Chapter 45
◎ Mutated animals scurrying down the mountain◎
Chapter 45
Looking at the locust flowers falling from his palm, Captain Qing was silent for a moment. He looked up at the tall locust tree in front of him, and finally put it away silently.
"My godmother gave it to me, so I must accept it."
As he said this, he placed the small bunch of locust flowers where the leaves were previously placed, patted it carefully, and after making sure it would not be lost, he spoke out to acknowledge Ying Huai's kindness.
After making sure that Ying Huai didn't need his help, he said goodbye to Ying Huai and turned around to float towards the Tang family.
There were still people in the Tang family waiting for him to return, so he went back quickly and Ying Huai did not continue to pull him aside to ask more questions.
As soon as I arrived at the Tang family's house, I heard the Tang family's grandparents sitting in the yard talking on the phone with their son and daughter-in-law. It seemed that the difficulties on the other side had been resolved and they were expected to return to the mountain in the evening.
Hearing this, Captain Qing looked a little sideways.
He just went down the mountain today and cooperated with the official people to deal with the mutant plants and animals at the foot of the mountain. In the evening, Rufeng's parents, who had been unable to come back for several days, said they could come back. It was a bit too coincidental.
Thinking of this, he turned his head to look in the direction of the village entrance, and he finally understood why his godmother had asked the village chief to find the Tang family.
It turns out he was waiting here.
Captain Qingzhi chuckled and shook his head, walked through the closed study door, and just as he entered, he saw Tang Rufeng, who was supposed to be processing village documents, sitting opposite the village chief, playing chess back and forth with him.
However, their attention did not seem to be entirely focused on the chessboard in their hands. As soon as Captain Qing entered the study, he was noticed by the two of them.
It was completely different from when he was in town. He went to the mayor's office and stayed there for about ten minutes without anyone noticing him.
In comparison, the mayor's vigilance is really poor.
"Captain, are you back? Did you have a smooth descent?"
Seeing someone appear, Tang Rufeng immediately put down the chess piece he was about to place on the chessboard, put it aside, turned to look at Captain Qingzhi and asked.
"Well, it went smoothly. There aren't many mutant plants and animals down here, but there don't seem to be as many people with special abilities down here as there are in our village. That's why there hasn't been anyone who can suppress them for so long."
Captain Qing stood beside Tang Rufeng and spoke such a long speech for the first time.
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt the power that Tang Rufeng had given him was rapidly fading away. He quickly took out the leaf from his arms and held it in his hand.
"So you didn't use this when you went down the mountain."
Looking at his actions, Tang Rufeng found it a little funny.
"Well, I didn't have to do anything. I waited for a while and the officials arrived. They are very capable."
After hearing Tang Rufeng's words, Captain Qingzhi nodded seriously and explained.
"The official has arrived..."
Hearing Captain Qing's words, Tang Rufeng turned to look at the captain sitting opposite him who was listening to their conversation attentively.
After Captain Qingzhi went down the mountain, the village chief left the Tang family for a while. He originally wanted to wait under the godmother tree, but he had just stood there for a while, walked back and forth twice, and was driven away by his mother who was lying under the tree.
There was no other way. He couldn't go home and wait, so he could only come to Tang Rufeng and wait.
Fortunately, his wait was not in vain, and he heard the news firsthand.
In fact, it was second-hand information. The first person to hear this information was Ying Huai.
But the two people in the small study room are not aware of it now.
After telling what he knew, Captain Qingzhi finally had time to take out the things Ying Huai had given him.
"Rufeng, these are the locust flowers that the godmother at the village entrance gave me. I heard they're delicious. Let's split them in half."
As the captain spoke, he divided the bunch of locust flowers in his hand into two parts, handed one to Tang Rufeng, and kept one for himself. He chose to ignore the village chief who was looking at him.
He is already such a grown-up, and he has no idea how much Huaihua he has eaten. There is no need for him to compete with these kids for delicious food.
Thinking of this, he put one of the small locust beans into his mouth without any burden.
