Chapter 22: What a Fragrant Compost

"Is that for real?" An Xian asked, her peripheral vision darting toward her daughter.

Qin Xiaoyu shrugged, indicating she wasn't entirely sure.

However, considering that something as impossible as a second chance at life had already occurred, the sudden appearance of anything else hardly seemed strange anymore.

An Xian pondered for a moment, gestured toward the old olive tree, and whispered, "If plants can mutate into sentient beings, then humans contracting with little animals shouldn't be so rare, right?"

It was just that humans had lacked the means before; now that the System—that sly old fox—had them, how could they turn them down?

"But this tree is truly massive."

"It must be at least seventy meters tall. It's as high as those twenty-story buildings in the city, and even six people couldn't wrap their arms around the trunk."

"The most important thing isn't its size, but the fact that it's already at level two, isn't it?"

Qin Xiaoyu said the final sentence, looking at them with a puzzled expression as she spoke.

Everyone else: ...

Level two?

What did you say? Level two?!

"How are you determining their levels?" Qin Hao asked.

"How do I put this... I don't really know how to explain it," Qin Xiaoyu patted her head, thought seriously for a moment, and continued, "It’s like when we see a person; we can basically tell their age at a single glance."

"Perhaps some are good at masking it—like rare dwarves—and if you don't look closely, it's easy to be fooled. In short, it’s a feeling. Once you’ve seen enough of them, you’ll naturally be able to tell at a glance."

Everyone: ...

Her ability to express herself was indeed lacking, but it was clear she was trying her best.

"You've lived in vain," An Xian patted her head.

Those twenty years had been lived in vain.

Qin Xiaoyu didn't understand why she had lived in vain. Wasn't it just as she said? People had to see a lot of other people and reach a certain level of experience to instantly tell someone's age. It was the same with mutated plants.

But right now, the most important thing wasn't discussing this, but how to retrieve the pet beast egg.

She studied the olive tree carefully, then pricked up her ears to listen.

After a while, she said, "I think it's in a deep slumber. Someone can go over and try to retrieve the egg while being as careful as possible not to wake it."

Everyone looked at Fan Zhenzhen. Were there any strict conditions for retrieving the egg, such as having to be the one to do it herself?

Fan Zhenzhen: *Blank stare.*

"I... I'll go myself," Fan Zhenzhen said, though she was actually terrified. She was too embarrassed to ask for help, as it was her task after all.

[Brave Zhenzhen, fears no difficulties.]

"You sly old fox," Fan Zhenzhen blurted out.

She then met the strange stares of the group.

Fan Zhenzhen’s mouth twitched: "I was scolding the system. I always feel like it doesn't do anything decent."

[I am not human, after all.]

Fan Zhenzhen: ...

So that’s why it doesn't do anything decent?

Fan Zhenzhen swallowed hard, took a deep breath, put on the safety helmet An Xian handed her, and moved slowly toward the olive tree.

It was only about a hundred meters, but it took her ten full minutes to cover the distance.

The moment she saw the dead king cobra, Fan Zhenzhen’s body trembled involuntarily, and she almost turned and ran.

Good heavens, had she ever mentioned she was terrified of snakes?

Taking a deep breath, she took out a sharp boning knife and sliced into the bulging part of the cobra's belly.

The moment she cut into it, she felt an inexplicable chill.

She looked around in a panic. She saw nothing, yet she had an ominous feeling of being watched.

She turned back, opening her mouth to say something, but everyone was startled and frantically pointed at the tree canopy, waving their hands and shaking their heads vigorously.

Fan Zhenzhen swallowed her words.

That was close. She almost screamed; luckily, her reaction was fast enough, or she would have woken the olive tree.

She pressed her palms together and offered three pious bows to the cobra before raising the knife again.

The moment she split the snake's belly, that sense of crisis returned, making her glance around like a thief.

The others noticed Fan Zhenzhen’s odd behavior and started scanning the area as well.

Suddenly, An Xian felt her sleeve tugged. Following the terrified gaze of Gu Suyun, she saw another, slightly smaller king cobra hiding in the withered grass on the other side of the olive tree.

The snake was staring fixedly at Fan Zhenzhen, ready to strike at any moment.

Seeing this, An Xian remained silent, gently tugged her husband's sleeve, and gestured toward the withered grass.

In the blink of an eye, everyone knew there was another snake there, except for Fan Zhenzhen.

No one dared to make a sound, so no one warned her.

However, they didn't leave her to her fate; they watched intently, ready to charge at the first sign of trouble.

Old Qin had already planned the first-aid steps, hoping to minimize the toxicity in the shortest possible time.

The weather was slightly warm, and the dead snake was already showing signs of decay, emitting a foul odor, but the snake skin was tougher than expected.

Because Fan Zhenzhen didn't dare use too much force, fearing she might accidentally touch the tree roots and wake the olive tree, it took her many attempts to slice the snake's belly open.

As it opened, a pool of egg fluid slowly oozed out.

There were about six eggs, but almost all were broken, leaving only one intact.

Fan Zhenzhen carefully retrieved the intact egg; it was the size of a chicken egg. The liquid clinging to the shell was truly disgusting, and she couldn't help but take out a tissue to wipe it off.

Out of curiosity, she leaned in to take a sniff.

*Ugh!*

Fan Zhenzhen regretted it instantly. She shouldn't have been so foolish as to lean in and smell it.

This thing had been marinating in the rotting snake carcass for so long; it was obvious it would be soaked through with the stench, surely smelling worse than the foulest fermented tofu.

As it turned out, it was.

[Rotten fertilizer, such fragrant rotten fertilizer.]

Qin Xiaoyu’s expression changed. She shouted at Fan Zhenzhen, "The tree is waking up! Run!"

Fan Zhenzhen’s face went pale. Clutching the snake egg in one hand and holding her helmet with the other, she turned and bolted.

*Whoosh!*

A rustling sound came from the tree, followed by a barrage of olives raining down on Fan Zhenzhen like a hail of bullets.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Her head was pelted, and her body stung from the impacts, causing her to run even faster, terrified that something worse than green olives might be waiting for her.

The others were watching her with concern, but then their expressions changed, and they immediately began to retreat.

The brothers Qin Bainian and Qin Baisong, fearing the two elders couldn't run fast enough, hoisted them up and didn't stop until they were two hundred meters away.

Qin Hao turned the basket over to look and found it contained over a pound of green olives, large and very plump.

He couldn't help but ask, "Are these green olives edible?"

Old Qin, holding his aching lower back, gave his eldest son a look, walked over to inspect them, and said, "Whether they're edible or not, we'll know once we study them."

They had chickens at home; they could test them on the chickens.

Qin Xiaoyu looked at a certain goose that was happily eating one olive after another and remained silent.

"What is that smell?" Qin Ran suddenly asked.

Fan Zhenzhen blinked, looking completely innocent.