Yan Hong successfully climbed the stone wall to the surface, found a nearby sturdy tree to tie the safety rope, and tossed the rope down so the others could use it to climb up.
Chen Yunliang and Shao Xingyang naturally made it up easily. Next was Lu Shiyu. She had no climbing experience—she hadn’t even climbed a tree—so in the end, she could only fix the safety rope to her harness and let the people above pull her up.
Suspended in mid-air, Lu Shiyu suddenly felt like a plush doll being picked up by a mechanical claw in a claw machine. Looking down made her feel dizzy, so she could only grip the rope with both hands to gain a small sense of security.
After Lu Shiyu was hauled up swaying, the rope was tossed down again. Tang Zeyu secured the luggage to the rope at the bottom, letting the others hoist the gear up first, with Tang Zeyu coming up last.
“Finally out,” Yan Hong said, stretching her limbs as if being down there for that long had stifled her.
Lu Shiyu looked ahead; it was still a forest, but looking deeper, she could see the trees here were growing significantly better than the ones they had passed. Not only were the branches and leaves denser, but the trunks were thicker, and even their height was a good deal taller.
“The path ahead is almost entirely unrecorded by the base. There will be more mutated creatures with higher mutation levels and aggression hidden within,” Tang Zeyu said. Though he was addressing the whole team, he was clearly speaking for the sake of Lu Shiyu, the newcomer. “Don’t fall behind, don’t leave the group without permission, and tell me immediately if you discover any problems. Is that understood?”
“Un-der-stood—” Shao Xingyang drawled with a yawn. “Why do you sound like a homeroom teacher back in school, rattling off a long list of precautions like telling us not to go swimming in the wild?”
“It’s not like he’s saying it for your benefit; just pretend you didn’t hear it.” Chen Yunliang took out the glasses he had put in his case last night and put them on.
“What are mutated creatures with higher mutation levels like?” Lu Shiyu asked curiously.
“I advise you not to be too curious,” Yan Hong said like an experienced veteran. “Those things are like something that only appears in fantasy novels.”
Hearing this, Lu Shiyu wasn’t intimidated but grew even more curious.
“Fantasy novels? So, are there unicorns or dragons or things like that?”
Yan Hong gave her a strange look. “This isn’t a fairy tale. What are you thinking? They just look increasingly bizarre, disgusting, and nauseating.”
“Alright then.”
After packing their gear, they headed into the denser forest. From the outside, the group was like drops of water entering the ocean; they vanished as soon as they stepped into the woods. All that remained were two safety ropes tied to a tree as markers and tools for any followers.
Most of the sunlight in the forest was blocked by the dense canopy above. The greedy trees absorbed the vast majority of the light, leaving only a few scattered rays through the gaps for the plants below. However, this was convenient for the Flying Eagle Squad; having the trees for shade eliminated some trouble, as they didn’t have to worry about the scorching sun, making the walk much easier.
Having undergone this period of forced training, Lu Shiyu had finally grown accustomed to walking endlessly every day.
The good news was that they hadn’t encountered any terrifying mutated creatures ambushing them along the way; the bad news was that there were none at all, and they had no ingredients for dinner.
They walked until it was almost dark, yet the surroundings remained nothing but trees. There were no wild fruits or vegetables, nor were there any animals delivering themselves to their door. The search for ingredients had reached a stalemate.
“We can’t just eat tree bark, can we?” Shao Xingyang picked at the hard bark. “Even if we boil it, I wouldn’t be able to chew it.”
“Look on the bright side—maybe we’ll eat grass roots?” Chen Yunliang suggested.
“If we don’t find any ingredients, we’ll have to eat what I brought,” Lu Shiyu said with some worry. “The amount I brought is limited after all. If we finish it too early, we won’t have any food reserves left.”
After considering for a moment, Tang Zeyu still sent the group to search nearby to see if they could find anything edible.
Lu Shiyu circled the area but found no wild vegetables. Just as she was at her wit’s end, she discovered a strange-looking plant.
This plant looked similar to an elm tree often used as a bonsai, but as Lu Shiyu compared it to the surrounding trees, this tree-like plant didn’t look like a sapling of any of them. Its main trunk was very thick, while conversely, the branches and leaves were very thin, as if all the nutrition had converged in the trunk, leaving the other branches to take the leftovers. Even so, small red berries were scattered across its forks.
Maybe we really will have to gnaw on tree bark, Lu Shiyu thought self-deprecatingly. However, the leaves of this tree-like plant looked quite tender, and the fruit was well-grown—round and plump. Lu Shiyu had the idea to pick some to see if they were edible, but just as she reached out, the plant suddenly retreated a certain distance, narrowly dodging her hand.
“What’s going on?” Lu Shiyu frowned slightly, thinking she just hadn’t aimed correctly. She reached out again, and once more it was dodged. But this time Lu Shiyu saw clearly; the branches and leaves trembled slightly—the plant had definitely moved just now.
Lu Shiyu didn’t give up and tried to grab it several times in a row, but the plant dodged left and right. Lu Shiyu extended both hands, preparing for a pincer attack, but then the plant actually ran away!
Lu Shiyu witnessed the plant moving directly in front of her with her own eyes. She blinked, making sure it wasn’t a hallucination.
Without a second thought, she knew this was definitely a creature affected by mutation. Lu Shiyu sprinted after it, but the plant’s speed was too fast and agile; several times when she was on the verge of catching it, it managed to escape smoothly.
