Chapter 100 – Covet
Xia Lu Nong looked at the huge bulls in the distance, then down at the small pepper tree. With a firm grip, he hoisted the little tree up and dragged it toward the truck.
With its small size, charging at the bulls wasn’t revenge—it was basically offering itself up as a snack.
Though the pepper tree was reluctant, it didn’t want to hurt Xia Lu Nong. Once it had retracted its thorns, it had no way to resist, so Xia Lu Nong easily managed to get it into the truck.
Looking down at the tree, Xia Lu Nong patiently tried to reason with it. “It’s really dangerous out there right now. Stay here for now, and once it’s relatively safe, you can come back down and help. How about that?”
“Shwoosh—” The little pepper tree’s leaves rustled in a soft response.
Xia Lu Nong patted it before peeking outside.
His brother and the others were still facing off with the mutated bulls, while the non-combat members of the group had already retreated to the trucks, ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
Xiao Tang slipped over to Xia Lu Nong’s side, and Xia Lu Nong finally found a chance to ask, “What’s going on tonight?”
“I have no idea,” Xiao Tang whispered back. “When brother Liu woke me up, the bulls were already outside. They seem pretty aggressive, and they even chewed off some of the pepper tree’s leaves.”
Hearing this, the little pepper tree let out another pitiful “Shwoosh,” its roots twitching as if it wanted to get up again.
Xia Lu Nong quickly held it down and asked Xiao Tang, “Besides the pepper tree, are there any other plants around our camp? Are those bulls still out there because they hold grudges?”
“Who knows? Maybe,” Xiao Tang replied, craning his neck to look. “Look at their thick horns. They seem pretty tough. Maybe they just feel like we’ve intruded on their territory and want to chase us out.”
Xia Lu Nong thought for a moment and said, “I’ll go take a closer look. Keep an eye on the pepper tree. If anything goes wrong, drive off first. We can catch up in our beast forms.”
Xiao Tang, now serious, nodded. “Got it. Don’t worry.”
After instructing the pepper tree to stay put, Xia Lu Nong hopped off the truck and grabbed a walkie-talkie from the driver’s seat, relaying his plan to the other vehicles.
Everyone agreed that if there were any problems, they would drive away immediately.
Throughout all this, neither Xia Lu Nong nor anyone else thought there was anything unusual about his instructions.
Xia Lu Nong got out of the truck and headed toward the spot where his brother and the others were facing off against the beasts.
Hearing footsteps, the giant wolf’s furry ears twitched. It turned its head, snorting out a rough breath.
Ba Niu, who was watching the herd of bulls with his gun ready, tensed up when he noticed the wolf’s reaction. He instinctively glanced to the side and saw that it was just Xia Lu Nong approaching.
The giant wolf scraped the ground with its paw, a flicker of anxiety in its eyes.
Xia Lu Nong quickly whispered, “I’m not here to cause trouble. I just want to take a look. If anything goes wrong, I’ll immediately shift into my beast form.”
The giant wolf gave him a warning look, then turned its attention back to the bulls ahead, keeping a vigilant eye on them.
Ba Niu stepped back a few paces and whispered urgently, “Xiao Nong, what are you doing here?”
“I came to check things out,” Xia Lu Nong replied quietly. “I wasn’t sure what’s going on, so I couldn’t rest easy.”
Ba Niu glanced at the giant wolf, the giant tiger, and then at the golden eagle circling above them. “Well, it’s dangerous. If you’re curious, take a quick look and then go back.”
Xia Lu Nong didn’t argue. He nodded casually and asked, “When we saw the herd, why didn’t we just drive away?”
They had trucks, so it seemed unnecessary to engage in a standoff.
Having this confrontation in the middle of the night seemed like a waste of resources.
As Xia Lu Nong spoke, his gaze fell on the bulls.
Under the truck’s high beams, the herd became clear to him.
The bulls appeared to be female—heavy-chested, with prominent udders—clearly still nursing calves.
