Chapter 57: Have You Seen the Winter Roads of Xia North? (Request Follows & Monthly Votes)

“Mmmmm—”

An Sheng tore large bites from the ostrich leg, swallowing meat, then turned his head to suck loudly on a straw, gulping down ice-cold cola.

An Sheng hadn’t yet enjoyed the life of big bowls of meat and alcohol, but he had already experienced the joy of gorging on meat and drinking carbonated drinks to cut the greasiness and aid digestion.

The thirteen-pound fox devoured three pounds of meat, a five-hundred-milliliter bottle of cola, and half a chicken.

“Mmmmm”

An Sheng let out a burp, glanced at Chen Zhi, nodded in satisfaction, and gave a thumbs-up.

Little Chen! You’re generous, and I’m loyal!

About that crocodile—don’t worry. I’ll scout the spot tonight. When we get the hide, we’ll split it four ways: make bags from the hide, get custom belts made.

While Yu Xueqing chatted casually with Chen Zhi, An Sheng had been eavesdropping with his little gossiping ears wide open.

An Sheng pieced together the scattered information, added the annotations from his wish list, and easily deduced one piece of intelligence.

Chen Zhi holds a high position within the Chen Clan of Changping Mountain.

The Chen Clan of Changping Mountain once ran a full village livestock operation; though they’ve now shifted to pet breeding and pet supplies, their core business remains livestock.

The Changping Mountain Pet Park doesn’t make money from tickets—its main purpose is to build goodwill locally, otherwise they wouldn’t give free meals and pet grooming upon entry.

As long as they don’t lose money, that’s fine—the real goal is to cultivate a customer base; when locals later want pets, they’ll come to Changping Mountain.

But the crocodile lurking in the Jianghe River threatens not only the safety of the pet park but also the Chen Clan’s core livestock business.

The Jianghe River is a vital water source; the Chen Clan’s livestock isn’t pigs—it’s breeding so-called wild game.

That means hybridizing wild animals with domestic poultry to produce second- and third-generation breeds, which sell for high prices.

Through hybridization and free-range breeding, they avoid legal risks while replicating the sweet, wild flavor of rare delicacies.

As long as the crocodile threat remains, Chen Zhi must keep spending money on extra safety measures—and there’s even a risk of injuries or deaths.

Moreover, An Sheng now strongly suspects that the crocodile in the Jianghe River is very likely like the non-mainstream wild boar he encountered in Shou Gou Gully.

Because the wish list was very clear.

With the progress of the Green Mountains and Clear Waters project, most pollution across Xia Country has been removed, farmland has been returned to forest, and some creatures long vanished from human sight have quietly revived.

The crocodile Chen Zhi mentioned is very likely a type of extinct prehistoric monster.

Like the mammoth wild boar in Shou Gou Gully.

If it really is like the Shou Gou Gully wild boar…

An Sheng felt he could become incredibly powerful—after all, encountering those prehistoric beasts yielded wish power points far more generously than the old +1+1+1 stinginess!

The Shou Gou Gully wild boar gave +3 wish power points outright—almost made the little fox flip over from pleasure.

And…

Chen Zhi treated him to a big meal—even though An Sheng would’ve done good deeds for wish power points regardless.

But Chen Zhi’s hospitality pleased him deeply; his mood was especially light, as if he’d truly been invited out.

“Mmmmm”

An Sheng sat on Chen Zhi’s lap, curiously watching the torn professional skirt, extending his paw to scratch the black stockings on her thigh—sure enough, the stockings had run.

Chen Zhi didn’t care about that—she just beamed, kneading the fox’s back, savoring the fluffiness of his white-and-crimson fur and enjoying the little red fox’s kneading paws.

Chen Zhi’s family had been hunters for three generations; she could instantly identify An Sheng’s lineage.

Yu Xueqing’s fox was a white-furred red fox.

Snow foxes don’t have such slender ears; because they live in cold climates, their ears are pointed but noticeably thicker and rounder compared to red foxes.

Snow fox ears and thick fur are designed for warmth.

