What do you do when you get lost in an unfamiliar forest? Nan Liujing didn’t have a good answer either. The little knowledge he’d picked up from watching wilderness survival shows told him he should look for a water source and follow the current. This was an island, with a bit of luck, he might find a river long enough to lead him to the ocean.

As long as he made it back to the coast, he could work his way back to the pier.

The little fox cub was curled up on his arm, whining and nuzzling his chest with its head, as if it hadn’t had enough to eat. Nan Liujing looked down and pinched its little belly, poor thing, it was so sunken in.

“You really do lead a primitive life, going hungry nine out of ten days.” Nan Liujing suspected that this fox cub’s mother had met with some misfortune or had abandoned this snow-white cub; otherwise, the cub wouldn’t be this starved—starved enough to muster the courage to ask him for help.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have much on hand that was suitable for a little fox. Feeding a wild animal a human-prepared dish like garlic-infused raw oysters was clearly out of the question; all he had left was a handful of raspberries. If only he’d known, he would have brought some pet biscuits. But hindsight is always 20/20.

“Just eat these berries for now. I hope your stomach is strong enough—don’t get diarrhea.” Nan Liujing picked out two more raspberries and held them out in the palm of his hand. Seeing this, the little fox cub immediately lifted its head, its two front paws clawing at his arm as it nuzzled forward to lap them up.

The little fox’s soft, tender paw pads pressed against him, trembling slightly with excitement over the food. Its wet, soft little tongue licked the berries again and again, trying hard to roll them into its mouth, occasionally brushing against Nan Liujing’s palm.

Nan Liujing instantly found himself on the verge of tears. In that moment, he empathized with King Zhou more than ever before.

Damn, this is just too cute.

The little fox cub was small in stature but had a big appetite; in no time, it had devoured both berries. It licked its lips, feeling far from full, and went back to Nan Liujing to beg for more. It pawed at him, nudged him with its head, and, whimpering, it charmed Nan Liujing into a daze, and before he knew it, he’d brought out the entire handful of raspberries.

The little fox cub lay on Nan Liujing’s hand and devoured every last berry. As the final berry went down, the little fox cub licked its nose, and a pink heart suddenly appeared on top of its head.

【The Moonchasing Fox’s affection for you has increased; it is willing to follow you.】

【You have gained a companion!】

“What?” Nan Liujing froze. When he looked at the little fox cub again, he discovered that the same text from the item description had appeared on its body.

【Moonchasing Fox】

【Category: Magical Creature】

【Element: Ice】

【An albino variant of the Sunchasing Fox, its elemental mutation to Ice makes it unaccepted by its pack. Every Moonchasing Fox is abandoned as a cub; only the strongest survive.】

【Elemental Skill: Snowflakes.】

【Snowflakes: Blasts out a cluster of small snowflakes like a sneeze, dealing minor magical damage and slightly lowering the temperature.】

【Companion Skills: Herding, Scavenging.】

【Herding: On sunny days, it takes the livestock out of the barn and brings them back at night. It responsibly watches over the animals all day long.】

【Scavenging: Moonchase Foxes have an instinct to dig. Sometimes they find interesting things and bring them back to you on their own.】

Nan Liujing blinked.

“Hey, so you’re not just an ordinary fox cub—you’re a magical creature.” It’s just like Pokémon…it

And he only needed one berry to catch you—that was way too easy.

“Eep.” The little fox cub blinked too, propped itself up on Nan Liujing’s chest, and stretched its neck to lick his chin.

Its little tongue was warm and soft, slurping away and making him tickle. Nan Liujing wanted to laugh and instinctively pulled his head back, but the little fox displayed an extraordinary tenacity. It stubbornly clawed at his clothes, using all four limbs to climb up, determined to give Nan Liujing a tongue wash.

In the end, Nan Liujing grabbed the skin at the back of its neck and pulled it away.

“That’s enough.”

“Eek?”

Nan Liujing looked at it—its little face wore an innocent expression. Both annoyed and amused, he wiped the wet streak from his chin and gave its little head a gentle tap. “You’re filthy, you know? Don’t just go licking everything.”

“Eek! Eek-eek-eek!”

The little fox cub let out a loud, dissatisfied cry.

Nan Liujing wasn’t falling for that: “I said you’re dirty, so you’re dirty. Don’t just lick me all over.”

“Waaah…”

The little fox cub’s limbs went limp, and it wilted.

Suddenly, Nan Liujing had a brainwave. “Companion” was a brand-new concept—could it be reflected on the tablet as well?

He freed a hand to grab the tablet, tapped the home screen, and sure enough, a brand-new app called [Companion] appeared.

Upon opening it, the little fox cub’s picture appeared in the top left corner, with a row of heart icons below. Only the first one was filled with pink, likely representing affection. Clicking the picture brought up the earlier description, along with an additional field.

