22: Is the Beast God truly benevolent?

Qiqi Pig was indeed soft and delicious, and the price wasn't too expensive—at least it should be much cheaper than the Sand Scorpion King eggs Li had brought. But Li seemed to know nothing about this.

She chewed the beans absentmindedly and pointed at the TV, asking.

"Li, why doesn't the River Valley have this?"

"There's no way; only towns have signals," Gaia was very happy to answer.

Li finished his own portion of food exceptionally quickly. Seeing that Tu Nan's movements were slow and the food hadn't decreased much after a long time, he used his own spoon to scoop some food and held it to Tu Nan's mouth.

"Eat first. After eating this, we can go buy some pig trotters in a while."

Tu Nan swallowed the food Li fed her with a face full of trust, then signaled Li to let her do it herself.

Seeing her finally eating obediently, Li nodded and explained Gaia's words from just now.

"Sand City's signal is maintained by the government; it's very expensive. The River Valley can't afford to install it."

Tu Nan thought of her Personal Terminal again.

Through her sleeve, she tapped the terminal worn on her left hand. Li understood immediately and told her.

"Once this leaves Sand City, it's only useful at close range. As for contact with Sand City, it can probably be done once a day."

In other words, if Li wasn't by her side, he could get her location information once every day, provided she was wearing this terminal.

Tu Nan finally finished eating and asked, "Then how do I contact you?"

Li froze; he finally realized he seemed to have forgotten one thing.

That was... he had entered his terminal number into Tu Nan's bracelet, but he hadn't let Tu Nan verify it.

In other words, this bracelet had always been useless to Tu Nan.

Fortunately, no more accidents had occurred.

Li remained silent, pulled Tu Nan's hand over, and said in a low voice, "Start pupil verification."

A thin line flashed on the bracelet.

"Look at it."

Li held the bracelet up in front of her. After a moment, "Beep, beep, beep," three rhythmic sounds came through.

"Done."

Li avoided Tu Nan's gaze, feeling a bit at a loss.

"I'll tell you about the other functions when we get back."

Tu Nan's smile was perfect, without a single change because of this, but it was just a common method she used to hide her internal speechlessness.

She had also tried messing with this thing for a long time recently. It had just been stuck coldly to her hand, as if it were only a tracker.

She had thought it required a specific instrument to use, like the card-swiping function when she first met Li.

It turned out it had just been forgotten.

Chaotic Beasts, perhaps, did indeed have a slight flaw, Tu Nan guessed randomly.

Her Children, having such genes, would they really be okay?

"Then add my number first."

Gaia leaned his head over with a grin. Under his simple operation, the two bracelets collided slightly, emitting a faint, long hum.

"This way, if we're both in the River Valley, you'll be able to find me."

Li was very displeased. "I said don't let others know."

Tu Nan asked back with a face full of innocence, "I thought Gaia was your follower. Can't I add him? Then I'll delete it."

"That's right, Li is my big brother, big brother!"

Gaia was so happy he was over the moon.

Li froze for a long while without speaking, once again defaulting to Tu Nan's words.

"Speaking of the River Valley, I've always wanted to ask." Taking advantage of Li's good mood and attitude, Tu Nan hurried to inquire, "There's water there, so why didn't Sand City build with that as the core? It's so scorching hot here."

This time Li spoke up. "The River Valley is only habitable periodically. No facilities can be built there."

What does this mean?

Seeing that Tu Nan's confusion was too obvious, Li continued to explain, "Every 3 to 5 years, there will always be an Insect Tide or rising water, both of which are catastrophic."

His face was cold and solemn. Clearly, even with martial power like his, he considered these things beyond human strength to resist.

"That's right," Gaia had only just finished savoring his food with enjoyment, and he described with lingering fear, "The most powerful insect on Sand Star isn't some Sand Scorpion; it's the Earth-traveling Worm!"

"They usually live underground in the sand. Only during the mating and egg-laying season do they gather in various underground caves."

"The River Valley is one of their nests. Those caves are their natural delivery rooms."

He curled his lips.

"And if they don't come, it's even worse. It means there's going to be a flood in the River Valley this time. A flood in the desert—isn't that absurd?"

"Then everything will be completely gone."

This honest Big Dog patted his chest and said to Li with relief, "You're lucky. The Earth-traveling Worms just came last year. For these two years, or at least this year, this place is peaceful. You probably knew this before choosing to come to the River Valley, right?"

Li nodded.

Tu Nan looked at Li, then at Gaia, and suddenly a strange thought popped into her head.

"You mean, the insects and the flood come in turns?"

Gaia nodded.

"They don't appear together? Why?"

"No reason, I don't know. For over a hundred years, everyone has been making a living like this... who knows?"

Gaia rolled his eyes.

"It's probably the beast god's only mercy to us."

"Giving us, who can't make a living in Sand City, an orderly set of rules?"

"Just like how no one can say for sure why Sand Star has Earth-traveling Worms. If we want to live, we can't ask too many questions."

Is that so? Tu Nan didn't quite believe it. She bit her lip.

Why she came here, she had nowhere to ask.

Why the System appeared, no one answered.

Everything that suddenly appeared in her life was a mystery.

And she, along with these Sand Star natives, was living by the same rules.

One day, she would figure it all out, but for now... she could only try her best to disguise herself to be like everyone else.

Survive first.

Tu Nan patted her chest with lingering fear and muttered fortunately, "I understand. The beast god's mercy was giving me Li. I won't go asking him why."

Tu Nan might indeed have to thank the beast god.

It allowed her to land in this world and gave her a second life, even though there were so many additional conditions.

Humbly begging for a deity's charity was something she had disdained in her previous life.

Not to mention now.

A trace of a smile appeared imperceptibly at the corner of Li's mouth; he was clearly pleased.

Gaia wailed, holding his head and leaning against the back of the chair.

"Stop showing off your love! Spare me, a single dog."