“Captain Yang Yi, I’m sorry to point this out, but you’ve overcooked this fish.

If you’d grilled it two minutes less, the meat would be much more tender.”

The robot Xiao Ji scanned the grilled fish and gave Yang Yi’s cooking skills a very low rating.

“What do you know? It tastes better a little charred!”

Yang Yi shot back immediately.

“Besides, you’re just a robot. What do you know about what tastes good?”

“Xiao Ji contains a comprehensive culinary encyclopedia. I can prepare almost any dish without error.”

“Oh really? Then you-”

Before Yang Yi could finish, the indicator lights on Xiao Ji began flashing rapidly, as if it were exchanging information.

Then it spoke.

“Xiao Er asked me to inform you that the Vitality Sardine Tree is attempting to escape. It has been subdued. Please provide the next instruction.”

“Escape?”

Yang Yi’s eyes widened.

He had long suspected the tree could move, considering it had legs.

But a tree that runs away… he wasn’t sure how to describe that.

…

Ten minutes later.

Yang Yi found a glass cover and placed it over the Vitality Sardine Tree.

The tree crawled about wildly inside the enclosure.

Looking at the oversized long-legged sardine, Yang Yi fell into rare silence.

From the outside, it looked exactly like an enlarged purple long-legged sardine, its tail stuck into a flowerpot. It moved around on four legs.

After subduing it, Yang Yi confirmed its information.

【Name: Vitality Sardine Tree】

【Description: A flesh-mutated plant cultivated in a special pot. Once mature, it can crawl on four legs, evade danger, and prey on smaller organisms. It has no digestive tract. After biting its prey, it secretes digestive fluid in its mouth to digest and absorb it directly. It can also absorb nutrients from the potting soil through the root fibers in its tail. It does not perform photosynthesis and must be fed regularly. After consuming sufficient food, it will grow new legs. The legs are edible once mature. Consumption is not recommended before maturity.】

He shared the information with Suna, who was also present.

“Try breaking off one of its legs and check the info,” Suna said, asking Yang Yi to snap one off and inspect it.

He nodded, opened the glass cover, and grabbed the sardine tree by the body.

It felt hard and smooth, like a plant stem, and had no scales.

Once seized, the tree flailed its four legs in panic, trying to bite Yang Yi.

But its body was stiff and couldn’t twist like a real fish. Once its body was held, it was basically done for, pitifully weak.

With his other hand, Yang Yi grasped one of its legs. With a slight twist, he snapped off the purple limb, almost like picking fruit.

But then…

“Ahhhhh!!!”

A piercing, high-pitched shriek burst from the Vitality Sardine’s mouth. The frequency was so intense that it shattered the glass cover and made their insides churn.

Yang Yi reacted quickly, clamping the fish’s mouth shut at once, forcing the rest of the scream back into the belly of the Vitality Sardine Tree.

“You okay?”

He looked over at Suna.

She dry-heaved a few times, then waved her hand to indicate she was fine, just feeling a bit nauseous.

Yang Yi gripped the fish’s head tightly so it couldn’t open its mouth, then forcibly tore off the remaining three legs, and obtained their information.

【Name: Vitality Sardine Leg】

【Type: Consumable】

【Quality: Rare】

【Description: A rare fruit harvested from a mature Vitality Sardine Tree. Sweet and sour, quite delicious, and rich in various vitamins and minerals. After consumption: Stamina +20, stamina recovery +50% for 8 hours. Takes effect once every 24 hours.】

He sent the item information to Suna.

At the same time, the Vitality Sardine Tree in his hand stopped struggling.

Yang Yi slowly loosened his grip. The fish’s head had been squeezed out of shape, purple juice seeping from it, though fortunately it wasn’t a fatal injury.

“When harvesting this thing, you have to seal its mouth first. Otherwise, that shriek is enough to knock someone unconscious.”

He glanced at the Xiao Er robot nearby. It appeared completely unaffected.

“Maybe we should leave all the guarding and harvesting to the robots.”

After reading the item details, Suna finally felt the discomfort fade.

In terms of effects, this fruit was far superior to Vitality Coconuts. The only question was how long its fruiting cycle would be.

Judging by how quickly it had grown from sprout to maturity, it probably wouldn’t take long.

“Give it to me. We’ll tie it up with a rope. It shouldn’t be able to run off.”

Suna quickly came up with a placement plan.

Aside from the screaming, the thing was weaker than a dog. A single rope would do.

They could even make a muzzle for it. Harvesting the fruit would be much easier then.

Yang Yi handed the Vitality Sardine Tree over to Suna and ate one of the legs himself to test the taste and effect.

Purple juice trickled from the corner of his mouth. The texture was similar to a pear, though much better, and there were no bones inside.

After finishing it, he checked his activity log and status. His stamina had increased by 20, and the recovery speed had improved as well.

And that addictive flavor… Yang Yi knew it all too well.

“Don’t eat it raw,” he warned Suna. “It has the same properties as Delicious Substance. It’s addictive, and most people can’t properly absorb it.

Adding sea salt might neutralize the effect.”

He handed her two Vitality Sardine Legs along with all the Delicious Fertilizer he had on him.

As for the remaining leg, he planned to save it for when the Gluttonous Guest effect triggered. It would clear the negative status while boosting stamina and recovery at the same time.

Suna nodded and carried the Vitality Sardine Tree back to the Witch’s Laboratory.

…

Two more days passed.

During that time, Yang Yi finished crafting the remaining imitation Mouse Knight Capes ordered by other buyers and received the thirty bottles of Holy Water he had purchased six days earlier.

The reason he had originally bought the Holy Water was no longer relevant. He now had a better way to dispel darkness: using the Vessel of Light. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“I’ll keep them for now. They might come in handy.”

Yang Yi stored the bundle of Holy Water in the Charred Worm Ring.

If the Vessel of Light ever ran out, these would still be useful.

As for the Sleeping Potion, he still had thirteen bottles left. He had only used one yesterday to get a good night’s sleep, so there was no need to restock for now.

At present, all his attributes were maxed out. He was in remarkably good condition. His base Strength and base Spirit were close to leveling up, lacking just over a thousand experience points.

He turned and walked toward the Witch’s Laboratory.

Suna had said yesterday that the rat poison would be ready today, so he had made sure to sleep well and restore his energy, preparing for something big.

As soon as he entered the lab, he saw the Vitality Sardine Tree tied up by the door, a muzzle strapped over its mouth.

The more he looked at it, the more it resembled a dog, though it only had two legs now.

Suna wanted to observe its ecology, so she hadn’t harvested any more legs. She kept it by the entrance of the laboratory, feeding it water and Delicious Fertilizer at regular intervals.

Hello everyone! The release schedule for this novel is going to change to 4 chapters/month (every Monday) :>

Thank you for reading! We hope you’re enjoying the story at iNoveltranslation.com :)

There’s now a Patreon, so feel free to check it out! You can read up to 12 chapters in advance!! :D

Please give the novel a rating and a review on novelbuddy. It will help the website and also help people find this novel!