Chapter 616: Contract Failure
Zhuang Mingxu and Zhou He chatted and laughed as they reached the ground, and saw a group of zombies lying on the ground not far away in the area suppressed by the mutant plants.
Taotao obediently hid behind the mutant, waving her little fists and poking her head out, constantly shouting "hit him, hit him".
In a short while, several roots with zombie flesh hanging on them reached out to the ground in front of Taotao and dropped a small pile of crystal cores.
Taotao raised her little face and sweetly called the psychic following behind him "brother". Several psychics rushed to take action, and the one who moved fastest suddenly had a stream of water carry all the crystal cores and handed them back to him cleanly in a moment.
Zhuang Mingxu was just about to remind him that he shouldn't let others exploit his superpowers to help him like this, when he saw the kid pick out a water-type superpower from a pile of crystal cores and handed it to the person who had done it, "Thank you, brother."
"These bastards!" Zhou He cursed as he walked forward.
Zhuang Mingxu thought he thought it was not good to collect crystal cores from children, so he heard Zhou Hechao say to the other psychics who were pushing and shoving each other behind Taotao, "You f*cking didn't even think of me for such a good thing, is my psychic power not high enough?"
“……”Zhuang Mingxu.
He thought this guy was quite shameless.
According to their idea, since the mutant plant came to ask for help, it should be easy to make a contract with it. However, the several wood-type mutants did not receive any preferential treatment in front of it. It even sensed that they wanted to control it. The mutant plant, which had always been gentle and easy to talk to, directly attacked and injured them.
Seeing Qu Zhu flying towards the pile of zombies, Zhuang Mingxu hurriedly called Taotao and pulled him back before he fell to the ground.
"What's going on?" Zhou He looked at the other three wood-type mutants.
"It resisted fiercely," Wang Bao, whose ability was slightly lower than Qu Zhu's, replied on behalf of the other two.
"This little thing doesn't have the slightest awareness of asking for help," Yun Bai said. Noticing that everyone was looking at him, he coughed lightly and added in a low voice, "It's a big thing."
Qu Zhu, who was pulled back, obviously didn't believe it and tried to go forward and try again, but was stopped by Taotao, "It doesn't like you."
"But..." Qu Zhu took out a notebook from his backpack. There was indeed a dried flower inside. He looked quite hurt. "It really gave me a little flower."
It doesn't make sense that the mutated plants could be so friendly, but they are so violent at this time.
"Didn't you ask him the reason?" Zhuang Mingxu asked.
"It won't let me touch it. Without contact I can only feel the information it releases, which is the same..." Rejection.
"Taotao, can you help your brother ask, is it unwilling to give the contract or unwilling to follow this brother?"
Taotao immediately replied, "I don't want to follow him." He said with a little smugness in his tone, "It said it is willing to follow me."
Zhuang Mingxu glanced at Qu Zhu and frowned - this was really not the right time to show off.
It was Zhou He who came out to smooth things over, “It’s okay to give the contract to Taotao, they are both in our team anyway, there is no difference.”
"Yeah, it's all for the base, it's nothing," Wang Bao said, touching Qu Zhu, indicating that it was wrong to embarrass a child like this.
Zhuang Mingxu shook his head and said, "We can't let Taotao's contract turn into a mutated plant."
His own body is constantly consuming energy to maintain itself, so who can guarantee whether the contracted mutant plants will consume his limited energy?
Before Lu Weiyi woke up, Zhuang Mingxu had no intention of asking Taotao to change her current situation.
He did not explain the reason, but said to Taotao, "Tell him that if there is no contract, it can't follow us."
Taotao hesitated when he heard that he was the first one to hesitate. He looked at the crystal core in the space where he existed, as well as the mutant plant's burns and broken roots and leaves due to killing more and more zombies. He begged in a low voice, "Dad, let it follow me. Xiaocao is badly injured and it hurts."
Seeing that Zhuang Mingxu didn't say anything, Taotao walked forward with red eyes, hugged his thighs and acted coquettishly, "Taotao broke the twig herself, it hurts so much, Daddy, please, Taotao promises it will be good."
Others may not understand Taotao's description. Zhuang Mingxu immediately thought of the countless times Taotao had turned her hands into small green branches to protect him and Lu Weiyi. At that time... was there any break?
Zhuang Mingxu's heart tightened as he saw a mutated plant with rotten flesh on its roots and leaves, which was left after killing the zombies, stretching a branch towards him. At the top was a cluster of flowers that it had always protected well. A few small pink flowers were dotted on the top of the green leaves, with water droplets on them, as bright and fresh as a girl of seventeen or eighteen years old.
Seeing that Zhuang Mingxu did not move, it handed it to him again.
"Give it to me?" Zhuang Mingxu asked.
"It... is trying to please you," Qu Zhu explained.
Although it is a huge creature, it is praying for human protection, and its cautious appearance is very touching.
"If you don't want a contract, then don't. We still have one plant that doesn't have a contract. We don't need this one." Since they had already decided to take it away, Zhou He stepped forward and picked up the poor Taotao, pinching his little nose, "Then Taotao, you must control your little friend well and can't let him hurt the uncles and aunts."
