CH 19

TL: Moonlit

Shu Shuishui believed that preparing pet food was within the responsibilities of the owner. However, Shu Shuishui didn’t quite understand what it was like to have no sense of taste. But since beauty could bring joy to a dormouse’s heart, it could naturally bring joy to a person’s heart as well.

Moreover, Shu Shuishui noticed that the food in this world seemed somewhat strange or monotonous. Similar to cultural development, the types of animals and plants here overlapped with those on Earth but also had differences. Shu Shuishui still remembered when he drove through the desert, the seven not-so-short people who wanted to eat mouse rolls knew about roasted sweet potatoes and lotus leaves. But yesterday and today, Shu Shuishui realized that Gu Langu and the others seemed unfamiliar with hazelnuts and didn’t know how to eat roasted potatoes.

Having sweet potatoes but no potatoes was simply unbearable! What made Shu Shuishui even more unable to bear was the thought that there might not be hazel trees in this world. Shu Shuishui thought about the only seventeen hazelnuts left in his spiritual treasury and suddenly felt hopeless about his dormouse life.

However, thinking about the harsh living environment on the Cang Zhan Star, where even human survival was extremely difficult, not to mention animals and plants, it was likely that only plants with strong survival abilities could survive on the Cang Zhan Star. Shu Shuishui felt that he should study it carefully and find a perfect place to plant hazelnuts, allowing the hazel trees to grow tall. In the end, he would be able to harvest many hazelnuts.

His thoughts wandered off, and an apple was presented in front of Shu Shuishui.

Although Gu Langu didn’t eat, he still knew the preciousness of fruits on the Cang Zhan Star, so he reminded Shu Shuishui to eat the apple.

Shu Shuishui looked at the green little apple and instinctively flicked his ears. He could already imagine the sour taste. However, since it was given by his pet, would he feel sad if he didn’t eat it?

So, Shu Shuishui bravely raised his chubby paw and held the apple. Suddenly, his eyes brightened as he seemed to think of something. “Have you heard the song ‘Little Apple’? Do you want me to sing it for you?”

Gu Langu: “…”, remembering the fear of being dominated by seaweed.

So, Shu Shuishui sat on the bedside table, holding the green apple, and started singing “Little Apple.” He sang with a swaying and dancing motion, fully indulged in it. He even stood up halfway through and performed a little dance to the song.

Gu Langu: “…”, so, the chaotic behavior that the probe captured, which the little probe couldn’t interpret, was actually dancing?

Fortunately, Yu Jin and Nan Ge didn’t see this scene, otherwise, they would definitely think that Shu Shuishui had gone crazy from the cat’s scare in the morning.

Because he danced a little, Shu Shuishui was in a great mood. He no longer minded holding the apple and took a bite. He discovered that the taste wasn’t as bad as he had imagined. It was somewhat similar to a green apple, just not as sweet. Shu Shuishui thought it was much better than the purple tree cake he had earlier, so he didn’t resist and finished it.

Shu Shuishui, who had eaten a purple tree cake three times his size and another apple about the same size as himself, patted his little belly in satisfaction. Then he started walking at the bedside table, engaging in post-meal exercise, walking and explaining the benefits of post-meal exercise to Gu Langu, aiming to live until ninety-nine.

When Shu Shuishui passed by the edge of the cabinet close to Gu Langu, Gu Langu would reach out and give him a pat while encouraging him, “Shuishui will definitely live until ninety-nine.”

Shu Shuishui’s little footsteps paused, realizing that his age was unknown. Living until ninety-nine was definitely surpassed. He didn’t really know how many hundreds of years he had lived, but it seemed that he was getting old. Shu Shuishui casually asked, pretending to be unaware, “What about you, Gu Gu? How old are you this year?”

Caught off guard by the intimate address, Gu Langu instinctively replied, “Forty years old.”

Shu Shuishui realized that the lifespan of humans in this world was generally longer than on Earth. But he still extended his paw and patted Gu Langu’s hand to comfort him, “It’s okay. A man is like a flower at forty.”

