Chapter 144: Reproduction

Regarding that statement, Du Jia Jia was the first to object; in her view, Xiao Huang was clearly a confidant, a close friend—using the term "lickdog" to describe him was really an insult to their friendship.

But one cannot deny that deep down, she still felt a secret pleasure.

"What's it like to have a lickdog?" Zhao Xiao Yan teased, poking Du Jia Jia with a grin.

Du Jia Jia's gaze happened to sweep over Wei Dalei; she was about to retort, but felt it inappropriate, so she turned and said, "You should ask the class monitor and He Ying—they have experience."

Dong Junwei's face flashed with embarrassment as she smiled and said, "You guys are joking, don't implicate the pond fish… but based on what Tang Jing just said, I'm wondering if that little white cat came here because of Du Jia Jia."

"That's possible." Tang Jing nodded, "Du Jia Jia's ability is growing unconsciously, unintentionally attracting other animals—it makes sense."

Chen Mu suddenly asked, "But why are they all cats? Logically, the insects and ants around us are smaller; if attraction were the cause, shouldn't they have been affected first?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Tang Jing said, "Then it shows that the animals being attracted have nothing to do with their size."

"Then what is it related to?"

"It can't be confirmed yet, but it's likely intelligence, or emotional factors, etc." Tang Jing said.

"That's plausible; cats' intelligence is definitely higher than that of insects." Zhao Xiao Yan said.

"The only similar animals on campus are probably cats."

"What about birds?"

"Birds must be stupid, right? Isn't that what people say—'stupid bird, stupid bird'?"

"..."

"What about mice? Are mice intelligent?"

"Mice are quite smart."

"Then logically, they should be the first to be attracted."

"Or maybe there just happen to be no mice around here."

"..."

Tang Jing laughed and said, "You may often see articles hyping how smart mice are, claiming they can understand human speech, but in fact, mice's intelligence is really low—it can even be said to be very low."

"In biology, there's an interesting phenomenon: the stronger an animal's reproductive ability, the lower its intelligence tends to be, but the converse isn't necessarily true."

"That's not necessarily true—humans are numerous yet also very smart," someone objected.

Tang Jing said, "Reproductive capacity does not equal population size; the main reference indicators are: age of sexual maturity, gestation duration, birth difficulty, number of offspring per litter, lactation period length, mating flexibility, interbirth interval, etc. Calculated this way, humans' reproductive capacity is actually not strong."

"The reason many people think mice are smart is partly because they are agile and look sharp, and partly because people hold deep grudges against mice, leading some elders to claim mice can understand human speech and dodge traps in advance."

"My grandmother used to say that," Qian Fei laughed heartily.

Tang Jing smiled and said, "Actually, this is just because mice have long shared humans' living environment, evolving certain habits that make them seem smart."

"That sounds somewhat reasonable."

Whenever Tang Jing gives a popular science explanation, few people actually understand, so they usually end up concluding with that sentence.

Du Jia Jia listened most attentively; although she still only half understood, her mood remained good.

She didn't care about reproduction or intelligence; anyway, her ability finally had a relatively clear direction.

"But how do we cultivate favorability?" Du Jia Jia seized the moment while Tang Jing was lecturing and hurriedly asked, "How should I train this ability?"

"I'm not sure about that either," Tang Jing shrugged, "but you and Xiao Huang have been constantly communicating; your telepathic ability has indeed improved, right?"

"Hmm." Du Jia Jia nodded.

"If that's the case, continuing in this direction should be correct—look, you've even attracted stray cats."

Du Jia Jia gave an embarrassed smile.

"But what about this frog?"

"I'll take care of it; this thing is much smaller than a mouse, so it should be fine," Wei Dalei volunteered.

Because Cao Zishan's ability is too restrictive, using it requires everyone's cooperation; therefore, unless absolutely necessary, no one wants to burden him.

Chen Mu looked outside through the fence and said, "Before we deal with it, should we get some meat? This thing should be edible."

Chen Mu, who had been thinking about going out to hunt, naturally listed all the possible game he could think of, checking which were edible and which weren't too difficult.

Obviously, frogs, which humans have long eaten, were also on his menu.

Strictly speaking, frogs are protected animals whose capture is prohibited, and due to parasites and pesticide residues, their consumption is also not advocated.

But nowadays, there seem to be fewer restrictions; there are no farmlands near the school, and parasites are unlikely to escape modern people's notice.

However, Dong Junwei, Tang Jing, and others still unanimously opposed this suggestion.

The reason is simple: this thing, which we don't know if it's a frog or a toad, looks truly terrifying; originally Chen Mu wanted Tang Jing to come out and see what kind of frog it was.

But the usually calm and rational Tang Jing flatly refused.

"I think we'd be fine just eating vegetables and rice," Zhao Xiao Yan and the other girls said, their voices trembling; they could already accept eating insects, but this frog, ugly to the extreme, was simply unacceptable to them.

In fact, quite a few of them had eaten bullfrogs before.

But from today's human perspective, this soggy, wart‑covered monstrosity is indeed hard to accept.

Chen Mu felt somewhat helpless.

Perhaps life in Qiming has been too comfortable, to the point that food selection now depends on appearance.

But he didn't force anyone.

After all, actually getting meat from this frog isn't easy—just breaking through its tough skin would take considerable effort.

In the end, Wei Dalei threw the frog's corpse into a nearby patch of grass.

As for whether the cats will keep bringing food, that's something Du Jia Jia will need to negotiate with them.

For now, the meat sources everyone can accept are basically green worms and ants, but the cats happen to have no interest in either.

After learning about the concept of "favorability," Du Jia Jia's interest in her special ability surged to an unprecedented high.

Over the next few days, her meetings with the cats became more frequent, and their relationship grew even closer.

……

The days were very fulfilling.

Everyone had endless things to do.

That day.

Chen Mu suddenly had a whimsical idea and asked Tang Jing a question:

"What day of the week is it today?"