Chapter 94: Knowing the Goods, Control-Type Wood Ability

The red one was nothing new—she’d seen it before. But the white one had only appeared this time. Could it be that the white color represented ice energy?

That cold, frosty feeling really did seem like it. So, in reverse, did the red line represent fire?

She opened her left hand. A small seedling sprouted from her palm, its body a vibrant green, with faint red veins running through it. A layer of white light, like mist or frost, shrouded the outside. Four thick, jade-like leaves glowed from within, making the little plant look especially beautiful.

A fresh, invigorating scent wafted through the air, clearing the mind and lifting the spirits.

With a flick of her hand, a thick vine lashed out and struck the opposite wall. There was a loud, crisp smack, and the steel wall instantly caved in, yet the vine itself was completely unscathed. Leaving aside the red line in the middle, the outside was clearly coated in a thin layer of ice.

Her wood ability had mutated!

Excited, she stood up and paced back and forth.

The red glow had appeared after she was injured by Gu Xu, and the white light had shown up after she was hit by A-Gang’s ice spike. Could it be that whenever she was wounded by a different ability, she could gain that ability’s attribute?

Heavens, could there really be such a good thing in this world?

No, wait—could there be some side effect?

A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. She sat down again and summoned her main seedling for a closer look.

The noise woke up Milk, who sniffed the air, then suddenly looked up at the seedling in Bian Changxi’s hand. It propped itself up, ears perked.

“Awoo!”

Bian Changxi looked at it. “You’re awake!”

Milk scrambled up, padded over the soft quilt, and clung to her leg, unable to take its eyes off the seedling. It leaned in for a sniff, its eyes gleaming green with desire. Opening its mouth, a string of drool dangled down, only to be slurped back up with a loud suck.

Bian Changxi: “…”

“Woo woo!” Milk wagged its tail furiously, forgetting all about being shy or whether it had fur or not. It rubbed against her pants, blinking its wet, puppy-dog eyes.

Bian Changxi felt a headache coming on. She poked it. “Do you know, looking all pink and hairless, your attempts at being cute aren’t working at all.”

And those tiny eyes—where’s the expression? What are you even blinking at?

She asked, “You want to eat this?”

“Woo woo!”

Milk nodded desperately, face full of longing.

Bian Changxi looked at the four leaves on the seedling, hesitating. She’d eaten the leaves of her main seedling before.

That was in her previous life, after the Chen family abandoned her. Her ability had just awakened, and she had no food stored up. She scavenged supermarkets and shops, only to end up trapped in a basement by a horde of zombies, starving to the point of delirium. She’d even considered cutting off a piece of her own flesh to eat. At that time, the only thing on her that was remotely edible was this seedling.

She ate it. The taste wasn’t great, but it was packed with energy. Just one leaf was enough to stave off hunger for a whole day, and it also eased her exhaustion.

With the support of those four leaves, she calmed down and figured out a way to save herself. Luckily, a team of survivors passed by, scattered the zombies, and she escaped, eventually being taken in by the kind-hearted leader of that team. Together, they made their way to the Sucheng base.

But there was a heavy price: her wood ability was basically crippled, and the four leaves never grew back—until she got a green core from Bian Kuang and spent days cultivating, finally coaxing out new buds.

This main seedling really was the core of her power, directly tied to the strength of her ability.

But Milk was a spirit beast, no doubt about it—a rare and mysterious species with abilities that amazed humans. No one really understood how they came into being. If Milk wanted this seedling so badly, maybe it was beneficial for it in some way?

Looking at its ridiculous, hairless appearance, she gritted her teeth and carefully plucked one of the four leaves. “You can only have this one. We’ll see how you react before you get any more.”

“Woo woo.”

Milk nuzzled her gratefully, then gobbled up the leaf in one bite, closing its eyes in bliss.

Bian Changxi watched curiously. After a long wait, nothing happened. She poked it—Milk had fallen asleep!

She couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fine, sleep. But you’d better get up and be energetic when you wake up.” Her own injuries were almost healed—one more round of energy absorption and she’d be as good as new. But seeing that her green core was down to a third of its original strength, she sighed. “Guess I’ll just wait to heal naturally.” Better to save her energy for emergencies. Being poor really is the worst.

She checked the time—still a while before dark. She put Milk away, tied up the two cows, locked the factory doors, slung her knife and backpack, and headed out.

She was going hunting.

To make her core grow again, she needed to keep feeding it crystal cores. And where did those come from? She’d have to hunt monsters herself.