However, what surprised him was that nearly all of the bulls had large, sharp horns that gleamed under the lights.
Female bulls usually had much shorter horns, nothing like this.
These bulls had mutated!
Xia Lu Nong quickly realized.
The herd had mutated, but not to an extreme degree. Unlike many mutated animals that lost their minds and became completely violent, these bulls seemed more composed.
Their intelligence seemed to have increased as well, as they appeared to be cooperating, calculating whether they should attack.
It only took Xia Lu Nong a second or two to come to this conclusion.
Ba Niu licked his lips and whispered, “They ran too fast. Our trucks are built for stability, so we probably wouldn’t be able to outrun them.”
“If they catch up and damage the trucks, we’ll be in even more trouble. And with the poor visibility at night, driving fast could easily lead to accidents.”
Xia Lu Nong asked quietly, “So rather than flee in a panic, we’re opting to stay still and wait?”
“Exactly,” Ba Niu nodded. “Facing off against this herd of mutated bulls doesn’t put us at too much of a disadvantage. We haven’t even used the rocket launchers yet; we should be fine.”
Xia Lu Nong asked, “So are we going to stay like this all night?”
“Let’s wait and see. Maybe they’ll lose patience and leave on their own.”
The two of them stared silently at the herd of bulls for a while.
After a moment, Ba Niu added, “Also, did you notice that most of the bulls’ horns are stained with blood? Who knows how many mutated creatures they’ve killed. They’re almost as fierce as wild beasts. We can’t show any weakness to opponents like these.”
Xia Lu Nong, less experienced than a seasoned hunter like Ba Niu, hadn’t noticed that detail. But after focusing, he saw that the lower half of the bulls’ horns was indeed stained with dried blood.
The group and the herd continued their standoff from about 50 or 60 meters apart, as the sky gradually lightened.
By 4:15 AM, the sky had turned dark blue, with a faint orange glow on the horizon.
It wouldn’t be long until daylight fully broke.
The herd of bulls remained motionless, showing no signs of losing patience and leaving.
Xia Lu Nong suddenly said, “Wait, something’s off. When we set up camp, we cleared the area, and there wasn’t much cow dung around. This isn’t their territory.”
His ability involved plants, and he paid a lot of attention to fertilizer. He’d even checked the area earlier and hadn’t found any.
Ba Niu, the seasoned hunter, hadn’t missed that detail either. “Maybe they’re just being cautious of us? Most of them seem to be nursing mothers. It’s likely they’re acting more aggressive out of instinct to protect their calves.”
Xia Lu Nong still felt like something was off.
By 6 AM, daylight had fully broken, yet the herd of cows still hadn’t retreated.
Meanwhile, Xia Lu Nong and his group were growing tired. Just standing there for so long had made their legs ache, and after staying up most of the night without food or water, their condition had deteriorated.
“This isn’t working,” Xia Lu Nong said quietly, tilting his head. “We can’t hold out any longer. Let’s retreat. It’s daylight now. We’ll have the trucks leave first, and we’ll follow behind. Since they’ve got calves, they probably won’t chase us far.”
The giant tiger nodded and gave a soft growl toward the trucks.
The vehicles slowly started moving, and it seemed everyone understood the plan.
The giant tiger gave another low growl toward the sky.
Luo Cong Xin and Kong Zhi had been circling in their beast forms for most of the night, only landing briefly to rest a few times.
Now, as they landed and shifted back to human form, both of them looked pale, especially Luo Congxin, whose lips had gone white.
Kong Zhi picked up his clothes from the ground and, while panting, said, “We didn’t spot any calves.”
He glanced at the trucks, which were already moving away, and didn’t bother putting his shirt on, knowing he might have to shift back to his beast form again soon.
Xia Lu Nong asked, “If there are no calves, does that mean their herd is large? Maybe another group of cows is hiding with the calves somewhere?”
