Care Guide to Raising a Max Level Leaf in Apocalypse - 38
Bestow
When faced with food, the Little Grass displayed an unprecedented level of care, even his owner couldn’t make him this attentive.
His intuition told him that if he ate this Luminous Lilies before it bloomed, he would just be consuming an ordinary mutant.
But if it was a mature specimen, it might be the highest-gama concentration mutant he’d ever eaten.
Perhaps sensing the danger, the purple-and-white petals of the Luminous Lilies shrank back. The vines, unwilling to give up, tried to wrap around him once more, releasing an intoxicating fragrance capable of ensnaring hundreds.
Before the fragrance could take effect, Ji Jiu’s hands returned to the enormous flower bud.
A gentle green light began to appear in his hands.
“Vitality – Bestow.”
Like sparkling starlight, the green dots circled around the flower bud again and again, revitalizing the nearly lifeless Luminous Lilies, visible to the naked eye.
The vines around them all obediently lay down under the influence of the green light.
Ji Jiu’s eyes were filled with green, and the countless green dots turned this space into an unreal fairyland.
This was the second time he had used this ability.
In reality, his first awakened ability after the apocalypse was not “Devour,” but “Vitality – Bestow.”
Unfortunately, this ability was not very useful, at least for a fragile potted plant like him.
He had no one to bestow it upon.
In the early days of the apocalypse, there were large numbers of mutants inside the building. It started with the plants and small pets kept by residents, and later, the mutants in the neighborhood began to enter the building to forage. The flimsy doors couldn’t withstand the increasingly powerful mutants, and soon, people inside the building were either running for their lives or dead. The person Ji Jiu was expecting had yet to show up.
Ji Jiu nearly became a mutant’s meal three days into the apocalypse when a mutant almost carried him off the flowerpot. That was his first brush with death.
He used “Vitality – Bestow” on himself.
As for what exactly “Bestow” was, he had no idea, but with the use of this bestowed ability, he underwent a second awakening.
Everyone only had one ability, even mutants couldn’t have two.
Ji Jiu was a special case.
The second awakened ability, “Devour,” was the one that truly matched his identity as a mutant. The first ability seemed like a joke from the heavens.
Ji Jiu used “Devour” to consume all the bad things that bullied him, and then he was unwilling to use that ability again.
The second use was clearly different from the first time he used it on himself. The creature he had bestowed life upon had become lively, but it still didn’t want to bloom.
Ji Jiu paused, puzzled, and stopped the output. “What’s wrong with you?”
Clearly, it had reached the critical point for blooming, but it seemed to be waiting for something, deliberately resisting from blooming.
The Luminous Lilies didn’t respond to him, continuing to pulse slowly like a heartbeat.
Ji Jiu frowned and threatened with his little tiger teeth showing, “If you keep this up, I’ll eat you, you know! Even after you bloom, I’m going to eat you.”
As soon as he said that, there was a loud noise behind him.
It was as powerful as when he had punched through the wall earlier.
Ji Jiu was startled, and the ethereal green dots that had been floating around him were instantly drawn back into his body.
“Ji Jiu!” The face behind Sir Yin Yuan’s mask darkened. He kicked open the room’s door and immediately saw the hole in the wall.
Ji Jiu poked his head out from that hole. “Sir Yi!”
Si Yin Yuan walked over quickly. “Why did you come here by yourself?”
Ji Jiu pointed behind him. “Um, it smelled really good, so I came over.”
This time he was telling the truth.
“A fragrance?” Si Yin Yuan raised an eyebrow, then realized that there was indeed an irresistible scent in the air in this room. He had just been too focused on Ji Jiu when he entered, and he hadn’t noticed it immediately.
Si Yin Yuan furrowed his brow. “Yes, this scent is quite mesmerizing.”
He even felt a bit dizzy but not to the point of being incapacitated.
Just a bit disoriented.
Ji Jiu blinked, about to say something when suddenly a group of people burst into the room from outside.
He looked at them in surprise. “What’s going on?”
Why were there suddenly so many people!
“Captain Yin!”
“We’re here late!”
“Where is it?! Where are the mutants?!”
These people filled the room in an instant, each with unique abilities.
Leading the group was Yu Feichen, who shouted loudly, “Captain Yi! I’ve gathered everyone for you!”
In addition, there were some people in familiar gray uniforms – the security team.
Although the security team has been ousted from the base’s ruling power, each base still required personnel to maintain order.
The current guards had been renamed “Error Correctors,” and their influence had been divided among several factions controlled by the other six major forces, with the guild having the authority to manage them.
Seeing Si Yin Yuan’s gaze sweep over the Error Correctors, Yu Feichen hurriedly explained, “They happened to be patrolling nearby, the other hunters were prepared by Li Chao.”
In fact, he hadn’t intended to bring the Error Correctors along, but a passerby named Lan Fei seemed to have been attacked, ran out in a frenzy, and collided with the Error Correctors, shouting loudly for help.
So, they had to bring them along.
“Did I arrive too late?” He nervously poked his head inside.
He took a deep breath when he saw the enormous Luminous Lilies.
There was actually a mutant that had run out.
He had seen many grotesque mutants, from strange birds that liked to collect human skin to mutants with heads resembling humans. This Luminous Lilies didn’t have anything particularly unusual about it, other than its size and the fact that it liked to hang bones on its vines. The terrifying part was where it had appeared – in the midst of a crowded party.
