Hearing Jiang Yan’s gentle voice, Yu Renwan, following not far behind her, involuntarily shuddered.
She much preferred Jiang Yan’s usual cold and disdainful tone—it felt far friendlier.
Jiang Yan didn’t notice Yu Renwan’s reaction.
All her attention was focused on the chick and the lamb.
Now, hearing they were to eat their own kind’s corpses, both tiny animals gagged reflexively, almost throwing up all the wheat bran they’d nibbled.
They looked at Jiang Yan in utter disbelief.
Jiang Yan smiled, jostling the lamb carcass on her shoulder, and patted the shriveled chick corpses in her pocket.
“I won’t let you go hungry.”
Both animals visibly slowed their steps.
Shen Xiaoxiao, horrified by Jiang Yan’s morbid pronouncement, whispered in a lower voice, “Isn’t this basically forcing them to eat their own flesh?!”
She added even more quietly:
“—Can I watch?”
Led by Jiang Yan, Shen Huanhuan dragged two lamb carcasses as well. She struggled to drag them along, then glanced at her sister: “A bit of humanity left, but not much.”
[Some official commentary(?)]
[LMAO, how are you all not keeping in character in such a terrifying scene??]
[Exactly! Teacher Wang’s drooling, then there’s the sheep with a human face, and those baby animals are clearly wrong…]
[But it’s Jiang Yan! For some reason, I feel super safe QAQ]
Jiang Yan’s words just now had all served a purpose.
Seeing both animals hesitate, drifting suicide urges floating above their heads, Jiang Yan confirmed that they truly resisted eating their own kind’s corpses.
She’d noticed it earlier in the chicken and sheep pens.
Almost all the dead young animals there had starved. The survivors were on the verge of collapse, yet none of the dead had been pecked or gnawed—not a bite of flesh or scrap of wool was missing, only dust and a few footprints. Normal animal behavior was no excuse: starving animals will try anything, but here, none had touched their own dead.
And in an energy field, it made no sense that these baby animals could only eat bran; they should be able to eat meat, even human flesh.
—The broken pearl hairpin, and the girl’s face on the back of the mother sheep, proved it.
So, by rule design, the young animals absolutely must not touch their own kind’s corpses—not even a lick or a peck. But, if given the chance, they could attack humans and eat them.
With that logic sorted, Jiang Yan considered the next point.
To test her theory, she looked at her own chick.
Under Jiang Yan’s gaze, the chick scooted several steps back.
“What are you dodging?”
Jiang Yan’s lips curled in a smile. She crooked her finger: “Come here and clean my shoes.”
Chick: ?
“Weren’t you the one most eager to clean my shoes just now?” Jiang Yan’s smile felt like a spring breeze. “From now on, only you can clean my shoes, because you’re my favorite.”
But the chick felt no warmth, just dread.
Jiang Yan squatted down: “It’s fine. The chick I like always gets special privileges. I’m willing to wait for you.”
Time passed before the chick, finally, trembling, shuffled over and lay on Jiang Yan’s shoe.
Jiang Yan looked down at the light little bird, confirming her guess.
—Its weight hadn’t changed.
She picked it up, wiped her shoe with its wing: “Aren’t you getting any bigger?”
“Is my heavy love wasted on you?”
The chick shot her a resentful glare, scrambled off her shoe, and left.
On its way out, it even spat at Jiang Yan. Spat at the lamb, too.
Lamb: “……”
That confirmed the second point.
According to Rule Three of the Student Code, chicks and lambs grow by two conditions: sufficient food, and sufficient patience.
Earlier, when Jiang Yan scattered bran and chose her chick, she’d shown no emotion, but because there was enough food, the chick grew.
Earlier, the man had only fed the mother sheep a little bran, but because all along he’d lavished love, patience, and longing on her, the sheep had grown alarmingly quickly.
So, either food or patience, alone, can make the babies grow.
But Jiang Yan figured she’d also just now shown “patience.”
Her words had been harsh, but her tone had been all gentle patience, and even her heart was suffused with kindness—yet the chick hadn’t grown. Thus, this “patience” must be mutual.
Meaning: my patience must be felt and believed by you.
If the animals don’t perceive it, no matter how well you fake, they will not grow.
Lastly…
She looked at her lamb.
The lamb visibly shivered.
Jiang Yan: “Come here, sweetheart.”
Lamb: …..
The chick looked on gleefully.
The lamb had no idea what Jiang Yan wanted—it stayed put.
Jiang Yan said softly, “Best get over here, or I’ll be late for the cow-rearing class.”
The lamb jolted as if from primal fear; its eyes widened in terror, pupils contracting, and it shot over to Jiang Yan, who simply stroked its head: “You’re not as well-behaved as the chick.”
Lamb: ….
Chick spat once more.
Watching such human-like expressions, Jiang Yan turned away with a smile.
She’d gathered sufficient information. Shouldering her lamb carcass again, she strode quickly to catch up to the front of the group.
With the twins and Yu Renwan distracting Teacher Wang, Jiang Yan’s lag went unnoticed.
