Chapter 117 - 106: Rainbow Taichiro

Chapter 117: Chapter 106: Rainbow Taichiro

A shallow layer of multicolored balls rested at the bottom of the glass jar, looking like a dream that held a rainbow.

Had Huai Yu not washed this jar with her own hands, she wouldn’t have had the slightest clue that it used to hold pickled vegetables.

Looking at the variously colored balls inside, she was genuinely curious about what Taichiro used to roll them. Back at Boss Tang’s place, the balls it produced were all black, as if it had rolled them out of garbage scavenged from all over. Yet, the one it had given her in the bamboo forest was green. Now, here at home, there were red, yellow, purple, blue, and white ones...

She took a couple of steps outside. "Taichiro! Ke Taichiro!"

Just as she called out, she spotted several clusters of red and yellow on the grass ahead. Huai Yu approached. Ke Taichiro was standing there, holding a yellow dandelion in its two front claws and stuffing it into its mouth with a soft MUNCH. On the ground lay a pile of fine, thread-like yellow shreds.

A light breeze blew by, scattering some of the shreds from the top of the pile.

"Oh no!" Huai Yu felt a twinge of pity.

Looking back at Ke Taichiro, she saw it was already fully absorbed in nibbling the petals of the next dandelion. Beside it was a pile of light blue speedwells, the tiny flowers stacked together adorably. She had no idea how Ke Taichiro had managed to gather so many.

There were purple ones, too. Looking around, she only found two tiny lilac bushes up ahead that had been stripped completely bare.

However, unlike before, there were a few multicolored balls here as well. And they truly were the colors of a rainbow. She wondered how Taichiro had learned to mix them; the colors blended together perfectly, making them incredibly eye-catching.

Huai Yu sat there quietly, watching Taichiro work. She felt herself growing more and more relaxed, to the point where drowsiness began to wash over her.

Just then, she saw Taichiro scoop up a few green leaves and stuff them into its mouth. Yet, what it spat out were multicolored shreds. Huai Yu’s spirit instantly perked up!

"What kind of leaves are those? They actually change colors?" she murmured in surprise.

But when she picked up a leaf to examine it, it looked exactly like a dandelion leaf! How strange. Bamboo leaves were green, and the balls it rolled from them were green. Purple flowers yielded purple balls... So why did spat-out dandelion leaves turn multicolored? And such a striking, vibrant multitude of colors at that.

It wasn’t just dandelions. Taichiro soon pinched another plant and stuffed it into its mouth. It looked like wild celery, topped with tiny yellow flowers—it was a celery-leaved buttercup!

"Taichiro, you can’t just eat that! It’s poisonous!"

Huai Yu reached out to stop it. Ke Taichiro didn’t resist, obediently letting her snatch the celery-leaved buttercup away. However, when it opened its mouth, it spat out more multicolored residue.

Huai Yu fell silent. After a moment, she placed the celery-leaved buttercup back down. "If you aren’t afraid of the poison, then I suppose you can roll it however you want."

Ke Taichiro didn’t seem oblivious, as the pile in front of it—red, yellow, blue... whether flowers or rolled balls—was all sorted incredibly neatly. Even the flowers seemed carefully selected. They were all in full bloom.

For Taichiro to specifically seek out the stems and leaves of a celery-leaved buttercup to gnaw on, it probably knew what it was doing, right?

Huai Yu carefully examined the various flowers and leaves on the ground. She noticed that the balls rolled from other plants remained close to their original colors; mixing dark and light shades resulted in balls with dark and light shades.

Only this particular pile of wild plants in front of Ke Taichiro—from dandelions to celery-leaved buttercups, and even plantains—mostly possessed medicinal properties. And rather potent ones, at that. Now, after being chewed up by it, everything it spat out turned multicolored.

Looking at Taichiro again, it was acting exactly as usual, without the slightest sign of discomfort.

So... Ke Taichiro’s ability was actually being immune to all poisons, right?

Huai Yu watched it for a while before finally reaching out to stroke Taichiro’s smooth carapace. "You go ahead and play here. I’m going to go build your house."

The two bamboo stalks she had just dragged back hadn’t been processed yet.

***

Ke Taichiro’s new home wasn’t located next to the chicken coop, but rather on the other side of the front door.

Huai Yu carefully laid down green bricks for the foundation, covered them with a thick layer of hay, and then inserted the chopped bamboo stalks in a neat row. On top, she draped a waterproof tarp...

This waterproof tarp was the same one used for the treehouse before. Because it had been slashed in several places, it could no longer be used as a large continuous sheet. However, cutting it into smaller pieces for the chicken coop and Taichiro was perfect.

Considering Taichiro’s hobby of rolling balls, the new house she built was quite spacious. Huai Yu even dug out a large white porcelain bowl that Zhou Qian had brought over and placed it inside. A white bowl filled with multicolored balls—Taichiro would surely be happy seeing that!

By now, the sky had grown dark. She needed to grab a basket to collect Taichiro’s finished balls and bring back this new family member who was working furiously out in the wild.

However, just as she stood before Taichiro, basket in hand, she saw its wings tremble slightly before it looked toward the distant road obscured by the sparse woods. Huai Yu followed its gaze.

Through the night breeze, she heard the faint roar of car engines. One, two, three... Then, headlights approached from afar before rapidly speeding off into the distance.

"Huh?" She was a bit curious. "Dispatched in the middle of the night again?"

But looking around, the Rose Corridor hadn’t issued any warnings today.

For some reason, Huai Yu’s grip on the basket suddenly tightened. It felt as though something heavy was pressing down on her heart.

She looked down at the well-behaved Ke Taichiro and couldn’t help but stroke its smooth shell again. "Let’s go. Time to go home."

Ke Taichiro tightly clutched a new rainbow ball in its claws. It watched Huai Yu crouch down to scoop the balls into the basket by the handful, then obediently followed her back home.

Its two hind legs were exceptionally thick and powerful, likely because they were formerly used to push dung balls. Now that it had switched to holding balls with its front claws, standing supported by its hind legs looked incredibly stable. As it walked, its little wings FLAPPED gently, opening and closing.

Huai Yu turned her head, caught sight of it by chance, and instantly burst into laughter.

"So cute.

"You’re very happy right now, aren’t you, Ke Taichiro?

"There are lots of things here, and you’re so free... Isn’t this much better than the trading market? I’ll take you up the mountain tomorrow. There should be even more things there...

"Have you ever been up the mountain?"

***

Meanwhile, in Flower City, at the Central Hospital where Huai Yu had never set foot, night had already fallen. The hospital entrance was mostly deserted.

But an ambulance, its lights flashing urgently, tore through the hospital’s spacious driveway with a blaring SIREN before coming to a smooth halt.

The doors swung open. The accompanying doctors and nurses swiftly jumped out and lifted the stretcher together, doctor included, who was still kneeling on the bed to apply pressure to a bleeding wound. The moment the wheels hit the ground, they frantically pushed the gurney forward:

"Quick, quick, quick!"

"They’re back from the Wilderness! Hurry! There are thirteen heavily injured and twenty-four lightly injured incoming, and two are being resuscitated by the side of the road—"

"Mobilize the staff! Send everyone you can—"

"Call for help! Get people from every department, hurry—"