The King of Black Fog

Li Changzhou had been training at the bottom of the lake until 2 a.m. before he exhausted himself to the point of weariness.

In the past, he relied on "Earth Tunneling" to quickly burn through Physical Strength, otherwise, with a Constitution of 10, who knows when he would have worn himself out if he had just trained in the yard.

But that was a last-resort kind of solution, and Li Changzhou didn't want to take shortcuts.

"Earth Tunneling" drained Physical Strength quickly but felt empty, like skimming through an online class while playing with a phone, whereas training at the bottom of the great lake was slow and strenuous but akin to attending a class seriously, where you learn in the process.

Li Qianxia and Yang Qinglan had already gone to sleep.

There was no house built yet, but the air in the Honey Jar world was great, and the temperature was just right, so sleeping outside had a comfortable feel of returning to nature.

Both of their Constitutions were not bad either, so there was no worry about catching a cold.

To avoid waking them up, Li Changzhou didn't go up but rather slept on the roots by the lake, staring at the moon in the sky, lost in thought.

Was the moon in front of him a projection from the outside world, or was it something else?

As he entertained random thoughts that had no answers, he rubbed his fingers together; after staying in the water for a long time, his fingertips had become wrinkled.

With his hands behind his head as pillows, Li Changzhou suddenly remembered a time when he was very young.

Back then, his family was so poor they didn't even have a fan, and when his sister slept, he would fan her with a hand fan.

Once, he fell asleep while fanning her and then woke up from the heat, seeing fireflies flickering on the mosquito netting and the bright moon outside the window.

The moon is still the same moon, but people and things have all changed.

He remembered a verse from a poem, "Life flows on within you and without you, yet the moon by the river remains the same every year."

The poem should be "Spring River Flower Night Moon," written by Zhang Ruoxu, unfortunately, he only remembered this line since he was not interested in these things.

If it were Yang Qinglan, perhaps she could still recite the whole poem by now.

Thinking of Miss Yang's dreamy and beautiful figure, as serene as the moonlight, Li Changzhou sighed. How had he not thought to buy her a pair of high heels!

He bought his sister a pair of high heels, a pair of sandals! And yet, he hadn't bought even one pair for her!

Could it really be that a virgin can't handle it?

Impossible!

Li Changzhou turned over, finding himself a little unable to sleep tonight.

On the Bird Nest Plain, Yang Qinglan also turned over. She wasn't suffering from insomnia, nor did she have any worries about being a virgin; she was just preparing to sleep, as she had been worried earlier that Li Changzhou would drown himself while training in the lake.

◇

"Qing Lan, you go," she said.

"I'm not good at dealing with animals. Li Changzhou?"

"No," Li Changzhou raised his right hand, opening his five fingers, "From the moment I was born, I took an oath that in this lifetime, I would only touch one female, my wife."

They were discussing who should milk the cow.

They must milk it, otherwise it would become engorged, which could lead to sickness or drying up of the milk.

Anyway, according to the person who sold them the cow, from the moment "she" gave birth, they had to milk her once in the morning and once in the evening for ten months.

But looking at the breasts, even though they belonged to a cow, it was a bit difficult for two virgins to get started.

"Brother, you go!" Li Qianxia pushed Li Changzhou.

"Go on," Yang Qinglan also stood by Li Qianxia's side, "I will explain to your future wife that what you touched was the body of a cow, a cow that hasn't turned into a spirit."

"...I'll remember today," Li Changzhou rolled up his sleeves, "5 a.m. on October 6th."

"Remember to warm up your hands," Yang Qinglan reminded him.

"Right now, my heart is the only thing that's cold."

Li Changzhou squatted down, positioning the bucket.

The cow's hide was a light yellowish-brown with white spots mixed in, sleek and beautiful.

The cow showed no sign of hostility to Li Changzhou's approach, its brown eyes filled with a cow-like warmth (?).

Li Changzhou slowly reached out his hand.

The two female college students held their breath on the side, watching with a mixture of fear and curiosity.

