Chapter 157: Re-Discovery
Xia Lu Nong dreamed of a valley.
In the middle of the valley was a large pit.
Inside the pit lay a huge stone, surrounded by fragments of rock that had been blown away.
He recognized it immediately—the site of a meteorite impact.
One of the sources of the great disaster.
He woke in a cold sweat, still half-dreaming.
No wonder the dream had felt so important.
A disaster of this magnitude couldn’t be anything but crucial.
He immediately tried to open his eyes.
But his eyelids felt as heavy as lead, impossible to lift.
His eyes moved rapidly beneath his lids, and he couldn’t move his hands.
Kong Zhi, who was watching over him, noticed his movements right away. He gently tapped him and called out softly, “Xiao Nong?”
Xia Lu Nong, trapped in the dream, faintly heard the call, but he was so deeply stuck in the dream that he couldn’t break free. Even though he heard Kong Zhi’s voice, it felt like it was coming from the sky.
There were roads in every direction, but the sky seemed impossibly far away, and he couldn’t ascend into the air just like that.
In his hazy state, Xia Lu Nong realized that he was trapped inside a dream.
He anxiously paced around in circles within the dream.
After a long time of thinking with no solution, he suddenly noticed the plants in front of him and remembered that he had seeds in his pocket.
He quickly took out the seeds and urged them to grow.
The seeds sprouted into a towering vine, and he climbed up the giant vine toward the sky.
As he climbed higher, he looked down and saw mountains in all directions, the giant rock and wild grass in the valley, and even a herd of wild buffalo in the distance.
He tried to memorize the terrain below, but as soon as he realized this, he was abruptly pulled out of the dream and woke up.
When he awoke, he found that only a dim light was on in the vehicle, and Kong Zhi was sitting nearby, looking at him with concern.
Xia Lu Nong took a deep breath, trying to shake off the feeling of being trapped in the dream, only to realize that his back was covered in a fine layer of sweat.
Kong Zhi helped him sit up and brought over some tea to offer him. “Another dream?”
Xia Lu Nong raised his hand to decline the tea and quickly glanced to the side.
Before falling asleep, he had left some paper and a pen by the bed!
Without a word, Xia Lu Nong grabbed the paper and pen and began to sketch out what he had seen in the dream.
In just over a minute, he felt the details of the dream rapidly slipping from his mind.
As he finished sketching the giant pit, the meteorite, and the buffalo on the mountainside, the rest of his memory had already faded, and he couldn’t recall anything more from the dream.
He looked at Kong Zhi blankly.
Kong Zhi met his gaze, then glanced at the abstract drawings Xia Lu Nong had made. After handing him some water, he asked, “What’s this?”
“A giant pit, a meteorite, and buffalo on the mountain,” Xia Lu Nong said, labeling the drawing with sweaty hands. His grip on the pen was slippery, and the pen kept shifting upward as he wrote.
Kong Zhi waited until he had finished labeling, then pulled out a handkerchief to dry Xia Lu Nong’s sweaty hands. “Is that all you saw?”
“I think so,” Xia Lu Nong replied. “Now I only remember the awe I felt in the dream.”
Kong Zhi patted his shoulder. “I’ll get some water to wipe you down. Tomorrow, after we wake up, we’ll look for it. Maybe we’ll find it quickly.”
“I think it’ll be tough,” Xia Lu Nong said, looking at the rough sketch he had drawn. “I wish I could remember more.”
“I’ll take you up into the sky to search,” Kong Zhi said. “This drawing is pretty clear. Once we’re up there, we should be able to spot it.”
“Alright,” Xia Lu Nong agreed, staring at his sketch. “I just don’t know what the meteorite is for. Why do I keep dreaming about it?”
“We’ll find out once we bring it back for study, though meteorites are usually radioactive, so we’ll need to be cautious.”
At this, Xia Lu Nong wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I almost forgot. We don’t have any radiation protection materials right now. Let’s find the place first and then see if the scientists at White Tower can figure something out.”
As Xia Lu Nong finished speaking, an overwhelming drowsiness overtook him. Tugging on Kong Zhi’s sleeve, he said, “Stay with me while I sleep. In the dream, I couldn’t find you, and I was so anxious I broke out in a sweat.”
Kong Zhi, of course, complied. “I’ll put the handkerchief away first.”
He quickly returned to lie down beside him.
The two of them lay on a simple bed made by pulling together chairs.
Xia Lu Nong curled into Kong Zhi’s arms, pressing close to him to feel his warmth, which gave him a sense of security. Only then did he fall soundly asleep.
The next morning, before breakfast, the four of them held a brief meeting inside the vehicle.