That’s how these two beings, who were on completely different channels in terms of age, comforted and encouraged each other in their own mismatched ways.

After finishing breakfast, Gu Langu went to return the tray. Actually, Shu Shuishui wanted to go by himself, but he hesitated at the thought of the cat and gestured to Gu Langu with his chubby paw, “I’ll wait for you to come back.”

Gu Langu stroked Shu Shuishui’s head and felt that he indeed needed to go down and deal with that cat.

On the first floor, Yu Jin and the others had already finished their meal, and Nan Fang was playing with the cat.

When the tabby cat saw Gu Langu, it immediately bristled, baring its teeth and growling. Nan Fang was startled and quickly held the cat in his arms, afraid that Gu Langu would give it a slap. Gu Langu glanced at the tabby cat and said, “From now on, no cats are allowed where Shuishui appears, and anyone carrying a cat is also prohibited.”

Nan Fang: ?

Nan Fang was now banned from entering. Holding his tabby cat, he returned to the dormitory in a daze, completely baffled. He didn’t even get a clear look at the dormouse’s face, but he was defeated. Nan Fang decided that if he had the chance, he would study that dormouse carefully.

“Hualin is back! Come, come, have some dried fish.” On the way back to the dormitory, people from the base greeted them. On this resource-scarce planet, being able to give a cat some dried fish was enough to prove the status of the Tabby Cat in the base. Others took it for granted because on this planet, where there were very few non-mutated animals and plants, the Tabby Cat was one of the few, and it was also a female.

In a base where not even a female mosquito could be found, the presence of a female animal became a symbol of rarity. Everyone was willing to keep such a little princess, especially in the boring and monotonous days, where one could find some joy, uncertain of when they might perish. Of course, this situation only occurred during relatively stable periods. In extreme situations of resource scarcity, to the point of cannibalism among the same species, pets did not exist.

The tabby cat groomed its fur with its tongue, completely unaware of the upcoming challenging life.

On the other side, Shu Shuishui finally came out of the room, having nothing else to do, and decided to wash the toy car he had previously driven.

Yu Jin was interested and watched the scene of the little mouse climbing up and down, cleaning the toy car. He actually wanted to help, as for him, washing a car meant simply rinsing it under the tap, although there was a suspicion of wasting water resources, but it was much faster.

In the end, after using three bottle caps of water, Shu Shuishui finally finished cleaning his car.

Yu Jin checked the time and realized that it took nearly an hour. He suddenly became curious about what would happen if Shu Shuishui was asked to wash a real car. Would it take a year? Although he wanted to grab the dormouse, who was currently using a dry handkerchief on the table to wipe off excess water, and place him on the car hood, Gu Langu, who was standing nearby, made Yu Jin give up on this plan.

While washing the car, Shu Shuishui took the opportunity to ask the questions he should have asked last night, such as what energy stones were and the basic situation and ways of survival in this world.

After all, from today’s breakfast, Shu Shuishui could tell that everyone’s life seemed difficult, especially in terms of food. It seemed that cultivation alone couldn’t meet the current consumption, so there must be other channels.

Gu Langu finally fulfilled his wish of explaining the worldview to the little dormouse personally.

Yu Jin, who was listening from the side, was dumbfounded, and Nan Ge was also surprised. Gu Langu’s explanation already touched upon many core technological issues. It should be noted that Gu Langu’s previous identity meant that he had access to many secrets. If it weren’t for his meritorious service in saving the Cang Zhan Star System, Gu Langu probably wouldn’t have had the right to survive.

After finishing cleaning the car, Shu Shuishui sat on the table with his chubby little bottom, resembling a well-behaved student attentively listening to a lecture. When encountering puzzling questions, he would subconsciously tilt his little head, and when faced with interesting topics, his little ears would tremble uncontrollably.

Gu Langu couldn’t help but occasionally tease his “little” student during the lecture. The student was especially well-behaved, sometimes even leaning his little head closer, indicating for Gu Langu to give him a pat.

