The young man’s actions stunned everyone present.
With her leg being hugged, Xie Zhiyu couldn’t help trying to step backward, but the man was holding on too tightly. Even after exerting some force, she couldn’t break free.
Xie Zhiyu: …
She rubbed her forehead, then tried again. This time, with the spiritual energy inside her body, she easily broke free from his grip.
She lowered her head and glanced at the man. Seeing that his face was covered in tears and snot, she couldn’t help sighing.
“Get up first, then we’ll talk.”
The young man nodded vigorously. He quickly scrambled to his feet, casually wiped his face, and gave Xie Zhiyu a flattering smile. He was covered in dirt, but his expression was filled with the relief and lingering fear of having survived a disaster.
After all, their group had nearly lost their lives to the carnivorous flower just now.
He wasn’t actually that worried about dying himself. The key point was that Hu Song and the others had voluntarily entered this place to save him, and they had nearly died just now.
If his beloved streamer hadn’t arrived, he probably really would have broken down.
He sniffled. Now that he had finally calmed down, his body suddenly felt weak. Although he had still been able to speak just seconds ago, he suddenly lost all his strength and plopped down onto the ground, gasping for breath.
“He’s probably just too frightened.”
Hu Song waved his hand, and two security guards came over to support the man and help him sit beside a flower bed farther away from the carnivorous flower.
Even though the carnivorous flower appeared to be dead now, the fear left over from the battle still made them afraid to get too close.
Only Hu Song dared to approach Xie Zhiyu and ask how she had ended up here.
Xie Zhiyu answered, “I came downstairs to take out the trash and heard the commotion here, so I came over to take a look. I didn’t expect to run into you, Uncle Hu, fighting this carnivorous flower.”
She didn’t mention what happened afterward since Hu Song had already witnessed it himself.
“Take out the trash…” Hu Song’s first reaction upon hearing this explanation was disbelief.
“If I remember correctly, Xiaoyu, the building you live in isn’t particularly close to here. How could you hear something from this far away?”
Xie Zhiyu stretched out her hand and summoned that gray stream of energy again.
“Uncle Hu, did you forget? I’ve already stepped onto the path of cultivation. You know that cultivators generally have exceptionally sharp senses. It’s not strange that I could hear it.”
This explanation convinced Hu Song. He muttered, “Is cultivation really that amazing? This distance is nearly a kilometer, isn’t it…?”
As he spoke, an envious look appeared on his face.
Xie Zhiyu coughed and said nothing, feeling unusually guilty.
If it were an ordinary person, perhaps they really couldn’t do this. After all, most people hadn’t formally circulated spiritual energy into their bodies yet.
But she was different.
With the system’s help, she had already successfully circulated spiritual energy into her body. Dealing with these mutated plants that had only just developed consciousness was relatively easy for her.
So she could only smile silently before changing the subject.
She first told Hu Song to move farther away, then kicked the limp carnivorous flower lying on the ground with her right foot.
“I know you’re still alive. Get up.”
The carnivorous flower, which had thought pretending to be dead would allow it to escape, trembled. It slowly raised itself from the ground.
After being punched once, the carnivorous flower behaved exceptionally well.
It flapped its two green leaves and cautiously moved toward Xie Zhiyu’s shoes. Then, in a careful and servile manner, it began wiping her slippers.
Scritch, scritch.
It looked just like a humble servant doing its utmost to please its master.
It polished the slippers, which had already been perfectly clean, until they looked brand-new.
Xie Zhiyu was inexplicably embarrassed by this.
Perhaps because she had only recently quit her job, although she knew that the carnivorous flower was trying to curry favor with her in order to stay alive, she subconsciously saw herself in the flower.
It reminded her of the miserable days she had spent working like an exploited laborer.
At the thought of this, her heart inexplicably softened.
She bent down, picked up the carnivorous flower, and held it by one of its petals, swinging it around in the air several times.
“Are you going to attack people again?” she asked.
The carnivorous flower shook its head vigorously, causing its remaining three petals to sway from side to side like waves.
Perhaps it had realized that its only chance of survival was to cling tightly to the powerful person in front of it. It hurriedly wrapped its roots around her wrist, pretending to be an ornament as it obediently rested against her shoulder.
