Chapter 127: Desolate Garden

Su Jin had only cultivated for an hour and a half before finishing today's task, then swapped in Su Cheng to take over the cultivation.

Su Jin directly assigned Su Wuji to stand guard inside the room, while she went out on patrol.

All the surrounding buildings were the same kind of small-child housing.

Su Jin had barely taken two steps when she saw a big black-furred rat poking its head out, scrambling out of a burrow.

This rat was right next to the big house they were responsible for guarding.

How could she possibly allow that?

Su Jin tossed the gourd vine she'd already been holding in her hand with a whoosh, and casually used a Binding Art to snag a big black-furred rat. The rat was quickly strangled to death.

As soon as it kicked its legs, Su Jin hurriedly called over Xue Chuluo, who was scurrying about underground.

"Little Xue, go into the burrow and check—are there any more of these big black rats? If there are, take them all out," Su Jin said.

"Okay, Ancestor." Xue Chuluo whooshed straight down into the ground, and in no time at all popped back up above the surface. "Ancestor, there's one more big one in this burrow, and five newborn pups. I took them all out."

"Good work. Go play. I'll call you if I need you."

"Okay, Ancestor." Xue Chuluo vanished on the spot.

Su Jin watched the spot where Xue Chuluo had disappeared.

Su Jin fell into thought.

Recently, Xue Chuluo seemed to grow every single day—almost an inch each day.

Although the change wasn't very obvious, she went to see it every day—how could she possibly not notice?

Since Xue Chuluo had been born, she had never seen it grow at this rate.

It must have eaten something good.

By rights, after the last time the Patrol Bureau lent out Xue Chuluo and brought it back, they said there would be a reward, but the reward still hadn't been delivered.

Without a reward, how could Xue Chuluo be growing every day?

When she had time later, she'd have to ask it!

Finishing that thought, Su Jin picked up the big black rat by its tail and went to find Liu Shi.

"Liu Shi, I brought you a big black rat. Here you go." The moment she walked in, Su Jin cheerfully handed the rat in her hand to Liu Shi.

Liu Shi leaned straight back, disgusted: "Why on earth are you catching a rat and bringing it to me?"

"I was just thinking—look at the size, this big rat is about as big as an ordinary house cat. What if some classmate in one of the rooms lets their guard down and it sneaks into a room and bites a child?"

Su Jin's face was perfectly innocent, thinking to herself: Maybe it could bite some little brat to death.

Liu Shi laughed. "Fair point. Fine, leave the rat here. I'll notify the other classmates to watch out for these big rats."

Su Jin nodded and took her leave of Liu Shi.

Su Jin kept wandering aimlessly, then in a hidden burrow at the base of a wall in another courtyard, took out another big black-furred rat.

She had nowhere to put this dead rat either, so Su Jin hauled the dead rat over to Liu Shi's place again.

"Liu Shi, I caught another big black rat. There really are a lot of these big black-furred rats around here."

Liu Shi glared, disgusted: I'm not a collector of dead rats.

Just because you killed two big rats doesn't mean I'll give you an extra merit point.

After all, Su Jin's group's task only earned one merit point every three days.

Su Jin paid no attention to Liu Shi's little resentful expression; after delivering another big rat, she happily bounced off.

The moment she left, a female instructor sharing the room with Liu Shi finally couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.

"How are the little ones in your class this interesting? Before, there was a little boy who kept bringing you black crows.

Let me think how many he sent? Seems like he sent five in total.

He said the black crows might be spy puppets and listening devices from outside the city.

And now there's this little girl, catching rats and bringing them to you, saying the rats are too big and might bite people. Hahaha!!

Hahaha! I can't take it, I'm dying of laughter." The other woman clutched her stomach laughing.

Liu Shi rolled her eyes in annoyance. "The little ones in our class are very conscientious and responsible. Isn't patrol supposed to clear out all potential dangers?"

Her female companion kept going hahaha.

Thinking to herself: Fine, go ahead and be a tough talker in front of me!

Su Jin had no idea what she was supposed to be patrolling for on her first patrol.

She just wandered around aimlessly. Basically just drifted around the big estate.

She strolled through one courtyard after another.

She also noticed quite a few students from other classes wandering around just like her.

Obviously, nobody knew how to patrol.

That put her at ease.

When they ran into each other, nobody was awkward—just a smile, then they split up. Patrol was patrol; everyone walked their own way.

As Su Jin walked and walked, she suddenly realized this patrol job was actually pretty nice.

Way more comfortable than sitting in a room listening to a bunch of little brats cry and make a fuss.

So she patrolled—ahem, wandered around even more energetically.

As she walked, she also conveniently swatted dead any small birds, flying insects, moths, and the like that happened to be in the surrounding courtyards.

Who knew if they were dangerous? Either way, she might as well take them out first.

Su Jin had absolutely no idea that after she passed through, Xue Chuluo directly helped her clean up the battlefield and destroy the evidence.

In the end, not even scraps were left behind.

As she wandered, she actually ran into her sister-in-law Liu Yunniang.

Su Jin thought for a moment, then simply stood openly at the doorway; whichever caretaker saw her, she just smiled at them directly.

She didn't have the heart to chase her away out loud.

It wasn't until her sister-in-law noticed her too. Liu Yunniang was also pleasantly surprised.

Because she had a small child with her, after responding to the summons she had been sent here to look after the children, becoming a caretaker.

"Su Jin, aren't you already six years old? Why did you come running here too? The ones we take in here are all little ones under six whose parents answered the summons and went out to work." After saying a word to the other caretakers, her sister-in-law jogged out carrying Su Xiaohe.

"Sister-in-law, I also took on a task from the clan school, coming over to protect the children and the caretakers' safety. Our group has three people, and we need to do the task for three days in a row." Su Jin explained to her.

Liu Yunniang heard this and immediately nodded in understanding.

"Right, when I went out, I brought your luggage and the spare bedding from home. Since you're going to be doing a three-day task here, you'll definitely need to sleep at night. Take this luggage with you. It'll be just right for sleeping together with your little companions."

"Then thank you very much, sister-in-law."

Liu Yunniang didn't give her too much, just three sets of bedding. Just enough for one group to use.

These were all things from home; one set was Su Jin's own usual one, and the other two were spare new bedding.

"There are also two sets of clothes for changing, take those too." Liu Yunniang was really well-prepared when she took her own baby out.

"Meals here are supposedly provided by someone dedicated; when it's time to eat, just wait for them to deliver the food." Liu Yunniang added.

Su Jin nodded hurriedly, gathering the clothes.

Her sister-in-law was slightly uneasy and gave a few more admonitions, and only then did the two part ways.

Su Jin wandered here and there, and discovered another hidden little garden. Pushing open the broken wooden door, this little garden was overgrown with wild weeds.

And these weeds seemed to have grown for many years without anyone clearing or tending them; it felt as if this garden had been abandoned for a very long time.