Too Many Reincarnators? I Bring the National Team to the Field - Chapter 200

Chapter 200

In the Southwest Region, Houttuynia was an absolute delicacy.

Cheng Bairuo hadn’t eaten it once since the Apocalypse. After all, people stocked up on things that could be stored. Who in their right mind would stockpile Houttuynia?

Two years had passed. Any of it would have been long gone.

It was only because he had craved it so badly in the dead of night, dreaming about it over and over, that he had been the first to notice the Mutant Houttuynia the moment it moved.

Jiang Yu was stunned. “What the hell?”

Gu Qiansheng’s expression was just as hard to describe. “Houttuynia? The Mutant Plant is Houttuynia?”

They had imagined the Mutant Plant might be ginseng, some kind of spiritual herb, or even a wild grass that had grown out of a crack with terrifying vitality. It might even have been a mushroom, something that reproduced quickly…

But no matter what, none of them had expected it to be Houttuynia!

From the first time she heard the Prophecy, the “running Mutant Plant” Jiang Yu had pictured in her head had been something rare, high-end, and exotic. It might even have been extremely abnormal.

Well…

It was pretty abnormal.

After the Apocalypse, the Mutated Animal and Mutant Plant that appeared were a Calico Cat and Houttuynia. Why were they all so down-to-earth?

Cheng Bairuo nodded, his tone firm. “It was Houttuynia. I saw it clearly.”

As he spoke, he swallowed again.

Thinking of Houttuynia’s flavor, Jiang Yu’s expression turned complicated. “Why Houttuynia… Is there something special about this thing? Because it’s a Southwest specialty?”

Sheng An remained calm. “It’s actually reasonable. Houttuynia resists toxins and radiation. For it to stand out from countless plants and survive in a world damaged by a Meteorite Fragment makes perfect sense.”

Jiang Yu looked at her, still wearing that complicated expression. “Sister Sheng, do you eat Houttuynia?”

Sheng An answered without the slightest hesitation, “No.”

Jiang Yu: “…”

Jiang Yu: “Then how are you so calm?”

Expressionless, Sheng An said, “So you want to eat the one and only Mutant Plant?”

Jiang Yu fell silent again.

Thinking of the fanatical look in Academician Zhou and the others’ eyes, she shuddered. “No. I never liked eating it in the first place, and even if I did, I still couldn’t eat it!”

If she dared say she wanted to eat the only Mutant Plant, Academician Zhou and the others would eat her alive!

She also shot Cheng Bairuo a warning look in passing.

Cheng Bairuo swallowed, then hunched his neck guiltily.

Sheng An looked around. “We haven’t found the Mutant Plant yet, so don’t discuss eating it for now. After we find it and figure out why it can survive, perhaps we’ll be able to plant Houttuynia all over the Scorched Earth world. Then there won’t be any shortage of food.”

Jiang Yu and Gu Qiansheng: “…”

For one fleeting moment, they suddenly didn’t feel all that eager to find this Mutant Plant anymore.

Sheng An swept her gaze over their surroundings. The area was all mountains, but because there was no vegetation, everything was clearly visible at a glance. As far as she could see, there was no trace of any Mutant Plant.

A Helicopter circled in the sky, but it sent no signal. It had found nothing either.

“Yani, how are you feeling?” Sheng An looked at Ji Yani.

Ji Yani stood, moved her ankle a little, then nodded. “I’m good. Do we start searching now?”

Sheng An said, “Search the nearby area first. Check behind the mountains, and anywhere blocked by rocks.”

With the Helicopter circling overhead to inspect from above, the only area they could search was the ground.

The eight of them began the search.

Ji Yani and Liu Miao, who had rested for a while, moved extremely quickly, searching everywhere. Sheng An kept Jiang Yu by her side and carefully examined the traces on the ground.

“This area is the last direction you were chasing it in?” Sheng An asked.

Cheng Bairuo nodded. “We saw it run here. After that, by the time I rushed over, I didn’t know which direction it had gone. But this area-”

He marked out a range. “It definitely passed through here.”

“How did it run?” Sheng An asked while carefully checking the marks on the ground, not missing a single detail.

Cheng Bairuo thought for a moment, his expression complicated. “It was a little far away, so I couldn’t see that clearly. It looked like it pulled its roots out of the ground and swung them like legs while sprinting like crazy.”

His description was so vivid that Jiang Yu found herself unable to picture the scene.

After the Apocalypse, there really was no end to the bizarre things in this world.

They searched for a long time. Sheng An practically covered every inch of the area Cheng Bairuo had marked out. Song Linwei, Gu Qiansheng, and the others were also examining everything carefully.

