The cat, with its smooth, glossy black fur, let out a soft “meow.” The moment its owner opened the window, it jumped inside from outside, then flopped down on the sofa in its usual spot and silently began licking the fur on its paws.
It performed this whole sequence with remarkable familiarity. By the time Xie Zhiyu came back to her senses, she saw its tail held high, swishing back and forth in the air like a swing.
The cat master was as usual. Every day, its tail would sway endlessly as if trying to lure someone in, when in reality, it was simply inviting her to pet it.
That familiar feeling had returned.
Unable to resist, Xie Zhiyu immediately picked it up and did what every person with a cat at home would do.
She buried her face in the cat’s belly and took a deep breath.
“Meow~”
Its golden eyes narrowed as Xiao Hei placed a paw on its owner’s head and gently pushed her away.
The gesture looked like resistance, but there was hardly any strength behind it. It was merely playing with its owner.
A minute later, after getting her fill of cat-sniffing, Xie Zhiyu lifted her head with a smile on her face.
She raised the black cat and carefully examined it.
“Xiao Hei, how did you suddenly get a whole size bigger? It’s even a little difficult for me to hold you now.”
She placed her cat master in her hands and weighed it a few times. In the past, she could easily pick it up with one hand, but now she needed both hands to hold it securely.
She had merely slept for a while, yet when she woke up, even her cat had undergone such a significant change.
The cat master didn’t understand what she was saying. It only heard the gentleness in her voice and responded as usual. However, its previously raised tail had somehow curled down and rested beside her hand.
Almost as if it were seducing her.
Xie Zhiyu, however, wasn’t in the mood to play with it. She turned her puzzled gaze toward her father.
Xie Dad shook his head. “Actually, I don’t know what happened either. I only know that during the few days you were asleep, Xiao Hei would occasionally go outside during the day. But it would always come back on its own a few hours later.”
The first time he discovered this, he had been extremely worried. After all, there were mutated plants everywhere in the residential complex after the spiritual energy revival. If the cat went outside and got hurt, that would be troublesome.
Later, though, he discovered that his worries had been completely unnecessary.
Not only did Xiao Hei come back without a single injury, but it had somehow gained several pounds.
Xie Dad had also discovered something else.
It had become smarter.
Even if he locked it inside its cat cage, it would still find a way to sneak out.
Thinking about this, Xie Dad had a whole list of complaints.
He said indignantly, “Xiao Hei is only this obedient when it’s with you. During the days you were asleep, it became completely wild, running around everywhere. Whenever it came back, it would hide in your room and refuse to come out to see us. It hasn’t even eaten any cat food these past few days—it only drank some water!”
“You need to discipline it!”
His eyes carried the resentful look of a child whose mischievous younger sibling had ignored him, forcing him to angrily complain to their parents.
The black cat, sensing that his tone was different from usual, turned its head and let out an innocent meow. It then lowered its head and rubbed against its owner’s hand, asking her to pet it a little longer.
It seemed to have completely ignored him. All its gentleness and affection were reserved for Xie Zhiyu alone.
Xie Dad’s eyes practically turned red with jealousy.
He said unwillingly, “Why? I’m obviously the one who fills its food bowl most often.”
Yet Xiao Hei was the least attached to him.
The sourness in Xie Dad’s heart was practically bubbling over.
Xie Zhiyu coughed lightly. She changed her position and, while her father wasn’t looking, stroked her cat master’s head according to its wishes.
When she looked up again, her face was completely innocent.
“Ah, after all, Xiao Hei was the one I personally rescued.”
Wasn’t it perfectly normal for it to be attached to her?
Xiao Hei was a stray cat she had found when it was three or four months old. At the time, the kitten had been nothing but skin and bones, but she had taken a liking to it at first sight and brought it home.
Perhaps it knew who its savior was. It had always been the most attached to her, which often made Xie Dad and Wang Yurong, who loved cats just as much, terribly jealous.
Xie Dad bringing it up now was nothing more than an old, familiar complaint.
Knowing that he would continue talking about it if she didn’t interrupt him, Xie Zhiyu decisively changed the subject.
She suggested, “Dad, can I give the remaining watermelons to Uncle Hu and the others?”
“I can grow more watermelons. Now that all three of us have awakened spiritual roots, these watermelons aren’t particularly useful to us. It would be better to give them to Uncle Hu. Maybe they can awaken their spiritual roots too.”
