Eaten Ch.73.1

Chapter 73.1: Meili Base

Ruan Silian ran downstairs, then quickly ran back up again.

“All the meat has gone rotten—and… it’s full of maggots and mosquitoes.” She knew that whether it was Wu Heng or Xue Qi, both symbiotes preferred eating meat.

“It went bad that fast?” Lin Mengzhi didn’t understand. “It’s not even that hot.”

“It’s not the temperature. Microorganisms are also part of the biosphere. Since everything else can mutate, of course they can too.” Dou Lu let out a long sigh.

Lin Mengzhi gave two big thumbs-up. “Amazing, amazing, amazing.”

“I’ll go find something to eat,” Shen Ping’an said, sitting upright. The lush vines crawling along the wall surged like waves, sunlight spilled into the living room, and the vines burrowed into his body.

Xue Shen stopped him. “It’s best not to go out casually right now. Most importantly, don’t go alone.”

Ruan Silian agreed. “We don’t know what it’s like outside. And that utility room upstairs is full of snakes—better not go. I’ll make some noodle sheet soup; let’s just make do for now.”

Noodle sheet soup—Wu Heng wouldn’t eat that.

He rolled up his sleeves and rushed upstairs in a few swift steps. As the door opened, sunlight shone on his face, casting a golden glow—but this beautiful moment didn’t even last three seconds before continuous hissing and the sound of scales rubbing filled the air outside the door.

Wu Heng stood there without moving. He didn’t look like he intended to fight—not until the sound indicated that the group of snakes had approached.

A black snake as thick as a wrist appeared first in everyone’s view. Its scales gleamed, its eyes were crimson, and it coiled around the teenager’s calf, raising its upper body high and opening its pitch-black mouth.

As the black snake struck at him, Wu Heng lowered his head, moved his index finger slightly, and a vine as thick as a thumb suddenly burst out from the snake’s seven-inch point.

The soft green sprout twisted its body once, then unhesitatingly wrapped around the snake’s body. In an instant, the snake’s head and body separated.

The vine and the snake’s body fell to the ground together. The vine crawled out from the flesh and blood—only about 20 cm long at most, tender green with a faint yellow hue. Now stained with blood, it groped around before burrowing into Wu Heng’s ankle.

The other snakes in the nest—regardless of size—had all died the same way.

The stench of blood grew stronger and slowly reached everyone inside.

Lin Mengzhi hurried upstairs. Leaning over behind Wu Heng, he saw that the entire top floor was covered in either snake heads without bodies or snake bodies without heads. They weren’t dead yet—their bodies writhed nonstop, some even bouncing half a meter into the air before falling back down. The severed heads had their jaws wide open, biting anything they crashed into.

Faced with such a sight, Lin Mengzhi felt his heart leap into his throat.

“You didn’t even make a move—how did you kill them? Parasitism?” He had only seen how the first snake died; the rest hadn’t even managed to get close to Wu Heng, and naturally no one else had seen anything either.

Wu Heng thought for a moment. “Parasitism, then strangulation.”

“But you didn’t do anything. Where are your vines?” Lin Mengzhi’s confusion was shared by the others—just that none of them had as close or frank a relationship with Wu Heng as he did, so only he dared to ask.

Curious, Lin Mengzhi bent down and examined both of Wu Heng’s hands. Not even a hair.

Wu Heng was curious too. He focused on that unfamiliar yet certainly-his energy he’d felt just now. He looked at Lin Mengzhi—and suddenly Lin Mengzhi felt a sharp pain on the back of his hand.

“Ow!” Lin Mengzhi lifted his hand. A thin line of blood had appeared on the back, though he had no idea why.

They watched as the bloodline slowly split outward on both sides. Gradually, both he and Wu Heng realized—it wasn’t the wound tearing open on its own. Something inside was forcing its way out.

When the split widened past one centimeter, it opened into a small slit. A tender green arc appeared beneath the torn skin. The arc wriggled, and under Lin Mengzhi’s increasingly widened eyes, a sprout poked its head out from the back of his hand.

About half an inch long, soft and completely harmless-looking—just like a fresh shoot pulled from a plant.

“Wha—what is this?” Lin Mengzhi wasn’t feeling any pain. The pain wasn’t the scary part—having something crawl out of your body was.

Wu Heng wasn’t sure either. He reached out, pinched the sprout, and pulled it out.

“Aaaaargh—!”

Wu Heng lifted the sprout up for a closer look. The part that had been embedded in the back of Lin Mengzhi’s hand was connected to a few thin, white root filaments.

