Care Guide to Raising a Max Level Leaf in Apocalypse - 83
He was hungry
Seeing them all fall into silence, anxiety filled Guan Yin’s heart. He nervously spoke, “Brothers, if it’s not okay, can I use my phone to call my boss and ask for leave? I can’t lose this job!”
He was just an office worker, why did he have to face such things?
Si Yin Yuan raised an eyebrow, “You want to send messages to the outside world?”
Guan Yin nodded repeatedly.
Feng Chuyao asked frowning, “Why, under the same time-looping constraints, is he not afraid of establishing contact with the outside world, while the people in this school instinctively resist it?”
“Only time has reversed,” said Sir Yan calmly. “Even if the anchor is a person, those students and teachers are actually dead. They haven’t come back to life; they just returned to over three years ago. That’s the reason for the loop.”
The anchor has already died, so no matter what actions they take, these people won’t have a future. This is the reason why everyone is trapped in a loop after being swallowed.
So, they resist establishing contact with the outside world. This is the brain’s self-protection mechanism. However, Guan Yin hasn’t died yet, at least his future self hasn’t died, so he still isn’t part of this loop, and he won’t resist contacting the outside world.
The only difference is that his body and memories have returned to over three years ago.
To verify this is actually simple; just wait until tomorrow morning when the school falls into the loop again. It will then be clear whether he has lost time or is stuck in the loop.
“Do we have to wait for another round?” asked Yu Feichen. “We don’t know when that thing will appear again.”
Joker flipped the playing cards in his hand. “Rest assured, that thing deliberately waited until he was alone before attacking. It’s enough to show that its combat power isn’t high.”
Yu Feichen glanced at Guan Yin. “Considering Guan Yin’s strength, he shouldn’t have been taken down so easily. That thing must have some unexpected move.”
Guan Yin interfered with their conversation, “Hey, aren’t you supposed to let me go?”
No one paid attention to him, only Ji Jiu squatted down next to him, hands supporting his face as he asked, “Is time tasty?”
There’s actually a mutant that can eat time. Why hadn’t he thought of trying it?
Guan Yin turned to look at him, ignoring the strange question, “Can you help me untie the rope? You see, you’re young; don’t go down the wrong path.”
Ji Jiu refused bluntly, “No.”
After saying that, he stood up, brushed off the dust on him, and walked away.
Left alone, Guan Yin sat on the chair, despair in his eyes as he looked up at the sky.
Yu Feichen, with a hint of conscience, found a chair for him to sit and kindly advised, “Explaining now is too troublesome. The monster is most likely to appear when the loop starts. When we catch it, you’ll understand why we caught you.”
Guan Yin, with an unbelieving face, sat on the chair in despair, gazing up at the sky.
Si Yin Yuan spoke, “Two people per group will search inside the campus. It must be hiding nearby. Leave one person here to keep an eye on things.”
Ji Jiu’s curiosity about that creature peaked, and he couldn’t wait to walk to the door and urge his owner.
In the time rift that no one could perceive, a pair of hazy gray eyes greedily watched everything, especially focusing on Ji Jiu, who looked tender and delicate.
…
Ji Jiu burped, holding tea snacks that somehow appeared from the office in his arms. He followed his owner, eating and dropping crumbs. The black mist, which appeared out of nowhere, consumed all the fallen crumbs. The small cloud of black mist resembled a lump of coal, diligently following, eating the pastry crumbs that fell.
Si Yin Yuan released some golden light points to search for traces left by the mutant. Some of the golden dots, neglecting their duty, ran next to the small coal ball, circling around it incessantly.
Focused on eating pastry crumbs, the little coal ball paid no attention.
Si Yin Yuan: “…”
He mercilessly kicked these golden light points, and they reluctantly flew away to a more distant place.
After searching the entire campus, the light points returned. The last light point wavered and stopped on his shoulder, still without any findings.
After consuming Guan Yin’s memories, the mutant seemed to disappear into thin air, leaving no trace.
Just as Si Yin Yuan frowned, Ji Jiu’s name was suddenly called.
He turned his head and found it was a student from the previous class.
One of the students asked loudly, “Why didn’t you come to the last class? PE class is next. Hurry up and come over!”
This loud voice attracted the attention of students around.
To avoid drawing too much attention, Ji Jiu gently hooked his owner’s hand and said, “Teacher, I’ll go to class first.”
After saying that, he even winked like a little fox.
Si Yin Yuan hesitated for a moment and then let go of his hand.
Ji Jiu waved to him, “Don’t worry; nothing will happen.”
Si Yin Yuan frowned slightly, “I’ll go with you.”
