Chapter 322: The Leopard Laughs Like Thunder

“Hurry! Bring a flowerpot! A plant of immense research value has been found in the mine—suitable for grafting!”

After finalizing the price with Master Fuli, Wang Qiqi issued orders through the radio to the logistics team stationed outside the mine: find a flowerpot and a brush to prepare for transplanting the plant.

“Calm down first—it still has more to say.” An Sheng glanced at Wang Qiqi and said, “Lin She hadn’t finished speaking, and your ecstatic expression nearly scared it into wetting itself.”

The mine could collapse at any moment, so Wang Qiqi barred other logistics personnel from entering and instead injected herself with Spirit Granule serum, transforming into Bao Niang, then entered the cave with Master Fuli to search for the treasure Lin She had mentioned.

Transformed into Bao Niang, Wang Qiqi radiated the ferocity of a carnivore, terrifying the herbivorous Lin She, who feared she was about to cross the bridge and devour him alive.

“What else does it have to say? Once it’s in the hospital, it’ll be wrapped in diapers and done.”

Hearing Master Fuli’s words, Wang Qiqi sized up Lin She with a glance, her eyes gleaming with a look like a lecher’s—she was barely holding back a cackle.

“Lin She just said such Spirit Granule plants aren’t isolated cases—they’re a widespread phenomenon, extremely common in the Qinling Mountains and surrounding areas,” An Sheng said with a serious expression. “There’s something strange about Qinling.”

“Lin She already found six Spirit plants—wouldn’t a powerful carnivore come roaring in to show off?”

Seeing Master Fuli translate the changes inside Qinling for her, Wang Qiqi froze, as if something had just clicked, then frowned at Lin She.

“Are there a lot of Spirit Granule plants?”

“Wang wang.” Lin She hung its head, dejected.

An Sheng translated: “Lin She says there are some in the forest, but won’t say more—because you humans would storm their homes and carry off their pots too.”

Lin She’s meaning was simple: telling Master Fuli was fine.

But telling humans was forbidden—because when humans entered the mountains, they didn’t just harvest Spirit plants; they took the pots they cooked in too.

In other words.

The existence of Spirit Granule plants in Qinling isn’t a secret—any Spirit Beast can learn of it from other wild beasts. But they’ve all tacitly agreed not to tell greedy humans.

An Sheng didn’t particularly care whether Spirit Granule plants existed or not. Strengthening his body through Spirit plants was nowhere near as stable or fast as his own point-boosting foundation.

What truly concerned An Sheng was this: if everything Lin She said was true.

Then… did that mean Qinling held a vast number of Spirit Beasts?

And they were all deliberately avoiding humans, terrified that humans would discover Qinling’s secret and carry off their pots.

“. So it’s because of the Spirit plants?”

Wang Qiqi looked at Lin She, then turned to Master Fuli, her face tinged with weary sarcasm:

“They’re overthinking it. Just in Changancheng, our consumption of Spirit plants for medical and research purposes is measured in kilograms.”

“We use eighty to ninety kilograms a day. Their little wild plants won’t even make a dent. If the Longevity Club or other nations found out, they’d think we’re backward, crawling around in diapers, crying from hunger!”

Though Xia Nation is vast and rich in resources, its population and controlled territory are enormous—the Anquan Bureau is always swamped.

Wild Spirit Granule plants aren’t entirely ignored, but unless they’re along the way or have research value, they’re not worth a second glance.

The number of nationwide Spirit plant cultivation greenhouses and automated vertical plant factories? Wang Qiqi couldn’t even say. But the number of employees in the Spirit Granule industry alone exceeds 150,000.

Worrying that humans and Spirit Beasts would compete for food? That just shows how little the beasts understand the power of technology.

“But now, thanks to Lin She’s lead, we understand why the number of Spirit Beasts in Qinling has exploded over the past six months.”

“If it’s because of the Spirit Granule plants, the reason becomes clear,” Wang Qiqi said to Master Fuli, her tone confident.

“There are truly many Spirit Beasts in the forest. If Master Fuli gets bored and calls us, we’ll take you into the mountains to find them.”

An Sheng: “.”

You’re clearly changing the subject.

The surge in Spirit Beast numbers had previously puzzled loggers.

But now that Lin She had groveled before Master Fuli and revealed the forest’s secrets, the mystery of the explosion was solved—and a new one arose.

Why had the number of wild Spirit Granule plants increased abnormally over the past six months?

No other region showed this phenomenon.

Still, Wang Qiqi had no intention of digging deeper into this topic—she planned to report the information upward.

…………

After harvesting the Spirit Granule plants, Wang Qiqi escorted Lin She onto the helicopter.

The urgently hospitalized Lin She, post-surgery, was likewise wrapped in adult diapers and moved to Jin Qianbao’s ward.

The fifty-plus grams of musk from its gland all ended up in Master Fuli’s pocket.

“Ha”

Jin Qianbao, lying on the bed scrolling through a tablet, glanced at Lin She’s medical file and burst into roaring laughter, pointing at the still-anesthetized Lin She.

Lin She stared blankly, clearly still out of it from the anesthesia.

…………

“Master Fuli, would you like a late-night snack?” Lin Bingyun checked her wristwatch—it was 5 a.m.—opened a chilled cola, and asked Master Fuli.

Master Fuli’s life had no schedule or timetable—everything was arranged as events arose.

“No food. I’ll take a bath, wash off all the coal dust, and take the potted tree home.”

An Sheng rubbed his stomach—he wasn’t hungry—and decided to go home, take a shower, and bring his tea tree back to Yu Xueqing’s dorm to sleep.

“Understood.”

Lin Bingyun nodded and began arranging things: instructing the housekeepers to run the bathwater and pack up Master Fuli’s tea tree for transport to the car.

Lin Bingyun parked the car, picked up the weapon case Master Fuli had collected tonight, and stored it in the modified parent-child parking space turned storage closet. The closet now held more and more: from machetes to chainsaws, to fish-stunning devices, glue, rifles and pistols—all accounted for.

Any Anquan Bureau officer who checked here would get a formal reprimand.

Stay out of the Anquan Bureau’s business.

“Huh?”

Returning to prepare for his bath, An Sheng noticed something odd in his room, stopped, walked to his bed, and stared, raising his hand to compare his height with the mattress.

After measuring, An Sheng was stunned—he was half a head shorter than his own bed.

“Lin Guanjiā, I’m shorter than my bed! And why are those foreign devils here too?”

“Oh, they were all delivered together,” Lin Bingyun said, as if it were obvious.

“The mattress is Black Label stock—the fastest we could get. Including the base, total thickness is 52 centimeters. Need a Lu Ban ruler?”

An Sheng: “.”

Even the mattress requires… horseback riding?

Holy hell, I have to climb a mountain just to get into bed.

Lin Bingyun seemed to guess his thoughts, stepped forward, picked up Master Fuli, and effortlessly placed him on the mattress.

“Hm?”

“Pretty comfortable. Get one for Yu Xueqing. Lin Guanjiā, send me the link.”

An Sheng glanced at the price, then threw his phone across the room.

“A bamboo cooling mat for hair clips isn’t so bad to sleep on.”

(End of Chapter)