Zhou Niannian gritted her teeth, clung to the tree trunk, wrapped her legs around it, and pushed herself up like a frog.
Fortunately, she usually worked out, played frisbee, and had participated in some rock climbing club activities.
The tree was large, with many indentations in its bark, which were perfect for Zhou Niannian to push off and generate force.
When it came to picking fruit, she was indeed better than Dai Xiaomei, the glutton.
Some onlookers, who had arrived at some unknown time, hovered around Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei.
"Looking for trouble."
Dai Xiaomei couldn't help but get angry when she saw the onlookers.
These onlookers were completely useless, offering no help, yet they were like persistent shadows, omnipresent. They followed them relentlessly.
No matter where they went, onlookers would mysteriously appear.
Even surveillance cameras couldn't be this pervasive!
She picked up a stick and swung it at the onlookers, but they moved with great agility, and she couldn't hit any of them.
They circled the tree, playing hide-and-seek with Dai Xiaomei.
In the live broadcast room, a group of otaku were drooling.
"Good job, Dai Xiaomei! Let the onlookers stay here."
"Huh, that's strange. Why aren't the onlookers changing to an upward angle?"
"Perverts, what are you doing?"
"Doing what? Of course, we're peeping at her skirt from below."
"Dream on. Every woman wears safety shorts these days."
Zhou Niannian climbed halfway up and paused to catch her breath, sitting on a thick branch.
She was about five or six meters above the ground now. Zhou Niannian looked down and felt dizzy.
There was a red fruit nearby, which seemed to have ripened and fallen, getting stuck on the tree.
Zhou Niannian couldn't resist picking it up and eating it, not even bothering to peel it.
She took a bite, and it was so sweet, bursting with juice, completely different from the deceptive fruits the hedgehog had given them.
Of course, after catching the little hedgehog, it held a grudge and wouldn't give them anything good.
Dai Xiaomei was chasing the onlookers when suddenly, red juice dripped from the tree, landing on her face.
She instinctively licked it; it was so sweet.
Looking up, she saw Zhou Niannian perched halfway up the tree, happily eating fruit.
Seeing Zhou Niannian eating, Dai Xiaomei's mouth watered.
"What are you doing? How can you enjoy it all by yourself? Hurry up and pick all the fruit!"
Zhou Niannian said dismissively.
"No one is going to snatch the fruit, so what are you afraid of?"
"Who said no one is snatching the fruit? Here comes one!"
Dai Xiaomei pointed upwards. A gray squirrel emerged from a tree hollow.
This gray squirrel had pointed ears and a bushy tail, twice the size of an ordinary squirrel.
It had big, protruding front teeth and looked very cute.
However, it was strange that the middle part of its back had no fur, as if it had been whipped off.
The gray squirrel was not afraid of Zhou Niannian and merely yawned.
"What's there to be afraid of? It's just a squirrel. How many fruits can it eat?"
Zhou Niannian said indifferently.
There were hundreds, if not thousands, of fruits on the tree. Zhou Niannian wasn't worried about the squirrel competing with her.
Before Zhou Niannian could finish speaking, suddenly, gray squirrels emerged from several tree hollows.
It seemed Zhou Niannian had stumbled into a squirrel's territory; it was the whole squirrel family.
Even if the whole family came to eat, with so many fruits, they wouldn't be able to finish them, Zhou Niannian thought.
Before Zhou Niannian could change her mind, each large squirrel had already taken a bite and swallowed a red fruit.
It probably won't eat much, Zhou Niannian reassured herself. With their small bodies, how much could they eat?
At that moment, Zhou Niannian suddenly noticed that the squirrels had formed formations.
On average, there were two squirrels guarding each fruit.
One smaller squirrel lay down on the tree trunk, while another larger squirrel picked a fruit and placed it on the smaller squirrel's back.
Then, the large squirrel kicked, and the smaller squirrel slid down the trunk into a tree hollow.
Soon, the smaller squirrel slid out of the tree hollow again. It seemed there was another large squirrel inside the tree hollow.
Zhou Niannian was stunned. No wonder the squirrels had a bald patch on their backs; it was from being used as a pushcart!
With the cooperation of three squirrels, using the small squirrel as a pushcart and the large squirrel as a booster, they quickly harvested about eighty percent of the fruit on the tree.
Zhou Niannian was furious. Three squirrels, how dare they!
What use was their cuteness? They were stealing her fruit, which was no different from murder!
She yelled up at the tree, trying to scare the squirrels away, but they ignored her.
Their harvesting speed was incredibly fast, and the fruits were almost gone.
Zhou Niannian watched, dumbfounded. They were just storing food, but why store so much?
The squirrels looked at Zhou Niannian with their small eyes, as if to say, "We can't possibly eat it all, but even if it all rots, we won't give it to you."
These squirrels had black hearts.
In her desperation, Zhou Niannian threw a fruit pit at the squirrels. They caught it and threw it right back.
Thwack! The pit hit Zhou Niannian's face, splattering her with juice.
A group of squirrels chattered and laughed together, as if mocking Zhou Niannian's incompetence.
This time, Zhou Niannian was truly enraged.
Like an agile gibbon, she climbed up the branches with all her might, then swung herself in a large arc, instantly ascending several meters.
Dai Xiaomei watched, dumbfounded. This was a move that only a gymnast on the horizontal bar could perform.
Indeed, human potential was infinite. When provoked, one could perform any feat.
Zhou Niannian charged to the treetop and attacked the impudent squirrels.
Squirrels were not wild beasts, after all. Having lost their advantage in numbers, they saw the human baring her teeth and charging at them and immediately scattered.
"You think I'm a sick cat just because I don't roar like a tiger."
After driving away the squirrels, Zhou Niannian was very proud.
She went to the squirrel's tree hollows, trying to retrieve the fruits they had stored.
Unfortunately, the tree hollows were very deep, and she found nothing.
So, Zhou Niannian picked the fruits and threw them down one by one.
Dai Xiaomei, at the bottom, caught them one by one, and without forgetting, stuffed them into her mouth as she caught them.
After clearing all the fruit from the tree, Zhou Niannian stretched and prepared to descend.
Just as she was about to climb down, she suddenly froze, stopping in her tracks.
"Why aren't you coming down?"
Dai Xiaomei called out strangely.
"I... how do I get down?"
Zhou Niannian was on the verge of tears. She had been so stimulated by the squirrels that she had performed several difficult maneuvers in one go, reaching the top.
But getting up was easy, and getting down was hard. She didn't know how to descend.
The branches looked thin and unstable, as if they would collapse as soon as she put weight on them.
Zhou Niannian couldn't even imagine how she had done pull-ups and swings on those flimsy branches to get up.
"I... I can't get down!"
Zhou Niannian stood on a high branch, her legs trembling uncontrollably.