Xia Lu Nong took out his drawing to show his brother. “This is what I dreamed of last night. I saw a meteorite. It might be useful to us, and I feel like we should try to find it.”
“A meteorite?” Xia Huo Qu took the drawing and examined it closely. “This place looks unfamiliar. We haven’t come across any meteorites before.”
Xia Lu Nong said, “We might need to search places we haven’t explored yet. I don’t think it’s far from here.”
Yan Xi Nian added, “There’s no shortage of mountains around here—layers upon layers of them. If we’re going to look, we’ll need Kong Zhi to take the lead.”
“That’s what I was thinking too,” Xia Lu Nong said. “Brother Xi Nian, should we go search?”
“Of course we should,” Yan Xi Nian replied. “You’ve already dreamt about it, so we can’t let this opportunity go to waste. Let’s start searching today. But for now, keep this under wraps—only the four of us should know about it. Don’t tell anyone else.”
Xia Lu Nong nodded.
With Kong Zhi’s ability to fly, they had a natural advantage, and keeping it a secret would be easy.
Xia Lu Nong added, “I just don’t know if the meteorite is radioactive. Could it be dangerous?”
“We’ll deal with that once we find it,” Yan Xi Nian said. “Maybe we can use plants to approach it and try to cut it open carefully.”
Xia Lu Nong hadn’t thought of that before.
His eyes lit up. “That makes sense. If we can cut it, we can store it in a space bamboo container. The space inside those containers is strange, so it should be able to block radiation.”
Yan Xi Nian thought for a moment. “It seems like we’re fully equipped to collect this meteorite. It almost feels like fate.”
“We’ll see about that later,” Xia Huo Qu said. “First, let’s find it. I don’t think it’ll be easy. Our base members have been scavenging for supplies for ages, and we haven’t heard a word about a meteorite. It’s probably well hidden.”
Kong Zhi said, “Starting today, I’ll do more flying. You guys drive around on the ground while I fly above.”
Xia Lu Nong raised his hand. “I’ll go too. I can shift into my animal form and fly with Kong Zhi.”
Xia Huo Qu nodded. “That works. Just be careful. Once you find it, don’t approach recklessly—we’ll figure it out together.”
After a brief discussion, they went downstairs for breakfast.
Old Liu and the others were cooking. Seeing them come down, Old Liu jokingly called out, “Did you all oversleep today?”
Xia Lu Nong shook his head. He couldn’t reveal the truth, so he remained silent.
Fortunately, Old Liu and the others didn’t press for details, allowing the matter to pass smoothly.
After breakfast, they continued their journey toward N University.
Kong Zhi and Xia Lu Nong shifted into their animal forms, flying high above and away from the convoy.
Old Liu and Ban Niu were puzzled, but Xia Huo Qu simply said they were checking the surrounding area.
Sensing something unusual, Old Liu and Ban Niu stopped asking questions.
The weather was cold, and flying at such altitudes made it even colder than on the ground.
Fortunately, Xia the cat had thick, soft fur, enough to shield him from most of the cold, while Kong, the golden eagle, was covered in dense feathers, keeping him warm as well.
From high above, they looked down.
Below them was a mix of dark green, withered yellow, and patches of lingering snow—representing green trees, dead trees, and the remnants of snow.
Xia the cat focused on searching for the valley and the large hollow from his memory, but to no avail.
Every day, they flew high, looking for the meteorite, but by the time they reached N University, they still hadn’t found it.
Once at N University, they had to pause their search to gather materials.
N University was just a college with limited space and resources, and since they had already been there once, finding something new this time would be even more challenging.
Their two main goals at N University were to inquire about the local situation from a honeysuckle plant at the entrance and to check the library for maps and information.
Honeysuckle is an evergreen plant.
The honeysuckle in the backyard of Xia Lu Nong’s home was thriving.
But the honeysuckle at N University was in much worse condition than expected.
It had actually withered!
From a distance, the entire honeysuckle bush looked no different from dry grass. Even as their convoy approached, the plant showed no particular response.
Xia Lu Nong was shocked.
It had only been a few months—how had things gotten this bad?!
“Hey!” Xia Lu Nong stopped in front of the withered honeysuckle vines and waved, calling out.
Before they had left, he had checked the honeysuckle at the base of the mountain near their base—it had no consciousness and behaved just like an ordinary plant.
The honeysuckle’s consciousness should still be in its original form!
For a moment, the honeysuckle gave no response to Xia Lu Nong.
Getting no reply, Xia Lu Nong turned to his brother and the others, saying, “I need to go in and take a closer look. Can you wait for me here?”
