“It seems we won’t be able to make progress today.” Although this snowfall is not particularly heavy, it has been falling sparsely without stopping. Rushing on the road recklessly wouldn’t be a good idea.
Yue Zheng nodded. “Although the sky is heavily overcast, it seems the clouds are not as thick as yesterday.” As he spoke, he extended his hand out of the “little wooden house” constructed from branches, feeling the snowflakes drifting diagonally.
“The wind has started blowing now. If it can blow away these clouds, we’ll be able to hit the road tomorrow.”
Xu Song nodded and exhaled a breath, a plume of white smoke dispersing into the snow, quickly dissipated by the cold wind.
“It’s fortunate that the two children found a place without many mutated plants and animals. Otherwise, with both the snow and mutated creatures, our journey would be dangerous…”
Yue Zheng smiled and embraced him from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder, her face against his cheek. “These two children are our blessings.”
Xu Song’s face felt warm, and amidst this icy and snowy landscape, the warmth from Yue Zheng’s face was particularly evident. “And there’s Xiao Shu too. Without it, we wouldn’t have found a place to camp.”
Yue Zheng nodded, their cheeks pressed together, a feeling of affectionate caress between them. “You all are my blessings.”
His face blushed to the point of feeling warm. In fact, the four of them and the tree, being able to gather together, were each other’s blessings. The journey up north was no longer lonely, and everyone’s abilities complemented each other… Xu Song felt truly fortunate. Without Yue Zheng, he would never have been able to leave City Y with the convoy. Perhaps he would have died in City Y a long time ago… No, even before that, he would have died in his rural hometown, on that mountain, right?
The grasshopper shook its wings looking lonely, silently perched on a branch inside the small tree, nibbling on leaves. It seemed… because of its small size, those unscrupulous swindlers always forgot about its existence.
A branch twisted over, gently stroking the grasshopper’s back as if comforting it, indicating that there was still one tree that remembered it. Of course, Xiao Shu couldn’t ignore the fellow munching on its own leaves. If it weren’t for the fact that the grasshopper was decided to be brought along by the four of them, it would have been flicked away long ago!
In the evening, the light snowfall stopped. The four of them gathered around a large bonfire and spent a cold night together. The next day, the sun shone brightly, and the surface temperature quickly rose. Apart from a layer of glistening white snow covering the ground, the direct sunlight gave people a sensation of returning to the height of summer.
They took off their thick down jackets and packed away the quilts. The four of them slowly walked out of the snowdrifts, pushing their bicycles. There were a few misshapen snowmen on the side, built by the two little rascals the day before. Although their shapes were not great and they were not very tall, at least they managed to build four piles of snow.
Mo Tiancheng and Mo Tianyou pushed their bikes side by side in front. As they passed by, Mo Tiancheng pointed at the four piles of snow and said, “This is Chengcheng, this is Youyou, this one is Uncle Yue, and this one is Mom Song.”
Xu Song quietly wiped his face, realizing that he couldn’t get rid of the label of “mom” on him. Look, now the two little brats call Yue Zheng “Uncle,” but still call him “Mom”…
Yue Zheng smiled and freed one hand to pat Xu Song’s shoulder, offering some comfort.
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.
The heavy snow seemed to have obscured many things. Vegetation was buried beneath the snow, but now as the sun rose, all the plants diligently absorbed water and nutrients from the soil. The snow melted faster under the scorching sun, and the plant roots underground instinctively accelerated their absorption of water. Soon, the snow in the wilderness melted even faster than the snow on the road.
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“They… seem happy,” Mo Tiancheng’s eyes seemed to lose focus, looking around absentmindedly.
His state made Xu Song’s heart tighten, and he quickly asked in a low voice, “Who? Who seems happy?”
Mo Tiancheng seemed to snap out of it and tilted his head, looking at Xu Song and pointing around, “They, all the plants! They seem… even happier than before.”
Xu Song looked at Yue Zheng and sensed her worry. Ever since the so-called doomsday, the plants had undergone evolutionary changes and mutations. And now, these plants were undergoing a second mutation? How would humans survive?!
“Do you feel anything bad? Are they more aggressive than before?”
Mo Tiancheng shook his head and absentmindedly bit the spoon, “I didn’t feel that. I just feel like they’re happy, even happier than before… Previously, I could only sense the feelings of some plants. There were very few that could communicate with me like Xiao Shu. But now… many plants have feelings… I can sense it.”
His repeated use of the word “feel” made it a bit dizzying. Xu Song rubbed his head, trying to summarize, “So, does that mean most plants now have ‘consciousness’?”
“Oh, it seems that’s what it means!” Mo Tiancheng nodded repeatedly.
