Chapter 31: The Language of Beasts

When Xiao Jie tried to use "Identify Beast" again, he found no trace of that peculiar goat.

Had the system despawned the quest NPC?

Looking at the remaining sheep, Xiao Jie felt a shiver run down his spine. Forget it; he had taken an oath, and one cannot easily break such a vow. If it was gone, so be it.

He felt a twinge of regret. He had only learned one of the three skills, likely because his base attributes were too low. It seemed he needed to hurry up and focus on leveling up. But before that, he had to test the effects of "Beast Tongue."

This skill was not a passive effect; it required activation and maintaining a state of focus. Xiao Jie clicked on his skill bar: Beast Tongue—Activate!

The chaotic bleating of the goats instantly transformed into a language he could understand.

Goat: "Eat grass, eat grass, oh my, this is so delicious."
Goat: "Eat quickly, that lad will be coming to drive us back to the pen soon."
Goat: "The grass tastes off today, a bit salty. Which one of you peed on the pasture?"

Good grief... Xiao Jie was speechless. The things these sheep were saying were hilariously absurd.

He kept quiet and silently drove the flock back to the pen. After collecting his 100 copper coins, he was about to leave when Old Man Yang suddenly shouted, "Boy, how did you lose one of my sheep?"

Xiao Jie was startled. He hurriedly counted, and sure enough, there were only forty-nine sheep left.

Old Man Yang snapped, "What kind of work are you doing, losing a sheep? Deduction! I’m deducting your pay!"

System notification: Old Man Yang demands 200 copper coins as compensation. Do you accept? Yes/No.

A dialog box popped up before him.
Option 1: Pay 200 coins and accept the penalty.
Option 2: "I have no money, only my life."
Option 3: "Old man, how about I herd your sheep for two more hours to make up for the pay?"

This... Xiao Jie was speechless. He couldn't possibly fall out with Old Man Yang, and he had no interest in herding sheep any longer. He had no choice but to pay up to get out of the situation.

Leaving the pen, Xiao Jie felt incredibly frustrated. Great, his morning of work was not only wasted, but he had also lost 100 copper coins in the process. Fortunately, he had saved up quite a bit of money previously, so it wasn't a total catastrophe.

The goat that ran off was undoubtedly that peculiar one. It seemed this encounter was a one-time event; now that he had triggered it, it was unlikely anyone else would ever see it again. But he had already taken the oath, so why did it still run away? Did it not trust the integrity of a grand "Homecomer"? Hmph, how insulting.

Still, he had learned the most valuable skill, so it wasn't a total loss. Xiao Jie was quite looking forward to the "Beast Tongue" skill. Used correctly, its value could be immense.

Players usually relied on interacting with NPCs to trigger quests. With the limited number of NPCs in the village—and according to Wang Kai, there had been over two hundred players here in the last three years—it was likely that all the obvious special quests had already been discovered. The remaining ones were either too difficult to complete or were open-ended chores like farming or herding.

But now, he had a whole host of animals he could interact with. This meant he had a massive new pool of potential NPCs. If there were any hidden quests among these animals, he was now in a prime position to find them.

There were, after all, quite a few animals in the village. Since no one had ever communicated with them, if these animals held any quests, there would be no competition for them.

The more Xiao Jie thought about it, the more excited he became. He couldn't wait to start chatting with the animals.

First, he approached the old oxen near the fields. As the village's primary source of labor, they were usually busy working, but since no players were farming today, the three oxen were gathered around a patch of grass, resting and grazing.

Exhausted Ox: "So tired, working every day, when will it ever end?"
Resigned Ox: "Sigh, such is life. Why must we be oxen? If I'm reincarnated, I hope to be a human, then I can drive oxen to work."
Pensive Ox: "I’ve been thinking about a question: why do we work for humans? We don't eat wheat or millet; we only need grass, and grass is everywhere. Why risk our lives for them? We should head outside the village and seek our freedom."

Xiao Jie found it interesting and couldn't help but chime in, "Hey, buddy, there are many monsters outside the village. You three are domestic animals; you probably don't have much combat power. Going out there would be suicide."

