Chapter 216: Not-so-smart Little Snake
“Huh?” The Military Doctor, who had been standing with hands on hips smugly, was stunned for a moment, then turned his head in disbelief toward Lin Xin, angrily saying: “Nonsense, I clearly fed my little treasures this morning.”
Lin Xin had just said it casually, but those scorpions were clearly different from the usual ones seen daily; not only were they overall pitch black, but the barbs on their hooked tails and the two large pincers beside their heads were a vivid blood-red, their two eyes gleaming brightly, and their four slender legs moved very flexibly. If not for the extremely smooth interior of the can, they probably could have climbed out and scurried all over the ground.
“Look,” as if to prove himself, the Military Doctor grabbed one of Lin Xin’s arms and forcibly pulled her to the side of the can, pointing at the scorpions inside that shifted their activity range toward this side with his movement, “You still say they don’t like you? See, aren’t they moving with you?”
Lin Xin doubtfully lowered her head to look, even deliberately walking to the opposite side of the can. Sure enough, those scorpions turned their heads toward her and shifted positions.
“It really is!” Lin Xin touched her chin and marveled, wondering if these scorpions were reacting this way because they sensed her supernatural ability.
“I told you my judgment is absolutely spot on. That Kong kid even wanted to send his nephew here. I was afraid my little treasures would despise that blockhead to death! Hmph!” The Military Doctor said, both smug and disdainful.
Lin Xin was amused but helpless. Anyway, she was already here, so she might as well raise them! With her wood element ability in hand, was she afraid she couldn’t raise a few poisonous creatures well? What a joke!
“Um, what do they eat? Do they need water?” Since she had agreed, she had to take responsibility, so Lin Xin quickly got into the role.
“This is very simple. These leaves are their food. For water, feed them a little occasionally. Remember not to feed the wrong variety; I need the poison on their bodies.” The Military Doctor pointed to the plants on the other side and showed Lin Xin the notes stuck on each flowerpot, which listed the names of various insects.
Lin Xin looked at the notes on each flowerpot one by one and found that a few were noticeably crooked, with somewhat fresh traces of being stuck on, different from the others.
She grew cautious and asked, “Am I the only one responsible for feeding them, or are there others?”
Speaking of this, the Military Doctor snorted hatefully, “There was a fool here before who let my treasure Little Green die, but he didn’t tell me and secretly buried Little Green. In a fit of anger, I drove him out. If I hadn’t found you, I was planning to raise them myself for a while.”
“I see!” Lin Xin had an idea in her mind. She pointed at those flowerpots and said to him: “Then you should first carefully check if these plants match the notes on them! After all, I don’t know these things. If I feed the wrong one, I can’t take responsibility.”
The Military Doctor was completely unconcerned but greatly appreciated Lin Xin’s rigorous attitude. As he walked over to check, he said: “You little girl are just too clever. I stuck these notes on myself; how could I get it wrong? You also······”
The abruptly halted voice made Lin Xin look over, only to see the Military Doctor’s two eyes bulging wide as he stared at a palm-sized flowerpot in his hand, his whole body trembling.
“What’s wrong? Military Doctor?” Lin Xin hurriedly ran over to support him and asked.
“Beast, truly a beast!” The Military Doctor trembled with rage, even his spoken words carrying a quiver.
Lin Xin saw that the one he was holding was one of the problematic flowerpots she had noticed, so she had an idea. It must have been done by the person he mentioned who was driven out, either for revenge or to trip up the next person.
After all, the Military Doctor wouldn’t need to look at the notes to select plants if he were feeding them himself.
“Shouldn’t you first check if your little treasures were fed the wrong things?” Seeing him on the verge of passing out, Lin Xin had no choice but to channel a thread of supernatural ability to steady his heart meridian, lest he really suffer a stroke from anger.
“Yes, yes, you’re right. I’ll go right now.” Hearing this, the Military Doctor hurriedly shook off her hand supporting his arm and briskly began checking each of the large and small cans one by one.
After all, this would be her job from now on, so Lin Xin didn’t stand on ceremony and followed behind him, watching him carefully inspect those vividly colored insects as if they were treasures.
Lin Xin, not understanding, didn’t pretend to. She asked all the necessary questions. After checking a full round, the Military Doctor let out a long breath, “Good thing he only swapped the notes and didn’t randomly feed my little treasures wrong things.”
“Then hurry and swap back those wrong notes, so I don’t mess up later. If something goes wrong, I won’t take responsibility!” Lin Xin said.
“Hmph, you’re the one with all the clever ideas!” The Military Doctor now had a smiling expression and pointed at her from afar while scolding.
Lin Xin pouted but said nothing, afraid that if she continued, she’d poke his lung channel again, and if she stimulated him too much, she’d have to expend supernatural ability to save him.
Expending supernatural ability was a small matter, but with the Military Doctor’s nose sharper than a mutated dog’s, if he sniffed out something else, it wouldn’t be worth it. So she shut her mouth.
The two, one teaching and one learning, reorganized all the messed-up notes. Lin Xin also preliminarily understood the characteristics of these plants, so at least even if someone messed up the notes again, she wouldn’t feed the wrong ones.
“Good, little girl, you learn quickly. This old man’s judgment is even better! Hahaha!” The Military Doctor walked to the tent entrance, “I’ll go first then. You stay here. If you have any questions, come find me anytime. I’m just up ahead.”
“Got it.”
The Military Doctor left satisfied.
Once he was far away, Lin Xin plopped down on the ground. Beside her was a half-person-high can containing a colorful little snake, only as thick as her little finger and half an arm long. It had been coiled up sleeping at the bottom of the can earlier.
Lin Xin peered inside. The little snake seemed to have just woken up, flicking its tongue and raising its upper body upright, its pair of sesame-seed-sized small black eyes staring unblinkingly at her.
If it were an ordinary person, they’d probably be scared out of their wits. Fortunately, Lin Xin had seen plenty of snakes in the apocalypse. Though most had mutated to enormous sizes, there were exceptions. She had once seen a small black snake about the same size as this one forcing a water bucket-thick, over ten meters long giant python to retreat step by step.
She had curiously asked the researchers specializing in mutated animals at the research institute, and the answer was that she was lucky. Generally, reverse-mutated animals or plants were top-tier existences; encountering one basically meant death.
This little snake clearly hadn’t mutated, but it definitely wasn’t harmless either. Still, she found it adorably silly no matter how she looked, especially those dazed sesame eyes that didn’t seem smart at all.
Lin Xin’s playful mood surged. She condensed a strand of pure wood element supernatural ability in her palm into a small ball glowing faint green, then slowly reached her hand into that can.
