Chapter 320: First Victory
Chapter 320 f𝗿𝐞ewebno𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝐨m
"Little girl, forgive your uncle for being selfish this one time. If you get tired later, just let your uncle know right away, and I'll take you back immediately, okay?"
"No problem, Uncle Zhang. Since it's still early, shall we head out now?"
"Yes, little girl, let's go now."
Uncle Zhang's face was smiling, but the words he uttered were incredibly difficult. The ability to catalyze widespread plant growth on such a scale wouldn't come without a cost!
But the people of Han Country, they truly couldn't wait any longer.
If the people of Han Country were to die out, what would he be guarding?
Upon reaching the palace gates, Lin Zaozao sat cozily in Uncle Zhang's embrace, observing the civilians kneeling respectfully on both sides of the road.
They all shared one common trait.
Clothed in tattered rags, frighteningly frail and emaciated. Some of the children were so thin that Lin Zaozao could clearly see their protruding bones.
Those small, ragged bundles kneeling by the roadside tugged at Lin Zaozao's heart painfully.
Amidst the hopeful gazes of the people, Uncle Zhang led Lin Zaozao to the rice paddies outside the city.
Just like the paddies cultivated within the palace grounds, the rice seedlings were sparse and yellowed.
With such meager rice crops, even if they did mature, how many people could they possibly sustain?
"Uncle Zhang, let me down."
"Alright. Little girl, pace yourself. Stop if you get tired."
"Got it, I know. Uncle Zhang, you've told me that so many times already on the way here."
"I'll pace myself. If I truly get tired, I'll definitely stop. Is that okay?"
"Okay, but little girl, you must..."
"Enough, Uncle Zhang, you've said it eight hundred times already on the way here. If you keep going, my ears will grow calluses."
Lin Zaozao waved her hand dismissively.
Walking to the edge of the rice paddies, under the hopeful gazes of the people, Lin Zaozao repeated the motions she had practiced within the palace grounds, using the abilities bestowed upon her by the Dog System to catalyze the growth of the crops outside the city.
Until the setting sun, when Lin Zaozao turned to survey the vast stretches of rice paddies, she finally let out a long sigh of relief.
With so much rice, the people of Han Country should have enough to eat for a while! They can eat this first, then after she rests for a few days, she'll help them catalyze the growth of more crops.
Now that the great drought has passed and there is ample food, the people of Han Country will surely be saved.
"Little girl, take a break and have some cow's milk."
Uncle Zhang handed a leather water pouch to Lin Zaozao.
"Uncle Zhang, I'm not a baby anymore, I don't need to drink cow's milk. Why don't you give this milk to those children instead? Look how thin they are."
Lin Zaozao looked at the children standing by the rice paddies, pitifully rubbing their hands and staring at the water pouch in her hands.
To be honest, she wasn't being a saint, but when she met the children's pitiful gazes, she just couldn't bring herself to drink it.
"Little girl, you were born not long ago, you're younger than them. Don't worry about them, with these rice crops, they'll survive."
"Besides, there are so many children, it's hard to share evenly, it could cause fighting."
"Well, alright then!"
Ravenously hungry, Lin Zaozao took the water pouch and drank deeply.
After drinking, Lin Zaozao gazed at the vast rice paddies before her, reminiscing about the corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes from her previous life's previous life.
Although potatoes and sweet potatoes don't store well, their yields are high! And corn, its yield is exceptionally high.
If only she had corn seeds now, she could save so many people.
As Lin Zaozao contemplated the corn seeds from her previous life, that accursed System's voice rang clearly in her mind once more.
[Host, use a part of your body to exchange for potato, sweet potato, and corn seeds. Host, which part of your body would you like to use?]
[I don't want to exchange, can I?]
[No. The host has ten seconds to consider. If the host still cannot make a choice, this System will forcibly make the choice for you. Nine, eight, seven, six...]
Listening to the System's countdown, Lin Zaozao quickly looked around but didn't see Gu Shan's figure.
What's going on? Gu Shan said he would always stay by her side, but now that accursed System is back, where is he?
As Lin Zaozao grew increasingly anxious, the System's countdown ended.
[Host, which part of your body would you like to use for the exchange? If you cannot make a choice, this System will forcibly make the choice for you.]
[I'll use my excretions to trade with you, how about that? Can I? Can I? I'll give you all my fresh daily productions from now on!]
[...]
[System! This is a deal where you're guaranteed to profit. I'll produce fresh excretions for you every day. You can have my lifetime supply. I promise they'll be fresh.]
[Exchange successful...]
The System's gritted voice rang clearly in Lin Zaozao's mind. Hearing the accursed System concede, Lin Zaozao immediately burst into laughter.
Hahaha...
It seems she'll have to find a new way to deal with this accursed System from now on. Otherwise, she'll be the one suffering!
