To say it moved with the speed of an arrow would be a slight exaggeration.
But right now, Yin Yi's running speed, relying solely on its roots, was nearly on par with a healthy adult man sprinting a hundred-meter dash. This completely shattered Han Ning's stereotype of plants as slow-moving creatures.
'In his mind, plants were supposed to be sluggish, barely able to inch forward over long periods.'
With this degree of agility, Yin Yi would no longer need to wrap its roots around him in battle and rely on his body's nimbleness to attack.
"Nicely done." He patted one of Yin Yi's branches encouragingly.
"Boop~" Yin Yi swayed its body, radiating happiness.
As it grew stronger, Yin Yi was also becoming more and more intelligent.
…
「The next day.」
As the first person to discover the train whistle, Han Ning was "honored" with a spot on the exploration team by Dean Wu.
The team heading south to explore wasn't large—just three people: Han Ning, the big guy Luo Chen whom Han Ning had met recently, and Teacher Zhou.
Although Teacher Zhou's Silver Lotus Wood had only recently mutated, he was rich in life experience. At critical moments, he could provide the students with crucial guidance.
Generally, any exploration team would include a teacher. Inexperienced student teams could easily act impulsively or simply freeze up when encountering trouble.
That was when an older, more experienced person was needed to step up and take command.
At the main entrance of Dormitory Building A.
Three figures stood together, clad in white Protective Suits.
Even with his enhanced physical constitution, Han Ning still wore a full Protective Suit when exploring outside.
This mysterious, dangerous wasteland had barely revealed the tip of the iceberg to him. Who knew what kinds of bizarre Soul Beasts were lurking in some dark corner, ready to launch an attack like the Demon Eye Frog's venom spray?
'The Protective Suit, at least, offered an extra layer of protection. It was a comfort, if nothing else.'
"Is everything ready? Let's move out." After a final check to ensure they had all their emergency supplies, the three of them opened the large iron gate on the south side and headed off campus.
The only residential area for the Xia Country Forestry University School of Engineering was this single dormitory complex where Han Ning now lived. In total, its 12 buildings had once housed over 3,000 students.
About 600 meters south of the dorms was the School of Engineering's South Gate. Beyond the South Gate lay the off-campus Student Street.
Lin University's various schools and colleges were scattered across the city, not all located together.
The road leading off campus hadn't been cleared. The asphalt was littered with corpses mangled beyond recognition, making it impossible for any vehicle to pass. The three of them had no choice but to proceed on foot.
Over the past ten-odd days, the bodies had been gradually devoured by wandering Soul Beasts and had begun to decompose, losing much of their initial horrifying appearance.
"Yin Yi, go on ahead. Scout the path and drive off any dangerous Soul Beasts." Once they were outside the dormitory's safety perimeter, Han Ning patted Yin Yi and gave the command.
"Boop~"
Yin Yi acknowledged the order and scurried forward on its dense, grayish-white roots, keeping about two meters ahead of the trio.
The three men followed behind Yin Yi in a triangular formation, one in front and two behind. Luo Chen's and Teacher Zhou's Silver Lotus Woods couldn't yet keep up with a normal walking pace, so they rode in their owners' backpacks, keeping watch on either side.
"Tch... Han Ning, your Silver Lotus Wood has so much life to it, and it's so powerful. How in the world did you raise it?"
Luo Chen's face was filled with envy as he watched Yin Yi moving even faster than they could walk.
"Nothing special. Just feed it more Soul Beast corpses. The more Energy it consumes, the stronger it gets," Han Ning said with a smile, offering a casual explanation.
"Looks like I'll have to get serious about hunting Soul Beasts, too." Luo Chen mused, his eyes scanning the surroundings. 'Maybe one day I'll be strong enough to kill that giant snake in the cafeteria and bring it back for everyone to make soup.'
In this perilous environment, there was nothing more desirable than growing stronger.
"Luo Chen, don't be too hasty, and don't underestimate the Soul Beasts here," Teacher Zhou, who was walking beside them, couldn't help but caution him after hearing his daydreaming. "Since we arrived, we haven't even explored a one-kilometer radius around the school. You mustn't venture deep into unexplored territory just to hunt Soul Beasts."
"Yeah, I know."
With Yin Yi and the other two Silver Lotus Woods for protection, wandering creatures like Demon Eye Frogs and Iron-toothed Snakes didn't dare approach.
Soon, the trio left the dormitory area far behind, arriving near the School of Engineering's South Gate.
The light from the celestial bodies above filtered down through a thin white mist blanketing the wasteland, offering little illumination by the time it reached the ground.
In the dim light, Han Ning and the others spotted a brick-and-stone wall about a hundred meters away, standing over two meters tall.
This was the wall that separated the School of Engineering from the Student Street.
"Strange. We've walked over five hundred meters by now... how come we haven't seen a single person from Southeast Asia? How did that guy from yesterday manage to get to our dorm building all by himself...?" As Luo Chen was speaking, he suddenly felt a chill on his calf and instinctively glanced down.
"Holy shit, what is this thing?!"
A long, black worm, nearly the size of a man's palm, had attached itself to his calf at some point. The front half of its body had already tunneled into the flesh, leaving only the rear half writhing in the air.
Luo Chen had never seen such a massive bug before and jumped in fright.
"Don't move!"
Teacher Zhou barked, signaling Luo Chen to calm down. His eyes fixed on the large worm burrowing deeper into the flesh as he spoke urgently,
"From the looks of it, that's a leech. Have your Silver Lotus Wood bind it with a vine to stop it from burrowing any deeper into the muscle."
"Let me." It was Han Ning's first time seeing a leech this big too, and it made his skin crawl. He quickly ordered Yin Yi over to help Luo Chen remove it.
"Boop-boop~"
Receiving Han Ning's command, Yin Yi immediately shot out a thumb-length spike, piercing the black leech's body.
With a soft POP, the rear half of the leech's body exploded.
The front half, having lost its suction, was then pulled out of the wound by Luo Chen himself.
The once pitch-black leech was now a sickeningly bright red, swollen a size larger from the massive amount of blood it had consumed from Luo Chen.
"That's all my blood... As they say, this body is a gift from my parents—can't just throw parts of it away!" Luo Chen, his face pale, held his own Silver Lotus Wood up to the leech's corpse. He let it sink its roots into the body to absorb the nutrients within—his nutrients, in other words.
Han Ning's mouth fell open. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
'This guy,' he thought, 'has a twisted sense of humor.'