He finally touched it.

"How, how does it feel?" Li Qianxia asked.

Li Changzhou squinted his eyes, pursed his lips, tilted his face upwards, and let out a reluctant, suppressed, low, "Ah—," a cry for help.

"Speak," Yang Qinglan commanded.

"Warm, no, hot," Li Changzhou got used to it, and his expression wasn't as distressed and painful anymore.

"Keep going," Yang Qinglan hadn't even realized that a smile appeared on her lips.

Was it because she found Li Changzhou's situation amusing or because she found life at the moment amusing?

At this particular time, Li Changzhou wasn't looking at Yang Qinglan. At 5 a.m. on October 6th, he, who suffered the tyranny of the majority, focused all his attention on a cow.

He squeezed the teat with his thumb and index finger... let's leave it at that; even though it's a cow, the process should not be described.

In any case, the first stream of milk sprayed out unevenly, ran down his wrist, wetting his already rolled-up sleeves, and splashing all over him.

"Ah!" Li Qianxia and Yang Qinglan exclaimed in surprise; it seemed they weren't spared either.

The cow's gaze at the three of them grew even more gentle.

Then came the second stream, the third stream, well, for a while, the milk and the bucket were like the "S" poles of magnets, vehemently repelling each other, refusing to compromise.

"Forget it, I'll do it," Yang Qinglan couldn't stand it any longer.

Li Changzhou quickly made way for the more skilled.

Yang Qinglan, also a genius, clearly had a talent for this, having learned just by watching someone else's failure.

In Yang Qinglan's skillful manipulation, the milk shot into the bucket, accompanied by a rhythmic suckling sound, frothing on the surface.

After milking the two cows, they realized they definitely couldn't finish all the milk, yet they would have to milk them again in the evening.

"Can we drink this directly?" Li Qianxia dipped her finger in a bit of milk and placed it in her mouth.

The taste was very different from what you could get in the supermarket—unpleasant, one might even say but also natural and rich (which could possibly be psychological).

If she had to choose, she would definitely pick the supermarket milk over any freshly squeezed milk.

"You have to filter it once, then boil it, and it would be best to buy a set of sterilization equipment," Yang Qinglan said as she let down her sleeve, having realized that milking was a tough job.

If her constitution hadn't already been at 8 points, with strong recovery abilities, her 4-point strength wouldn't have been enough to milk two cows fully.

"To buy machinery, and then to run electricity for it, that's such a hassle," Li Qianxia complained a bit.

"Given our constitution, I think it's fine not to boil it—it's just the taste that's bad, we need to get used to it over time," Li Changzhou also tried a bit on his fingertip.

After milking the cows, there were plenty of things to do.

Chicks were running around; ducks and geese were quacking as if they wanted milk too; the piglets were quite adorable, still pets before they grew bigger.

The goats were grazing, as elegant as gentlemen; the beef cattle obediently ate, diligently turning grass into meat.

Rabbits darted everywhere, while deer moved through the forest-like branches with the grace of fairies.

Three beehives were placed in a '品' shape over branches with more flowers.

The seeds that had been planted yesterday (in the game) had already germinated.

"No!" Li Changzhou realized something was amiss, "We need help, we can't waste our time farming!"

"Bi?" Li Qianxia tried recommending someone.

"Would she do that kind of work? She's only good at enjoying herself."

"Yafeiluna?"

"If you order her, she will do it, but I still think," her brother paused, "we should find someone who actually enjoys farming. Miss Yang, what do you think?"

After feeding the animals, Yang Qinglan had been in a contemplative mood, looking like a noble literary girl with a hint of milk scent on her.

Listened to Li Changzhou asking her, she didn't reply but instead asked them, "Have you noticed? Whether it's cows or sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, or deer, none of them excrete."

"Did it fall into the lake?" Li Qianxia guessed.

"Think before you speak," Li Changzhou chastised his sister, looking down at the cattle and sheep from a higher branch, indeed finding no trace of dung.

But it wasn't likely to have fallen into the lake either.

