Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 555 - 470: Stealing Chickens Makes Me Happy (Thanks to Alliance Leader Enterprise Penguin)_3

But thinking about this part made him especially anxious. He had offended too many people. Who knew if any of them had connections with the Qing Emperor?

When you're under someone else's roof, you have to play by their rules. Whatever eye drops they hand you, whatever undersized shoes they give you, could you refuse to use them or wear them?

But at least one should die with their eyes open, right?

And Hu Jing returned with a complex expression, looking at Huai Shi with particular pity.

"What's wrong?" Huai Shi sensed something was amiss.

Hu Jing coughed twice, repeating the words from the phone call, "The old lady said Chu HongChen is using my things to grant favors, and I don't agree."

"Huh?" Huai Shi was taken aback.

What about the agreement they had? Why had it changed?

But then, Hu Jing's tone shifted. "If you can reach the mountaintop and see her in person, you may take whatever you desire. But if you can't even meet the old lady herself, please turn back."

Huai Shi looked around, feeling the life force grow more vibrant the deeper he went, sensing the terrifying ecosystem with its immense assimilative power.

He couldn't help but sigh, "The old lady sure has a temper."

"Isn't that the truth? The old lady is just like that; her word is law." Hu Jing shook his head. "Want to head back? I'll take you."

Huai Shi pondered deeply for a long while, then suddenly replied.

"I'll give it a try."

If the Qing Emperor had expressed refusal to his arrival before, Huai Shi likely wouldn't have pressed the issue. There were plenty of plantations, and though going through the Astronomical Society would be more troublesome, it wouldn't be impossible to find one.

But now that the old lady had laid down the gauntlet, he felt somewhat eager to try.

Seeing his determined look, Hu Jing, as if he had expected it, nodded and pointed behind them. "Then we'll head back first."

"Wait!"

Hu Jing had only taken two steps when he heard Huai Shi say, "Leave a down jacket for me first... otherwise, I'm going to freeze to death here today."

Hu Jing paused, looked at Huai Shi, then couldn't help but glance at the rookie beside him—the one who seemed a bit too warm—and a chilling smile spread across his face.

"Lu Yan, give your down jacket to our guest..."

And so, Lu Yan's face turned greener by the second.

He just knew nothing good would come of visiting this place today!

. . .

According to the surveillance footage Hu Jing and Lu Yan watched while drinking tea and enjoying the air conditioning in the gatehouse, Huai Shi squatted under the mountain's archway for two hours.

Wearing the down jacket taken from Lu Yan, he finally felt a bit warmer...

He didn't move forward, nor did he retreat. It was as if he had resolved to stay right there, unmoving.

In reality, during those two hours, he had been trying to sort out the persistently entangling vitality of the surrounding plants, but the life force on Yu Dai Shan was simply too overwhelming.

It was like a tangled skein that had previously bound him here—impossible to cut, and even more chaotic when he tried to sort it out. Particularly, the kindred life force within his own body, stirred by the external call, was also attempting to connect and communicate.

For a moment, it felt as if most of his internal life force reserves had turned traitor.

There was no helping it; this was an instinct of a Mountain Ghost.

How could one regulate an ecosystem and absorb the earth's energy if unable to connect the internal with the external?

One could say this trap was specifically designed against a Mountain Ghost.

Other Genealogies or types of Stigmata wouldn't have such trouble here. But for Huai Shi, the closer he got to Yu Dai Shan, the nearer he was to a dead end.

Perhaps this was just a casual act by the Qing Emperor, yet it had created an insurmountable chasm before him.

A gentle but firm obstacle he inevitably had to confront.

It wasn't that he couldn't have it, but if he couldn't even ascend the mountain, how could he possibly take it?

He became even more certain that he must have unknowingly offended the old lady somehow. But the question now was, how could he overcome the challenge before him?

Huai Shi sat until he felt his backside go numb from the cold, but he still hadn't figured out a solution.

Overthinking was useless. He had to at least try.

Amidst all the covert and overt observations, the young man who had lingered before the mountain gate for so long finally stood up. He hopped and jumped around, did a set of broadcast calisthenics to warm up his body, and then took a deep breath.

Then he suddenly turned around and asked, "Where's the toilet? I need to pee."

"PFFT!"

Hu Jing sprayed a mouthful of tea all over the screen.

And Lu Yan, who looked up just in time to get a face full of tea, turned an even deeper shade of green. "Why did you have to turn around just to spray *me*?"

"COUGH, COUGH, the screen is expensive too, you know!"

Hu Jing awkwardly averted his gaze.

Soon after, Huai Shi returned from the toilet to his original spot and took another deep breath.

Then, he took a step forward.

He left a deep footprint in the snow, then another, a third, and a fourth.

As the blizzard gradually subsided, the crisp sound of snapping branches emerged from beneath the snow. After walking a hundred meters, Huai Shi stiffened on the spot.

Continuous CRACKLING and SNAPPING echoed around him.

And Huai Shi could no longer take another step. On his exposed fingers, the whorls of his fingerprints had taken on the texture of tree rings.

Exactly seventeen and a half rings.

He could go no further.

The pressure Yu Dai Shan exerted on him was simply too immense. His internal ecosystem was on the brink; a few more steps, and it might collapse completely, leading to irreversible treeification.

Even if the Qing Emperor was right above and wouldn't let him completely deteriorate, he had definitely lost face and was in a terrible predicament.

It was as if an ancient voice whispered this reminder in his ear.

Brute force wasn't going to work.