Chapter 92

Chapter 92

It's no exaggeration to say that the gray-blue's hair stood on end as he saw Jie Lin Yuan's black vest and the metallic mechanical arm, along with the long sword that extended from his wrist to his neck, even starting to see his life flash before his eyes.

The instinct to survive made Gray-Blue start begging for mercy incoherently, raising his hands, "Jie brother! Don't kill me! Jie brother, I, I..."

His Highness obediently curled his hind legs and sat down, the golden retriever excitedly rubbed its head against Wu Yin's legs, wagging its tail, bragging about how bravely it had helped Jie Lin Yuan by biting so many people to death. The shepherd scolded it for always acting dumb to please its owner, but as soon as Wu Yin placed his hand on its head, it joyfully rubbed against his palm, boasting even more about the skulls it had crushed compared to the golden retriever.

Jie Lin Yuan slowly blinked, a sniper rifle's crosshair appeared in his left pupil, and he smiled dangerously, speaking deliberately, "Gray-Blue, I didn't want this either, but who asked you to follow..."

"I was worried about you! I wanted to save you!"

"And saw much that I shouldn't have..."

"I saw nothing! I'm blind! Jie brother, I swear I won't say a thing, please believe me."

"Gray-Blue..." Jie Lin Yuan pronounced slowly, "The only ones who won't speak a word are the dead."

"Ahh—!" The one hundred ninety-five centimeters tall, dark-skinned Gray-Blue was cut off...

"Stop scaring him," Wu Yin approached following the voice, patting Jie Linyuan's back calmly, "We're all on the same path. He's going to join us for the zoo trip later. What if you frighten him too much?"

"Hmm?" Jie Linyuan's eyes, previously narrowed, instantly became round and innocent. "You agree?"

He showed a friendly smile to Hui Lan, putting down the knife, "Just kidding, to lighten the mood. You don't mind, do you?"

Hui Lan shook his head frantically, not daring to take offense after just having his life spared.

Jie Linyuan, with a smile, turned around; the long knife disappeared, transforming into a hand with distinct knuckles and intricate mechanical parts at the joints. His mechanical hand and human hand lifted simultaneously, gently and considerately adjusting Wu Yin's coat and tidying the hair on his forehead, "When did this happen? How did he win you over?"

"Just now, when I was being mercilessly tormented by Edmund, and you, His Highness, and the handsome young man were too absorbed in fighting to care, only Hui Lan gave me a look... though his attempt to help was more of a hindrance." When he had possessed Edmund and controlled him, forcibly separating the two, it nearly ripped Wu Yin's soul out.

Hui Lan: "..."

Wu Yin said indifferently, "Thanks to you all, I've learned that it's better to rely on oneself than to seek help from others."

His Highness and the handsome young man quietly backed off, leaving only the eloquent Jie Linyuan making excuses: "I saw someone entering through the back door with thermal imaging, but I trusted you, knowing you could handle it alone, that's why I let you be."

"Thanks for having such faith in a blind man."

Jie Linyuan laughed even more heartily, "Your Highness, find a place for your master to sit. I'll go scavenge for something useful."

Hui Lan stood still like a statue, unsure whether to stay or go. Despite being tall, he wished he could shrink away. It wasn't until Wu Yin sat down in the corner, comfortably leaning into a genuine dog fur sofa under His Highness's guidance, and closed his eyes, sighing his name, "Hui Lan," that he moved.

"Here!" Hui Lan's response was so sudden it startled him.

If Jie Linyuan had been the one to ask, he would surely have offered some pretentious comfort to ease the tension, but Wu Yin, who lacked social finesse, went straight to the point: "Why do you want to go to the zoo?"

"Uh, uh..." Hui Lan stuttered nervously, unsure if there was a trap in the question and how he should respond with high EQ.

Seeing him unable to articulate a reason, Wu Yin frowned and called out, "Jie Linyuan, why does this guy want to go to the zoo?"

Jie Linyuan, who was searching for a hoodie of the right size, answered without turning around: "To find his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend," Wu Yin repeated with interest, "Girlfriend... What's her name?"

"Grape," Hui Lan said honestly.

"How did you two meet?"

"We've been neighbors since we were kids." Grey Blue's tension eased as he shared a story of childhood sweethearts with Wu Yin, about how both their parents, impoverished and in search of financial gain, participated in experimental animal gene modifications, receiving a substantial sum initially but soon suffering from various side effects.

The similarities in Grey Blue and Grape's backgrounds, facing discrimination, having sickly parents, and eventually becoming orphans, were striking.

They fell in love early on, becoming each other's emotional support and planning to marry once of legal age. Unfortunately, when the pandemic broke out, they were in different cities and forcibly quarantined, losing contact before they could reunite in the post-apocalyptic world.

