Chapter 94: Setting a Trap, Digging a Pit and Waiting for You (First Update)

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

That cold, frosty feeling did seem to fit. If that was the case, then did the red lines represent fire-type energy?

She opened her left hand. A tiny seedling sprouted from her palm—its body a vibrant green, veins tinged with pale red, and a misty, frost-like white glow shrouding it. The four leaves were thick and lustrous, like polished jade, glowing softly from within. It was beautiful.

A fresh, invigorating scent drifted through the air, making her feel clear-headed and at ease.

She flicked her hand, sending a thick vine lashing out against the opposite wall. With a loud crack, the steel wall caved in, but the vine remained completely unscathed. The red lines running through it aside, 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’d been injured by Gu Xu, and the white glow after she was stabbed by A-Gang’s ice spike. Did this mean that whenever she was wounded by a different power, she could acquire that power’s attribute?

Heavens, could something this good really happen?

No, wait—could there be side effects?

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

The commotion woke up Milk, who sniffed the air, suddenly raised its head to look at Bian Changxi’s hand, propped itself up, and perked its ears.

“Awoo!”

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

Milk scrambled up, padded across the soft blanket, and clung to her leg, unable to tear its eyes away from the seedling. It stretched its neck to sniff, eyes glowing green. Its mouth opened, a string of drool hanging down before it quickly slurped it back up.

Bian Changxi: “...”

“Woo woo!” It wagged its tail at her, completely forgetting to be shy about its bare, furless body. It rubbed against her pants, blinking its wet eyes.

Bian Changxi sweatdropped and poked it. “Do you know, with your pink, hairless look, acting cute really doesn’t suit you.”

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

She asked, “You want to eat this?”

“Woo woo!”

Milk nodded furiously, face full of longing.

Bian Changxi glanced at the four leaves on the seedling, hesitating. Actually, she’d eaten the leaves of her original seedling herself before.

That was in her previous life, after the Chen family abandoned her. When the farm and abilities had just appeared, she had no food stored up and was scavenging supermarkets and shops. In the end, she got trapped in a basement by a horde of zombies and was so hungry she’d even considered cutting off a piece of her own flesh to eat. The only edible thing on her was this seedling.

She ate it and found it didn’t taste great, but it was packed with energy. A single leaf kept her full for a whole day, and her exhaustion faded significantly.

Supported by those four leaves, she calmed down and figured out a way to save herself. Luckily, a survivor team passed by, drove off the zombies, and she escaped, taken in by their kind-hearted leader. Together, they made their way to the Sucheng base.

But the consequences were severe—her wood ability was basically crippled, and the four leaves never grew back. It wasn’t until she got a green core from Bian Kuang and cultivated for a few days that the leaves slowly sprouted again.

This original seedling truly lived up to its name—its strength was directly tied to her ability.

But Milk was definitely a spirit beast—a rare and mysterious species with powers that amazed humans. No one knew how they came to be. If it wanted this seedling so badly, maybe it was beneficial for it?

Looking at its ugly, hairless little body, she gritted her teeth and carefully plucked one of the four leaves. “You can only have this one. I’ll see how you react before giving you more.”

“Woo woo.”

Milk rubbed against her in thanks, then gulped down the entire leaf and closed its eyes in bliss.

Bian Changxi watched curiously. After a long while with no reaction, she poked it—it had fallen asleep!

She couldn’t help but laugh.

“Sleep, then. Once you’re done, you’d better get well soon.” Her own injuries were almost healed—one more round of energy absorption and she’d be fine. But seeing her green core reduced to a third of its original size, she sighed. “Guess I’ll let it heal naturally. I need to save some energy for emergencies. Being poor really is the worst.”

She checked the sky—still some time before dark. She put Milk back in the farm, tied up the two cows, locked the barn, slung her sword and backpack, and headed out.

She was going hunting.

To expand the farm, she needed to keep investing crystal cores. And where would she get those? She’d have to hunt monsters herself.

But whether it was luck or misfortune, the former grasslands now stretched out in a sea of knee-high weeds, with barely any trees and not a zombie in sight. Even large animals were nowhere to be seen—just some small critters hiding in the grass, and who knew if they even had crystal cores.

She waded into the sea of grass, her boots and leather pants protecting her from cuts. She searched among the blades, spotting plenty 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 huge leaf. Each was the size of a fist, bright orange-yellow with black spots, six legs tipped with sharp barbs and covered in coarse hairs—just like the seven-spotted ladybugs from before the apocalypse.

Their fun interrupted, both ladybugs turned to glare at her, compound eyes wide, antennae and forelegs raised in a threatening display.

Bian Changxi wondered 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 elytra snapped open and they flew at her, black mandibles wide, barbed legs raised, the tips glowing faint blue—clearly venomous.

Bian Changxi swatted one away with her sword, then flung a towel at the other.

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

Impressive strength for a bug.

The ladybug tossed aside the towel and lunged at her face. Bian Changxi wasn’t about to let those sharp claws touch her—she might lose a chunk of flesh. She swung her sword, splitting its shell right down the middle.

She looked down, disappointed—no crystal core.

The other ladybug, seeing its mate killed, didn’t attack in revenge. Instead, it spun around mid-charge and darted into the grass.

“Trying to run?”

A wooden spike shot after it. With a squelch and a strange bug scream, Bian Changxi walked over to find the ladybug in pieces on the ground, the spike—frosty and cold—embedded deep in the earth. The spike was too thick and fast, and had blown the bug apart as it passed through.

Suddenly, something flashed in the bug’s head. She picked it up—a white core!

A great start! Bian Changxi grinned. Even if it was only a first-rank core, it was better than nothing. She tossed it into the farm, then walked over to the spike and yanked it out of the ground.

The spike was coated in ice—hard and cold, the tip glinting with a frosty sheen. The ice felt like part of the spike itself—no matter how she scraped, it wouldn’t come off or melt.

So the spikes were the same—her wood ability had truly gained an ice attribute. If the ice gave them a hard, sharp shell, then the red glow inside must have boosted their toughness and power. Whether spikes or vines, they were now stronger and more explosive.

Satisfied, she nodded and looked around. About five or six hundred meters away, she spotted a normal-sized bird. She raised her hand and fired another spike, but this time it lost momentum halfway, slicing into the grass instead and scaring the bird away.

Too far.

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

Finding targets in this endless grassland was tough. She crouched down, pressed her palm to the ground, and slowly released her energy.

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

This perception was different from her plant sense, which was a resonance with other wood-type beings. This was more like scanning the environment with her power—a precursor to spiritual sense. She wasn’t sure why she’d developed it so early. As for controlling wild grass and thorns, that was a manifestation of the control-type wood ability.

Wood abilities had three main paths: healing, attack, and control. Most people were healers—wood’s innate advantage. Attack types lagged far behind other combat abilities. Control types, though, were the most advanced—masters could encompass the other two.

By controlling nearby plants or instantly sprouting seeds, they could explore, hide, or attack. It was said that at the peak, the natural world became your logistics department, the forests your backyard—utterly formidable. But that was just rumor. In her previous life, all the control-type wood users she knew ended up farming.

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

After Gu Xu established the Tengyang Base, he gathered all kinds of experts, including the only ninth-rank wood user in seven years of the apocalypse—but even he seemed to be a healer.

After her rebirth, Bian Changxi had considered developing her control abilities. But her plan was to first strengthen her body and build a foundation in attack and healing, get the farm running, and only then focus on control. She knew better than to aim too high and end up with nothing.

ps:

Thank you to sky_碧澄 for a pink ticket!"