Chapter 259 - 226: Zhou Qian’s Dream

Chapter 259: Chapter 226: Zhou Qian’s Dream

Since Kuang Biao wouldn’t be "loving" anymore, Big Pup and Second Pup faced even fewer obstacles when poking at the bamboo. By now, they had learned how to knock the branches off. Although their precision wasn’t quite at the level of stripping a whole bamboo stalk perfectly bare, dragging back a bundle of the bamboo poles Zhou Qian wanted was a breeze.

By the time the racks were set up and the plastic ropes tied, Huai Yu had already prepared dinner, and incidentally planned out the dried vegetables and pickled greens she would make tomorrow.

This rollercoaster of a day had finally passed.

Back in his own home, Zhou Qian took out the pink Klang Ball. After a moment of hesitation, he steeped it in his cup.

He tried his best to avoid recalling the image of Ke Taichiro chewing on a pile of shredded fluff. Instead, he waited until the tea was no longer scalding and downed the bizarre pink liquid in one gulp.

It tasted slightly bitter and astringent.

When he exhaled, his mouth was filled with the faint scent of roses. Other than that, he felt nothing else.

Zhou Qian sat quietly in the twilight for a while, but he didn’t feel anything. Helplessly shaking his head, he thought, "How could it be that magical?"

The very next moment, his legs grew weak, and the scene before his eyes began to spin. And then...

THUD.

The sun was blazing. The house was old and ordinary. Zhou Qian stood there in a daze, unable to understand for a moment why he was seeing his old home. This dilapidated residential building had been swallowed and torn apart by a wall of mutated Virginia creeper as early as the fourth month of the apocalypse.

The sixth-floor balconies had been violently ripped off. He had later been in charge of leading a team to clear out the entire neighborhood, so he knew the aftermath all too well.

Someone poked their head out from the balcony. "Qian! You’re back from your leave? Perfect timing! The authorities outside announced that plants are mutating and we should try not to grow them indoors... but my orchids are so expensive!"

The young girl looked crestfallen. She was only seventeen, with round cheeks and a slightly chubby figure. She was a sweet girl whose pleasant smile made her a favorite among the grandmas and aunties in the family compound. She was nothing like Zhou Qian’s dark, solemn self.

Right now, she was pulling him toward the balcony...

This scenario felt so familiar.

Zhou Qian shook his head, vaguely recalling that she had called him like this once before. But back then, his mission had been urgent. He had simply pressed down on her shoulders and demanded she dispose of the balcony plants...

"I don’t want to! This alien spider orchid is an original species. I’ve raised it for three years to get it this big..."

"No matter how big it is, the government has already issued a warning. Keeping this thing in the house is a hazard. Zhou Ning, don’t you usually hate people who dawdle and refuse to cooperate at critical moments? Hurry up, get it done."

He opened his mouth, spitting out those words subconsciously.

At this moment, the trajectory of fate seemed to overlap with that of six years ago. Every fiber of Zhou Qian’s consciousness screamed at him to stop! Even though he clearly had a mission to attend to, he couldn’t bring himself to walk away this time.

It was as if leaving would trigger something unbearable...

He gripped the doorframe.

A moment later, Zhou Qian turned back. "If you really can’t bear to part with them, let’s move them all to the roof for now. I’ll help you!"

Saying those words was incredibly difficult, and he didn’t even know why he was acting this way. But the young girl cheered up instantly. As she moved the flowers, she chattered away:

"I’m in a lot of gardening groups. This alien spider orchid is so huge, someone offered 950 for it before.

"And this one. Because this Blue Star is a newly cultivated variety, it’s rarely circulated on the market, so the price is super high right now. Don’t be fooled by its size—I divided it into six pots, and each one can sell for 85!"

She was always a little chatterbox on a normal day. But listening to her ramble now, Zhou Qian didn’t feel annoyed in the slightest. Instead, an inexplicable emotion rampaged through his chest, making his nose sting and his eyes burn.

"Ningning..."

He murmured, yet didn’t know what else to say.

The girl in front of him looked up, smiling softly at him. There was sweat on her round face.

"Touched, aren’t you? This is the marriage fund I’ve prepared for you.

"Grandma Lin downstairs said that since you’re getting older, it’s about time you settled down. She’s planning to set you up on a blind date. I went to take a look, and the girl is really pretty!

"Qian, you’re going to end up a bachelor if you don’t get married soon!

"And don’t worry about me. The money from selling these plants will be enough to cover my tuition. If I take on a few odd jobs, I definitely won’t be a burden on your new family..."

Cradling the alien spider orchid in her arms, she beamed radiantly. "So you see, let alone plant mutations, I wouldn’t easily throw these away even if the sky was falling.

"This is our fund for the future!"

Zhou Qian wanted to smile, perhaps ruffle Zhou Ning’s fluffy hair, and tell her, "What does a little girl like you know?"

He opened his mouth, suddenly remembering that in his original memories, he had left in such a hurry that Zhou Ning had never even gotten the chance to say these things.

At this moment, his grief formed a massive eye of a storm within his chest. A violent tornado swept through all of Zhou Qian’s memories and emotions, sending a torrent of tears cascading down his face.

Everything before him—the house, the plants, and Zhou Ning—vanished as if swept away by that very tornado. Standing amidst the old, ruined walls, he trembled uncontrollably and fell to one knee.

His rough palms pressed against the shattered ground, his body convulsing slightly. A tremendous pain flared through his bones and limbs, as though half of his flesh and blood had been ruthlessly siphoned away by his memories. The agony was unbearable.

In his daze, he recalled the two-story building on the street from yesterday. The middle-aged woman with disheveled hair, gripping the security bars with both hands, staring blankly at him...

They were all suffering the exact same torture.

The next moment, a vast, desolate expanse appeared before his eyes. At the edge of the Wilderness stood a towering, overwhelming, and seemingly endless Rose Corridor.

Rose petals were caught in the howling wind, scattering everywhere. Pink and white flowers dotted the grassy plains.

Trampling over the petals were people moving like the walking dead. Their consciousness and brains had long been drained by the mutated plants. Now, like stiff puppets, they charged toward the Rose Corridor, attempting to pile their human bodies high enough to form a bridge. This would allow the stronger ones to climb over them and cross into the plants’ stronghold.

Among the countless rigid puppets, one young, slightly chubby figure struggled with every step. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and large tears streamed down her face. A mutated alien spider orchid clung to her temple. Beneath it, grotesque blood vessels pumped her nearly dried-up blood straight into its roots.

"It hurts...

"It hurts...

"It hurts so much...

"I won’t go... Qian... Qian... It hurts so much!"

She muttered, her pale cheeks and parched lips trembling slightly as she breathed out gossamer-thin words that no one could hear. "Don’t go... Don’t go...

"Qian... don’t follow me to the Wilderness... you’ll die..."