Carnivorous Flower: I’m very well-behaved.
Xie Zhiyu couldn’t help laughing at its series of actions. She reached out and stroked one of its petals.
The barbs on it automatically retracted the moment she touched it. The petal felt soft and squishy, and it even carried a pleasant fragrance.
The scent wasn’t strong. Instead, there was something soothing about it.
The system spoke inside her mind.
“This carnivorous flower probably mutated in the direction of becoming a spirit plant after the revival of spiritual energy.”
“Host, if you keep it, its petals should also be usable as medicinal ingredients.”
“Really?” Xie Zhiyu raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
But regardless of whether it had mutated in the direction of becoming a medicinal spirit plant, she felt that she could take it home and raise it for a while.
Madam Wang had been bored staying at home lately. Giving her some flowers and plants to take care of would be a good thing.
With countless thoughts running through her mind, she reached out with her other hand and flicked the carnivorous flower’s petal.
“All right. I won’t kill you. I’ll take you home later.”
The carnivorous flower obediently nodded before coiling itself around her shoulder and remaining perfectly still.
Hu Song had witnessed the entire process of Xie Zhiyu taming the carnivorous flower.
He stood two or three steps away from her, cautiously watching the flower on her shoulder, and felt his eyebrows twitch violently.
After remaining silent for a while, he finally managed to say, “Xiaoyu, you’re really going to take this flower home? What if it attacks you?”
Although Xie Zhiyu’s display of strength just now had thoroughly impressed him, when he thought about how her family also included Wang Yuerong, who had only just awakened her spiritual root, and Xie’s father, who was an ordinary person, Hu Song felt that this was far too dangerous.
Xie Zhiyu, however, already had a solution.
“It’s fine. I’m planning to put it on the balcony on the top floor.”
Hearing this, Hu Song remembered that Xie Zhiyu’s family lived on the top floor, and when they had bought the apartment, it had come with a large rooftop balcony.
Wang Yuerong had never been interested in raising plants, Xie’s father was often away from home, and Xie Zhiyu had previously been too busy to take care of them either. Naturally, the balcony had been left unused.
Now, though, it could be the perfect place to put this mutated plant.
Knowing that Xie Zhiyu wouldn’t bring it directly into her home, Hu Song subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
But his emotions soon became complicated again.
Before the revival of spiritual energy, Xie Zhiyu had merely been an ordinary office worker. Yet now, after awakening a spiritual root, she could effortlessly knock down a mutated plant that they had been completely unable to defeat.
The contrast left him feeling somewhat unwilling.
It wasn’t jealousy.
He simply couldn’t accept that he had fallen so far behind.
He fell silent for a moment.
Seemingly noticing his mood, Xie Zhiyu decisively changed the subject.
Her gaze landed on the young man sitting on the flower bed.
The man, who had been silently observing her from over there the entire time, immediately noticed her gaze and proactively gave her a bright smile.
“Beloved streamer, you’re so beautiful!” he shouted.
Xie Zhiyu felt awkward.
Help. The two of them weren’t even familiar with each other. How could this guy shout that so loudly in front of everyone? Wasn’t he embarrassed?
Apparently, the man didn’t think so.
After exchanging a few words, Xie Zhiyu learned that the young man who claimed to be her fan, with red-dyed streaks in his hair, was a minor internet celebrity.
His name was Lu Jinzhao. He was a music blogger who had been extremely sensitive to sounds ever since he was young. That was why he had recognized Xie Zhiyu’s identity the moment he heard her voice.
Xie Zhiyu was surprised to learn that her livestream, which normally only had a few hundred viewers, actually contained a hidden gem like him.
Although there was a huge disparity between their follower counts, the man was extremely eager to curry favor with her.
The main reason was that he had genuinely been Xie Zhiyu’s fan in the first place. Now that he had actually met her in person—and she had even saved his life—he would have known even if his head were filled with nothing but water that the streamer standing before him was no ordinary person.
Of course, Lu Jinzhao only truly became Xie Zhiyu’s fan after the revival of spiritual energy.
On the day spiritual energy revived, he took one of his alternate accounts and wandered around different livestreams. That was when he happened to stumble upon Xie Zhiyu’s livestream.