"Her animal traits are even more pronounced than mine," said Grey Blue, "so I figured if she wasn't in the Beast Nation, she must be in a zoo. But alone, I couldn't make it from the Beast Nation to the zoo, which is why I sought help from Brother Jie upon hearing his plans to go there..."

"How did you realize you liked her?" Wu Yin asked curiously.

Grey Blue found it odd to discuss such a tender topic amidst a graveyard strewn with corpses and blood, but he carefully recalled, "I... I don't remember. By the time I noticed, I couldn't take my eyes off her... looking forward to seeing her every day..."

Wu Yin pondered before asking slowly, "How did you confirm that what you felt for her was 'liking'?"

"...," Grey Blue struggled to answer, thinking hard before saying, "It's just something you know. Like when you're hungry, you eat; when you're sleepy, you sleep. It's instinctual. You just understand it's 'liking'."

Dandelion, who has read thousands of romance novels yet remains a virgin—wow~

Wu Yin nodded thoughtfully, "Got it." Then, like a dragon accepting tribute, he made a promise, "Once we get to the zoo, we'll help you look for your girlfriend together."

"Really? That's great!" Grey Blue's eyes lit up, finally relaxing as he excitedly described Grape's appearance: a red-haired fox, with ears shaped like this and a tail so big...

Wu Yin, who could see nothing, "..."

Fortunately, with keen perception, Jie Linyuan interrupted Grey Blue's endless chatter by pulling him along to try on shoe sizes and pick out a few clothes and sneakers together.

Just then, the mutated dandelion lad alighted softly on Wu Yin's hand, brushing his skin with a few fluffy seeds—Are you leaving?

"Yes," Wu Yin said, "We're heading to the zoo, ZOO, a word you taught me."

Grey Blue turned back in confusion, "Hey, who are you talking to?"

Before he finished speaking, he saw His Highness's eyes reignite in the night like four will-o'-the-wisps, as two massive heads lifted from their restful position on the ground, staring straight at him.

Grey Blue: "..."

Grey Blue suddenly covered his ears, "I didn't hear anything!"

"You'd better not have heard anything," Jie Linyuan warned, grabbing the back of his head, "Otherwise..."

"Yikes—!!"

Wu Yin frowned, "Why are you scaring him again? It's common knowledge that some mature mutated plants can understand human speech. Our mutated dogs can even write and drive; this is no secret in the Beast Nation."

Jie Linyuan raised an eyebrow, smoothly adapting to Wu Yin's shift of concept, transforming his ability to communicate with mutated flora and fauna into their ability to communicate with humans.

If you don't believe it... then ask the mutated flora and fauna yourself, see if they'll clear up your doubts.

Little handsome—wu yin? Is your real name wuyin? How do you write those characters?

"Wu Yin, from the sixty Jiazi cycle."

Little Handsome—what an odd name, no wonder you gave me such a peculiar name as 'Little Handsome'.

Wu Yin chuckled, "That's because I once met a mutated lotus named Little Beauty..."

Little Handsome—a mutated lotus, huh... I'd love to meet her, but it's highly unlikely now. Sorry, Wu Yin, I can't leave with you. My roots are here. Although I can cut off a part of me to stay by your side like now, that part will soon wither. I must return to where my roots lie.

“……”

Little Handsome—It was a pleasure to meet you.

When Little Beauty, the mutated lotus, left last time, Wu Yin was in a dormant sleep, almost completely unaware of the outside world; when he parted ways with Yang Mo, Old Hu, and Qin Yue from the southern camp, Wu Yin had already decided to go separate ways, knowing they would not continue together.

This was the first time Wu Yin faced an unexpected departure head-on. He was stunned for a moment, feeling a bitter emotion surge, just as Grey Blue said, almost instinctively, he knew this was called "reluctance".

He was always good at stabilizing his emotions and never allowed himself to feel wronged. Since he felt reluctant, he would try his best to strive for it, to seize it.

"...Jie Linyuan." Wu Yin fell silent for a while, then turned to Jie Linyuan for help, "Can you transplant it?"

"Transplant? What transplant?" Jie Linyuan, having found a pair of shoes he liked, picked three different sizes of the same model and walked over to Wu Yin. He squatted down, placing Wu Yin's legs on his knees, and after putting socks on him, slowly untied the laces, trying on the shoes one by one.

"Little Handsome said he can't leave with us because his roots are in the library; he can't move far from his roots, and the seeds he spreads can't carry his consciousness."

"Hmm, you want to take it with us?" Jie Linyuan fitted the shoes on him, "How's the size?"

"...It's not that I have to, but I thought if it could come with us, it could always help me understand many things in books that I can't. So, what do you think about transplanting? Digging it up and moving it to a pot, then we can take it with us." Wu Yin said, "The shoes are a bit small, let's try another pair."

"...And to answer questions? If you keep getting answers, you'll know more than me, then how can I play with you?"