165 Enchanted Forest
After successfully breaking through to the second stage, Li Dao’ai slept for two full days. Everyone was eagerly awaiting his awakening, eager to witness his newfound abilities. When he finally woke up, he immediately jumped out of bed, feeling the powerful earth energy within his body, his eyes filled with uncontrollable excitement.
Huo Bai exclaimed, “Commander, show us what you’ve got!”
Li Dao’ai focused on his hands. His long and sturdy hands suddenly transformed into large, black soil palms. He clenched his fist, and soil debris fell off it. His hand looked robust and formidable. If Li Dao’ai fully elementalized his entire body, he would probably be like a stone giant from a movie, a body composed entirely of earth and stones, indestructible.
Huo Bai and Zhao Zixiang looked at him with admiration. “Commander! Elementalization, true elementalization!”
Li Dao’ai smiled contentedly. “Very good.”
Tang Tingzhi clapped his hands like a robot. “Congratulations.”
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Fbyd Ykdt aszzle bkp lulp. “Rp kv vss xwnb vs ypj qsa y xsal fsuqwz lmralppksd obld nsdtayvwzyvkdt psxlsdl?”
Mydt Mkdtgbk zssjle yv bkx nsdqwplezu yde qsanle y pvkqq pxkzl. “Nkjl vbkp?”
Gz vlyple bkx yde ryvvle bkp pbswzela. “Mbyv’p aktbv.”
Nkw Wldtuw pvasjle bkp nbkd. “Zsw jdso, uswa yckzkvu nsxrzlxldvp xkdl iwkvl olzz.”
Nk Pys’yk nbwnjzle. “Slyzzu? Tso eslp kv nsxrzlxldv?”
Nkw Wldtuw pdyrrle bkp qkdtlap, yde pweeldzu y pxyzz nzwpvla sq caktbv ale qzsolap czssxle sd Nk Pys’yk’p byde, lxkvvkdt y rwdtldv pxlzz. Nk Pys’yk rkdnble vbl rzwxr rlvyzp. “Zsw nyd xyjl qzsolap czssx sd ydu pskz?”
“Zlp, nwaaldvzu okvbkd y aydtl sq 23 xlvlap, R nyd nshla usw kd qzsolap.”
Nk Pys’yk pbssj bkp blye. “Lsv dlnlppyakzu.”
“What do you mean?”
With a flick of his hand, the original black soil turned into brown sand and gravel. “Now try again.”
Liu Fengyu frowned. “So it can’t bloom on sand…”
Zhuang Yao scoffed, “The ‘Corpse King Flower’ is a rainforest organism, how could it bloom on sand? It’s not a cactus.”
Huo Bai laughed, “Our team leader of the Sixth Team is a cactus though.”
Li Dao’ai said, “Apart from sand, there are many types of soil in which rainforest organisms cannot bloom, such as acidic soil, saline-alkali soil, chemical soil, and so on.”
“You need something to assist with those, right?”
“Yes.” Li Dao’ai took out a box from his pocket. “There are various chemical compounds in here, provided by Professor Cong. When using it, just take a little and it can change the soil texture. Since sand belongs to natural soil, I don’t need any assistance for it.”
Liu Fengyu smiled, “I guess there will be times when we need to coordinate.”
Li Dao’ai nodded, “Absolutely.”
“By the way, I’ve always wanted to try this.” Liu Fengyu said excitedly, “Give me a piece of soil ball.”
Li Dao’ai casually tossed him a soil ball about the size of a volleyball. Liu Fengyu threw the soil ball into the air. Before it could land, two half-meter-long petals suddenly grew out of the black soil. The petals were much thinner than the ones manifested by Liu Fengyu himself, resembling two butterfly wings, long and soft. Immediately after, those two petals actually acted like wings, carrying the soil ball and flying into the air.
“Hahaha, it really works! So much fun!” Liu Fengyu nudged Tang Yanqiu with his elbow, “Hey, look, does this black and winged thing look like you? Hahaha.”
Tang Yanqiu blushed, “Nonsense.”
