Chapter 462: Not the Mao Mao's Doing

"Jier? Not eating? It looks like breakfast is already prepared."

Xueya Site followed Jier, watching as Jier led two people past the center of the camp and walked past the large pot that was emitting a savory aroma, so he asked.

Exhaling a breath, Jier hurried to the front of the Mao Mao's wagon, and only then did he say to his companions: "Wait a moment, I need to confirm one thing."

"Yongqi? Yongqi Maomao? Are you there? Please come out if you hear me, I have something to find you for."

Jier tapped the wooden box with his finger, making a thumping sound, and then called out toward the boxes one by one.

Priest Bata'er and Xueya Site exchanged a glance, not knowing why Jier wanted to find this small leader of the alien race; did this one have anything to do with the loss of the Sacred Artifact?

In Xueya Site's view, to enter or leave Jier's tent and avoid the sight of the night watchmen, one did not need these little fur balls. A small-statured Human child could do it. Furthermore, because the environment was safe after arriving at Big Tree Village last night, Jier had given everyone a sum of money to eat and drink, and many people returned in the middle of the night drunk; there were not many people who truly did not drink and served as sentries, which made it even easier to slip into Jier's tent while avoiding notice.

But Priest Bata'er was somewhat enlightened on this side; that was true, even if Priest Feilina was jealous of him obtaining the Sacred Artifact bestowed by the Agricultural God and wanted to steal it and hide it away, how to steal the item was also a problem blocking the way.

Although Priest Feilina was female, she had a tall build, half a head taller than Bata'er himself; even if she were stealing in the Church she was very familiar with, with such a conspicuous figure, it would be hard to guarantee success without corresponding rich experience in theft.

After all, the people on night watch were not blind; they would not fail to see such a large person entering and leaving Jier's tent.

So if he were Priest Feilina, what should he do?

Clearly, Warrior Jier coming to find the Mao Mao in the team at this time, and directly finding the only Yongqi Maomao who could speak the Human Common Language, was to verify if it had been hired with Priest Feilina's coins last night to secretly steal the Agricultural God Church's Sacred Artifact from Jier's person.

And considering that in the evening, those Mao Mao had been hired with some scrap metal as payment, which was why they were helping to watch the children, he estimated that it was at that time that Priest Feilina saw that hiring these cheap and agile small alien Mao Mao was very suitable for carrying out a theft operation.

This all made sense; Priest Bata'er lightly smashed his right fist into his left palm, feeling that the matter was likely just as he thought, no mistake about it.

"Is Yongqi Maomao there? Please come out!"

Jier called out once more, and only then did a sleepy-eyed Mao Mao crawl out from a wooden box; it yawned and looked toward the outside to see which bad guy was shouting and not letting the Mao Mao sleep.

They had been exhausted by Yongqi Maomao last night, and this was the time when they were both tired and sleepy.

"Jier! Jier Jier!" Once this Mao Mao saw that it was Jier asking, its eyes lit up; it knew Jier's Human Common Language name, and at this moment, it began to repeat Jier's name excitedly.

"Ah, yes, yes, yes, I am Jier. Do you know which box Yongqi is in? I have something to find it for." Jier smiled reluctantly, not knowing why this Mao Mao was so happy to repeat his name over and over.

Jier, however, did not know that during a certain night hunt before, when a Hunter of the Hunting God was spying on the Refugee Team, this Mao Mao who rushed to the front was the one whose life Jier had saved at that time. Don't look at the Long-haired Lynx Beast as having a low level of civilization; the moral level of their warriors was not low, at least by the standards of Human society, the Mao Mao were all moral models.

Of course, this was only for Mao Mao who lived naturally in the big mountains and came from tribes. But after getting familiar with Humans for a long time, they would still be 'influenced' and changed by Human society.

"Yongqi, Jier, find, Yongqi." This Mao Mao said with a stutter, but it clearly understood what Jier meant. So it darted out of the wooden box, jumped onto the highest wooden box of the wagon, patted the surface of the wooden box with its tail, and meowed something.

Creak, the wooden box was lifted, and an exhausted-looking Yongqi Maomao poked half its head out listlessly. It looked at Jier and said: "Daytime, rest! Cannot, accept, employment. Unless, coins, many, very, many."

Seeing Yongqi Maomao, Jier raised an eyebrow; Yongqi Maomao had not gone missing or died, which actually left him somewhat at a loss.

"Ah, uh, not employment, not employment." Jier said hurriedly, while Priest Bata'er looked at the exhausted Mao Mao, feeling that they were so tired, what did they do last night? Taking an Agricultural God Sacred Artifact from Jier's tent and from the sleeping Jier could not be that much trouble, right?

And this morning, he had not heard that the Mao Mao had run out of the courtyard to Big Tree Village or anything like that.