But whether it was luck or misfortune, the former grasslands were now just a sea of waist-high weeds. There were barely any trees, no zombies, and not even any large animals in sight. All she could find hiding in the grass were small critters, and who knew if they even had crystal cores.

She waded into the sea of grass. Her tall boots and leather pants kept her from getting cut. She searched through the grass, spotting all sorts of ants and bugs scurrying away in panic.

She parted the grass with her knife and suddenly spotted two ladybugs, one behind the other, mating on a large leaf. Each was the size of a fist, bright orange-yellow with black spots, six legs tipped with sharp hooks, and covered in short bristles—just like the seven-spotted ladybugs from before the apocalypse.

Their fun interrupted, both ladybugs turned to glare at the rude intruder, compound eyes wide, antennae and front legs raised in a clear threat.

Bian Changxi was curious how dangerous these bugs were now. She dug her boot into the ground and kicked a spray of gravel at them.

The bugs were enraged. Their wing covers flipped open and they flew at her, black mandibles wide and hooked legs raised, the tips glowing faint blue—clearly poisonous.

She swatted one away with her knife, then flicked a towel at the other.

To her surprise, the bug grabbed the towel and tore it into strips with a loud rip.

These bugs were strong!

The ladybug tossed aside the towel and lunged at her face. Bian Changxi wasn’t about to let those sharp claws touch her—she’d probably lose a chunk of flesh. She swung her Tang sword, cleaving the bug in two.

She looked down, disappointed—no crystal core.

The other ladybug, seeing its mate killed, didn’t attack for revenge. Instead, it veered off mid-charge and vanished into the grass.

“Trying to run?”

A wooden spike shot after it. With a wet squelch and a strange bug scream, Bian Changxi walked over to find the ladybug torn to pieces on the ground, the spike—still radiating cold—stuck deep in the earth. The spike was too thick and fast; it had exploded the bug as it passed through.

Suddenly, something in the bug’s head caught her eye—a white core!

A great start! Bian Changxi grinned. Even if it was only a first-tier core, it was better than nothing. She tossed the crystal core into her own core, then walked over to the wooden spike and yanked it from the ground.

The spike was coated in ice, hard and cold, its tip gleaming dangerously. The ice seemed fused with the wood itself—no matter how she scraped, it wouldn’t come off, nor would it melt.

So it was the same with her wooden spikes—her wood ability had truly gained an ice attribute. If the ice gave them a hard, sharp shell, then the red glow in the center must have added toughness and strength. Whether it was spikes or vines, they were now tougher and more explosive.

Satisfied, she nodded and looked into the distance, spotting a normal-sized bird five or six hundred meters away. She fired another wooden spike, but this time it lost momentum halfway, slicing through the grass instead and scaring the bird off.

Ugh, too far.

Her range was only about three hundred meters, and for accuracy, she’d need to keep it within a hundred.

Seeing how hard it was to find targets in the endless grass, she crouched down, pressed her palm to the ground, and began to release strands of energy.

Back when she’d overdrawn her power, she’d entered a state of emptiness and clarity, able to sense movement nearby without using her eyes or ears. This was actually a kind of perception ability that high-level ability users often developed.

This perception was different from her connection to plants—the latter was a mutual sensing between wood types, while the former was her ability probing the environment, a precursor to true spiritual power. She wasn’t sure why she’d developed it so early; as for manipulating wild grass and thorns, that was a hallmark of control-type wood abilities.

Wood abilities had three main development paths: healing, attack, and control. Most people were healers—wood’s innate advantage. Attack types were far inferior to abilities designed for combat. Control types, though, were the most advanced, and at high levels could encompass the other two.

By controlling nearby plants or instantly sprouting seeds, they could explore, hide, attack, and more. It was said that at the peak, nature itself became your logistics corps, the forests your backyard—truly formidable. But that was just rumor; in her previous life, all the control-type wood users she knew ended up farming.

Which just showed how hard control-type was to master.

After Gu Xu established the Tengyang base, all sorts of strong ability users gathered around him, including the only ninth-tier wood user in seven years of the apocalypse—but even he seemed to be a healer.

After her rebirth, Bian Changxi had considered developing control-type abilities, but her plan was to first strengthen her body and build a foundation in attack and healing. Only once her core was up and running would she have the freedom to focus on higher pursuits. She knew better than to aim too high and achieve nothing.

PS:

Thanks to sky碧澄 for a pink ticket!"