Li Dao’ai raised an eyebrow, “It’s interesting, but I think you probably can’t carry my weight.”
Liu Fengyu smiled, “Definitely can’t, but I can practice.”
Li Dao’ai extended his hand towards him and said gracefully, “I hope we can cooperate well in the future.”
Liu Fengyu also shook his hand in a suave manner, “Cooperate well.”
As their hands met, a row of small petals suddenly bloomed on Li Dao’ai’s hand. Liu Fengyu seemed to be addicted to the fun and couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Li Dao’ai also smiled faintly and didn’t take it to heart.
Tang Yanqiu looked at the two clasped hands and his expression changed slightly. He turned his head away, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Deng Xiao bounced over to Li Dao’ai like a monkey and said excitedly, “Big Brother Policeman, can you make a ball for me?”
“What?” Li Dao’ai was confused.
“A ball, a soil ball for Abu to play with. Make it bigger. The pinecone is not round enough and can’t roll properly.”
Li Dao’ai smiled wryly, “Okay.”
Li Dao’ai really rolled up half a ton of soil from the ground and made a one-meter-tall black soil ball. He compressed it tightly to prevent it from falling apart, and then tossed it to Abu. Abu grabbed the soil ball and rolled all over the place. Deng Xiaoxiao grabbed Abu’s tail and flew like a kite, filling the forest with his carefree laughter.
Not long after Li Dao’ai woke up, probably seeing that they hadn’t left and that the Devil Pine had returned, it opened its mouth and asked for a bunch of food, both for people and for the cat. It even requested that Commander Zhang dig an underground water circulation system pool near its main body.
This left Commander Zhang in a dilemma. After the apocalypse, many talented individuals who were useful in the civilized era, as long as they didn’t possess mutant abilities or talents necessary for survival, almost all became useless people, living in extreme poverty at the bottom. The pastry chef alone took him a lot of effort to find, and now he was asked to find someone who could build a swimming pool, and he needed to gather many materials. It deliberately added to his workload, but he couldn’t refuse.
Seeing him in distress, Tang Yanqiu said, “If there’s anything you can’t find, just let me know. We can have it shipped from Beijing. It’s just a tree, it only needs to eat and drink, not much stuff. As long as it doesn’t cause trouble, we’ll try to meet all its requests.”
Commander Zhang nodded, “I understand,” then sighed and went on with his busy work.
Cong Xia not only sympathized with Commander Zhang but also understood his situation. In the civilized era, he was a military district commander with the rank of major general. After the apocalypse, many of his soldiers suffered heavy casualties in the fight against mutant organisms, and now he barely had the strength of a regiment and was severely lacking in equipment. In fact, he was almost a figurehead. However, since the Devil Pine took root in the Xiaoxing’an Mountains, the mutant organisms in this area had been restrained due to its presence, and they were not as rampant as before. Although nearby residents were forced to relocate, the situation in this area had stabilized somewhat. Regardless, they would serve the Devil Pine well, even if it was just for the puppet jade.
The Devil Pine sat on its root, looking at Cong Xia, and asked, “When are you leaving? When will you deliver my house?”
“We will probably leave in about three months. Resources are scarce now, and every operation needs to maximize profits. We can’t just go wherever we want. Even using transport planes requires approval from above. So, please be patient and wait a little longer.”
The Devil Pine sneered, “If it wasn’t too far away, I would just go and get it myself. No need for your lousy plane.”
Cong Xia laughed awkwardly, “We will definitely deliver it to you. We’re ready to set off soon.”
The Devil Pine looked around, “By the way, where’s that cat of yours?”
“It’s sleeping at the back.”
“Does it understand human speech? Call it over.”
“Huh?”
“I want to know why it keeps meowing.” The Devil Pine took out the little black cat from its pocket and said with annoyance, “It’s so annoying, and I haven’t even starved it.”
Cong Xia helplessly turned and called, “Abu, Abu, come here.”
In no time, Abu ran over from the back of the camp. When it reached them, it stretched its body and yawned.
Zhuang Yao patted Abu, “Ask the cat why it keeps meowing.”
