Chapter 33: The Most Romantic

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: The Most Romantic

How strange.

Huai Yu rested her chin in her hands and watched Lin Xuefeng intently. He was carefully sprinkling salt into the pot, looking focused and gentle without the slightest hint of aggression.

But then she recalled the methods he had just described...

Wow! He really was quite charming!

"The methods you just mentioned are all lethal. But what if you don’t want to kill them?" she asked earnestly.

Lin Xuefeng gave her a half-smile. "When dealing with enemies, if you don’t want them to die, then you’re the one who has to die."

Then he looked at Huai Yu’s fair little face, noting that she looked like she had barely come of age, and changed his tune. "Water Blade, ever heard of it? You forcefully compress all the water you can gather and release it instantly..."

As he spoke, he extended a finger and casually traced a circle in the air above a grey brick on the ground.

Huai Yu didn’t even see any water flow down, but in that split second, a perfect circle had been cut right through the brick.

Her eyes widened. She picked up the brick, and the heavy, thick circular center instantly dropped to the floor, leaving only a hollowed-out frame in her hand.

"It’s so round..."

She looked at Lin Xuefeng with a bit of expectation. He choked on his words for a moment before saying speechlessly, "What are you thinking? My superpower only lets me cut things; it doesn’t make my circles any rounder... Well, it’s probably because I used to study art. Drawing a circle freehand is nothing worth mentioning."

Huai Yu nodded, looking slightly disappointed. She then asked, "What about my ability? It’s so weak. What kind of methods can I use to subdue an enemy now?"

The beans in the pot were finished roasting. Lin Xuefeng carefully lifted the pot off the heat, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the beans.

"Wood Element... It depends on which specific applications you focus on. Generally speaking, affinity only prevents mutant plants from easily launching unprovoked attacks. As for other methods... it’s mostly about training the speed of accelerated growth. Quickly raising a fence, using seeds for parasitism, or entangling with vines.

"But your Mutant Value is too low, making your ability weak. You probably have zero speed when it comes to accelerated growth."

Huai Yu nodded. "Just accelerating the growth of a single branch makes me so tired I can’t even lift my arms, and I have to rest for a long time. Next time I run into a criminal like that, what should I do?"

Lin Xuefeng pondered for a moment.

Although heavily sentenced criminals couldn’t escape easily, and it was true that no one dared to approach the Rose Corridor, if that man hadn’t planned to cross the border under the cover of night just like him, he never would have come this way.

The Defense Army had probably cornered him too tightly, forcing him to act out of desperation.

However... the probability of danger versus safety was either zero or a hundred. He didn’t think Huai Yu was worrying over nothing. Instead, after thinking it over seriously, he gave her an answer.

"Exercise more, go out less."

"Huh?" Huai Yu was stunned.

"It can’t be helped," Lin Xuefeng said, spreading his hands. "Actively raising your Mutant Value is like drinking poison to quench a thirst. Every increase is accompanied by years of drawn-out agony. If you aren’t careful in your daily life and let your contamination levels push your value to the critical point, you will spiral into madness and die.

"But without raising your Mutant Value, there’s no way to train your superpower’s strength... They’ve been researching this for five or six years and still haven’t found a more reliable method."

As he spoke, something seemed to cross his mind, and he murmured, "Suppose that as time passes, the contamination is gradually resolved. Superpowers might disappear as well.

"That would be fine too. In times of chaos, strong figures are needed to inspire people, but in a peaceful society, the nation’s order and its sword are far more important."

Huai Yu listened in silence, offering no opinion.

However, Lin Xuefeng’s slight melancholy lasted only a fleeting moment. After all, it had been six years, and the contamination levels fluctuated up and down every year. Expecting it to just disappear was likely a pipe dream.

He now brought his train of thought back to Huai Yu’s problem. "So, while you’re still young, whenever you have free time, shoulder some bricks or tree trunks and run around a lot. Once you run faster and grow stronger, your chances of survival when facing danger will increase.

"And if you somehow provoke a formidable opponent..."

He picked up a bean and offered a piece of sustainable advice: "If all else fails, seek out mutant plants. Like the Rose Corridor, or Sanqing Mountain. Have you ever been to Sanqing Mountain? There used to be a Daoist Palace on the mountain, and the environment was actually quite nice. The main root system of the Rose Corridor is located there.

"This used to be the Sanqing Mountain that many people traveled thousands of miles to explore, and now it serves as a barrier protecting our homeland.

"When you’re backed into a corner, just find a way to go hide there. There’s a fifty percent chance they won’t initiate an attack against a Wood Ability User."

After saying this, Lin Xuefeng bit into the bean with a loud CRUNCH.

Huai Yu just stared at him with wide, fierce eyes.

He burst out laughing. "You little brat. You’ve got quite a few secrets, and a fierce heart to match—hey, how old are you? Why are you living out here all alone?

"Never mind, never mind. You don’t need to tell me. I’m heading to the Wilderness anyway, so it’s useless for me to know. What is it? Why are you staring at me like that? Do you have something to say?"

Earnestly, Huai Yu enunciated every single word, "Listening to your sage advice has been nothing but a waste of my beans."

She snatched the pot back. "Don’t eat so many, you only get half. Besides, if you eat too much and start farting in the middle of the night, you’ll have to go sleep by the door."

Lin Xuefeng burst into a hearty, clear laugh. It had to be said, on this cold, rainy night, his presence had unknowingly made Huai Yu relax.

"You’re overthinking it. It’s just a handful of beans... Are there even a few ounces in this pot? If we split it in half, it’s just a handful each. How could that make anyone fart? For a little girl, why are you worrying about things like this?"

Huai Yu wrinkled her nose. "I shouldn’t be that little."

"Hmm?"

"I have amnesia. When I woke up, I had nothing on me except for the clothes on my back. I’ve had to figure everything out on my own. Everyone thinks I’m really young, but I feel like I shouldn’t be that young—I must be an adult by now."

She spoke with a placid expression, lacking the solemnity of someone spilling a secret, nor the relief of unburdening herself. It sounded just like casual chatter.

Lin Xuefeng didn’t think much of it either.

People who often lived alone easily revealed their inner thoughts when faced with a stranger they felt was safe. Even he wasn’t immune to it.

For instance, right at this moment, probably no one knew that former Garrison Officer Lin Xuefeng, who was supposed to be recuperating in the Imperial Capital, would come to Flower City’s Rose Corridor on this rainy night.

All because he felt that this was the most romantic path leading to the Wilderness.

Fortunately, it seemed Huai Yu really had never heard of him.

The girl sitting opposite him still had some baby fat on her cheeks and clearly looked to be only sixteen, seventeen, or maybe eighteen years old, but Lin Xuefeng didn’t doubt her words.

Right now, he just stared at Huai Yu for a moment before suddenly sighing. "The teacher who used to teach me art knew how to read bone age. Based on your physical build, he could determine your approximate age. Unfortunately, I don’t really know how.

"So..." He suddenly smiled smugly. "You should just resign yourself to being a little girl! Sometimes, being younger comes with quite a few hidden perks."

That was true.

Huai Yu had to admit that whether it was Captain Zhou or Boss Tang, they both treated her like a little girl. That was exactly why they had shown her more patience and tolerance when they first met.