Chapter 215 - 182: Zhou Qian is Discharged

Chapter 215: Chapter 182: Zhou Qian is Discharged

Since Chen Xing and the others had woken up, Uncle Zaozi and Huai Yu no longer needed to help look after them.

The medical pods were exorbitantly priced, but their effects were undeniably remarkable. The patients could already barely manage to walk, though they still needed more time to fully recover.

Hearing the doctor’s explanation, Huai Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Xing smiled and urged her, "Go busy yourself with your own affairs. For us Explorers, getting injured is just a daily occurrence. We don’t need anyone to take care of us at all.

"There’s no rush to pay back your points right now. With plenty of food and drink in the hospital, recovering here is much easier. You really don’t need to come visit me anymore."

If someone were to keep watch over them like Uncle Zaozi did, Chen Xing wouldn’t even know what to do with herself.

Thinking of this, she offered a sincere apology. "Uncle Zaozi, if I had known we would be brought together like this, I wouldn’t have beaten you up over those measly ten or so points."

Uncle Zaozi subconsciously covered his face.

Then, he let out a sorrowful sigh. "I really... I took that beating for nothing!"

There was simply no one in the world more magnanimous than him.

Having said their piece, the three of them looked at each other and smiled. Without realizing it, their bond had grown a step closer.

Taking the opportunity, Huai Yu boldly extended an invitation: "Sister Chen Xing, once you’re all better, remember to come visit my house."

Chen Xing’s face turned completely serious. "That won’t be necessary."

Uncle Zaozi also politely declined. "True friendship requires no such formalities. There is absolutely no need to go to your house."

The Rose Corridor—how terrifying!

Chen Xing and the others had just narrowly escaped death at the hands of mutant plants. How could they willingly walk right back into the lion’s den?

Huai Yu was speechless.

The next morning.

When she woke up, the morning broadcast was already playing.

Huai Yu hadn’t slept in this late in a long time. Standing at the door and looking out at the gloomy gray sky, she couldn’t help but zone out a little.

It was an overcast, rainy day!

The last time it rained was at the end of March or early April. Yet, in her memory, it felt as though more than half a year had passed. She had simply experienced way too much throughout the month of May.

As she changed her clothes, she realized that the weather was gradually getting hotter. It was time to buy some summer clothes.

But... had she forgotten something?

A moment later, the sound of intermittent, bawling cries drifted over.

"I... I... L-Let me go... WAAH, WAAH WAAH..."

That familiar little stutter!

Huai Yu jolted to her senses and immediately dashed toward the treehouse. However, the Fat Ginseng was nowhere to be seen, and the crying seemed to be coming from further away.

No way? Was there actually someone else near the Rose Corridor?

Huai Yu instinctively sprinted toward the sound. She hadn’t run far before she spotted a familiar figure standing at the edge of the Rose Corridor’s restricted zone, dangling a large, pale, and plump radish from his hand.

As their eyes met, the ginseng leaves atop the "radish’s" head trembled with a RUSTLE. It cried and stuttered, while the man holding it wore a look of pleasant surprise, his eyes filled with deep thought.

"Brother Zhou Qian!"

Huai Yu beamed with joy. "You’ve been discharged!"

She knew she had forgotten something today—it was Zhou Qian’s discharge from the hospital!

She had originally planned to go pick him up, but to her surprise, it was only just past eight o’clock, and he was already standing right here.

And also...

She looked hesitantly at the Fat Ginseng.

Seeing her approach, the Fat Ginseng stretched its two side roots forward like a toddler begging for help. Its voice was thick with sobs, stuttering pitifully: "S-Save... S-Save me... WAAH WAAH WAAH..."

Holding it by the scruff, Zhou Qian raised an eyebrow as he looked at Huai Yu, a half-smile playing on his lips.

Huai Yu’s confidence instantly deflated. She cleared her throat. "Umm, Brother Zhou Qian, this is a ginseng I planted. It might be just a tiny bit mutated...