Abu blinked and meowed twice towards the little milk cat, which responded with soft meows.
After receiving the information from Abu’s brainwaves and combining it, Zhuang Yao answered, “This cat is only three months old, and your energy fluctuations are too strong. There are also many large mutant animals around, so it’s scared. It’s best if you hold it in human form 24 hours a day; otherwise, it can only express its fear through meowing.”
“Tsk, so troublesome.”
“Not really. Can’t you transform into many forms? Just let it stay in the arms of your human form.”
The Devil Pine stuffed the little milk cat back into its pocket, “Got it. By the way, where’s the bed I slept on last time? I want to take it with me.”
“Oh, it’s still here. It’s in the tent. Let’s take it out now.” Cong Xia quickly grabbed a soldier, “Comrade, can you and a few others quickly dismantle the bed?”
“Why bother to dismantle it? It’s too troublesome,” the Devil Pine said. Suddenly, the military tent lifted off the ground, and several thick tree roots twisted like braids, holding the entire tent and its contents in mid-air. The Devil Pine glanced at them and said, “How long are you going to stay here?”
Cong Xia felt embarrassed and replied, “Just a few more days, almost done.”
The Devil Pine rolled its eyes, “Get going if there’s nothing else. It keeps making me uneasy.” With that, it packed up the tent and left.
After sending away the pine tree, Cong Xia let out a sigh. He looked at Tang Tingzhi and asked, “Colonel, is there still no news from Beijing?”
“They are attempting to connect the communication signal at the fixed contact time. The weather is not great today, so the signal is unstable.”
They waited for over half an hour and finally managed to establish contact with Beijing. However, the line was filled with noise, making it almost impossible to hear what Cong Zhenzhong was saying. In the end, they decided to communicate via telegraph.
After a while, they received a telegram from Cong Zhenzhong. It said: “Russia and Israel are inducing a large number of mutant species into Qinghai using Puppet Jade. Among them is a Natural Power Evolver. Russia has gathered extensive data on Natural Power Evolvers and is particularly interested in your case.”
Cheng Tianbi glanced at the telegram and furrowed his brow slightly.
Cong Xia was surprised, “A Natural Power Evolver like you? Why are they particularly interested in you? Could there be any special changes when two people with the same attribute come together?”
Zhuang Yao murmured, “It seems like they know something we don’t. It shouldn’t be the case. According to our investigation, China has the highest number of mutants, including Natural Power Evolvers. Their knowledge about Natural Power Evolvers should not be more comprehensive than ours.”
Tang Tingzhi said, “Perhaps they have other means. We don’t know how many Natural Power Evolvers there are in total. Based on what we currently know, there are already eight of them—six in China, one in Russia, and one in the United States, who is a Metal Manipulation Evolver. Assuming that each element has one Evolver with its own primary element and one with a derived element, there should be at least ten Natural Power Evolvers.”
Cong Xia pondered for a moment, “So, you mean each element has one Evolver who can control its primary element and another who can control a derived element. Let me see if I got it right. The Metal element has the person from the United States and Zhou Fenglan; the Wood element has the person from Russia and Tianbi; the Water element has Yao Qianjiang and Wu Yu; the Fire element has Shen Changze, and the Earth element has Officer Li. So, we’re still missing Evolvers who can control Fire and Earth’s derived elements.”
Zhuang Yao nodded, “Exactly. At least two are yet to appear. Maybe they are in some unknown corner of the world, or they haven’t evolved yet. This kind of cautious arrangement hides some frightening coincidences, thanks to the power of the Cambrian consciousness, which is even more terrifying than we imagine. All these arrangements hold some unsettling secrets.”
Cheng Tianbi added, “To find out what happens when two Evolvers with the same attribute are together, we just need to arrange a meeting between Yao Qianjiang and Wu Yu. I’m curious as well.”
Zhuang Yao’s eyes also showed excitement, “When we go to Qinghai, we must bring Yao Qianjiang along. While passing through Chongqing, we can arrange for them to meet. Perhaps an extremely powerful combination will emerge.”
