Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 88: Isn’t Alice picky about food at all?

At the end of the tunnel is a vibrant nursery.

The slightly cool mist permeates, soaking the skin and bringing a moist feeling; crystal-like old trees grow in a staggered manner, releasing a light blue glow; in the sight there are light spots like fireflies floating around, shaped like fish swimming on the seabed; deer spirits with huge crystal horns growing on their heads stroll leisurely on the ridges of the fields, and all kinds of magnificent plants grow wantonly, with many varieties, and at a glance, it's all green.

There is no Mr. Rabbit here, but there is a tall and honest stone elf, wearing gardener's clothes, holding a sprinkler in his hand and a shovel on his shoulder. He is lining up and passing in front of the three people, with a serious expression as if he is about to step onto the battlefield.

Their bodies are made of pieces of stone, which looks very strange. Some stone spirits take good care of their bodies and polish them frequently, so the surface of the stone is smooth and round like pebbles at the bottom of a river; while some stone spirits are more casual and don't care even if the stone is covered with moss or grass sprouts between the cracks.

They are the most suitable race to serve as gardeners, because they are extremely strong and tireless, so they can do all kinds of physical work well, whether it is plowing, fertilizing or weeding. Their innate magic can loosen the soil and increase nutrition. The only disadvantage is that their brain capacity is a bit low, and they are still a group consciousness, so they cannot receive overly complex instructions.

“What is collective awareness?”

Upon hearing this, Metien asked curiously.

Shaymi explained, "It means that the stone spirits of the same group share a common consciousness, which enables them to work together in harmony. At critical moments, they can combine to form a more powerful form to fight the enemy. But there is also a small disadvantage: if you give a stone spirit too complicated an order, in order to figure out the meaning of the order, it will occupy most of the group consciousness, causing the other stone spirits to temporarily lose the ability to think and act."

"Oh!" Metien showed an amazed expression: "What a magical race!"

Alice beside him also nodded and said, "To be honest, this setting is a bit like plagiarism."

"That's right, so I'm an adult this year." Miss Xie Mi had a proud smile on her face: "No more, no less, exactly two hundred years old!"

"The deer spirit is not a mount."

The three of them walked along the path between the fields towards the vegetable garden. Along the way, Alice was envious of the elegant, holy and beautiful crystal deer spirits and repeatedly urged Miss Shemi: "Why walk? Don't we have mounts?"

Metien blinked, suddenly interested, but not in the deer spirit, but in something else: "Shemi, do you traveler elves have a long lifespan? I often hear you say more than fifty years, more than a hundred years... It seems a bit hard to imagine."

Upon hearing this, Miss Xie Mi angrily told her: "They are spirits born from the prosperous vitality of the earth, and are the natural symbols of an area. Wherever they exist, there will be good weather and good harvests, and plants will grow and bear fruit more easily. But it is very difficult to breed spirits. It took my eldest sister more than a hundred years to cultivate these deer spirits!"

Alice surrendered and muttered, "I won't bother with them."

"Well, as for this question, the lifespan of traveler fairies - or rather, all fairies - is longer than that of humans." Xie Mi said, and the two pairs of butterfly wings on her back gently bent and fell down. She reached out and stroked the soft butterfly wings, and said at the same time: "As for how to calculate the lifespan of traveler fairies, you can look at the butterfly wings on our backs. Generally speaking, every hundred years, there will be an extra pair of butterfly wings. Only when there are two pairs of butterfly wings can it be considered as an adult."

"I know, I know."

Although, he still behaves like a two-year-old.

The two of them automatically filtered out her nonsense. After watching the group of stone elves go away, Xie Mi turned off the searchlight on his head and called for them to follow him: "Let's go to the vegetable garden and pick some vegetables first!"

"Eh?" Metien was stunned: "But, you also have two pairs of butterfly wings..."

You can think of other ideas.

Huh?
If I remember correctly, there should be three pairs of butterfly wings behind the proprietress, right?
Does that mean she is over three hundred years old?

Alice gasped: It's so horrible.

Metien and Alice looked at each other and were both speechless.

……

A few minutes later, the three of them arrived at the vegetable garden. As the name suggests, it is a large garden with various vegetables growing. However, the vegetables grown here are a bit strange. "Hey!"

Sean struggled to pull a carrot out of the ridge. The carrot had a pair of funny hands and feet and a funny look. As soon as it left the soil, it immediately began to dance and scream, and the shrill voice echoed throughout the garden: "Picky, bad boy! Bad boy, picky!"

"Don't worry." Xie Mi threw it into the basket in his hand unhappily and said, "I'm not picky about food at all."

So the carrot became quiet and lay quietly at the bottom of the basket, as if it was really just an ordinary carrot.

"What's this?" Alice was shocked. She actually saw the carrot talking and scolding people for being picky eaters.

"This is a picky eater's radish." Xie Mi told them while pulling out the radishes: "As the name suggests, this is the favorite radish of picky eaters. No matter how picky a person is, their appetite will increase after eating it. But if a non-picky eater eats it, they will become listless and won't want to eat at all."

"Oh." Alice said regretfully, "Then I'm afraid I can't eat it."

Metien glanced at her sideways when she heard that, thinking, you are the only one who has the right to say that? Who was the one who picked out all the onions from the dish last time?
Then, the two of them started to help Xie Mi pull the radishes. In fact, it was no different from pulling ordinary radishes, except that they screamed and yelled loudly when they were just out of the ground, and if you were not mentally prepared, you might be scared.

A few minutes later.

"Okay, this should be enough. Let's go pick some other vegetables." Xie Mi said happily. He felt that it was the right decision to ask the guests to help. If it were normal times, it would take at least ten minutes to pick the required amount.

And the guests were all very happy!
This is called a win-win.

After pulling enough radishes, Xie Mi led the two guests to the depths of the vegetable garden and came to a huge mushroom tree. This mushroom tree was so big that it needed to be described as "tree" instead of "root". It was like a thick wall blocking the view in front of us. On its umbrella cap, skin and roots, there were more mushrooms growing in clusters. Their umbrella caps were all gray and small, not at all noticeable.

Xie Mi leaned over and picked up a small mushroom. It had a handsome face, but its expression was always aggrieved. As soon as it was pulled out, it burst into tears and begged for mercy in a childish voice: "Wuwuwu, I'm going to be eaten! I'm not delicious at all! Wuwuwu, please don't eat me!"

It makes those who hear it sad and those who listen to it cry.

The kind pink-haired little girl couldn't bear it any more: "Are we going to eat it? It feels so pitiful."

Alice also wiped the tears from the corners of her mouth: "It must be delicious, right?"

"Don't worry, I won't eat it."

Xie Mi casually threw the small mushroom into the basket, mixing it with the picky radish that he had just pulled out and still had dirt on it, and then said to the two of them, "These are crying mushrooms. As the name suggests, they like to cry. They don't really taste that good, but the tears they cry out are very suitable for making soup, and sometimes they can even be used as seasoning. So when we cook them later, we have to scare them with a kitchen knife to make them cry more, and then put them back when they have cried enough tears."

So it's not about eating it, but eating its tears?

Alice was suddenly disappointed.

Xie Mi continued to pick mushrooms, ignoring their crying sounds, and casually added to the two guests: "In fact, this is not the first time we have picked these crying mushrooms. They all know that they will return safely in the end, so there is nothing to lose except shedding some tears."

Hearing this, Metien was puzzled: "If you know, why are you crying so sadly?"

Xie Mi replied as a matter of course: "Because they are crying mushrooms, so they like to cry a lot."

"..."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)