Chapter 49

Lin Bei had no 'magic' to produce milk, so in the end, he still followed the method he used to take care of Didi and Qiqi, preparing to feed the young jackals with minced meat from river shrimp and crabs.

However, when Lin Bei went to the river to catch fish, he was a bit embarrassed because he found that apart from a few soft-shelled turtles, there were no more lobsters or crabs in the river section from the Dragon Pool to below. He had caught them all.

"Turns out I've been an unintentional ecological destroyer," Lin Bei thought. It would take several years for those large lobsters and crabs to grow, but Lin Bei had caught them all in less than a month. It was indeed hard to build but easy to destroy. Growing to such a size in the forest was already quite difficult, and if Lin Bei caught them a few more times, the shrimp and crabs in this river might go extinct.

"Let's just feed them this time, and next time I'll find some other animal meat as a substitute," Lin Bei thought, and then he did it with a clear conscience.

This time, Lin Bei caught three of them: two lobsters and one crab. After removing the shells, he mashed them, added some water, and placed them in a pottery bowl. He then handed it to the six young jackals. The young jackals had been calling for a long time, already very hungry. So as soon as they smelled the food, they gathered around the bowl to lick it.

Jackals are close relatives of dogs, a very similar species, with similar habits. When they are young, it's almost impossible to tell if they are jackals or dogs. At this moment, the five young jackals were happily licking the food, and Lin Bei felt very happy watching them. He told himself that it was like raising a few dogs. "Eh, why are there only five? What about the other one?"

The other one was the young jackal with a birthmark on its face. Perhaps because it was ugly or had a bad temperament, it was isolated by the other five young jackals. The pottery bowl could easily accommodate all six young jackals' heads, but whenever the birthmarked jackal tried to reach for the food, the others would push it away. It seemed to have very little strength and couldn't push its way in, so it could only whimper. Because it had been whimpering for a long time, its voice was already very weak.

"Damn, you're already excluding your siblings at birth? That's not very loving," Lin Bei said, both amused and exasperated. He then forcefully used a small stick to push one of the young jackals aside, allowing the birthmarked jackal to get a few licks. But it was quickly pushed away again.

"Damn, you need to be more competitive. How can you get food if you don't fight for it?" Lin Bei was frustrated.

In fact, many animals are like these young jackals when they are young. They have to compete with their siblings from birth. If they are isolated, they might be abandoned by their parents and die young. The phrase "treat all equally" never applies to animal parents. Without Lin Bei, the fate of this young jackal would have been to disappear a few days later, ending up in the stomach of another animal. Now, Lin Bei could ensure it had food to eat, but whether it could survive ultimately depended on its luck. After all, sometimes not being hungry isn't enough; there are too many dangers in the forest. In their current state, even a hungry rat could bite them to death.

Feeding the young jackals took a lot of effort from Lin Bei. By the time the five young jackals were finally full, Lin Bei still hadn't managed to integrate the birthmarked jackal into the group. So it was the last one to eat, and by then, there was only a little meat left in the pottery bowl. Seeing that it was still hungry, Lin Bei had to prepare another lobster for it.

Under Lin Bei's special care, the birthmarked jackal finally ate its fill. Eating and sleeping were their main tasks now. However, what frustrated Lin Bei was that even when sleeping, this little guy would be excluded. It insisted on sleeping in the middle of the other young jackals, getting kicked several times but still not giving up, continuing to push its small body forward.

"Brother, just find a place to sleep by yourself. Why are you so annoying?" Lin Bei was truly helpless. Unfortunately, Lin Bei's strength was too great, and he didn't dare to hit it. In the end, he gave up, thinking, "Do what you want. If you have so much energy, fine. I have other things to do."

Lin Bei had to find a new place to bury the soft-shelled turtle eggs, and it needed to be in a spot where the sun could shine directly to facilitate the hatching of the turtles. In the end, he buried the turtle eggs at the edge of the taro field and made a mark.

After burying the turtle eggs, Lin Bei also drove away a bold toad that had run into the taro field, completely ignoring Lin Bei. It didn't know that Lin Bei had a snake's body, and its reaction was too slow.

Just as he finished these tasks, the bird calls sounded again. Didi and Qiqi had woken up, and Lin Bei had to prepare food for them. Even though Lin Bei was full of energy, these small tasks were making him feel overwhelmed. He secretly vowed never to raise small animals again. These were enough; if he got more, he would have to spend his entire life on these tasks.

Didi and Qiqi were two completely different types of birds. Didi was a cuckoo, and Qiqi, Lin Bei still couldn't identify, but it was already larger and stronger than Didi. Additionally, the two little ones could now fly about half a meter high.

"Go, catch some bugs," Lin Bei pointed at the two little rascals and then at the grape trellis over the Dragon Pool, hoping they would understand his meaning.

Didi and Qiqi's eyes were very lively, but that didn't mean they understood Lin Bei's complex gestures. However, it seemed to have formed a conditioned reflex, and they started walking one after the other.

"Ah... even if they consider me their 'mother,' unfortunately, there's no way to communicate. I don't know bird language," Lin Bei thought, scratching his head.

The grape vines, planted by the river, had plenty of water and space, so they started to grow new leaves. Although it had only been about ten days, the new leaves were already the size of thumbs. Following the new leaves were the bugs that lived on the grape leaves, called piglets.

These were green caterpillars, fleshy and disgusting, laying their eggs on the grape vines. Unless pesticides were used, they couldn't be eradicated. As soon as the grape vines grew leaves, the eggs would hatch, and the caterpillars would wreak havoc on the vines. Lin Bei had no way to deal with these bugs, so he hoped Didi and Qiqi would be more diligent and eat all the piglets, saving food and helping the grapes grow well. Unfortunately, the two little ones didn't understand Lin Bei's intentions.

However, looking at their plump bodies, Lin Bei made a firm decision. He wouldn't prepare food for them next time and moved their nest to the large locust tree. He then said to the two little ones, "From now on, you'll have to fend for yourselves. When you finish catching all the bugs, you'll be considered trained. Don't call me 'Mom,' I'm not your mother."

Then Lin Bei went to the roof and found that two more baby snakes had hatched. Like the previous four, they ate the egg yolk and then curled up to sleep. Lin Bei suddenly felt that the baby snakes were cuter, as they didn't need his attention. The first snake had been sleeping for almost a day and looked like it would continue to sleep.

"Once they wake up, food will definitely be needed. It's dry outside, so there should be locusts or something similar. Otherwise, I'll have those people bring some locusts in exchange. After all, the forest has almost everything, and we don't lack anything else."

Lin Bei slowly thought about these things, yawned, and prepared to take a nap.

PS: Thank you to the four book friends, Xuan Yan, Qiqing Liuyu, csrencs, and 1409131, for your support. I also continue to ask for more collections and recommendations. Don't be annoyed, it's a new book, so I have no choice.