Tang Tingzhi smiled and said, “The second telegram has arrived.” He picked it up and read, “Professor Cong asks us to send someone to a nearby Russian city to gather information about the Natural Power Evolver and the mutation situation there, and then return to Beijing.”
Cheng Tianbi immediately said, “I’ll go.”
Cong Xia opened his mouth, about to say, “I’ll go too,” but he hesitated. He felt that sneaking around might not be suitable for him, as it could cause trouble for Cheng Tianbi.
Zhuang Yao said, “You can go. We’re not asking you to steal information from places like the National Academy of Sciences. We want you to gather information from the public. Both of you can go together, and we’ll be more assured. I suspect those two Russians probably entered from the border. Otherwise, Moscow is too far from here, and it wouldn’t make sense for them to come all the way here for the Puppet Jade. Going from Moscow to Qinghai is much closer. Although the China-Russia border is long, most of it is a frozen wasteland and not suitable for exploration. So, you should go to Manzhouli. Perhaps you’ll find something useful there, and if not, you won’t waste much time. In any case, don’t go too far, and Zhao Zixiang will fly you there. You must return within three days.”
Cong Xia was delighted and said, “Great, Tianbi, I’ll go with you.”
Cheng Tianbi nodded, “Okay, let’s leave now. Manzhouli is a few hundred kilometers from here.”
Zhao Zixiang said, “Don’t worry, I can fly very fast.”
Tang Tingzhi added, “Wait, I’ll have someone find two suitable sets of clothes for you.”
Half an hour later, the two of them changed into slightly worn-out sportswear, wore baseball caps and hoods, smeared mud on their faces, making them look similar to ordinary people who lived outdoors. In the apocalypse, nobody would bother to observe others. Most people were only concerned about food.
Zhao Zixiang transformed into a giant bald eagle and hopped in front of them. “Hold onto my feathers. You might feel a bit uncomfortable on your first ride, but I’ll try to fly smoothly. Just don’t yell, I can’t stand people making noise on my back.” He said this specifically to Cong Xia, probably because Cong Xia, despite having many abilities, still appeared thin and weak, at least possessing the strength of an intermediate-level mutant.
Cong Xia blushed, “Brother, you underestimate me. I won’t yell.”
Zhao Zixiang laughed, but with his hard beak, he couldn’t show a smile and looked somewhat strange. He said, “Hop on.”
The two climbed onto his back, and Tang Tingzhi tossed a backpack to Cong Xia, “Maps, compass, dry food, basic Russian phrases, and other things you might need are all in there.”
As soon as Cong Xia put on the backpack, he felt his body lighten, and then Zhao Zixiang flew up with them. Cong Xia couldn’t help but say, “Wow,” but quickly closed his mouth.
In the blink of an eye， they suddenly flew up dozens of meters high. Cong Xia’s eyes widened as he looked down. The camp and the people gazing up at them instantly became tiny. They swayed in the air, turning left and right, and the wind blew against his face. He shivered and clung to Zhao Zixiang’s feathers tightly. He couldn’t pretend not to be afraid; he had never flown in the sky like this before!
Cheng Tianbi hugged his waist and whispered, “It’s okay, we won’t fall.”
Trembling, Cong Xia said, “Yeah, we probably won’t fall…”
Zhao Zixiang mumbled, “Of course, you won’t fall.”
They had just flown out of the forest under the feet of the Divil Pine. The forest was terrifyingly mutated, with most trees towering over a hundred meters and growing denser as they extended higher. When they flew above the forest, everything below, including the camp and the people, was swallowed up by the sea of trees. Cong Xia couldn’t see anything anymore, and under their feet, there was an endless expanse of green, a magnificent sight to behold.
Even more magnificent was the incredibly colossal, umbrella-shaped body of Devil Pine, reaching up to the sky, connecting the earth and the sky. Compared to Devil Pine, the forest beneath them looked like ankle-high weeds. Its top was hidden in the clouds, with mist swirling around its majestic trunk. The evening sun cast a golden hue on it, and countless colorful mutant birds flew around it, creating a magnificent and beautiful scene akin to a fairyland.
