Chapter 68: A Cow Gives Birth

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: A Cow Gives Birth

After eating and drinking her fill, Shi Zhile went back to checking the chat channel.

As usual, it was a mix of people showing off their supplies and others begging for food. There was zero useful information.

’No players have mentioned monsters coming ashore today or last night. It’s very likely I was the only one attacked by monsters yesterday.’

’Could it be that I did something yesterday that attracted the Sea Monsters’ attention?’

She thought for a moment. The only unusual event was opening the Teleportation Gate.

’Could the Teleportation Gate be the reason? Right, the Level One Sea Lion on Jiang Yuxing’s island didn’t appear. Yesterday, the loudest knocking on my window was from sea lions. Is it because that one sea lion is my pet?’

Her stomach started hurting again. Shi Zhile placed the hot water bottle from Jiang Yu on her belly and drowsily fell asleep.

「Two days passed quietly. On the third day, Shi Zhile planned to set sail.」

But fate had other plans. A blizzard raged that day, and visibility was extremely low.

Shi Zhile stood before the second-floor window, which she had opened, letting the snowflakes drift onto her hand.

’Today is Wednesday. I have to go out to sea by Zhou Tian at the latest, and I have to be out for more than five hours.’

She sent a message to Jiang Yuxing: [What’s the appearance rate for Sea Monsters during a blizzard?]

Jiang Yuxing replied: [Less than ten percent. Are you planning to go out? The winds are strong today. It’s not a good day to set sail.]

[Contentment Brings Happiness: No rush. I’ll wait a bit longer.]

She ended the conversation first. After washing up, she slipped into the Breeding Space.

After lying around in her house for two days, she found the Breeding Space was covered in chicken and duck eggs. She found a basket and counted as she gathered them, ending up with 136 chicken eggs and 127 duck eggs.

Previously, she hadn’t hatched the quails because the Breeding Space was too small. Now that she knew adding a new species would increase the area, she retrieved them from her boat.

[Breeding Space Notification: The space has detected 50 hatchable quail eggs. Do you wish to incubate them?]

"Yes!"

[Incubation in progress. Estimated time to hatch: five days.]

[New species detected: 50 incubating quails. You can unlock 5 square meters of space in advance. Unlock now?]

She had been worrying about where to keep the quails once they hatched. Now, the space was giving her an advance, solving her problem directly.

"Unlock!"

The Breeding Space trembled slightly and visibly grew a little larger.

She used some wood to fence off an empty area, placed some dry grass in a corner, and then set the fifty quail eggs on the grass to incubate.

Just as she was about to herd the chicks and ducklings into the Planting Space to catch insects, the pregnant black cow began mooing nonstop.

[Breeding Space Notification: A cow is detected to be going into labor. However, due to insufficient space Level, the conditions for automatic birth are not met. The player must provide assistance and deliver the calf manually.

The countdown for delivery is 12 hours. The longer you wait, the more the Life Values of the cow and calf will decrease. When the timer reaches zero, the calf will be stillborn.] 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"Deliver a calf? How... How am I supposed to do that? They don’t even tell me how, and there’s a time limit. Aren’t they just trying to make trouble for me on purpose?"

The bull, agitated by the scent of blood, grew restless, its eyes turning red.

Shi Zhile immediately exited the Breeding Space, hurried downstairs, and used stones to build a square enclosure in the yard.

She then let the bull out and shut it inside, making sure it couldn’t escape before re-entering the Breeding Space.

First, she observed the cow’s condition. Aside from its agitation, there was nothing else unusual.

"Tong’er, do you have a sow’s... I mean, a cow birthing manual and a calf care guide?"

[Nope, don’t have either~]

"Then how am I supposed to deliver it?"

[With your hands, of course~ If the cow has a difficult birth, you’ll need to reach your hand into the cow’s... you know... to feel for the calf, then tie a rope around its hooves and pull it out.]

Shi Zhile’s vision went dark. "Reach into a cow... Without any protection, it’s so easy to get an infection."

[That is not within the system’s scope of consideration~]

Shi Zhile decisively gave up on getting a solution from the system.

Opening the chat channel, she asked, "Does anyone know how to deliver a calf? If so, private message me. I’ll pay."

The players went wild.

[Sun Ci: @Contentment Brings Happiness, you’re raising a cow? If it’s not a difficult birth, you probably won’t need to assist.]

[A Love Letter: We can’t even afford to eat, and the big shot is raising a cow. The number one player is really on another level. Hey, uh, if the cow dies, can you sell some of the meat to me?]

[Breeding Specialist: Me, me, me! I know how! Big shot, start a video call with me. It’s too complicated to explain in a few sentences. I need to see the cow’s specific condition first before I can tell you the solution.]

Shi Zhile clicked on his profile picture. The next moment, video calls from Jiang Jing and Jiang Yuxing came in at the same time.

She declined them all and started a group video call, including the "Breeding Specialist."

There were four people in the video call, including Shi Zhile. She didn’t show them the cow right away.

Jiang Jing said excitedly, "Is the cow giving birth? Should I come help? I got a Summon Order when I went out to sea yesterday."

Jiang Yuxing: "Do you need me to come over?"

Shi Zhile: "Yes, Jiang Yuxing, come quickly. Jiang Jing, don’t come over just yet. Summon Orders are still too rare right now. If I can’t handle it, it won’t be too late for you to come then."

After saying that, she immediately kicked both of them from the call and left the space to wait for Jiang Yuxing’s arrival.

Jiang Yuxing arrived very quickly. She saw him the moment she stepped out of the space.

While she had a moment, she looked at the old man with grizzled hair on the screen. "Sir, you know how to deliver a calf?"

The old man’s face was chapped, and his lips were cracked and bleeding. He swallowed with difficulty, and the moment he opened his mouth, fresh blood trickled from his lips.

"I was a veterinarian in my younger days. I didn’t just raise cattle and sheep my whole life; I also treated them and delivered their young. Before I came here, I had more than a dozen head of cattle back home. Now, where’s the cow? Let me see her condition first."

Shi Zhile brought Jiang Yuxing into the Breeding Space with her. She pointed the camera at the cow, circling it to give the man a full view.

Seeing something, he let out a sigh of relief.

"That’s a wild cow. From the looks of it, her condition is good, and she should be able to give birth on her own. To be safe, you’d best stay by her side and keep a close watch."

Shi Zhile first sent him a bottle of purified water and a piece of bread. "This is a down payment. Have something to tide you over. As long as my cow safely gives birth to her calf, I can give you a portion of beef and ten bottles of water."

The old man was clearly taken aback. "You’re going to kill and eat it right after it’s born? Why not wait until the calf is bigger before slaughtering it?"

"Of course I’m not killing the mother or the calf. It’s... it’s hard to explain right now. In any case, you’ll be well rewarded."

The old man accepted the purified water, opened it, and took a small, careful sip.

"You haven’t built a proper stall. You can’t just let the cow roam free like this. First, find a rope and tie her up. Then, spread a thick layer of dry grass on the ground for the calf to be born on.

Also, you need to frequently check if her water has broken. Once her water breaks, if the calf isn’t born within two hours, it means she’s having a difficult birth."