“I don’t know,” Kong Zhi wiped the sweat from his face. “With all the greenery around the campus, calves could be hiding anywhere, and we wouldn’t be able to spot them from above.”
As they spoke, the trucks moved farther away.
The herd of bulls became restless and started to follow the trucks.
With a roar, the giant tiger startled most of the bulls, causing them to retreat slowly.
As the first cow retreated, nearly all of the other cows followed, like a small pool of water slowly flowing backward.
Xia Lu Nong was stunned. He exchanged glances with Kong Zhi, “So, these cows spent the whole night here just because they didn’t like our trucks? If we had moved the trucks earlier, everything would’ve been fine?”
“Hard to say,” Kong Zhi replied, frowning. “Let’s take advantage of the cows retreating and get back to the trucks.”
The herd moved quickly, disappearing from sight within a minute.
Xia Huo Qu and Yan Xi Nian shifted back into their human forms, exhaustion evident on their faces.
Xia Huo Qu said, “Let’s get back to the trucks and regroup.”
Xiao Tang, driving the last truck, saw the others stopping and quickly reversed to pick them up.
Luo Cong Xin and Xiao Tang sat in the cab while the others climbed into the truck bed.
Xia Lu Nong hurried to prepare honey water for them, handing each person a cup.
After drinking the honey water, their energy was noticeably restored, and their faces looked better.
The small pepper tree lying in the truck bed twisted its crown, as if observing them.
Xia Lu Nong looked at the little pepper tree and asked, “Do you have something to tell us?”
The pepper tree’s leaves shook, and suddenly its branches stretched out, pulling out a small, dark object from under them.
It was a small walkie-talkie, like the ones in the other trucks.
Yan Xi Nian smiled tiredly at the sight of it. “This really helps.”
The pepper tree proudly shook its crown.
The range of the walkie-talkies was limited, but Yan Xi Nian turned it on and called the other vehicles.
Since they weren’t too far apart, they quickly responded.
Yan Xi Nian instructed the leading trucks to slowly withdraw from the university and regroup at the gate.
All three trucks acknowledged the order.
Having worked through most of the night, they urgently needed a place to rest.
Yan Xi Nian leaned against the side of the truck and sighed silently.
Everyone was too exhausted to talk, sitting in silence.
Seeing their state, Xia Lu Nong refrained from disturbing them and quietly kept watch on the scenery outside.
As their truck slowly reached the main road, Xia Lu Nong noticed a shadow following behind.
“?!?” Xia Lu Nong’s eyes widened as he stared at the shadow.
The shadow grew—it was the herd of cows.
“Brother!” Xia Lu Nong quickly turned to his brother and shouted, “The cows are following us again! They’re catching up, and they’re taking a shortcut!”
The truck screeched to a halt, nearly causing everyone in the truck bed to tumble into one another.
Ba Niu was about to protest when Xiao Tang’s panicked voice came from the front, “There are cows ahead too! These cows are smart—they’re surrounding us!”
“What’s going on?!”
Yan Xi Nian stuck his head out of the truck bed and saw the cows ahead.
He grabbed the radio. “Truck one, truck two, truck three, what’s your status? Are there any cows around you?”
“Reporting to Captain Yan! Truck one is clear!”
“Reporting to Captain Yan! Truck two has no issues front or back!”
“Reporting to Captain Yan! Truck three has cows behind us, but they seem uninterested in us—they’re surrounding your position!”
Xia Lu Nong exclaimed, “I get it! There’s something in our truck that’s attracting them.”
“I think so too!” Ba Niu shouted. “Could it be the smell of honey? Are they trying to steal our honey?”
Yan Xi Nian quickly responded, “Truck one, truck two, truck three, keep moving. Head to the outskirts and avoid the mutated plants and animals! We’ll catch up with you later!”
After giving instructions, Yan Xi Nian turned to Xiao Tang, “Drive forward, avoid the cows’ encirclement, and take the side roads!”
“Got it!”
