“Cluck cluck cluck…”
The sound of a hen laying eggs pulled Ren Jingshu back to her senses. Turning around, she saw that a large area at the foot of the mountain had been fenced off, filled with lively hens. They strutted about, craning their necks and clucking as if showing off to their master.
On a pile of grass nearby lay a layer of white eggs, round and smooth, each giving off a soft sheen.
After checking the automatic feeder and seeing there was still plenty of grain, Ren Jingshu planned to head into the forest. Various small animals were raised there as well—she wondered how they were doing.
Just as she was about to step in, her gaze caught something upstream—a faint plume of white mist rising gently.
She stopped, looking at it in confusion.
She remembered clearly—there hadn’t been anything unusual there before.
Worried something might have gone wrong, she focused her mind and quickly appeared upstream.
To her surprise, what appeared before her was a spring bubbling with white vapor. The water churned as it continuously welled up, overflowing and flowing cheerfully into the stream.
This…
Ren Jingshu hesitated.
Could this be… a legendary spirit spring?
She wasn’t certain, but her heart began pounding rapidly.
“Thump, thump, thump…”
A spirit spring said to heal the dead and regrow flesh—she had heard of it in her previous life and had envied those who had one.
Why was it that others with storage spaces had such incredible treasures, while hers had only been an ordinary stream?
Without hesitation, she used her mind to grab a hen and held it over the stream flowing from the spring.
Before she could even force its beak open, the hen stretched its neck and began drinking eagerly, as if it had found something extraordinary.
Seeing it quickly drink its fill, Ren Jingshu pulled it away.
Was the chicken crazy? If it kept drinking, it might burst.
“Cluck cluck cluck!”
Just as she was about to check for changes, the hen flapped its wings frantically, letting out sharp cries.
Sensing something off, she released it. The hen flapped into the air and flew toward the coop.
She had raised these chickens for a long time—but had never seen them fly before.
Suppressing her shock, she hurried after it. What she saw next made her eyes widen in disbelief.
The speckled hen had grown noticeably larger than the others. Its feathers even seemed to glow faintly with a golden light.
Looking closer, it was squatting on the soft grass—
and laying eggs… nonstop.
Ren Jingshu stood there, mouth slightly open, unable to recover for a long moment.
The eggs it laid were clearly larger than the others.
Her thoughts became complicated.
Could that spring water be safe for humans?
What if someone drank it and also grew unusually large and then…
Shaking off those inappropriate thoughts, she decided against testing it herself for now.
Better to leave it for later—she could try it on someone else when the opportunity arose.
It was getting late. Sensing nothing unusual outside the space, she quickly exited.
Zhang Shitou had already gathered a large pile of branches and was feeding them into the blazing fire.
Seeing her come out of the ruined temple, he looked puzzled, scratching his head, but didn’t dare ask. He only smiled obsequiously and called out “Eldest Miss” before continuing to tend the fire.
Inwardly, however, his mind raced. Earlier, when he returned with the branches and didn’t see her, he had circled the temple several times and searched inside, thinking she had already gone back to the group.
The fire crackled louder, growing more intense, releasing a choking burnt smell that made one’s scalp tingle.
As he added wood, Zhang Shitou secretly observed Ren Jingshu.
If it were an ordinary sheltered lady, she would have been terrified and weeping by now. But this woman looked completely unfazed, not even blinking—her calmness was frightening.
He felt incredibly fortunate. Though he had been beaten and terrified today, he had at least kept his life. It was as if luck had smiled on him.
Silently, he thanked the heavens, resolving to turn over a new leaf and never commit such wicked acts again.
What he didn’t know was that in her previous life, as a fire-type ability user, burning corpses had been a routine part of clearing battlefields.
There were ordinary humans, zombies, and even ability users.
Each time she watched flames consume broken bodies, she felt a strange sense of release.
After the apocalypse, there had been no clean air or water. Zombies ate people. Mutated beasts ate people. Even plants ate people. And humans slaughtered each other endlessly.
Ability users like her struggled just to survive—ordinary people fared even worse, clinging to life day by day.
To die quickly… might even be a kind of release.
The firelight flickered across her face, making her look especially terrifying.
Zhang Shitou quickly looked away, poking the fire with a stick and adding more wood.
“You stay here. Watch until everything burns to ashes, then put out the fire before returning. I’ll come back to check. If I find out you’ve tried to deceive me…”
Seeing the bodies nearly burned, Ren Jingshu decided to return to the group first. If they hadn’t lied, there might still be a tough battle waiting.
“I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare! Eldest Miss, just go ahead. I’ll take care of everything here properly—won’t cause you any trouble.”
Zhang Shitou nodded and bowed, smiling ingratiatingly as he pledged his loyalty.
“When you return, if anyone asks… you know what to say, right?”
Ren Jingshu lowered her gaze. In this world, women were judged harshly. Having been taken away by these men—even if nothing had happened—others would still look at her with suspicion unless there was a proper explanation.