Crystal Constellations

Ouch. 

Rubbing her lower back as she felt a twinge of pain run up her spine, Songmei remembered the awful night's sleep she had gotten. 

After eating, she, along with Han Youhong and Yan Mingqing, had hung out for a bit, talking, joking, doing whatever. After a while Han Youhong went back to his tent, wanting to go get some snacks that he had dumped there when a spiritual beast had passed by. 

“Passed by.”

That was putting it... lightly, in Songmei’s opinion. 

A large... very large, could see the top of its shell over the trees large, land crab had appeared. 

It was a behemoth of a beast. Just watching it from a distance had caused Songmei and the others to hold their breaths, fearing to make any movement, sound, or general disturbance to warrant its attention. 

They were separated by the entire clearing for heaven’s sake!

It didn’t make sense for them to be this afraid... 

Well it kinda did but still! 

Having been lured over by the scent of the plants in the clearing, the crab came by, guzzling itself on plant after plant. Its two large pincers, in certain regards, were similar to Han Youhong’s hands, forming a constant conveyor belt to the crab’s mouth. 

Gouging itself like a child left alone in a candy store, the crab had sat there, eating and eating for 10 minutes, a period of time that had felt like several years to Songmei, Mingqing, and Han Youhong. 

With the ground shaking as it left, Songmei and the others had all let out a long sigh. 

Anyhow, then the crab had been brutalized by another passing behemoth blah blah, small stuff, then, scared to the point where they had almost soiled their clothing with... “personal excrement” Songmei, Mingqing, and Han Youhong had picked up their asses to dig out more plants.

If anything, it was a “life-enriching” experience to watch a snail wipe the floor with a crab though... The snail even used spiritual techniques!

Now, waking up after a night’s worth of literal dog-poo sleep though, Songmei had gained a newfound appreciation for the Sect. Sleeping like this just reminded her of her bed in the orphanage... 

Songmei didn’t know if that spoke more towards how bad she slept last night or how bad the bed in the orphanage was. Maybe both? Who knows. 

“Find anything?” Songmei asked, using one of her hands to block her eyes from the sun. “I’d come join you but... there’s not much room.” 

In front of Songmei were Mingqing and Han Youhong, two people who definitely knew what they were doing more than her. As of now, they were looking at a uh... hole in a tree for some reason. 

They had already been investigating for some time, about an hour and a half had passed without many results. 

At least, in Songmei’s eyes. According to the two expert investigators, they had found some good clues that had led them to their current area. 

Songmei didn’t have any knowledge on this type of stuff... Growing up, she never took a class called “How to investigate if terrorists planted a drug on your plateau.” Massive oversight to be honest, how could she forget to take that class?

“We haven’t found anything!” Han Youhong yelled back, pointing towards another nearby tree. “Go take a look at that one and yell out everything you see!” 

Ah... hmm?

... 

Walking over, Songmei didn’t see much... 

“There’s a lot of moss!” Songmei called out, starting out with the obvious. After all, who knew if that’s what they were looking for?

Laughing while continuing to observe her own tree with Han Youhong, Mingqing chortled with a wry smile. “Of course there’s moss! We’re in a forest, Songmei! This area in particular is also home to a lot of moss!” 

Oh... 

Well she didn’t know that... 

‘I guess ‘having moss’ isn’t what they’re looking for…’ 

Deciding not to call out that the tree was made out of wood and also had a hole in it, Songmei looked around it some more. 

Tree... 

Wow. 

Nodding with a thoughtful expression, Songmei couldn’t help but observe that this tree was... very... very tree-like! 

... She was gonna be honest, she had no clue what to look for. 

Hmmm... Hmmm....

Songmei was sure, she was NAILING the look though! She had the thoughtful, pensive look, the deep and mournful stare. The slow gait, reminiscent of a lost traveler stalking through the fog, hoping not to get caught by a murderer. 

Cloth. 

That... wasn’t normal. 

Bending down, Songmei pulled a glove out of her spatial storage ring, putting it on before pushing the dirt aside. 

Careful not to touch it, for fear of contamination, Songmei looked at it after moving aside some of the dirt. 

Well, it said uhh... 

“Seed bag”

That seemed... very suspicious. 

Even her, with her zero knowledge on investigation, could figure that out. 

It was like writing “SUSPICIOUS EVIDENCE” on something!

Other than “Seed bag” there were also some characters in some... weird code that probably represented some numbers?

“Mingqingggggg! Han Youhongggggg!!” Songmei called out, her brain having reached the end of its thinking path. “I found something super-duper ultra-mega giga important-looking!!!” 

“What?” Mingqing shouted back with enough confusion in her voice to substitute a math classroom. “Explain more, but we’re coming!” 

“It says SEED BAG on it!” Songmei shouted at the top of her voice, eliciting a pair of excited looks and increased running speed. 

Running over, Mingqing slung her arm over Songmei’s shoulders. “Amazing! Absolutely wonderful!!” 

At the same time though, Songmei also couldn’t help but overhear Han Youhong murmuring about how nice it must’ve been to be a lucky person, and how it’s always the lucky people not the hardworking people who make the big final step... 

Songmei wondered if Han Youhong knew that he too... was very lucky. 

Dude was born into wealth! Dude was in the Pavilion of Extinguishing Shadow! Direct! Disciple!!

Dude also somehow... uh... had a weird, mysterious supplier of lychee jelly...

Ignoring his murmurings though, Songmei shifted out of the way as Han Youhong and Mingqing got a closer look.

“Good find...” Han Youhong nodded, pulling out a small clear bag to store the seed bag in. “I think this helps the investigation a lot. So... What now though?” 

“Why are you asking me?” Songmei asked with a befuddled expression, “I literally just wander around behind you two being moral support.” 

“Well... uhh...” Han Youhong shrugged, taking off his gloves and wiping some sweat off his brow. “I was mostly asking Mingqing, but honestly? It’s good to ask a luck-sack like you too. You never know, maybe we’ll accidentally stumble upon the enemy's secret hideout or something.” 

“I... I see... good... motto... I guess?”

Songmei didn’t really know how to interpret Han Youhong’s life lesson... 

It seemed legit from a certain point of view though?