CH 16

TL: Moonlit

Gu Langu readily accepted the goodness and caught Shu Shuishui’s head as he approached.

In the view of Yu Jin and Nan Ge, only Shu Shuishui’s half body was left. The remaining half of Shu Shuishui’s body waved his hand and said, “Continue talking, I can hear you.”

Yu Jin paused for a moment.

Looking at Shu Shuishui’s chubby little butt, Yu Jin had the urge to poke it, but considering that he might be beaten to death by Gu Langu, he wisely gave up on this action.

“Usually, winter lasts for six months, with three months each for the cold wave season and the freezing season. Of course, it’s not so precise, and the specific situation varies each year. To cope with such extreme weather, the people of Cang Zhan Star prepare before the arrival of the cold wave season because once winter arrives, people basically cut off the possibility of going out. Therefore, it is necessary to find a shelter to avoid snowstorms in advance. Secondly, there is food and water. And of course, the most important things are warming devices and energy stones.”

Shu Shuishui, with his head stuck in Gu Langu’s hand, raised his paw again. “There’s another question. What are energy stones?”

Shu Shuishui found it easy to understand Yu Jin’s description of wintering, as it was similar to hibernation. However, the environment was harsher, and resources were scarcer, so the difficulty of wintering increased greatly. One wrong move, and they could freeze or starve to death.

“Energy stones, also known as power stones, are a type of mineral that contains energy. Well, it’s like this.” Yu Jin took out an energy stone and placed it on the table. The crisp sound of the stone colliding with the tabletop caught Shu Shuishui’s attention, and his little head immediately shrank out of Gu Langu’s palm, leaving Gu Langu’s hand empty.

Shu Shuishui turned his head and saw a stone on the table. It was a black glass-like stone with a dark glow emanating from it. When it was placed on the table, there were ripples like ink spreading out from the slight impact, but the ripples disappeared after a moment.

Shu Shuishui was surprised. It could sense the spiritual energy fluctuations around the stone, but the spiritual energy seemed more complex and impure, not directly absorbable. However, Shu Shuishui thought of using an array to purify the energy stone, leaving only the spiritual energy it needed to absorb.

Pitter-patter, Shu Shuishui ran over to the energy stone with light steps, his eyes filled with curiosity.

The energy stone that Yu Jin took out was about the size of a palm and had an irregular shape. Shu Shuishui stood next to the energy stone, almost the same height as it, and leaned forward to examine it, turning into an inverted L-shape.

Extending his little paw, Shu Shuishui gently tapped the surface of the energy stone, and the stone immediately lit up with concentric circles of glowing ripples, just like when you tap the surface of the water.

Shu Shuishui’s little ears twitched, and then he tapped it again with his paw.

The energy waves on the stone continued to ripple and intersect, blending together and spreading further. The entire energy stone resembled a beautiful fluorescent sea, creating a mesmerizing scene.

Shu Shuishui’s ears twitched again, indicating that he was in a state of excitement or great interest.

“This is the ripple reaction that only the top-grade energy stones have. The simple touch causes the energy to overflow from the stone, spreading into the air and forming aurora-like halos. The energy released from this diffusion is less than one in a hundred billionths of the energy contained within the energy stone itself. You can imagine how abundant the energy contained in this entire energy stone is.” Yu Jin tried to explain the energy stone in a simple and understandable way. “Do you understand the concept of one in a hundred billionths?”

Shu Shuishui circled around the energy stone, and the glow on the stone gradually faded away. Shu Shuishui didn’t turn his head back and responded, “One in a hundred billionth? Does that mean ‘a hair from nine cows1used to describe an extremely small amount or an insignificant portion compared to a large whole‘?”

A moment of silence followed.

Yu Jin asked Gu Langu, “Boss, how many hairs does a cow have?”

Gu Langu was caught off guard. Whether it was before mechanization or after mechanization, apart from encountering cows on the dining table, Gu Langu had never come into contact with such creatures and had no idea how many hairs they had.

Shu Shuishui paused and realized that this world had some cultural similarities to the Earth he used to inhabit. Here, there were idioms and different cultures and languages. In certain aspects, the two worlds overlapped, but there were also differences. As a mouse devoted to sleeping, Shu Shuishui naturally couldn’t understand the reasons behind these phenomena.

Shu Shuishui turned his small body and faced Yu Jin. “I understand what you mean. One in a hundred billionth means a very tiny part within a very large part.” As he spoke, Shu Shuishui extended his short arms and tried his best to draw the largest circle he could, using his sharp claws to illustrate something very small.

Yu Jin immediately forgot about the cow question. This little dormouse was just too adorable.

Perhaps on this desolate planet, such scenes were rare. It inexplicably made people unable to resist. On this planet filled with death, threats, and conflicts every day, weakness meant not being able to survive. So those who came here gradually forgot what tenderness, cuteness, and shyness were.

Shu Shuishui raised his small paw again. “What can energy stones do?”

Before Yu Jin could respond, Gu Langu spoke up. “It’s late, go to sleep. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

Yu Jin and Nan Ge glanced at each other. Did the boss have some plans? Or did he not want to reveal too much in front of this mysterious little mouse? After all, Shu Shuishui’s three questions had already exposed his identity to some extent.

The first question, not knowing about cold waves, could be attributed to just arriving on Cang Zhan Star and being unfamiliar with its environment.

The second question, what are energy stones? This was basic common knowledge in the Cang Star System. The fact that Shu Shuishui asked this question indicated that he didn’t belong to the Cang Star System, or even the nearby star systems, as there were many energy mineral planets distributed within a large area around the Cang Star System.

