s not that Kong Bi didn’t want to give more. After all, this spiritual spring water was useless to her. It’s just that the tree sparrow itself is less than 15 centimeters long. The spiritual spring water that can be drunk is limited. It would be a waste to take too much. It would be terrible if the stomach bursts directly.

“Chirp!”

As soon as the spiritual spring water arrived in front of the tree sparrows, they immediately pecked at it impatiently.

Kong Bi observed the changes of the two tree sparrows.

Their brown feathers, nourished by the spiritual spring water, became completely renewed, and the white feathers on their cheeks and abdomen were even more conspicuous and beautiful. The whole bird lay dizzily in her palm as if drunk, making Kong Bi think that she had overfed them a bit.

To Kong Bi, spiritual spring water was no different from other daily drinking water, at most just a bit tastier. But to ordinary animals, this tiny bit of spiritual spring water was no different from a heavenly treasure. Animals that were only a step away from becoming demons might even be able to use this opportunity to leap through the dragon gate.

Unfortunately, even so, these two tree sparrows did not complete the final transformation. Only the feathers on their bodies grew to a certain length at a speed visible to the naked eye, making them look like long-haired cats in the bird world, and the whole bird swelled up as a result.

Kong Bi wasn’t disappointed by this. With the development of the internet, netizens often see various kinds of animals displaying spirit-like behavior in various videos. But the gap between monster and ordinary beasts is like an insurmountable chasm. Even if tens of millions of fish try to leap through the dragon gate, not even one might succeed. The same goes for becoming a spirit. It’s not that easy.

After a while, the two tree sparrows woke up, their two dark reddish-brown little eyes looking at Kong Bi expectantly, their gaze full of desire.

Only when they saw that Kong Bi had no intention of giving them more did they flap their wings to readjust to their bodies and hover around Kong Bi.

Kong Bi stopped paying attention to them and simply said to the owl, “Let’s go.”

“Hoo!”

Tian Ba responded enthusiastically and immediately followed Kong Bi with its silly steps.

It could actually still fly. It had flown back yesterday, but it was injured after all, and flying wasn’t as easy as usual, and it consumed more energy. The hungry owl naturally didn’t want to fly anymore.

Moreover, Kong Bi was walking, so how could it fly?

Tian Ba was very self-aware of her role as a follower.