Care Guide to Raising a Max Level Leaf in Apocalypse - 31
The old man and the boy
Guan Yin was puzzled. “So, what does this have to do with the abnormal behavior of this Peace Lily?”
He shook the almost lifeless Peace Lily in his hand.
Si Yin Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly. “Do you know the other name for the Peace Lily?”
“It seems to be called the ‘White Palms’… or also known as ‘Smooth Sailing’?”
The shape of the Peace Lily’s flowers resembled white sails, and before the apocalypse, many people believed it symbolized smooth sailing and good luck, making it an auspicious plant.
Si Yin Yuan nodded slightly. “This plant is often kept in offices. A plant that’s frequently found in offices, and after being exposed to human work habits before the apocalypse, it developed an obsession with human work. It instinctively recreated the environmental conditions it had experienced before the apocalypse. Of course, this is just a hypothesis.”
It was also the most plausible hypothesis.
Perhaps, with the intelligence of the Peace Lily, after consuming a human, it might even wonder why humans no longer watered it like they used to in the office. So, it followed its instincts and came to this base, found the office building, and this time it was a bit smarter. After consuming human internal organs, it left behind an empty corpse and used its memory to piece these corpses into a semblance of work.
Guan Yin rubbed the goosebumps on his body. “Could it be that before the apocalypse, some plants could sense the external world? In that case, haven’t they been observing humans and harboring resentment against those who harmed them?”
The triplets shrugged together. “Who knows?”
If that were really the case, would the little grass have consciousness too?
Si Yin Yuan, who had rarely been lost in thought, suddenly remembered the three years he spent nurturing a tiny, three-centimeter-tall plant. It might not even have been a specific breed, possibly just a weed. It was the only living creature he managed to keep alive, very delicate, withering if not watered for half an hour. It didn’t grow despite using a lot of fertilizer, and it never flowered.
Every day, it lazily basked in the sun on the windowsill.
Unfortunately, after the apocalypse, it should…
Si Yin Yuan’s eyes darkened for a moment.
Ji-Delicate-Three-Centimeters-Grass-Jiu suddenly felt strange, as if someone had been thinking about him. He sneezed ever so slightly.
This immediately dragged Si Yin Yuan out of his reminiscence. He gazed at Ji Jiu, his brows slightly furrowing. “Catching a cold?”
“No.” Ji Jiu shook his head and then looked at the Peace Lily. “Can we eat it?”
The Peace Lily couldn’t understand human speech but, at this moment, it keenly sensed a powerful pressure and fear, causing it to start wriggling, trying to escape from Guan Yin’s hand.
Si Yin Yuan sighed. “No.”
Then, in the blink of an eye, he handed Ji Jiu a tube of strawberry-flavored nutritional liquid before Ji Jiu could show a look of complaint.
With the nutritional liquid in hand, Ji Jiu finally stopped staring at the Peace Lily and happily began drinking it.
With the threat temporarily eliminated, the Peace Lily became motionless again.
Thinking about the miserable sight of those corpses outside, the former office worker, Guan Yin, felt a bit troubled holding this Peace Lily. He asked helplessly, “Do we need to take it back with us? But we didn’t bring the cube up here.”
The eldest sister said, “Isn’t that simple?”
After finishing speaking, she reached out and grabbed the Peace Lily, which resembled white sails, using a rope to tie it up like a dumpling.
The Peace Lily could only endure the humiliation as these humans packed it up, unable to voice its anger.
Ji Jiu still had the dragon fruits on his mind. Seeing them resolve the issue here, he couldn’t wait to ask, “Can we go back and find those dragon fruits now?”
Si Yin Yuan nodded, saying, “Yes.”
It was clear that someone had cultivated those dragon fruits. They thought they could find clues here, but instead, they only found a Peace Lily. This meant they had to return to the original location to search for clues.
The second sister clenched her fists and said, “We can wait there. If that person is cultivating there, it means it’s one of his food sources. Based on the situation in this abandoned base, it’s likely the only source. He’ll definitely come back.”
The third sister added, “By then, we can find out why this base collapsed and became a mysterious place.”
That was the ultimate goal of their mission. They needed to understand why a base suddenly collapsed and vanished, so they could avoid such a crisis reasonably.
Rule 18 of the Hunter’s Guild: Never rely on Gama Defense Circle and always avoid threats outside the base.
The tragedies that had befallen other bases absolutely couldn’t happen to their base.
…
They returned to the area where the dragon fruits were, and this time, they heard voices coming from inside before even entering.
Si Yin Yuan raised his hand, signaling them to stop.
Ji Jiu obediently crouched down with the others, listening carefully with his ears perked up.
Faint voices could be heard from inside.
“…Someone has been here… the dragon fruits are missing…”
“What should we do…”
The elderly voice was unexpected, as it seemed to be in conversation with someone, but the other person remained silent.
After squatting for a while, Ji Little Grass, who had grown tired of it, stood up, intending to stretch his legs quietly. Unexpectedly, his leg went numb, and he accidentally pushed the door open.
Both those outside and inside the door were caught off guard and stared at each other, showing vigilant expressions with a hint of hostility.
Only the troublemaker Little Grass, seemed oblivious to the strange atmosphere in the air as he greeted the people inside, “Hello there! Are you the ones who planted the dragon fruits?”
The little grass, unrestrained by human moral constraints, had no guilty conscience about eating someone else’s food, and he wanted some more.
