After thinking for a moment, Lin Yunyou spoke again. "Little Vine, can you help me set up some more shelves on this wall?"
She gestured with her fingers before reaching out to pat the Ghost Vine again.
Ghost Vine: ...
When several shelves capable of holding items appeared on the wall at the foot of the bed, Lin Yunyou was extremely satisfied.
"As expected of the Ghost Vine. This is great work."
Despite having been enslaved for a while, the Ghost Vine couldn’t help but secretly feel pleased. It really was quite capable.
After putting away the rest of her belongings, Lin Yunyou began thinking about heading outside to search for supplies.
The few items she had received as mission rewards would only last her three days, even if she rationed them carefully. Food was her top priority.
"System, where am I right now? In a primeval forest?"
[Sort of. However, there is a city not far from this forest.]
[The plants and animals in this world have mutated and grow extremely quickly. A normal-sized shrub can grow as tall as a two- or three-story building.]
[Didn’t you just see how large the Ghost Vine is? Its thickest vine is as wide as your thigh.]
Lin Yunyou: ...
[You should go outside and see the situation for yourself.]
Lin Yunyou turned her gaze toward the Ghost Vine, which was currently playing with a cup on the table.
"Can you leave the Shelter?"
"I can. I should actually thank you for binding me. Otherwise, I would have been rooted here for the rest of my life, unable to go anywhere else."
That was also why the Ghost Vine had been behaving itself.
Although its growth rate was tied to the Shelter’s level, there was no denying that it had gained many benefits from being bound to Lin Yunyou.
It could now follow Lin Yunyou out of the forest and into the outside world.
Before, it could only act on instinct and hunt prey within this forest. But now, it had gained intelligence and was much smarter than before.
Didn’t she notice that everything except its main vine had turned green? It had transformed!
In the future, it would only become more powerful than it had been before gaining intelligence.
Although its main vine had become Lin Yunyou’s Shelter, its main body could still follow her wherever she went.
Lin Yunyou looked the Ghost Vine up and down.
"Looking like this, can you still fight once we leave?"
"Even though I rushed over to bind you at the time, I’m not sure if anyone noticed."
"I’m the little overlord of this area. Of course I can fight! The main vine is the Shelter, and I am me."
"By the time you rushed over, those people had already run away. And those who were supposed to die are all dead. No one will know you’re here."
The few Survivors it had caught outside had long since been crushed and eaten.
Lin Yunyou stood up.
"In that case, come out with me. It’s still early, so let’s go find some food and bring it back."
It was just as well that those people were dead. Aside from possibly seeing her rush toward the Ghost Vine, the Survivors who had escaped would simply assume that she had either died or somehow managed to survive.
No one would imagine that she had directly bound the Ghost Vine and turned it into her Shelter.
After all, that was something almost impossible to imagine.
"Oh."
The ball of weeds that was the Ghost Vine nimbly extended two vines, climbed up Lin Yunyou’s arm, and settled onto her shoulder.
Lin Yunyou didn’t have a suitable weapon with her at the moment, so she had to rely on the Ghost Vine for protection.
"My life is in your hands for now. If I die, you’re going down with me."
"Why didn’t you say that earlier?!"
The Ghost Vine exclaimed in exasperation, feeling as though it had been tricked.
Lin Yunyou opened the door and stepped out of the Shelter, carefully scanning her surroundings.
Four Survivors had died in total, and the Ghost Vine hadn’t been picky about what it ate, leaving flesh and blood scattered across the ground.
She frowned.
"Find a way to clean this up. What if it attracts wild beasts later?"
"Don’t worry. They won’t dare come near with me here."
The Ghost Vine shook its vines confidently.
However, the vines spread across the ground secretly began moving, burying whatever needed to be buried underground.
It really was a bit messy.
The dark green vines covering the ground looked somewhat different from the ones she had seen when she first arrived.
Lin Yunyou walked forward a few steps before turning around and looking at the wall of vines hanging from the trees.
Who would have thought that this was actually a Shelter?
"I’ll count on you to guard the Shelter from now on."
Lin Yunyou reached up and patted the Ghost Vine.
"Got it."
The main vine was still a part of the Ghost Vine, so it would immediately know if anyone approached and could attack them.
Leaving the Shelter in its care was practically a guarantee of safety.
Before heading out to search for supplies, Lin Yunyou opened her personal panel and entered the Mission Center to choose a task.
She was broke right now and needed to earn whatever meager income she could.
What if items like those found in infinite-flow novels appeared in the Points Mall later?
[Daily Mission: Submit 5 Explosive Grapes]
[Mission Difficulty: F]
[Mission Reward: 5 Points]
Explosive... grapes?
Was that really a thing?
[Did you think you were still on Blue Star? Even vines have mutated to the point of consuming flesh and blood, so it’s perfectly normal for grapes to be explosive.]
Lin Yunyou fell silent.
That did seem to make sense.
[Daily Mission: Submit 5 Stinky Egg Durian Fruits]
[Mission Difficulty: F]
[Mission Reward: 10 Points]
However, she didn’t rush to accept either mission. She planned to look around the area first and see what she could find.
After checking her bearings, she chose to search for supplies in the opposite direction from where the other Survivors had fled earlier.
She didn’t want to encounter any other Survivors for the time being.
Any area within the Ghost Vine’s reach was its territory.
Once she left the Ghost Vine’s territory, Lin Yunyou immediately became more alert and proceeded cautiously.
The vegetation here was enormous, and Lin Yunyou couldn’t even tell what some of the plants had originally been.
"By the way, System, the Shelter is absolutely safe, right?"
[Yes. It is absolutely safe, as long as no one discovers the location of your Shelter and tries to destroy its door.]
Lin Yunyou nodded.
As she walked through the forest, she maintained a straight path so that she could return to the Shelter quickly if anything happened.
She carefully observed her surroundings as she went.
Many strange-looking flowers and weeds grew across the ground. Lin Yunyou carefully avoided them, not daring to step on them for fear of what might happen.
If grapes could be explosive, there was no guarantee that these bizarre flowers weren’t dangerous as well.
After walking for a while, Lin Yunyou’s sharp eyes caught sight of several familiar-looking plants ahead.
As she approached, she realized they were sunflowers!
After confirming that there was no danger nearby, she stepped forward to take a closer look.
[Sunflower: Its seeds... seem to have undergone some changes. They are edible.]
The sunflower’s flower head was more than a meter wide, and it had grown so tall that its stem was almost as thick as Lin Yunyou’s calf.
This made things rather difficult for her.
She didn’t have any tools, so bringing down such a huge flower head was going to be quite difficult.
"Little Vine, I’ll have to rely on you for now. See that huge flower head up there? Is there any way you can get it down?"