Chapter 34: Sorry

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Sorry

The two chatted around the firelight in the treehouse. Neither cared about whether the convicted felon outside lived or died. Huai Yu happily chewed on her roasted soybeans and suddenly asked, "When I was praising my own cooking skills, why did you laugh? Were the roasted beans not good?"

If it hadn’t been for that laugh, she wouldn’t have been so terrified.

Lin Xuefeng recalled the moment and couldn’t help but chuckle. "I don’t know. I was just hesitating at the door, wondering if I should ask to buy some beans, when I suddenly heard you talking—"

That kind of unbridled confidence unique to children, that boastful attitude, paired with the girl’s crisp voice, made him unable to hold back his laughter.

He had regretted it immediately after laughing. After all, a sudden laugh on a rainy night, deep in the wild, when someone thought they were completely alone... It ticked every box for a horror movie murder scene. He had probably scared the living daylights out of her.

"I’m sorry about that," he said, feeling rather apologetic.

Huai Yu shook her head. "Forget it! You scared me, but you also helped me out, so let’s call it even."

Without Lin Xuefeng here, she had no idea what would have happened to her facing a vicious, convicted felon alone.

After a while, Lin Xuefeng held his palm open. "Share a little more with me."

"I’m out." Huai Yu also spread her hands. "I used half a pound of beans for roasting, gave Little Tian three, and then split the rest half-and-half with you... Where would I get anymore?"

"Is Little Tian this guy?"

Lin Xuefeng flipped his palm over. At some point, he had formed a transparent circular... hamster wheel?

Inside the wheel, a little field mouse with orange-red fur and golden edges was spinning rapidly...

"It’s quite nice," he commented, smiling as he watched Little Tian get completely disoriented inside. "Since you live alone, it’s good to keep a pet."

Huai Yu let out an "uh" and cleared her throat. "Maybe... you should let it down. It doesn’t look like it enjoys the wheel very much.

"More importantly... I only accepted a small tribute from it. I have no intention of keeping it as a pet."

The water wheel suddenly burst apart. Little Tian landed in Lin Xuefeng’s palm with a PLOP. Then, rapidly wrapped in a stream of water, it was washed onto the floor, looking like a soggy lump.

Powerless to fight back against its damn enemy, the little field mouse let out a flurry of angry SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAKs before resentfully retreating to the fire to dry its fur out again.

Lin Xuefeng looked at it, then at Huai Yu. "The beans I ate weren’t..."

"Of course not!" Huai Yu smiled. "It just contributed some other seeds, which gave me the confidence to eat my stash of soybeans." Saying this, she started worrying again. "With this heavy rain, the wild vegetables and mushrooms in the forest are all inedible now... And here I thought I had found my path to riches."

Now, she had to figure out how to survive all over again. At this thought, she glanced at Lin Xuefeng. The two hundred Contribution Points he had given her solved her most urgent crisis, buying her more time to figure things out.

Lin Xuefeng sighed. "Just wait a bit longer. The Bureau of Statistics has distributed soybeans to everyone. Once the root nodules of the legumes absorb some of the pollution, around May or June, you should be able to catch another planting season.

"A Wood Ability User will at least be somewhat more efficient than others."

Huai Yu sighed as well. "That’s all I can do..."

Before she could finish, Lin Xuefeng asked, "You just said you used half a pound out of a pound of beans... What about the other half? Since you’re already eating them, why not just feast and eat to your heart’s content?"

Huai Yu pointed to a basin off to the side. "There, they’re soaking. I’m trying to see if I can sprout them.

"If it works... well, accelerating their growth to produce more soybeans is pretty hard, but sprouting them should be much easier. I should be able to sell the bean sprouts for money."

Lin Xuefeng frowned. "This water..." He reached out to test the water in the basin, his expression instantly shifting to shock. "This water!"

He turned his head to look at Huai Yu. "Is the water you drink the same as this? Where did it come from?"

Huai Yu remembered how she had purified the water. She hesitated—did this ability not fall under the Wood Element category? Even so, she pointed at the water jugs. "The water in the red bucket was purified with Water Purification Tablets, and the water in the mineral water jug was boiled and then filtered.

"It took quite a bit of effort for me to purify them as well."

"As well?" Lin Xuefeng caught the keyword.

"Yeah." Huai Yu nodded. "You know, the same ability I use to accelerate plant growth. If I try a little harder, their Mutant Value drops, and they taste a lot better."

Lin Xuefeng froze. A moment later, he raised his hand and guided a stream of water into his mouth. Then, with a complex expression, he sighed.

"With a talent like that, you shouldn’t be named Huai Yu. You might as well be named Huai Bi, like the old saying—an innocent person carrying a precious jade that invites danger.

"Wood Ability can accelerate growth, but that doesn’t mean it can purify. These are two completely different abilities, and as of right now, I’ve never heard of anyone who can do it."

He remembered Huai Yu mentioning how exhausting it was for her to accelerate plant growth. At the time, he thought it was simply because her power was too weak. Looking at it now, of course it was exhausting! That was because the ability she was using wasn’t meant for accelerating growth in the first place! The fact that it worked at all was already astonishing.

Huai Yu felt a bit nervous. "Is it very rare?"

Lin Xuefeng nodded. "As far as I know, you are the only one.

"So, keep your secret well-hidden. Even I could only sense a faint trace of Wood Ability. As long as you are careful, no one else will find out.

"Currently, purification can only be achieved through various mutated plants. The efficiency is quite low, and the level of purification can’t even compare to yours... No wonder those soybeans tasted so pure..."

He let out a wistful sigh. If this ability were stronger and she had the means to protect herself, Lin Xuefeng would have suggested she contact the Academy of Sciences. But since she currently possessed absolutely no ability to defend herself, he decided not to even bring it up.

Huai Yu nodded, committing his warning to heart.

Meanwhile, Lin Xuefeng stared at the soybeans in the basin. "Do you have any energy left? Want to accelerate their growth a bit more?

"Crisp, tender soybean sprouts... they must be delicious too... Getting to enjoy such fine food before heading into the Wilderness... Huai Yu, if I had met you earlier, I might not have wanted to go to the Wilderness at all."

Huai Yu paused. "Without cooking oil, it would be a waste of good sprouts—do you really have to go?"

Lin Xuefeng laughed. "What does a little girl like you know? Just focus on protecting yourself."

Huai Yu didn’t argue. After a brief silence, she shared one more thing with him. "The Rose Corridor... it seems willing to let me get close."

"Hmm?" He looked slightly surprised.

"It’s true." Huai Yu pointed at the still-blooming rose by the head of her bed. "Look, I snapped that off from the Rose Corridor. It’s been kept alive for days now."

Astonished, Lin Xuefeng leaned in to observe it closely. After a long while, he turned back around.

"It’s beautiful.

"Back when I used to paint, I hated painting roses. They grow in massive, sprawling clusters, and their Life force is just too overwhelming. I could never capture it on canvas, and I’d often get poor marks because of it.

"But looking at it now..."

He murmured, his thoughts drifting to places unknown, before finally letting out a sigh. "It truly is beautiful."

With a sudden shift in demeanor, he reached his hand out toward the door. The next moment, with a loud THUD, the convicted felon was dragged into the room and slammed viciously onto the floor.