Xu Song struggled slightly in Yue Zheng’s embrace, but immediately rolled his eyes and gave up. There was no way to win against someone who had mutated and gained not only superpowers but also increased strength, speed, and vision. Xu Song had only instinctively restrained himself in his sleep, and his body ached for a long time.
Not wanting to inconvenience himself with broken bones due to embarrassment, Xu Song resolutely gave up and resigned himself to his fate.
He was very thirsty, but he didn’t want to wake up Yue Zheng. He knew that after he lost consciousness, Yue Zheng must have bandaged his wounds. He still had injuries on his body, and if he moved around now, his wounds could worsen.
But he was so thirsty…
Just as he was thinking about it, Xu Song felt that the shadow over his head seemed to have intensified. When he looked up, he saw the tree bending in his direction…
“Small… small tree?!”
If he hadn’t suddenly remembered that they were carrying a strange tree with them, Xu Song would have thought they were being attacked by plants again.
Brush, brush.
The treetop nodded.
“Can you get me a bottle of water?” When they abandoned the car, they had already finished about two large barrels of water, leaving about one and a half barrels behind because they were too big to take. But all the small bottles of water were brought out and stored in the small tree’s tree hole.
Unable to move around now, Xu Song had no choice but to seek help from the small tree.
The small tree tilted its head, seemingly contemplating what “a bottle of water” meant. Just as Xu Song was about to explain, suddenly, it bent down a branch and reached it out in front of Xu Song.
… Was it trying to shake hands?
“Water… I want water.” Communication across species was really not an easy task. Xu Song must definitely teach this guy to speak human language! To learn Chinese characters!!
In the dark night, seemingly without the presence of the moon, under the brilliant starry sky, several tender green leaves hung from the top of the outstretched branch. A few drops of crystal-clear liquid fell onto Xu Song’s face, making him panic and dodge.
“I want to drink water!” His voice raised slightly, and Yue Zheng, who was behind him, seemed to be disturbed and let out a hum. Frightened, Xu Song quickly lowered his voice. “Drink water—”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Piu~” The individual droplets of water turned into a small stream…
“Gjwc…” We Vbcu kfjxis megrfv. Ktf kjafg jmaejiis rtba vlgfmais lcab tlr wbeat. Mbgaecjafis, yfrlvfr j tlca bo nfufajalbc, atf kjafg regqglrlcuis tjv j rilutais rkffa ajraf. Lf pera vlvc’a xcbk tbk atf rwjii agff wjcjufv ab qgbvemf la.
Glrwlrrlcu jii atf jyregv lvfjr atja mjwf ab wlcv, We Vbcu byfvlfcais bqfcfv tlr wbeat, jcv atf rwjii ragfjw bo kjafg rabqqfv joafg tf vgjcx tlr olii. Lbkfnfg, tlr ojmf, cfmx, jcv mtlc kfgf jii kfa ogbw atf kjafg oibk.
Feeling relieved after drinking water and no longer as uncomfortable in his mouth, Xu Song gently shifted in Yue Zheng’s embrace, finding a more comfortable position with his face against Yue Zheng’s chest. He closed his eyes and listened to the strong and steady heartbeat, gradually falling asleep again.
Yue Zheng opened his eyes, and the thick green canopy blocked the glaring sunlight. The morning’s unique fragrance made it impossible to detect the bloody battle that had taken place here the previous day.
In just one night, the small tree’s robust and developed root system had dragged all the dogs that died here the night before into the ground, absorbing and digesting them.
There was no trace of blood on the ground, as if everything that happened yesterday had never occurred.
Yue Zheng wanted to move his stiff body, and only then did he realize that Xu Song was still tightly clasped in his embrace. He had just awakened.
“Awake?”
A slightly hoarse voice sounded in Xu Song’s ears, and he was startled for a moment before quickly turning his head to look behind him… Oh, he almost forgot that he had fallen asleep in Yue Zheng’s embrace in the middle of the night.
“Yue, Yue, Yue, Big Brother Yue…”
Suddenly, Xu Song’s arm exerted force, and he felt his face being buried in Yue Zheng’s embrace again, almost running out of air in his chest.
After a while, Yue Zheng let go. He coughed and said, “Is your injury better?”
“Injury?” Xu Song, distracted by the sudden movement, quickly looked at his left arm. There was a large piece missing from the sleeve, and a gruesome scar formed a clamp, half attached to his arm. Some pale pink and red newly formed flesh peeked through the gaps in the scar, giving it a tender appearance, even more delicate than a newborn’s skin.
“Huh?! It’s healed?!” Last night, he had only woken up briefly, and it was dark, so he hadn’t noticed his injury healing. “But that dog clearly bit off a big chunk of flesh…” He remembered that the dog had been very arrogant and had eaten that piece of meat right in front of him, the rightful owner!
“Yeah.” Yue Zheng pondered for a moment, then looked up at the tree who had bent over to look at the two of them because they woke up.
“The little tree has abilities too.”
“Little tree? Abilities?” Xu Song’s mind was still foggy.