Thinking about how she traded her excretions with the System for corn, potato, and sweet potato seeds, Lin Zaozao couldn't help but laugh.
Oh my! After so many exchanges with this accursed System, she finally won one.
Hearing the System's gritted voice earlier, Lin Zaozao felt her victory was within reach.
"Hahaha... Oh my! I'm dying of laughter! Hahaha..."
She didn't care about the puzzled looks from the people around her, hugging her stomach and laughing uncontrollably.
In her victorious battle against the System, Lin Zaozao didn't notice Gu Shan's figure flashing by her side as she made the trade with the System.
Hiding in the shadows, Gu Shan clutched a ball of resentful energy, expressionless as he stuffed it into his mouth.
A demonic cultivator dared to threaten Lin Zaozao, even wanting her to trade her body with him.
Hmph! He was practically asking for death.
Although Gu Shan couldn't kill him now, he could consume some of the demonic energy from his body. A demonic cultivator's power came from the demonic energy within them.
As long as he could consume more of that demonic energy, weakening the accursed demonic cultivator's abilities, let's see how he could harm his little girl then.
"Little girl, what are you laughing about? You seem so amused?"
"Uncle Zhang, I have something good for you. When you see it, you'll understand why I'm so excited."
Lin Zaozao took out the seeds of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn that she had obtained from the system, briefly introduced their cultivation and storage methods to Uncle Zhang, and then asked people to quickly plant them in the fields while they had the time.
"Uncle Zhang, have people plant them now while we have time. I'll demonstrate my ability to accelerate plant growth."
"Girl, it's getting dark. Shouldn't we wait until tomorrow?"
"Uncle, I'm eager. I can't wait until tomorrow. There are many people here, so let's try it first!
Before it gets completely dark, I want to test how high the yield can be.
If the yields of these corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are high, we can plant them first. After the drought is over, we can think about planting rice, okay?"
Seeing Lin Zaozao's insistence, Uncle Zhang thought for a moment and agreed. He had people plant the corn, sweet potato, and potato seeds in three separate fields, water them, and wait for Lin Zaozao to accelerate their growth.
Just like before, Lin Zaozao skillfully accelerated the plants' growth. The corn grew as tall as small trees, the sweet potato vines spread out in patches, and the potatoes grew like bushes.
Lin Zaozao became curious about the fruits of these three plants.
She could see the corn cobs at a glance, those huge corn cobs taller than her. Uncle Zhang plucked a cob, pried out a kernel, and looked at it: each corn kernel was as big as a child's fist.
As for the potatoes and sweet potatoes dug up, even the smallest ones were as big as two human heads.
Looking at the enormous sweet potatoes and potatoes, Lin Zaozao had a surreal, sci-fi movie-like feeling.
That damn system might not be a good thing, but the things it produced were pretty good!
At least these things could save people.
"Uncle Zhang, the sweet potato vines also seem edible. Although the taste isn't great, it's a million times better than Guanyin Soil.
At least it won't kill you if you eat it. Have the people try eating it first, at least it can fill their stomachs."
"Mmm! I understand."
Uncle Zhang looked at the huge sweet potatoes and potatoes in front of him, tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke.
Just as Lin Zaozao was happily touching the giant potatoes and sweet potatoes, everything went black before her eyes. The next second, she fell into endless darkness.
Damn it, she seemed to have fallen for the death system's trap.
"Zaozao..."
"Little Priestess..."
"Girl, what's wrong? Quick, find a doctor!"
"..."
When Lin Zaozao woke up again, she saw a little boy sitting by her bedside. Her chubby little paw uncontrollably pinched his face.
His soft, chubby little face was so cute.
"Little handsome, what's your name? How old are you? Are you married? What do you do? Do I fit your criteria for a spouse?"
The boy in white, with an ethereal aura, turned to look at Lin Zaozao and said slowly and deliberately, "Ji Fantian, nine years old, a wandering doctor, not married. As for you, you don't meet my criteria for marriage."
"Why not? I may be a bit small now, but I have arms, legs, a nose, and eyes.
I have everything others have, so why can't you choose me as your wife?"
"You are the future High Priestess of Han Country. The High Priestess of Han Country cannot marry, didn't you know?"
Ji Fantian's words immediately dimmed the bright light in Lin Zaozao's eyes.
Why can't she marry her husband? Why?
This little handsome boy will be so good-looking when he grows up! With a nice nose and eyes, and that ethereal aura, he's exactly her type.
But her unlucky priestess status means she can't marry her husband.
Oh heavens! Oh earth! Are you being too unfair to me?
It's bad enough that I got stuck with this damn system, but I can't even marry a husband.
Most importantly, this exceedingly handsome boy's appearance is really my type.
If possible, she would snatch him up from childhood, so that when she becomes an adult, she could live a "blissful" and happy life.