Resigned Ox: "He's right. I hear those monsters are terrifying. Better to just stick to farming."
Pensive Ox: "Moo—that’s just something you humans made up to scare us. Don't think you can fool me."

Xiao Jie chuckled, "Fine, whatever makes you happy. By the way, do you want me to help you escape? If you have something to offer me, I might consider it."
Pensive Ox: "Moo, what is an offer? Is it edible?"
"I mean equipment, skills, treasures, that sort of thing. Do you have any?"
Pensive Ox: "We are oxen. How could we have such things? I do know how to plow fields. Do you want to learn?"
"Uh, I'll pass."

Xiao Jie decisively moved on. He then set his sights on the goose running around the village.

Goose: "Honk, honk, honk, the weather is fine today, honk, honk, honk, I’m going to eat my fill, honk, honk, honk, whoever blocks my way, honk, honk, honk, I’ll peck them till they run away."

It even rhymed...

Next were the fat pigs in the sty, then the chickens raised by the aunt at the east end of the village...

Xiao Jie spent the round listening to every animal in the village. It was entertaining, but he gained nothing of substance. His fantasy of hidden quests remained just that—a fantasy. It made sense; livestock didn't exactly have personal belongings. Even if they gave quests, the rewards would hardly be impressive—he couldn't exactly expect a handful of grass or a grain of rice. As for skills, that was out of the question; these beasts did nothing but plow or lay eggs, and the pigs were just eating and waiting to be slaughtered.

Furthermore, animals didn't seem to count as NPCs in the strict sense; they could talk, but they didn't seem to have the functionality to issue quests. The peculiar goat from earlier must have been an exception.

However, he did pick up quite a bit of useful gossip—whose wife was cheating, which militiaman was slacking off at night, and so on.

Finally, Xiao Jie arrived at the hunter's cabin. Hunter Yang Baichuan didn't live in the village; he had built a detached wooden cabin on a hillside north of the village. Outside, he had constructed a row of kennels where he kept a pack of hounds.

These hunting dogs were completely different from the wild dogs outside the village. Each one looked fierce and powerful, and they were green-named, friendly units. Their combat prowess looked significant.

Xiao Jie felt a pang of envy looking at the hounds, which averaged level four or five. If he could take one out to level up, it would be twice the result for half the effort. Unfortunately, he knew neither animal taming nor dog training, so he was out of luck.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. Even though he lacked the taming skill, since he could talk to animals, why not just try to sweet-talk a hound into joining him? It sounded ridiculous, but there was no harm in trying.

He walked straight toward the kennels. Seeing him approach, the hounds looked over. He had visited once before while investigating a task, so they were familiar with him.

Xiao Jie smiled at the dogs. "I say, you lot, interested in joining me? I promise you’ll have meat buns every single meal if you follow me."

Scar (Hound): "Woof, you think you can bribe us with meat buns? Dream on."
Black Claw (Hound): "We only follow our master's orders. You are not our master. Go away."
Meatball (Hound): "Yeah, what’s a meat bun? At the very least, it should be roast chicken or smoked meat."
Broken Tooth (Hound): "Meatball, all you think about is food. I never see you this active when we're actually hunting."
Meatball (Hound): "That’s because I haven't eaten enough, so I can't run."

"Shut up, all of you! Woof!" A deep growl suddenly echoed, silencing the dogs instantly.

Then, a massive black dog slowly emerged from the shadows of the kennel. It looked quite old, with pitch-black fur and a tuft of white on its chin. It was missing an eye and an ear, appearing weathered and aged, yet its hulking frame showed no sign of frailty.

Xiao Jie had never seen this dog before. He used "Identify Beast," and a line of data appeared before him:

[Black Whirlwind (Hound Leader): Elite unit. Level 7. Health: 190.
Taming Difficulty: Hard.
Skills: Bite LV4, Hamstring LV3, Tracking LV2, Sprint LV1, Pack Leader LV2.]

As Xiao Jie examined the dog, the large black creature was observing him as well.

"Human, you can actually understand the language of our kind?"

Xiao Jie was stunned. This dog was unusual; it was the first animal he had encountered that realized the significance of their communication. Most others seemed oblivious to the strangeness of it, likely due to their low intelligence. This dog, however, was clearly different.