[Nickname: ____]

“I really should give it a name. I can’t keep calling you ‘you’ or ‘Little Fox’ forever.”

But what should he call it? Nan Liujing stared at the little fox, racking his brain.

“Your tail is big and fluffy, just like a feather duster. How about we call you Feather Duster…”

Before he could finish, the little fox cub looked over in shock, then shook its head like a rattle.

“Eek! Eek eek!”

“Huh? Do you understand me?”

Although it didn’t know what a feather duster was, it could tell right away that this wasn’t a compliment—it wasn’t a chicken!

“Wah-wah-wah! Woof! Woof-woof!” The little one was so furious it couldn’t even keep its tail tucked between its legs.

Nan Liujing, on the other hand, laughed and ruffled the fox’s head. “I knew you were a little ‘clamp.’ Oh, come to think of it, we could call you Little Clamp.”

“Wah-wah—”

That didn’t sound good either!

The little fox was frantic; every hair on its body stood on end, making the whole creature look even fluffier—like a long-haired rice cake.

Huh? Rice cake?

Nan Liujing’s eyes lit up: “How about ‘Rice Cake’?”

“Woo?” What’s that?

“Exactly! Naming it after food is a great idea.” Nan Liujing felt like he’d opened the door to a whole new world, with inspiration flowing endlessly.

All his friends liked to name their pets after food—an orange tabby named “Sugar Orange,” a Ragdoll named “Milk Tea,” a farm dog named “Sweet Potato”—basically all combinations of color and food.

The little fox was white and fluffy, and all sorts of white foods immediately popped into Nan Liujing’s head: “White sugar, mochi, rice cake, rice, steamed bun… which one do you like?”

“Hmm…” The little fox’s big tail wagged, and its little nose wrinkled.

These were all things it had never seen before, and it had no idea what they were. If it had to choose one, “rice cake” seemed to sound a little nicer?

“Then we’ll call you Rice Cake.” Nan Liujing nodded, quickly typing the name into her tablet and tapping “Confirm.” 

“Alright, no taking back your choice! From now on, you’re Rice Cake.”

“Woo…” Rice Cake perked up its ears, looking both happy and a little uneasy.

Nan Liujing lifted the little fox cub with both hands, just like the baboon holding Simba in *The Lion King*, and called out with a smile, “Nian Gao.”

The little fox cub’s ears twitched: “Woo?”

“Nian Gao?”

“Woo.”

“Nian Gao!”

“Eep!” The little fox cub seemed to have gotten used to the name and became thoroughly delighted, its big tail swishing back and forth behind it.

As soon as Nan Liujing let go, Nian Gao pounced into his arms, letting out a soft, cooing sound as it rubbed against him.

Nan Liujing ruffled the fox’s fur a couple of times—it felt amazing: “Alright, we’ve lingered here long enough. It’s time to head out.”

There was no sound of flowing water here, nor was there any sign of water as far as the eye could see. Nan Liujing scanned the area and noticed that the vegetation was particularly lush in one direction—perhaps it was closer to a water source. He had already lifted his foot to head that way, but after taking a single step, his body strangely paused.

He turned his head to look in the opposite direction, furrowing his brow in confusion.

“Why does it feel like… I should go this way?”

There was absolutely no basis for it—just pure intuition. Since when has his intuition become so prominent?

After pondering for a couple of seconds, Nan Liujing suddenly remembered something and pulled out his tablet to check his stats.

【Hoarding Disorder】

【Your obsession with supplies is astonishing; hoarding has become an obsession of yours.】

【Talent Effect 1: Stamina consumption reduced by 50% during physical labor.】

【Talent Effect 2: Supply preservation time extended by 30%.】

【Talent Effect 3: Increased probability of discovering supplies during exploration; higher chance of finding high-tier supplies.】

Nan Liujing’s gaze settled on Talent Effect 3, and a look of realization gradually spread across his face: “Is this a hint from the talent effect? Does that mean exploring in this direction might lead to high-tier supplies?”

Then he’d better go check it out. As the saying goes, “Heed advice and you’ll eat your fill.” When it came to matters like this, Nan Liujing never argued with others.

The path his intuition led him down was thick with thorns.

This was meant literally. Nan Liujing stumbled upon a vast thicket of thorns; those sharp spines, glinting coldly, didn’t look like ordinary plants at all. Nan Liujing had no desire to test the toughness of his skin, so he had no choice but to obediently take a detour.

As a result, he ran into a large patch of stinging nettles—even more terrifying than the thorns—and was forced to detour once again.

In the end, he had to take a huge detour before finally getting back on track.

Nan Liujing walked ahead, with Nian Gao stumbling along at his heels. Suddenly, Nian Gao lifted his head, twitched his little black nose a few times, and let out a soft, high-pitched whimper.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Woof, woof-woof, yip.”

