At the westernmost edge of the forest, peaks rose into the clouds. Ning Bingque stood at the mountaintop, his ears twitching slightly. “The lion’s angry.” He murmured in a low voice, a playful smile rising at the corner of his mouth. “Let me see who’s about to have bad luck this time.”
As he spoke, his enormous wings carried him up, and he flew toward the direction of the lion’s roar.
And deep in the forest, Yan Yu’an had clearly heard the lion’s roar. He stirred, struggling to look outside—but Shen Yuanzhou fiercely pressed him down onto the ground. “You’re not allowed to go.”
His voice was very cold, carrying an indescribable anger, and he viciously bit down on Yan Yu’an’s lips.
Yan Yu’an’s whole mind went blank at once, and for a moment he even forgot to struggle.
Only when a soft tongue tried to go further in did Yan Yu’an struggle violently, erupting with unprecedented strength and shoving Shen Yuanzhou away in one motion.
Caught completely off guard, Shen Yuanzhou slammed hard into the wall and couldn’t help letting out a pained sound.
Yan Yu’an kept wiping his lips, looking at Shen Yuanzhou in shock.
“Why?” Shen Yuanzhou’s golden eyes were full of confusion, as if he didn’t understand why Yan Yu’an had rejected him. “Don’t go back to the lion’s place.”
Yan Yu’an didn’t want to pay him any mind at this moment. In his heart, Shen Yuanzhou was nothing but a stranger. He wanted to walk out of the cave, but unexpectedly Shen Yuanzhou was faster.
“Not allowed.” Shen Yuanzhou blocked his way, and as if making up his mind, bared his sharp fangs. “If you leave, I’ll eat you.”
A rare look of impatience surfaced on Yan Yu’an’s handsome face. He didn’t understand why everyone here used eating him as a threat.
Shen Yuanzhou’s hands were very, very cold. He grabbed Yan Yu’an’s wrist, not a trace of expression visible in his eyes.
After a long while, he let go of his hand, somewhat dejected. “You just don’t remember me.” He paused, and for once looked a little aggrieved. “You’re always like this.”
Yan Yu’an found it baffling. “Is there any chance you’ve mistaken me for someone else?” he said.
Shen Yuanzhou looked at him deeply. “You said the same thing last time.”
“My eyes might mistake you, but my nose absolutely won’t.”
He said this with certainty.
Yan Yu’an was at a loss. He took a step back. Even though Xie Ji was different to him, he couldn’t gamble with his own life.
Yan Yu’an knew that this mutant before him was the python that entered his dreams every night.
Even Xie Ji was helpless against him, let alone himself.
“Do you know why that lion hasn’t come looking for you?” Shen Yuanzhou suddenly spoke. Only after seeing Yan Yu’an’s eyes light up slightly did he say, extremely slowly: “Because this forest is full of miasma, and besides…”
“Besides what?”
Shen Yuanzhou tilted his head. “You forgot.” As he spoke, his eyes turned slightly cold. “I won’t hold it against you.” He said unhappily.
Yan Yu’an wisely chose not to speak.
After quite a while longer, seeing that Yan Yu’an had no intention of asking him anything, our Snake King flicked his tongue in displeasure and rested his head on Yan Yu’an’s shoulder again. “Because my ability is to make the plants and trees in this forest move, and my fangs can control all kinds of poisons.”
He wrapped his leg around Yan Yu’an’s waist, and Yan Yu’an only felt his whole body go numb.
Shen Yuanzhou was very satisfied with the way Yan Yu’an trembled.
This ability is way too overpowered… Yan Yu’an thought.
If anyone broke into the forest, Shen Yuanzhou only needed to move a finger to make them unable to find the way out.
They were both mutants—so why was Xie Ji like a big fool?
Sensing that the danger had passed, Yan Yu’an felt an inexplicable sense of disappointment at iron not becoming steel.
At this moment, Xie Ji had ultimately chosen to return to the tribe, and likewise, he hadn’t let Lu Xi go look for Yan Yu’an.
There were over two hundred people in the lion tribe, high and low. Xie Ji knew that if he insisted on charging in today, he would very likely be badly injured.
And then, if that dumb bird or that stupid snake broke in, perhaps he could fight them off—but the ones who would suffer would be everyone in the lion tribe.
Xie Ji had known since he was little that his ability was defective.
…
Night quietly fell. He summoned the two brothers, Lu Xi and Lu Hai. “I’m going out to look for God-Slaying Grass.”
Lu Xi and Lu Hai looked at each other. Lu Xi had heard of God-Slaying Grass when he was very small, but it was just a legend—there was simply no…
Lu Xi pressed his lips together, wanting to persuade him, when he heard Xie Ji say: “I know you don’t believe it, but this world already has mutants—so God-Slaying Grass might exist too.”
“Chief, if you go looking for that immortal grass or whatever, what about the tribe?” Lu Hai was the first to speak. “Never mind whether the thing exists—just how hard it is to find, you can’t not know.”
Xie Ji fell silent. He took a deep breath and told the two brothers his secret.
“You all know I’m a mutant, but what you don’t know is that my ability is defective.” Xie Ji gave a bitter laugh.
Though he’d always wanted to defeat those two guys, he’d been missing an ability since birth. Though one ability was usable, wanting to defeat the two of them was simply impossible.
He was always shouting about going to defeat those two, but the truth was he wanted to use that to cover up the imbalance in his heart.
But now, with Yan Yu’an taken by Shen Yuanzhou, he truly realized that he’d been greedy for a comfortable life—he couldn’t even protect the person he wanted to protect.
God-Slaying Grass could bring anything back from the dead, and it could likewise restore his ability.
Xie Ji wanted to find it. He wanted to find Yan Yu’an, and he also wanted to truly defeat those two—not live inside the illusory dream he’d built for himself.
Lu Hai fell silent. They had never known about Xie Ji’s situation.
“I want you two to protect the lion tribe well.” A smile appeared at the corner of Xie Ji’s mouth. “Don’t forget my ability—call me anytime if anything happens.”
Lu Xi and Lu Hai stopped trying to stop him. Though the lion tribe had certain advantages, seventy percent of them were women, children, and the elderly—strong young male lions were few.
But even so, the fighting strength of a pride of lionesses couldn’t be underestimated. As long as the other two mutants didn’t come, the lion tribe wouldn’t be in danger no matter what.
The two nodded heavily. They knew Xie Ji wouldn’t change his mind.
The sky was very dark. When he’d met Yan Yu’an, it had been spring, and now the cicadas’ cries were already coming from afar.
Xie Ji glanced at the tender cotton sprouts planted by the door. He knew Yan Yu’an would definitely come back—and he would definitely bring Yan Yu’an back.
Ning Bingque flapped his wings high in the sky, watching Xie Ji leave under the cover of night. His ears twitched slightly.
“The little lion only has one ability.” Ning Bingque raised an eyebrow with interest. He seemed to have heard something incredible.
And at this moment, Yan Yu’an was being held tightly by Shen Yuanzhou.
The dripping water in the cave was noisy enough to keep Yan Yu’an from sleeping. He missed Xie Ji’s big tail a little—it puffed up from time to time, like a furry dandelion, and was warm to hold while sleeping.
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