After the crystal stone was taken away, the surrounding mutated pea vines slowly began to wither, and they no longer attacked the two of them.
When Sheng Ge and Gu Xiaoxue returned to where the vehicles were parked, they discovered that the entire area was covered in traces of burning.
But strangely, amidst the charred black ground, there were still several patches of vibrant mutated pea vines growing vigorously, while everyone else had collapsed unconscious.
“Brother Dahong!”
Gu Xiaoxue was the first to spot Zhuo Dahong, whose upper body was hanging halfway outside the vehicle.
More importantly, one of the legs sticking out of the car was now wrapped in vines, and faint traces of blood could be seen flowing from it.
Panicked, Gu Xiaoxue immediately rushed over and tried to tear the vines away from Zhuo Dahong’s leg.
“How could this happen…”
Gu Xiaoxue covered her mouth, unable to believe what she was seeing.
The vines were actually connected to his leg through root-like tendrils. Even more horrifying, the leg itself had already been drained dry like a dead branch, leaving only a layer of grayish-black skin wrapped around bone.
Looking at Zhuo Dahong’s face, it was pale to the point that not a trace of blood remained.
Gu Xiaoxue forcefully ripped away all the roots, then helped him sit upright in the car seat. Staring at his leg, her face filled with guilt and self-blame.
Injured like this, Zhuo Dahong’s leg was definitely ruined.
Never before had Gu Xiaoxue felt so deeply aware of her own uselessness.
No… actually, she had felt this way before.
Every time danger appeared and Brother Dahong stood in front of them to protect them, she had hated herself.
But the problem was, she was only a plant-type ability user.
Yes, she was a plant-type ability user—a rare kind that every major base wanted desperately to recruit.
But so what?
Plant-type ability users could grow uncontaminated crops and save countless people from starvation, but they themselves had almost no combat ability!
They could only grow plants. They couldn’t control them.
The kind of scenes from novels where plant-type users manipulated vines and beat enemies senseless had never happened to people like them!
Every time Gu Xiaoxue thought about it, she wanted to cry.
Back when she first awakened her plant ability, she had been ecstatic. She thought she was the chosen heroine of destiny, destined to dominate the apocalypse.
Reality had very quickly taught her a lesson.
Actually, not long after the apocalypse began, she had joined a small base.
She had revealed her ability there too.
Using her power, she grew a lot of food for the base, and because of that, everyone treated her with great respect.
But three months later, when she proposed leaving to look for her grandfather, everyone’s attitude changed completely.
They injured her, imprisoned her, and tortured and threatened her into continuing to grow food for them…
That period of time was nothing short of a nightmare to her.
Later, it was an elderly granny in the base, whose conscience hadn’t completely rotted away, who secretly released her. She fled while avoiding pursuit all the way until she encountered Zhuo Dahong, who had come out searching for supplies and ended up saving her.
From then on, she no longer dared to casually expose her ability in front of outsiders.
Even among the people here now, aside from Zhuo Dahong, not a single person knew she was a plant-type ability user.
All this time, they had been secretly growing crops in hidden places, then pretending the harvested food had been scavenged from outside.
She had always thought that being able to provide food for everyone meant she was already doing well enough.
But now, looking at Zhuo Dahong hanging on by a thread, she once again hated her own weakness.
If only her ability could protect herself like other people’s powers could.
If only she could protect the people she wanted to protect.
“Miss Sheng, do you have any way to help Brother Dahong?” For the first time in her life, the proud Gu Xiaoxue asked someone for help.
Sheng Ge walked over and examined Zhuo Dahong’s condition. Although this junior always called her “little sister” without any respect for seniority, she actually found him fairly pleasing to the eye.
“Give me the crystal stone from before.”
Gu Xiaoxue froze for a moment before remembering she was still holding it. She hurriedly took the crystal stone out from her clothes and handed it over to Sheng Ge.
Holding the crystal stone, Sheng Ge carefully sensed the energy inside once more.