After forming a rough conclusion in his mind, he turned to the tearful Lin Mengzhi and said, “It seems like… seeding.”

“Seeding, sprouting, breaking through the surface, then strangling.” Wu Heng knew he was oversimplifying it, and Lin Mengzhi probably wouldn’t understand.

“I don’t get it.” When the pain had lessened, Lin Mengzhi looked down. The middle of the long wound had been forced open into a round hole—the tunnel the poppy sprout had used to emerge. Only now did it begin to bleed profusely.

Lin Mengzhi immediately covered the back of his hand and ran downstairs. “Doctor Chen! Doctor Chen!”

Once the nosy Lin Mengzhi had gone, Wu Heng finally turned to Ruan Silian. “Can we cook now?”

Under Wu Heng’s expectant gaze, Ruan Silian felt incredibly uncomfortable. She said with embarrassment, “I’m sorry, I’m afraid of snakes.”

The light in Wu Heng’s eyes went out.

“I’ll do it,” Shen Ping’an said as he stood and went upstairs.

The blood scent from the snakes had attracted numerous scavengers from the sky—but not vultures. Crows. The mutated bird that had earlier tried to rush in from the balcony had also been a crow—its wingspan larger than an eagle’s.

Now, a dense mass of them occupied the entire top floor. But they were cautious, merely circling around the snake corpses. At most, they would open their beaks and casually snatch a snake head that bounced up or grab a writhing body that slid to their feet, but they didn’t dare dive in to feast outright.

Shen Ping’an turned back downstairs, then came up again carrying two buckets. Using vines, he deboned and skinned the now headless black snakes and finally loaded all of them into the buckets before carrying them away.

After he went downstairs, Wu Heng closed the door leading to the top floor. The instant the door fully shut, the crows grew frenzied and swarmed the discarded remains. Their wings beat with a loud, flapping roar, and their hoarse cries filled the air—audible even from inside the house.

—

35 degrees Celsius.

The temperature before departure.

Shen Ping’an had replaced the two bus windows that had been smashed with glass from the house. Once installed, however, they could no longer be opened. Dou Lu used her ability to cut two small squares out of the glass to serve as vents.

The luggage compartment and supplies on the bus were thoroughly sorted and screened. Two-thirds of the food had already spoiled—bags swollen or leaking air—and only a small portion of the daily necessities remained usable. The rotting food made the bus reek. Xue Shen washed the luggage compartment and cabin several times with water, while Lin Mengzhi took charge of quickly drying everything.

Wu Heng wandered through every room upstairs, gathering everyone’s replaced winter clothes, wolf fur coats, hats, and other small items.

His spatial pocket had previously been filled with wolf meat, but as the poppy sprout slowly grew, the space’s capacity quietly expanded. After storing all the winter clothes in his space, there was still plenty of room left.

“Brother.”

After Wu Heng finished collecting the supplies, a voice he hadn’t heard in a long time came from behind him.

Wu Zhi had grown noticeably thinner. She stood at the doorway, her white hair and eyelashes sharply contrasting with the bright red floral cotton pajamas she wore. Her face, like their mother’s, had lost all the flesh on her cheeks, leaving a sharp, snake-like appearance similar to her brother’s.

She heard the busy footsteps downstairs and turned her head. Outside, the world had already changed. “Brother, are we leaving here?”

Wu Heng nodded and took out a set of spring-summer clothes from his space for Wu Zhi—a set he had picked up earlier at the Hanzhou mall.

Obediently, Wu Zhi changed and then tugged on Wu Heng’s sleeve as they went downstairs.

“Brother… I’m scared,” she said, her voice trembling as they descended.

“Scared of what?”

“I keep having nightmares. I’m afraid you’ll abandon me.” Recently, Wu Zhi had been plagued by recurring nightmares. She regretted trying to seize that zombie’s ability, or rather, she shouldn’t have tried to grow stronger at all. Only being foolish might have been her “get-out-of-death free card” with her brother.

Wu Heng: “No.”

“Then, Brother…” Wu Zhi’s voice grew even quieter. “Would you be afraid of losing me?”

Wu Heng paused mid-step and glanced at her with an inexplicable look. “You are you, I am me. Why use the word ‘lose’?”

Wu Zhi opened her mouth, then grabbed Wu Heng again, trying to explain. “I mean… like losing Grandma Lin.”

“She just left. I didn’t lose her,” Wu Heng said calmly.

“What if I leave?”

“That would be your choice.”

“Then… would you be sad?” Wu Zhi asked anxiously.

“…Maybe,” Wu Heng finally replied after a moment of thought. After all, he had raised Wu Zhi for so long—he would certainly be upset if she left.

