Chapter 8: The Law of the Jungle

But Mo Jin’s anger didn’t seem to stem from just that one point. Lin Mo was at a loss—was Mo Jin frustrated and embarrassed because she wanted to eat the bamboo shoot but couldn’t say it, or did she truly just dislike little She Qiu?

Lin Mo sighed inwardly. Being her was just too difficult.

Under Mo Jin’s silent pressure, Lin Mo didn’t dare ask directly and quietly finished the fish in the pot.

After the meal, Lin Mo cleaned the pot, rubbed her bulging little belly, and leaned against the wooden cabin to soak up the sun while looking at the distant scenery.

Suddenly, she saw a paper crane appear in the sky. It flew unsteadily, with a large red parcel dangling beneath it.

Lin Mo’s first thought was: Is that the “Newbie Gift Pack” the robot bee mentioned?

In the blink of an eye, the red parcel carried by the paper crane arrived before her eyes. Lin Mo untied the parcel and weighed it; it felt quite heavy.

As soon as she received the package, the paper crane transformed into a flat piece of paper, floating quietly in front of her. There was a line of small text on it. Lin Mo held it up to take a closer look:

Paper Crane Express: Delivered in One Day.

The paper then turned back into a crane, flapped its wings in Lin Mo’s hand, and flew away into the distance as soon as she let go.

Lin Mo rubbed her eyes in disbelief. This was incredibly magical.

She looked down and tore open the red parcel. Inside were a lighter, an iron knife, a water bottle, and a tent.

It looked very practical. Lin Mo touched the plastic lighter; it didn’t feel like it would last very long, but it would solve their immediate fire-starting problems.

Packing the things away, Lin Mo said happily, “Mo Jin, look! It’s the newbie gift pack from the Academy. It has all the basic daily necessities. This will last us a while, though it’s missing cleaning supplies—I’m not quite used to that.”

“The robot bee has a mall. The traffic from the livestream can be converted into Shells (currency). You can use Shells to buy what you need.” Mo Jin stopped weaving the vines in her hand and paused. “If you want to earn more money at night, you can keep the livestream on. I usually have Xiao Mi turn it off at night.”

The robot bee’s eyes shot out a red beam: [Xiao Mi is here, my Master.]

“Oh, really? Let me see.” Lin Mo took the robot bee down, held it in her arms, cleared her throat, and said, “Xiao Mi, can you help me turn off the livestream?”

[Xiao Mi is closing the livestream for you.]

With a ding-dong sound, the red beam in the robot bee’s eyes extinguished instantly. It turned into a small capsule and landed in Lin Mo’s palm.

Marveling at the little capsule, Lin Mo pinched it. “Xiao Mi, open the mall.”

The robot bee emitted a series of beeps: [You need to turn on the livestream to open the mall. Would you like to turn on the livestream?]

“Yes.”

The red light in its eyes glowed again: [Xiao Mi has turned on the livestream. Opening the mall for you now.]

Lin Mo saw a page appear on the display screen with many categories—all sorts of things she might need in the future. She scrolled down; there were even live chickens and ducks.

She had to admit, this was very impressive.

Lin Mo looked at the balance of 110 Shells and turned to ask, “Mo Jin, do you need anything?”

Mo Jin was looking down, weaving several vines. “You buy what you need. I already spent my own money.”

“Alright then.”

Even though Mo Jin said that, Lin Mo couldn’t ignore her. After all, Mo Jin had helped her so much; she had to repay her somehow.

Lin Mo bought cleaning and toiletry sets for two people, costing 70 Shells, and some common seasonings for 40 Shells.

Her balance returned to zero. Once again, she was poor.

However, she still had many things she wanted to buy. Lin Mo suddenly remembered the gold in her pocket and wondered if she could exchange it.

She pulled out a nugget of gold. “Xiao Mi, I have a piece of gold here. Can I exchange it for mall currency?”

[Xiao Mi is scanning for you.]

The red light in Xiao Mi’s eyes flickered for a few moments and then stopped.

The cold electronic voice sounded: [Scan failed. Unable to estimate the value of this item. Cannot convert into mall currency.]

‘Fine, so she couldn’t use the gold.’ She could only rely on the livestream to earn Shells.

Lin Mo closed the mall and switched to the livestream page. She saw the current viewer count was down to 50 people, and no one was sending comments.

Lin Mo placed Xiao Mi on the ground, filled the pot with water, and after it boiled, poured it into the water bottle to cool down so they could drink it later after working.

It seemed to be summer, and the forest was muggy. This kind of weather often led to rain. She needed a dry environment; if they got caught in a downpour and caught a cold, they could get seriously ill.

So, she needed to prepare by fixing the missing roof. Unfortunately, she didn’t have an axe, or she could have gathered dry wood to patch it.

While passing the stream, she had seen a large patch of dry cogon grass, which she could carry back to use as thatch for the roof.

Lin Mo shared her idea with Mo Jin. Mo Jin took the lead on carrying the wood and erecting the roof beams, while Lin Mo was responsible for transporting the grass.

Lin Mo piled the dry grass into a small mountain. Meanwhile, Mo Jin had already moved the wood and was building the beams. She used a classic slanted triangular structure, using sturdy vines to lash the tops of three redwood logs together to form a standard triangle.