"But the mutation isn’t too bad! The ginseng tea I brought you before was brewed using a piece broken off from its foot. You must have felt it, right? Aside from not having any medicinal effects, it’s perfectly drinkable."

Zhou Qian was utterly speechless.

Too many shocking revelations hit him all at once. He didn’t even know if he should first be astounded by this talking, stuttering ginseng, or horrified that he had essentially drunk its footbath water, or whether he should tell her about this ginseng’s true capabilities...

But with layers of thoughts piling up in his mind, he could only look at Huai Yu helplessly. It took him quite a while to force out a single sentence: "Tell it not to run around blindly for no reason.

"I caught it in my vegetable patch."

This Fat Ginseng probably hadn’t eaten anything good before. Seeing that the soil in the vegetable patch by his door was soft and rich in moisture and nutrients, it had gone wild. Zhou Qian had barely set his luggage down and stepped out of the yard when he spotted it darting back and forth through the patch, sporting a head full of green leaves.

One moment it would pop its head up, and the next it would scurry around, just like a gopher.

Its burrowing speed wasn’t slow by any means, but he was a soldier of the Defense Army, after all! Biding his time, he had crept over quietly, reached out, and snatched it right out of the dirt.

To be completely honest, because this thing’s appearance was far too deceiving, Zhou Qian hadn’t even been able to tell if it was a ginseng or a radish.

In his mind, he assumed it was a mutant radish. Thinking that Huai Yu probably had some little secret method for handling this kind of mutant plant, he had intended to bring it over so they could cook a delicious meal out of it.

The Fat Ginseng stuttered defensively, "I-I d-didn’t r-run a-around! I n-need to g-grow... T-That soil... s-soil... s-soft!"

Hearing this, Zhou Qian’s sigh grew even louder.

"You’ve got some skills, but absolutely zero talent for escaping... With your burrowing abilities, you’d be better off practicing how to actually get away.

"If you can’t manage that, at least do a better job at camouflaging yourself."

Living in this remote area, one really couldn’t afford to be careless even for a second.

He stood where he was and handed the Fat Ginseng to Huai Yu. "Take it back and plant it properly.

"And don’t break off its feet to brew water for people anymore. I suspect it possesses some special efficacy, though I can’t be entirely sure just yet."

"I-I-I am u-useful! V-V-Very u-useful!" the Fat Ginseng insisted, the palm-shaped leaves on its head swaying once again.

Zhou Qian’s headache worsened. "Hurry up and find a hidden spot to plant it.

"A ginseng is supposed to stay in the ground. Don’t let it wander around by the side of the road; it’s far too dangerous."

It was dangerous for both the Fat Ginseng itself and for Huai Yu.

Huai Yu pondered for a long time but still couldn’t figure out what efficacy this Fat Ginseng could possibly have. However—

"Brother Zhou Qian, just come straight in. I talked it over with the Rose Corridor last night. It won’t attack friends who have visited before."

She really had negotiated with it seriously and even offered up a huge dose of her growth-accelerating Superpower!

But Zhou Qian had brutally experienced the ferocity of the Rose Corridor firsthand. Even with Huai Yu’s personal endorsement, he still tested the boundary with his foot for a good long while before finally daring to step inside.

Thank goodness. The sky was dim, a strong wind was blowing, and everything around him remained as normal as ever.

But with eyes as sharp as a hawk’s, he stared at the distant vegetable patch, his brows slowly furrowing.

"Little Yu, it seems a mutant plant has snuck into your vegetable patch."

Huai Yu was taken aback. "Huh?"

The man, however, had already reflexively reached for his weapon. "It’s too far away, and the tall grass is blocking it, so I can’t see clearly. But I’ve seen similar mutation traits out in the Wilderness before—a normal plant definitely wouldn’t clump together and coil across the ground like a towering, ancient tree, right?"

Huai Yu was dumbfounded. "?!!!"