Chapter 12: The Forest Ranch

Although she was a cultivator, Mu Tong was still a complete novice when it came to the internet—the sort who was satisfied merely to know how to operate a computer, and whom computer experts could easily turn into a zombie machine. She therefore never stored anything important on her computer. Everything there was the sort of thing others could see. Anything that could not be seen by outsiders was kept on a dedicated laptop that never went online, which she stored in her storage space.

If Mu Tong had devoted herself to studying computer skills, she certainly would not be as hopeless as she was now. But where would she have found the time to learn anything else? Whatever spare time she had was spent cultivating. If she had to learn every practical skill in life as well, would she not die of exhaustion?

With Xiao Qiang around, her computer security could be said to be completely foolproof. From then on, she alone could hack others; anyone who wanted to hack her could forget about it.

Xiao Qiang’s capabilities were not limited to computer security. One could say that anywhere there was an electronic device, it could become Xiao Qiang’s eyes and ears. There was nothing it could not see or hear. In that respect alone, it was vastly superior to Mu Tong’s spiritual sense when it came to observing her surroundings.

The range of a cultivator’s spiritual sense was limited. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Mu Tong, it could cover no more than a hundred miles in diameter. How could that compare with Xiao Qiang, which could observe places all over the world, from one end of the earth to the other?

If it wished, it could even watch a president and his wife in their bedroom—live and in person.

Well, Xiao Qiang had very refined tastes and was extremely particular. If they were not handsome men or beautiful women, they would never make it into its collection.

Xiao Qiang’s abilities did not end there. It could also help Mu Tong manage the natural ranch she had established in the largest primeval forest in the world—the Amazon Rainforest.

The Amazon Rainforest covered an area of two million square miles in South America, stretching across Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru, and Guyana. It was the largest, best-preserved, and most primitive tropical rainforest remaining in the world.

Even now, twenty million indigenous people still lived in the Amazon basin, generation after generation. Needless to say, the forest was also home to countless species of animals and plants. Thus, Mu Tong had searched out a naturally concealed location deep within the vast forest, set up formations and formation flags, and created a natural ranch.

She raised a great many animals there. Chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cattle, and sheep were essential, while deer, donkeys, horses, snakes, pigeons, and various others were also kept in considerable numbers. The animals’ daily feeding and slaughter, as well as the collection and basic processing of eggs and other produce, were all handled by puppets of Mu Tong’s own making under Xiao Qiang’s management, keeping the ranch running smoothly.

It could be said that without Xiao Qiang, the ranch could not function properly with the mindless puppets alone.

Mu Tong soothed it. “Be good. How about I come see you tomorrow?”

“Did you bring me anything good?” Xiao Qiang asked hopefully.

“Of course. This time, when I went to Hidden Immortal Town, I managed to exchange for quite a few energy blocks.”

Xiao Qiang’s activities required energy blocks to support them. Although electricity, solar power, wind power, and water power from Earth could maintain its basic operation, they would not be enough to handle large-scale attacks or defensive measures. If it forcibly drew on electricity over a wide area, many parts of the world might suffer simultaneous blackouts, causing tremendous unrest.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Mu Tong would never let Xiao Qiang draw on electrical resources on such a massive scale. Acquiring those energy blocks was essential. There were enough of them to last Xiao Qiang several hundred years.

“Only energy blocks?” Xiao Qiang complained. After visiting a place inhabited by immortals, how could she have returned with nothing but energy blocks?

“Of course there are other things too, but I don’t know what you might like. When I come tomorrow, you can take your time choosing, all right?” Mu Tong did indeed have quite a few high-tech items from that world, but unfortunately, she had no idea how to use them. Since she would be going to the ranch tomorrow, she could ask Xiao Qiang about them.

“All right. Come early tomorrow.”

At last, Xiao Qiang let Mu Tong off and ended the long-distance call.

Mu Tong removed her headset and glanced at the night outside the window. Dawn was still a long way off. Since she had nothing better to do, she might as well find something to occupy herself. She rummaged through her storage space.

Oh? It seemed she was almost out of hot-pot base.

Fine. Since she had nothing else to do, she might as well make a larger batch for future use.

She entered the kitchen, took out the necessary ingredients, and began frying hot-pot base...

By the time the sky began to brighten, Mu Tong had finished making four large pots of spicy red broth and four large pots of clear broth. She had also simmered a considerable amount of bone stock and chicken soup.

After putting everything into her storage bags, Mu Tong ate breakfast, cast a Dust-Cleansing Spell to remove the hot-pot smell clinging to her body, and then took out a strange scroll.

The moment she unrolled it, space twisted violently, and Mu Tong vanished from the room.

This was actually a teleportation scroll from a magical civilization. As long as the coordinates of the destination were recorded on it, it could transport someone there with precision. Its drawback was that it could not be used for interstellar travel; its maximum range could not exceed the boundaries of a single planet.

This scroll could be used one hundred times, making it a high-grade teleportation scroll. Mu Tong had used it fewer than ten times so far. She had five other high-grade teleportation scrolls like it. In addition, she had several dozen mid-grade scrolls that could each be used ten times, while the low-grade scrolls that could each be used once numbered more than a hundred.

These magical scrolls had naturally been among the things Mu Tong received as payment for preparing meals.

Not long after Mu Tong disappeared, the front door of the house opened, and a tall, handsome young man with an imposing bearing entered.

The young man looked at the empty room in confusion.

“She said she was home. Where is she?”

He walked into Mu Tong’s bedroom and lay down on the bed. Her scent seemed to linger on the cold pillow. The young man inhaled softly for a while, then murmured, “Tong, I’m back. Where are you?”

This young man was Shen Kai, the man who had lived intimately with Mu Tong for a long time, then vanished without explanation for just as long.

Mu Tong, who had appeared in the ranch deep within the Amazon Rainforest, naturally had no idea that the man she had thought about for so long had returned.

The Amazon ranch lay deep within the forest. Protected on all sides by formations and formation flags, it had never been discovered, not even by the indigenous people who lived in the great forest. Satellites in the sky could see only the airspace above that location, which was shrouded in haze throughout the entire year. They could not make out anything within.

The ranch covered a vast area and raised many kinds of animals for food. The instant Mu Tong appeared, Xiao Qiang floated over. It also had a wooden puppet bring over numerous storage bags.

They were packed with all kinds of processed meat, hides, eggs, milk, and other foodstuffs, along with many local specialties from the forest that Xiao Qiang had ordered the puppets to gather.

Mu Tong happily accepted everything, then handed Xiao Qiang a certain number of storage bags to hold the ranch’s products that would soon be ready.

“You said you brought me something fun.” After giving out all its instructions for the work, Xiao Qiang stretched both hands toward Mu Tong.

“It’s all here. Pick whatever you like.”

Generously, Mu Tong took out the high-tech gadgets she could not make head or tail of and piled them all in front of Xiao Qiang.