Just as the voice they had heard earlier indicated, the person speaking inside the door was indeed an elderly man who appeared to be over eighty years old. Behind him stood a small boy who looked to be only five or six years old.
The young boy couldn’t speak and was terrified upon seeing them, his eyes filled with fear like a frightened bird.
The old man finally reacted, suddenly raising a rusty iron tool towards them, trembling as he shouted, “Who are you!?”
Guan Yin raised all four hands to show they meant no harm, saying, “Don’t be afraid, sir, we’re not bad people.”
The old man remained skeptical and continued to point the iron tool at them, while also coaxing his grandson to hide quickly.
Guan Yin, feeling helpless, also understood that with their appearance as a large group, it wouldn’t be easy for this elderly man and his grandson to let down their guard.
“We’re from another base, really, we’re not bad people.”
The old man snorted, “Who knows if you’re sent by those people.”
His withered hand holding the iron tool wasn’t very strong, and he was starting to shake, but he didn’t dare to lower it even slightly, fearing that this group might harm the boy behind him.
Ji Jiu stared intently at the dragon fruits in the boy’s hand. When Ji Jiu fixed his gaze on food, his eyes would burst forth with an unusual focus, and his clear gaze seemed to only have room for that food.
The boy froze, and the fearful expression on his face gave way to confusion. He looked down at the dragon fruits in his hand, then at Ji Jiu. Without a word, he took a step towards Ji Jiu.
There were no words, just the offering of the dragon fruits he held in his hand.
The old man couldn’t believe his eyes. It was the first time he had seen the young boy take the initiative.
Ji Jiu accepted the dragon fruits and smiled, saying, “Thank you.”
After saying that, he bit into the juicy black fruit with relish.
The little boy known as Xiao Xiang also looked at him, smiling in a dazed manner. Both of their faces showed contentment, even though they were in the midst of a desolate environment.
In this cold and desolate post-apocalyptic world, this scene had an indescribable sense of warmth.
Ji Jiu’s interaction with the little boy finally made the old man lower his guard slightly, and he also lowered the iron tool in his hand. In reality, he understood that if these people truly meant harm, this iron tool wouldn’t be enough to stop them; everything he had done earlier was just a show of bluff.
He hadn’t expected that after all that talk, Ji Jiu, without doing anything, would make them drop their hostility. Guan Yin showed an envious expression.
This was probably the advantage of being good-looking, right? Children often favored good looks.
The old man turned to look at the dragon fruits he had planted, his suspicion evident. “So, you’re saying you ate the missing dragon fruits?”
There was a missing section in the neatly arranged dragon fruit field.
In reality, it was all Ji Jiu who had secretly eaten them. Si Yin Yuan acted like a responsible adult, apologizing to the old man.
The old man waved his hand and sighed, “It’s alright. There’s no other food in this place, so my grandson and I have been relying on these dragon fruits. We’ve been eating them ever since our base was destroyed. Although we’ve grown tired of them, there’s still enough.”
Ji Jiu tilted his head. “Have you been here all this time?”
The old man replied, “Yes, ever since the apocalypse.”
The straightforward little grass asked, “So, why didn’t you encounter any trouble when your base was destroyed?”
Si Yin Yuan lightly patted his head and said, “That’s quite rude.”
He also observed the old man with a scrutinizing gaze.
The old man liked Ji Jiu, who appeared clean and tidy. He didn’t feel offended at all and began to explain the question that everyone present was curious about. “When the base was breached by the aberrants and the gates were broken down, I was outside looking for supplies. When I returned, all that was left was a scene resembling hell. I thought there was no one left in the base. It was only when I searched a corner that I found Xiao Xiang. He had probably been hidden by his parents, covered in dust and dirt, his face pale from hunger. If I had been half a day later in finding him, he might have been nothing but a tiny corpse.”
Perhaps it had been a long time since he had conversed with others, and the old man didn’t need them to ask further questions. He continued on his own, “After that, I brought Xiao Xiang with me to hide in different parts of this base. I’ve only heard him speak once, and he’s been very quiet. I don’t know if it was because he was too frightened by the events of the day our base was destroyed…”
Ji Jiu listened while eating dragon fruits, and he ended up devouring several more in one go.
Xiao Xiang obediently followed Ji Jiu, looking up at him. His thin little face made his eyes appear quite large.
Ji Jiu didn’t mind having a little tail following him. The small tuft of hair on top of his head wiggled with delight as he savored the delicious fruit.
Si Yin Yuan’s golden eyes shimmered with a touch of depth as he asked, “Old sir, I have two questions here, and I wonder if you could answer them.”
Facing the elderly man, this born leader naturally tempered his inherent dominance.
The old man glanced at him and said, “I know what you want to ask. I’ll answer your questions as long as you can promise me one thing.”
The triplets asked in unison, “What’s the request?”
The old man looked at the boy, “Help me bring Xiao Xiang back to your base and place him safely there.”
His eyes had a slight haze, and he stooped slightly. However, when he mentioned the boy, there was suddenly a spark of spirit in him.
In ten sentences, nine of them couldn’t go without mentioning Xiao Xiang. Everyone could see that the boy held a unique significance for him.
However, Xiao Xiang unexpectedly reacted to this request. He no longer acted as Ji Jiu’s little tail but instead rushed toward the old man, gazing at him with watery eyes, filled with a sense of urgency.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He could only anxiously use mouth movements to convey: “Don’t.”