He is now in the form of a ghost and theoretically cannot eat anything, but the Yinghuai tree that gave him the locust flowers is not an ordinary tree.
Although Captain Qingzhi still cannot eat the locust flowers, he can eat the spiritual energy and spiritual nectar on the locust flowers, which are the flavors he can taste.
"Mm, delicious."
After tasting the sweetness, Captain Qing stuffed a few more flowers into his mouth, nodded, and savored them.
Seeing his appearance, the village chief next to him widened his eyes.
Although he had eaten locust beans from locust trees before, the past was the past and the present is now. How can they be the same?
Not fair!
With this thought in his mind, the village chief shifted his gaze from Captain Qing to Tang Rufeng who was sitting opposite him.
The other party didn't care about his expression at all, picked a locust flower from his hand and put it into his mouth.
What's left are Kung Fu, Luo Luo lying on the ground, and the little mouse Huidoufen squatting beside his wrist.
There weren't many locust flowers in the bunch to begin with, and now only two or three are left after they were divided. It looked like I wouldn't have any left.
The village chief was too embarrassed to ask for it, so he could only look away with a sense of grievance and choose not to look at Tang Rufeng.
But just as he lowered his head, thinking that Tang Rufeng definitely didn't want to continue playing chess with him, and was about to put away all the chess pieces, he saw a small locust flower in front of him. The village chief immediately put away the aggrieved look on his face and picked it up happily.
"Okay, you guys chat here, I'm going home. If you have anything later, come find me."
After the village chief finished speaking, he took the locust flower and went out. He was just thinking about putting away the chessboard, but now he had thrown this idea out of his mind.
Watching the village chief leave, Tang Rufeng looked down at the somewhat messy chessboard in front of him, smiled and shook his head, put the last locust flower into his mouth, gently chewing the sweet aftertaste of the locust flower, while reaching out to tidy up the chessboard.
Seeing that he was busy, Captain Qing beside him also reached out to help.
Now he can only move these small things, and it is very easy to help Tang Rufeng get some small things.
"Is there any movement on the mountain recently?"
After the chessboard was almost cleaned up, Tang Rufeng began to ask Captain Qingzhi.
Captain Qingzhi rarely appears in public and cannot leave Tang Rufeng far away. Most of the time he stands above the Tang family, looking at the appearance of Daxi Village and observing the growth of the mutant animals and plants around it.
Daxi Village specially found a place to plant the mutant plants that were previously given to Ying Huai for identification. They were planted in scattered areas. Over such a long time, there has been no conflict between them due to lack of space.
Seeing the harmonious scene, Captain Qing likes to look over there when he has nothing to do, observing the growth of those mutant plants.
Tang Rufeng knew all of this, because Captain Qingzhi would always keep things to himself whenever he saw something that might be beneficial to him, and would tell him when he could, like now.
The captain of his family was holding the piece in his hand just for him to use as a backup, so he was chatting with him about all sorts of things about the ability leaf he made.
The most regrettable thing in his words was that after the official people cleaned up the mutant plant, in order to save the energy to come back and chat with him, he forgot to ask the other party if they could give him some materials from the plant.
"I think that plant is quite resilient. I can make you a set of clothes out of it that will definitely be better than the protective suits we wore!"
Captain Qing shook his head regretfully as he spoke, but when he wanted to say something else, the power in the leaf in his hand had been exhausted. He didn't want his power to be exhausted and disappear directly, so he was forced to shut up.
Tang Rufeng was listening carefully when Captain Qing was speaking, responding a word or two from time to time. It was a bit funny to see him forced to shut up.
"How about I give you some more abilities?"
As he said this, he was about to put his hand on Captain Qing's transparent soul, but before he could put his own ability on it, Captain Qing waved his hand to refuse.
Seeing his refusal look, Tang Rufeng had no choice but to retract the ability he was about to release.
"Then tell me when you still want to talk. I can still let you talk more."
As he spoke, Tang Rufeng smiled at Captain Qingzhi, put away the chessboard in his hand, and then went out to see how his grandparents were doing.
