Afterward, Qi Ye opened the cage door and let the Green-headed Parrot out.

"Thank you!" The Green-headed Parrot looked at Qi Ye gratefully, nodding and lifting its head repeatedly to express its thanks. "You must be the leader, right? Thank you."

As expected of the smart friend mentioned by Tu Bai, it could tell at a glance that between Da Huang and Qi Ye, Qi Ye was the true leader.

"You're welcome. I was entrusted by a Horned Bunny to come and save you."

"Horned Bunny?" The Green-headed Parrot recalled for a moment, then hopped up. "Are you talking about that dead rabbit!? How is it?"

Since they were ambushed by monsters and separated, it hadn't seen Tu Bai again. It had assumed Tu Bai was long dead.

"Rest assured, it's living a good life now. It's eating and drinking well in my territory, and it's very safe."

"I've heard it mention you. How did you manage to survive?"

The Green-headed Parrot nodded and said:

"I was originally a Parrot from Blue Star named Green Bean. I was transported into this Corrupt Forest. I was lucky enough to land in the middle of a group of Horned Bunnys and became friends with them."

"Later, I ate a strange fruit and gained the ability to see through things and spot all items!"

Green Bean continued:

"After being caught by that Winged Insect, I used my ability to trade for my life. I was locked in a cage, taken everywhere it went, and that's how I've survived until now."

What a legendary bird life!

Qi Ye sighed with emotion. To have survived after going through so much, it was truly lucky.

"So, are you willing to join my territory and become my Follower?"

"Of course, I'd be honored!" Green Bean chirped. "It's my pleasure, squawk!"

Qi Ye nodded in satisfaction and prepared to use the Animal Subjugation Skill on Green Bean, but he was stunned when he saw the status of the Skill.

"The animal's affection is insufficient; cannot be tamed."

Cannot be tamed? Insufficient affection? What a joke. Green Bean had said with its own mouth that it was willing to join. Could it be lying?

Qi Ye looked at Green Bean's sincere expression, then glanced at the "Affection insufficient, cannot be tamed" pop-up window. He felt like he understood something, and was speechless.

Even though this guy had been saved, it was still maintaining vigilance against Qi Ye. It was possible that much of what it had just said was a lie.

"What's wrong, my Lord?" Seeing Qi Ye suddenly freeze, Green Bean asked "concernedly."

"Oh, nothing." Qi Ye said to Green Bean, "It's too dangerous around here. It's safer if you follow me."

The other party was overly cautious, so Qi Ye couldn't say much. Watching his Skill icon flicker on and off, it indicated that Green Bean's affection for him was indeed high, just not enough to reach the point of being tamed. Perhaps smart guys were all like this.

"My Lord, aren't you going to let me go treasure hunting?" Green Bean flew onto Da Huang's back, following behind Qi Ye, and asked, "This is my job."

"You rest for now. We have more important things to do," Qi Ye said.

Just after saying this, he suddenly noticed that his Animal Subjugation icon had brightened a little more.

This can increase affection too? Qi Ye shook his head, unable to tell at all what Green Bean was thinking.

After walking for a while, Qi Ye discovered the corpse of a monster ahead. It was the Winged Insect that had just escaped. Its entire body was torn apart, six insect legs scattered on the ground. It looked like it had been killed just recently.

Everything on it had been looted. It seemed that even if Green Bean had been given to Qi Ye, it still couldn't have escaped the fate of being hunted. Qi Ye shook his head with emotion; he had already anticipated this situation.

"Serves it right, squawk!" Green Bean shouted, flying to the side of the Winged Insect's corpse. After fumbling around for a while, it pulled out dozens of small purple crystals from a hollow cavity in the corpse's chest.

"These are rot crystals. It often hid the rot crystals in this place. Fortunately, they weren't discovered by other bandits. Now they belong to you."

Qi Ye took a rot crystal and cast Appraisal.

【rot crystal: A unique product of the corrupted dungeon, obtainable by dismantling items. It contains weak corruption energy. Monsters within the dungeon can use rot crystals to strengthen themselves. Each rot crystal can provide one point of experience, with an experience provision cap of Tier 4.】

dungeons have different types, and the Corrupt Forest where Qi Ye was located belonged to a corrupted dungeon. The difficulty was higher than other dungeons, and it was more dangerous.

Through his claws, he could feel a stream of evil energy flowing within the crystal. As long as one used it, they could gain experience, but the price was that one would be corrupted, cease to be oneself, and gradually become a corrupted monster.

Qi Ye placed the rot crystals in Da Huang's saddlebag; there were over twenty of them in total. These things were the trading currency of the corrupted dungeon. He couldn't use them, but collecting them was still a good idea.

"My Lord, aren't you going to use them?" Green Bean asked, staring at Qi Ye as he put the rot crystals into the saddlebag.

Now Qi Ye finally confirmed it; Green Bean might have mistaken him for the next Winged Insect. After all, monsters like the Winged Insect were normal in the corrupted dungeon.

However, he didn't intend to explain anything. On the contrary, he felt relieved, because Green Bean would sooner or later discover that he was not that kind of monster.

Qi Ye spent ten rot crystals to buy a map of the southern part of the outer ring of the forest. With the map as a reference, all the important strongholds nearby were marked. Unfortunately, there was no map of the Inner Ring of the Forest here.

They left from the northern exit of the Tree Demon territory and advanced northward along the road. Guided by the map, and with no trees blocking their way, they moved at a very fast speed. In about three days, they would be able to reach the entrance to the Inner Ring of the Forest.

During the boring journey, Green Bean spoke again: "My Lord, may I ask where you are going?"

Thinking that the other party had been here for a long time and might know something, Qi Ye asked: "I am looking for a Divine Beast. It should be in the Inner Ring of the Forest, and it is about to die. I want to try to save it. I wonder if you have any clues?"

Green Bean suddenly froze for a few seconds, as if thinking about something, and finally shook its head and said: "Divine Beast? I don't know where it is."

Qi Ye sighed. As expected, information about a Divine Beast was not so easy to collect. "Alright then."

However, Green Bean's next words piqued Qi Ye's interest.

"My Lord, if you want to enter the Inner Ring of the Forest, can we stop by a place on the way?"

"I heard that if we continue forward for about five hundred kilometers, there is a slaughterhouse nearby where a large group of Flame-tailed Foxes are locked up."

A slaughterhouse? Flame-tailed Foxes?

Obviously, there were many monsters in the slaughterhouse that could be tamed.

Qi Ye was excited. This was the source of life for his territory! Relying on the dozens of Flame-tailed Foxes in his territory to survive and reproduce, waiting to expand to a number of hundreds would be a matter of years later.

"Holy crap, why didn't you tell me about such an important matter earlier?"

"Squawk?" Green Bean tilted its head, not expecting Qi Ye to be so excited. "I thought you weren't interested in Flame-tailed Foxes, my Lord."