“Its ability is healing. After those dogs ran away yesterday, it used its healing ability to heal both of our injuries.” Yue Zheng’s expression was somewhat complicated. Even though this tree had been following them all along, he had never fully trusted it. After all, the gap between this tree and pets was quite significant, and communication between the two sides was quite difficult.
After the mutation occurred, in the beginning, apart from the zombies, it was these mutated plants that caused the most trouble for the two of them, even more so than the mutated animals. Now, how could Yue Zheng completely trust a small tree that had inexplicably caught up with them and had been burned by Xu Song?
But now, it was this tree that had saved them once again.
The canopy tilted, and the pile of withered yellow leaves that had fallen last night seemed like a dream. Now, it was lush green, adorned with small yellow flowers, appearing even more vibrant in front of the two of them.
“Healing?! I thought it could only spray water!”
“Spray water?”
The two individuals with unequal information once again locked eyes, and Xu Song suddenly realized that he was still leaning against Yue Zheng’s embrace! He quickly sat up straight, but as he rose, his head felt dizzy, and the down jacket draped over him fell off.
“Dizzy? Although your wound has healed, you haven’t replenished the blood loss. Don’t move recklessly.” Yue Zheng pulled him back, reached into the backpack beside the tree, and took out a bottle of mineral water.
Xu Song lowered his head, feeling a little embarrassed, and leaned on Yue Zheng again, using him as a makeshift pillow. He took the water bottle and drank a sip, briefly recounting the events of the previous night. Then he looked up at the small tree and said, “Little tree, spray some water again.”
The canopy swayed, and a branch extended in front of the two, making a “piu~” sound… They were forced to wash their faces.
Alright, the small tree’s ability did provide them with free water for washing their faces. You see, to save water, the two of them had only washed their faces once a day at most. They couldn’t bear to use more!
Yue Zheng pondered and tried to communicate with the small tree for a while before barely understanding, the water sprayed by the small tree was absorbed from the underground by its roots, underwent the entire process of the root system, trunk, and leaf greening, and could be directly consumed as drinking water.
This was truly good news! In times of water scarcity, even if they found a river, the water inside might not be safe for direct consumption. Now, as long as they had the small tree, they wouldn’t have to worry about water shortage!
“What other abilities do you have? Explain them all at once, like yesterday. What did you use to scare away those dogs?” Xu Song sat beside Yue Zheng, with a water bottle on one side and a can of mixed vegetables in the other, comfortably leaning against Yue Zheng’s embrace like a boss, communicating with the small tree.
The canopy tilted and then a branch with small yellow flowers extended downwards. As the flowers fell, green thumb-sized fruits appeared in their place.
“What is this…?”
“Jujube? Jujube tree?” Both of them immediately recognized the greenish-red fruits. What else could they be if not jujubes?
Due to Xu Song’s blood loss, his mind was still a bit foggy. He let go of the spoon, plucked one of the fruits, and took a bite. “Brother Yue, it’s a bit sour. It’s not fully ripe yet…”
Yue Zheng was startled, quickly looked at the small tree, but it showed no signs of anger. It was then that he realized, of course, why would a tree bear fruit if not for reproduction? Even if Xu Song didn’t pick them, once they ripened, they would fall to the ground.
The natural world didn’t protect its offspring like humans or animals did, fighting predators to the death. Their method of reproduction was to have animals eat their fruits and leave the seeds behind.
After finishing two cans of mixed porridge and a few pieces of candy, Xu Song felt full. The dizziness had not subsided, which was a lingering symptom of severe blood loss. He had almost lost his life yesterday, so now he was content with just a slight dizziness.
The two of them took turns communicating with the small tree, and the final result was that the small tree possessed healing abilities, whirlwind jujube attack, pollen attack of unknown effect, as well as skills such as running with its roots, purifying water sources, and disposing of corpses.
When they asked the small tree to demonstrate its skills, it scattered some pollen, but not towards them. Since there were no animals around at the moment for it to perform the experiment, and seeing that it was reluctant to release pollen in their direction, the two of them guessed that this skill might have some form of aggression, so they temporarily gave up on it.
But even without any offensive abilities, just having this milk-like creature accompanying them on the journey would greatly increase their safety factor!
“Shall we continue on our way? Let’s try to turn onto this national road as soon as possible.” The two of them finished breakfast and sat side by side in front of the small tree, studying the map.
“You haven’t fully recovered yet. Let’s wait until tomorrow.”
Xu Song awkwardly coughed a few times and quickly corrected him, “The injury has already healed, I’m just a bit dizzy.”
Before Yue Zheng could argue further, Xu Song quickly persuaded him, “We’re less than ten kilometers away from the national road. Even if I’m dizzy, I can make it there today. If we stay here, what if those dogs come back? They’re so smart, what if they call for reinforcements?”
Their dilemma finally shook Yue Zheng’s plan to stay another day.
“Then let’s take it slow.” They might find abandoned vehicles on the national road. With a car, even if the road conditions were poor, they should be able to reach City S within a few days. It was still better than lingering here.
“Come up, I’ll carry you.”
Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🌳
The little tree is practically a golden finger! 😂 Thank you for the update ❤
+1 little tree is totally a golden finger!
Thank you for the update!!
Tree releasing pollen … Pollen… Is it what I’m thinking it is?!😳🙈