Start By Parsing The Sun

Chapter 16: Unusual Puppeteer

Evening.

Cheng Han pushed open the door to his home and immediately noticed that there were five birds placed on the table in the living room. Next to them was a pile of bird eggs of various sizes, totaling nearly twenty.

These were undoubtedly the spoils of the police chief.

"Meow~"

The black cat let out a meow and slightly wagged its tail, as if seeking praise.

After catching birds a couple of days ago, it had received praise from its owner, which made the black cat's hunting enthusiasm increase. Today, it had caught even more.

Cheng Han didn't hesitate to compliment, "Chief, you did a great job!"

He was indeed quite impressed with his own cat's abilities.

The productivity in this world was not highly developed, and the prices of meat and eggs were relatively high. If he were to sell these things at the market, he could exchange them for at least two silver coins.

While others kept cats, it only increased their household expenses. But the cat he kept not only reduced expenses but also significantly improved their standard of living.

It had to be said that people and cats were different from one another.

Cheng Han squatted down and rubbed the cat's head, saying, "You're really good at catching birds. The bird population in the Tai'an Small Spirit Realm isn't that large, so from now on, don't catch birds anymore, lest you make them go extinct."

Of course, the idea of "extinction" was just a joke.

But the police chief had even learned how to raid bird nests. With its own abilities, it was fully capable of reducing the number of birds in the nearby area by half.

"Meow~ Meow~"

The black cat responded with two meows, its eyes showing a hint of confusion.

It was asking: Then what should I catch?

Cheng Han thought for a moment and said, "From now on, catch 'burrow rabbits.' They have a strong reproductive ability and like to destroy farmland. The more you catch, the better."

"Meow~"

The black cat happily meowed in response, agreeing to its owner's request.

Cheng Han picked up one of the birds and asked, "By the way, do you want to eat roasted bird or braised bird meat?"

Last night, he had given the black cat a cooked bird leg, and it no longer wanted to eat raw bird meat.

This wasn't surprising.

Cooked food was easier to digest than raw meat and put less pressure on the stomach and intestines. The cat wasn't stupid; it naturally knew how to make the right choice.

The black cat tilted its head to the left, looking quite cute.

Its meaning was: Choose the first one.

If Cheng Han hadn't mastered the residual imprint of controlling spirits, he definitely wouldn't understand what the police chief meant. But now, he was increasingly discovering that the black cat's language was quite interesting.

Cheng Han continued, "I'll boil a few bird eggs for you with plain water, add some vegetables, and a small spoonful of rice. It'll be more balanced nutritionally. How about that?"

The black cat wagged its tail again, saying, "Meow~"

Cheng Han smiled and started cooking.

He poured a little brown oil into the stove, then activated the True Flame residual imprint, lightly flicking his finger, and a spark flew into it.

"Whoosh!"

The flame instantly ignited.

He then added a piece of honeycomb fuel, and before long, the stove was lit.

Cheng Han whistled, "Having extraordinary abilities really makes daily life much more convenient."

After a busy period, he prepared four dishes: a plate of scrambled eggs with mushrooms, a plate of boiled eggs, two golden roasted birds, and a plate of stir-fried vegetables.

By ordinary standards, it could definitely be described as "sumptuous."

In most households in this world, they usually only ate meat every few days. The previous owner of this body, for quite a long time, could only taste a bit of meat at the school cafeteria.

Cheng Han divided a portion of the food and placed it in front of the black cat, saying, "Eat up."

The police chief rubbed against his leg and started eating eagerly.

From the occasional wagging of the black cat's tail and the occasional purring from its throat, it could be inferred that it was extremely satisfied with this dinner.

Cheng Han tore off a bird leg, took a bite, and experienced the feeling of oil and fat bursting on his taste buds. He nodded in satisfaction.

The taste is not bad!

*

An hour and a half later.

Cheng Han woke up from a deep sleep and yawned.

He went to the living room, opened his backpack, and took out a green leaf.

This was an item left behind by the Grass Dog.

He was very interested in the peculiarities of vine-transforming creatures, so he picked up the leaf and planned to use the All-Knowing Eye to analyze it and accumulate proficiency.

Besides, if he could find another residual imprint, wouldn't that be a big gain?

The black cat noticed the movement and crawled out from under the wardrobe, squatting in front of its owner, curiously examining the leaf.

Cheng Han touched the cat's head a few times, focused his attention, and silently recited, "Analyze the birth mechanism of the Grass Dog."

The leaf was a part of the Grass Dog, naturally a highly related item, so the deduction was successful in one try.

A cool sensation spread across his scalp.

An illusory image slowly emerged:

In the midst of lush greenery, a figure walked up to a vine, quickly touched the stem, and then walked away.

The stem subtly twisted a few times before falling silent again.

For some reason, the illusion appeared unusually blurry.

After a moment, the image disappeared.

A prompt followed closely: "Proficiency +6, current proficiency is 76/1000, mental value is 6.3/13.8."

Cheng Han looked serious. "I thought the Grass Dog was just a special creature that was born by chance, but it turns out someone has secretly manipulated it. This deduction gained me 6 points of proficiency and consumed 5.4 points of mental value. The data is higher than expected, indicating that there is something unusual about this matter."

He sighed. "However, the illusion is too blurry, it's really frustrating."

In the past, the illusions from deductions were also somewhat blurry, but they could still be recognized with some effort. This time, it was like looking through frosted glass, making it impossible to see the face of the figure.

And this also indicated that this matter was highly unusual.

Cheng Han thought of a question. "How can I expose this person?"

After deep contemplation, he decided to take a simple approach. "There are probably hundreds of students who recently attended practical classes at the botanical garden. This can help determine the approximate range. Then, using the process of elimination, we can exclude impossible targets, and the remaining candidates will undoubtedly be the culprit behind the vine mutation."

Cheng Han carefully recalled the illusion, roughly outlining the target's appearance, and then took out a piece of paper to record it.

"First, judging from the chest and hairstyle, this person is definitely a boy.

"Second, he is slightly taller than me.

"Third, his body shape is neither fat nor thin, indicating a decent nutritional status. From the side, it can be inferred that this person's family background is of average level..."

After analyzing for a while, he listed a total of six options.

Cheng Han checked it again and smiled. "There shouldn't be too many boys who fit the above characteristics. With the help of the All-Knowing Eye, it won't be difficult to find the mastermind behind the scenes."

He took a break and started the first task. "Deduce the class that went to the botanical garden yesterday."

This deduction was easy, and the result came out instantly.

Grade 3, Class 5!

Cheng Han recorded it and silently recited, "Deduce the class that went to the botanical garden the day before yesterday."

He repeated the deduction five times and found all the classes that had practical classes in the past five days.

A total of seven classes.

Calculating an average of fifty students per class, a total of three hundred and fifty people.

The next step was to observe the students in the above-mentioned classes and narrow down the target range.

Cheng Han looked at the list and chuckled. "No matter what kind of sinister plot it is, it won't escape my keen eyes."

(End of this chapter)