This man didn’t appear particularly old. He looked to be in his early twenties, tall and lanky, with a thin layer of muscle covering his exposed arms. His features were sharp—a high, straight nose, thin crimson lips, and slightly upturned eyes that carried an air of arrogance and unapproachability.

Yin Xiang was being held by him, limp like a silver blanket, only managing a pitiful little wag of its tail as it turned to look at Cen An.

Cen An hesitated slightly. “Do you know him?”

Su Rui shot his troublesome younger brother a cold glance. “This is my dog.”

Yin Xiang: …

He closed his eyes, pretending not to hear.

“Oh… I see.” Cen An lowered his head, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

He hadn’t failed to notice the puppy’s unusual state. Appearing in a mountain forest teeming with beasts, plump and well-groomed, it clearly belonged to someone.

He’d assumed it had been abandoned—after all, who would bring such a small dog into the wilderness for no reason, especially when it couldn’t even hunt?

But now, the dog’s owner had come looking for it…

Su Rui nodded at him. “Thanks for looking after him. Goodbye.”

He took a long stride and turned to leave. Yin Xiang immediately grew anxious, its bare tail tip whipping back and forth as it glanced over its shoulder, whimpering, “Woo-woo~”

Cen An felt a pang of pity. “How about having breakfast before you go?”

━━━━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━━━━

Breakfast didn’t need to be elaborate—it was simply a case of no rice, no feast. With only a few ingredients available, it was impossible to make it anything more substantial.

Cen An enjoyed cooking anyway, and preparing meals for three proceeded smoothly.

The leftover wood mushrooms from yesterday became three portions of grilled mushrooms. The soy sauce-steamed eggs were simmering, and a few earth fruits were buried in the embers of the campfire.

Within ten minutes, the aroma of food wafted through the small, dilapidated hut.

The eggs were picked by Su Rui along the way. In the past, the brothers would simply toss them into the fire to roast and eat.

But now…

Outside the shack, Yin Xiang sniffed the aroma of the steamed eggs and pleaded, “Brother, can I stay here for a while? This human cooks really well!”

Su Rui snorted coldly. “Stay and be a dog?”

Yin Xiang: …

He emphasized, “I transformed into a cub! A Silver Moon Wolf cub! If he can’t tell the difference between a wolf and a dog, what does that have to do with me?!”

Su Rui eyed him up and down, scoffing lightly. “Silver Moon Wolf cubs don’t have legs this short.”

Yin Xiang: …

So angry! Really, really angry! If his brother didn’t have such powerful abilities, he’d have been beaten to death long ago!

The wooden door pushed open. Cen An peeked in and beckoned, “Breakfast’s ready! Come on in!”

Su Rui dragged his younger brother into the small, dilapidated hut, silently taking it all in.

Though the shack had doors and windows installed, holes still gaped in the roof. Inside, sparse furnishings made the place look pitifully empty.

Su Rui mentally assessed: a human who’d clearly struggled in life. Yet here he was, showing rare kindness by sharing food with a chubby pup. (Yin Xiang: ?)

The sparse supplies were neatly arranged. The floor lacked planks but was swept spotless. A campfire burned in the center, a cast-iron pot suspended above it, surrounded by skewers of roasting mushrooms.

The aroma of food slowly wafted through the air.

Cen An brought out several wooden bowls. “I don’t have chairs yet. Is sitting on the floor okay?”

As a wolf accustomed to sleeping on the ground, Su Rui sat down around the fire without hesitation.

Cen An lifted the lid off the iron pot.

Inside the two palm-sized, rough wooden bowls lay steamed eggs as smooth as mirrors, without a single air bubble, simply emitting steam. Cen An sliced open a soy sauce-filled plum, pouring its liquid over the eggs—instantly, the savory, rich aroma of the eggs assaulted everyone’s senses.

Cen An couldn’t help but swallow hard. Whether it was the system or the ingredients, he felt this steamed egg was more fragrant than any he’d ever tasted before.