Xiao Tang was drenched in sweat, which trickled from his forehead into his eyes. His eyes stung, but he had no time to wipe them. He gripped the steering wheel tightly with his sweaty hands and pressed the gas, trying to break through the encirclement before it fully formed.
The truck shook and swayed. Luo Cong Xin, sitting beside him, was terrified but didn’t dare say anything to distract him.
Xia Lu Nong, still intently watching the situation outside, said, “Something’s wrong! The other trucks have honey too, so that doesn’t make sense.”
Xia Huo Qu spoke up, “It’s not the honey.”
“Huh?” Xia Lu Nong instinctively asked, “If it’s not the honey, why are they chasing us?”
“It’s the little pepper tree!” Xia Huo Qu said. “They’re after the tree.”
“No way!” Xia Lu Nong was shocked and looked at the small pepper tree. “That tiny tree? Each of those cows weighs one or two tons. Even if we threw the tree to them, it wouldn’t be enough for a bite!”
The little pepper tree shifted its roots and stretched out its branches, seemingly noticing the encroaching cows. Its crown trembled slightly.
Xia Lu Nong gently patted its trunk. “Could we be wrong? I don’t think the issue is with the pepper tree.”
“This is easy to check. Kong Zhi can shift into his golden eagle form and carry the pepper tree into the sky. If the cows chase them, we’ll know,” Xia Huo Qu suggested.
Kong Zhi began taking off his shirt. “I’m transforming now.”
Xia Huo Qu replied, “Sorry for the trouble.”
From the front, Xiao Tang’s strained voice called out, “Is Kong Zhi really going to transform into an eagle right now? Should I stop the truck to let him out?”
Kong Zhi coolly said, “No need, keep driving.”
With that, he jumped out of the moving truck.
Though the truck wasn’t going fast—only about 30 kilometers per hour—it still wobbled as it moved.
Kong Zhi rolled to the ground and immediately shifted into a large golden eagle. After running a few steps, he spread his wings and soared into the sky.
The cows hesitated for a moment, startled by him, but quickly resumed their charge, their heavy bodies pounding the ground like an earthquake.
Xia Lu Nong’s heart raced, feeling like it was about to leap out of his chest.
In a quick reaction, he grabbed the little pepper tree and, with his brother’s help, held it out toward the cows.
Kong Zhi flew over, extended his claws, and grabbed the pepper tree, lifting it into the air.
The herd of cows immediately noticed the little pepper tree being carried away. Some of them chased after Kong Zhi, while others, even angrier, began attacking their truck. These cows had enormous horns, and their aggressive charging was terrifying.
Ba Niu gripped his gun, ready to pull the trigger.
Yan Xi Nian shouted, “Don’t shoot! Unless it’s absolutely necessary, don’t provoke them further!”
The intelligence of these cows wasn’t low, and they were excellent at working together. If they shot and injured one of the cows, they might face relentless retaliation.
Ba Niu held onto his gun tightly but heeded the warning.
Xiao Tang had never been this tense in his life. He weaved the truck left and right, and after turning a corner, they were suddenly clear of the cows in front. However, they now faced a vast field of golden and silver honeysuckle flowers.
“Damn!” Ba Niu exclaimed, “These cows are cunning! They’ve herded us into the honeysuckle territory!”
Xiao Tang, focused solely on escaping, hadn’t realized where they were until now. Seeing the vast field of honeysuckle ahead, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He slammed on the brakes and shouted, “Captain Yan, Vice-Captain Xia, what do we do now? Do we stop here or keep going?”
The cows seemed to anticipate this. They stopped running, slowed down, and began advancing cautiously, step by step. Now, the roles of hunter and prey had reversed. The herd appeared confident and in control.
Yan Xi Nian’s face darkened. He took off his shirt, preparing to leap out of the truck and shift into his beast form to fight the cows.
Xia Lu Nong quickly grabbed him and said, “Let me try to negotiate with the honeysuckle first. You guys buy some time. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll fight the cows!”