“So, you mean before, the plants attacked humans mostly out of instinct? Their instinct to prey. And now, most of them have developed consciousness…” Yue Zheng frowned, looking around, this was not a good sign.
“But it seems like they’re not as… as aggressive as before?” Mo Tiancheng tilted his head, recalling the words Xu Song had mentioned earlier.
“Really?” Xu Song looked around in surprise.
Reduced aggressiveness and increased consciousness? What does this mean? Are plants collectively evolving intelligence and becoming rational?
Or is the decrease in aggressiveness only temporary? Perhaps they will become even more dangerous afterward?
“If something feels off, immediately let us know, okay?” Yue Zheng patted Mo Tiancheng’s head and instructed.
Mo Tiancheng nodded immediately and continued eating with Mo Tianyou.
“Could it be because of the snow?” Xu Song finished his meal and grabbed a handful of snow, washing off the food container.
Only the stones on the roadside still had a layer of accumulated snow, while the rest had melted into the soil.
“It’s possible. This snowfall is quite strange,” Yue Zheng nodded and suddenly touched her chest, “Have you noticed that the temperature of the crystal seems slightly higher than usual?”
Xu Song frowned and quickly reached into his chest, pulling out a chain.
They had found these chains at a jewelry counter on the first floor of a mall in City S. They were originally kept in a safe. Each of them took a platinum necklace with a hollow pendant that could hold a crystal, allowing them to wear it close to their bodies.
The two chains were identical, with the same pendant design. Although the crystals had irregular shapes, when placed in the pendants, they seemed like transparent gemstones that were originally embedded there, allowing the skin to directly contact the crystals and absorb their energy.
After Xu Song obtained the chain, he secretly referred to them as “couple chains” in his heart…
Xu Song furrowed his brow. “I… don’t feel anything.”
Mo Tiancheng and Mo Tianyou took out their small pouches that they carried with them, and one said, “It feels like it’s getting warmer,” while the other said, “No, it’s not!”
Xu Song looked at Yue Zheng. “You should have experienced an improvement in your physical sensations. Perhaps the temperature of the crystal has really increased, but it’s not noticeable.”
Yue Zheng nodded and put the crystal back. “Perhaps it is related to this snow. The mutations of plants and animals, as well as the changes in humans, are all related to a certain substance in the air. Maybe this snow contains a large amount of this energy, which is causing plants to evolve again.”
This possibility seemed highly likely, leaving Xu Song helpless as he shrugged and put away the chain.
Speaking of energy, Yue Zheng suddenly remembered something else. “A few days ago, didn’t those people also use their fire ability to burn those cockroaches?”
Xu Song’s expression turned grim. Anyone who witnessed the overwhelming “Great Qiang” chasing after them would likely be traumatized.
“Do you remember the fire they released?”
“Fire?” Xu Song furrowed his brow and shook his head, “I didn’t have time to look back. I only know that they also used fire, but I didn’t see it with my own eyes.”
“Then… do you remember the fire ability user in our team who used fire to fight off the mutant animals before we arrived in City S?”
This time, Xu Song had a deep impression, and he quickly nodded, “I remember. His name is Fang Helun, right?”
“Yes, it’s him. Do you remember if the color of the fire he released was different from the fire you released?”
Xu Song paused, and the memory of that moment flashed in his mind. The fire… the fire they both released…
“The fire he released was orange! Mine was pure red!” Xu Song slapped his thigh, “The fire he released, and the flame from a flamethrower, had the same color, unlike mine!”
“I saw that day, the fire released by the trapped ability user also had a different color from yours, with red mixed with orange,” Yue Zheng affirmed, “Moreover, their flames were less lethal and intimidating than your ability.”
“Are you saying…”
“This indicates that your ability is a mutation fire, while their abilities are just like normal fire.”
Xu Song felt that Yue Zheng’s analysis was probably correct. From the beginning, his fire had been somewhat different: “…the living corpses.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you remember? My fire can completely burn away the black aura in the undead. I don’t know if their abilities can do the same, but I suspect… they probably can’t.”
He couldn’t explain why, but his intuition told him that this was a unique characteristic of his ability, just like how his fire could directly carbonize animals, while the fire of other ability users could be used for cooking and grilling, causing the mutant creatures to sizzle with oil…
“It’s fortunate that the color difference isn’t too significant.” Based on the situation in the City S laboratory, people with abilities were already becoming subjects of curiosity for researchers, but special abilities like his were even rarer and more intriguing.
Yue Zheng rubbed his temple, feeling a headache coming on.
I’m excited to know the people they’ll meet along the way. Could they be allied like the trio or hostile?
Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🌳