Yin Xiang caught the scent too, his tail wagging like a windshield wiper on full speed—prompting his brother to stomp on it, out of sight, out of mind.

Cen An divided the steamed egg among their three bowls, then shared the mushroom skewers. He dug out the earth fruit from the ashes, handing out a few to each.

Finally, they could eat. Su Rui picked up a wooden spoon—not the best crafted—and scooped a spoonful of the steamed egg into his mouth—

Though he knew Yin Xiang’s gluttonous nature meant anything he called delicious must be truly exceptional, Su Rui hadn’t anticipated this steamed egg being…

Soft and tender, it melted effortlessly in his mouth, sliding down his throat like silk. Only the savory essence of soy-glazed fruit and the rich egg aroma lingered, urging him to take another bite.

Su Rui couldn’t help but reflect—all those half-cooked, even charred bird eggs he’d eaten before seemed utterly wasted.

Even the grilled mushroom skewers were incredibly delicious. The mushroom caps were charred crispy on the outside, and with a gentle bite, the savory juices inside flowed out.

Even the charred-looking roasted earth fruit…

Seeing no one was eating them, Cen An reached out and took one. The earth fruit’s skin had baked into a hard, black shell. With a light tap like cracking an egg, he split it open to reveal the crystal-clear, soft flesh inside. Sprinkled with a fine layer of salt… Hmm, whoever said they weren’t tasty clearly had no taste.

Two Silver Moon Wolves, one large and one small, simultaneously caught the aroma of the roasted earth fruit. The two wolves, who hadn’t paid much attention to this blackened thing before, paused in their movements and reached out for the earth fruit together.

By the end of the meal, Cen An had eaten the least of them all.

Watching Su Rui devour four fist-sized roasted earth fruits, over a dozen skewers of grilled mushrooms, and a large portion of steamed eggs, then glancing at the puppy who’d eaten two roasted earth fruits, countless mushroom skewers, and steamed eggs all by himself.

Cen An couldn’t help but warn, “Isn’t the pup eating too much? Will he collapse from overeating?”

Su Rui casually replied, “Let him be.” Silver moon wolves possessed physical robustness that ranked among the top of all beasts—how could they possibly collapse from overeating? Besides, this amount of food was merely an appetizer for them.

Cen An fell silent. He had a feeling that this dog owner, though traveling thousands of miles to find his pet, didn’t seem particularly concerned about the puppy’s well-being…

After clearing away the bowls and chopsticks, Cen An touched the puppy’s smooth fur with a touch of melancholy. Sigh, once they parted today, it would be hard to see each other again. He hoped the little dog could live well with this carefree owner…

Just then, Su Rui asked, “Do you take on commissions?”

Cen An froze. “Commissions?”

Su Rui stepped on Yin Xiang’s tail again, making it rattle and clatter wildly. “I provide the ingredients. You turn them into a meal. Five crystal cores per meal. How about it?”

“Of course.” Cen An was delighted. On one hand, crystal cores were precisely what he lacked. On the other, if this person came to him for meals, wouldn’t that mean he could see the little pup more often?

“Then it’s settled.” Su Rui picked up Yin Xiang. “I’ll come find you once I gather the ingredients.”

His long legs carried him out of the shack, his voice fading as he went. By the time Cen An looked outside, the figure had vanished.

“Maybe he’s a special ability user too…” Cen An speculated silently.

━━━━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━━━━

With the customer gone, Cen An prepared to head out gathering supplies.

Food and wood were essential, but he also needed broad leaves and vines to make two rain shelters.

Two holes in the roof offered a clear view of the sky. If it rained, the hut would be uninhabitable. He’d set up the shelters as a temporary fix until he saved enough crystal cores and wood to renovate the shack.

With today’s goals set, Cen An retrieved the silver grass and longleaf he’d gathered yesterday and began crafting monster-repelling powder.

One silver grass stalk plus one long leaf yielded one batch of the powder. Cen An made ten batches before stopping—not because he felt it was enough, but because he’d run out of silver grass.