Despite his words, his identity didn’t suit appearing in a PE class, so he could only hide in the shadows and watch Ji Jiu.
It was the last class now, approaching the end of the school day.
Ji Jiu blended into the crowd and followed them to run laps around the sports field. In the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something hazy.
In that brief moment, he sensed a faint fluctuation of gama.
Gradually slowing down his pace, he suddenly flashed to a nearby cover when the students weren’t paying attention.
The hazy thing revealed its true form.
The mutant that could devour time turned out to be a gray rat with ten-centimeter incisors. It had a large piece of its scalp missing, exposing the bright red brain, and visible veins wriggled with an unknown dark substance. The rat looked at him and spoke, “Delicious… delicious…”
Drool dripped down.
Ji Jiu shook his head, “I’m not delicious.”
The rat didn’t expect a human to understand the mutant’s language. With a puzzled and murky gaze, the rat couldn’t figure out the reason, so it opened its large mouth and lunged forward.
Ji Jiu easily evaded, and a black mist rose, trapping the large gray rat.
On the other side, Si Yin Yuan realized something was amiss when he saw Ji Jiu leaving the lineup on the playground. He hurried there without a moment’s hesitation.
A crisp young voice spoke, “You are the delicacy.”
Was he talking to the mutant?
Si Yin Yuan suddenly slowed down, and this hesitation allowed both Ji Jiu and the gray rat to see him.
The black mist trapping the gray rat momentarily showed confusion. Seizing this opportunity, the rat, holding onto the opening, opened a time rift.
Unable to truly travel through time, it could use the rift to evade, explaining how it ambushed Guan Yin and stayed elusive in the school.
Ji Jiu snapped back, not having time to contemplate if his conversation with the entity was overheard by his owner. His body had already touched the rift.
In the blink of an eye, both the human and the rat disappeared on the spot.
…
In the school’s flowerbed, purple morning glories bloomed abundantly.
Suddenly, something out of place stirred.
Ji Jiu stretched his green leaves, looking perplexed in this completely unfamiliar environment.
He didn’t know why he had suddenly moved from the comfortable flowerpot at home to this place.
It seemed like his memory was interrupted.
The only certainty was that this place wasn’t home, and his owner wasn’t around.
There were only the annoying flowers surrounding him.
The wind moved these morning glories, casting silhouettes on the little grass in the sunlight.
Ji Jiu wiggled his roots, feeling somewhat aggrieved.
The soil in the school’s flowerbed was different from the one Si Yin Yuan specially prepared in the flowerpot. Accustomed to that soil, his roots felt extremely uncomfortable here.
He pulled himself out, trying to climb out of the flowerbed using his slightly round leaves.
Feeling refreshed instantly, the sky looked pleasingly blue.
Turning to look at the seemingly unconscious morning glories in the flowerbed, Ji Jiu suddenly felt towering in his three-centimeter stature.
Waving his little leaves at these foolish flowers, Ji Jiu walked forward with his leaves held high, then… with a snap, he fell to the ground.
Nearly turned into a grass pancake.
Grumbling to himself, the grass cursed and climbed back up, feeling that these morning glories were mocking him.
He needed to find his owner, and after finding him, he would make him pull out all these annoying flowers.
Whether he was an ability-endowed grass or the regular grass from three years ago, he was the grassy overlord.
His memory lingered on his owner going on a business trip, and despite being confused about the current situation, Ji Jiu never doubted his ability to find his owner.
Relying on his sixth sense, he picked a direction and hopped away.
Being cautious not to be seen by other humans in this state, whenever someone passed by, he immediately plunged his roots into the ground, blending into the weeds, disguising himself as an ordinary little weed.
Just in time for the end of school, students had no room in their eyes for anything other than food, and no one noticed a small, pure-green, somewhat round grass inexplicably among the ordinary weeds.
Unable to find his owner, he did find two strange humans.
Ji Jiu peeked at Yu Feichen and Feng Chuyao from the weeds.
Feng Chuyao, anxious and sweating, said, “Where do you think Ji Jiu might have gone?”
Yu Feichen, unusually sensible, replied, “Calm down. The mutant only consumes time and doesn’t harm people. We need to find him before this loop restarts; otherwise, the boss might turn this school upside down.”
Feng Chuyao calmed down a bit.
The two hurriedly walked away.
Ji Jiu, hiding in the weeds, watched them go into the distance, curling up his little leaves and looking like a small, green ball.
Such strange humans.
His attention quickly shifted, and Ji Jiu caught a whiff of the cafeteria’s delicious aroma.
The grass froze for a moment and nearly cried.
He was hungry and needed his owner to water him immediately!