I had heard them chatting with their parents in the small study before, but they hadn't hung up the phone yet so I didn't want to go up and disturb them.
Now, there is no sound outside. I heard my grandmother saying hello and goodbye to the village chief. They must have hung up the phone.
"Fengfeng is coming out?"
As soon as he walked out the door, he was seen by Grandma Tang, who was sitting under the eaves happily picking vegetables, and she waved at him lovingly.
"Your parents are coming home tonight, but they came back in a hurry this time, so they might not have brought anything for you. Let's make their dinner at home first, and make more so that they don't have nothing to eat when they come back."
As she spoke, Grandma Tang waved the vegetable leaves in her hand in the direction of Tang Rufeng. It looked like she had picked more than what their family usually ate.
"What do I need to do, Grandma?"
Tang Rufeng heard the joy in Grandma Tang's tone and felt happy too.
He hasn't seen his parents for a long time. Although he doesn't look forward to his parents coming home as much as he did when he was a child, he still misses them.
"No need for you. Go to the locust tree and ask your grandma and Stone to come over. Have them come to our house for dinner tonight."
When Grandma Tang heard that her grandson wanted to help, she quickly refused.
Thinking about what Grandma Shitou said about not being able to go up the mountain these days, and now he could only accompany Grandpa to sit bored at the village entrance, he sent Tang Rufeng out to help hire someone.
Tang Rufeng has been behaving very well these days, and you can hardly see his previous dislike for people anymore.
Now he can talk to the village chief's children, the village chief, and the village chief's eldest son. Seeing that his spirits are getting better day by day, Grandma Tang wants Tang Rufeng to go out at this time, with some tentative thoughts.
It was almost evening. Those villagers who had finished work later had not yet returned from the fields, while those who had finished work earlier were already on their way back. There were more people than before, but compared to the number of people returning to the village recently, it was not very busy. It should be nothing, so Grandma Tang wanted Tang Rufeng to go for a walk.
I want to see if he can adapt now.
Grandpa Tang, who was helping to clean the duck meat, was hesitant to speak when he heard what Grandma Tang said. Finally, after his eyes fixed on Tang Rufeng, he swallowed what he wanted to say.
"Okay, Grandma, shall I go out now?"
After hearing Grandma Tang's instructions, Tang Rufeng didn't react much. He turned around to look at the captain standing in the shadow of the small study, nodded, and agreed.
"Well, let's go now. Be careful on the road."
Grandma Tang was very happy to see him like this.
She could already foresee the day when her grandson would get better. The old couple and their son and daughter-in-law had been waiting for this day for two years!
When Tang Rufeng went out, Captain Qing, who had been staying in the small study, came out from the roof, flew a few times, and followed Tang Rufeng. Although he didn't say anything, in Tang Rufeng's eyes, his presence was very strong, which made him feel particularly at ease.
Grandma Tang and Grandpa Tang in the yard didn't notice what happened. The old couple of the Tang family hadn't seen Captain Qing appear in their sight many times until now.
I was afraid of scaring the old couple, so I only knew a little bit today. I knew it while standing at the door of the small study and listening to the conversation between the village chief and Tang Rufeng inside. I really didn't see much.
The few times they had seen it before, they both treated it as hallucinations, and Captain Qing hadn't deliberately made any noise, so they still knew a vague idea.
There were really a lot of people in the village. As soon as I walked out of Tang's house, I saw villagers coming back from outside the village one after another, carrying hoes and shoulder poles.
The villagers of Daxi Village have always been quite traditional. Perhaps because of Ying Huai, no matter what time it is or how far they go outside, as long as they return to the village, the first thing they think of is to tidy up their own land.
Normally I wouldn't go home once a year, so I would plant some crops to nourish the land. Although there was no one to look after them, I could still have some harvest when I went home.
Never leave the land there to waste.
Many people in the village had just returned and had only a general idea of what was happening there. They had heard about Tang Rufeng but had never seen him before. When they suddenly saw him today, they felt that he was not as exaggerated as the rumors said.
