CHAPTER 8: EMBRACE

As the deeper they entered into the jungle, the more numerous the branches became. It came to the point where their entire field of vision was obscured. They could only see the road underfoot, and smell the tart and astringent flavour of the earth. It seemed as though they were walking in a primitive forest that was five times as dense.  Jing Xia’s footsteps alternated between light and heavy, and sometimes, his movement was not even as nimble as Steward Wang.　

This was not due to age, but because Jing Xia’s body was too lacking in exercise.

In his last life, he had achieved a certain fitness level after following Wu Jiqing’s small squadron. However, after meeting Ji Chuancheng later on, he was still criticized by the other for not having a single good point, and only then did he receive a week of special training.

Unfortunately, his old body would be resting on the cold, moist rocks of S City forever. Jing Xia thought for a while, so much that he felt that it would be highly probable for him to be eaten by a passing variant creature during the beast tide. Softly sighing, Jing Xia no longer thought about such matters of the past.

Presently, they needed to find a road out, that is what is most important.

It has already become not a mere matter of finding the restricted area troops. They were now encircled by the increasingly dense foliage of plants, with their growth rate multiplying at a speed visible to the naked eyes.

“Try and use fire.” Ji Chuancheng stared at the crunching sounds produced by the growing vines for a long while, before suggesting.

Soon after, a wooden stick was held in every one of the four people’s hands. Probably due to the global changes in the environment, it took only a few minutes for the wooden stick to be ignited with a lighter. Ji Chuancheng took the initiative to walk to the cluster of protruding vines with a sunken form, and without a change in expression, he held the ignited torch to a growing sprout.

This was an organism that Jing Xia had never seen before.

Before the first beast tide war had begun, Wu Jiqing’s squadron had always been wandering around B city. There would have been no such monstrous plants of the ancient forests deep inside the mountains. It could also be said that only a place similar to the inland B city would be the most suitable place to establish a base camp for humans.

Since it was a city, even if the reforestation was done remarkably well, the varieties of plants were still lacking from before. Moreover, it was also located far inland, preventing invasions from the marine mutant creatures. Therefore, B City could be said to be one of the best bases of operations for humans.

City B would definitely not have such a strange breed of vines. During the beast tide wars, such variants without any attack power or those with movement difficulties absolutely would not participate in the war. As a result, Jing Xia had truly never seen such a variant form in the past. Compared with those ferocious mutant beasts that could tear into humans using their claws and fangs, as well as the colourful mutated plants that cause humans to become intoxicated from their hallucinations, this guy could still be considered to be “gentle”.

“It’s skin is very hard. It seems that a flame with a temperature below 300 degrees Celsius would have no effect on this variant.” Qin Chu looked at the still emerald green shoot beneath the orange flame, and sighed helplessly: “However, they don’t seem to be growing longer either. This is also good. If it continued to grow longer, it will really bind us into a ball.”

Ji Chuancheng knitted his brows before shaking his head: “Its growth pattern is still normal.” Just as the voice fell, a silver light flashed by, and in Ji Chuancheng’s hand lay an additional small vine segment that was rapidly shrivelling up. “The diameter of its duct is quite large, with the pith gathered in the center. Probably due to the temperature’s influence on its nutrient transmission, for example…”

Saying this, Ji Chuancheng once again extended the torch to ignite the incision from the plant that he had just cut off. This time, he did not directly use the blaze to heat it, instead stopping it at a short distance of approximately ten centimeters away. Ji Chuancheng then ceased his movement, and lowered his gaze to carefully observe the changes in the vines that were as thick as a person’s wrist.

Jing Xia cried out in surprise: “That red thing in the center shrunk.”

Qin Chu suddenly realized: “Then… we don’t need to burn them at all, by merely raising the temperature, their mutated pith will voluntarily shrink, and consequently…slow down their growth rate!” The more she spoke, the more excited she became. Initially, they did not dare to use the torch due to the surroundings being completely enveloped in vegetation. And now, Qin Chu directly put the flashlight back into the bag, holding the torch to wander all over the place.

Probably due to her “playfulness” rising up, when facing these harmless “little” guys, Qin Chu walked alone in the forefront to open the road. And unwittingly, Jing Xia and Ji Chuancheng actually fell behind. Ji Chuancheng walked slightly faster, but he intentionally slowed his speed, maintaining a perfect distance from the youth behind him. It seemed as though he was aware that this silent young man with a lowered head had something that he wanted to say to himself.

After a long time, when the clear and bright moonlight penetrated through the thin layer of mist and clouds to cast light upon the earth, Jing Xia sighed heavily and said: “A’chuan, you tell me…could Grandpa Wang have begun to experience evolution failu-……” The word did not manage to be said out loud, as Jing Xia clenched his teeth, and directly stopped speaking.

Listening to these words that did not come as a surprise to him, Ji Chuancheng fixed his gaze on the old man at the extremity of this road. His hair was grizzled, but his back remained straight, and even after having walked for a long stretch of mountain roads, there was still no sign of fatigue. With this kind of posture, he was probably much stronger than this idiot around him who only knew how to play around and enjoy himself. However…

“En.” Ji Chuancheng responded in a low tone.

Jing Xia stared blankly, subconsciously asking: “What do you mean…Do you also think that the evolutionary failure had begun?”

Due to the branches being too dense, the refreshing moonlight was always obscured. Currently, it was the torch light that appeared much brighter, illuminating the road underfoot.

Ji Chuancheng lightly nodded: “En. According to the calculation of time, at this current time the deceased from illness have definitely appeared. Then… the evolved individuals should also appear.”

