Chapter 192: “Do plants die?”
Superpowers seem to have evolved as special abilities that allow life on Earth to adapt to the new, harsh environment. Once those powers disappear, not only does physical strength decline sharply, but psychological unease and pressure also follow close behind.
There were no paths at all in the forest—they had to rely on the vines to probe ahead and clear the way. When Wu Heng was awake, the vine behaved obediently, never daring to run around or grab things recklessly.
But the moment Wu Heng fell asleep in the car, it began to reveal its true nature—darting around wildly. Before long, several local animals’ heads were skewered along its length. It even tried to prey on things nearby, but after X pinned it down and tore into it for a bit, it immediately behaved again.
The jungle here was taller and deeper than any they had passed before. Branches and epiphytic plants intertwined overhead, forming bridges and nets that blocked most of the sunlight. Only the upper canopy received direct light; by the time it reached the ground, it was already faint. Yet this did nothing to lessen the stifling heat and humidity of the forest. Moss and fallen leaves carpeting the ground like a thick blanket continuously released moisture into the air.
To cross it in a single day was nothing short of a fantasy.
Wu Heng was asleep, and Xie Chongyi was in a bad mood. No one dared to take the initiative to suggest stopping for rest and replenishing their strength.
Teacher Ying was no help. When Dou Lu told him to go talk to Xie Chongyi, he just told her to go herself.
Ao She, the oldest among them, seemed determined to carry forward the spirit of enduring hardship, so he wasn’t someone they could count on either.
As for Shen Ping’an—he didn’t even count. He was basically Wu Heng’s dog. When Xue Qi signaled to him with his eyes, he simply said, “Wu Heng is sleeping.”
In the end, it was Ruan Silian who carried everyone’s hopes on her shoulders. Bracing herself, she forced the convoy to stop. Walking up to the window of Xie Chongyi’s car, she looked at his cold, arrogant face and her breath caught for a moment. “Everyone’s tired. We need to eat something too.”
At the mention of food, Xie Chongyi didn’t react. Instead, the hat on Wu Heng’s face slipped down. He opened his eyes, looking thoroughly satisfied from sleep.
“Let’s rest here,” he said hoarsely. Without looking at Xie Chongyi, he got out of the car first.
Ruan Silian was still standing there. Seeing Wu Heng walk away without even glancing sideways, she withdrew her gaze. “Did you two argue?”
“No,” Xie Chongyi replied, leaning against the car window. Wu Heng was already out of sight.
“Pretty much,” Ruan Silian said. “He’s ignoring you, and the atmosphere between you two is clearly off.”
“He’s angry. I’m not. We just have some differences in thinking,” Xie Chongyi said, yawning.
“Will it be resolved well?” Ruan Silian asked worriedly.
“No,” Xie Chongyi answered with certainty.
Ruan Silian walked away in disappointment.
Several cars pulled over together beneath a banyan tree whose dense canopy completely covered the area above, letting through only a few scattered patches of light.
After getting out of the car, Ao She walked around the area. Aside from the unusually tall and dense vegetation, he didn’t find anything particularly strange. Nearby, he discovered a small pool. The water seemed to seep up from beneath the surface layer of plants—likely the jungle had stored plenty of moisture from the earlier rainy season. But whether the water was safe to drink was still unknown.
Without their abilities, determining whether it was drinkable now depended entirely on life experience. Ao She crouched down, took off his straw hat, and scooped up a handful of water.
It was very clear—no visible microorganisms, no sediment—and pleasantly cool.
Still, he swallowed and didn’t quite dare drink it. Back in the village, someone had once drunk well water, and algae had gradually grown all over his body, inside and out.
Ao She frowned as he continued examining it, when the sound of gulping water suddenly reached his ears—
Wu Heng not only used the water to wash his face, but also filled his bottle and drank it straight down. Beside him, the dog and the bird were crouched at the edge, stretching their necks to drink as well.
Against the backdrop of the jungle—like something out of a green fairyland—the boy’s pale, almost glowing skin looked as thin and delicate as cicada wings, pure and holy… yet also dangerous. The aura around him was deeply contradictory.
After replenishing water, Wu Heng stood up and looked at Ao She. “The water is drinkable, but it’s best to boil it first.”