"I promise," Taotao said, patting her chest.
With Zhou He speaking up, Qu Zhu immediately joined in persuading them, saying things like this plant was very gentle. Seeing that no one had any objections, Zhuang Mingxu nodded.
Pushing the little flower that was handed to him back, Zhuang Mingxu said, "Take care of yourself."
It would be painful for a peach tree if so many of its branches were broken. It has worked so hard to protect the tree that only this one is left. How could it not feel anything when it is picked?
Seeing that he didn't take it, the mutant orchid retracted and several of its roots circled around the zombie group, wrapped around a handful of crystal cores and handed them over.
Zhuang Mingxu did not refuse this time, "Just consider it as the temporary residence fee you pay."
"Thank you, Daddy. Taotao loves you the most." Taotao shouted happily and gave Zhuang Mingxu a kiss, but because of the tight embrace, the kiss only touched her clothes.
"The grass is so well behaved. Let me introduce it to you." Taotao pulled Zhuang Mingxu closer to the mutant orchid.
Zhuang Mingxu responded and turned to Zhou He, "Check where we are now and the surrounding situation. If possible, let's take a break..."
He glanced at the pile of zombies in the small town below. Zhou He understood what he meant in an instant and still reminded him, "Don't go too far. It's cold now and you can't see the situation of the mutant animals around you clearly. Be careful."
Zhuang Mingxu nodded and pulled Taotao in one direction. Accompanied by a powerful mutant plant, they walked for a long time before he asked him when he had broken a branch.
"The last time I came to see my father, that bad guy bullied my father and Taotao beat him up." Taotao waved his fist and made a ferocious expression, which was particularly cute with his milky white face.
Zhuang Mingxu reached out and touched his exposed cheek. His jade-like skin was freezing cold, but it didn't feel cold at all. Instead, it was slightly warm.
"Then he tore off Taotao's branch, and Taotao was in great pain," Taotao pouted and complained, then she was happy again, "Father gave Taotao something delicious to eat, and Taotao is fine now."
Based on what happened before and after, Zhuang Mingxu concluded that it was probably the fight with Gu Sheng. As for the delicious food...
"Is that the one your father gave you to eat last time?"
"Yeah." Taotao looked at Zhuang Mingxu expectantly, as if silently asking him if he had any more.
Zhuang Mingxu pinched his cheek and sighed in his heart. He had sacrificed his old face to ask Wu Yue for that gift, so how could he get another one? "Dad doesn't have any more, but..."
"Maybe when your father wakes up, he will have it."
As long as Lu Weiyi wakes up and they return to Yuebanwan Base smoothly, even if they don't go outside to look for him, Zhuang Mingxu can use the base's resources to exchange for his son from other bases.
"Then when will father wake up?" Taotao asked naively.
Zhuang Mingxu shook his head and told him about the mutant orchid that followed them, "Doesn't it like Brother Qu Zhu?"
"No." Taotao pulled the main branch but it didn't move. Most of the roots followed them. "It doesn't hate anyone."
"Then why?" The other party's attitude change was so obvious that Zhuang Mingxu couldn't help but be curious.
Taotao thought for a long time before saying, "It said my brother is afraid of it and it doesn't like him."
It took Zhuang Mingxu a moment to understand what he meant.
Judging from the variety of this orchid, it should have been domesticated before the end of the world. The carefully cared-for little plant suddenly awakened and gained its own consciousness. It essentially does not reject humans, which is why it was willing to cooperate with Qu Zhu.
However, wood-type mutants can explore the emotions of plants, so why can't plants sense human emotions?
The little plant, which had followed them all the way without any reaction, finally responded to Qu Zhu's vigilance with the same emotion.
After looking around, he didn't find any large mutant animals. When he returned, Zhou He also figured out where they were.
"It's about a hundred kilometers southeast of the temporary base," Zhou He pointed to the high ground below him, "If you climb to a high place, you can see the ridge of Laoshan Mountain. Our temporary base is on the other side of the ridge."
He pointed to the small town in front of him again and said, "This used to be a city within the Xinghai base. Later, the Xinghai base was destroyed, and no one has cleaned up the zombies here since then."
"If we want to stay and kill some zombies, now is the best time."
"What do you mean?" Zhuang Mingxu asked.
"I just looked around. There are quite a few mutated animals around here, especially mutated birds. Their levels are much lower than those in Laoshan. It may be because the weather is too cold, so they stay in the woods or nests and don't move. However, if the big trees they live in are threatened, they will still come out to attack."
"While the temperature is low, it's a good time to obtain crystal cores. Moreover, this place happens to be on the other side of the ridge, so there isn't such a strong snowstorm, which won't affect the psychics' going out. More importantly, I asked them to try it, and there aren't high-level zombies here, so our mortality rate won't be high in a battle." Zhou He became more and more excited as he spoke, as if he had already seen tens of thousands of crystal cores waving at them.
"Then have you ever thought that this place is quite close to the new water base?" Zhuang Mingxu poured a basin of cold water on him at the right time.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