Upon hearing this, Jing Xia immediately understood the meaning of the other party. However, his heart was still stubborn and obstinate, unwilling to accept this fact. He reassured himself by saying: “Maybe this time Sister Qin will be the one to evolve successfully first and obtain her ability. Her ability is the healing type, maybe it would be possible to save Grandpa Wang. When the time comes, maybe it could even…” After saying three “maybes” in succession, even Jing Xia realised that he could no longer deceive himself.

When Jing Xia and Qin Chu encountered each other, the latter already had her ability, so Jing Xia did not know the specific time that the other party had awakened their ability. Qin Chu’s ability was extremely overpowered, and based on Lin Shen’s previous conjecture, such a powerful ability could not have evolved successfully very early on. At least… it was impossible for it to have been as early as this period of time.

With only the illumination of the torches, the mountain road was both rugged and narrow, Jing Xia and Ji Chuancheng were almost side by side as they continued forward. Calmly lowering his gaze, Ji Chuancheng looked towards Jing Xia who had lowered his head, revealing a kind of mournful and grieving expression. The dark pupils slightly shrunk, and Ji Chuancheng said: “You shouldn’t feel sad. After Steward Wang dies, he will become a star and hang in the sky, forever looking over you.”

“……”

The previously heavy and serious atmosphere instantly disappeared without a trace. Under this funny and yet grieving mood, Jing Xia was really between laughter and tears, not knowing what to say. He raised his torch, illuminating the man’s handsome face, before saying: “A’chuan, when did you learn to say this type of…sentence about turning into stars? How old are you, to believe this kind of nonsense?”

His clear black pupils coldly swept Jing Xia a glance, Ji Chuancheng expressionlessly said: “When I was nine years old, a four-years old boy told me this.”

“Pff, you are too simple! A’chuan, for this kind of nonsense, don’t say nine years old, even when I was four years old, I only said it as a joke. Every day, I told it to the prettiest girl in the class next door during kindergarten, okay?”

“……”

“Ei? How come it suddenly seems to have become a little colder, did the temperature drop?” Jing Xia couldn’t help but shiver, rubbing his arms to warm himself. Seeing the young man’s timid look, Ji Chuancheng finally sighed helplessly, before extending his left hand to embrace Jing Xia’s shoulder.

Jing Xia stared blankly: “Ei?!!!!”

Ji Chuancheng made it seem as though it should be expected as a matter of course: “To get warm.”

“……”

Although he did not understand how an arm would be able to warm him up, but when Jing Xia really neared the man’s chest, he discovered that…its heating effect was really quite good. The broad and warm chest seemed as though it was a natural radiator, the heat penetrated through the two thin layers of fabric to spread to Jing Xia. Not knowing if it was a psychological effect, he actually did feel much warmer.

“Humans are destined to grow old and die. At times, death is not an end, but rather, a new beginning. Anyone’s life within the history of the earth is always brief and meaningless. However, this does not imply that we must give up.”

 The low magnetic voice rang out on the quiet and tranquil mountain trail, adding a kind of empty feeling. Jing Xia did not expect the other party to suddenly open his mouth, suddenly saying…these words. He lifted his head up in a daze, looking at that pair of cold and expressionless eyes, that seemed as though something was changing inside.

“Decades pass at the blink of an eye, but just because you live longer doesn’t necessarily mean that you will obtain more happiness. Human desires know no end, but when a person faces death, they will know what they had wanted the most in their life. If they pass on with a smile, then…they must have already obtained their utmost from this life. He just wants to give you his gratitude and also give you a perfect ending, so that he can die in contentment. “

His footsteps suddenly stagnated, as Jing Xia lowered his head to ponder for a long while, before lifting his head to look towards Ji Chuancheng.

The stern and tall man also stopped his steps at this moment, gazing back at Jing Xia. Not knowing when, the clear cold moonlight finally passed through the obstruction of the layers of clouds and mist, to shine upon the earth. A faint silvery sheen of light shone from behind, projected onto the body of Ji Chuancheng, causing him to look even more cold and detached. 

However, Jing Xia recalled the warmth on his shoulder from previously.

Feeling an earthquake fiercely shake his heart, Jing Xia suddenly smiled and asked: “A’chuan, those words that you just said did not seem to be what you felt on the spot, it seemed to have been prepared for a long time. Why, who did you plan to say it to?”

His gaze was earnestly fixed on the body of the youth smiling lightly. The Ji Chuancheng’s eyes also directly faced the moonlight, causing the smile of the youth to appear even more illusory. Slightly tightening his fingers, Ji Chuancheng indifferently said: “It was a ten-year-old boy who had wanted to say this to a certain five-year-old boy.” Although his fingers dug into the palm of his hand, he still maintained a calm and steady appearance on the surface.

Suddenly hearing this unexpected answer, Jing Xia lifted his gaze and thought for a long while but did not obtain an answer. He simply did not think about it any longer, heartily laughing as he said: “Okay, okay, then I won’t ask anymore. See how far behind we are, Sister Qin will scold us.”

Just as his voice fell, the two continued forward, united in action, seeming as though the previous interlude did not occur at all. The mountaintop was still cold, causing people to feel a trace of chilliness even in summer. Jing Xia simply had no shame, directly hugging the waist of Ji Chuancheng and refusing to let go.

They caught up to Qin Chu, the latter who flew into a rage after seeing Jing Xia’s koala like appearance: “Little——bastard!!! Hurry up and let go of the young master!”

Hearing this, Jing Xia held onto Ji Chuancheng’s waist even more tightly, refusing to relinquish his grip. Borrowing the body of Ji Chuancheng, he dodged left and right. This continued until finally, the person with the most authority, Ji Chuancheng, opened his mouth to end this farce.

It was yet another night, with Jing Xia, Ji Chuancheng and Qin Chu taking turns to keep watch.

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