Humans Shrunk 100 Times

Chapter 142: Reproduction

Regarding this statement, Du Jiajia was the first to oppose it. In her view, Xiao Huangming was clearly a kindred spirit, a close friend, and using the term "licking dog" to refer to him was an insult to their friendship.

But, it has to be said, deep down inside, there was still a trace of secret joy.

"What does it feel like to have a licking dog?" Zhao Xiaoyan asked with a playful smile, poking Du Jiajia.

Du Jiajia's gaze coincidentally swept across Wei Dalei. She was about to counterattack, but she felt it wasn't appropriate and could only turn back and say, "You should ask the squad leader and He Ying about that, they have experience."

Dong Junwei's face showed a hint of embarrassment as she chuckled. "You guys are joking, but don't involve others... However, based on what Tang Jing said just now, I'm wondering if that little white cat also came here because of Du Jiajia."

"It's possible," Tang Jing nodded. "Du Jiajia's abilities have been growing unconsciously, and it's reasonable to inadvertently attract other animals."

At this moment, Chen Mu suddenly asked, "But why are they all cats? In theory, the insects and ants around us are smaller. If they were affected, shouldn't they be affected earlier?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Tang Jing said, "That means the attracted animals are not related to their size."

"Then what are they related to?"

"At the moment, we can't confirm it, but it's likely related to intelligence or emotions," Tang Jing said.

"That's possible. Cats are definitely smarter than insects and the like," Zhao Xiaoyan said.

"In our school, there are probably only cats as similar animals," Tang Jing added.

"What about birds?"

"Birds might be dumb; don't they say 'birdbrain'?"

"..."

"What about rats? Are they intelligent?"

"Rats are clever, right?"

"Then logically, shouldn't they have been attracted first?"

"Or perhaps there are no rats around here?"

"..."

Tang Jing smiled and said, "You might often come across various articles praising how intelligent rats are, even suggesting they can understand human speech. But in reality, rats' intelligence is not high, and it can even be said to be quite low.

"In the biological world, there's an interesting phenomenon: animals with stronger reproductive abilities tend to have lower intelligence. However, the reverse is not necessarily true."

"That's not necessarily true. There are so many humans, and we are intelligent, aren't we?" someone retorted.

Tang Jing explained, "Reproductive ability doesn't equate to quantity. The main indicators are: age of sexual maturity, duration of pregnancy, difficulty of childbirth, number of offspring per litter, length of lactation period, promiscuity, interval between pregnancies, and so on... When you consider all of these, human reproductive ability is not actually strong.

"The reason why many people think rats are clever is partly because they are agile in their movements and look cunning. On the other hand, people have deep grievances against rats, to the point that some elders say rats can understand human speech and avoid certain trapping methods in advance."

"My grandmother used to say that," Qian Fei laughed.

Tang Jing continued, "Actually, it's just because rats have evolved certain habits from long-term coexistence with humans, which give people the impression that they are intelligent."

"That sounds somewhat reasonable."

Whenever Tang Jing tried to popularize some knowledge, not many in the group could fully understand, and in the end, they could only conclude with this sentence.

Du Jiajia listened most attentively. Though she still had only a vague understanding, her mood was good.

She didn't care about reproduction or intelligence; after all, she finally had a somewhat clear direction for her own abilities.

"But how do you cultivate a good impression?" During a break in Tang Jing's explanation, Du Jiajia quickly asked, "How do I train this ability?"

"On this point, I'm currently not sure either," Tang Jing shrugged. "But your ability for spiritual communication with Xiao Huang has indeed improved through constant exchanges."

"Okay," Du Jiajia nodded.

"In that case, continue to work in this direction, and it should be fine. Look, you've even attracted unfamiliar little cats."

Du Jiajia smiled embarrassedly.

"But what about this frog?"

"I'll take care of it; this thing is much smaller than a rat, so it should be no problem," Wei Dalei volunteered.

Due to the limited scope of Cao Zishan's ability, whenever it was used, everyone needed to cooperate with him. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, they were reluctant to burden him with such tasks.

Chen Mu looked outside through the fence and said, "Before dealing with it, should we get some meat? I think we can eat this thing."

Lately, Chen Mu had been thinking about going out for hunting, so naturally, he listed all the possible prey and considered which ones were edible and relatively easy to catch.

It was evident that frogs, a type of animal humans originally consumed, were on his menu.

Strictly speaking, frogs were protected animals that should not be killed, and furthermore, due to issues such as parasites and pesticide residues, eating them had never been encouraged.

But nowadays, it seemed that people weren't so particular. There were no farmlands near the school, and parasites probably couldn't escape the watchful eyes of humans now.

However, Dong Junwei, Tang Jing, and others all unanimously opposed the suggestion.

The reason was simple: this thing, which they weren't sure if it was a frog or a toad, looked incredibly horrifying. Chen Mu had originally wanted Tang Jing to come out and see to which species this frog belonged, but the usually calm and rational Tang Jing firmly refused.

"I think it's fine if we only eat vegetables and rice," Zhao Xiaoyan and the other girls' voices trembled. They had already come to accept eating insects, but they simply couldn't stomach this extremely ugly frog.

In fact, quite a few of them had eaten bullfrogs and field chickens in the past.

However, from the perspective of present-day humans, this kind of wet, bumpy, and hideous creature was indeed difficult to accept.

Chen Mu felt somewhat helpless.

Perhaps the days in Qi Ming were too comfortable, to the point where even food had to be judged by appearances.

But he didn't force anyone.

After all, even if they were to try to extract meat from this frog, it wouldn't be an easy task. Just breaking through its tough skin would probably require considerable effort.

In the end, Wei Dalei threw the frog's body into the nearby grass.

As for whether the cat would continue to bring food, that would require Du Jiajia to negotiate with it.

Currently, the food sources that everyone could accept were basically insects and ants, but unfortunately, the cat showed no interest in either of them.

After learning about the concept of "goodwill," Du Jiajia's interest in her abilities surged.

Over the next few days, her encounters with the cat became more frequent, and their relationship seemed to grow even closer.

...

The days passed by fulfilling.

Everyone had a lot to keep them busy.

On this particular day, Chen Mu had a sudden thought and asked Tang Jing a question:

"What day of the week is it today?"

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