Yu Xueqing’s fox had extremely pointed ears, with a small tuft of fur at the tips and thin ear flesh—no warmth advantage whatsoever; clearly not a snow fox breed.

Chen Zhi knew at a glance: An Sheng was almost certainly a North American red fox!

As for Xia North or Xia South red foxes, Chen Zhi never even considered that possibility.

Why bother with illegal ones when legal North American red foxes are available?

Though they differ, the differences are minor.

Their biggest difference is:

Xia Country’s red foxes can be raised like pigs—the current record weight exceeds forty pounds.

North American red foxes average twelve to thirteen pounds.

………………

After lunch, Chen Zhi took Yu Xueqing up to the third-floor breeding zone.

The small animals bred on the third floor were mostly large lizards, geckos, and tropical fish.

Yu Xueqing even spotted a few tortoises.

But Chen Zhi explained to her: though tortoises were technically available, they weren’t recommended as personal pets—the pet park held permits, so only they could breed tortoises here.

Think of those few tortoises as the department heads of the third-floor tropical pet zone—non-sale items.

“Huh?”

The giant tortoise, slowly crawling, suddenly felt weight on its back. It lifted its head, saw the fox on its shell, snorted, then ignored it and kept crawling forward.

The tortoise knew the creature on its shell was a nuisance that couldn’t harm it—and ahead lay fresh watermelon, so no need to bother.

Besides the tortoise department heads, Chen Zhi also took Yu Xueqing to view two types of lizards.

One was the blue-tongued skink, priced between eight thousand and twenty thousand.

A plump four-legged lizard frantically scurried across the floor—but upon closer look, the blue-tongued skink moved slower than the tortoise carrying the dog-thing.

The blue-tongued skink strained to crawl, then sighed helplessly and collapsed, refusing to move.

The entire lizard looked utterly endearing.

The other lizard was the pinecone lizard, with a personality nearly identical to the blue-tongued skink.

But it wore soft scale armor, looked incredibly majestic—yet like the dumb blue-tongued skink, it slid helplessly on the floor and just gave up.

Chen Zhi placed a dozen blue-tongued skinks and eight pinecone lizards together, then tossed food in the middle.

“Look! The winter road situation in Xia North!”

Chen Zhi pointed at the two dozen lizards, all frantically crawling yet motionless, spinning their limbs in place, and confidently assured Yu Xueqing.

“Pfft—hahaha!” Yu Xueqing burst into uncontrollable laughter, her fondness for Chen Zhi soaring, especially when she explained the pets with such expertise.

Though Yu Xueqing could hear the fat lizards cursing loudly.

But once she learned the pinecone lizard’s price, she stopped laughing.

Though pinecone lizards and blue-tongued skinks had no hierarchical relationship, the market always regarded pinecone lizards as the premium upgrade of blue-tongued skinks.

The reason was simple.

Pinecone lizards started at thirty to fifty thousand.

Compared to pinecone lizards, blue-tongued skinks priced at eight to twenty thousand looked positively demure.

Chen Zhi’s little stunt had just gathered lizards worth a luxury car.

Of course, the real value was even higher—these were all breeding males, top-tier specimens.

A single breeding male could easily cost hundreds of thousands.

After hearing the explanation, Yu Xueqing instinctively glanced at the fox in her arms. The little fox sensed it, turned its head, and met her gaze for a moment.

The girl and the fox fell silent.

Then, a round, fluffy fox-paw imprint appeared on Yu Xueqing’s cheek.

“Stupid An Sheng, you’re so mean—I was just thinking, and you, this bad fox, pinched my cheek!”

Ah Qing, there are things you don’t understand. Trust me—any time you think about them, your cheeks will ache.

Sitting in the car, preparing to head home, An Sheng’s face darkened as he let out a series of grumbles.

I expected you to lead me to wealth, not for me to go to Fugui KTV and work hard myself to achieve shared prosperity.

What the hell kind of “top-tier pinecone lizard”? One breeding session costs ten thousand!

Later, you and Chen Zhi stand still—I’ll slap each of you once.

Pinecone lizards are valuable for breeding—what does that have to do with foxes?!

(End of chapter)