Sure enough, just as she had guessed.
She handed the crystal stone back to Gu Xiaoxue and said, “Place it on his leg.”
Gu Xiaoxue did as instructed.
Then something astonishing happened.
As soon as the crystal stone touched his leg, it began emitting a soft green glow.
And as the green light spread, Zhuo Dahong’s shriveled branch-like leg slowly began regenerating skin and flesh. Very quickly, a perfectly intact pair of legs appeared before them once again.
Only…
Gu Xiaoxue’s expression became a little dazed, while Sheng Ge laughed without restraint.
Zhuo Dahong’s eyelids twitched as he slowly woke from unconsciousness. The moment he opened his eyes and saw both his little sisters gathered beside him, he felt somewhat flattered.
“Eh? Xiaoxue, Little Sister Sheng Ge, you’re back? What happened to me?”
Zhuo Dahong felt dizzy for a while before finally remembering what had happened before he fainted. Instantly alarmed, he quickly looked toward the back of the vehicle.
Seeing that everyone was merely unconscious and hadn’t yet suffered any further harm, he finally relaxed.
But when he turned back around, he noticed the looks on his two little sisters’ faces were strange.
No, to be precise, they seemed to be staring somewhere lower.
Only then did Zhuo Dahong notice that his legs felt chilly. Alarmed, he immediately looked down.
“Wha—what the hell is this?!”
Zhuo Dahong was stunned.
What happened?
Why did a single nap make his pants disappear?!
And most importantly—
Why had his legs turned into a pair of fair, slender legs?!
White and smooth, so delicate you couldn’t even see any hair on them!
Where were his thick, powerful, manly legs?!
Those two huge sturdy legs of his—where did they go?!
“Xi-Xiaoxue… I… what happened to me?” Zhuo Dahong’s voice trembled. He finally understood why the two girls had been looking at him so strangely.
But his legs really hadn’t looked like this before!
He was a genuine macho man!
Gu Xiaoxue briefly explained everything that had happened.
After hearing it all, Zhuo Dahong didn’t even know what expression to make anymore.
Sure, his life and legs had been saved, but…
How could a tall, rugged man like him possibly have a pair of legs like these?!
The thought that both his little sisters had seen them made Zhuo Dahong feel socially dead on the spot.
No.
From now on, absolutely, absolutely no fourth person could ever see his legs again!
Zhuo Dahong silently swore to himself.
Gu Xiaoxue struggled desperately not to laugh, though internally she was already dying from laughter.
But Sheng Ge had no such reservations. She openly stared at Zhuo Dahong’s legs with great interest, scaring him into scrambling to find a pair of pants to change into immediately.
No.
From now on, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely no fourth person could ever see his legs again!
Zhuo Dahong silently swore once more.
Meanwhile, Gu Xiaoxue handed the crystal stone back to Sheng Ge again.
But this time Sheng Ge didn’t take it. Instead, she said calmly, “It’s yours.”
“Huh? Mine?”
Gu Xiaoxue was shocked.
After what had just happened, she naturally understood how terrifyingly powerful this seemingly ordinary crystal stone’s healing abilities were. Calling it capable of reviving the dead and regrowing flesh from bone wouldn’t even be an exaggeration.
And now Sheng Ge was giving it to her?!
“Mhm. It’s not very useful to this Venerable One, but it suits you perfectly. The power of vitality should merge well with your ability.”
“You… know what kind of ability I have now?” Gu Xiaoxue’s expression became complicated. After a long pause, she continued, “If you’re willing to keep my plant-type ability a secret, then from now on, I’ll handle all your food.”
Actually, the main reason was that she could already tell she couldn’t beat Sheng Ge. Besides, the woman had also saved her life. Other than begging her to keep the secret, what else could she do?
Sheng Ge had originally intended to say she didn’t actually know before, but she hadn’t expected this unexpected bonus!
“Deal!”