Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi quickly joined the battle further ahead. In the midst of the fighting, Bai Mingxi had a sudden idea and took out a bottle of water, splashing it toward the branches whipping at them. He thought that perhaps he could use the same method to deal with these things.
However, when the branches came into contact with the liquid, they suddenly grew larger, and their attacks became faster and more ferocious. Bai Mingxi was startled and couldn’t react in time. He tried to dodge but fell onto the ground, giving the branch an opportunity to thrust straight through his chest.
The battle had practically been won, and no one had expected such a sudden turn of events. Quan Xiaoyu was still behind them, cleaning the hair-thin vines off Xie Mingxuan’s body, while Chu Tian, who had been fighting at close range, had already rushed to the front. By the time he realized something was wrong and immediately turned back to save Bai Mingxi, it was already too late.
In that instant, Bai Mingxi was overcome with despair. It’s over. I’m never going home.
At that critical moment, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. The branch pierced straight through the person’s shoulder, lifting him into the air.
It was Xiao Ziran! At the most dangerous moment, he had used his own body to take the fatal blow for Bai Mingxi!
Chu Tian had already rushed over. With a swift swing of his sharp arm, he severed the enlarged branch. Quan Xiaoyu had also noticed something was wrong and hurried forward to catch Xiao Ziran as he fell from the air.
“Xiaobai, take care of him!” Quan Xiaoyu shouted to Bai Mingxi, who was still somewhat stunned. He gently laid the doctor down, raised his katana, and charged toward the front lines.
At that moment, Quan Xiaoyu seemed to understand something: the doctor’s actions, Bai Mingxi’s expression, and also… the look in Pei Qianxing’s eyes.
Quan Xiaoyu sighed. It seemed like an unsolvable problem!
The battle ahead didn’t last much longer. The mobile branches had never stood a chance against the combined strength of the group. After sustaining extensive damage, the remaining branches finally retreated, just as they had come.
Naturally, no one pursued them. Everyone quickly gathered around Xiao Ziran.
His left shoulder had been pierced through, leaving a bloody hole that was gushing blood. And at that moment, there was no healing-type ability user present.
Bai Mingxi rummaged through his spatial storage and pulled out a pile of medical supplies, but he was so flustered and at a loss that he had no idea which ones to use.
“First, use water to wash the wound clean. Then find some disinfectant,” Xiao Ziran said, his face pale. After so long in the apocalypse, this was the first time he had ever suffered such a serious injury.
Bai Mingxi hurriedly followed his instructions, his own face deathly pale.
How could he have imagined that a spur-of-the-moment idea would cause such a disaster?
Quan Xiaoyu came over and examined the wound carefully before giving Chu Tian a slight shake of his head, indicating that Xiao Ziran’s life was not in danger.
The branch had pierced his shoulder without hitting any vital areas. As bottle after bottle of spatial water washed over the wound, the bleeding gradually began to slow. As long as they could stop the bleeding, the rest would be manageable.
As a level-five ability user, Xiao Ziran had a reasonably strong constitution. With the spatial water washing the wound, it should not become infected. Even if an infection did occur, they had sufficient medical supplies.
Quan Xiaoyu wasn’t a doctor, but he had experience providing emergency care from his previous life.
Chu Tian nodded. He had reached much the same conclusion, so when he saw Bai Mingxi fumbling around in a panic, he didn’t step in to help.
Pei Qianxing also stood to one side, watching. His complicated expression held a trace of sadness. Xiao Ziran was such a person who valued and protected himself, yet at that moment, he had rushed forward without the slightest hesitation. If the person under attack had been himself, would Xiao Ziran have saved him?
Pei Qianxing didn’t dare think about the answer.
The wound was soon cleaned. Under Xiao Ziran’s guidance, they found oral and topical anti-inflammatory medications. However, Bai Mingxi’s bandaging skills were truly atrocious, so Quan Xiaoyu silently stepped in and took over the task.
With nothing left to do, Bai Mingxi suddenly felt a little lost. Then he blinked, and hot tears rolled down his cheeks.
Chu Tian really couldn’t bear to watch anymore. Although other people’s romantic entanglements were their own business, Bai Mingxi had been his best friend since childhood. He decided he would find time to talk to the doctor later, but now was not the time.
All he could do at the moment was grab Bai Mingxi, who was crouching on the ground in a daze, and pull him to his feet. He poked Bai Mingxi on the forehead with a finger to change the subject.
“Now, little bro, answer me this: what on earth made you think watering those things was a good idea?”
Despite his words, there was no shortage of concern in his eyes.
At that moment, Bai Mingxi came back to his senses and understood what his friend was trying to do for him. He took the opportunity to recover his composure and said sheepishly, “Why does it work against those little devil vines, but not against the branches…?”
That was genuinely what he wanted to know.
Chu Tian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The reason the water worked against the hair-thin vines was that they carried black toxins. Chu Tian knew that the water from their spatial storage had purifying properties. As for ordinary plants or certain mutated plants, the spatial water probably had a nourishing effect on them, just as it did on ability users.