When they greeted Tang Rufeng, although he looked a little slow, he still nodded to them with a smile on his face. It didn't seem that serious, he was just a little shy.
After confirming this, they felt relieved and no longer had to worry about being cautious when talking to each other.
It’s not that they dislike being cautious and hassle-free, but they are afraid that if they are not careful, they might say something wrong and it will be terrible.
This was how they went along the way. Whenever any villager saw Tang Rufeng on the road, they would greet him, then look at him with concern, and only leave normally after making sure that he was okay.
Tang Rufeng arrived at the village entrance and stood under the Huai tree under some concerned eyes.
"Grandma, Grandma Shitou, my grandma asked you to come over to dinner tonight. My parents are coming back tonight and they said they want to get together."
As Tang Rufeng spoke, he was already standing in front of Zuzu's recliner.
"Fengfeng, Grandpa hasn't seen you for a long time. It's nice to go out for a walk during the day. Come, sit with Grandpa for a while. We're waiting for your parents to come back."
Zuzu had seen Tang Rufeng coming before, but was not sure what he wanted to do, so he didn't say anything in advance.
Seeing him now, his whole face was crinkled with laughter, his eyes filled with love.
"Okay, Zuzu."
Seeing this, Tang Rufeng did not refuse and found a low stool to sit next to Zuzu.
"I feel relieved having you here. I'll go to your house to see if there's anything I can help with. Please keep an eye on Zuzu~"
When Grandma Shitou saw him sit down, a smile appeared on her face. She thought of something, stood up, said some instructions to Tang Rufeng, and prepared to go to the Tang family to help.
This requires preparing a large table of food, and it will take some time for the old couple from the Tang family alone.
Before leaving, she turned around and looked at Ying Huai, "Godmother, I'm going to be busy. You stay here in the sun by yourself."
After saying that, she touched Ying Huai's tree on her way out, and she felt even happier when she saw Ying Huai's emotional response.
The ginseng that she had planted next to the Huai River, which had previously looked half-dead, now had some vitality and was relatively conscious. When it saw her leaving, it fanned its leaves in the direction of Grandma Shitou, but Grandma Shitou was in a hurry to leave and ignored it.
For a moment, the little demon plant felt a little lost.
"It's okay, she's busy. Next time, you should greet her earlier."
Ying Huai threw down a locust leaf with some spiritual energy on it, as an attempt to appease the little demon plant.
Sure enough, after hearing his words, the little demon plant's simple little head immediately forgot the feeling of loss just now.
The people in Daxi Village on the mountain were handling their family affairs in an orderly manner, and a group of people preparing to go home in the town at the foot of the mountain had just set off.
Just as Captain Qingzhi had said to Ying Huai when he came back, there were no more dangerous mutated plants and animals at the foot of the mountain.
But the remaining ones, which only have the characteristic of not hurting people, are still just as difficult to deal with.
Because of the presence of these mutated plants, the speed of the group going up the mountain slowed down infinitely, and they had only walked half of the distance from the town to the foot of the mountain.
It can be imagined that the subsequent journey will definitely take more time.
Because there are more animals and plants on the mountain, when the changes were first discovered at the foot of the mountain, the mayor arranged for people in the town to go back and forth to watch over and clean up.
It was only the sudden rain that came later that gave these mutated animals and plants an opportunity to take advantage.
"When can we go up the mountain?"
The mayor followed in a car behind the team. He had been hiding like this when he encountered mutated animals and plants before.
After seeing the official team coming off the off-road vehicle ahead to clean up the mutated plants, he got off the vehicle after they had almost finished clearing them. He then walked to the captain and asked softly.
"There were some discrepancies in the initial estimate. It's probably going to take a little longer than originally planned."
Hearing the mayor's question, Captain Dai did not hide anything and answered directly.
"My dear nephew, don't worry. They can take us up the mountain even in the middle of the night. Now that we're on the road, it's not easy for them to turn back, otherwise it would be a wasted trip."
Hearing the words outside the car, Uncle Xiao, who was in the same car with the official team, leaned his head out of the car window and smiled to comfort his nephew.
