Xu Song smiled and turned to tidy up his lunchbox. When he looked up, he saw a plant in the field nearby and got excited: “Potatoes!”
“What?”
“Mutated potatoes!” Xu Song pointed to the plants in the field, his eyes shining. “And carrots, scallions… brother Yue, should we collect some?”
“We can collect some, but…” Yue Zheng turned to look at the four bicycles parked next to them. They were already carrying quite a lot, and adding food items might not leave them with enough space.
“Tiancheng.” Xu Song squatted down next to Mo Tiancheng and gently patted his little head.
Mo Tiancheng looked up, tilting his head in confusion.
“Tiancheng, can you make plants grow?”
Mo Tiancheng nodded vigorously, “Of course!”
“Then, let’s collect seeds of various plants along our journey and let Tiancheng carry them. When we want to eat something, Tiancheng can grow them for us.”
Mo Tiancheng’s eyes lit up, and Mo Tianyou jumped up excitedly, the empty lunchbox in his hand making a clattering sound. “We can grow whatever we want to eat! Can we grow meat too?”
Xu Song rubbed Mo Tianyou’s head again. “Do you think we can grow meat?”
Mo Tianyou’s black eyes rolled, of course he knew that meat couldn’t be grown! But…
“There are some eggs under the third big tree over there. Although I don’t know what laid them, there was a big rat trying to eat them, but it ran away when we arrived.”
With these two little ones around, things were much easier!
Mo Tiancheng started using his ability to accelerate the growth of the plants that Xu Song and Yue Zheng found. Xu Song went to a nearby big tree and indeed dug out a few eggs buried in the snow. These eggs were unlikely to hatch anymore. Looking at them against the sun, they didn’t seem to have formed inside, so they could be boiled and taken with them to eat on the road.
“In the future, we can collect seeds of plants with defensive abilities and let Tiancheng use them as his means of attack.”
Upon hearing Yue Zheng’s suggestion, Xu Song nodded repeatedly. “Tianyou can do the same. If we find suitable animals, after he communicates with them and tames them, he can protect us.” Among the four of them, the two children had the weakest combat abilities, but they were also the most dangerous. If they could find a way for them to protect themselves, they could fight boldly and fearlessly when facing danger.
“Yes, let’s be vigilant on the road.” The journey ahead of them was still long, and they couldn’t predict what they would encounter. It was better to be prepared.
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.
“Ct!” We Vbcu revvfcis rabqqfv lc tlr agjmxr jcv ibbxfv ja Tef Itfcu. “Tbe qgbwlrfv ab afjmt wf wjgalji jgar jcv ogff mbwyja! Dea kf’nf yffc rb yers bc atf gbjv atja kf cfnfg uba jgbecv ab la!”
Tef Itfcu gjlrfv jc fsfygbk. “Gb sbe kjca ab ifjgc? Tbe mjc ifjgc jcsalwf.”
“I want to learn too! I want to learn too!” Mo Tiancheng and Mo Tianyou jumped around the two adults, and even the small tree next to them, which had its roots exposed, vigorously pounded the ground. In no time, a green object flew out of its canopy, circled around, and landed on Xu Song’s head, refusing to come down, it just wanted to be a quiet foodie, so why was that tree causing such a commotion?!
After packing up their things, they set off again. The sides of the road were lined with fields, many of which contained mutated crops. Unfortunately, these fields often only grew a single type of plant, mostly wheat, rice, and corn, except for the vegetable garden they had passed earlier.
With the recent snowfall, even the road had become muddy, let alone the fields. They didn’t dare venture too deep into them and could only continue along the road.
It had been a long time since they had seen any intact vehicles on the road, and they hadn’t come across a single living person. Most people should have gathered in the nearest shelters by now, or perhaps they had met their demise, hunted by mutated creatures.
Coupled with the recent snowfall, there were quite a few people who froze to death during the night. Very few dared to recklessly travel like Xu Song and his group.
As the sky grew dark, they found a relatively flat area. The small tree once again rooted itself into the ground to absorb nutrients. Xu Song laid down a piece of plastic sheeting and covered it with a moisture-proof mat. They parked the four bicycles and took out the items they would need for the night.
Yue Zheng started a fire to prepare their dinner. The two little ones were busy helping the adults gather branches and fetch things.
After dinner, as everyone was digesting their meal, Yue Zheng began teaching the three children and the half-grown teenager a lesson on free fighting.
With a few simple poses and movements, the three kids and the teenager enjoyed themselves thoroughly. By the time it was completely dark, all three of them flopped down on the moisture-proof mat, refusing to get up.
“Just a few movements, and they’re already so tired?” Xu Song felt that it was more exhausting than the days they spent on the road.
“You’ll get used to it,” Yue Zheng sat down next to him, amused. “First, take out the bedding and make sure it’s spread out. It’s not as cold tonight, but we don’t want to freeze.”
“Yeah, let me catch my breath…” Xu Song felt his eyelids getting heavy, and his entire body ached.
