Chapter 106 - 99: Weed Tree

Chapter 106: Chapter 99: Weed Tree

The evening breeze blew, chilling her soaking-wet body to the bone. Sniffling, Huai Yu retreated into the house, looking a complete mess.

It took some effort, but she finally changed into dry clothes and towel-dried her hair. Returning to the pond, she stood at a safe distance and finally took in the full view of the barnyard grass.

But could this thing still even be called *grass*? It was more like a barnyard *tree*!

Standing by the pond was a... well, a massive tree that looked exactly like a magnified blade of barnyard grass. It stood about five or six meters tall, yet its sprawling canopy seemed to stretch over a dozen meters wide. Its dark green main stem resembled a massive tree trunk that would take several people to wrap their arms around. Lateral stems spiraled upward around it, making the entire structure appear incredibly thick and sturdy.

The originally thin, slender leaves were now plump, a vibrant, glossy green, and heavily weighted, drooping only slightly at their tips. From a distance, no one would ever guess it was a weed. Instead, it looked more like a thick, ancient willow tree thriving by the water.

Because it had been planted right by the pond, half of its stem was submerged in the water. The stem itself appeared to be hollow, acting like a water pump. Huge, individual drops of water gurgled out from the very top, rolled smoothly down the giant leaves, and smashed into the mud at its roots before flowing right back into the pond.

Judging by their size, each drop was as large as a water balloon.

Huai Yu was dumbfounded. She spread her hands, staring at her palms in absolute disbelief. "Was I really this strong?"

She then looked over at the other stalk of barnyard grass—the one she had only used her Purification Ability on.

Thank goodness, it hadn’t grown nearly as tall, standing at a modest two or three meters. It stood by the pond in a similar form, resembling a dense, lush patch of reeds. It wasn’t pumping out massive water droplets, nor did it look quite as overwhelmingly massive...

This one seemed much more normal.

Wait a minute! Huai Yu suddenly realized—how was two-to-three-meter-tall barnyard grass normal in the slightest?!

Hadn’t they said the mutation was focused on its roots? She had originally planted it by the pond to see if its fibrous roots could dig five, six, or even eight meters deep into the earth. Then, she was going to ask the goose pups if they’d be willing to help dig the roots out. The soil tightly bound by the fibrous roots would clump together easily, making it simple to pull out. The resulting pit would act as a natural filter—a low-budget water well. That way, she wouldn’t have to expend so much effort filtering water at home anymore.

But looking at the situation now... exactly what kind of superhuman strength would she need to uproot this barnyard *tree*?!

After a moment of thought, Huai Yu put on her raincoat and walked over to the giant plant that had just smashed her with water. She spoke to it in a serious tone, "Can you... understand me?"

But no matter how carefully she listened, all she heard was a continuous stream of meaningless noise, like something chugging water.

"GURGLE... GURGLE... GURGLE..."

She stood in place, carefully sizing up the tree-like grass. She had been caught completely off guard when she was smashed by the water earlier, so she hadn’t taken the time to sense its contamination levels. But if this was water being pumped straight up from the roots...

Didn’t that mean...

A spark of excitement hit her. Looking up, she saw no giant water balloons forming at the top yet, so she quickly sprinted back into the house. A moment later, she emerged carrying a bucket.

Positioning the bucket right beneath the tip of a leaf, Huai Yu waited in quiet anticipation. Before long, another massive water droplet swelled at the top. She happily adjusted the bucket’s placement and braced herself eagerly—

SMACK!

Unable to bear the weight of the water balloon, the leaf bent sharply downward. The massive glob of water plummeted, smashing directly into her face. The water cascaded down into the hood of her raincoat, soaking her hair and neck before running down her entire body without wasting a single drop.

Huai Yu was speechless. She realized it had absolutely zero manners.

"Big Pup! Second Pup!" Huai Yu yelled out.

Moments later, two fluffy, sea-urchin-like goose heads poked out from the tall grass near the pond with a RUSTLE. Shaking their webbed feet and wiggling their butts, they came charging over with a loud PATTER.

"Poke it!"

Huai Yu felt entirely certain that the splash had been intentional, and she was furious. However...

"Don’t poke it to pieces. Just give two of the side branches a good peck."

"HONK! HONK!"

Big and Second responded. Thoroughly intrigued, they thrust their flat beaks forward for a peck—

"Huh?" Huai Yu murmured in surprise. "It’s pretty sturdy."

Their beaks had only managed to crack it open slightly. Judging by its toughness, it was far more resilient than Kuang Biao.

The peck caused the entire tree to shudder. SPLASH! SPLASH! Several more massive water balloons plummeted from the canopy, crashing into the ground with enough force to form a small puddle before draining back into the pond.

However, the two goose pups lowered their heads. Completely losing interest in pecking the tree, they shoved their flat beaks into the newly formed puddle and began pecking at the water wildly.