Chapter 26 Stocking up in the mountains

Ye Wuyou’s eyes lit up—chestnuts! Roasted sugar chestnuts, one of her favorite snacks in her previous life.

Luckily, the ground beneath the chestnut trees was flat, and the nuts that had fallen there—apart from being nibbled by a few animals—were untouched, scattered all over the ground in thick clusters. Looking at the abundance, her eyes sparkled with excitement. She picked one up, peeled it open, and popped it into her mouth. Instantly, that unique sweet and nutty flavor spread across her tongue.

This is it! She was overjoyed. Seeing all those chestnuts with no one else to compete for them, she couldn’t help but smile widely. Without hesitation, she dragged out Youyou, who had been dozing away inside her space.

“Little bandit! Let me go! What are you doing? Don’t grab me by the scruff of the neck—it’s uncomfortable. If you want something, just say it!” Youyou flailed its back legs helplessly, annoyed that she had suddenly yanked it out when it had been napping peacefully.

“Fat cat, do you want to eat roasted chestnuts?”

“What? Roasted chestnuts? Yes! Of course, I do! But could you maybe put me down first?”

“Sure~~” Wuyou’s lips curled into a mischievous smile, and the next moment, she loosened her grip and let it drop.

“Awwooo~~!”

A second later, Youyou’s backside landed right on a prickly chestnut husk.

“Hahaha! You told me to put you down, so you can’t blame me for this.”

“You—you—you…”

“Hm? What’s this? Doesn’t it look like chestnuts?”

Though furious, Youyou was soon distracted. Its eyes widened as it took in the ground littered with chestnuts. It couldn’t believe it—these were chestnuts! Back during the apocalypse, Wuyou had given it just a little taste once, and the sweet, fragrant flavor had been unforgettable. But food had been scarce back then, so it only got to eat a few, leaving it yearning for more. Now there were chestnuts everywhere, more than it had ever dreamed of.

“Heavens, we’ve struck it rich! Little bandit, isn’t this the chestnut you once gave me? Quick, quick, pick them all up and let’s roast them when we get back!”

“Look at you, acting like you’ve never seen the world before,” Wuyou said disdainfully, watching Youyou drool and scamper around.

But the greedy little creature ignored her mockery. Excited beyond belief, it darted about, collecting all the chestnuts into the space, chanting happily, “Jackpot, jackpot! My roasted chestnuts, here I come!”

Since Youyou was busy gathering the chestnuts, Wuyou didn’t bother staying there. She let it handle the work while she released her spiritual sense to search the area for other finds.

Before long, under a pine tree, she discovered a patch of mushrooms—tiny, freshly sprouted ones, the kind that tasted best. She quickly set down her basket and picked them all. This mountain was truly bountiful. After the mushrooms, she came across some wild fruits and collected those too, without hesitation.

“Hrm hrm~~”

Suddenly, her ears twitched. She had caught the sound of something. Concentrating her spiritual sense in that direction, she soon spotted two large wild boars with a group of piglets foraging nearby.

Wuyou’s mouth watered immediately. That’s all meat! Just imagining the flavor made her stomach rumble. She wasn’t worried about them being dangerous; with her powers, she could simply sweep them into her space.

Sure enough, the boar family was happily munching on wild sweet potatoes when—bam!—in the blink of an eye, they were somewhere else.

Mama Boar: Huh? Wasn’t I just eating sweet potatoes? Where’d they go?
Papa Boar: Yeah, I was eating with my wife just now. Where is this place?
Piglets: Don’t ask us—we don’t know either!

While the confused boars tried to make sense of it, Wuyou appeared inside her space. Since she didn’t have a pigpen, she dumped them in a storage area, already planning to have Youyou fence off a proper pen later.

She had never raised animals in her space before—too much trouble, and Youyou thought it would be too dirty. But looking at the boars, Wuyou figured it was worth the effort. The meat from animals in the apocalypse had always tasted terrible, nothing like this pure, natural kind.

She decided to butcher one for dinner when she got home and raise the rest. With time, they would breed, and she’d have an endless supply of pork.

As for Youyou, if it complains, that’s only because it doesn’t know how delicious wild boar is. Once that gluttonous cat has a taste, it’ll definitely want to keep raising them.

After settling the boars, Wuyou left the space again, eager to see what else she could find to stock up on. With so many animals in the deep forest—and her spiritual sense guiding her—it wasn’t long before she discovered a flock of wild chickens not too far away.

Seeing the wild pheasants so carefree, Ye Wuyou figured they must often nest in that spot. There were also many pheasant eggs scattered on the ground nearby.

This time, she didn’t directly put them into her space. After all, her spiritual power was limited—especially since her ability hadn’t even reached level one yet. Ye Wuyou worried that if she used too much spiritual energy, she would end up with a splitting headache.

But even if she couldn’t rely on her spiritual power, she could still use her wood-based ability. She urged the vines around the pheasants to grow rapidly and bind them up. Before the flock of pheasants even had time to react, they were already immobilized.

Looking at the pheasants tied up by her vines, Ye Wuyou didn’t hold back. She quickly walked over, grabbed one in each hand, and tossed them into her space. After putting them inside, she even found a warehouse to lock them up in and scattered some corn around.

Pheasants: Wait, didn’t that human just capture us? How did we suddenly end up in this place? And there’s so much food here? Forget it, forget it, let’s just eat first.

…

After putting all the pheasants into her space, Ye Wuyou also collected all the pheasant eggs, already thinking about frying them up when she got back.

She remembered that shameless man—though his family wasn’t wealthy, he still made sure to boil her one egg every day, knowing how weak her body was. Whether it was out of gratitude or a twinge of guilt, Ye Wuyou wanted to improve that household’s meals a little.