“Is that so? You found something good, then.” Nan Liujing held his wooden spear in one hand and pushed aside the obstructing shrubs before him. A set of stone steps, clearly built by humans, came into view.

Nan Liujing’s eyes lit up, and he instinctively whistled: “Looks like we’ve found the real deal.”

Without hesitation, he emerged from the thicket and leaped onto the stone steps. Nian Gao followed suit, shook off the leaves, and scampered ahead with glee.

“Woo! Ee-woo-woo!”

“Huh? Did you really find something good?” Nan Liujing hurried after it.

The stone steps were built on a gentle slope. Nian Gao bounded up the slope in a flash, his little figure vanishing from view at the top. Nan Liujing was a step behind, reaching the top second. Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the woods, washing over him with the sweet scent of apples.

Opening his eyes, Nan Liujing saw a vast expanse of level land below the slope, neatly planted with apple trees. Some had already grown into large trees, their trunks thick and sturdy, with vigorous branches stretching upward to form a canopy of green shade. Others were still saplings, their trunks slender and not yet as tall as an adult, with branches as thin as chopsticks, yet already bearing plenty of leaves.

Whether large or small, all the trees bore plenty of half-green, half-red fruit hanging from their branches. A gentle breeze would send them swaying, and the scent of apples would waft through the air, luring countless small animals to feast.

Nian Gao was running among these apple trees, frolicking around a few of the larger ones before dashing over to a small tree, standing on his hind legs and scratching at the trunk with his front paws.

Judging by his little expression, he seemed to be eyeing both the apples on the tree and the little birds pecking at them.

“So these are the apple trees mentioned in the news? There are still quite a few apples left.” If this was only one-tenth of the crop, Nan Liujing couldn’t even imagine how spectacular the sight would be when these apple trees were in full bloom.

There were an overwhelming number of apple trees down the slope—at least 200 as far as the eye could see. Every single apple looked so tempting that it was almost a crime to resist. Nan Liujing wasn’t about to let this bounty slip by. He rolled up his sleeves and took off running down the slope.

The first tree he came across was a small apple tree, but he wasn’t picky. He reached up and plucked a red apple—slightly larger than an egg—from among the lush foliage.

【Apple☆】

【Category: Ingredient】

【A sweet, crisp fruit that crunches with every bite. Eating it restores 5 Stamina.】

【Suggested Price: 120 Sol】

【Condition: Fresh】

“I’ve been meaning to ask—why do the ingredients on this island have star ratings too?”

The apples here, the raspberries by the meadow—they’re all half-star rated. Even though they’re all ingredients, the oysters, purple mussels, and even the sea fish he gathered on his own island don’t have any. Is it the location? Or the ingredients themselves? Are seafood varieties considered superior to land-based ones? 

But never mind, this minor difference is no big deal—it doesn’t stop him from eating them.

Nan Liujing shrugged, casually stuffing an apple into his backpack before reaching out to pick two more.

The Harvest Association made it sound so noble in the newspaper—how they’d deliberately left one-tenth of the apples unharvested to benefit the island’s wildlife. Nan Liujing seriously suspected that one-tenth of the apples were simply unripe.

It had only been a few days since that report was published, and these apples still weren’t very ripe. On the tree right in front of Nan Liujing, only three were red; the rest were still green. He didn’t continue picking them—after all, there were so many apple trees here, and he didn’t have enough stamina or backpack space to spare. He might as well just pick the ripe, good ones.

Nian Gao stood by a small tree, sharpening its claws for a long time, only to realize it couldn’t climb up no matter what. finally gave up and scampered over to Nan Liujing’s feet, circling him and acting cute.

He wasn’t afraid of Nan Liujing anymore.

Nan Liujing tossed him a small apple, rolled up his sleeves a bit, and looked up at the towering tree in front of him.

He’d seen clearly from the top of the hill that this tree was laden with ripe, red fruit—and they were quite large, making it worth the climb.

How should he put it? Thank goodness he knew how to climb trees. Sure enough, as one gets older, one comes to realize just how important it is to master a skill. Even if that skill was something he’d taught himself while studying abroad to evade attacks from swans.

Who cares? It’s coming in handy now, isn’t it? 

Five minutes later, Nan Liujing appeared in the tree. Straddling a thick branch, the shade of the leaves falling across his face, the young man reached up to pluck an apple overhead. With a crisp snap, a red apple—a full circle larger than a grown man’s fist—landed in his hand.

【Apple ★★★】

【Category: Food】

【A sweet, crisp fruit that crunches when bitten. Eating it restores 5 Stamina.】

【Suggested Price: 320 Sol】

【Condition: Fresh】

Nan Liujing: “Huh?”