What did they do to be so exhausted, every one of them?

"No, employment, no, come, find, us, Mao Mao, talk. Yesterday, night, work hard, smelt, metal, Mao Mao, very, tired."

After Yongqi Maomao finished speaking, it ignored Jier and the others, shrank back into the wooden box, and could no longer be called out.

"Ah? Did I hear wrong? Did it just say something about smelting?" Jier looked at his two companions with a strange expression.

Xueya Site nodded: "I did indeed hear the word smelting. I will go find someone to ask and see if those on duty last night know what these little fur balls were doing."

After saying this, he walked toward the group who were eating, leaving Jier and Priest Bata'er behind. Of course, there was also a Mao Mao trying to keep its spirits up.

Jier felt somewhat agitated; Yongqi Maomao was unharmed and claimed to have led the other Mao Mao to do some smelting last night, busy all night, so was it the one instigated by Dashu Bi'ao to quietly steal the Sacred Artifact?

And Priest Bata'er felt some regret; these Mao Mao never lied. Since the leader of the Mao Mao said they were busy with other things last night, did they have time to steal the Sacred Artifact from Jier's tent in the middle of the night?

If it wasn't the Mao Mao who did it, then how did Priest Feilina sneak in and steal the item?

Priest Bata'er began to think.

Xueya Site quickly walked back; he laughed as he came over, pointing at the Mao Mao behind Jier that was jumping around and looking happy: "Haha, you definitely don't know what stupid things these Mao Mao did last night."

Hearing this, the happy-looking Mao Mao behind Jier immediately became unhappy.

But clearly, Xueya Site would not read the expressions of a group of cats: "I heard from the Shop Assistant that these guys didn't know where they learned that metal smelting relies on heating with fire. Last night, they begged Priest Feilina to provide them with some firewood, and they built a small bonfire in the corner of this courtyard, ha, and threw their precious metal into it to heat."

Speaking to this point, Xueya Site could not hold it in and burst into loud laughter.

The Mao Mao behind Jier was so angry that it shrank back into its own wooden box and slipped away in shame.

Jier crossed his arms and watched Xueya Site finish laughing before asking: "And then?"

"They, they immediately extinguished the bonfire. Haha, these Mao Mao are afraid of fire and could only surround the bonfire and wait for the bonfire to cool down before they could take out those blackened metals. Hey, they lit a fire again, and this time they were a bit smarter, knowing to put the metal on the side of the bonfire. But the problem is, did no one teach them? Relying only on the residual heat of the bonfire is fine for roasting meat, but it is far from enough to melt metal."

Xueya Site sighed.

"So they were busy all night because of this?" Jier had not noticed when he was drinking last night that those Mao Mao were doing such things in a remote part of the courtyard.

"The night watch said they were at it all night, and in the second half of the night, they even thought the metal temperature was right and spent quite a while hammering away there."

Jier felt some regret; on one hand, it seemed it wasn't the Mao Mao who stole the Sacred Artifact, and on the other hand, the Long-haired Lynx Beast's important civilization-advancing act of metal smelting had failed last night.

The temperature of the campfire being too low was one aspect, and the Mao Mao being afraid of fire and not knowing that the top of the flame was the hottest was another aspect. Heating metal around the campfire, while not very effective, if they had the same strength as him, they could barely use a blacksmith's hammer to hammer and deform the metal; forging could also be considered a part related to smelting.

"But if it wasn't them, who else could avoid the sight of the night watch and enter and leave my tent?" Jier said to himself.

Priest Bata'er nodded; he was also troubled by this point. Even if he was convinced that Priest Feilina had the motive to do this, how could she realize this act without being discovered?

Unexpectedly, Xueya Site slapped his forehead and said to Jier and Priest Bata'er: "Oh, you two still think it was these Mao Mao, these little fur balls, who stole the Sacred Artifact?"

"Isn't it?" Jier asked, looking at Xueya Site, and the Priest also nodded.

Xueya Site shook his finger triumphantly at this moment, pointing at the wooden boxes where the Mao Mao stayed: "They are indeed suitable, small in stature, light and agile in movement, and good at night activities. But it is not only them who can quietly sneak into Jier's tent without being discovered by those on night watch."

"Oh, it seems our clever companion already has the correct answer?"

Jier's eyes lit up and he immediately asked Xueya Site.

"Please say it quickly, Mr. Siter."

Priest Bata'er also used an honorific to address Xueya Site.

Seeing his companions being so respectful, he stopped keeping them in suspense. Xueya Site stretched out his finger and pointed toward the direction of the room where the children of Changmai Village were temporarily living: "The Mao Mao are not it, but what if it were those little children? How about them? Also small in stature because they haven't grown up yet. Also light and agile; children walking barefoot make no sound. Also good at night activities; they go to sleep very early and could completely wander and play in the Church in the middle of the night."