The three were stunned, speechless, and deeply moved by this miraculous life and breathtaking scenery.
After a long while, Cong Xia finally said, “If Xiao Deng were here, he would probably say the earth looks like a lollipop, and Devil Pine is the plastic stick.”
Zhao Zixiang burst into laughter. His laughter made his body shake, and that caused Cong Xia to immediately lie still on his back.
“Hmm? Is that Devil Pine?” Cheng Tianbi looked ahead.
Cong Xia reluctantly raised his head to look forward.
In the distance, two people dressed in white, with long, thick, black hair flowing down, sat on an extended tree trunk. From afar, they looked like two plain butterflies resting on the treetop, both dangerous and stunning.
Cong Xia said, “Let’s fly over and take a look.”
Zhao Zixiang changed direction and flew towards them.
As they got closer, the two people turned their heads together, their faces identical, except for their expressions. One had this (–), while the other had this (^^), which was very easy to tell apart. Mu Fei smiled and waved at them. He held the little black cat in his arms and had a teapot and sweets by his side.
Zhao Zixiang flew next to them, and Cong Xia said with a smile, “You guys really know how to find a place. Aren’t you afraid of the cold?” The temperature in the northeast was already low, and even though it was summer, the sun was about to set, and they were still at a high altitude. Cong Xia was already shivering from the cold.
Devil Pine said, “Have you ever seen a pine tree afraid of the cold?” After some thought, he added, “It gets really cold as you go higher, so I don’t want to grow taller.”
Mu Fei smiled and asked, “Where are you heading? The scenery here is beautiful, and you can’t truly appreciate the beauty of this world without flying high, even though it can be harsh.” He sighed softly after speaking.
“We’re going to Moscow to investigate some things.”
Devil Pine complained, “So you’re going to stay here for a few more days.”
Mu Fei chuckled, “That’s great! I was planning to ask Commander Zhang for some plant seeds and flowerpots. My gardening skills have won awards. Thanks to you all, I finally have the opportunity to interact with people. I want to decorate my future living place nicely.” He expressed his gratitude.
Cong Xia also smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”
Mu Fei suggested, “Sit down and have a cup of tea.”
Cong Xia quickly waved his hand, “No need.” Devil Pine didn’t welcome them anyway, and who would have the appetite to sit on the tip of a tree branch at three hundred meters above the ground and drink tea? He finally understood why the little black cat always kept meowing; it must be scared.
Mu Fei waved his hand again, smiling, “Then I wish you a smooth journey.”
After bidding farewell to them, the three continued to fly towards Manzhouli.
As promised, Zhao Zixiang indeed flew at an impressive speed, nearly reaching 200 kilometers per hour, and with Cong Xia supplementing him with energy, he maintained excellent physical condition. While fast flight was advantageous, it was tough on Cheng Tianbi and Cong Xia. Zhao Zixiang had a thick layer of bird feathers on him and was accustomed to flying, so he didn’t mind the cold.
However, Cheng Tianbi and Cong Xia were wearing cotton coats and using energy to keep warm, just to prevent themselves from freezing. Nevertheless, while their body temperature rose, they couldn’t fend off the piercing wind. If Cheng Tianbi manipulated the wind in such conditions, it would only hinder Zhao Zixiang’s flight. Thus, they endured the bitter cold winds cutting into their exposed skin and endured nearly four hours of painful flight in the high sky before finally reaching Manzhouli.
At the moment of landing, Cong Xia plopped down on the ground. For four hours, he maintained the posture of a toad and could no longer walk. Cheng Tianbi was still standing, but his complexion didn’t look good.
Zhao Zixiang shook his wings and laughed, “Can’t handle it anymore?”
Cong Xia smiled wryly, “You should be the most exhausted one, how come you seem more energetic than us?”
“I’m a bald eagle; flying is instinctual.”
Cong Xia sighed and still didn’t want to stand up.
Zhao Zixiang asked, “So, what’s the plan for next?”
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