82: Chapter 82 The Covering Festival

A small squad leader named Xi belonged to the Qin City Garrison.

The Garrison basically had no combat missions; all day long, it was just miscellaneous tasks like guarding the city gates and patrolling the city. There wasn't much merit to be earned, making promotion difficult, but there was plenty of free time.

The Qin Army had a strict military merit System for promotion, in which combat merit was the highest.

Since the Garrison didn't have much combat merit, it could only rely on daily training to gain meager military merit.

As a squad leader, Xi held the lowest rank: Gongshi.

In the Qin State, regardless of whether one was a scholar, farmer, artisan, or merchant, everyone could obtain a rank (Note: This is the Planet of the Dead, not Earth), and different ranks came with different statuses and benefits.

Although Gongshi was the lowest rank in the Qin State, one could still receive a monthly salary of 100 stone coins from the government and be granted a five-mu plot of self-cultivated land.

As a Gongshi, Xi could be considered to have a small amount of assets.

But other than a small house in the city, Xi had nothing else.

Furthermore, he was all alone and had no wife, and as a System soldier, he naturally had no parents. So, although this life was free, there was no motivation; apart from his duties, he spent his days idling about.

Because of this life situation, Xi got to know many good brothers from different tribes, and in their spare time, they would go hunting and playing together.

This day happened to be Xi's day off, and his bad friend from the Rabbit tribe, Tu Huang, also came knocking, pulling him away mysteriously.

"Tu Huang, I have things to do today. Where are we going?" Xi had originally wanted to sleep in, and being dragged out by Tu Huang, he was immediately somewhat reluctant.

"Good things. Just come with me." There seemed to be an inexplicable smile in Tu Huang's eyes, and he seemed extremely excited, even hopping and skipping as he walked.

Because of the Spirit Light Bacteria, the Death Qi on the Planet of the Dead had long since begun to dissipate, and the closer one got to Qin City, the more obvious the changes became.

Some weeds had already begun to stretch their supple bodies, tenaciously pushing their way out of the soil.

They had already developed an initial immunity to low concentrations of Death Qi and would no longer be eroded by it.

And at noon, when the sunlight was strongest, there was already sunlight that could break through the thick clouds and shine onto the earth, allowing the nascent green plants to tenaciously come to life.

Relying on the existence of Qin City, a large number of nearby tribes also survived, and the annual Grass Covering Festival, which originally took place during peaceful times, had also begun early.

Each tribe needed the addition of new life, and working with Qin City made it easy to support new life.

Moreover, houses could provide shelter from the cold and protection against wild beasts.

Under such favorable conditions, the survivors of various races were naturally restless; after all, these people were all young and able-bodied men and women.

Thanks to the large amount of work provided by Qin City, dozens of tribes were scattered like stars in the sky around Qin City.

Under the agreement of the Clan Chiefs of each tribe, the Grass Covering Festival was held.

The agreed-upon location was a small valley about ten miles from Qin City.

This small valley was already covered with lush green grass, and there were enough small woods and flat land nearby, making it the perfect place to celebrate the Grass Covering Festival.

Tu Huang and Xi naturally wouldn't go empty-handed.

They first went to the market to buy some food like meat, steamed buns, and cabbage, then changed into beautiful new clothes, and also carefully groomed their fur.

Dressed up like grooms, the two of them met many young men and women dressed in the same way along the way; even the poorest people would try their best to make themselves look clean and tidy.

Unlike Tu Huang, Xi, as a junior officer, also had his own sword, which made Tu Huang extremely envious.

In troubled times, sufficient strength was more likely to attract favor.

The two of them were considered late arrivals.

When they reached the valley, it was already filled with laughter and cheerful voices.

And Xi was dazzled.

With sufficient food, clean water for bathing, and the embellishment of bright clothes and fresh flowers, these beautiful young girls of various races were overflowing with the aura of youth, and their various skin tones shone with an alluring luster.

Among them were human-like beings such as Cat-girls, Rabbit-girls, and Pig-girls, as well as beings with significant alien characteristics like Lizardmen and Snake-people.

There were also strange life forms that were completely different from humans, like Tree-people.

These alien girls varied in beauty and size.

But the species that fit Xi's aesthetic standards naturally wouldn't be life forms like the Tree-people girls, and the upright Xi wouldn't like the Snake-people girls with long tails either, even though they were very enchanting.

However, Cat-girls and the like were similar to normal humans, and because aesthetic standards differed, some girls that Xi thought were beautiful were actually considered the ugliest, and no one paid attention to them.

While walking, Tu Huang had already set his sights on a strong Pig-girl and offered the food he had brought; this was called "food offering."

After the food offering, if the other party fancied you, they would eat your food.

If the other party picked up your food and walked to the side, it meant they were interested in you.

The Pig-girl seemed to have taken a liking to Tu Huang; after eating the food, she took Tu Huang into a small grove to the side for in-depth communication. Naturally, Tu Huang didn't forget Xi, turning back to flash a lewd smile.

Xi rolled his eyes and found a patch of grass to sit down on by himself.

He didn't know much about these customs; he only remembered Tu Huang telling him that when meeting a female he liked, he should offer his food.

Everywhere were beautiful women, leaving him dazzled, and he didn't know who to offer his food to.

As a soldier, Xi naturally had a certain air about him in how he walked and sat, and coupled with the fact that he was one of the most popular Qin people recently and also a warrior, he was even more well-received.

In just a few seconds, many burly and broad-waisted beautiful females approached him, wanting to eat his food.

But he protected his food well and didn't let those females succeed.

Seeing that the momentum was wrong, and that if he were careless and let some powerful female eat his food, he would have to marry her—thinking of those beautiful females with arms thick enough to run a horse on—he shuddered and realized he must take the initiative.

Xi grabbed a piece of meat; this was the most fragrant Qin-style grilled meat in Qin City, which would surely win a female's heart. Thinking of a beautiful female, he was restless. Having been lonely for over twenty years, was he finally going to end his single life?

After a while, couples entered the small grove one after another, and the number of people sitting on the ground grew fewer and fewer.

Because Xi had rejected too many people, fewer and fewer came to interact with him, and Xi's view suddenly opened up.

Bored, Xi looked around. Slow-moving Tree-people men and women were entangled together, shaking the colorful flowers on their bodies, letting yellow pollen fly everywhere. Many pollen grains fell onto each other's flowers, completing the mutual exchange between the Tree-people.

The communication between animal-like intelligent beings was much more indecent, the rising and falling sounds making Xi's heart race, yet he was helpless.

To distract himself, he had to look around randomly, trying to block out the surrounding sounds.

Not far away, a slender girl was squatting quietly, holding her knees with both hands.

There was fluffy white fur on her ears; they were a pair of beautiful beast ears.

Seeing the faint vertical marks above her lips, it was not hard to tell that she was a Rabbit-person.

She was not as strong as other female Rabbit-people, could not run very fast when encountering danger, and did not seem able to healthily give birth to a group of little lives, so although she had arrived early, no one paid her any mind.

But Xi was dazzled.

Apart from the traces of beasts on their ears and tails, the skin of Rabbit-people was exactly the same as humans, or even fairer.

This little Rabbit-girl had a pretty face and a slender figure; looking at her from the perspective of civilized human aesthetics, she was a beauty of above-average quality.

In that case, leave her to me.

Xi chuckled, picked up the meat in front of him, and rushed over eagerly, afraid that someone else would dash out and snatch this little Rabbit-girl away.