Mountains and giant beasts, cabins in the woods

In October, the golden oak forest is a paradise for squirrels.

Liu Xingmo donned the disguise of a red squirrel, keeping his body low to the ground and crawling on all fours, weaving among the branches of the ancient trees.

"Squeak—!" The locals greeted the strange strangers before returning to their busy autumn work.

Liu Xingmo has learned how to disguise himself as a red squirrel these days. Although it looks a bit strange, it's enough to fool the little animals.

The squirrel colony surrounding the Peach Blossom Spring forward base is quite large. It should be noted that the entire Aba Mountains are vast, many times the size of the Xing'an Mountains.

These squirrels, who reign supreme in the mountains and forests, have multiplied for countless years and have developed a certain social system.

Each oak tree is home to a family, who are responsible for driving away pests and harvesting acorns. Each family also has to pay taxes on time and hand over the best acorns to the tax collector.

There are even squirrels at the first-tier acquired beast level who, as warrior captains, recruit exceptionally strong civilian squirrels and train them.

The largest squirrels are even bigger than rabbits… that's quite a rapid rate of evolution. After all, a generation changes every year and a half, and over a hundred or two generations, superior breeds can be developed.

Liu Xingmo followed the scents and markings, walking along the public path on the branches.

Soon, they arrived at a withered, yellow dwarf oak tree on the edge of a cliff. The alchemical claws clung to the bark, climbed to the canopy, and crawled into a specially dug hole in the tree.

This tree was given to Liu Xingmo by the squirrel colony as his home.

I need to come and tend to it every day, and at least pay my taxes on time, otherwise the squirrels will keep bothering me endlessly.

Liu Xingmo quickly picked acorns, peeled off the hard shells, and piled the plump acorns together.

"Squeak!" A large squirrel with glossy red fur lay at the entrance of a tree hole, peering inside.

"Squeak," Liu Xingmo responded.

Red squirrels have a simple language system; a single syllable in the level tone means "to agree."

The big squirrel that came to visit had bulging cheeks. It darted into its tree hole, opened its mouth, and spat out several acorns.

Let's call this guy Dazhuang.

It was the strongest squirrel in the neighborhood, and it would provoke newcomers when it had nothing better to do, only to get a lesson for it.

It was not convinced and challenged the authorities several more times, but was eventually subdued.

It comes to see Liu Xingmo every day now.

Dazhuang helped peel the acorns. A short while later, there was more noise outside.

"Squeak~ squeak~ squeak!" Two long and one short squeaks signaled the arrival of the tax collector.

A large squirrel with bright red ears scurried into a tree hole, saw the acorns peeled on the ground, and wagged its fluffy tail contentedly.

The red-eared squirrel uses its nimble paws to pick up oily nuts and put them into the backpack woven from leaves and vines on its back.

"Squeak—!" A long howl sounded as a farewell. The tax collector quickly disappeared.

"Squeak..." Dazhuang nuzzled Liu Xingmo with its head, then ran to the entrance of the tree hole, looked back at its new friend, and tentatively called out, "Squeak..."

"Squeak!" The harsh howl was a sign of refusal.

Dazhuang raised and lowered its tail, its head sometimes looking at the autumn forest, sometimes at the dark tree hole.

"Squeak!" Liu Xingmo refused again.

Dazhuang crawled away.

Liu Xingmo roughly guessed what the squirrel-like strongman meant.

It's funny, actually. It wanted to recruit its powerful brothers to serve its country in the army. No, it should be recruiting rats to join the army.

Unfortunately, the wandering expert it met from out of town was actually a human with ill intentions.

Liu Xingmo sighed, climbed to the entrance of the tree hole, looked around for a while, and made sure that the squirrels were all far away.

These little guys, how should I put it?

It's outrageous.

The squirrels' leader is either a reincarnated being, naturally precocious, or a student who went to other ancient beast-race kingdoms for serious study, such as the Rat-Bat Kingdom, which would be a good choice.

In short, Liu Xingmo has now infiltrated this organization and is gradually gaining a grasp of the high-end combat power of the Squirrel Settlement.

The squirrels primarily cultivate the fire element, and there are first, second, and even third-tier squirrel warriors among them. As for those stronger, it is currently difficult to confirm. At the same time, it can be determined that there are innate prodigies belonging to the fire element deep within the settlement.

What should we do next?

Originally, I intended to be a ruthless invader. After all, it's only natural for humans to drive out wild beasts. That's just how human culture is.

However, after spending these days together, I've come to realize that these fiery red little creatures are intelligent beings with emotions. Their intelligence may be somewhat low, but the existence of intelligence cannot be denied.

Liu Xingmo is in a bit of a predicament.

Well, even if we don't treat the rats' lives lightly, this new continent offers endless opportunities. Let's wait and see.

Liu Xingmo left the tree hole.

Today, we're going to explore places we've never been before.

Green and black birds flew at treetop height, leading the way ahead.

The oddly shaped squirrels clumsily but quickly climbed the branches.

In the early autumn forest, fiery red, fuzzy creatures are everywhere. Acorns hang from the branches, the mountains' most generous gift.

One mountain, two mountains...

Gradually, fewer squirrels remained on the branches, and they moved to the edge of the settlement's territory.

From this point on, it became a truly wild world, where birds and beasts fought each other, and insects and snakes hibernated.

Liu Xingmo straightened up and went from crawling on all fours to running on two legs.

A surge of vital energy flowed through his body, providing an inexhaustible source of power.

He stomped hard on the branch, and the whole tree trembled, causing several trembling acorns to fall to the ground.

Liu Xingmo leaped a great distance in an instant, landing precisely on another thick branch.

Take off again.

Her body was as light as a bird, soaring through a sea of ​​oak trees.

Not far away, a waterfall roared. A lynx was hunting a hare, and a deer was drinking water by the lake. We explored this area last time.

The sun has just passed its zenith; there's still plenty of time. Today, let's venture further out and see what we can reach.

Liu Xingmo sprinted at full speed, crossing two more mountains in one breath.

He was panting, but he kept going and ran to the top of the third mountain.

He climbed up the tall oak tree until he reached the top of the vast world.

The western sun painted half the sky red with its light. Behind us, the mountains stretched to the horizon.

However, what is truly captivating is the vast, seemingly endless plain stretching before us.

The yellow grass mats looked like rolling waves in the strong wind.

Small white dots, in groups, wander across the grassland; those are free-range cattle and sheep.

A larger gray dot strolled leisurely around the pasture; it was probably the ruler of this land—a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Liu Xingmo carefully memorized the surrounding environment.

The squirrels' settlement on the western side of the Aba Mountains, near the territory of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, is actually a rather dangerous place.

If there is an opportunity in the future, we should move the Tai Sui to a safer cave.

The young man, who had come from afar, stood on the peak and gazed into the distance.

Shanlan lifted its hood, revealing its dark eyes, which reflected a world of red clouds, yellow mountains, and vast plains.