Chapter 26: Venturing Out at Midnight

Buying train tickets is difficult, and driving back leads to traffic jams and the risk of getting lost.

Since the Earth’s displacement, many places have changed drastically. Distances have doubled, and at this time, signals have yet to be restored—even if they were, they would only connect to local networks, rendering navigation almost useless.

Many people are still on the road, lost and disoriented. Only those who were relatively close have managed to make it back in time.

The village chief, also named Qin, is a member of the main Qin clan and counts as a distant relative of Qin Xiaoyu, well outside the traditional five degrees of kinship.

At this moment, he stands on a hastily constructed platform, holding a megaphone and testing the sound with a few "hellos." Once satisfied, he shouts to the crowd.

"Quiet, everyone quiet, and listen to me."

Instantly, everyone stops talking and looks up at the platform in unison.

"After the rain stopped, I believe you all went outside to take a look. That’s right, the weather has changed. The sky has shifted, and it’s completely upside down—the plants in this world have rebelled. Look here, see this? This was caused by the sword lily at my front door. It’s a good thing I ducked fast, or it wouldn’t have just been my shoulder; it would have been my head."

The village chief pulls down the collar of his white short-sleeved shirt, revealing a wound on his shoulder. It doesn't look particularly deep, but it is quite long.

After ensuring everyone has seen it, he pulls his shirt back up and continues speaking into the megaphone.

"Ten days ago, I wouldn't have believed the bullshit rumors about Earth shifting or the apocalypse coming. But now, I have no choice but to believe it, considering I was almost hacked to death by a sword lily..."

The village chief seems to ramble, yet it is not entirely pointless; at least, no one is impatient, and everyone is listening intently.

It is only after half an hour that the village chief gets to the point: organizing the villagers to build a protective wall and clearing out plants. The priority is to clear every plant within the village, ensuring that there is not a single plant left inside or outside the houses, or along the roads.

This is a notice from the authorities, and it is also an order.

The most important task right now is building the protective wall. As for the plants, every household is responsible for clearing their own area.

The wall must be dug deep, sturdy, and thick; otherwise, it will not be able to stop the plants, which possess immense penetrating power. Even ordinary plants, in their drive to grow, can push through concrete slabs.

But as well as it’s said, where are they supposed to find the materials?

The two Qin brothers have been recruited into the village guard, and they are to set out with the team tomorrow to search for supplies.

That night, lying in bed, An Xian kicks Qin Bosong and frowns. "Our village is so big; it won't be easy to wall it off."

Qin Bosong is sitting on the edge of the bed tying his shoelaces—shoes he plans to wear when he goes out tomorrow. Taken by surprise by the kick, he lands squarely on the floor. He isn't angry, though; instead, he rubs his backside with a look of astonishment.

"Wife, it seems like you’ve gotten stronger."

"Is that so?"

An Xian sits up immediately, scans the room, and simply wraps her arms around Qin Bosong’s waist to lift him up.

Hey, she actually lifted him.

"How much do you weigh again?" An Xian asks.

"Around 150 pounds, I think," Qin Bosong says, unsure, as he hasn't weighed himself in a long time. He subconsciously reaches up to scratch his head, touches his bald spot, and suddenly remembers his hair had been sliced off.

Good heavens, was he really going to go out tomorrow with this hairstyle?

"Wife, please, help me shave my head."

A clean shave is better than a bald spot.

An Xian looks away and lies back down. "You’re off-topic. We were talking about building the wall."

Regarding his image and vanity, Qin Bosong isn't easily swayed; he rushes off to rummage through cabinets in search of hair clippers.

On the third floor, Gu Suyun is curled up in her husband’s arms, her face filled with worry.

"A’nian, do you think our village will be able to build this wall?"

"It’s unlikely."

Qin Bonian shakes his head. Compared to their rural village, people in the city have reacted faster; they were likely considering building walls before the Earth even shifted. Now that the situation is laid bare, construction must have already begun.

"If the government reacts quickly enough, materials might already be under control, prioritized for urban construction," Qin Bonian says.

"Then what do we do? Should we stay in the village?" Having witnessed the power of the old olive tree, Gu Suyun is terrified and wants to move to the relatively safer city.

"Let’s wait and see."

Qin Bonian isn't sure either, and he pats his wife’s shoulder comfortingly.

"It’ll be fine. We’re close to the city. It used to take ten minutes by car; I’m not sure how long it takes now, but it shouldn't take too long."

Gu Suyun says, "I’m just afraid the road won't be safe."

Qin Bonian thinks of something and says, "It shouldn't be. Our Tangshui Town is the closest town to Lotus City. Although our village isn't in the town center, it’s right on the edge. Just because those people moved into the city doesn't mean they won't come out. After all, there are nearly a million people in the city who need to eat; they can't rely solely on government relief."

No matter how many plants grow, they have to be edible.

If you want to know where there’s a lot of edible mutant plants, where else would it be but the farmland?

If they want to forage in the countryside, the mutant plants will need to be cleared and the roads repaired. If their Xiaosha Village can manage to build a protective wall, perhaps they could even become a supply point.

Gu Suyun sighs. At their age, she really doesn't want the trouble.

She and Qin Bonian are both forty-three—solidly middle-aged. At this age, people really don't have much fighting spirit left; they just want a stable life.

Who would have thought that in middle age, they would encounter such excitement?

The three-story house gradually grows quiet.

At this moment, the door to a small, sun-facing room on the second floor opens quietly, and a round little figure slowly emerges.

She looks up at the sky. This plant planet also has a sun and a moon, though the moon looks larger and appears somewhat different.

The sun doesn't look much different, though it is hard to look at with the naked eye, so even if there were differences, it would be difficult to see them.

She stands on the balcony for a while, and then, as if thinking of something, turns and heads downstairs.

The two elders live on the first floor, so she subconsciously lightens her footsteps.

The moment she opens the door, Shaobing jumps up and rushes toward her, mouth opening to bark, but in the next second, his muzzle is tightly pinched shut.

*Whimper...*

Shaobing blinks his intelligent eyes, looking completely bewildered, as if asking: Why are you pinching my mouth?

"Don't bark, or I'll cut your tongue out for dinner." Qin Xiaoyu’s gaze is full of danger.

Shaobing is terrified; he carefully lies on the ground, signaling total submission.

The master’s sister seems to have become very scary. In that instant, he felt as if he saw himself turning into a pot of dog meat, with his tongue becoming a side dish for drinks.

Seeing that the dog is behaving, Qin Xiaoyu releases her grip.

She hasn't taken many steps when Tieguo rushes out from a corner, lunging directly at her, mouth opening to call out.

Qin Xiaoyu’s eyelids twitch, and she reaches out again.

"..." *Ga?*

Tieguo cannot make a sound, tilting his head to look at Qin Xiaoyu, his expression identical to Shaobing’s just moments ago.

Why are you pinching my mouth?

"Don't call out, or the whole family is having roast goose."

Tieguo: ...

Not pot-stewed goose, but roast goose?

Either way, it’s very scary.