At this close distance, they couldn’t use their rocket launchers. More and more cows were surrounding them.
Xia Lu Nong counted at least forty cows through the gaps in the herd. Even with his brother and Yan Xi Nian’s powerful beast forms, there was no way they could take on that many cows. Numbers could overwhelm even the strongest.
Xia Huo Qu said, “These wild cows are doing this on purpose. They don’t want peace; they want us dead.”
From the truck, they could now clearly see the situation in the honeysuckle field. The white bones exposed among the flowers were enough to suggest that this honeysuckle wasn’t to be trifled with.
Xia Huo Qu said, “We should abandon the truck. Yan Xi Nian and I will each carry two people and break out of here. We can leave the truck behind.”
Xia Lu Nong stopped his brother. “It won’t come to that. I think we can negotiate with the honeysuckle. If needed, I’ll use my powers to trade for their protection. Brother, just wait for me. I’ll shift into my beast form—it’ll make me stronger.”
Saying this, Xia Lu Nong opened a jar of honey and took a big gulp. The sweetness filled his mouth.
He continued, “Brother, just get me to the edge of the honeysuckle field. It’s safer there. If things don’t work out, we can abandon the truck and run.”
With so many cows outside, they would likely get injured even if they tried to escape now.
Xia Lu Nong gritted his teeth, “Let’s go for it!”
As he spoke, he transformed into a large forest cat with a gray back and white belly. He meowed at his brother.
Without hesitation, Xia Huo Qu removed his clothes, jumped to the ground, and instantly shifted into a giant white wolf.
The massive wolf gently bit the back of the forest cat’s neck and sprinted to the edge of the honeysuckle field.
As the forest cat touched the honeysuckle, it released its special power.
The honeysuckle, upon coming into contact with this energy, softened and no longer attacked like sharp blades.
“It’s working!” the forest cat thought joyfully. This was the best possible outcome.
The honeysuckle accepted them, no longer attacking, which meant they could negotiate for protection.
“Meow!” The forest cat extended its consciousness to communicate with the honeysuckle, trying to find the smartest among them to make a deal.
To his surprise, he quickly discovered that this entire field of honeysuckle was a single plant, not a cluster of many.
The forest cat was stunned. It was unbelievable!
He had never expected this outcome—it defied the laws of physics. But given the post-catastrophe world, where people could transform into beasts, past knowledge no longer applied.
Still, it was terrifying. The fact that this entire honeysuckle field was one plant explained its immense power, enough to keep even the cows at bay.
Normally, honeysuckle would be part of the cows’ diet. But now, it felt like the honeysuckle could prey on the cows, which explained the cow bones scattered among the flowers.
After recovering from the shock, the forest cat quickly began communicating with the honeysuckle. In some ways, communicating with a single plant was easier than with a group, since there was only one consciousness to persuade.
Compared to animals, plants were often more gentle and friendly, especially when interacting with someone with plant-based powers like the forest cat.
Still, the forest cat was nervous. His consciousness reached out, explaining their current predicament to the honeysuckle, especially conveying his anxiety, fear, and desire for cooperation.
Typically, plants couldn’t communicate clearly, lacking a structured language to express every word. So the forest cat didn’t use precise logic, focusing instead on conveying emotions.
To his surprise, the honeysuckle responded clearly: “You mean you offended this herd of wild cows last night, and now they want to kill you?”
“Yes, we have a small pepper tree in our group. Last night, the wild cows wanted to eat the little pepper tree, but we didn’t let them. The cows held a grudge and have been attacking us ever since,” Xia the cat explained. “Can you shelter us? In exchange, I can transfer some of my planting ability to you, which is quite useful.”
As Xia the cat finished speaking, he suddenly realized he wasn’t just communicating emotions with the honeysuckle but actual words! The honeysuckle could speak!
Thanks for the chapter! Fascinating, a talking flower.