The branches that the livestock were on, though not as spacious as Bird Nest Plain, were wide enough for a bull to run amok in rage.

One or two droppings falling into the lake might be possible, but all of the livestock's droppings?

Even if you put seventy or eighty people there, you couldn't guarantee that everyone had the decency (not just a matter of civility but also courage—the branches were at least a hundred meters above the lake).

The three of them observed for a while, and soon, the goat gentleman was defecating small black objects while eating.

Gradually, those black solids were actually dissolved by the giant tree into a liquid and absorbed!

"I thought the grass seeds I experimented with blew away when they withered!" Yang Qinglan exclaimed, "This world might have a cycle of its own."

"That's one less trouble," Li Changzhou didn't care about any cycle, but it was convenient, and convenience was enough.

After fussing around for a while, none of the three felt like considering the matter of finding a farmer at the moment, so they drank boiled milk, ate chicken, duck, and goose eggs, and continued training.

Yang Qinglan sowed seeds, practicing her natural skills.

Li Qianxia held a steel spear, joined her brother, and jumped from a hundred meters high tree into the lake, training at the bottom of the lake.

The sun rose slowly, the wind stirred the leaves, the cattle and sheep grazed, and the geese flapped their domineering white wings arrogantly; life was leisurely and yet fulfilling and resolute.

Bam!

Li Changzhou threw a punch, creating a vortex of water jetting forward.

A very intense force was trying to burst out from every cell in his body, like a reservoir at the brink of a flash flood.

But he was just short of it, just ever so slightly.

Li Changzhou kept his composure without any fluctuations; every punch and kick was solid and forceful. From the beginning to the end, he maintained "concentration."

Like a hibernating bear, he never actively anticipated spring, he just silently waited.

At noon, leaving the "Honey Pot World," the seeds bought from the game store seemed to have grown a little more.

Isn't that what people are like? Unable to see a difference immediately, but after some time has passed, you realize there has been a vast change compared to before, almost to the point of being unrecognizable.

But such change did not happen overnight; it relied on gradual accumulation, drawing on the sun's blessings from above and the nourishment of the soil from below.

Li Changzhou ate his lunch, pondering these matters, reflecting on his every action.

After lunch, Zheng Qing arrived.

"Here are the Identity Cards you requested," she handed over three Identity Cards, two black and one white.

Just as Li Qianxia was about to dart over, she remembered the pillow talk Yang Qinglan gave her the night before and immediately restrained her emotions and expression, showing only a tenth of her curiosity.

Stealing a glance at Yang Qinglan from the corner of her eye, she felt a sense of relief. Indeed, Qing Lan was outwardly as curious as she was about the Identity Cards but was also watching her closely.

'Nearly got cut by the director!' At that moment, Li Qianxia set a goal for herself: to win an Academy Award for Best Actress by the age of twenty-five.

Li Changzhou took the Identity Cards, gave them a look, and frowned.

"What's the matter?" Yang Qinglan asked.

Li Changzhou handed over the Identity Cards nonchalantly, saying, "They're all Instincts, intending for exchange in the game, but I have little hope."

"We assure you that what we've delivered can indeed enhance Charm or Intelligence," Zheng Qing quickly said.

"I have no intention of breaking the rules, nor am I holding out for a bounty. When do we leave?" Li Changzhou asked.

"The matter is urgent, tonight, destination: Hemick Island."

Yang Qinglan took the Identity Cards, looking at each one in turn, and finally, Li Qianxia could no longer contain herself and also looked over.

[A Glimpse of Bewitchment: When removing a mask or any object covering the face, Charm +1 for three seconds, can be triggered only once every 24 hours]

[Peerless Dancer: Achieve a dance level of 'holding a lotus in the bare hand, treading on Taiching lightly. A Rainbow Dress trailing a wide belt, fluttering aloft to walk in the sky,' when dancing Charm +1, if male, must be dressed in a female appearance]

The last card was white.

[Faith Slaughter: When slaughtering a Black Card, Concentration +2]