No owner likes a dog that runs off.

Only then did Wu Zhi break into a tearful smile. “Brother, I love you.”

…

The siblings walked outside and ran straight into Dou Lu, who was loading things onto the car. Wu Zhi startled her so much that she jumped and shouted in a flurry, “Monster!!!”

X was perched on the car hood, carefully examining her. Once he recognized her, he flew to Wu Zhi’s head and perched there. Having gotten up too early and fought too hard with the little bear, he urgently needed a bird’s nest.

“Wu Zhi, you’re awake?” Ruan Silian came down from the car, her eyes wide. “Your hair… what happened?”

Wu Zhi lowered her head and rubbed a strand of hair on her chest. A lot of frost came off, but the strands underneath were still black. She whispered, “It frosted over.”

“Finally awake. You were unconscious for so long, we were all worried sick,” Xue Shen said as he passed by and patted her shoulder. “Get in the car. It’s hot outside. Hey, where did you get those clothes?”

If Xue Shen hadn’t mentioned it, no one would have noticed.

The younger sister had slender, long limbs like her brother’s. Her skin had lost all color, even its natural blush, due to her abilities. She wore a white camisole with a flower-bud skirt made from mismatched fabric, and canvas shoes—her favorite pair. She looked exactly like a forest spirit that had suddenly appeared in the human world, even down to her expression.

“My brother always brings me clothes,” Wu Zhi said, clutching the hem of her skirt. She guessed that her brother must have a secret—something neither she nor anyone else knew. But since no one knew, it meant he treated everyone equally. She certainly wouldn’t tell anyone about his secret or get involved in trying to uncover it.

Xue Shen smiled faintly. “Your brother treats you so well. You’ll have to be a good daughter to him in the future.”

Lin Mengzhi, carrying a few folded blankets out of the room, was startled just like Dou Lu. “When did you wake up? Why… your hair is white? Is it a side effect of your ice ability?”

“I just woke up,” Wu Zhi replied.

“Xiao Zhi, are you hungry?” Ruan Silian, having organized part of the luggage compartment, walked over to her. “There’s some porridge left in the kitchen. Shall I serve you a small bowl?”

Wu Zhi nodded and followed Ruan Silian into the kitchen.

Lin Mengzhi, holding two pillows, stood beside Wu Heng. “Later, let Doctor Chen take a look at Wu Zhi.”

“Where’s Doctor Chen?” Wu Heng looked around but didn’t see him anywhere.

“The temperature’s up, and he stinks badly. We had him wait outside the village on the road for now,” Lin Mengzhi said, glancing at the dwindling supplies with some worry. “We haven’t figured out dinner yet.”

“A’Heng, don’t you feel… those mountains look bigger?” Lin Mengzhi, seeing Wu Heng ignore him, pointed at the distant rolling peaks.

Wu Heng lowered his gaze to the ground first, then finally looked at the lush green mountains Lin Mengzhi was pointing at. He said softly, “The mountains haven’t grown. The vegetation has.”

“Then the flora and fauna in those mountains…?” Lin Mengzhi swallowed nervously, his eyes uneasy.

“Most of them are only affected in growth speed. Not everything will necessarily mutate,” Wu Heng said calmly.

Lin Mengzhi sneezed beside him.

Wu Heng looked at him curiously. “Did you catch a cold?”

It would have been fine not to mention it, but once he did, Lin Mengzhi sneezed twice in a row. His eyes were red as he remembered he still had a complaint to settle with his childhood friend.

“Damn it! Did you leave your room door open last night?! This morning, the wind blew straight at the three of us!”

“I closed it,” Wu Heng protested, unable to argue further.

But then he remembered—he hadn’t actually woken up in his usual room that morning. He had woken up in Xie Chongyi’s bed.

Xie Chongyi’s bed was the softest. They used one mat, he needed three. He said the mattress was too thin and too hard to sleep on.

Wu Heng could fall asleep anywhere, but physical comfort didn’t lie.

Sleeping on the floor was less comfortable than sharing a bed with Lin Mengzhi, while Xie Chongyi’s bed provided far more comfort than either of the other two.

Lin Mengzhi was giving him a “you liar!” glare.

Wu Heng said after a long pause, “Let Doctor Chen take a look.”

Lin Mengzhi snorted. “Doctor Chen doesn’t treat this, doesn’t treat that. For a small cold like this, he’ll just say it’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

At that moment, Xue Shen walked from the back of the bus to the front. His hand rested on the door, his upper body leaning out. “Everyone, get on. We’re leaving.”

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