The next day, Chen Ji got up and stir-fried some red mushrooms as a side dish to go with rice, pairing it with a pot of golden millet porridge.
Chen Ji liked his millet porridge on the thicker side, with every grain burst open from cooking. A spoonful of sugar made it sweet and crunchy in the mouth, filling it with the fresh aroma of grains.
Probably because these were things he’d genuinely experienced before, Chen Ji set aside a portion of the millet porridge and side dish for Grandpa Mountain Lord as usual, taking away yesterday’s offering while he was at it.
The gastrodia chicken soup and preserved meat with mushrooms were truly delicious. Even Chen Ji felt reluctant to toss them out. He planned to reheat them and have a couple of bites with the porridge—then throwing them away wouldn’t feel like such a waste.
He was halfway through reheating when Uncle Liu arrived with a few young workers. Chen Ji poked his head out of the kitchen and called out a greeting. “Uncle Liu, Xiao Wang, Xiao Zhang… you’re here? Had breakfast? There’s porridge if you want a bite.”
Uncle Liu said he’d already eaten, but the young lads thanked Chen Ji cheerfully. “Not yet—thanks, Brother Chen!”
“Alright then.” Chen Ji had cooked plenty of porridge anyway; he wasn’t worried about a few extra mouths to feed. This wasn’t his first time cooking just for himself. Before, he’d always bought it from street stalls—who knew how much to make? He’d gone by feel: too much rice, add water; too much water, add rice… Well…
Those who get it, get it.
The young lads came in to help Chen Ji with the bowls and dishes, making things much easier for him all at once. They set a full table and sat down to eat. Uncle Liu hadn’t intended to join them, but the aroma of the gastrodia chicken soup rooted him in place. He finally took a seat. “This soup smells incredible… You’ve got real talent, Xiao Chen!”
“Just threw it together.” Chen Ji sat down with a smile. “I can’t cook worth a damn. It’s all thanks to that chicken from your place—barely any scum, and a simple stew makes it smell to high heaven.”
Uncle Liu laughed until his eyes crinkled at the corners. The young lads dug in with their chopsticks. One of them eagerly ladled himself a bowl of chicken soup. He looked surprised after the first sip, took another, and glanced sideways at the man next to him—only to find the same baffled expression staring back. That’s when Uncle Liu spoke up. “Hey? Xiao Chen, this soup of yours?”
Chen Ji blinked in confusion. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Give it a taste yourself.” Uncle Liu thought to himself that the soup was like a pretty vase—smelled divine but tasted like plain boiled water when you drank it. No flavor at all. How peculiar.
At that moment, another young lad sampled the preserved meat and mushrooms with his chopsticks. He frowned in puzzlement. “This doesn’t have any taste either.”
Everyone around the table exchanged bewildered looks. Chen Ji wondered if the chicken soup had gone bad. He took a sip himself and froze. He tried another, then realization dawned. Shaking his head with a chuckle, he said, “Xiao Ba must’ve been messing around and poured water into it… I’ll sort it out later. These two dishes are no good now.”
Xiao Ba was the System Cat’s name. Hadn’t it started out as designation 8839? Chen Ji had first called it Ba Ba because of its nonstop yapping mouth, but when he spoke too quickly, it sounded like “dada,” so he’d switched to Xiao Ba.
Of course, they rarely needed to use names between them.
Chen Ji cleared away the chicken soup and preserved meat dish. The others didn’t make too much of it—just felt a bit sorry to lose such good soup and mushrooms.
Even so, the millet porridge and the freshly stir-fried side dish earned nonstop praise from everyone.
Chen Ji was the boss, after all. Pitching in to help with the house was a favor, not an obligation. Uncle Liu told him to tend to his own business and led the young lads into a frenzy of vigorous work.
It happened that Chen Ji still needed to head up the mountain that day to find the last natural dye material. He didn’t dwell on it. This time, he’d learned his lesson: he packed the fully charged high-voltage electric baton, signal amplifier, dagger, sickle, anti-snake powder, Yunnan Baiyao ointment—everything. He even grabbed a few compression bags for good measure.
Though he’d resolved not to poke around digging here and picking there anymore, what if he stumbled on something good? That would be a shame to miss! Mountain goodies had their seasons—leave them today, and they might not be edible tomorrow.
He couldn’t let that happen!
Before heading out, Chen Ji also grabbed a big hunk of half-finished beef tendon, about three jin. If he ran into that White Tiger from yesterday on the mountain, he’d feed it to him. If not, he’d eat it himself. It was only half-processed anyway; a campfire roast and it was done. No trouble at all.
Chen Ji figured he was all set. But he’d barely taken two steps out the door when the System Cat let out a miserable yowl: 【Yowww—! Chen Ji! That’s terrifying! There’s a white thing floating at the road ahead!】
Chen Ji looked closely. Wasn’t it just the plastic bowl he’d used for yesterday’s mountain offering? He rolled his eyes at the System Cat and strode over to check. It was floating because it was empty. Chen Ji stepped on it and examined it carefully. There were clear white streaks on the plastic bowl—like claw marks from an animal, or perhaps the dense backward barbs on the tongue of a large feline.
Chen Ji instinctively thought: Looks like he ate it.
There was no real reason for the hunch. He just felt that the White Tiger must have eaten his offerings.
He stuffed the plastic bowl into a trash bag, then headed up the mountain with the System Cat, taking the same old path as yesterday. Compared to yesterday’s ordeal with the five-step snake and the spectacle king cobra—when the woods had felt so eerie and hair-raising—today’s forest struck him as serene and cool.
A gentle breeze wove through the trees, making the leaves rustle as it carried the fresh scent of grass and wood right to his face. It brought an ineffable sense of natural peace and quiet.
On the flip side, there were no mushrooms to be seen along the path today. Chen Ji had picked them nearly clean yesterday. But there was a cluster of snakeberries that had just ripened, hanging from the branches in red-purple clusters that made his mouth water.
He must have missed them yesterday because they hadn’t been fully ripe—the colors hadn’t stood out.
【Chen Ji, Chen Ji!】 The System Cat called out pleadingly from the side. Chen Ji fed it two berries first. Its eyes narrowed in bliss as it ate. Chen Ji popped one into his own mouth to try.
The fruit was incredibly soft. A gentle bite released a burst of clear, sweet-tart juice laced with rich berry fragrance.
It really was mouthwatering.
Not wanting to dawdle, Chen Ji plucked off some grass strands and strung up all the ripe berries into two big clusters in under five minutes. He leaned down to the System Cat. “Here, open up.”
【Ahh—】 The little cat obediently opened wide.
Chen Ji placed one string of snakeberries into its mouth, pinched its jaws, and yanked the string out hard. The entire cluster vanished inside. Purple-red juice spurted from the corners of its lips. The System Cat wanted to lick it up but had its mouth full, making it look both pathetic and hilarious.
Chen Ji laughed until he could hardly catch his breath, then shouldered the cat and kept walking.
【Chen Ji! Are you even human?!】 The System Cat finally gulped down the mouthful of snakeberries, turning its gaping maw from blood-basin-sized to purple-basin-sized. In a huff, it smeared fruit juice all over Chen Ji’s clothes. He didn’t even glance at it, just lifted the other string to its mouth. “Eat up.”
As he got on in years, Chen Ji had grown more health-conscious. A couple of these super-sweet snakeberries were enough for him. The two strings were prepped entirely for the System Cat.
Unable to resist the temptation, the System Cat meekly bent its head: 【Woo-hoo, Chen Ji, you’re the best! I love you so much!】
By the time the System Cat finished its string, Chen Ji had left the woods behind and reached the platform from yesterday. A glance at the time showed only about an hour had passed—huge progress compared to the nearly two and a half hours yesterday.
It was probably because he’d walked the path once before and knew the right way to go. Or maybe the shadows from that stretch of woods had left too deep an impression, making him unwilling to linger today. It was just too dim in there, not ideal for spotting plants.
As usual, Chen Ji washed his face here and topped off his water. He’d set out early today, and the sun was at its peak—starting to feel a touch warm. He stretched lazily by the stream, rested for ten minutes, then pressed on toward the summit.
Once he crested the ridge, he reached the mountain’s southern slope. There were a few mulberry trees there, right in the middle of fruiting season. With luck, they might even be ripe already—for dyeing purposes, though, ripeness hardly mattered.
Chen Ji checked with the System Cat, using its navigation to confirm his memory. He soon found the right path and walked another half hour or so. The slope began to trend downward, signaling he’d passed the peak and was now descending.
“Mulberry tree… mulberry tree…” Chen Ji pulled out his binoculars and scanned the woods below carefully. This was no joke—what era was he living in, squinting with the naked eye? How far could that see?
Truth be told, he’d already bought a drone. The terrain around here was tricky, especially deep in the mountains, so he’d gone for an upgraded model. It would take about half a month to arrive.
Once it did, if the System Cat threw another mountain-search quest at him, he’d just have the drone lock the target and harvest it automatically! No more trekking everywhere!
Tweaking the programming for new hardware? Piece of cake—that was his day job.
The System Cat: 【Tsk tsk, such a devious heart…】
Chen Ji shot back, “Sir, these are modern times!”
The System Cat was actually speechless.
“Found it.” Chen Ji stowed the binoculars and plunged into the woods. Luck was with him—the nearest mulberry tree was already laden with fruit. The System Cat tsked again, pleading: 【Can we go to the one on the right…? It’s only two hundred meters farther…】
Chen Ji didn’t need his toes to figure out what scheme the System Cat was cooking up.
It was still early—plenty of time for some “forest organization”—but Chen Ji remained stone-faced and unsympathetic. “It just looks close. Once you’re in the woods, two hundred meters means half a day of detours. No way.”
【Chen Ji~】 The System Cat rubbed against him coquettishly, begging.
Chen Ji tapped his windproof goggles. “We’ll see when we get there.”
Before long, they reached the base of the tree. It loomed even more impressively than through the binoculars—nearly three stories tall, its canopy shading out all the nearby grass and brush. Purple spots dotted the ground, likely from overripe mulberries that had fallen.
He set the System Cat aside. “I’ll go fetch a branch.”
He had no intention of climbing a tree that high; he’d die alone with no one the wiser. Luckily, the leaves were dense even low down. A long enough branch ought to do the trick.
On second thought… maybe a bamboo pole?
He soon confirmed he needed a pole after all and resigned himself to fetching one. He’d spotted a cluster nearby when he arrived. He drew his sickle, chopped down a green bamboo stalk, and shouldered it on the way back—only to hear the System Cat calling: 【Chen Ji, where are you? Why aren’t you back yet?】
“Almost there—on my way.”
“Chen Ji?”
“What’s up?”
In the next instant, an intense chill gripped Chen Ji’s heart, and his body went rigid. That voice just now… it wasn’t the System Cat’s.
…Who had called out to him?