Yu Jin: “…”, it seemed like he had figured out the truth that was interrupted by Gu Langu yesterday.

Energy stones are a type of energy mineral commonly found in advanced star systems. They are widely used in various fields such as electricity, magnetism, light, heat, nuclear energy, atomic energy, and so on. Energy stones are, so far, the highest conversion rate energy source discovered.

Energy stones not only exist in the Canghai Galaxy but also in the Xiange Galaxy, which had a war with the Canghai Galaxy. The development and utilization of energy stones are often important criteria for measuring a civilization.

Shu Shuishui nodded his little head in understanding. No wonder the energy stone exhibition area in the museum was completely looted. It turns out that energy stones are like hard currency, and they are not just a single type of energy. Perhaps only Shu Shuishui, an old-fashioned mouse, is still fixated on finding a single energy source like electricity.

The complexity of energy contained in energy stones determines their wide range of applications. This is why Shu Shuishui feels the chaotic spiritual power from the energy stones. It is both an advantage and a disadvantage of energy stones.

Shu Shuishui finds energy stones not difficult to understand. On Earth, there was oil as a resource, but it was in liquid form, and there was natural gas, which was in gaseous form. However, in the more advanced Canghai Galaxy, these resources have been condensed to a solid state, leading to higher development and utilization rates and more advanced technology.

The studious mouse is good at drawing analogies, but still has doubts when facing certain questions, so it raised its little paw and asked, “What is energy extraction? Quantum sorting?”

This is already the core technological part of energy stone mining and utilization that Gu Langu has been explaining. Shu Shuishui finds it challenging to understand. “Energy extraction is the process of separating and layering the basic energy contained in energy stones, while quantum sorting is a more subtle technique of refining and separating energy, maximizing the utilization of an energy stone…”

Shu Shuishui’s eyes start swirling, feeling dizzy. It feels like going back to the time when Shu Bao explained hacking techniques, and its little ears can’t help but droop more and more, almost sticking to its head. Suddenly, Shu Shuishui’s little ears twitched, and after a moment, it searched through its spiritual space and found a round and crispy Chinese date. “Do you want to eat a date?”

G u Langu’s explanation naturally stopped, realizing that his detailed explanation had touched the little dormouse, so he received the Chinese date with his hand. “Thank you, Shuishui.”

Shu Shuishui waves its little paw. “No need to thank me. Enjoy your snack. I’ll go… um… outside for a bit.” After saying that, it couldn’t wait, jumped off the table with a pat, and then ran away without looking back, a furry little bundle disappearing through the door.

Gu Langu: ?

Yu Jin endured and endured, but looking at Gu Langu’s petrified face, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Nan Ge also suppressed his amusement. In the outside world, countless people were desperate to obtain the knowledge about core technologies from Gu Langu’s brain, but a little dormouse easily interrupted the topic with a single Chinese date, then ran out of the room without a backward glance.

This is probably guessing the beginning but never guessing the ending.

Gu Langu held the Chinese date with a sense of grievance. What should he do now? The little dormouse didn’t like it, but the most valuable knowledge in his brain was probably these things. Gu Langu, who hadn’t experienced feeling wronged for years, pondered. Since the little dormouse wasn’t interested in energy extraction and quantum sorting, maybe it would be interested in topics like curved quantum acceleration and energy molecule structure transmutation?

Outside the room, Shu Shuishui, basking in the sunlight, suddenly shivered and let out a little sneeze, feeling a bit chilly.

Author’s note:

So, does that mean this story by Lao Xuan is actually a younger person’s story? ＿（： “∠）＿

In yesterday’s comments, Lao Xuan suspected that several little angels were driving, but I have no evidence. ╮（╯▽╰）╭

Finally, regarding the issue of nail growth speed, some little angels mentioned it was too fast. Indeed, Lao Xuan will make some adjustments to make the novel more reasonable, although it’s already not very logical, hhh～～

Lots of love～～～