Before dinner, the family had eaten one watermelon. The remaining ones hadn’t been cut yet, so she voiced her idea.
Xie Dad was stunned at first. Then he raised an eyebrow and fell into thought.
“Why did you suddenly suggest this?”
“Mainly because the world’s spiritual energy has revived. Although our family has awakened spiritual roots, relying on just the three of us may not be enough to deal with all the dangers outside. Uncle Hu and the others have always worked under Mom. We know them well, and they’ve also been protecting the safety of the residential complex. No matter how you look at it, having them awaken will only benefit our family.”
She gave a serious explanation.
She had already thought of this several hours earlier, when she helped Uncle Hu fight the man-eating flower.
Ordinary people in a world where spiritual energy had revived were like ants. Even a newly mutated plant could beat them back again and again.
Rationally speaking, helping the people close to her awaken spiritual roots would bring her no disadvantages.
Emotionally speaking, Hu Song had watched her grow up and was practically an uncle to her. Since she had a way to cultivate, there was no reason not to let her own uncle cultivate as well.
After quietly listening to her, a hint of approval flashed through Xie Dad’s eyes.
He nodded slightly. “I don’t have any objections. After all, you grew them yourself. It’s up to you.”
He was even somewhat gratified. He hadn’t expected his daughter to think things through to this extent.
Wang Yurong, who had been silently listening beside them, had no objections either.
She even teased her daughter.
“Sweetie, you’re starting to have a few traces of my old self.”
At this, a smile spread across Xie Dad’s eyes as well.
“That’s true. Back then, your mother was just like you are now. Whenever she had something good, she always thought of the people working under her. That’s why so many people were willing to follow her.”
Even though she had retired from that life, there was still a group of people who had stayed by her side.
It was easy to imagine how charismatic Wang Yurong had been back then.
The family of three chatted in the living room for a while. When it was getting late, Xie Zhiyu said goodnight and took Xiao Hei back to her room.
Contrary to what she had expected, she had no trouble falling asleep. The moment she lay down, she fell asleep instantly.
When she woke again, it was already the next morning.
She rolled around on the bed a few times, waking Xiao Hei in the process. After washing up, the girl and the cat left the room together, only to see Hu Song entering the house.
Hu Song had been called over by Wang Yurong.
He had received a call from her early that morning asking him to come over and collect something.
She hadn’t been able to explain clearly over the phone. It wasn’t until he actually arrived that he understood what he had come to collect.
—Watermelons containing spiritual energy!
Upon learning this, Hu Song was extremely excited.
Therefore, when he turned around and saw Xie Zhiyu, his eyes suddenly reddened.
“Thank you, Xiaoyu.”
Hu Song gave an honest smile.
“With these few watermelons of yours, I think a few of us should be able to awaken.”
Don’t be fooled by the fact that he spent his days wandering around the residential complex. In reality, he was the person with the most extensive knowledge of what was happening outside.
After learning that none of his brothers had awakened spiritual roots, he had gone around asking questions and learned that certain foods containing spiritual energy could also increase the probability of awakening.
Therefore, during this period, he had been selling some of the mutated plants from the residential complex and saving money, hoping to buy those foods.
But before he had managed to save enough, Xie Zhiyu had directly given them to him.
It moved this already exhausted man deeply.
He choked up for a moment. Realizing that he was losing his composure, he immediately stopped talking and wiped his face. Looking at the watermelons in his hands, he couldn’t help saying,
“Xiaoyu, although I don’t know where you got these from, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about them.”
He wore a resolute expression, as though determined to keep her secret.
“You don’t know how precious things containing spiritual energy are. A watermelon like this can sell for several hundred thousand yuan outside.”
That was precisely why he had been unable to save enough money.
Any food containing even a little spiritual energy outside costs at least 200,000 yuan, and some can even cost several million.
Those prices made Hu Song’s scalp go numb.
After the revival of spiritual energy, money was sometimes no longer really money.
It was hard for Hu Song not to be affected by this distorted economic environment.
Only now could he finally relax completely.
He kept all his gratitude in his heart. Hugging the watermelons tightly, Hu Song exchanged a few pleasantries and was about to leave when Xie Zhiyu stopped him.
“Uncle Hu, there’s something I need your help with. Could you do me a favor?”
