Farming Games are All About Grinding

After realizing he'd been busted, the chicken quickly plastered a look of obedience onto its face and rubbed its neck against Han Qiwu.

Cute.jpg.

"Alright, spill. How did you manage to hide those Flame Bird legs before?" Han Qiwu stashed away the two Flame Bird legs as he continued holding the chicken upside down, questioning it.

You have to admit, the two bird legs on its body right now were pretty substantial.

If fried, they'd definitely smell amazing.

"Bawk bawk bawk!"

The chicken flailed its small bird head around in the air for a while but still couldn't explain exactly what happened.

"Here, show me." Han Qiwu released the chicken, crossed his arms, and smiled devilishly while making the request.

With no choice, the chicken let its head droop in defeat and sulked off toward a nearby nest belonging to a speckled hen.

In that nest lay a freshly laid egg.

Once at the egg, the chicken deftly extended its claw into the nest, reaching under the egg of the speckled hen and pulling out yet another Flame Bird leg.

Again, it was another [Not fresh but unspoiled Flame Bird leg].

"You're a sneaky little thing, aren't you?" Han Qiwu grinned wryly in amusement.

No wonder he'd never been able to find the Flame Bird legs before—it all made sense now! The chicken had been hiding them directly beneath the eggs. This caused the system glow of the two items to overlap perfectly.

Because Han Qiwu always picked up the eggs in a rush, he'd never noticed there was additional glow coming from underneath them.

By observing Han Qiwu's habits, the chicken had successfully mastered the art of repeated stealth stash techniques.

"Alright, take out the rest of the Flame Bird legs yourself."

Before Han Qiwu even finished his sentence, the chicken had already lined up four more [Not fresh but unspoiled Flame Bird legs] neatly on the ground.

"You've been eating well lately, haven't you? Managed to drop this many legs???" Han Qiwu commented, sounding a bit stunned.

Guess he'd gone too easy on it before.

Turns out, the chicken had untapped potential!

Counting these four, Han Qiwu now had six Flame Bird legs. Completing the task was definitely in the bag.

Still, Han Qiwu pondered for a moment. Since he didn't currently have any high-quality materials on hand, using this crafting opportunity right away would feel like a waste.

Better to save up ingredients and wait till there's something worth using them on before turning in the task.

After all, Flame Bird legs wouldn't degrade any further while stored in the inventory box.

Seeing Han Qiwu silently lost in thought, the chicken started to panic internally.

Oh no, oh no, the boss said I've been eating well—does that mean he's planning to stew me??

I don't want to become chicken soup or roast chicken!

"Whirr whirr whirr!"

The chicken flapped its wings furiously and flew up, squawking loudly in the direction of the nearby duck coop.

"What now?" Han Qiwu walked over and picked up the chicken again.

Considering the task was complete, he didn't intend to give the chicken too hard a time.

However, while the death penalty could be waived, it wouldn't escape a lighter punishment.

Truth be told, this chicken was overly plump. It needed a few days of fasting.

Otherwise, if it really did end up in the pot next time, the grease content would be over the top.

"Bawk bawk bawk?"

The chicken pointed toward the duck coop, then opened its beak and spat out a small flame to gesture that it could teach the ducklings to spit fire.

The fire it spat wasn't very big, about the size of those flame tricks you'd see at temple fairs as a kid. It flared briefly and disappeared.

Small as it was, fire is still fire.

This was actually a pretty impressive performance!

"You can spit fire now?!" Han Qiwu exclaimed in shock.

Finally, something vaguely resembling a Flame Bird!

Looks like the chicken hadn't been idle lately—its skill set was looking pretty impressive.

"Seeing as you've shown sincerity, I'll give you an opportunity to redeem yourself." Han Qiwu carried the chicken over to the entrance of Hongyan Tower, opened the door, and released a few ducklings.

"Cluck cluck cluck!"

Touching down on the ground, the chicken sneaked a glance at Han Qiwu, then puffed up its chest and clucked toward the nearby ducklings.

The ducklings seemed to already be familiar with the chicken. After greeting Han Qiwu, they started gathering around the chicken and waddling about.

"Whoosh!"

The chicken spat out a large flame onto the nearby open ground.

"Quack quack quack quack!"

"Quack quack quack quack!"

Upon seeing this, the ducklings cheered excitedly, their little bodies swaying side to side.

"Great! Do it again!" Han Qiwu clapped his hands with a grin.

The chicken: "..."

"Whoosh!"

After spitting fire over ten times, the chicken's throat was nearly scorched. It shook its head pitiably, begging for mercy.

It couldn't spit anymore.

"Whoosh!"

Inspired by the chicken's actions, the ducklings began spitting one by one too.

"Good performance. Now for today, just teach them twenty more rounds, then you can rest. For the next two days, no eating. Time to lose some weight and rebalance your body. Next time, if you pull another stunt like this, straight to the oven you go." Han Qiwu patted the chicken with a grin.

"Bawk..."

The chicken nodded tearfully.

Luckily it was only two days without food—if it pushed through, it could survive.

Never again would it engage in shady, losing deals like this.

"Quack quack quack!"

Under the relentless urging of the ducklings, the chicken reluctantly picked up its raspy voice and began spitting fire once more.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

"Quack quack quack!"

Han Qiwu collected the Flame Bird legs and returned to the house, grabbing a melon to munch on.

After finishing the melon, he suddenly remembered something. "Wait—today's the book return deadline."

He glanced at the time: 9:50 PM.

The museum should still be open, right?

Grabbing the book, Han Qiwu hurriedly hopped onto his bike and headed toward the museum.

About ten minutes later, Han Qiwu sighed in relief upon noticing the floating eyeball still patrolling above the museum.

For once, that giant eye seemed somewhat appealing to him.

He pushed open the museum doors and got straight to the point: "Zack, I'm here to return the book."

"Ahh, my dear friend, I thought you might be too attached to return it. So, did the story's friendship move you to tears? Feel like heading home to hug your mom now?" Zack, dressed in a tailcoat, hopped theatrically while trying to stir up sentiment.

"Not at all, thanks," Han Qiwu replied flatly. "By the way, quick question—what time do you close at night?"

"The night is merely another work environment for me. Why sleep long in life before death?" Zack wagged a finger, took the book titled *Scrambling Like a Pig*, and gestured toward the adjacent basement entrance. "Want to borrow another book? I've got fresh gems on display."

When Han Qiwu didn't immediately reply, Zack smirked mischievously and added, "If you're willing to spend a little cash, I could dig up *those kinds* of books too."

"No, thanks," Han Qiwu quickly waved him off. "Just lead me down, please."

What kind of joke was that? He definitely didn't want to provoke any mysterious crab-like creatures.

Seeing Han Qiwu decline, Zack shrugged. "Alright, if you change your mind, do let me know."

As they entered the basement, Zack surprisingly refrained from recommending more books, simply escorting Han Qiwu with a smile to the library entrance.

"Could it be Zack turned over a new leaf?" Han Qiwu wondered skeptically as he stepped into the A-section of the library.

The air in the library remained refreshingly clean, likely filled with negative ions or something.

Casting a glance at the shelves, Han Qiwu froze.

The neatly arranged books on the shelf bore three titles:

*The Circus Without Horses*, *The Circus Without Acts*, *The Circus Without a Troupe.*

Han Qiwu: "..."