He was one of the people who had personally witnessed Xie Zhiyu’s predictions come true, so naturally, he became one of her loyal fans.
The only frustrating thing was that, despite becoming one of the streamer’s veteran fans so early on, he hadn’t managed to get a spiritual root.
Just thinking about it made Lu Jinzhao’s heart ache.
He normally lived in the villa district. After the revival of spiritual energy, the entire villa district had been sealed off by all kinds of mutated plants. Even though Hu Song had been clearing them every day, he still couldn’t immediately free the people trapped inside.
Lu Jinzhao had been stuck at home for a week, but he had been doing relatively well. Unfortunately, his mother developed a fever today, and they happened to be short on medicine at home, so he had no choice but to risk coming outside.
Originally, he had planned to work together with Hu Song from both sides, creating a temporary passage so they could retrieve some medicine.
However, the mutated plants were far more ferocious than expected, and they nearly wiped out the entire group.
If Xie Zhiyu hadn’t happened to come outside to take out the trash, they really would have died here today.
Still shaken by what had happened, Lu Jinzhao couldn’t help giving Xie Zhiyu a grateful look.
He proactively took out his phone.
“Beloved streamer, meeting each other is fate. Can I add you as a contact?”
He wasn’t trying to hit on her.
He simply felt that someone as powerful as her might not want to get acquainted with him if he didn’t take the initiative. If he shamelessly befriended her now, then perhaps if he encountered danger again in the future, he might be able to ask this big shot for help.
The man became familiar with her faster than one could flip through a book.
Xie Zhiyu didn’t see any reason to refuse, so for the first time in her life, she experienced what it was like to be recognized by one of her own fans.
After successfully adding his beloved streamer’s contact information, Lu Jinzhao was delighted. While adding her, he suddenly remembered something and asked curiously,
“Beloved streamer, why haven’t you livestreamed these past few days? I’ve been waiting in your livestream room every day, but I haven’t seen you come online. Are you planning to stop streaming?”
Xie Zhiyu shook her head.
“No. I’ve just been a little busy lately and haven’t had time to livestream. Don’t worry, I’ll keep streaming in the future.”
After getting her definite answer, Lu Jinzhao was reassured.
“That’s good. Then, beloved streamer, the spiritual roots you sold in your livestream before—will you sell them again the next time you go live?”
He looked at Xie Zhiyu expectantly.
Hu Song and the others, who had just finished clearing this area, happened to walk over and heard that sentence.
“Spiritual roots? What spiritual roots?” Hu Song asked instinctively.
Realizing that he might have said something he shouldn’t have, Lu Jinzhao immediately shut his mouth.
He then heard Xie Zhiyu answer,
“Uncle Hu, we were just talking about my livestream.”
Connecting this with the scene earlier when the man had knelt down and hugged her leg, Hu Song suddenly understood and became interested.
“I didn’t know Xiaoyu, you’re a streamer now. Where’s your livestream? We’ll go give you a follow.”
He smiled as he spoke.
Xie Zhiyu answered casually, “It was just something I suddenly became interested in recently. My livestream is on Yinlang.”
She gave him her username, and Hu Song immediately opened the app and searched for it. He successfully followed her.
He narrowed his eyes and silently looked at the account on his screen.
It had a pitiful little hundred-plus followers, and there wasn’t a single piece of content posted on the account.
He couldn’t help sighing.
Hu Song said earnestly, “Xiaoyu, streaming like this isn’t going to work. At the very least, you need to post some content on your account to attract viewers. How about this? Tell me what kind of content you stream, and I’ll get a few of the brothers to help you boost your popularity.”
He was saying all of this out of genuine goodwill.
Xie Zhiyu listened silently before finally nodding seriously.
“You’re right, Uncle Hu. I’ve only livestreamed once, so it’s understandable that I lack experience. As for the content, there isn’t really anything special. I just sell some things.”
“Sell things? Then you need an audience even more.”
“Exactly.”
Xie Zhiyu nodded.
“I mainly sell things related to cultivation.”
“Oh? What kind of products?”
“Hmm… for example, spiritual roots.”
“Spiritual roots?”
Hu Song, who had been nodding repeatedly, suddenly froze.
The next second, his eyes widened and his voice shot up.
“What? You can sell spiritual roots too?!”