She waved Hu Song over and whispered a few words into his ear.
At first, Hu Song looked puzzled. A few seconds later, he nodded and patted his chest.
“Leave it to me. I’ll bring you the seeds this afternoon after I buy them.”
Xie Zhiyu smiled and nodded. “Then I’ll trouble you, Uncle.”
Hu Song did exactly as he promised. That afternoon, he really brought over a whole pile of seeds.
The seeds Xie Zhiyu had asked him to get were all the ones needed to refine the Body-Tempering Pills, along with some other things she wanted to grow. Altogether, there were forty or fifty different varieties.
An ordinary person might not have been able to get their hands on them, but Hu Song, who had awakened a lightning spiritual root in just one morning, had obtained them with ease.
He was positively glowing with excitement and kept thanking Xie Zhiyu. There was also a faint trace of lingering fear in his voice.
“Didn’t I tell you yesterday that one of the residents in the complex said he was going to kill us? We thought he was joking at the time, but he actually sneaked over just now. If I hadn’t already awakened my spiritual root by then, I’m afraid you wouldn’t be seeing me here right now.”
Xie Zhiyu immediately frowned. “That person was really that bold?”
“Yeah, I didn’t expect it either.” Hu Song gave a bitter smile. “Fortunately, the police station is still operating. I’ve already handed him over to the police.”
They could only consider themselves incredibly lucky that nothing had actually happened.
If it hadn’t been for Xie Zhiyu’s watermelons, he didn’t even dare imagine how things might have turned out.
His gratitude toward her deepened even further. Hu Song took his brothers out to patrol, while Xie Zhiyu carried the seeds up to the rooftop.
Unexpectedly, however, after only one night, quite a few more vines had appeared on the rooftop.
The vines had densely crawled all around the place, eventually stopping in the plot of land where Xie Zhiyu had placed the Spirit-Gathering Stone yesterday.
As a result, the man-eating flower, which had previously dominated the entire rooftop, was forced to squeeze itself into a much smaller space, pitifully curling up in a corner.
More than half of the land had been occupied by these vines.
Seeing this, Xie Zhiyu raised an eyebrow. She was surprised, yet at the same time, she found it quite reasonable.
She had seen these vines yesterday. Some of the plants in the residential complex, just like the man-eating flower, had awakened their consciousness. It wasn’t particularly strange for them to follow the spiritual energy here.
Still, she had to say what needed to be said.
She leisurely walked over to the vines and patted them.
“Take it easy. Don’t bully it too much.”
The vines didn’t respond. They simply shrank their bodies, leaving a little more room for the man-eating flower.
The two plants seemed to get along quite harmoniously.
Xie Zhiyu smiled and patted the vines again, speaking naturally.
“You’ve eaten my stuff, so remember to pay me back.”
She already had a plan in mind.
She would certainly need spiritual plants more and more often in the future. Using a single Spirit-Gathering Stone in exchange for spiritual plants working for her was actually quite a good deal.
Thinking this, she turned around and scattered the seeds across another plot of land, the second closest to the Spirit-Gathering Stone.
She had tested it yesterday. The Spirit-Gathering Stone’s range happened to cover two plots of land. However, the second plot was slightly farther away, so its effects wouldn’t be quite as exaggerated.
She could, however, try using her own spiritual energy to stimulate their growth.
As she silently tended to her crops, the system popped up.
“Host, host! It’s a new day again! It’s already almost been a whole day since your last livestream.”
“Aren’t we going to livestream?”
Its energetic voice filled Xie Zhiyu’s mind.
Xie Zhiyu’s movements paused. She blinked and glanced at the sky.
“It’s still early…”
Before she could finish, the system, knowing that she was planning to slack off, immediately raised its voice.
“Host!!! Have you forgotten that a lot of your fortune is still with Xie Wenning? If you don’t livestream, your fortune can’t come back! I’ll have no energy either, and then your cultivation progress will slow down! And there are still so many people who haven’t awakened spiritual roots and can only be bullied by others…”
It listed one thing after another, making Xie Zhiyu’s scalp go numb.
She hurriedly waved her hand. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it, all right?”
Afraid that she would have to listen to another endless lecture, she quickly pulled out her phone and started the livestream.
The next second, more than a thousand people flooded into the livestream.
The comments began scrolling rapidly.
【An’an Eats Watermelon: Host, you’re famous!!】