The soil clinging to the purchased silvergrass roots was still damp—clearly gathered from nearby hills. He resolved to keep an eye out for such spots when heading up the mountain.

As for longleaf, they were everywhere, requiring no special effort to collect.

Stowing the repellent in his backpack, Cen An hoisted his bamboo basket and set off up the mountain.

The mountain he’d traversed yesterday yielded no broad leaves, so today he chose a different peak. Not long after entering the woods, he discovered a patch of savory mushrooms.

Thumb-thick, pale yellow mushrooms covered the dead tree trunk like a uniform crop. Cen An swiftly stripped the entire trunk bare.

【Congratulations! You obtained 16 Delicious Mushrooms】

Yet his mind was set on finding broad leaves today.

In the game, mushrooms thrived during the rainy season. Yesterday’s wood mushrooms were no big deal, but today’s Delicious Mushrooms surely emerged after the rain. Rain was bound to come soon—a rain shelter was essential.

Next, Cen An gathered [Wood x30], [ Earth Fruits x8], and [Longleaf x10]. He even found a few pampas grasses, but the broad leaves remained nowhere to be seen.

“Strange. Broadleaf isn’t a hard-to-find material. Could the environment near Yongning Village be unsuitable for broadleaf trees?” Cen An frowned, searching more meticulously, not even overlooking tiny plants in the shrubbery, afraid he might miss an immature broadleaf tree.

Instead, he found a lush patch of mint.

Mint and fresh mushrooms made a delicious soup, and Cen An certainly didn’t want to miss out. He crouched down, picking fresh, tender leaves.

Anyone who’d grown mint knew it spread like wildfire once planted, and this world was no exception.

The refreshing fragrance was invigorating. As Cen An plucked away, he moved deeper into the mint patch. Suddenly, voices from ahead reached him, their tones thick with terror: “Damn it! How did so many sharptooth rats appear?”

“We’ve stumbled into their nest! I’ll hold them off—you run!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! If we die, we die together…”

“Watch out!”

Sharptooth rats? A nest?

Cen An immediately crouched low to conceal himself, parting the grass to investigate.

Ahead lay a small, sunken basin about two stories deep. A man and a woman stood in its center, surrounded by a dense swarm of sharp-toothed rats.

Both were wounded. Even from this distance, the stench of blood clinging to them was overwhelming, especially the man. Unable to stand, he slumped, blood gushing from his midsection.

The sharp-toothed rats stared at them greedily, eager to tear off a piece of flesh to fill their bellies.

Two or three rats couldn’t resist the lure of the blood scent, darting along the ground toward the pair—

The woman raised her hand, and a vine shot out of the soil, whipping the two rats away.

The man flung two iron spikes, pinning the last rodent to the ground.

Ability users?

It was Cen An’s first time witnessing ability users in combat, and he couldn’t help but observe closely. After unleashing their techniques, both their faces had paled slightly, likely from the immense energy drain.

The sharptooth rats showed no mercy, with several more leaping toward them before they could recover. The man and woman’s complexions grew even paler; they clearly couldn’t hold out much longer.

Cen An frowned slightly. There were easily seventy or eighty sharp tooth rats here. Not just two ability users, but even five might not be enough.

He carried monster-repelling powder, but whether it could drive away this many sharp-toothed rats was uncertain. Even scattering the powder onto their heads posed a challenge.

If he was discovered, the four or five-meter height wouldn’t stop the rats from reaching him, and these creatures could easily devour all three of them.

He sighed softly, about to turn and leave.

Just then, the female ability user let out a sharp command. Several vines shot up from the ground, impaling seven or eight sharp-toothed rats attempting a rear ambush. A string of blood splattered everywhere. She herself lost her balance and fell backward onto the ground.

Cen An froze, not because of the bloody scene, but because he noticed the red string bracelets on both their wrists. Half-worn, with rough knots—clearly homemade.

He had seen identical bracelets before—on the wrist of the little girl selling iron ingots at the market.

Recalling that mischievous little girl… Cen An thought, being an orphan in this world must be even harder than it was in his previous life.