“Sister Sheng, did you find anything?” Song Linwei walked over and asked.
Sheng An asked, “What about you?”

Song Linwei shook his head.

Sheng An lowered her eyes slightly. “Right. Nothing at all. It’s as if no plant ever appeared here. There isn’t a single trace on the ground.”

Since the thing’s “escape” had been a normal mad dash rather than a Flash, how could such a large stretch of ground not have even one fresh mark?

Gu Qiansheng said, “Maybe it’s special, so it doesn’t leave traces?”

Sheng An shook her head and fell into thought.

It was possible. After all, the Mutant Plant had gone undiscovered for so long; it had to be capable of hiding its tracks.

But there was another possibility…

Ever since they had started checking the area, Cheng Bairuo had been zoning out. After all, a Non-mainstream teenager like him had never learned reconnaissance. He really couldn’t tell whether a plant had passed through or not.

He held a communicator in his hand, lowering his head to look at the map, then raising it to look at the mountains. He murmured, “This place looks kind of familiar…”

Sheng An looked at him. “You know where this is?”

Cheng Bairuo frowned, his voice uncertain. “I think it’s the Four Small Mountains near my hometown. But all the plants got burned away, and now everything looks the same. It’s kind of hard to recognize.”

“Four Small Mountains?” Jiang Yu was surprised. “Why is it called that?”

Cheng Bairuo raised a hand and pointed at the mountains around them. “Look. There are four little mountains around here. Of course, you might think these mountains are already pretty tall, but in our Southwest, they really don’t count for much.”

As if remembering something, he added, “The Four Small Mountains weren’t anything special before, but a few decades ago, some geology experts came over and said this place was some kind of Volcano and needed to be investigated.”

“Volcano?” This time, even Zhang Kun was surprised.

Cheng Bairuo said, “That’s what my grandpa said, anyway. But my family has lived here for generations, and we’ve never seen an eruption. Even after the Apocalypse came and the Meteorite shockwaves hit, there still wasn’t any effect.”

The mountains looked utterly ordinary. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have failed to recognize his own hometown.

Jiang Yu moved closer to Sheng An. “Still thinking about the lack of traces?”

Sheng An nodded.

She stepped forward. “Let’s go up the mountain and take a look.”

Jiang Yu hurried after her. The sky was almost dark, growing gloomier by the minute, and their field of vision was shrinking. If they couldn’t find any sign of it today, tomorrow would probably be even harder.

“If only Qi Dui were here…” Jiang Yu sighed.

Sheng An did not reply.

The group hadn’t gone far when Ji Yani and Liu Miao returned. Ji Yani was still in decent shape, but Liu Miao’s face was pale and she was gasping for breath. Zhang Kun handed them water.

Ji Yani unscrewed the cap but reported before taking a drink. “No discoveries. There’s no sign of the Mutant Plant anywhere nearby. It may have already escaped. It’s practically become a spirit. A mutated plant that can actually run.”

Liu Miao couldn’t speak, but clearly, she had found nothing either.

Just then, Jiang Yu suddenly pointed in one direction and cried out, “Is that it?!”

Everyone looked over at once.

A green plant was running across the ground, circling along the foot of the mountain toward the side. It stopped, its leaves trembling as if it were looking around.

The distance wasn’t too great, so its bright green leaves were perfectly clear.

Only, it looked rather miserable. It barely had a few leaves left in total, and they were pitted and ragged, as if it had suffered serious damage. Many of its roots had also snapped off. Droplets clung to its leaves; whether they were dew or sweat was impossible to tell.

It seemed to have run itself tired. The roots that had been sprinting across the ground plunged into the soil to draw strength.

Cheng Bairuo cried out, “That’s it!”

The Mutant Houttuynia he had seen was exactly that thing!

Jiang Yu was ecstatic. “Sister Sheng! It really is the Mutant Plant. I’ll use my Supernatural Ability to control it. Let’s hurry up and dig it out.”

She strode over quickly, raising her hand to activate her Supernatural Ability.

Sheng An also stared intently at the Mutant Plant, the corners of her mouth lifting.

However, before Jiang Yu could get close, the thing seemed to be fleeing from something. It yanked its roots out of the soil and continued running for its life.

Jiang Yu cried out, “It’s running-”

Gu Qiansheng said, “After it!”

Sheng An’s footsteps paused slightly.

-This scene meant Qin Xuan’s Prophecy had come true once again.

A Prophecy… did it predict something that might happen in the future, or did it predict what would inevitably happen in the future after the Prophecy was known?