Seeing him like this, the mayor looked awkwardly at the team members who were being squeezed in the car by his uncle and couldn't move. He asked his uncle Xiao, "Uncle, why don't you get off the car and take one with me? Captain Dai and his team's car doesn't seem to be able to accommodate so many people."
"Okay, don't worry about it, it's convenient for me to sit in the front."
Upon hearing the suggestion from his nephew, Uncle Xiao did not feel embarrassed at all. He kept shaking his head to express his refusal.
Looking at his appearance, it seemed that he had completely thrown away the mature and steady middle-aged man temperament he showed at the beginning.
I guess what he's thinking about now is, temperament? What is that? Is his observation data important?
The first thing I did after thinking about it was to see how the official special team dealt with those mutated animals and plants, and to record the attack methods of those mutated animals and plants.
Perhaps it was because he was so big and squeezed into the car which was not spacious to begin with, the special rescue team members were embarrassed to let him sit in the car at the back. Only when they encountered those mutant plants did the team members get out of the car so actively to deal with it.
After all, he was doing serious business in the same car with them. Apart from being a little crowded, he didn't cause them any trouble. Even if he encountered mutant plants they had never seen before, he could analyze their weaknesses as quickly as possible and save them time.
Just based on the last point, he would be a very good auxiliary staff member, and Captain Dai would not mind him continuing to squeeze in with them.
They swayed and squeezed to the foot of the mountain. Seeing that the car could not go up the mountain, the group found a safer place to park the car, got off and prepared to walk up the mountain.
“I can’t understand why Daxi Village and Shangyou Village don’t go down the mountain?”
Uncle Xiao followed behind Captain Dai, dragging a suitcase, muttering this as he walked.
In the suitcase is his mobile power bank, and on his back is his work computer, which he uses very frequently during the journey.
He didn't know much, he just knew that there was a very special tree in Daxi Village on the mountain. But no matter how special the tree was, in the current abnormal environment, it should be able to survive even if it was moved down the mountain. Why did it have to cling to the mountain?
"People have their own reasons for not wanting to leave the mountain. You'll understand once you get there."
The mayor heard what his uncle said and smiled and shook his head.
Previously in the town, he had asked the special team to go on this trip, and he wanted to follow them just to go up the mountain to take a look. Unexpectedly, perhaps because of his actions, his uncle also had to follow.
The final result was this: my uncle was in someone else's car, squeezing the other team members so that they couldn't move.
The group chatted about the scenery from time to time as they walked up the mountain. However, when they were halfway there and had not yet reached the edge of Daxi Village, they encountered the mutant animals they did not want to encounter.
A large black snake, which looked to be parading at a very fast speed, swam down the mountain at a very fast speed, heading towards the foot of the mountain.
When it passed by them, it seemed very surprised and stopped to look in their direction, as if it was curious about why they still had the leisure to walk up the mountain when it was almost night.
The black snake's eyes could not be seen clearly in the dim light, only a green patch on its forehead was particularly dazzling.
Just one glance from the big black snake was enough to scare the group of people standing on the path.
"Captain Dai, can you handle that snake?"
Fortunately, the big black snake just stopped and looked in their direction, with no intention of attacking. However, the power emanating from it alone was enough to frighten the mutant team walking in front and behind.
Other people can also feel this power, but not as strong as them.
After all, the mayor and others only felt the fear caused by the difference in size and ethnicity, but they actually felt the difference in strength between the two sides.
Even if their entire team goes up, they may not be able to win.
Just as the group stopped to calm their hearts that had been pounding from being frightened by the big black snake, there was another noise on the mountain.
A giant colorful cat suddenly appeared, and then jumped a few times, jumping towards the direction where the big black snake was coming down the mountain.
In between jumps, it glanced at the group of people with a slightly curious look like a big black snake, and then looked away with disinterest.
【Author’s words】
Darlings, if there are any typos, I will find time to correct them later~ Thank you for your reminder~ Hug~
Finished! Happy reading, everyone!
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