Driven by curiosity, Lin Feng mentally tapped the "view details" option in his system.
A new panel unfolded before him:
[Individual Information: Musteline — Newbie Treasure Hoarder Weasel]
Level: 999 (Error @#￥%&)
Element Affinities: Anemo, Geo, Electro, Dendro, Hydro, Pyro, Cryo
Traits: [#%*&] Elemental Resistance MAX, Elemental Affinity MAX
Skills:Finale of the Day MAX, Mountainfall Cataclysm MAX, Musou: Severance MAX, Doomsday Residue MAX, Star-Sea Whale Traverse MAX, Judgment's End MAX, Absolute Froststorm MAX, Treasure Hoard Lv. 2
Emotion: Extremely Hungry
Friendliness: 100 (It's hungry.)
!!!
In that instant, Lin Feng fully understood exactly how he had died.
A big bro was indeed a big bro—this was the power of something beyond the world itself!
If King Deshret had something like this, what enemy could possibly remain unshattered?
Before, he used to scoff at cheaters.
Now?
He only wanted to say: Big bro, you're goddamn amazing.
The panic that had been gnawing at Lin Feng ever since being stranded in the rainforest washed away.
In its place came the warmth of having his survival finally guaranteed.
[Summon?]
[Warning: Cannot be retracted once summoned]
Yes / No
Without a sliver of hesitation, Lin Feng chose Yes.
"Squeak?"
A flash of light, and a perfectly ordinary-looking Newbie Treasure Hoarder Weasel appeared before him—gray and white fur, standing on two feet, tiny claws curled adorably in front of its chest.
It looked around, visibly confused about where it had ended up.
In the game, Lin Feng remembered there were three types of Treasure Hoarder Weasels:
Newbie Treasure Hoarder Weasel
Golden Treasure Hoarder Weasel
Grand Golden Treasure Hoarder Weasel
Aside from coloration, the biggest difference was the bag on their back—
the fancier and more conspicuous it was, the higher their status within the weasel tribe.
The one in front of him?
The plainest, most unremarkable newbie variant.
Back to the present.
Looking at the motionless musteline powerhouse, Lin Feng tentatively scratched the fur at the back of its neck.
"Squeak!"
The little creature's body trembled twice, but it didn't move.
"Uh… free activity?" he tried giving a simple command.
Boom.
The moment the words left his mouth, the weasel shot forward with a speed Lin Feng couldn't even register.
The resulting shockwave left his ears ringing.
When he finally snapped out of the dizziness—
his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Around him—with Lin Feng as the center point—
everything was disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Trees.
Grass.
Insects.
Even a rock.
As the tiny figure darted back and forth like a streak of light, the once lush rainforest transformed into something that looked… well, like it had been chewed bald by a rabid dog.
"STOP!!!"
Realizing something was horribly, catastrophically wrong, Lin Feng felt ten thousand alpacas stampede through his soul.
He shouted at the biological extinction machine as loudly as he could.
"Squeak?"
The weasel looked back at him mid–tree-root-excavation, a half-chewed lump still in its mouth.
Lin Feng let out a long breath of relief, grabbed the weasel by the scruff, and lifted it onto his shoulder. The weight hadn't changed—still as light as a small animal.
He glanced around.
Within a hundred-meter radius, there wasn't a single blade of grass left.
Only bare dirt.
Devastation.
He sighed weakly, then checked the weasel's panel again:
[Individual Information: Musteline — Newbie Treasure Hoarder Weasel]
Emotion: Half-full
Friendliness: 100 (It's grateful for the huge amount of food you provided.)
Seeing that it had gone from extremely hungry to merely half-full…
Lin Feng's freshly restored optimism evaporated.
—Confirmed.
This thing eats more than Paimon.
I can't afford to raise it.
Forget buying a courtyard in Liyue—
at this rate, he might starve to death first!
As for letting it keep devouring everything in sight?
Lin Feng was terrified that Little Grass God, the Seven Archons, and even Celestia would show up at his doorstep.
This kind of behavior would've landed him in jail in his previous world!
Just as Lin Feng was mourning his bleak future, a green mushroom standing out starkly amid the barren earth caught his attention.
"Eep— don't eat me! I'll give you a 'Burial Bloom'!"
Lin Feng lowered his gaze.
A small, trembling green creature stared back at him.
"…"
"…"
It was clearly a Aranara.
And it had been scared stiff by his eat-eat-eat-only weasel.
Feeling awkward, Lin Feng quickly said,
"Don't worry, we're not going to eat you. I promise!"
Recalling what he knew about Aranara from the game, he crouched down and spoke gently:
"My name is Lin Feng. The one on my shoulder is my companion.
We're not bad Nara—we just got lost in the forest.
What about you?"
The Aranara, who had been covering its eyes, stopped trembling and peeked at him.
Though not exactly a child, the current Lin Feng also didn't look like the dangerous "grown-ups" Aranara typically feared.
It visibly relaxed after seeing him.
"Fuu… good Nara. That's good. Just now, there was an invisible monster eating the forest… Aranara Lorma was very scared."
"It's fine now. The monster's gone. No one's going to eat you," Lin Feng lied through his teeth while glancing at the weasel, who looked back innocently.
Normally, Aranara—spirits of plants, akin to fairies—could converse with nature and wouldn't be easily fooled.
But given that the surroundings looked like even the seeds had been wiped out…
this was clearly not a normal situation.
"Mm. Lorma was very scared, but… little spores, little dandelions, the small ones of the forest said Nara Lin Feng stopped the monster.
A very very good Nara."
Embarrassed but seizing the chance, Lin Feng asked the first intelligent being he'd met for directions out of the forest.
"Bad Nara. Saw before. Three moon-lotus blooms ago. In the place where the sun wakes. Very dangerous. Lorma didn't dare go close."
Using the scraps of memory he had, Lin Feng translated the Aranara words:
Three days ago, to the east, it saw humans.
Dangerous ones—likely Treasure Hoarders or members of the Eremites with bad reputations.
Still, wandering aimlessly through the rainforest was worse.
With the weasel at his side, he had nothing to fear.
"Thank you, Lorma. If I get the chance, I'll visit Vanarana one day."
After thanking the little creature for the information, Lin Feng quickly departed.
Left behind, Lorma tilted its head in confusion when it heard Lin Feng mention "Vanarana."
It watched him disappear into the distance, then toddled to the foot of a surviving giant tree, jumped—
and vanished into the forest.
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