Chapter 81: Monument Forest
Seven days of high-intensity training had not only greatly improved Nan Zishi’s physical fitness, speed, and endurance, but had also transformed her into a somewhat patient hunter.
She was no longer frantically trying to escape. Instead, she was patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity.
She just hadn’t expected her chance to come so soon.
The next morning, Xuan Jin didn’t take her to the forest swamp. Instead, he stood at the cave entrance and told her, "I have to go out for a bit. I won’t be back until tonight. You are not to leave the cave today."
’A good Beast Husband master always gives his little female apprentice a chance to show her skills.’
’Like right now, giving me the perfect conditions to escape from him.’
The gears in Nan Zishi’s mind started turning furiously, but on the surface, she feigned nonchalance and said, "Okay. I understand."
The Cold-blooded Snake Beastman nodded and, just as usual, gravely moved a massive boulder to block the cave entrance.
Nan Zishi listened carefully to the sounds outside. After confirming that Xuan Jin had left, she still waited a good while longer before taking the car jack out of her space again.
She found the right angle and used the jack to push the boulder aside, creating a gap just wide enough for one person. She slipped through the crack and made her escape.
Nan Zishi, a small figure, ran through the forest. Her long training had given her a certain familiarity with the swamps in this area.
She found a mud pit and coated her entire body in mud, making sure her scent was completely masked before she started running again.
’Run! Get away from that bastard snake!’
This time, Nan Zishi’s escape went very smoothly. In half a day, she felt like she had already covered nearly 20 kilometers—a distance she couldn’t have even dreamed of before.
Back at the cave, when Xuan Jin returned, he was not surprised to find that the little female had indeed escaped.
’Heh.’
’The game of hunting the little female has officially begun.’
He sniffed the air, but the trail went cold at the swamp. He touched the dried mud left on the ground. The Cold-blooded Snake Beastman straightened up, his expression impassive.
’She’s learned how to escape. Her plan was more thorough, and her movements were faster.’
’It seems my little female is quite clever indeed.’
**
The girl stood atop an ancient tree, gazing into the distance. She was looking for the direction of the sea.
She looked out at a view of mountains stretching endlessly into the distance—the kind of scenery where the destination looks close but is deceptively far.
’I found the sea!’
Her eyes lit up.
After confirming her direction, she was about to climb down when she unexpectedly spotted a large, orderly Monument Forest next to the ancient tree.
Nan Zishi was a little surprised.
The civilization of the Beast World was primitive; they could only count to ten.
While she had indeed seen books inscribed with pictographs, as well as totems made of giant stones or wood...
...she had never before seen anything like a Monument Forest.
Her curiosity piqued, Nan Zishi climbed down from the ancient tree and swung lightly on a vine to the Monument Forest’s location. There, she saw row after row of Beast World script.
The Beast World script was composed of beast-shaped characters, different from the pictographs of Earth. Nan Zishi couldn’t recognize a single one.
Experiencing this monument culture for the first time, Nan Zishi walked deeper into the forest out of curiosity. Suddenly, she saw a huge stone monument in the center.
However, the moment Nan Zishi saw this monument, goosebumps erupted all over her skin!
’Chinese characters!!’
’They’re actually Hua Country’s Chinese characters!!!’
’How can there be Chinese characters from Hua Country here?!’
Nan Zishi used her hands to wipe away all the leaves and grass from the monument and began to read it carefully.
[Hello, successor who has come from afar.
If you can understand this passage, I believe you and I come from the same place.
If you ever have the chance to return to our home, I hope you can inform my family that I have died in this world.
I was born on May 6, 1956. I am a public school teacher from ** County, ** City, ** Province in Hua Country on Earth. My name is Qi Yingmei.]
Nan Zishi touched the characters as she read them aloud, her muscles tensing slightly, betraying her nervousness.
"Qi Yingmei, a public school teacher from Hua Country, born in 1956."
’A human from the same planet and the same country as me.’
Nan Zishi quickly read on.
