Chapter 18: The Big Shot with Plant-Type Powers
The man frowned, feeling that all his effort had been wasted. He had thought he might obtain another crystal core, but who knew it would turn out to be a person.
Mo Qi turned to leave, but at that exact moment the person lying on the ground woke up. He grabbed Mo Qi’s pant leg and begged, “Please… save me!”
Hearing that, and seeing the person on the ground who looked like a bloody gourd with a head full of multicolored hair, Mo Qi’s first reaction was:
Ugly. Rejected!
He really had no idea what was wrong with this person—or what was going on with the colors on his head. Had a rainbow caterpillar turned into a human?
In the cultivation world, strength had always been supreme. From another perspective, cultivators were colder and more indifferent than ordinary people, and far more detached about life and death.
So Mo Qi wouldn’t just save someone simply because he happened to see them begging for help on the road.
But perhaps the person on the ground had an especially strong will to survive—because he stubbornly refused to let go of Mo Qi’s pant leg.
And judging from his movements, his injuries didn’t seem as severe as they looked.
The man scrambled up, wiping the blood from his face, and said to Mo Qi, “Please, brother, help me out!
“My leg is injured. I just accidentally fell down. I—I have a plant-type ability! I can grow fruit!”
Hearing that, Mo Qi didn’t leave immediately this time.
He had heard of plant-type abilities before, though he had never seen one.
If this person could stimulate plants to grow, then bringing him along would be like having a mobile fruit and vegetable stand in the apocalypse. That would actually be quite useful.
But soon Mo Qi realized that the man’s desperate plea for help wasn’t only because of his injury. Before long, two zombies appeared in the distance, chasing after them.
Interestingly, these two zombies shared a tiny bit in common with the person on the ground—their hair colors were equally… creative.
One had green hair.
One had blue hair.
And together with the rainbow-haired guy on the ground, they looked like the three brothers of some bizarre punk clan.
Perhaps those two zombies appearing here even had something to do with this guy.
The person on the ground noticed Mo Qi’s gaze. When he saw the two zombies, a flash of grief crossed his eyes.
“They’re… good brothers I met while escaping a few days ago,” he said. “We got along really well. We even said we’d conquer the apocalypse together.
“But yesterday we unfortunately ran into a zombie horde… and they were bitten.”
As he spoke, he wiped the blood off his face again. Only then did Mo Qi notice that the person looked quite young—no more than sixteen or seventeen, just a half-grown kid.
If things had happened exactly as he described, those two zombies shouldn’t have been able to track him here.
So the more likely scenario was that after they were bitten, this young man still refused to abandon them.
But no matter how unwilling he was, tragedy still occurred. Once the zombie virus spread, it inevitably stole away their reason.
Only then did the rainbow-haired youth have no choice but to abandon them and run away—injuring himself along the way.
Having guessed the situation, when the two zombies lunged toward them, Mo Qi raised his hand and sucked the demonic energy out of their bodies from afar, causing them to collapse again as ordinary corpses.
“What just happened?”
Rainbow Hair stared in shock at the scene before him. The man in front of him seemed to know magic—he merely waved his hand and the zombies stopped moving.
“What kind of ability is that? That’s amazing!” the boy exclaimed.
Seeing his reaction, Mo Qi curled his lips slightly.
“You seem pretty energetic now.”
Hearing that, Rainbow Hair scratched his head and glanced at the two zombie corpses on the ground, looking like he might cry.
But just as tears were about to fall, Mo Qi impatiently said, “Hold it in.”
And the boy immediately forced his tears back, purely by reflex.
His brothers had died, and he wasn’t even allowed to cry…
Rainbow Hair pouted and shot Mo Qi a resentful look. Still, he knew this man had saved him, so he hurriedly said gratefully:
“Brother, thank you for saving me!
“My injuries really aren’t serious. I just tripped earlier and hit my face—it still hurts a lot.
“Oh right, my name is Cheng Cheng. What’s your name, brother? That move just now was so cool! Um… can I follow you?”
His words came out one after another like a machine gun. Clearly he was a chatterbox by nature.
Mo Qi repeated his name, and after the youth nodded, he looked him over again.
“You said earlier that you have a plant-type ability.”
Cheng Cheng immediately nodded vigorously. He pulled out a tiny unknown seed from his pocket and began trying to stimulate it.
Unfortunately, despite using a lot of effort, he only managed to grow two small leaves.
When he looked up and noticed the man’s somewhat disgusted expression, Cheng Cheng broke into a sweat.
Anxious to prove himself, he tried harder again and finally produced a small yellow fruit.
