"Oh my God, stop flexing, all of you! I'm really so jealous; if I had powers like that, I'd wake up laughing even in my sleep," Si Lu sighed as she spoke.
Of course, she wanted such amazing abilities where you could openly use your powers without holding back. But unfortunately, she didn't have that luxury.
The way they were talking—each and every one of them—was just too showy, too much of a humblebrag. If this weren't the world she was familiar with, she might have thought they were deliberately trying to make her envious.
"Alright, alright, I'm hungry. I need to eat something," Si Lu said as she rubbed her stomach.
The show was over, and now it was time to fill her belly.
"Lulu, come here, the shrimp is ready. There's also meat broth and shrimp soup—anything you want, we have it," Bai Di said. Hei Yao, who was sitting next to the fire, smiled warmly at Si Lu.
He had already peeled some shrimp for her earlier, and as he watched her enjoying herself, a small smile appeared in his eyes.
But something was missing; she didn't seem as happy as before. Hei Yao knew that Si Lu was envious of their innate talents and abilities.
What Si Lu didn't know was that her spatial ability, with its planting feature, was actually the most incredible and sought-after of all.
"Mm, mm, I want shrimp, and I also want some grilled meat," Si Lu said.
Cheng Mo then carried Si Lu to sit by the fire. Of course, the shrimp and fish outside hadn't been dealt with yet, but that could wait. The fish and shrimp weren't going anywhere, especially since the bamboo house was surrounded by a one-meter-high bamboo wall. No matter how much they flopped around, they wouldn't get back into the water—they were trapped on the bamboo raft, struggling in vain. It didn't matter whether they were dealt with sooner or later; right now, Cheng Mo was more focused on making sure Si Lu was well-fed.
"Lulu, take a look. We made that little bamboo board you mentioned. We made two sets, just in case one gets damaged, you'll have a spare," Cheng Mo said, looking at Si Lu.
"Mm, you're always so thoughtful," Si Lu nodded as she ate the shrimp that Hei Yao had peeled for her.
Cheng Mo looked at her puffed-up cheeks as she spoke while eating and couldn't help but find her adorably cute.
How could his little female be this cute?
"What's that little bamboo board for?" Song Zhan asked curiously, glancing at the small bamboo board.
He was really curious about it, wanting to see what Si Lu planned to do with it.
And it wasn't just Song Zhan—everyone else was equally curious.
"Wait, I'll teach you all how to play. It's really fun," Si Lu laughed.
But right now, eating came first.
She was too hungry.
"Alright, we'll all play together afterward," Hei Yao smiled.
Watching her being so adorable, he fed her a small piece of meat as well. It was rare to see her eating so heartily.
After the meal, Si Lu began teaching everyone how to play the animal battle game.
Si Lu had Bai Di prepare a medium-sized animal hide, and then had Ah Mo draw a clear square grid on it, followed by several vertical and horizontal lines inside the square, turning it into twenty-four small squares.
"Look, there are twenty-four squares here, which matches the number of bamboo tiles in a set. All we need to do is shuffle the bamboo tiles, and then place them face-down," Si Lu explained. "Then, the first player flips over one bamboo tile. The tile has either a star or a moon symbol. If you flip a star, all the corner pieces with stars will belong to you. If you flip a moon, then all the moon pieces are your opponent's. After that, the game begins, and you start eating each other's pieces, just like the food chain I explained earlier."
Si Lu spoke slowly and carefully, worried that they might not understand. She wanted to make sure they could keep up.
"Got it," Hei Yao nodded seriously, understanding what she was explaining.
Cheng Mo also nodded in understanding.
"Ah Yao, let's play a round first and show them. Once they see, they'll know how to play," Si Lu said with a smile.
She could tell that Hei Yao fully understood the game.
Of course, understanding the rules and actually playing the game were two different things.
"Alright!" Hei Yao smiled gently.
He hadn't expected Si Lu to choose him as her first opponent, which made him really happy inside.
"You go first and flip a bamboo tile," Si Lu said to Hei Yao, letting him make the first move.
"Okay, I won't hold back then," Hei Yao nodded, extending his slender hand to flip the nearest tile.
The tile revealed a rabbit, and under the rabbit was a small crescent moon.
"This means that all the tiles with crescent moons are yours, and you can use your tiles to eat mine. But of course, it goes both ways—you need to have stronger animals to eat the opponent's pieces," Si Lu explained.
After that, she reached out to flip her own tile. The tile she flipped wasn't too far from Hei Yao's.
As a result, she also flipped over a moon-marked tile.
"See? I flipped one of your pieces. You take turns flipping one tile at a time, just like taking one step at a time," Si Lu explained again.
The people around her watched intently, listening carefully.
"Lulu, you flipped over one of Hei Yao's tiles. But since you flipped it, isn't it still his piece?" Song Zhan asked, a bit confused.
"Of course, any tile marked with a crescent moon belongs to him, regardless of who flips it over. It's still his piece," Si Lu explained.
"There are only two sides in this game. Since he flipped the first moon-marked tile, all the moon tiles are his for this round. It's like they're his troops. The other star-marked tiles are mine, and although I haven't flipped any yet, they're already my pieces to use," Si Lu added.
"Got it. So, the first tile with a mark that's flipped determines which pieces belong to each player, and the rest are the opponent's," Song Zhan said, nodding in understanding.
"Exactly, that's how it works."
"Ah Yao, it's your turn," Si Lu said.
Hei Yao nodded and flipped another tile.
...
Si Lu and Hei Yao became more and more engrossed in the game.
"My tiger ate your rabbit, hahaha!" Si Lu laughed as she took away Hei Yao's rabbit tile from the board.
"Your deer is gone, Lulu," Hei Yao said with a smile, looking at Si Lu.
"Hmph, let's see—I'll eat your rat next!" Si Lu said, using her leopard to eat Hei Yao's rat tile.