Ao She noticed that when Wu Heng left, he was carrying a full bottle of water with him.
The group had already gathered beside the cars and started clearing the area. Whether cooking, eating, or resting, they needed at least a decent spot—who knew if there were snakes hidden beneath the fallen leaves?
Lin Mengzhi dragged back a large bundle of branches, hacking them down with his blade. After tossing them onto the ground, he collapsed right after. His clothes were completely soaked, his face covered in sweat. “Without abilities, my life is basically over.”
Dou Lu snapped the branches one by one and tossed them into the fire pit Xue Qi had dug. Leaning closer to Lin Mengzhi, she whispered, “Still like pretty girls?”
“Even when I had powers, no girls liked me. Now? Even less. Forget it.”
“Well, you may not have powers anymore, but at least you’ve got self-awareness. Blessing in disguise—not bad, not bad.”
“What are we eating for lunch?” Shen Ruyi asked. He had been making himself as inconspicuous as possible. Watching them joke around like before, he scoffed inwardly—just putting on a show. Deep down, they were probably scared out of their minds.
Zhou Yi happened to come around from the back of the vehicle, carrying two sacks in his hands and another hanging from his neck.
“These are dried goods and cornmeal from that family in Changzhou. It should be enough,” he said, then paused before adding, “If Wu Heng doesn’t get enough, we might need to take out more.”
“It’s fine~” Lin Mengzhi drawled. “If we’re not full, we’ll just eat you first.” He suddenly sat up and looked toward Shen Ruyi, who was sitting the farthest away.
Lin Mengzhi and Dou Lu had a similar kind of appearance—people you wouldn’t dare underestimate unless you really knew them. Shen Ruyi was startled by him and instinctively looked around for his brother.
Xue Shen was holding paper and pen, together with Shen Ping’an, tallying up all the supplies across the vehicles. Shen Ping’an’s ability made it convenient to retrieve and check items, while Xue Shen was responsible for recording everything.
“We don’t know how much Wu Heng still has in his storage space, but with just what we’ve brought, it won’t last long,” Xue Shen said.
“It’s fine,” Shen Ping’an replied, ever diligent. “There are several people in the team who can hunt.”
Xue Shen suppressed a laugh. “X has been spoiled rotten by Wu Heng. If we expect it to work like a beast of burden for us, do you think it would?”
Shen Ping’an didn’t even think before answering, “No.”
—
Wu Heng took the dog and made a big circle around the area, collecting some brightly colored fungi and ferns into his storage space. While he was at it, he also checked in on Doctor Chen.
Doctor Chen had arranged the space inside into something resembling a secluded paradise. At that moment, he was soaking in seawater.
“Seawater is still better for swimming than lake water,” he said, thoroughly enjoying himself.
The boy stood at the shore, his much shorter hair tied into a messy knot at the back of his head. Expressionless, he looked at the lump of rotting flesh soaking in his small patch of seawater. “The water already smells.”
“Did you come to see me for something?” Doctor Chen asked.
“The class monitor… he…”
“Don’t come to me about that. Even if you stew me and feed me to him, it wouldn’t help. It’s just a natural process of biological evolution. Try to accept it.”
“But he’ll die.”
“Everyone dies.”
“I don’t want him to die.”
“That’s fine. He can live forever in your consciousness.”
Wu Heng stood there for a long time. He kicked away a crab that had crawled up, then silently turned and left—taking a basket of eggs with him along the way.
After leaving the space, Wu Heng had Shukui carry the basket of eggs in its mouth. Here, Shukui was nothing like the docile companion it was outside—it had grown several sizes larger than a bear. Its body was still slender, but it remained in a constant state of alert, ready to spring at any moment.
Wu Heng had it lower its head, cracked two eggs into his mouth, and tossed aside the shells. Then he suddenly asked, “Do plants die?”
“Plants die too. But I’ll definitely live longer than the class monitor,” he answered himself.
Sensing Wu Heng’s low mood, Shukui let out a soft, whimpering sound from its throat.
“Actually, I don’t find it completely unacceptable,” Wu Heng said. “After he dies, I could turn him into a specimen, or use him as fertilizer. That way, he would become a part of my body.”
