Chapter 256 - 190: A Strange Bird During a Pee Break, and a Surprise for Later

Jiang Cai’Er’s homeroom teacher valued her immensely now. She was prime material for Qingbei University, after all. If he could produce just one student who got in, he’d have bragging rights for years to come!

Of the two classmates, one lived closer than Li Family Village, and the other lived about five kilometers farther away. Li Xiang, seeing the good deed through to the end, dropped them off one by one right at their doorsteps before finally driving Jiang Cai’Er home.

"Li Xiang, could you stop by that hillside up ahead?" Jiang Cai’Er asked, pointing with her finger.

"What’s wrong?" Li Xiang asked.

Jiang Cai’Er said, looking rather embarrassed, "I... need to pee..."

"Okay." Li Xiang slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. ’They’ve been driving for so long, she must be bursting,’ he thought.

"Want me to come with you?" Li Xiang asked.

"No way!" Jiang Cai’Er protested playfully. ’How embarrassing would that be!’ "You wait here. I’ll be right back."

Jiang Cai’Er grabbed a pack of wet wipes from her bag, pushed open the car door, and in a flash, she disappeared into the trees.

She was a Tier Two Transcendent and had also practiced some of the Martial Arts Li Xiang had shared with her before. Although she wasn’t that great at them and hadn’t spent much time on these Martial Arts, her agility and skills far surpassed those of an ordinary National Martial Arts master.

A moment later, Jiang Cai’Er ran back secretively and whispered, "There’s a really weird thing over on the hillside. I don’t know if it’s a bird or a snake."

"Oh? I’ll go take a look." Li Xiang’s interest was piqued. Like him, Jiang Cai’Er was a child of the mountains. If even she found it strange, it must be a rare creature—at least, rare in Sichuan Province.

So, Li Xiang followed Jiang Cai’Er to see.

As they got closer, Jiang Cai’Er tiptoed forward. Following her gesture, Li Xiang saw a bizarre-looking creature with its huge mouth wide open, completely motionless.

It was perched on a dead branch, and if you didn’t look closely, you would mistake it for a piece of dead wood. It was blended in perfectly.

"That’s the thing. I don’t know if it’s naturally shaped like that or if it’s just good at camouflage. It looks a bit like a snake, but its mouth is clearly a beak, and it has feathers," Jiang Cai’Er whispered.

Li Xiang took a few more steps forward, coming within about ten meters. Suddenly, the system prompted: "Tier Three Mutated Creature detected: Gray Wood Owl."

’A Wood Owl? So it’s this silly bird.’ Li Xiang suddenly remembered. He had seen this type of Demon Beast before. They were exceptionally good at camouflage, especially "playing tree," and then waiting for insects to come to them.

Perhaps it was because of its master-level camouflage that it had survived until the Apocalypse. After truly mutating, its camouflage ability was even stronger.

Li Xiang walked over. Seeing him approach, the silly bird didn’t move. Li Xiang unleashed his Cold Ice Sword Qi. SWISH! The silly bird dropped.

System: "Congratulations, Host. For killing one Tier Three Mutated Creature, a Gray Wood Owl, you have received a surprise reward: three stalks of Tier Two Mutated Spirit Grass, Purple Gold Lingzhi. You have also gained 60 Achievement Points."

An unexpected windfall.

"So it really was a bird," Jiang Cai’Er exclaimed softly as she walked over. After the bird fell, its body unfurled, revealing its true form—a strange-looking bird with gray feathers.

Li Xiang explained, "This is a Wood Owl. It loves to pretend it’s a tree. They’re generally common in America, from Mexico south to northern Argentina. They’re very rare in our country, though they’re occasionally spotted in the north."

"If it’s rare in our country, it must be a protected species. What a pity," Jiang Cai’Er said with great regret. However, Li Xiang had told her that with the Apocalypse coming and so many humans about to die, talking about protecting animals was completely meaningless.

"It’s just a weird bird. Nothing to feel pity for." Li Xiang shook his head, took Jiang Cai’Er’s hand, and said, "Let’s go."

’Was this the first protected animal he’d killed? Not by a long shot. Since its death could be exchanged for Achievement Points and Spirit Grass, it was a very meaningful death indeed.’

"Um... I still haven’t... you know." Jiang Cai’Er suddenly felt the urge again. The weird bird had distracted her, and she had held it in for a while longer.

"I’ll wait for you here, then." Li Xiang turned around.

"No peeking!" Jiang Cai’Er said from behind him.

"Promise."

Soon, from a short distance behind him, came the sound of rushing water, SHHHHH. It seemed Jiang Cai’Er had been holding it for a very long time.

When she was finished, Jiang Cai’Er’s face was bright red. Mostly because she was usually very quiet when she did... that. But this time, with Li Xiang right there, the "commotion" she made was a little loud.

Seeing her blushing face, Li Xiang couldn’t help but reach out and pinch her cheek. He laughed, "You know, I saw you pee when you were a little kid!"

"Wha—? For real?" Jiang Cai’Er rolled her eyes at him, thinking, ’So he already saw everything when I was a kid.’

"Of course, it’s true. It was all pink and tender," Li Xiang joked.

"You jerk!" Jiang Cai’Er couldn’t help but smack him once before throwing herself into his arms.

After a moment, Jiang Cai’Er closed her eyes, tilted her head up, and pouted coquettishly. "Darling... let’s practice the Breathing Technique..."

So Li Xiang pressed his lips to hers.

A long while later, the two of them finally separated.

"You know so much, Li Xiang," Jiang Cai’Er said, her cheeks flushed.

Li Xiang couldn’t hide his pride. "I still have a lot of techniques I haven’t even used yet." Ever since he and Jiang Cai’Er had gotten intimate, he often found himself reliving the moments and secretly pondering related techniques to make practicing their "Breathing Technique" even more pleasant.

"Ah—" Jiang Cai’Er grew even more bashful. "I meant that you knew about that bird, and I didn’t! It seems I still haven’t read enough books."

Li Xiang comforted her, "You’ve been focusing all your energy on your high school studies, so it’s normal that you haven’t read much outside of that. By the way, have you made any headway with connecting the Quantum Computer to the internet?"

"A tiny bit, but it’s not working yet." Jiang Cai’Er hugged Li Xiang tightly and shook her head.

Li Xiang said, "Then in a few days, I’ll take you to the main library in the provincial capital. They’ll have more advanced books on computers and networking there. If you can make a breakthrough on this, I’ll give you something great."

"What kind of great thing?" Jiang Cai’Er’s curiosity was piqued.

Li Xiang said, "I’ll keep it a secret for now to give you a surprise later. With this thing, you’ll absolutely be the coolest kid in the entire school!"