Mountains and giant beasts, cabins in the woods

As darkness fell, the three people and the wolf were still on their way home.

The number of people in the mountains has increased, and they are hunting sparrows, frogs, and squirrels in groups to prepare more food for the New Year in the kitchen.

The passing of the ice cream amazed the hunters, wondering which family was so grand that even their livestock were dressed up.

The sky was overcast, with no stars or moon, only rolling dark clouds.

Tiny snowflakes, rising from the unknown high sky, fall silently into the forest.

Liu Xingmo and Liu Sanniang embraced Su Mali on either side, bouncing on the soft cushions inside the bunker.

"Can you loosen your grip a little? I can't breathe," Sumali said coldly.

"No!" Liu Xingmo buried his head in his wife's neck and rubbed it gently. "You're so warm. I'll be like a louse on your body from now on, impossible to get rid of."

"What a disgusting statement, my great writer, your level has dropped lately."

"Where? This metaphor is so vivid and expressive, conveying the author's strong homesickness."

"Homesickness? Homesickness for what?"

"Hehe!" Liu San Niang said sweetly, "Mary, of course, is your paradise of gentle pleasures!"

"Awooo—!" The little gray wolf stopped and howled to the sky.

Looking out through the observation hole, Liu Xingmo saw that they had arrived at Tiegu Pass.

"Gah gah!" Fuhei happily pounced over from the city wall.

A majestic tiger, treading on the frost and snow, silently approached.

Liu Xingmo quickly crawled out of the bunker: "Manager Liu Daya! Did you receive my message?"

The tiger lowered its head, gazing at the little man on the wolf cub's back, and silently transmitted its thoughts: "That Tie Yuanying is the spy I sent."

"Huh?" Liu Xingmo was suddenly startled.

I never expected things to turn out this way. An idiot was sending another idiot to do the work of a smart person like a spy.

Can it work?

Oh well, maybe things will turn out the other way around, and we can actually keep the other party in the dark. Let's just leave it at that.

Liu Xingmo forced a smile: "You are truly a master strategist! I imagine we'll soon be able to wipe out the Yin people of the Xing'an Mountains!"

"Well said, hahaha!" Tiger grinned, laughing heartily. "By the way, the detective parts in the first few chapters of your novel were really well written, but there's one flaw."

"What's wrong? Tell me."

"It's too short! It should be longer; how can it be enough to watch?"

"Well, I also need to complete the tasks for the other elders... That's all, Steward Liu, I'll be going now! It's almost the weekend, I need to go back and finish my manuscript." Liu Xingmo ran off in a panic.

He then realized that he hadn't yet revealed the details of the battle against the foreign enemy. He could only go back and write a report, asking the curator to submit it to his superiors.

Rushing to write a report, what kind of nonsense is this?

It was already late at night when we returned to Mushroom Castle.

Several large houses, their roofs covered with a layer of snow, looked like a few white mushrooms.

Liu Xingmo put down his things and first looked after his contracted beast and contracted seedling.

Inside the animal pen, Baohei, along with six insects, huddled together in a pile of dry hay.

The food that had been prepared in advance in the bucket was all gone.

I can't tell how they've been coping these past few days, but it doesn't matter. Turtles and insects are very resistant to hunger; they can go several days without food.

"Gah gah!" Fuhei shouted, showing off his experience.

Baohei didn't seem to care much. It lazily approached its owner and conveyed a few thoughts.

A pitch-black cave, hard rocks...

Liu Xingmo chuckled upon seeing this: "You still want to go to the mines? Haven't you had enough hard labor?"

Bao Hei shrank back, his large, black bean-like eyes revealing a single word—cold!

"Alright, alright! I already considered this floor; the room has heating pipes installed." Liu Xingmo pointed to the corner.

Rows of bamboo poles of uniform thickness are connected end to end by horizontal pipes and neatly laid on the cement ground.

Baohei seemed to understand, but not quite. He quickly ran over and lay down firmly on the bamboo pole floor.

Liu Xingmo used a pitchfork to scoop up the withered grass and piled it on a bamboo pole: "You, move over a bit, make some room for your companions too."

First, retrieve food from the warehouse and feed it to the contracted beasts one by one.

Then they went to a special room in the attic and lit a special boiler.

Flames roared and boiling water bubbled.

High-temperature steam travels through specially designed pipes, through the floor, and into the lower animal enclosures. It then flows through sealed bamboo poles, transferring warmth to the turtles, crows, scorpions, centipedes, beetles, and other creatures nestled in the haystacks…

This winter will no longer be cold.

Liu Xingmo then visited the mushroom cultivation greenhouse.

In the dark cellar.

The seven clusters of *Tai Sui* fungi seemed to be very well-behaved, absorbing the nutrient solution according to the plan each day, and there was still some left in the bucket at this time.

The nutrient solution heated in the boiler was poured in, and the colorful meatballs stretched comfortably in the warm water.

"This room doesn't seem cold. Is it the heat from decomposition and fermentation?" Liu Xingmo asked.

Mingye stretched one of his tentacles upwards and said, "That's partly true, but the main source of heat is from above."

Yang Hua said anxiously, "Master, please go check on Huo Yun! The average temperature today is a little lower than yesterday; something might be wrong with it."

The third layer from the top.

The pointed, domed roof was also made of solid concrete. The air in this spacious, enclosed room was somewhat hot and dry.

A large, fiery red flower, radiating waves of heat, bloomed in the darkness. It turned out to be individual wood ear mushrooms, clustered together like a peony flower cast from molten iron.

The flower's roots, or fine mycelium, flickered in and out of existence amidst a mass of black charcoal, struggling to draw upon the last of its nutrients.

It turned out to be the case.

Liu Xingmo swept away the charcoal slag, added sawdust and withered leaves, and poured in several kinds of nutrient solutions.

The mycelium, like earthworms in the soil, wriggles and weaves in the new soil, absorbing enough nutrients, gradually brightening from dark red, like a network of blood vessels, and releasing heat as the flower-like heart beats continuously.

Great, the mushroom cultivation greenhouse is also fine.

When Liu Xingmo returned to the attic, Liu San Niang had also finished her work on the farm.

The three wolf cubs and two large snakes were well taken care of, and the foxtail grass went into hibernation.

Liu Xingmo was by the boiler, adding another shovelful of coal to the fire, and then stepping on the blower a few more times.

The cold wind outside entered the furnace through the pipes, blowing against the raging flames. Snowflakes in the wind fell on the coal, melting and evaporating in an instant.

Two pipes extend from the high-pressure steam boiler above the flames, one going downwards into the animal pen and the other horizontally into the bedroom.

Liu Xingmo reached out and touched the pipes to confirm that there was no problem with the heating. The boiler was also scientifically designed and would not cause a carbon monoxide accident.

Great, I'm going to stay home comfortably this year!

I slept soundly through the night.

The next day, there was no doorbell, and the morning was quiet and peaceful.

Because the workshop was shut down, the businessmen did not come to disturb them.

After Liu Xingmo got up, he found that Su Mali was not in bed.

Upon entering the study, I found the alchemist burning the midnight oil, studying diligently by the light of an oil lamp.

On the draft paper on the desk was a huge pentagram drawn on it, with complicated annotations next to it.

Atlas of Deities!