Next, Mo Jin added over a dozen crossbeams to the redwood frame, ensuring the distance between each crossbeam was perfectly uniform. She lashed the ends of the crossbeams securely to the main frame with vines.

Mo Jin transformed into her original form (twice the size of a normal panda) and pressed down with her paws. Once she confirmed the roof structure was rock solid and wouldn’t easily collapse, she hoisted it onto the top of the cabin.

After setting the beams, Mo Jin tentatively extended her paw, wanting to pick Lin Mo up by the scruff of her neck.

She looked down; Lin Mo’s small head wasn’t even half the size of her paw. Fearing she would hurt her, she instead placed a pre-woven vine basket on the ground, signaling Lin Mo to step in.

Lin Mo placed several bundles of woven dry grass into the basket and then stepped in herself, holding onto the vines. Once Mo Jin lifted her to the roof, she laid the woven grass bundles across the crossbeams one by one.

The thatch was woven densely and neatly, and the length was exactly equal to the distance between the crossbeams—not a millimeter off.

Lin Mo marveled inwardly. ‘Does Mo Jin have a ruler hidden in her eyes? How could she calculate so precisely?’

She finished laying the grass at her feet and was about to tell Mo Jin to put her down for more, but Mo Jin leaned over and handed her another bundle with her paw.

The chubby panda paw holding a small bundle of grass looked incredibly cute. Her black pupils shimmered like there were stars inside.

Lin Mo felt a surge of excitement. The thought of this “Iceberg” doing such a thing was explosively cute.

Seeing Lin Mo dazed, Mo Jin shook the vines in her paw and stuffed the bundle into Lin Mo’s arms. Lin Mo snapped out of it, her face turning red as she turned back to continue thatching.

After a while, the roof was finally finished. Mo Jin then took the opportunity to reinforce the fence.

A thick, dense layer of thatch now completely covered the top of the cabin, making it airtight and surrounded by the wooden fence. Lin Mo rubbed her aching lower back and looked at the new house, which was vastly different from before, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

Remembering the water she had boiled earlier, she opened the lid; the water was still warm. After thinking about it, she handed the bottle to Mo Jin first.

Mo Jin leaned down, took the bottle, took a small sip, and handed it back to Lin Mo.

Lin Mo was surprised. “No more?”

Mo Jin glanced at Lin Mo’s slightly dry lips and gave a soft “Mm.”

Lin Mo took the water. Noticing Mo Jin seemed to be looking at her, her eyelashes fluttered, and she silently turned her body away a little. ‘Why do I feel so stiff every time Mo Jin looks at me now?’

‘How strange.’

Muttering to herself, Lin Mo took several large gulps of water. As she finished and went to close the lid, she noticed the water in the bottle was shaking.

Thinking it was just her imagination, she closed the lid—but suddenly, the ground gave a violent shudder.

“Is this an earthquake?”

Lin Mo hugged a large tree nearby. Just as she stabilized herself, she heard a crack—the main beam of the newly finished roof was snapped by a falling giant tree nearby, and all the thatch came tumbling down.

The ground shook even more violently, as if a giant axe were splitting the earth open. The wooden cabin swayed, on the verge of collapsing. The tree Lin Mo was holding also groaned, its roots pulling out from the soil, nearly falling over.

A nearby tree, not quite old enough to withstand such a tremor, came crashing straight toward Lin Mo with lightning speed.

Before she could dodge, just as she feared for her life, she was suddenly scooped up by Mo Jin.

Lin Mo breathed a sigh of relief, clinging to the panda’s arm. “What’s happening?” she asked nervously.

Mo Jin’s brow was furrowed, but she didn’t respond. She dodged the falling timber left and right, carrying Lin Mo toward a high cliff.

They drew closer and closer to the source of the vibration. Lin Mo buried herself in Mo Jin’s thick fur, her heart pounding. The wind whistled in her ears as tree after tree fell behind them.

Finally, they stopped.

Lin Mo turned her head and opened her eyes, only to be stunned by the sight before her.

Below the cliff, hundreds of giant animals were locked in a slaughter. The sound of them tearing and biting each other was soul-shaking. The parched, cracked earth was now splattered with blood.

This was the first time she had seen such a bloody and cruel war. Lin Mo was deeply shaken.

She couldn’t understand how a forest this large, with such vast green coverage, could have such a blood-drenched slaughterhouse beneath the cliff.

The fighting continued, and there was no way to go down and stop it. Lin Mo watched helplessly as these animals fought like they were possessed.

After a long silence, Lin Mo frowned. “How can it be like this?”

Mo Jin retracted the gravity in her expression and transformed into human form, standing beside Lin Mo. “A struggle for resources.”

“Can’t we stop them?”

“Survival of the fittest.”

Lin Mo’s frown deepened. She didn’t agree with Mo Jin’s “survival of the fittest.” Did they have to use such cruel and bloody methods to fight for resources?

Mo Jin’s tone was flat. “You’ve stayed in human society for too long.”

Looking at the tragic scene below the cliff, Lin Mo shook her head. “Even if I’m not human, I want to stop this cruel and bloody way of doing things.”