“Brother, brother! Look! I grew a fruit! Try it—it’s a specialty from my hometown. It’s called guniang, and it’s super sweet!” Cheng Cheng said proudly.
“Guniang? What a strange name,” Mo Qi said.
He took the small golden fruit and popped it into his mouth.
It was crisp, sweet, and carried a faint fragrance.
Not bad at all.
After eating it, Mo Qi smacked his lips, feeling slightly unsatisfied.
“You can only make one of these?”
If it took so much effort to produce such a tiny amount, this person didn’t seem particularly useful. It might be better to leave him here.
Cheng Cheng seemed to read Mo Qi’s thoughts from his expression and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Normally he could grow quite a lot.
But he had been running for a long time earlier. In order to stop the zombies, he had already used a lot of his ability to grow vines to block them.
So now his body was basically completely drained of power.
Still, since his newly acknowledged big brother had asked, he had to perform well. Otherwise, being left alone in the terrifying apocalypse would be far too dangerous.
So Cheng Cheng forced himself to try again. Finally, he managed to grow five or six more small fruits, which he handed to Mo Qi.
“Brother, here you go!
“I’m just not in great condition right now. Once my ability fully recovers, I’ll grow fruit for you every day!”
He smiled ingratiatingly.
Mo Qi nodded. If that were the case, saving him hadn’t been a waste.
After all, rescuing someone with a plant-type ability was actually quite useful. With him around, they would have fresh fruits and vegetables every day.
Mo Xiu would definitely be happy too.
Just as Mo Qi was thinking this, he heard footsteps approaching from afar.
However, he wasn’t nervous at all.
The sound—and the familiar aura—had already told him who it was.
Turning his head, he saw a familiar face. The young man’s expression was full of anxiety.
“Mo Xiu, you’re here!” Mo Qi waved with a smile.
Mo Xiu didn’t respond immediately. He rushed straight to him and carefully checked him over, only relaxing when he confirmed Mo Qi wasn’t injured.
Only then did he notice Cheng Cheng sitting on the ground in a miserable state.
“Who’s this?” Mo Xiu asked, scrutinizing him.
Seeing how close the two men seemed, Cheng Cheng guessed this must be his new big brother’s friend.
Scratching his head, he politely said, “Hello… my name is Cheng Cheng.”
“Cheng Cheng?”
Mo Xiu froze for a moment.
If he remembered correctly, in his previous life there had been an extremely powerful plant-type ability user with the same name.
Soon he noticed the two zombie corpses on the ground and frowned.
“What happened here?”
Cheng Cheng followed his gaze. When he saw the two brothers he had only known for a few days lying there dead with unclosed eyes, he nearly burst into tears again.
His apocalyptic ambitions, his brotherhood, his dreams of conquering the world—all ended before they even began.
Looking at the boy with two nosebleeds running down his face, crying miserably and looking ridiculous, Mo Xiu began to wonder if he had remembered wrong.
Could the powerful plant-type boss who would rise two years later really be this immature punk kid who hadn’t even grown up yet?
But soon Mo Qi spoke up.
“Mo Xiu… he says… he’s a plant-type ability user.”
Mo Qi’s speech sounded like someone talking at half speed, occasionally even stuttering, but Mo Xiu had always been extremely patient with him.
“A plant-type ability user?”
Now the ability matched as well. It seemed highly likely that this Cheng Cheng was indeed the same person as the future powerhouse.
He just hadn’t expected him to look so young right now.
“Mo Xiu… fruit.”
Mo Qi had only eaten the first guniang fruit Cheng Cheng produced. After finding it tasty, he saved the rest for Mo Xiu.
“Oh, I haven’t had this in a long time.”
Mo Xiu looked pleasantly surprised and immediately popped one into his mouth.
Seeing Mo Qi staring at him expectantly, he smiled and rubbed his head.
“You saved these especially for me?”
“Mm!” Mo Qi nodded.
Hearing that, Mo Xiu’s smile widened.
Being sincerely remembered by someone like this actually felt quite nice.
He ate two more fruits before stopping, feeding the rest to Mo Qi instead.
Cheng Cheng, who was still sitting on the ground, watched the interaction between the two and felt something was… strange.
But he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
His injured leg still hurt, and although the wound on his face was minor—at worst it would leave a scar—night was approaching.
They couldn’t just stay in this forest forever. It was far too dangerous.
After hesitating for a moment, Cheng Cheng finally spoke up.
“Um… big brothers… are you done talking?”
Mo Qi shot him an unhappy glance for interrupting before turning to Mo Xiu.
“So… what do you think? Should we take him back?”
He personally thought having a plant-type ability user around could be useful.
But if Mo Xiu didn’t like him, then forget it.
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