dkrc Chapter 15 Rabbit and Mouse: Peanuts for Me!
Chapter 15 Rabbit and Mouse: Peanuts for Me!
Lin Ye walked in front, with Da Jiang and Gu Gao following on either side.
About three meters behind them, the square-faced Tibetan fox was following them with extremely light steps, neither too fast nor too slow.
It walks almost silently, like a perfect "stalker".
Lin Ye stopped and turned around to stare at it.
The Tibetan fox immediately sat down on the spot, looked up at the sky, and had an innocent (and expressionless) expression that said, "The moon is so beautiful tonight, I just happened to be going the same way."
Lin Ye continued walking, and the Tibetan fox continued to follow.
It wasn't until Lin Ye pushed open the large iron gate of the ecological observation station that the Tibetan fox actually slipped through the crack in the door with incredible ease.
It surveyed the yard with remarkable familiarity, and finally settled on a spot under the eaves that was extremely clean and covered with several pieces of anti-corrosion wood.
It stretched out its paws, like a cleaning lady with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and swept the dust off the ground. Then it gracefully lay down and covered its face with its big, fluffy tail.
"I'll sleep here tonight. Don't be shy, make yourself at home."
Lin Ye clearly received this extremely shameless declaration in his mind.
The viewers in the live stream were absolutely laughing their heads off.
"What the hell?! This fox's skin is thicker than a city wall corner!"
"It's easy to invite a god in, but hard to send him away. Brother Lin has let a wolf into the house, or rather, let a fox into the house!"
"This Tibetan fox is definitely a spirit; it knows that following the streamer means there will be meat to eat!"
"You wish!"
Lin Ye put his hands on his hips, snorted coldly at the sandy-yellow ball of fur, and said, "This is a legitimate organization, and we absolutely do not support freeloaders! If you want to stay here, you either have to pay for your lodging, or get out of here first thing tomorrow morning!"
The Tibetan fox didn't even raise its head, only letting out a perfunctory "gurgle" from between its tails, as if to say, "I know, I know, you stingy two-legged beast."
Lin Ye rolled his eyes, too lazy to deal with this scoundrel, turned off the live stream, and went back to his room to sleep.
……
The next morning, the first rays of sunlight awakened the sleeping Qilian Mountains.
Lin Ye yawned, pushed open the dormitory door, and prepared to greet a new day.
"Squeak—"
The door had only been pushed open halfway when Lin Ye froze in place. His gaze was fixed on the threshold, and he gasped.
On the bluestone slab in the very center of the threshold, three extremely large plateau rabbits (rabbit rats) with grayish-brown fur were neatly arranged!
[Baboon and Mouse: Give me peanuts!]
The key point is that these three plateau rabbits were clearly killed recently, and their bodies were not yet stiff.
But the way they were placed was absolutely horrifying!
The three rabbits are facing east with their tails facing west, and the distance between them is so precise that it's as if they were measured with calipers.
Not only that, the fatal wounds on the rabbit's neck were all turned upside down to ensure that not a single drop of blood could be seen from above!
Directly in front of the three rabbits, the large, square-faced Tibetan fox was sitting upright.
Looking at Lin Ye's shocked face, it raised its chin arrogantly, and its middle-aged corporate slave-like voice echoed in its mind:
"Here's the payment for last night's accommodation. Pure, natural, free-range plateau rabbit, freshly cooked, eat it while it's hot. Don't think it's too little, this is the most sincere I can offer."
Lin Ye looked at the three rats, who were dead with their eyes wide open and had been arranged in some kind of extremely bizarre "sacrificial formation".
"Damn it! You set up a rat trap at my door first thing in the morning, are you paying my rent or performing a ritual for me?!"
Lin Ye wanted to cry but had no tears.
However, what shocked Lin Ye even more was yet to come.
After paying the "accommodation fee," the Tibetan fox did not leave. Instead, it carefully pulled something out from under its furry body with an extremely precious gesture.
It was a wild plant with fresh soil still clinging to its roots.
Its upper part resembles a withered brown grass stalk, while its lower part is connected to a yellowish-brown insect body that looks like a silkworm.
The Tibetan fox picked up the plant and casually tossed it to the ground at the foot of the forest.
"Stop looking! The rats are for meat, this is for tolls. Don't you two-legged creatures love this stuff the most?"
"I've seen them dug up specifically for that purpose."
Lin Ye looked down and immediately shut his mouth, which had been complaining.
He suddenly squatted down, carefully picked up the inconspicuous plant, and his heart began to race.
As the cool morning wind blew by, Lin Ye held the plant whose roots still had fresh soil attached to them, and his fingertips could clearly feel the extremely pure texture of the wild herb.
He swallowed hard, and a system notification popped up on his retina.
[Ding! Top-grade wild alpine Notopterygium root detected!]
[Item Description: Grown in the cold, stony beaches and hot spring wet rock areas of the Qilian Mountains at an altitude of over 3,000 meters. The rhizome is thick and firm, with a glossy purplish-brown skin, fine and regular bamboo-like rings, and thick, plump flesh; the cross-section is yellow and white with numerous cinnabar oil dots, and has a strong and mellow medicinal aroma. This is an extremely rare, pure wild, high-altitude, top-grade *Notopterygium incisum*, with a long growth period. Its volatile oil and medicinal active ingredients far exceed those of common *Notopterygium incisum* from low altitudes and artificially cultivated varieties, possessing extremely high medicinal and collectible economic value!]
Wild, high-altitude Notopterygium incisum! And it's the highest grade, the most perfect, high-altitude Notopterygium incisum!
This stuff is like soft gold from the deep mountains on the market!
Lin Ye suddenly raised his head and stared intently at the square-faced Tibetan fox as if it were a mountain of gold.
The Tibetan fox, with its perpetually half-closed, squinting eyes, silently watched the shocked forest with an utterly disdainful look, as if it were looking at a "country bumpkin in the city."
Lin Ye took a deep breath to calm his excitement, then turned on the drone's ultra-high-definition macro lens, displaying the alpine ginseng in his hand to hundreds of thousands of online viewers without reservation.
"Brothers... take a look. Look at this square-faced old man's 'toll'—isn't it a bit too hardcore?"
As the high-definition lens zooms in, every detail of this alpine Notopterygium incisum is magnified.
The purplish-brown glossy color of the rhizome, the fine and regular bamboo-like ring patterns, the firm and plump fleshy texture, the cinnabar oil spots densely distributed on the cross-section, and the mellow and restrained medicinal aroma are all presented to the audience across the internet without reservation.
After a brief silence, the chat room erupted with a flurry of comments!
"Holy crap? What's with the streamer doing this so early in the morning, holding up grass roots... Wait! Those patterns, those nodules, is that Notopterygium incisum?!"
"Holy crap! A Tibetan fox repaying a debt of gratitude?! A legendary fox spirit from the deep mountains is sending a rare treasure!"
"I'm a pharmacist with 30 years of experience in the Chinese medicine industry! My goodness, this is absolutely amazing! The rhizome is thick and firm, with even and mature ring patterns, and densely packed cinnabar spots that make it oily and lustrous. This is definitely a top-grade wild silkworm worm from the high altitude of the Qilian Mountains! Most of what's on the market now is from low altitudes or artificially cultivated inferior products. This kind of original, deep-mountain old product, dried, starts at least several thousand yuan per kilogram, and a single premium root is even more priceless!"
"Is Zun Du fake Du?"
Just as ordinary viewers were spamming "Holy crap" and "envious," the big shots who had been lurking in the live stream finally couldn't sit still any longer.
A striking golden bullet comment floated across the screen: