Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Ke Li Nuo Grasslands

For a whole list of reasons, the Ding Ding Fish beastmen were thoroughly charmed by Ling Mo.

With her help, they finished work that would normally take days, and the village was buzzing with celebration. Watching them cheer, Ling Mo found herself smiling too. Their joy was infectious.

“Thank you!”

A female Ding Ding Fish beastman about Ling Mo’s height threw her arms around her in a quick, heartfelt hug.

“You’re welcome,” Ling Mo said modestly. “It’s what I should do.”

“No, no—you helped us so much. Spring in Ke Li Nuo Grasslands is very short. If we don’t clear the weeds in time, summer brings all kinds of awful bugs.”

“They don’t eat our vegetables, but they lay eggs on them. And once eggs are on the vegetables, we can’t eat them.”

The woman looked so emotional she was practically tearing up. Ling Mo couldn’t help asking, “You said spring is short. How short are we talking?”

“About a month. And half of that is the rainy season. So you really did us a huge favor.”

After receiving her smiley badge, Ling Mo was allowed to walk around the village freely.

The same female Ding Ding Fish grinned and gestured proudly. “How about it? Our village is beautiful, isn’t it?”

Through their conversation, Ling Mo learned she was the village chief’s daughter.

Her name was A Sha.

The village was decorated with starfish and conchs everywhere, giving it the feel of a quiet fishing village tucked away from the world.

But Ling Mo’s attention wasn’t really on the decorations.

She answered A Sha while scanning the area, clearly searching for something else.

A Sha narrowed her eyes. “What are you looking for? I noticed it earlier—you’ve been peeking around nonstop.”

Ling Mo quickly explained, “I’m just looking for the dump.”

A Sha blinked. “The dump? Why do you want to find the dump?”

Ling Mo put on a forlorn expression, as if remembering a hard life. “Occupational habit. I need to make money to support my family.”

A Sha’s face flashed with panic—like she’d suddenly realized she might have said the wrong thing earlier when she’d been describing her happy village life. Guilt flooded her.

“Th-then… I’ll take you.”

Under A Sha’s guidance, Ling Mo arrived at the “dump.”

It wasn’t a dump at all.

It was a storeroom.

“We only had one kind of trash—the weeds you already took. The things in here aren’t really trash, but they’re all unused. Leaving them here is just wasteful. You can take everything.”

Ling Mo stepped inside—and her eyes went bright.

Nearly half the storeroom was piled with blue scales.

She picked one up and set it in her palm. It was crescent-shaped, roughly palm-sized. The instant it touched her skin, a wave of coolness wrapped around her so abruptly she shivered.

Ling Mo glanced at A Sha with real sincerity.

She really was a good fish.

Besides the scales, the room held neat stacks of wooden crates. Ling Mo didn’t open them—she was pressed for time, and she could always check later once the game ended.

When she finally emerged from the storeroom, hours had passed. A Sha was still waiting outside.

Ling Mo walked over. “I should go.”

A Sha looked up at the sky, worry creasing her brow. “But it’s almost evening. It’s dangerous out there.”

Ling Mo shook her head. “It’s fine. I won’t be in danger.”

Besides, she still wanted to spend the night collecting more purifying moss and water-storage mushrooms.

“All right…”

“Oh. One more thing.” Ling Mo pulled out a large conch she’d picked up from the small beach inside her Pocket Space and handed it to A Sha. “They say if you hold it to your ear, you can hear the sound of the sea.”

“The sound of the sea!”

A Sha clutched it like treasure. Although the Ding Ding Fish lived in Ke Li Nuo Grasslands, they were still a water tribe. The ocean held a natural pull for them.

And yet, for reasons Ling Mo didn’t understand, even though Ding Ding Fish weren’t weak and had the ability to reach the sea, they simply… didn’t go.

A Sha held the conch to her ear, eyes half-closed in bliss.

Ling Mo almost told her it was only a legend—Ling Mo had tried before and heard nothing.

But A Sha suddenly gasped. “I hear it! I can hear the sea!”

Then, as if she’d remembered herself, she reluctantly pushed the conch back toward Ling Mo. “You should keep it. It’s too precious. I can’t take it.”

She said that, but her eyes clung to it with obvious reluctance.

Ling Mo found it hard not to laugh. For her, conchs weren’t exactly rare—she could stroll across her Pocket Space beach and pick up seven or eight without even trying.

A trade, then.

Ling Mo smiled and gently pressed the conch into A Sha’s hands. “If you feel that bad, then help me with something. Consider this conch your payment.”

A Sha hugged it instantly, like she feared it might vanish. “What kind of help?”

“As long as it doesn’t harm the Ding Ding Fish,” A Sha added quickly, already setting her boundary.

“It won’t,” Ling Mo promised. “I don’t just have conchs. I also have starfish. Can you help me spread the word?”

A Sha’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

Ling Mo nodded and produced several conchs and starfish—then a small fish tank. Inside, an anemone swayed, and a tiny clownfish darted through the water.

A Sha stared so hard her eyes almost looked rounder. “So pretty…”

She swallowed. “Okay. What do you want to trade for?”

That question made Ling Mo pause.

Vegetables were out; the Ding Ding Fish valued their crops too much.

Nutrient solution was also out; it tasted awful. She’d rather trade for energy bars, but those were a specialty of the rabbit human race.

“I want something practical,” Ling Mo said carefully.

“Practical…” A Sha thought, then nodded decisively. “Wait here. I’ll bring people.”

Ling Mo pointed to a spot nearby. “I’ll wait over there.”

Even while waiting, Ling Mo didn’t stop collecting. By the time ten minutes passed, she’d stripped the nearby purifying moss and water-storage mushrooms nearly bare.

Then A Sha returned—bringing a whole crowd of Ding Ding Fish beastmen with her.

Most were female. Only a handful were male.