The music below was deafening, heavy metal rock reverberated in everyone’s eardrums, and people danced wildly and caroused below, unaware that there was a massive sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.
The Error Correctors and hunters had subdued several waiters at the back door without causing a commotion among the people below.
These experienced hunters formed a semi-circular formation, surrounding it completely.
Ji Jiu stood in front of the Luminous Lilies, facing the humans. Behind him were supposed “kin.”
There was a momentary sense of division, and the dim lighting made his expression appear blurry.
This feeling only lasted for two seconds, but Si Yin Yuan took the initiative to reach out and wrap his arm around Ji Jiu’s waist, shielding him behind himself.
Ji Jiu ended up standing with the “human camp” again and blinked in confusion.
“Don’t space out,” Si Yin Yuan lightly scolded.
But his actions were extremely gentle, protecting the youth tenderly, fearing he might get hurt.
The Luminous Lilies hesitated for a moment. It was supposed to have no eyes, yet at this moment, Ji Jiu felt its gaze fall on him and the owner. It emitted perplexed and learning pheromones.
Even though there was no sense of malice, Ji Jiu couldn’t help but snarl at it, baring his little tiger teeth.
No one was allowed to covet his owner, even if it was food he had his eye on.
The Luminous Lilies shook its vines, producing bone-chilling collision sounds as it swung the bones that were hanging from them. It didn’t display any clear signs of aggression.
However, this single movement was enough to instill immense fear in the already tense individuals.
“Quick! Kill it!” one of the timid Error Correctors shouted.
They stood behind the hunters, filled with fear.
This was a normal reaction. Some among them had encountered mutants, but only during the early days of the apocalypse before arriving at the base. Others had never seen mutants at all, having been well-protected from such sights.
Nobody paid attention to him, and Si Yin Yuan was more interested in capturing it alive.
Perhaps sensing the impending danger, the Luminous Lilies stopped releasing its perplexing scent. Instead, it gently swayed its vines, creating eerie sounds by utilizing the bones.
Giggling sounds.
Ji Jiu understood. It was calling for something.
But what was it calling for?
One of the Awakened Ones with the ability “Heavenly Net on Earth” walked to the front under Si Yin Yuan’s gesture, while Yu Feichen’s finger turned into a gun barrel, ready to cover his retreat if needed.
“Don’t! Don’t touch it!” A young man, breathless from running, rushed up upon seeing this scene, assuming they were about to kill the Luminous Lilies. His breath almost caught in his throat.
“Who?” Half of the Error Correctors and hunters turned their attention to him.
Ji Jiu recognized him as the person he had brushed past in the corridor on the second floor earlier.
Without any sign of aggression until this moment, the Luminous Lilies suddenly became furious and swung its vines at those people.
Things happened too fast, and they were all knocked down before they could react.
The young man took advantage of the opportunity to rush in, struggling and twisting. His mask’s strap, roughly made, was unhooked, revealing a face underneath that was handsome yet wouldn’t be remembered.
Ji Jiu’s eyes lit up. “I know you! You’re that assistant with no presence! You’re called… called…”
Yu Feichen kindly added, “Chen Ke.”
Chen Ke, panting heavily, had successfully broken through the encirclement and reached the Luminous Lilies. He opened his arms and pleaded, “Don’t… don’t kill it. It has never harmed anyone.”
“But it’s a mutant!” one of the Error Correctors who had been knocked down stood up, his gaze filled with hatred as he watched this scene. “Are you insane?”
His parents, his loved ones, had all died during the early days of the apocalypse, becoming food for mutants.
The hunter with the “Heavenly Net on Earth” ability had a similarly cold look in his eyes. “Step aside, or we’ll take you in too.”
Hunters dealt with mutants the most and couldn’t empathize with them. Today, they might have been drinking with their brothers inside the base, and tomorrow, they could end up in the jaws of mutants outside the base.
The vines, still clinging, wrapped around Chen Ke’s ankles and attempted to climb his shins.
Chen Ke snapped, “Stop it!”
The Luminous Lilies paused briefly upon hearing his shout but continued to intimately stick to his ankles, stubbornly trying to entwine him.
It resembled an unruly child.
Si Yin Yuan frowned. “Did you release the Luminous Lilies from the research institute?”
At this point, there was no way to keep this hidden from the research institute. If Chen Ke was willing to take the blame, he could secure a lot for the institute during the meeting.
“No, it’s not.” Chen Ke shook his head.
This response surprised everyone present. Silence hung in the air for a moment, but someone quickly sneered, “Who would believe you?”
“It’s a monster, just like you.”
“It clearly eats humans!”
Chen Ke’s face turned red as he vehemently retorted, “It hasn’t! It has never harmed a human from birth to now. All those bones were leftovers from the meat I gave it. It hasn’t hurt a single human. Why do you have the right to convict it?”
An Error Corrector angrily pointed, “Just now, a human was tied up. If it weren’t for chief’s boyfriend rushing over, he would have been eaten!”
Ji Jiu: OvO??
He looked at the person in confusion, not understanding how he had become the hero of a rescue story.
Si Yin Yuan ruffled his hair and praised, “Impressive.”
Ji Jiu: OvO!!