Seeing her return, Yu Renwan hurried over to ask what happened.
Jiang Yan: “Nothing—just testing some rules.”
“I’ll share my conclusions. Take them with a grain of salt—could be wrong, so be flexible.”
The three nodded eagerly, Yu Renwan even taking out her notebook, eyes shining, ready to jot down notes.
Jiang Yan found their faces unexpectedly funny.
So did the trio.
Shen Xiaoxiao glanced around: “Are we looking too hungry for knowledge…?”
Shen Huanhuan coughed, Yu Renwan shrank her shoulders.
Jiang Yan: “It’s fine. I’ll need your help later tonight. For now, let’s focus on the rules—I’ll keep this brief.”
“Given the Xiangxi folk background and the Student Code, this whole setup is a blend of ethnographic folklore and rule-based horror. The fun of rule-based worlds lies in how the rules battle and override each other—some are supreme, some are equal, but each new course like Cow Rearing will have its own rules. Some of these may supersede the Student Code.”
“Cows here have the highest status—even above students, chickens, sheep, even teachers. So, when rules conflict and no clever solution presents, always defer to the highest rule in Cow Rearing Class.”
“A while ago, Yu Renwan’s ability found that slip of paper, which told us never to let chickens and sheep grow up or live too long. From what I just tested, the best way is to patiently feed them their own kind’s corpses.”
“They’ll most likely spit it out, but that’s their problem. You’ve technically fulfilled Rule Three and still kept their size under control.”
“But there will be a downside. Cow Rearing Class, or nighttime in general, will certainly feature temptations prompting us to feed and raise chickens and sheep—to get their protection. For ordinary people, this would be almost impossible to resist. We’ll likely see some survivors in bad shape—those are the consequences of raising chickens and sheep. Save who you can, but odds are against it.”
“I don’t think saving them will work, because the spirit behind this place is trying to kill as many as possible—it will tempt people to raise chickens and sheep, while setting rules against it. For instance…”
Shen Huanhuan asked, “Such as?”
Jiang Yan: “For example, maybe cow feed will turn out to be baby chickens and lambs, making adult ones useless; maybe we only get one shot at the coop and pen before Cow Rearing Class ends.”
She explained, “When I teased the lamb just now, its reaction to ‘cow’ was like prey hearing a natural predator—an opponent with overwhelming status. It can’t resist, only submit.”
“But who knows when the cow will get hungry? If it wanted chicken or lamb at the outset, the whole mission would be meaningless, so it’ll probably draw out over several days. In the meantime, protect your chosen ones.”
At that, Jiang Yan gave a blood-chilling smile: “Protect them from being stolen, then patiently and gently torment them.”
“Understood?”
Three heads nodded in unison.
Jiang Yan: “Let’s move.”
Not far ahead, Lan Lin’s team was left dumbfounded.
They’d heard Jiang Yan call her teammates over, so they, too, slowed down. She was aware but, recalling He Qingyuan’s message about teams not sabotaging each other or hiding clues, she hadn’t lowered her voice—effectively sharing her reasoning.
Mint Candy was shocked: “What did I just miss?”
“This round’s only just started; how is she already this deep into the puzzle?”
Yiliang pondered, “I told you: no solo missions, no ranking, but she’s captain—no way the Bureau gave her that just for her skill set.”
Zhang Du: “She’s definitely ruthless.”
“She’s thinking about sacrificing the survivors before she’s even met them.”
Lan Lin shot him a look: “Don’t talk nonsense.”
“She only said saving them was unlikely, not that she wouldn’t try.”
The cowshed was just ahead; Teacher Wang turned to scold the chattering group.
“You sure can talk, huh? You’re about to meet the cow spirit, so show respect. You! You! And you! Fix your clothes—don’t dirty the cow spirit’s eyes!”
The called-out twins straightened their collars and tugged their shirts.
Teacher Wang, satisfied, turned, bowed low, and knocked reverently on the cowshed door.
The cowshed was one long row, multiple shelters pressed together, separated by thin straw walls.
With Teacher Wang’s knocks, reverberations thudded through all the sheds.
At last, the door opened from within.
A man crawled out. His knees were scraped raw, his elbows bled, but he seemed numb to pain, face alight with crazed devotion. On his back rode a black calf with seven or eight jittering eyes on its face, all turned curiously onto the crowd.
Teacher Wang groveled in the dirt.
Though huge and corpulent, she moved with sudden agility; her crude, rasping voice turned sweet and childish, like a little girl singing:
“I thank the cow spirit for all you’ve given. The lambs are lovely; the chicks are sweet. They love me, they love me, for I am the child of the cow spirit. They love me, they love me.
“I stroke them with my hands; I adore them with my heart. They protect me, they protect me, for I am the child of the cow spirit. They protect me, they protect me.
“I fled the evil gods, hid in your embrace; if the cow spirit is hurt, I shall wander, lost.”
As she sang, the calf’s eyes vanished one by one.
Until its face was left smooth, empty of all eyes.
“Come in,” it said.