Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

After seeing this, I thought to myself, "What's going on? Are they trying to raise a lion king in the North and South?"

"Are you full?"

"Meow meow meow!"

"Oh, then give me another one."

Without even glancing at it, Ou Yun rummaged through his spatial ring, pulled out a bear leg, and tossed it to Nanbei.

Leng Ruolan was displeased. "Are you feeding the chickens? Is this all you give them?"

Ou Yun clicked his tongue and then touched a cow's leg.

Leng Ruolan then gave a satisfied hum and went to gnaw on her beef leg.

We've finished the meat, time for some vegetables.

Ou Yun pulled out another chilled wild fruit—it was truly chilled, with more than a dozen wild fruits frozen solid in a large block of ice.

These were all done by the big ice bird that Chen Hao asked; it was just a matter of blowing on it.

Of course, this isn't for human consumption—

Ou Yun weighed the heavy block of ice in his hand and threw it north and south.

bang!

The ice block was smashed next to the beef leg that Nanbei was gnawing on. Nanbei happily slurped a few times and licked the ice a few times.

Ou Yun took a homemade fruit juice popsicle for herself and gave one to Leng Ruolan.

Leng Ruolan politely declined, saying, "I don't want to eat it; it's so sour."

Ou Yun sighed, "These have sugar in them."

"Oh, then I'll take it."

The two sat on a tree branch, watching the sunset while munching on popsicles.

"By the way, Captain Leng, do you think that giant ice bird was male or female?"

"...Hmm?" Why are you suddenly bringing this up?

"I thought it would take Black Hawk several days to summon that big ice bird, but it came the very next day."

"They're very good friends, aren't they?"

"Right, so is it a man or a woman?"

"No, does it matter?"

"It's not a matter of whether it's important or not."

Ou Yun licked his popsicle and said, "I just feel that Black Hawk still listens to that Roc."

"...What are you trying to say?"

"Haven't you noticed? Every time Storm Black Hawk comes, he goes to the Ice Cellar first."

"Yeah?"

Leng Ruolan really hadn't noticed.

She carefully recalled the events of the past few days—and it seemed to be true.

Every time Storm Blackhawk came, he would sneak over to the ice cellar and stand at the door, peeking around.

Next to the refrigerator is the ice cellar that the Frost Giant Roc froze.

The Frost Giant Roc did indeed come several times because of the Ice Cellar's after-sales service.

But Black Hawk was also following behind. What does that mean?

"..."

So, looking at it this way—

Leng Ruolan's expression changed. "Is this guy planning to sneak a bite in the ice cellar?!"

"..."

Europe's fortunes are fading.

I shouldn't have told you this at all!

Leng Ruolan hesitated for a moment, then coughed twice. "Surely it's not that Storm Black Hawk is interested in Frost Giant Roc!"

"Congratulations, you guessed right."

"?"

"Look, one is inspecting the ice cellar, while the other doesn't inspect the ice cellar at all, he just looks at the one who's inspecting the ice cellar."

Ou Yun shrugged. "What do you think those two are doing?"

Leng Ruolan paused for a moment, "The Storm Black Hawk is male. The Frost Giant Roc... I can't tell."

"I secretly asked Brother Chen, and he said it's very likely that the Frost Giant Roc has no gender."

"...?"

"Look, aren't the creatures in the forbidden area amazing?"

"..."

But Leng Ruolan still preferred another option: "Did you accidentally spill some love-struck powder?"

"That place has already been completely ruined by the white fox—speaking of white foxes, since there are no species restrictions in the forbidden area, is there any possibility...?"

"..."

"..."

After a long, rambling conversation, both of them fell silent.

Leng Ruolan paused, swallowing the meat in her throat with difficulty. "If that's how you put it, then I understand why there are so many mutated beasts in the forbidden area."

That's how they all came about!

Leng Ruolan decided to stop dwelling on the topic.

But Ou Yun did have some thoughts on what to do next:

"Speaking of which, if Storm Blackhawk really does team up with Frost Roc, then our generator and refrigerator will be bound together, won't they?"

"One manages the electricity, the other manages the ice; the couple returns home together, ensuring our camp never runs out of electricity or ice. What's that called?"

"Calling it the 'arranged marriage method' is great!"

Leng Ruolan thought for a moment, then said "Oh," and added, "Big brother, you're worried about Storm Blackhawk's love life, not just for the sake of ensuring uninterrupted power, are you?"

"Yes!" Without hesitation.

"..."

I knew it.

*

I just rested for a night without any particular incident.

The next day, the two walked down the mountain path, and the surrounding scenery gradually changed from familiar territory to areas that had never been explored before.

That day, the two of them didn't ride Nanbei. Ou Yun and Leng Ruolan walked side by side at a moderate pace, while Nanbei followed behind, jumping up and down to catch butterflies and mouse clippings.

Both of them were traveling light, with all their luggage packed in their spatial rings, making their journey exceptionally easy.

"To be honest, I'm not used to this kind of normal travel anymore."

As Ou Yun walked, he remarked, "It feels so light under my feet."

"Now that you've improved your physical fitness so many times, it's normal to feel light on your feet."

After walking for a while, the two came to a fork in the road.

The left leads northeast—that's the hyena queen's territory, and also the white fox's current domain.

The path to the right leads northwest—that's the Pangolin King's mine, and also the place where Nanbei almost confessed his love to him.

"Which way should we go first?"

Leng Ruolan took out the map Hassan had drawn from her spatial ring, unfolded it, and looked at it.

"Let's go to the mine first."

Ou Yun thought for a moment, "The mines are nearby, and the Pangolin King is, after all, our ally."

Although it wasn't well-regarded in the North and South later on, its contribution to our mining was undeniable.

Now that we have the Abyss Forge, maybe we can mine more high-grade ores from it.

"Okay, while we're at it, ask if it's discovered any new mineral veins—"

Leng Ruolan also thought it made sense, after all, Hassan said that some strange mineral reactions had been detected in the vicinity recently, which might be related to the pangolin mine.

"Then it's settled."

So the two turned left and continued along the animal trail leading to the mine.

They had walked this road many times before, and the trees and rocks on both sides bore familiar marks.

Some tree trunks have lynx claw marks, and the rocks have stains left by monkeys throwing fruit pits.

"Speaking of which, it seems like the Pangolin King hasn't been coming to the camp much since he was poisoned by the Love-Brain Powder?"

"It does want to, but every time it comes, it's blocked at the door by the North and South."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"I stumbled upon you by chance while I was patrolling the mountain. Brother, you're still not up."

Leng Ruolan chuckled, "Now Nanbei breathes on it whenever he sees it. The Pangolin King is so scared that he doesn't even dare to enter the door. He just leaves the ore at the door and leaves."

"Wow, this pangolin is pretty good."

Ou Yun laughed too, "What happens after the powder's effect wears off? It won't still prefer the North and South, will it?"

Before Leng Ruolan could answer, a cat's head popped between the two of them, rubbing against them from left to right with an innocent expression, forcibly interrupting their conversation.

"Okay, okay, let's not talk about it anymore."

Ou Yun's smile remained unchanged.

"But this is the road to the mine, so what's coming will come eventually."

"Meow meow meow..."