novelraw Chapter 263 - 254: Same Kind
Chapter 263 - 254: Same Kind
The moment Gu Xi looked over, the Mutated Rat King instantly went completely still.
But its beady red eyes kept darting furtively toward Gu Xi, and its small, furry golden ears twitched twice.
’Interesting.’
Gu Xi patted the back of Qi Xiang’s hand, signaling for her to stop.
She stared at the Mutated Rat King for a moment, then removed a black tube from its furry ear.
A small slip of paper was attached to the tube, on which was written: For Gu Xi’s eyes only.
A line of smaller text followed: ’Private letter. All others keep away, or face the consequences.’
No wonder Ouyang said this thing had delivered itself to their doorstep.
"Miss Gu, this thing is incredibly clever."
Fang Rui explained from the side, "A little while ago, when Li Shen and Liu Hao were patrolling outside the camp, they spotted this thing furtively peering in our direction. They had just started to approach it, before they even made a move, when they saw it had this balanced on its head."
Fang Rui pulled a folded piece of oil paper from his pocket. He unfolded it, revealing a single word scrawled in large, crooked red letters: Messenger.
Below it, another line of small text read: "When two armies are at war, the messenger is not to be slain."
Gu Xi: "..." That’s Yun Ye’s style, all right. In Li Ming’s words, only an anomaly would constantly try to imitate human behavior.
The others: "..." So it was true. The mutated animals that had managed to survive in the wild had all become wickedly smart.
"Miss Gu..." Ouyang started, his eyes fixed on the small black tube in her hand, but he trailed off.
Gu Xi calmly uncapped the tube.
"What’s inside?" Qi Xiang asked curiously, leaning closer.
Gu Xi shook out a brown, oval-shaped object.
"Why do I get the feeling this is some kind of plant seed?" Qi Xiang said, uncertain.
"Let me see." Qin Yi also leaned in. She stared at it, focusing her senses for a moment. "It’s probably not a seed. I can’t sense any plant aura from it."
"Gu Xi?" The two of them looked at Gu Xi at the same time.
Even Fang Rui and Ouyang looked over.
"It’s nothing. Someone is just returning what’s mine." Gu Xi lowered her gaze, clenching the object in her palm to hide the storm raging in her heart.
Qi Xiang’s feeling, in fact, wasn’t wrong.
In a way, it really was a plant seed.
It was the fruit that her Sproutling had borne after it suddenly blossomed when her ability broke through to the Divine Rank.
There had been two of them in total.
Back then, she had broken through to the Divine Rank at a young age, becoming the first human to do so. Many people already had their eyes on her; Li Ming believed the seed likely had an extraordinary origin and that letting others know about it would only cause more trouble, so he never reported the matter to the higher-ups.
So, the only people who knew about this were the original members of their Doomsday Squad.
In other words, Yun Ye should not have known about this.
Because at that time, she hadn’t even met Yun Ye yet.
But now, her seed had been sent to her by Yun Ye...
Gu Xi discreetly put the seed back into her dimensional space.
’How on earth did this thing end up in Yun Ye’s hands?’
Back then, Li Ming had sensed that this matter wasn’t simple. He had warned the other squad members to keep their mouths shut and not leak anything about the Sproutling blooming and bearing fruit...
Later, after they returned to the base, Li Ming did privately ask her for one of the seeds. He said he wanted to have it analyzed to see if they could figure out its purpose.
But a few days later, he returned it, saying that it was impossible to determine the thing’s purpose with their current technology. He told her to keep it safe and, preferably, not let anyone see it.
Gu Xi hadn’t paid it much mind, because she herself had tried many times and truly couldn’t sense any purpose from it.
After that, the base assigned her more and more missions. Gu Xi got busier and busier, and no longer had time to ponder such trivial matters. In Gu Xi’s eyes, nothing was a big deal except for matters of life and death.
So the two seeds had remained in her dimensional space ever since.
So many years had passed that Gu Xi had almost forgotten about the whole affair.
But now...
’How did something that should have been in my dimensional space end up in Yun Ye’s hands?’
Gu Xi could only think of one possibility—someone had tampered with her dimensional space.
The idea was truly inconceivable, and the more she thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
But besides this possibility, Gu Xi couldn’t think of any other.
She was certain that both seeds had been stored in her dimensional space all that time.
But now, one had been delivered by Yun Ye in this manner, and as for the other... Gu Xi had searched her entire space and couldn’t find it.
Inside her space, the Sproutling seemed a little dazed and agitated, circling the seed erratically. Gu Xi pressed down lightly on the knuckle of her index finger.
’No wonder Yun Ye always said that they were the same kind...’ Previously, Gu Xi had just thought it was his own sentimental perception.
But now, she suddenly had another theory.
Gu Xi’s eyes snapped up.
Beside her, a surprised Qin Yi looked over. "Gu Xi, what’s wrong?"
Gu Xi came back to her senses and calmly changed the subject. "It’s nothing. I was just thinking..."
Her gaze fell on the Mutated Rat King as she spoke slowly, "People always say ’as timid as a mouse,’ but this thing is quite bold..."
The not-so-bold Mutated Rat King instantly began to tremble pitifully. ’It’s not like I wanted to come here.’
’Ugh, never mind. It’s too painful to talk about.’
"It sure is bold. Matches all that fat on its body," Qi Xiang said affirmatively, squatting nearby. She picked up a twig and poked the Mutated Rat King’s belly.
The Mutated Rat King shot a furtive glance at Gu Xi but ultimately didn’t dare to move.
This thing was truly clever.
Qi Xiang and Qin Yi exchanged a look.
Ouyang leaned in too. "You’re not wrong, it is pretty fat."
The Mutated Rat King probably knew these humans meant it no good. It twitched its ears, and its large, bean-sized crimson eyes narrowed slightly, giving a vivid performance of what it means to look like a shifty rat.
Qi Xiang was so amused she could barely contain herself.
"Gu Xi, this thing is actually kind of interesting," Qi Xiang said, standing up and dusting off her hands. "How about you let me give it a try?"
"You want to keep it?" Gu Xi suddenly felt that Qi Xiang’s tastes were rather peculiar.
Qi Xiang said, propping her chin on her hand, "I think Da Hong will probably like it."
The others looked at the Mutated Rat King, which was huddled by the fire and trembling, then back at Qi Xiang, all of them completely speechless. "..."
Fang Rui really couldn’t hold back and asked her, "Wait, what on earth makes you think a chicken would like a mouse?"
Qin Yi also felt Da Hong wouldn’t like the creature, but seeing Qi Xiang’s eager and very determined expression, she said tactfully, "Our Da Hong is quite fond of being clean..."
This time, before Qi Xiang could say anything, the Mutated Rat King itself got worked up.
"SQUEAK!" ’Who are you calling dirty?’
It puffed out its chest forcefully and shook its golden fur.
It was as if it were showing off to these two-legged beasts—’Sleek and glossy, what part of this is dirty?’
Qin Yi, Ouyang, and the others looked on in shock. ’Has this thing really become sentient?’
Fang Rui had already taken out his personal dissecting knife, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the Mutated Rat King.
Although he was originally just a psychologist, he had been going on missions with the squad for years and had performed his fair share of surgeries. He was now an expert with that Willow Leaf Blade, and the sight was truly terrifying... to a rat.
Just then, Gu Xi suddenly took two steps forward and grabbed the Mutated Rat King by the scruff of its neck. "Spit it out."
’Spit what out?’
The group was baffled, and they all looked at each other in confusion.
Gu Xi didn’t explain. She just stared at the Mutated Rat King in front of her as a small green sprout wrapped itself around her fingertip, eager for action.