When Lu Fei arrived at the gathering place, he stood beside the small demons and watched the Crow Demon and Little Pig Demon, Red Pi, casually whispering to each other to join them. He couldn't help asking, "What are you two talking about?"
The Crow Demon was startled, only then realizing they'd been noticed as they looked at Lu Fei, a somewhat awkward expression on its face. "Nothing really, Bear Leader is about to speak, we should stop talking, we can't make the same mistake as last time..."
Upon hearing the Crow Demon's words, Lu Fei was taken aback. If it wasn't for the unnatural expression on the creature's face, he might have thought he'd heard wrong.
It was an unnatural avoidance of eye contact, much like being caught talking behind someone's back.
Lu Fei, suspicious, stared at the Crow Demon for a while longer, but ultimately did not ask any more questions because the Bear Demon, the Bear Leader, had begun to address the group.
"The three-day period has passed…"
With red eyes and standing over two meters tall, the burly Bear Demon glared at the small demons and said, "Today is the day to check task completion. Let's see who has failed to fulfil their duties..."
As soon as he finished speaking,
a small demon immediately called out, "Leader, we've completed it, please check our task..."
"We've completed as well, please check ours..."
"And us…"
The little demons all shouted out, trying to outdo each other.
Seeing the enthusiasm of his subordinates, Bear Leader, his gruff face marred by intersecting scars, gave a chilling smile. "No need to rush, we'll get to each one in turn, none of you can escape..."
Soon, the first task to be checked was the construction of fifty spearshafts, collectively completed by three small demons.
After the three little demons hurriedly ran off, the Bear Leader looked at the three bundles of spearshafts they had brought from somewhere and placed before him.
Standing at the back of the crowd of demons, the worried-looking Crow Demon secretly poked Lu Fei in front of him and whispered, "White Wolf, we have too many arrows, and we can't bring them all at once..."
Glimpsing the look on the Crow Demon behind him, Lu Fei reassured, "Don't worry, don't speak up later, let me do the talking..."
Hearing Lu Fei's words,
The worry on the faces of the Crow Demon and Red Pi, the Pig Demon, behind him visibly eased.
"First one, second one, third one, fourth one..."
Bear Leader stood by as a grey rat demon with a rat's head and human body began counting the spearshafts.
For the demons who are illiterate, being able to read and count is definitely a valuable skill. Regardless of whether it's on Rolling Mountain or in other demon groups in the mountains, such skills generally can be put to good use.
However, in the process of demons' power continuously improving,
As long as they live long enough and gain enough experience, basic mathematical problems do not pose a problem.
Just like a person who has never read a book, they can still count how much money they need when buying things.
But at the lower level, especially in demon herds where new generations come quickly, other than a few smart demons who either naturally know how to count or have lived long and have lots of experience, basically, there are no others who can count numbers.
Apparently, this big grey rat demon currently counting the spearshafts is one of the two types of demons.
"Forty-seventh, forty-eighth, fiftieth..."
When the grey rat demon finished counting, seeing the extra spearshaft, it skipped ahead to report to Bear Leader, "Leader, there are fifty spearshafts in total, and one more..."
The attention of Bear Leader at this time was attracted by the appearance of Wolf Leader, who was wearing a black robe, on the top of the mountain.
Upon hearing the report from the grey rat demon, he turned his head and glanced at the uneven pile of spearshafts on the ground, then looked at the rat demon and said, "Are you sure you haven't counted wrong?"
Rat Demon: "Leader, I did not."
Only then did Bear Leader look at the three little demons standing nervously nearby and said, "You have completed your task."
"Next..."
The Bear Demon pointed to the rat demon and said, "Grey Skin, keep counting..."
"Yes, Leader..."
Hearing the instructions from Bear Leader, the rat demon looked very proud, glanced around at the other demons, then straightened up and walked toward a pile of bows and arrows to start counting, "First one, second one, the third one..."
Watching the rat demon receiving a lot of attention among the crowd of demons ,
The Crow Demon looked at him with envy and said, "When did Grey Skin become so close with the leader?"
"He has even been given the important task of counting. His counting skills aren't as strong as mine..."
Hearing the Crow Demon's jealous and bitter words behind him, Lu Fei said, "Didn't you say you can't count?"
The Crow Demon immediately retorted, "Of course, I can count."
Lu Fei: "Then why did you say you couldn't when I asked you to help me count the arrows last time?"
Embarrassment immediately showed on Crow Demon's face, but its feathers hid most of it, and so it found an excuse, "I... I get nervous when I count, and I tend to make mistakes when I'm nervous..."
But as it was saying this,
The Crow Demon suddenly remembered how Lu Fei had easily counted one thousand five hundred arrows in the bamboo forest, -- a total of one thousand five hundred!
Only then did the Crow Demon realize the innate talent that its companion had for counting, and its expression clearly became one of excitement. It looked up to see that Lu Fei with his handsome white wolf head and coldly indifferent yellow eyes were staring at it.
It calmed down immediately.
Seemingly guessing what the Crow Demon was about to say, Lu Fei said, "Counting is innate, speak a little quieter."
The Crow Demon didn't mind that Lu Fei had pre-judged its question, instead it whispered excitedly, "White Wolf, I think you can tell Bear Leader that your counting ability is stronger than Grey Skin's and suggest that he let you do the counting…"
"Oh... "
Having just seen the whole process of the Rat Demon's counting, of course, Lu Fei knew the limitations of Grey Skin.";
A half-empty pot able to count fifty spears as fifty-one is not even worth of half-empty pot.
Numbers within a hundred, even toddlers in kindergartens can count them accurately.
However, no other demon pointed out its mistake, and Lu Fei also did not bother to say anything.
But due to the limited knowledge of the original host, Lu Fei did not understand the importance of being able to count and do calculations among demon groups.
At this point, hearing the suggestion from the Crow Demon, he asked, "Is there any benefit to that?"
Hearing Lu Fei's interest, the Crow Demon immediately became excited and began to explain, "Benefits... the benefits are significant, you know, our Bear Leader can't count..."
When saying this, Crow Demon's voice was extremely quiet.
"If you, White Wolf, could count for the Leader, our future tasks would be a lot easier, the Leader wouldn't assign difficult tasks to you, and you won't have to patrol around the mountain in such hot weather ..."
"Also, with your ability, if you count well, you might get recognized by the leaders and even the King..."
"In short, as long as you can count for the Leader, it would be much safer for you on the mountain, and most importantly, you could also take care of the two of us..."
Crow Demon said this and pulled Pig Demon, Red Pi, beside him.
Pig Demon Red Pi immediately pecked in agreement, nodding his head repeatedly.
Looking at his two partners' hopeful eyes,
Lu Fei was silent for a long time before he nodded, "I'll give it a try…"