With just a few simple sentences of analysis, he completely enlightened both Jier and Priest Bata'er.

"That's right! How did I not think of these children!"

Jier's mind suddenly cleared; he immediately thought that if Big Tree Bio had only seen a rare long-haired lynx Beast for the first time yesterday evening, it was indeed unlikely to entrust such an important matter as stealing a Sacred Artifact to an unfamiliar alien race.

Even for a big tree, both Humans and long-haired lynx Beasts were alien species.

Therefore, compared to the unfamiliar alien Mao Mao, those children from Changmai Village who had taken refuge at the Nongshen Church in Big Tree Village for some time were more likely to have had time to be familiarized with by that Big Tree Bio, and could be driven by its honeyed words to do something.

Moreover, children have little experience and cannot distinguish right from wrong; Big Tree Bio would not need to engage in any unnecessary transactions. A single instigation filled with malice, a single encouragement that seemed to be for their own good, or even a vague compliment could make those small children work for it, either directly or indirectly.

Meanwhile, Bata'er Jiaoshi's expression changed; he was furious at the shamelessness and baseness of Feilina Jiaoshi. The contest between him and Feilina Jiaoshi was a competition between the two of them; there was no need, nor should there be, to involve those poor children.

Using those small children who had taken refuge from Changmai Village was even more shameful.

"Too despicable!"

The Priest said through gritted teeth.

Jier nodded: "Indeed, indeed too despicable."

What he was referring to was the Big Tree Bio he had identified.

"Who is despicable?"

Xueya Site was somewhat confused; he turned his head to look left and right, not feeling that anyone around had done anything despicable.

"Forget it, let's go quickly. As long as we go over and ask the children, we will know who has the Sacred Artifact and where it is," Xueya Site said proudly and optimistically, taking the lead to guide the way and walking toward the place where the children were.

Jier shook his head, not believing that Big Tree Bio would let the children who did the deed still hold the Sacred Artifact at this time; most likely, it was transferred to someone else and hidden right then and there, just waiting for him, Jier, to beg it for 'wisdom'.

As long as Jier went to beg that big tree, and the big tree gave another vague Prophecy Poem, Jier would likely find the Sacred Artifact based on the Prophecy Poem given by the big tree. It was just unclear how that big tree would explain who stole the Sacred Artifact when the time came.

Bata'er Jiaoshi also shook his head; he also did not believe that Feilina Jiaoshi would still let the children who did the deed hold that thing. Most likely, she had already had some Villager she trusted carry the Sacred Artifact out of the Village last night, keeping a distance from Big Tree Village to avoid any possible detection or tracking methods.

After all, Feilina Jiaoshi was familiar with him, Bata'er; the two were classmates and later Village Priests spreading Faith in neighboring villages. But she was not familiar with the warrior Jier, and not knowing what extra methods the warrior Jier had, doing things this way was the safest.

Therefore, in the view of Bata'er Jiaoshi, the key to finding the Sacred Artifact was not finding the Sacred Artifact, but questioning and relying on eloquence and reason to persuade Feilina Jiaoshi. If he talked to Feilina Jiaoshi properly and explained things—their relationship was so good—as long as he talked her through it and persuaded her, the Sacred Artifact would naturally return.

And for Bata'er Jiaoshi, compared to the newly acquired Sacred Artifact, he valued the friendship of Feilina Jiaoshi more, even if that Sacred Artifact was an encouragement personally bestowed upon him by the great Nongshen.

It was just that this time, Feilina Jiaoshi using his children from Changmai Village to steal the Sacred Artifact, this behavior and method itself, seriously hurt his feelings.

Therefore, Bata'er Jiaoshi fell silent.

The Church was not large, and the backyard was only a few steps away from the room where the children lived.

While passing through the courtyard where Big Tree Bio was located, Jier glanced coldly at the big tree in the courtyard, feeling that this big tree, which people believed possessed wisdom, was actually not that great.

Although the trick of entering dreams and telling him a Prophecy Poem was special and could bluff some ignorant people, this instead made Jier unable to rule it out from the incident of the lost Sacred Artifact.

Setting up a scheme himself, then providing help to him, in order to make Jier owe a favor. This idea was good, but the method was not clever.

At this moment, Feilina Jiaoshi had also finally placed the heavy and valuable Nongshen copper statue in a locked room. When she came out, she happened to run into the three people passing by. Because she was not familiar with Jier and Xueya Site, Feilina Jiaoshi only greeted Bata'er Jiaoshi.

But what she did not understand was that Bata'er, who had a very good relationship with her in the past, not only did not respond to her in a friendly manner at this moment, but was also staring at her with cold eyes.

This made her feel somewhat strange.

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? (End of this chapter)