Chapter 51: The Series Where Humans Are Inferior to Dogs

Sun Ruohua eyed Yu Yan with suspicion.

Could it be that Yan knew the bread and cola had spoiled, and that’s why she didn’t give them to her but to Song Yi instead? Yet judging by how Song Yi was wolfing them down, they didn’t appear to be bad at all. Soon after, Zhao Kai and Qu Zimo, who had just climbed up the tree, shared the remaining bread and cola.

Neither of them showed any odd reaction. On the contrary, they smacked their lips, looking thoroughly satisfied!

But soon, Sun Ruohua had no time to ponder bread and cola—her stomach began cramping, each wave of pain worse than the last!

This was bad. Those fruits she ate really were poisonous, after all.

“Yan… ah, you mustn’t eat those fruits, they’re poisonous!” Sun Ruohua’s face was deathly pale, her breath hissing from the pain, yet she still didn’t forget to warn her benefactor.

Yu Yan fell silent for a moment.

Well, she was a little moved, she couldn’t deny that.

But what she’d given Sun Ruohua wasn’t some toxic fruit, but a grade-three Purple Star Spirit Fruit. If Sun Ruohua knew she had mistaken such a precious spiritual fruit for mere poison, as a postdoctoral plant scientist, she’d probably die of shame and indignation on the spot.

Still—

“Mm, I won’t eat them,” Yu Yan nodded solemnly.

She had quite a stash of tasty spirit fruits of various grades tucked away in her Lotus Mirage space. Though the Purple Star Spirit Fruit was rich in spiritual energy, its taste left much to be desired; she would never force herself to eat them just for a little extra energy.

Besides, she didn’t have many of those fruits to begin with.

If Sun Ruohua weren’t a postdoctoral plant scientist—someone whose powers would surely complement wood-type abilities—Yu Yan wouldn’t have wanted her to suffer through the Purple Star Spirit Fruit either. “Sister Sun, just bear with it.”

“The toxins in the Purple Star Spirit Fruit are very mild. At worst, you’ll have to visit the bathroom a couple of times.”

But the benefits you’ll gain are self-evident.

At the very least, in her past life, Sun Ruohua’s process of cultivating the wheat fruit was sped up by two or three months, all thanks to this.

Yu Yan’s gaze grew distant.

Sun Ruohua’s name was renowned—she was the greatest agricultural scientist in the replica world, the second human to attain the rank of Academician in Botany after Yuan Rongping!

She was the researcher and improver of the wheat fruit, and still personally promoted its cultivation on the front lines. She taught ordinary people at over a dozen bases to grow edible wheat fruit successfully. One key feature of the wheat fruit Sun Ruohua cultivated was that ordinary people could eat it to strengthen their bodies and heal chronic illnesses.

As for those with abilities, eating it would even slightly increase their internal spiritual energy.

Although this increase was very slight, for the vast majority of ability users and ordinary enhancers without spiritual meridians, the only way to grow stronger was to absorb and refine spiritual items—whether of matching or generic attributes—from the replica world.

But obtaining such spiritual items, whether of matching or generic attributes, meant risking life and limb in the replica world, with no guarantee of returning to the base alive.

Sun Ruohua’s wheat fruit offered them another possibility.

If there could be a wheat fruit, might there someday be a barley fruit, a pumpkin fruit, or other non-attributed spiritual plants to be developed?

For a time, Sun Ruohua was revered as a living saint by everyone in the New World.

The “New World” was how humans referred to themselves after the arrival of the replica world.

Sun Ruohua was speechless.

Well, thank you for that, she thought.

She’d assumed Yu Yan was simply ignorant of the fruit’s toxicity and had given it to her by mistake. Who would have thought Yu Yan did it intentionally? If not for Yu Yan saving her husband’s life, and for driving off the bomb ant swarm—which indirectly saved them all—Sun Ruohua would have thought Yu Yan held a grudge against her.

As it was, Sun Ruohua blinked in confusion, unable to fathom Yu Yan’s reasoning.

“Your dog…” Yu Yan, returning from her reverie, pointed to the chow chow in Sun Ruohua’s arms. “Does it eat cat food?”

She didn’t have any dog food.

But before the replica world descended, there had been many stray cats around their building. Her daughter, being kind-hearted, had persuaded Yu Yan to buy a big bag of cat food for them. Most of it remained in her Lotus Mirage space.

“It… probably can?” Sun Ruohua replied uncertainly.

Her husband had always handled Huanhuan’s meals; Sun Ruohua’s job was to pet the dog and occasionally take her for walks on a whim. She’d never really noticed whether dogs could eat cat food, and Hu Jianming was still unconscious, so she couldn’t ask.

Yu Yan was at a loss. What now?

After a moment’s thought, she handed Sun Ruohua a small bowl of cat food.

Let’s see if the dog eats it—otherwise, she’d have to think of something else.

The chow chow sniffed the food, then turned its head away in disdain, its wrinkled, sorrowful face spelling out a clear message: “Rather go hungry!”

Yu Yan sighed and tossed a few sausages to Sun Ruohua. She remembered dogs could eat sausages.

“Um…” Qu Zimo swallowed hard.

He’d already eaten a big chunk of bread and drank a bellyful of cola, but those were sausages! Real meat, even if only half. “Miss, do you have any more sausages? Could I have one?”

Yu Yan rolled her eyes. “No.”

Someone who would sacrifice his closest kin just to save himself—letting him tag along was generosity enough. And now he wanted her food? He could dream on.

Zhao Kai’s eyes flickered; Qu Zimo was as clueless as ever! In this team, Yu Yan obviously favored Sun Ruohua, with Song Yi a distant second. He and Qu Zimo were as invisible as trash in Yu Yan’s eyes; if not for Sun Ruohua’s feelings, they’d have been kicked out long ago.

Only an idiot like Qu Zimo would keep trying to cozy up to Yu Yan.

Song Yi forced himself to look away.

He thought he still had some dignity—he couldn’t possibly fight a dog for food, could he?

Still, he couldn’t help but feel resentful. He’d thought Yu Yan’s bread and cola were a gesture of goodwill, but now it seemed even the dog was better fed than he was. Worse still, the rich aroma of grilled meat wafted over.

Song Yi turned instinctively and saw Yu Yan holding a glistening, juicy slab of unknown meat, eating with utter contentment.

And perched on a branch next to her, Yunduo was even more extravagant! She held a small plate of crispy fried fish, crunching down one after another.

Song Yi was speechless.

He’d thought he was already full, but now he felt he could eat a whole cow. Yet he didn’t even have a scrap of meat, let alone a cow. Suddenly, he longed for the fire-feather chicken he’d eaten two days ago.

He licked his lips unconsciously—he'd have to find a way to get some meat tomorrow.

Yu Yan finished her Vermilion Bird roast and let out a satisfied belch. She took out a bowl of mung bean and lily soup, sipping it leisurely, though her mind was troubled.

She found herself missing Tang Yan—not the person, but the food Tang Yan cooked. Although the food in her Lotus Mirage space remained fresh, she always waited for it to cool before stowing it away, so as not to draw attention. After all, pulling out a steaming chunk of roast meat or a hot bowl of soup would be hard to explain.

Yu Yan was always careful to keep a low profile; she didn’t want everyone to know about her Lotus Mirage space.

So the cold roast meat simply couldn’t compare to the sizzling, freshly grilled kind.

And even so, she was running low on such cold cuts…