“Alright, be careful,” Xia Huo Qu said. “We’ll be right outside and will back you up if anything happens.”
Xia Lu Nong gave a thumbs-up, signaling all was well, and pulled Kong Zhi along. “I’m going with Kong Zhi.”
Xia Huo Qu nodded, feeling slightly more at ease.
Xia Lu Nong and Kong Zhi carefully walked through the withered honeysuckle vines, moving slowly toward its center.
When they reached the main branch, Xia Lu Nong saw that a few vines near the roots were still green.
He placed his hand gently on the dark green vine and infused it with his powers.
His energy awakened the honeysuckle.
After a moment, the honeysuckle seemed to recognize him and communicated through its consciousness, “It’s you?”
“What happened to you?” Xia Lu Nong looked around at the withered vines, feeling heavy-hearted. “Weren’t you doing fine back in the summer?”
“As expected,” the honeysuckle replied. “My roots have rotted. I cut off most of them myself because I couldn’t sustain so many vines. So I just let most of them die.”
Xia Lu Nong still felt sad. “I see. I was wondering what had happened. When spring comes, with plenty of sunshine, rain, and warmth, will you be able to regrow?”
“Maybe,” the honeysuckle said with a carefree tone, even laughing. “What’s left of my roots is infected. I don’t know if I’ll beat the infection or if it’ll get the better of me. If I win, I should be able to grow again.”
Hearing this, Xia Lu Nong sighed. “Let me give you more of my energy. You’ll get better.”
Without waiting for it to refuse, Xia Lu Nong channeled most of his energy into the honeysuckle.
His powers could shift depending on his intentions, and he focused them on helping the honeysuckle fight off the infection.
As his energy flowed in, the main stem of the honeysuckle rapidly turned green.
“Thank you,” the honeysuckle said.
Xia Lu Nong withdrew his hand, feeling his legs grow weak.
Kong Zhi quickly stepped forward, supporting him by the arm.
“You’re welcome,” Xia Lu Nong replied to the honeysuckle. “I sincerely hope you’ll recover.”
“I feel like I can,” the honeysuckle responded. “Even if I don’t fully recover, your energy has nourished my spirit. I can gather strength to be reborn from another part of my body.”
“Speaking of that, we planted another part of you at the base of the mountain, on a vast plain.”
“I can feel it,” the honeysuckle said with a laugh. “The soil there is rich, with plenty of rain and sunshine. It’s growing well. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me.”
They chatted for a while.
Xia Lu Nong then asked the honeysuckle about the meteorite.
Although plants can’t speak, they have their own ways of receiving information, such as through chemical signals in the air.
Since the honeysuckle was rooted here, it received quite a bit of information daily.
The honeysuckle thought for a long time and finally said, “No, I haven’t heard of anything like a meteorite or a large pit. Maybe it’s too far from me, and we can’t get that kind of news.”
This answer wasn’t unexpected, but Xia Lu Nong still sighed in disappointment.
The honeysuckle added, “If you want to know more, you could try asking more plants along the way.”
“I’ve tried,” Xia Lu Nong said. “On our journey here, I’ve asked many plants. But plants without consciousness can’t retain such complex information, so I haven’t learned much. We even asked the birds flying overhead, but they didn’t know anything either.”
The honeysuckle thought for a moment and said, “Do you need a map? You can use it to pinpoint relevant locations.”
“Yes,” Xia Lu Nong nodded. “We came to you to ask for a map of N City. We’re trying to find special metals and materials and could use your help.”
The city was vast, and if it were before the disaster, they would simply use a map search function to reach their destination.
But now, with satellites practically useless, the internet entirely down, and the city turned to ruins from multiple earthquakes, not to mention the dangers of snakes, insects, rats, and other creatures, it was a different story.
If they tried to search on foot, it would take three to five years before they found anything.
At a critical time like this, asking the honeysuckle, a “local expert,” was their best bet.
The honeysuckle didn’t disappoint. “Start by finding a map. The library has physical indoor maps. Once you have one, I can mark the locations for you.”
With most of its vines dead, the honeysuckle could no longer help them retrieve the maps directly. This task fell to them to do manually.
Luckily, with the locations provided by the honeysuckle, they quickly found the map.
The honeysuckle wasted no time and marked the locations of several factories and laboratories from memory.
It also told Xia Lu Nong, “In Shangyan District, there’s a heavily mutated rose bush with its own consciousness. I don’t know if it’s still alive, but when you’re over there, you can try to find it.”
Xia Lu Nong put away the map and nodded solemnly. “We will. Be careful.”
“Take care!”
