“System, don’t you think this little monster is acting a bit strange?” Yan Tingting watched as the mutant plant kept its mouth tightly shut, as if the creature had withdrawn its killing intent toward her.
“I think your brain is what’s not working right, ahhhh!” the System wailed.
The next instant, the mutant plant shrank its body, giving her no time to react.
A lush little green sprout hopped onto Yan Tingting’s back, pressed itself tightly against that faint green light, and nuzzled her dependently.
Yan Tingting’s body stiffened. Just as she was about to attack, the System’s voice rang out again, “Ding! Death Countdown has ended. Host, you’re amazing—you’ve survived again!”
Yan Tingting was a bit dazed. “What the heck?” That’s it?
The wound on her back healed, and the green light vanished. The little sprout crawled up onto Yan Tingting’s wrist and adorably opened its gaping maw full of fangs at her.
“What the—what are you doing?” Yan Tingting was startled out of her wits and flung it away with a backward swipe of her hand.
The little sprout quickly climbed back up and wrapped itself tightly around her wrist, nuzzling her like it was acting cute, then opened that gaping maw again.
Yan Tingting held her hand far away in disgust. “System, what on earth is wrong with it?” The horror of this sprout acting cute was no less than that of a burly man doing it.
“Host, your ability seems to be a bit off. The wound on your back appears to have healed.”
The System suddenly remembered the anomaly that had appeared when Yan Tingting awakened her ability. “Oh right, Host, I forgot to tell you—when your ability awakened, it seems to have mutated and split off a healing aspect.”
Yan Tingting had been too frazzled by the mutant plant to notice anything earlier. Now, prompted by the System, she reached back to touch her wound—it was indeed gone.
After the Apocalypse began, aside from healing abilities, only some water-type and Wood-type abilities could split off a healing capability. But in those cases, the user typically couldn’t attack.
For instance, Wood-type abilities could split into three variants. The first was attack-type, which was what Yan Tingting had originally assumed she had.
The second type was planting. With just one seed, they could accelerate growth, and it also carried a degree of attack power. Ability Users of this type were especially prized in bases—after all, since the Apocalypse, farmland could no longer be cultivated.
The third was the healing aspect. These users were the treasures of any base. Since they had no attack power, like those with healing abilities, they were extremely rare.
Water-type abilities were similar to Wood-type, except they couldn’t do planting.
Yan Tingting held out her palm, and green light glimmered forth. The little sprout swallowed that ball of light in one gulp, bounced around joyfully, then opened its fang-filled mouth again.
Yan Tingting tossed it two more orbs of light, then manually shut the little sprout’s mouth. “My ability level is low, so there’s not that much ability to go around. Do you want to stay with me? If so, nod.”
The little sprout’s leaves drooped listlessly, and it nodded.
Yan Tingting’s lips curved, a malicious smile flickering in her eyes. “Very good. But I don’t keep useless trash. What use are you?”
The little sprout opened its gaping maw wide, mimicking a swallowing motion.
“You want to help me eat them? Fine. But you can’t just eat any random garbage, understand? Only eat what I tell you to eat. Got it?”
The little sprout hesitated, unmoving.
“If you agree, I’ll feed you three orbs of light every day.”
The little sprout still didn’t move.
“Five,” Yan Tingting pressed on.
The little green sprout still didn’t move.
“Eight, and not one more. If you don’t agree, I’m leaving.” Yan Tingting raised an eyebrow. This little green sprout was quite greedy, but she couldn’t afford to feed it that much.
After all, this thing had swallowed an entire off-road vehicle of hers. Just thinking about it hurt.
The little green sprout shyly nodded, then meekly coiled itself around Yan Tingting’s wrist. From a distance, it looked like a bracelet—completely inconspicuous.
“Host, it just… agreed?” the System asked, quite surprised.
“It’s not a person. Easy to fool.” As she spoke, Yan Tingting took out a seed and tried to accelerate its growth.
“Host, how can you possibly have all three abilities?” Watching her movements, the System guessed what she was planning.
The next moment, the System’s eyes went wide as a rice plant sprouted right before host and System alike, lush and glistening.
It was just that Yan Tingting’s Supernatural Ability was nearly depleted, and the rice quickly stopped growing.
“You really do have all of them.” Yan Tingting smiled, tossed the rice seedling on the ground, and sank weakly to her knees.
The earlier battle with the little green sprout had drained her too much. Feeling somewhat weak, Yan Tingting slipped into her Spatial Dimension to recover her strength.
After this battle, Yan Tingting clearly felt that her Supernatural Ability had grown considerably stronger. According to the book, abilities advanced through battle or by absorbing crystal cores. Before long, she would probably break through to the second rank.
At first light, Yan Tingting found a new off-road vehicle and left the area.
She headed out of Minghe City the same way she had come. She was the type who never forgot a grudge—and now that she had the little green sprout, some people were better off not being left alive.
Minghe City was still just as desolate. When the little green sprout saw the zombies on the road, it got excited as if spotting prey. Seeing this, Yan Tingting rolled down the window, and in the blink of an eye it swallowed a whole zombie.
Yan Tingting’s face turned a shade of green, and she quickly stopped it before it could swallow another. “Don’t just eat anything and everything. How can you even eat zombies?”
The little green sprout drooped its leaves, looking wronged.
Yan Tingting’s eyes darted around, and she pulled a crystal core out of her Spatial Dimension. “Is this what you want?”
The little green sprout nodded rapidly, popped the crystal core into its mouth, and crunched it to pieces with a couple of bites.
Yan Tingting studied it thoughtfully, then held up a Wood-type Crystal Core for it to see. “You’re not allowed to swallow things whole anymore—dig them out yourself before eating. When you see this color, save some for me. Nod if you agree.”
She couldn’t stand the stink of the little green sprout’s mouth.
“Host, you’re even stealing its food,” the System said, unable to watch any longer.
“Don’t put it so ugly. That’s the little green sprout showing filial devotion to me. If you keep talking like that, it’ll get upset. So…”
“So what?”
“So you can shut up now.” She fed the ball of light every day—what was wrong with it showing her a little tribute in return?
What was wrong with that?
The System: “…” It had never seen such a shameless host.
Yan Tingting soon arrived near the area where she’d clashed with that group. Not long after she got there, she heard gunshots coming from the left.
Judging by the sound, they were the same type of gun that group had used that day—the kind issued to guards by the Yan Nation. They must have looted them.
Yan Tingting drove the vehicle to a concealed spot, stored it in her Spatial Dimension, and hurried toward the direction of the gunfire.
After a few leaps, Yan Tingting found the general area, but with shopping malls standing all around, it was hard for her to pinpoint the exact location.
While she hesitated, a second gunshot rang out.
This time, Yan Tingting was certain it had come from the three-story shopping mall to her right. She glanced around, then used the vines to leap up to the mall’s rooftop.