The Mountain God's Taste

The old turtle let out a couple of awkward coughs. "Well... you'll have to keep this a secret for me, then."

Tu Ran smirked and turned to leave the cave with Fatty.

She found the fruit grove she had passed on the way here.

The grove was full of all kinds of fruit—some hanging from trees, some dangling from vines, some rolling on the ground, and some needing to be dug up from the soil. A few she recognized, but the vast majority she had never seen before.

At the sight of the dizzying array of fruit, the orange plume on Fatty's head perked up, and its beak hung open in astonishment.

"Wow, so many of these are ones Fatty loves to eat."

"The fruit you don't like must be truly awful," Tu Ran remarked.

Fatty let out an embarrassed laugh. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Boss, boss, let's pick some of everything! We'll take them back for Grandpa Turtle to taste."

"Suit yourself."

"Yay! Boss said yes!" It immediately scurried off on its stubby little legs toward the nearest fruit tree it could reach.

Watching its cheerful retreating figure, Tu Ran reminded it, "If you pick some of everything, you won't be able to carry it all back in one trip. You might have to make several runs."

"No problem—Fatty is a hardworking Fatty."

The grove wasn't far from the old turtle's cave. Tu Ran perched atop the tallest fruit tree, where she could watch Fatty shuttle back and forth the whole time.

Following Fatty's instructions, she plucked three red-skinned gourds from the branches and tossed them down, while she sat in the fork of the tree, eating a cluster of fruit that resembled green grapes from the vines.

She had no idea what they actually tasted like, but she imagined they were green grapes, and so they tasted exactly like green grapes in her mouth.

Fatty made five round trips. On the last one, Tu Ran helped it haul the rest back.

The old turtle gazed at the mountain of assorted fruit and marveled, "My old mountain really is a blessed land!"

"Right? This place is like Fatty's dream paradise!" Fatty flapped its wings in agreement.

"Grandpa Turtle, try this one. This melon is super sweet and super tasty. It's the most common fruit on your mountain."

Fatty smashed a red-skinned gourd on the ground, splitting it in two, then hopped into the shade and shared half with the old turtle.

The old turtle took a bite... and immediately spat it out.

"Bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter—so bitter!"

It was so bitter that tears welled up in its eyes, and even after spitting out what it had eaten, it still couldn't get rid of the taste.

"Huh? Why is it bitter?" Fatty looked helpless and confused. It lowered its head and pecked at the fruit. "It's obviously sweet. So sweet. How can it be bitter?"

It picked up another small yellow melon about the size of a palm. "Grandpa Turtle, eat this one to wash away the bitterness. It's not too sweet, not bitter either, and it's really juicy."

The old turtle snatched it and took a bite.

"Sour, sour, sour, sour—how can it be this sour? Ugh, bleh." It spat repeatedly, its face turning pale.

Fatty was even more confused. It tasted the leftover melon. "It's not sour at all. It's delicious."

It looked at Tu Ran for help. "Boss, it tastes exactly the same as when we ate it. Why does Grandpa Turtle think it's inedible?"

Its tiny brain couldn't wrap around the logic.

Tu Ran let out a sigh. It was because her "immunity to all poisons" ability from the Goudiao let her eat everything with gusto.

But through a human's sense of taste, most food in the Threshold was impossible to swallow.

This old turtle, in all likelihood, shared the same palate as a human, which was why it found these fruits either bitter or sour.

She pulled a glucose ampoule from her bag, walked over, and handed it to it.

"This is sweet. Snap it open and drink."

The old turtle was hesitant to trust her. It was already traumatized.

It hadn't eaten in a thousand years, and the first bite it finally got was either bitter enough to kill it or sour enough to kill it.

Its old life was nearly ending right here.

With trembling hands, it took the ampoule and, following Tu Ran's instructions, carefully snapped it open—then hesitated, frozen.

"Drink," Tu Ran said, raising her voice.

If it dared waste her kindness, she'd force-feed it.

The old turtle flinched at her bark, too scared to resist. It tipped its head back and downed it.

Sweet.

It really was sweet.

Its furrowed brow smoothed out, the sourness washed away. It smacked its lips, savoring the flavor it hadn't tasted in so long.

"Boss, what did you give Grandpa Turtle?" Fatty asked, curious, its eyes wide and fixed on Tu Ran.

It wanted some too.

"It's sugar water made by humans. Not as good as fruit. You should just eat the fruit." She looked away and retreated to the mouth of the cave.

"Oh, all right." Fatty clearly wasn't convinced by her explanation, but it didn't dare pester her further.

"Grandpa Turtle, are you feeling better? How about trying this little fruit? It's the sweetest fruit Fatty has ever eaten."

"No, no, no, no more," the old turtle said, shaking its head faster than a rattle-drum. "Fatty, you enjoy them yourself. It's enough for Grandpa to just watch you eat."

"Huh? You really won't try anymore?" Fatty said with regret. "Fatty picked so many."

The old turtle was truly terrified. "No more, really. Keep them for yourself, Fatty. It's fine if you can't finish them all—you can eat them again tomorrow."

"Alright then."

Fatty plopped down in the middle of the pile of fruit. "Actually, Fatty can finish them all."

The old turtle: "Er... being able to eat is a blessing."

Tu Ran sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. She closed her eyes and rested.

Outside, the sky was gradually darkening. Night was approaching in the Threshold.

Fatty kept eating—finishing one fruit and starting the next, the crunching sounds unending. Occasionally, it would chat with the old turtle about amusing stories from the outside world.

Fatty had been to many places and seen many interesting things, and it recounted them vividly, making the old turtle's heart wander with longing, wishing it could go out and see them for itself.

The old turtle sighed. "If I hadn't coveted this long lifespan back then, if I hadn't scrambled to be this mountain god, I'd have seen so much more of the world."

Tu Ran, who had been resting with her eyes closed, opened them. "How many mountain gods are there here?"

The old turtle counted on its fingers, then gave up. "Can't count them. Can't count them at all. Too many. Every big mountain has one. This world has at least eight hundred or a thousand big mountains. Some smaller ones have mountain gods too, and there are far more of those—tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands. Mountain gods are practically everywhere."

With that many mountain gods, yet no Pioneer had ever seen one.

"Do you all just sleep all the time?"

"There's nothing else to do besides sleep," the old turtle said bitterly.

"Can you die? What happens to the mountain if you do?" Tu Ran pressed on.

The old turtle stiffened for a moment, looking at her warily.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. Relax—I'm not going to kill you for no reason." Tu Ran sneered.

She was just planning for the future. If she ever ran into another mountain god or something like it that provoked her, she wouldn't be toyed with like she had been today.

"Of course we can die. And if we do, nothing really changes. The mountain stays a mountain, the water stays water. Worst case, the trees grow slower, the fruit is scarcer, and the flowers lose a bit of their color."