Chapter 254 - 221: Cross-Species Love

Chapter 254: Chapter 221: Cross-Species Love

As a unique entity that encompassed an entire bamboo forest, Kuang Biao rarely felt pain on a daily basis.

Generally speaking, his vast network of roots and veins made his reactions somewhat sluggish. When Big Pup and Second Pup poked at his bamboo stalks or shoots every day, he would merely let out a couple of "Ouch!"s and leave it at that.

The most painful experience was being beaten by the Rose Corridor. The other party truly showed no mercy, piercing and tugging at him as if trying to uproot his most vital foundations. Kuang Biao was genuinely terrified of that.

After all, while a bamboo’s root system was domineering and formidable, the fibrous roots of the Rosaceae family spread out in millions of crisscrossing threads. If the Rose Corridor truly wanted to deal with him, a simple blockade of roots underground would render him completely incapable of fighting back.

Though, to be fair, he had never once managed to win a fight against it anyway.

But right now, Kuang Biao was wailing in pain!

"Ouch! Ouch!" he cried out. His lush green leaves rustled loudly—SWISH SWASH—making it seem as though a strong wind was blowing through the entire bamboo forest. Yet, this still couldn’t stop faint wisps of black smoke from rising from the very tops of the foremost bamboo stalks.

A closer look at the dense canopy of leaves revealed that many had been burned through, riddled with holes.

Huai Yu paused. Remembering the emotions she had felt from Little Kui while reading the poem earlier, she looked up at the sunflower, whose petals were constantly shifting angles, occasionally reflecting a blinding glare.

She hesitated for a second before continuing to read. "The sun is like a radiant feathered arrow, cast upon her bright and tender corolla..."

The next moment, Little Kui radiated a faint sense of joy. As the massive flower head above them continued to adjust its direction, tiny spots of light soon lit up on another set of Kuang Biao’s bamboo tips.

Good heavens, the sun was literally casting radiant feathered arrows!

Only, this was an amplified, refracted version!

What a tragic romance! Huai Yu couldn’t help but close her book, sighing in deep sorrow. Judging by this display, Kuang Biao was destined to lose both his love and a portion of his physical body.

As faint smoke began to rise from the bamboo leaves overhead again, Huai Yu patted Kuang Biao’s trunk. "Well, I read the poem for you. Remember to produce more bamboo shoots when you have the time! Don’t let them poke out too much—just show a tiny tip so I know where they are. Once they fully break the surface, they won’t be as tender.

"Of course, if you’re willing to push them up out of the dirt for me, I’d be endlessly grateful."

Zhou Qian, however, furrowed his brows in concern. "Is that going to catch fire?"

"It won’t," Huai Yu said, waving the book in her hand. "See this? ’Radiant feathered arrows’ just burn holes; they won’t start a fire."

Given Kuang Biao’s overly dramatic nature, he would scream his lungs out at the mere hint of a spark. There was truly no need for the two of them to worry about it.

Besides, to put it bluntly, this whole situation was brought on by Kuang Biao’s relentless, unrequited, and overly sleazy pestering in the past. Little Kui had endured his unwarranted harassment for so long. Now that she had finally gained sentience and abilities, wasn’t she allowed to vent a little?

Zhou Qian sighed. "No wonder TV shows in the old days never let different species date. It really doesn’t end well."

"Well, you can’t exactly say that..." Huai Yu started.

But before she could voice her defense, Kuang Biao’s cries of pain rang out from behind them again. Huai Yu had no choice but to swallow her words and turn to Zhou Qian. "How about we go tend to the vegetable garden instead?

"Do you want to eat peanuts? You go pull up some peanuts, and I’ll handle the purification. Pull up a bit more this time. We can make saltwater boiled peanuts for lunch, and later I’ll fry up some spicy salt-and-pepper peanuts."

Having eaten at his own house for several consecutive meals due to the rain, Zhou Qian instantly agreed. He no longer cared about the blazing sun. Instead, he briskly dragged a basket out from the utility shed and, braving the intense heat, made quick work of pulling up an entire basketful.