Shaking his head and chuckling, Yue Zheng realized that Xu Song was just not accustomed to it yet. He knew that Xu Song would feel better after some practice.
Underneath them were soft blankets, and they were covered with blankets as well. Outside the blankets, they also wore large down jackets.
Xu Song snuggled into Yue Zheng’s embrace and quickly fell asleep. Behind him, the two little ones huddled together, sharing the same blanket and immediately dozed off, even emitting small snores.
Yue Zheng tucked them in and covered them with the blankets. Then, he gently kissed Xu Song’s face before holding him tighter and closing his eyes.
The small tree didn’t need to sleep at night, and its vigilance was exceptionally strong. There was no need for them to take turns keeping watch.
Thinking about it this way, sure enough, it would be the easiest for the four of them to go on the road. They had too many secrets, and involving even one more person would make it impossible to maintain such harmony and convenience.
Xu Song felt hot, as if he were immersed in a warm spring. It was extremely comfortable. The fatigue, exhaustion, and soreness in his body were silently alleviated by this warmth. But gradually, this heat seemed to go beyond the surface of his body and spread within, becoming hotter.
In his dream, he furrowed his brows uncomfortably, and suddenly, he felt his consciousness becoming clear, yet his body remained unresponsive, unable to open his eyes or move!
He wanted to struggle, to shout, but he couldn’t escape this sensation… Was this sleep paralysis?
Panic surged within him, and suddenly, that warm flow inside his body turned into a chaotic swarm of flies, buzzing around and causing him immense suffering.
What should he do? How could he wake up when he couldn’t wake up?
Familiar breath caressed his face, familiar sounds of breathing, familiar warmth… was it Yue Zheng? Yes, it was Yue Zheng… he was sleeping beside him. If he were in any danger, Yue Zheng would surely appear by his side and fight alongside him!
The tumultuous feeling gradually subsided, and although his body still felt hot and feverish, that uncontrollable sense of fear was gone.
Gradually, his consciousness dissipated once again, and they fell into a deep sleep…
“What’s happening? What time is it?” Xu Song rubbed his eyes in surprise as he looked at the sun, which had already risen to the middle of the sky.
“Are you alright?” Yue Zheng also just woke up, his expression somewhat grave as he looked at Xu Song.
“I… No, last night, it felt like I experienced sleep paralysis! I couldn’t wake up or move, no matter how hard I tried!” Xu Song sat up abruptly, only to discover that he didn’t feel an ounce of fatigue. He felt incredibly energized.
“Are you saying you experienced the same thing?”
“The same? Could it be that you experienced it too?!” Xu Song initially thought it was because he was too exhausted from training the night before, leading to sleep paralysis. But how could Yue Zheng also experience the same thing?
“I experienced it too.”
“The same! The same!”
“Couldn’t wake up!”
“Couldn’t get up!”
The two little ones woke up at the same time, rubbing their eyes and crawling into Xu Song’s embrace.
With one child in each arm, Xu Song looked bewilderedly at Yue Zheng. He looked around, the small tree was tilting its crown, observing them with curiosity. The bicycles were still in their original positions. The fire had completely extinguished, and the pots, bowls, utensils, and luggage tools were all where they had left them.
Hadn’t they been attacked? Then… why did all four of them experience the same thing?
He lowered his head and looked at his own hands, feeling that something was different, but not externally, it was within himself.
“Wait a moment… After the snowfall, the plants underwent mutations.”
Yue Zheng raised an eyebrow, urging Xu Song to continue.
“And then, the crystals were slightly warmer than usual.” Xu Song continued to stare blankly at his hands.
“Are you saying…”
Xu Song didn’t speak but raised his hand and threw a fireball directly ahead.
A slightly larger-than-usual bright orange flame flew out from his palm and hit a large rock not far away. With a “bang,” the rock shattered.
“Orange??” The color of the fireball changed?
Yue Zheng’s eyes brightened as he looked at Xu Song’s hands. “Not the red-orange color of other superpowers, but a pure orange.”
“A pure orange? Could it be… an upgrade?!” Xu Song clearly felt that his fireball had more power and higher temperature than before, even surpassing the small red fireballs. Could it be that after the upgrade, the color of the flames would also change?
“Let’s not forget that the color of fire is inherently related to its temperature.”
Slapping his forehead, Xu Song nodded.
“Exactly! It seems that Tiancheng sensed the changes in the plants before, and it turns out we’re upgrading. Even our human superpowers are evolving!”
He then looked at Yue Zheng with excitement. “Try using your superpower and see if there are any changes?”
Upgrade time, can’t wait to see how everyone progresses…
Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🌳
Thanks for the update
Thanks for the update
This is the first time in any apocalypse story that I’ve seen someone have the sense to check whether an egg is developed or not. In all previous stories I’ve read, they were just automatically infertile or something. It’s very unpleasant to crack an egg to fry and have a half-formed dead (or even worse, live) embryo plop out into the pan.