The third question, what can energy stones do? Energy determines technology, so it can be seen that the technological level of Shu Shuishui’s original planet was lower than the current technological level of the Cang Star System. However, based on their current communication, the cultural background seemed similar, development was similar, and the technological level was not so far behind that they couldn’t understand each other.

Seeing that Gu Langu had concerns, Yu Jin and Nan Ge naturally didn’t say much. After greeting the little mouse, they returned to their room to sleep. Before leaving, Yu Jin even gave the energy stone to Shu Shuishui as a gift.

Shu Shuishui counted the remaining hazelnuts in his spiritual storage, hesitated for a moment, and finally made up his mind. He opened his mouth and took out a hazelnut, then held it up with his paw and handed it to Yu Jin. “This is a return gift.”

“Uh, thank you. It’s the first time I’ve received such a special gift.” In fact, Yu Jin wanted to say that it was the first time he had received a gift from someone’s mouth. What puzzled him even more was that relative to Shu Shuishui, the nut-like thing wasn’t small at all. It had been hidden in Shu Shuishui’s mouth all this time, and he hadn’t noticed.

Nan Ge seemed to have the same thoughts, but neither of them mentioned it. After saying goodnight to Shu Shuishui, the two of them went back upstairs.

Gu Langu stared at Shu Shuishui’s mouth…

On instinct, Shu Shuishui covered his mouth with both paws, but soon he gave in. He felt that he shouldn’t be stingy with his own pet, so he painfully pulled out another hazelnut from his mouth and handed it to Gu Langu. “Here’s one for you too. It’s very tasty.”

Gu Langu pinched the small hazelnut between his index finger and thumb, grinning happily.

Gu Langu picked up Shu Shuishui from the table and also went upstairs to their room to sleep. Shu Shuishui took the opportunity to hold the energy stone and decided to go back to his nest to study the difference between the energy stone and the spirit stone.

Meanwhile, as Yu Jin and Nan Ge returned to their bedroom, they continued pondering Shu Shuishui’s origin. Although Shu Shuishui had left a great impression on them, it was not enough for them to lose their rationality. Perhaps their acceptance was simple because Shu Shuishui was just a dormouse, and moreover, a dormouse brought back by Gu Langu. Soft and cute, completely different from those fierce and exotic plants outside.

Unaware of the thoughts of the two humans, Shu Shuishui happily believed that he had made two new friends today. He even exchanged gifts with one of them and successfully completed his first feeding of a humanoid pet.

Thinking about the two hazelnuts he gave away, the first thing Shu Shuishui did when he returned to his little bed was not to study the energy stone but to carefully count the number of hazelnuts he had left and see if he could get an extra one.

So, using a clever trick to interrupt Yu Jin’s explanation, full of confidence, Shu Shuishui expected that he would be greeted with questions when he returned to the bedroom. Then, he could take the opportunity to answer them. However, Gu Langu saw Shu Shuishui sitting on the grass-green bed, earnestly counting one hazelnut after another.

“One hazelnut.” Shu Shuishui earnestly moved one hazelnut from his left side to his right side.

“Two hazelnuts.” Shu Shuishui continued to move the next one, twisting his small body around without feeling tired.

“Three hazelnuts.”

“Four hazelnuts.”

“Five hazelnuts.”

“…”

“Seventeen hazelnuts.” In the end, the count settled at seventeen hazelnuts. Shu Shuishui had finished counting all the hazelnuts he carried with him.

Gu Langu instinctively adjusted his posture slightly, waiting for Shu Shuishui to finish counting the nuts and continue asking about energy stones or other things.

But then…

“One hazelnut.” Shu Shuishui moved the counted hazelnut from one side of his body to the other.

“Two hazelnuts.”

“Three hazelnuts.”

“…”. The little dormouse sitting on the bed counted with extreme seriousness and meticulousness. Even during the counting process, he carefully checked the hazelnuts, flipping them over to make sure none were spoiled. It was evident how precious the hazelnuts were to Shu Shuishui.

“Seventeen hazelnuts.” Shu Shuishui finished counting once again.

Gu Langu breathed a sigh of relief, but the next second…

“One hazelnut.” “Two hazelnuts.” “Three hazelnuts…”

Gu Langu: “…” After seaweed, Gu Langu found the second thing he disliked, this nut called hazelnut.

Shu Shuishui continued counting the hazelnuts seriously, but no matter how much he counted, there were always seventeen, never turning into eighteen as Shu Shuishui had hoped. As he continued counting, Shu Shuishui’s little ears drooped, resting softly against his head, and his tone while counting the hazelnuts became pitiful.

“Sixteen hazelnuts.”

“Seventeen hazelnuts.”

“Eighteen hazelnuts! Eighteen hazelnuts!” As Shu Shuishui finished counting and wriggled his body, he suddenly discovered one lonely hazelnut lying on the blanket. Shu Shuishui’s little ears immediately perked up. “Eighteen hazelnuts! Eighteen hazelnuts!”

Shu Shuishui hugged the eighteenth hazelnut and gave it a kiss. Then, he plopped down and fell asleep with his beloved hazelnut in the face of Gu Langu’s expectant gaze, entering the dreamland.

Quietly, Gu Langu returned the nut that Shu Shuishui had just given him. In the end, he couldn’t wait for Shu Shuishui’s questions. However, looking at Shu Shuishui sleeping contentedly, Gu Langu surprisingly didn’t feel too disappointed.

He extended his slender hand, tidied up the nuts on Shu Shuishui’s small bed, and then covered Shu Shuishui with a little blanket. This nut called hazelnut didn’t seem so unpleasant after all.

Author’s note:

Love for mice and hazelnuts~~