Huai Yu took one look from the doorway and hurriedly stopped him. "Knock the mud off first!"

She didn’t stay idle either, heading over to Ke Taichiro’s little shelter.

The weather had been far too sunny lately, so Ke Taichiro didn’t like going out during the day. Feeling rather depressed, it spent every day just hugging its spheres, genuinely unhappy.

Seeing this, Huai Yu felt a bit sorry for it. After some thought, she couldn’t help but say, "Hang in there a little longer, Ke Taichiro. Tomorrow we’ll go to the market to see if there are any medicinal herbs. We’ll buy some back and use them to stimulate more growth for you.

"It’s hot out, so from now on, you can roll your Klang Balls over by the bamboo forest corridor with us.

"I’ll build you a new nest over there."

Anyway, given the passionate love-hate drama playing out between Little Kui and Kuang Biao behind the house, they definitely wouldn’t be short on bamboo poles for building a shelter tomorrow.

Ke Taichiro’s spirits immediately lifted. Its wings fluttered—FLAP FLAP—and its antennae curled as it gently tapped Huai Yu’s finger.

Glancing at the large box already brimming with Klang Balls, Huai Yu decided to make a trip to the trading market tomorrow.

She might as well bring a sack of vegetables along to check out the current market prices!

The following day.

The trading market was much busier than usual after the rain. Likely because suitable vegetables were hard to come by, many people had been forced to abandon the simple trading spots in their local vicinities and come to this massive market to try their luck.

With the sun already high in the sky, there was still a line at the entrance to the testing station. Huai Yu and Zhou Qian didn’t dare make a peep. Hoisting their burlap sacks, they quietly slipped in through the VIP room.

They had arrived a bit late today because they had to harvest vegetables early in the morning, which Huai Yu then had to purify. As a result, when the entire sack of vegetables was run across the testing platform, the machine spat out a highly balanced and completely unremarkable stat:

Mutant Value: 14

Before the rain, this value would have only been considered upper-middle tier, but post-rain, it was top-tier. She didn’t even need to offer any freebies; the inspectors all gritted their teeth and bought some for themselves. Even if they didn’t eat it, it would fetch a good price if they resold it.

But overall, this batch of vegetables still didn’t draw too much attention.

What truly caught people’s eyes was the contents of Huai Yu’s woven basket—it was more than half-filled with flashy, brightly colored spheres.

"What are these?"

The staff member stared at the freshly printed Mutant Value card with burning eyes.

There was no other reason: the Mutant Value was astonishingly low, sitting at a mere 5. A value like this was a rare treasure that ordinary people would practically never come across.

Huai Yu thought for a moment before struggling to answer. "This is... a type of tea."

Tea?!

The staff member, a pre-apocalypse tea culture enthusiast who now had to survive by rationing a few heirloom Pu’er leaves, widened his eyes. Words he shouldn’t have said blurted out of his mouth.

"How many points per piece? What kinds of tea are they? I’ve never seen such flashy colors before. You didn’t add any artificial coloring inside, did you?"

His questions came thick and fast. Looking genuinely guilty, Huai Yu hemmed and hawed, reluctant to speak.

Realizing his intensity, the staff member forced himself to be concise. "Did I scare you? It’s just that tea is so hard to buy these days, so I got anxious. Even if you were willing to sell them to me, I might not be able to afford them."

Huai Yu immediately sat up straight. "No, no, it’s not that!"

Looking down at the Klang Balls, she reached in and grabbed four that didn’t have overly potent medicinal properties. "Here... why don’t you just take these?

"It’s not that I don’t want to sell them; I genuinely don’t know how to price them yet. I need to go find an acquaintance to ask first."

Had she known this would happen, she would have stuck to her original plan and asked Chen Xing about it.

But it was far too hot out today, and Zhou Qian was lugging around such a huge pile of vegetables. That was why they had decided to come and ask Uncle Zaozi first. Besides, they saw each other every few days anyway, and they had so many Klang Balls that it didn’t matter how they split them up to sell.