“But I don’t know whether the toxicity will disappear after he dies.”
Muttering to himself, Wu Heng gathered another large bag of fungi—this time not just the pretty ones, but edible ones.
His method for determining whether a mushroom was safe to eat was to try one himself first. If it was poisonous, the tip of his tongue would feel slightly numb; if not, there’d be no reaction. As for mushrooms that made his entire tongue go numb—they were probably toxic enough to kill ten Shukui, so he had to be extremely cautious.
Smoke from cooking fires began to rise. To keep the flames from dying out, several people had built the fire especially large, so that the entire pot was engulfed in flames.
Ruan Silian dropped the spatula and hurried off to the side.
The others scrambled to pull some of the firewood out.
Nearby, Yang Yu’s baby began to cry softly.
“How old is she?” Dou Lu asked curiously.
“Eight months,” Yang Yu replied in a low voice while soothing the baby.
Dou Lu quickly did the math. “That means she was born after the apocalypse? Oh my—neither you nor Yang Ao are ability users, right? It must have been really hard to bring her into the world.”
A complicated expression crossed Yang Yu’s face—a mix of bitterness and relief.
“Yes… her father even lost his life for it.”
Dou Lu immediately fell silent. After a moment, though, she couldn’t help asking, “What’s her name?”
“Yang Liangliang. I hope she grows up kind and bright.”
“Sounds like a boy’s name,” Lin Mengzhi said, fiddling with a charred stick.
Dou Lu smacked him hard on the head. “A name is a name, boy or girl—it’s all the same. Why don’t you call yourself Lin Dazhuang!”
Lin Mengzhi clutched his head. “Just wait till my buddy gets back.”
Still holding his head, he turned to Yang Yu and asked, “But there aren’t really any doctors left in the apocalypse. How did you manage to give birth? Any precautions? I have a friend who’ll probably be giving birth soon.”
Ruan Silian, standing nearby, paused for a moment with the spatula in hand, then calmly continued cooking as if nothing had happened.
Dou Lu practically jumped up to hit Lin Mengzhi. “Who said you could bring that up right now?!”
“What’s the big deal? You being overly careful will just make Sister Ruan feel worse. Act natural—it’s nothing serious,” Lin Mengzhi said, putting on an air of maturity.
The careful restraint Dou Lu had been maintaining these past few days was mercilessly exposed by him. She hurriedly looked at Ruan Silian, who simply gave her a faint smile. Dou Lu’s scalp tingled instantly.
When Wu Heng returned with his harvest, the camp was in chaos. Yang Yu and Yang Ao were standing between Lin Mengzhi and Dou Lu, while a spider hung above them like it was watching the show. But judging from their expressions, it didn’t seem like a real fight, and the more composed members hadn’t gotten involved, so Wu Heng didn’t interfere. He just noticed that Xie Chongyi was nowhere to be seen.
Wu Heng had Shukui go over to Lin Mengzhi and the others to unload the wild vegetables and mushrooms from its back, then turned and got into the car.
Xie Chongyi was still in the same position as before, leaning back against the seat, asleep.
Wu Heng silently sat in the front seat, looking at Xie Chongyi’s somewhat pale face. Even in sleep, he seemed like someone difficult to approach.
“Class Monitor,” Wu Heng said after watching him for a while, reaching out to poke his cheek.
No response.
Wu Heng moved to sit beside him and pushed him a bit harder.
Still no response.
In that instant, Wu Heng’s expression truly darkened. It felt as though all the blood in his body had been squeezed out in a single moment, leaving only his bones and organs painfully tethered together.
The next second, however, Xie Chongyi slowly opened his eyes—and even smiled.
A flicker of moisture appeared in Wu Heng’s eyes. After a moment of confusion, he thought it was just a joke.
Until he belatedly realized that Xie Chongyi’s eyes were now a deep red.
Before Wu Heng could react, those eyes moved closer. His chin was seized, and cold lips pressed down onto his.
A surge of intense nausea rushed through Wu Heng’s entire body. Suppressing the urge to kill, he quickly fumbled in his pocket, pulled out a syringe, and roughly drove it into Xie Chongyi’s neck.