Chapter 632 - 629: The Scent of the Outside World

Chapter 632: Chapter 629: The Scent of the Outside World

Mo Ling once again found himself immersed in the novel scents from the outside world.

He carefully sniffed the fluctuations in these scents, painting a series of pictures in his mind.

’Gushing water vapor, dangerous poison fruit, and... some kind of creature that’s on fire?’

’Why are those creatures burning?’

’Is this related to the war the Grass and Wood Fragrance spoke of?’

’But why can’t I smell any blood?’

The night wind was gradually picking up, and the range of scents Mo Ling could perceive grew wider and wider. The burnt smell he sensed also grew stronger.

The acrid odor shrouded the forest canopy. Some of it even rushed into the stream, mixing with the scent of water vapor...

Chaotic. Utterly chaotic.

The smell of roasting flesh drifted into Mo Ling’s perception.

This was a dangerous piece of information. It indicated that creatures in the distant forest were suffering an inescapable immolation.

’But... there’s no smell of burning wood...’

’Could it be that the forest isn’t on fire?’

Mo Ling focused his senses again for a while. Indeed, aside from the smell of flesh and the acrid scent of burning creatures, there was no smell of anything else burning.

’Is this a fire that only burns living creatures?’

This undoubtedly challenged Mo Ling’s understanding of the world. He couldn’t imagine what was happening in the depths of that forest, and these vague scents weren’t enough for him to deduce a definitive answer.

’It’s too far, too chaotic, too vague...’

Mo Ling sensed it all quietly, but the night wind wouldn’t last forever.

As evening passed, the strong wind gradually died down, and Mo Ling could no longer smell the distant scents.

A cool breeze shifted direction. The scents now blowing his way came from an ordinary patch of forest, carrying only the most common smells.

Mo Ling carefully took in the new aromas, but he couldn’t forget the ones he had smelled before.

They had been just too peculiar.

’Maybe I’ll be able to smell them again this time tomorrow...’

...

Mo Ling waited a full day with anticipation, until evening fell once more.

But fate had other plans. Rain began to fall, and the familiar scents never arrived.

However, the raindrops did liven up the forest. All sorts of scent molecules danced with the downpour, leaping from the soil into the air.

Mo Ling smelled some new scents mixed with the damp water vapor, and he silently committed them to memory...

Another day passed, but the scents Mo Ling longed for still did not appear.

’It’s raining again...’ Mo Ling felt a little helpless.

As luck would have it, the rainy season had arrived. Every day at sunset, thick, dark clouds would gather, water vapor would spread, and then the raindrops would fall, battering the soil.

All other scents were masked by the smell of earth and the roots of grass and trees. Although this aroma was fresh and pleasant, Mo Ling couldn’t suppress a feeling of disappointment.

’Looks like this rainy season will last for a while...’

Just as Mo Ling predicted, with the arrival of the rainy season, heavy rain blanketed the forest every evening. Not only that, but the water vapor from the rain also made the scents passing through the rock crevice even more chaotic.

Every day, Mo Ling could smell different things as the water vapor carried a rich array of scent molecules through the crevice.

It was a shame, but the changes in the environment were not something Mo Ling could control. After experiencing all sorts of new scents, he gradually began to forget about that one evening.

...

Time passed quickly, and Mo Ling had been in the rock crevice for a long time now.

Day after day of sniffing allowed Mo Ling to gradually familiarize himself with the nearby forest. The scent molecules began to form patterns in his mind.

Different flows, distinct regions—the once chaotic and jumbled types of scents were gradually sorted out by Mo Ling. His perception of smell was becoming more and more sensitive.

Not only that, but Mo Ling also looked at his own body.

’I think I’ve gotten bigger...’

Unconsciously, the number of uncollapsed scent molecules within Mo Ling’s body had grown. Although he couldn’t grow stronger by consuming prey, the quantity of his scent molecules was increasing exponentially over time.

’The base number of scent molecules in my body is getting larger. The replication speed is the same, but the number of copies being made has increased...’

Mo Ling quickly figured out the changes happening to his body.

However, the uncollapsed scent molecules produced by replication were just as stubbornly stable as before and refused to collapse. But Mo Ling wasn’t so demanding anymore. For him, the fact that his body could continue to grow was already a great stroke of luck.

Mo Ling guessed that his heightened sensitivity to scents was also related to the increase in his own scent molecules.

His "sense of smell" actually came from the collision and contact between molecules.

When the scent molecules of his body came into contact with free-floating scent molecules, "perception" occurred.

And now, his contact surface area with free-floating molecules had increased, which was what made him more sensitive.

In any case, this was good news.

At the same time, Mo Ling’s sniffing range was constantly expanding. The limit of his perception was continuously pushing outward.

Just then, the rainy season ended. After the last drop of rain fell upon the forest floor, the hot summer finally arrived. The heat in the forest made the scent molecules move more vigorously, mixing with one another and drifting farther and farther away.

The humus-rich ground, washed clean by the rainy season, slowly dried out. All kinds of strange scents rode the gusts of wind brought by the temperature change, blowing toward the rock wall and allowing Mo Ling to learn about the changes in his surroundings.

’The scents... they’re becoming more and more active.’

Heat was a catalyst for smells.

Driven by this heat, Mo Ling actually caught that scent from before once again.

’A poison fruit?’

The fruit’s scent was particularly cloying and fragrant, but it struck Mo Ling as strange. The floating scent molecules seemed to possess an unusual restlessness.

’They’re just molecules, so why are they restless?’ Mo Ling had never seen such a phenomenon before, which made it seem all the more bizarre.

But soon, he would understand the effect of this poison fruit...

One summer day, the smell of burning creatures drifted from the distance again.

’Feathers, the keratin of claws, flesh, bone... all burning. But the fire isn’t affecting anything around them.’

’Is this... spontaneous combustion?’

His perception enhanced, Mo Ling instantly identified the characteristics of the burning creatures.

They seemed to be a type of bird, spontaneously combusting as a flock. They circled ceaselessly in the sky, their scorched bodies crashing into the stream below. But the cool water couldn’t stop them from burning; even in the water, they were incinerated completely.

And mixed within their charred scent was the smell of that poison fruit.

A guess instantly formed in Mo Ling’s mind:

’Could it be that the fruit is causing them to spontaneously combust?’