[After I came to this world, I was bound to a system. It said its name was Childbirth System 001.]
Reading this line, another wave of goosebumps washed over Nan Zishi!
[It wanted me to complete childbirth missions—to have children. But as a modern young woman, and a married public school teacher at that, how could I do such a thing?
I would rather die than submit.
But it was no use.
It threatened me with my own life and the lives of my husband and daughter back on Earth. I had no choice but to carry out the childbirth missions.]
[The speed of childbirth in this world is different from ours. It only takes two months to conceive and give birth.
But if you take a Fertility Pill, you can give birth in a single day after becoming pregnant.
I received a childbirth mission every three months. After getting a mission, I would take a Fertility Pill so I could give birth quickly within a day and then rest for three months.]
[After some twists and turns, I mated with eight brothers from the Red Fox Clan. I told them about my situation, and they took turns having children with me. Sometimes a litter would have six or seven, other times four or five.]
[I don’t know if it was because I gave birth so many times, but there were always deformed and sickly children.]
[But, I’m a biology teacher. How could I not know that a human female only releases a few hundred eggs in her entire lifetime? How can a human woman keep giving birth and giving birth?]
[Soon, I found myself aging with incredible speed.]
[I grit my teeth and gave up on taking the Fertility Pills.]
[Do you know what happened after I stopped taking the Fertility Pills?]
[I conceived and gave birth naturally, and I was still able to complete the childbirth missions, though my pregnancy was extended to two months. However, the children I had without taking Fertility Pills were all single births. This is the normal number for a human pregnancy. And all the children were completely healthy! My physical condition also began to improve dramatically.]
[Successor, if you are also facing the same situation as me, I know you are going through the same darkness. But please, do not give up hope.]
[Remember, do not use the Fertility Pills. You absolutely, absolutely must not use the Fertility Pills.]
Nan Zishi’s hands rested on the stone monument, but her mind was ringing.
A feeling that shattered her entire worldview was washing over her.
She began to review her past.
She had given birth to her litters. The middle five were all normal. Only the first and the last time did she use a Fertility Pill.
The first time was because she wasn’t in her right mind while arguing with the Childbirth System and was desperate to complete the mission, so she took the Fertility Pill. She remembered the other party was a Bird Beastman, possibly a hawk.
And the last time was with Xuan Jin, which resulted in a snake egg.
The other times, she had either lost the Fertility Pill or forgotten to take it... In truth, she herself never really trusted something as heaven-defying as a Fertility Pill.
’What exactly is the Childbirth System? Why did it appear in this world? What is its purpose in bringing human women to this world to have children?’
Nan Zishi’s head throbbed with a dull ache.
’Li Yun, Childbirth System 006.’
’Qi Yingmei, Childbirth System 001.’
’And then there was her, Nan Zishi, Childbirth System 007...’
Suddenly flooded with so much information, Nan Zishi’s head ached, and she experienced a violent emotional fluctuation.
Nan Zishi.
Nan Zishi pressed a hand to her head and leaned against the large tree. The voice in her mind was already somewhat familiar.
"Beast God? Why are you here?" She forced herself to stay upright, asking warily, "I’m not in the God’s Space this time, so why can I hear you?"
There was a moment of silence from the other side before it slowly and seriously answered her.
There was never a God’s Space.
I’m sorry. I deceived you.
Nan Zishi was stunned. "Then what are you? Why are you suddenly talking to me? As the Beast God, have you been spying on me this whole time?"
The Beast God’s voice paused for a moment, then it slowly explained: What you entered before was actually just your Consciousness Space. This is merely a wisp of my divine consciousness, and it is inside your mind. When you encounter a life-or-death situation or experience strong emotional fluctuations, you can potentially activate this wisp of my consciousness.
"...Your divine consciousness is in my mind? What are you doing hiding in my head? Answer me!" Nan Zishi demanded.
’First the Childbirth System, and now the Beast God.’
’Are they all just trying to threaten me, to use me?’