Chasing the rapidly moving plant, Lu Shiyu saw Yan Hong and Shao Xingyang not far away and shouted hurriedly, “Quick, catch it! Don’t let it run away!”
At first, the two didn’t react to what Lu Shiyu meant, since there were clearly no animals being chased by her nearby. But soon they noticed a plant that was constantly moving across the ground.
“Holy sh*t, have I hallucinated from hunger?”
Shao Xingyang rubbed his eyes in disbelief, but the plant was still moving agilely, looking nothing like a plant that was supposed to be rooted in one spot.
Lu Shiyu thought finding Yan Hong would guarantee success, but unexpectedly, even Yan Hong couldn’t catch the thing. Several times Yan Hong was about to grab it only to miss by a fraction; even Yan Hong herself found it unbelievable.
“What’s happening?”
In the end, Yan Hong even activated her ability, her figure moving so fast it was just a shadow. She went back and forth with the plant for several rounds, but ultimately only managed to snatch a few leaves.
Yan Hong panted slightly. She didn’t know if it was an illusion, but she felt like the plant was panting too; its branches and leaves were shaking slightly, seemingly exhausted as well.
Just as both sides were wary of each other’s next move, a water ball smashed onto the plant. The plant instantly froze, and the leaves that had been swaying stopped moving.
Yan Hong seized the opportunity and grabbed the plant. Although it could still move, it now only dashed and ran around aimlessly, no longer possessing its previous agile dodging ability. Before long, Yan Hong caught it.
Lu Shiyu looked at Shao Xingyang, who was also looking dazed, and asked, “Why did you throw a water ball just now?”
“I don’t know. I just wanted to see if I could hit it, and I actually did.”
Lu Shiyu: “…”
Yan Hong grabbed the plant firmly. Feeling the roots below clutching the soil exceptionally tight, she gripped the main trunk with both hands, spread her legs for leverage, and with a surge of strength, finally pulled the running plant up by its roots.
“F*ck! What on earth is this?!”
Yan Hong couldn’t help but curse out loud. She endured the urge but barely stopped herself from tossing the thing away. The two were startled as they took a closer look.
Saying it was scary was an understatement; it had reached the point of being creepy. The plant looked like a bonsai tree, but in reality, it was similar to a radish. The exposed part looked like a tree trunk, but it was actually the exposed roots, and two-thirds of the rhizome was buried underground, exceptionally thick and sturdy.
The most terrifying part was that its appearance closely resembled a deformed infant. One could even tell where the head and feet were. Though it was abstract, it immediately brought to mind the likeness of a human baby, and its face was particularly distorted.
“If Ginseng Fruit looked like this, I can understand why Xuanzang couldn’t stomach it.”
Shao Xingyang swallowed his spit, looking at the plant whose root hairs were still writhing incessantly. It was unnervingly creepy.
“It probably moves using these roots,” Lu Shiyu said, pointing at the thick, forked rhizomes. “But once it’s out of the ground, it shouldn’t have any tricks left.”
“No, it’s got plenty of tricks,” Yan Hong said, extending her arm to hold the thing as far away as possible. “It looks so disgusting; I want to throw it away right now.”
“Don’t throw it! Or what will we eat for dinner?”
Yan Hong: “?”
Shao Xingyang: “?”
Tang Zeyu and Chen Yunliang, who had hurried over upon hearing the noise: “?”
“Even if a person were starving to death, they shouldn’t eat something like this, right?” Yan Hong shook the plant in her hand. Feeling the motion, all of the plant’s extended rhizomes retracted, coiling around its main body.
“But you also know that the mutated creatures we encounter later will only get more distorted in appearance. If you can’t adapt, you won’t have anything to eat.”
Yan Hong had a conflicted expression. “But how can anyone stomach this thing?”
Shao Xingyang nodded frantically in agreement. “Yeah, yeah, this thing looks way too anti-human.”
“It’s not that exaggerated,” Lu Shiyu said, taking the plant from Yan Hong’s hand. “Leave the job of processing the ingredients to me. You guys go dig up a few more.”
“We have to catch more?” Yan Hong’s voice suddenly rose several pitches.
“One definitely isn’t enough to eat. Go get a few more.”
Left with no choice, Yan Hong and Shao Xingyang had to take Tang Zeyu and Chen Yunliang, who had just arrived, to catch more plants. Fortunately, they had gained some experience; with one person distracting the plant and Shao Xingyang splashing a water ball on it, they could capture it relatively easily—though Shao Xingyang himself didn’t know why that worked.
Lu Shiyu carried the plant, which had shrunk into a trembling ball, in her hand, wondering why they became so easy to catch as if they’d lost their minds once Shao Xingyang splashed them with water. Was it that they were afraid of water? That was unlikely; what kind of plant is afraid of water?
Lu Shiyu felt the wetness on her hand; the water Shao Xingyang had splashed earlier was still there. She looked at the branches and leaves that were soaked through. Suddenly, she seemed to discover the secret of how the plant dodged capture so nimbly, as well as the reason why it lost its ability to differentiate once splashed with water. However, this theory still needed a simple confirmation.
By the time the others returned with several more wild plants, they saw Lu Shiyu smiling as she wiped the water off the first plant. The plant sat obediently on her lap without moving; even when she let go of it, it didn’t run away, looking as if it were very well-behaved and sensible.
Shao Xingyang rubbed his eyes. “I must be fainting from hunger. Why do I feel like Lu Shiyu is treating that thing like a pet?”