With Xiao Yan keeping a watchful eye, Mu Li and the mutated green rose played together very happily. He even gave it a nickname, calling it Little Green. Man and plant rapidly forged a fast friendship, to the point that Xiao Yan grew a bit jealous and scooped his wife up to carry him back into the living room.
“Now sit right here and play by yourself. You are not allowed to play with that fellow,” Xiao Yan said, cupping Mu Li’s face in his hands.
Mu Li nodded obediently, looking up at Xiao Yan with big, innocent eyes full of docility, silently signaling for Xiao Yan to hurry back to the kitchen.
Yet the moment Xiao Yan stepped inside the kitchen, that green stalk slithered right in after him, dragging fresh dirt along that smeared across the polished floorboards while its tip affectionately brushed against Mu Li’s calf. Making a shushing gesture at it, Mu Li picked up a cookie from the coffee table and offered it to the plant. However, the stalk merely shook from side to side as if it didn’t understand at all, prompting Mu Li to whisper softly, “What do you want to eat?”
Miraculously, it seemed to understand Mu Li’s words. Its long stalk crept up onto the coffee table, looked left and right, and finally chose the glass of freshly squeezed fruit juice that Xiao Yan had made for Mu Li. Tapping the glass with its tip, Mu Li swiftly scooped the cup up, gulped down the contents, and then looked at it with an innocent expression, mouthing the words, “All gone. Pick something else.”
That stalk stayed motionless right where it was for a full minute. Mu Li fancied he could detect pure shock radiating from its one or two little leaves. There was no helping it; this juice was pressed by his big brother, and nobody else was allowed to have a single drop.
Little Green lingered for a moment, looking thoroughly offended. Turning its tip away, it decided to ignore Mu Li altogether. Mu Li poked it with his index finger, soothing it in a gentle voice, “Alright, don’t be mad. Shall I find you some milk instead?”
Only then did Little Green turn back around, its leaves trembling in a clear signal for Mu Li to hurry up. Casting a glance toward the kitchen and seeing that Xiao Yan was busy and unable to spare attention for him, Mu Li padded over barefooted to the television cabinet. Opening the doors revealed a neatly arranged stash of room-temperature milk and snacks. Grabbing a carton of milk and tiptoeing back, he unscrewed the cap, whereupon Little Green eagerly thrust its stalk right inside. A loud slurping sound echoed out, immediately followed by Xiao Yan’s voice calling from the kitchen, “Babe, are you sneaking milk?”
“No… no. It’s just juice!” Flustered, Mu Li nearly dropped the milk carton in his hands, while Little Green froze in absolute terror. It was terrified of this powerful human, and it was precisely because it sensed that human’s formidable strength that it had acted cute and coy to humor the little human and secure a powerful backer.
Inside the small kitchen, although Xiao Yan couldn’t see what was happening in the living room, his psychic awareness had blanketed the entire house, meaning the little antics between human and plant naturally couldn’t escape his notice. Seeing that Mu Li was having fun, Xiao Yan decided not to call him out, merely shouting, “Dinner will be ready soon, so don’t go eating snacks.”
“Okay!” Mu Li agreed with alacrity, reasoning that he hadn’t technically been snacking anyway. Tossing the empty milk carton into the trash can, he deliberately pulled several sheets of tissue paper to cover it up, then pointed toward the front door to signal Little Green to get lost. Though reluctant to leave, Little Green remained terrified of the man inside the house. After giving Mu Li one last parting rub, it vanished in a flash, though neither of them noticed the long streak of dirt left behind on the floor, mistakenly believing their cover-up had been completely seamless.
When Xiao Yan emerged from the kitchen, he found his kid sitting obediently on the sofa, flashing a wide, goofy, and thoroughly foolish grin the moment he spotted him. Finding it endlessly amusing, Xiao Yan walked over, pinched Mu Li’s plump cheeks, and pretended not to notice the trail of mud on the floor as he smiled and asked, “Look at how good my baby is, not even playing on his phone.”
“Is dinner ready?” Mu Li reached out to wrap his arms around Xiao Yan. Ever since that single night yesterday, this little rascal seemed to have unlocked some sort of switch, becoming much bolder and wanting to cling to his boyfriend every single second.
Taking the cue, Xiao Yan scooped him up and carried him into the bathroom. “Alright, go wash your hands first.”
Dinner consisted of a simple spread of three dishes and one soup, all light and easy to digest. Once they finished eating, Xiao Yan carried Mu Li out to the courtyard once more. As Mu Li sat in the reclining chair playing with Little Green, Xiao Yan watered the plants and flowers. With the sunset casting its golden glow all around, it was a picture of peaceful serenity—a poignant contrast to the grim reality that this world would soon fracture into ruins, turning all innocence and beauty into unattainable luxuries.
……
Later that night, after coaxing Mu Li to sleep, Xiao Yan’s thoughts drifted back to that mysterious spatial realm he hadn’t yet found time to explore. Taking advantage of the quiet moment, with a mere flick of his consciousness, Xiao Yan materialized inside the space. It remained identical to when he had first entered: a babbling little brook flanked by lush green meadows dotted with wild blossoms. Squatting down by the stream, Xiao Yan cupped a handful of crystal-clear, ice-cold water in his palm. The pebbles at the bottom were visible in sharp detail, though a careful inspection revealed a complete absence of even microscopic organisms, let alone small fish or shrimp.
Xiao Yan felt intense curiosity toward this space. He had no idea why it had inexplicably materialized out of nowhere, but he could sense that it was intimately bound to his own existence. The only question was whether the items inside could be brought out into the real world.
Deciding to test it out, Xiao Yan plucked a wild flower from the ground and concentrated on exiting the space. The flower materialized safely in his palm, only to wither and vanish right before his eyes within seconds.
“So that’s how it works?” Xiao Yan muttered, staring at his palm. Next, he grabbed a glass from the table and re-entered the space. This time, he brought out a cup of water. Unlike his previous test, the water inside the cup didn’t evaporate or disappear; it rested quietly inside the glass. After waiting a long time, Xiao Yan concluded that it looked no different from ordinary water. In a water-scarce apocalypse, it could potentially serve as a potable resource, but since it originated from the space, he had no way of knowing whether it carried any harmful effects. This train of thought immediately brought to mind the potted green rose from earlier that day. Since a mutated plant possessed a form of life, it would make the perfect test subject.
Armed with this idea, Xiao Yan walked out to the courtyard carrying the cup of water. Catching sight of him, Little Green poked its head out and gave its stalk a nervous shake. Xiao Yan poured the water around the base of Little Green, then stood back with his arms crossed, watching it for a long while. The plant showed no immediate changes, save for the fact that Xiao Yan’s gaze had frightened it into a shivering fit that caused it to drop almost all of its remaining sparse leaves.
Since no results were visible right away, Xiao Yan simply abandoned the matter and returned to the bedroom to take a shower. The moment he lay down in bed, Mu Li wriggled straight into his arms. Unbeknownst to Xiao Yan, who drifted off to sleep holding his wife, out in the courtyard, Little Green was undergoing an astonishing growth spurt, rapidly transforming from a small potted plant into a towering tree.