There had been no time to explain all this during the battle. If the water had worked, Chu Tian would have taken the lead and given the orders himself. Would Bai Mingxi really have needed to experiment with it?
So Chu Tian couldn’t help giving Bai Mingxi’s bowed head a slap. Still, he didn’t criticize him. He would simply treat this inexplicable, spur-of-the-moment idea as one of those innate traits that inventors possessed.
For a while, no one spoke.
The person who finally broke the silence was Xiao Ziran. After being bandaged, the color had noticeably returned to his face, and he had even managed to sit up on his own.
“You’ve been keeping things from me!”
Looking at the empty water bottles discarded on the ground, the doctor wore an expression of heartache. How many had they used? Thirty? Fifty?
He wasn’t an idiot. That water was obviously no ordinary water, which meant it had to be the “concentrated solution.” He wasn’t surprised that Chu Tian and the others had supplies of their own. What pained him was seeing such a precious resource wasted like this. How many crystal cores was all that worth?!
Chu Tian gave an awkward cough. “Is that really the point? What else were we supposed to do? Have you go and exterminate the hair-thin vines yourself?”
Xiao Ziran fell silent. He really did feel the loss, but more than that, he had only spoken up to break the awkward silence that had settled over them.
At the doctor’s reminder, Quan Xiaoyu pulled Bai Mingxi along to clean up the “battlefield.” They gathered the empty bottles and medical supplies so they wouldn’t leave anything “strange” behind in this dense forest.
Once everything had been tidied away, Xiao Ziran stood up on his own and asked Chu Tian, “Are we still going?”
“Of course we’re going.” Chu Tian narrowed his eyes slightly, a dangerous glint flashing in them. “When the mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole waits behind. They want to treat us as the cicada? Then we’ll play the oriole for once! Follow me.”
With that, Chu Tian turned and took the lead.
The others said nothing. Although each of them had their own thoughts at that moment, they still followed closely behind him.
\###
Morning arrived, and sunlight filtered through the gaps between the trees, scattering across the forest. The scene was indescribably fresh and beautiful.
Unfortunately, there were no birdsong or fragrant blossoms. The mountain forest was utterly silent.
Inside the cave, the area around the large pot was littered with the remains of the previous night’s revelry. The place was a complete mess.
The few people who had eaten and drunk their fill lay sprawled across the ground, sleeping soundly. They seemed utterly unconcerned about any danger that might be approaching.
The man in white had changed into a fresh set of clothes but was still dressed entirely in snowy white. The half-faced man, who had been leaning against the headboard the previous night, had only just emerged from the depths of the cave. Fresh red blood smeared the corners of his mouth and the front of his clothes, and he looked thoroughly satisfied. The contrast with the white-clad man’s pale complexion was striking.
Of course, the white-clad man’s pallor had nothing to do with his emotions. His skin was simply that color.
“It’s time to close the net. I can sense a big catch.” The moment he saw the half-faced man emerge, the man in white spoke impatiently.
The half-faced man nodded and glanced at the people sleeping in various positions in front of him. “Wake them up. I hope it’s really a big catch. I’m about to level up again, and I need more… food…”
As he spoke the final two words, the one remaining corner of his mouth curled upward, his expression full of amusement.
“Don’t worry.” The man in white spoke to him with unusual gentleness. “Ability users without a certain level of skill wouldn’t dare enter this forest. The fact that they’ve come means they’re exactly the people you need.”
The half-faced man nodded and said nothing more. He turned back to the bed and picked up his book again.
The man in white rose to his feet, looking at the people on the ground with disgust. He casually kicked the person closest to him awake. He didn’t hold back at all, and the person on the ground shot upright with a loud yelp.
But the moment he recognized who had kicked him, he immediately fell silent. His eyes widened as he waited for instructions.
“Close the net. Bring the newcomers along.” The man in white spoke coldly, then walked out of the cave first without looking back.
He despised those people, yet at that moment, he still needed them. Just a little longer. Once he and the person he loved deeply had both leveled up successfully, they would no longer have to fear anything in the outside world.
And then—
The very first thing he would do was stuff all those filthy, disgusting people into that pot and boil them alive!
The man in white smiled coldly.
\##
In the mountain forest, at the place where Chu Tian and the others had fought the previous night.
The man in white led several people in a quiet encircling approach. But the place was terrifyingly silent. There was no sound of katana blades, no sound of breathing.
How could this be?
His carefully nurtured little creatures had never failed before!
The fine vines could approach any living creature without making a sound. The black mist they carried had disorienting and dizzying effects.
They would burrow into people’s skin, blood vessels, and even brains. They would take over human bodies, then lie dormant until he gave them orders.
And now, he couldn’t sense their presence at all!
How was that possible? How?!
Those creatures were the result of all his painstaking efforts! They were also his greatest weapon! Yet now, they had simply vanished!
The man in white was beginning to lose his composure. His once-stealthy steps grew hurried, as if he no longer cared whether any survivors might expose his presence.
“Go! Get over there and take a look! Find out where my precious little darlings are!” the man in white snarled, issuing his orders. The closer he got, the worse his gut feeling became.