Hyacinth

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Words appeared before Su Wen's eyes, ready to be scanned.

Then, in the scorching late summer, he stepped out of the comfortable air-conditioned house.

Beneath the dappled light filtering through the lush branches of the large tree in the courtyard, accompanied by the cicadas' endless cries.

Su Wen shut the creaking wooden door of the old house.

He climbed onto his battered bicycle and set off toward the destination marked on the map.

"Near the old bookstore on Yulin West Street. What a familiar name."

He had attended middle school nearby, so the scenery along the way was naturally far from unfamiliar to him.

Compared to the civilization ruins in the Time Travel Game, with their heavy cyber-apocalyptic technological style, the old houses in Coastal Old Town felt far more familiar to him.

He had arrived.

Based on the map comparison and analysis Qin Mingyuan had left behind three thousand years later.

Su Wen leaned his battered bicycle against the roadside near the old bookstore.

Then he began searching for something resembling the giant tree from the game's visuals.

"Old Qin, I hope your data is accurate. If it's off by even one or two kilometers, I'll be completely screwed."

He activated the Authority of Identification and began checking the surroundings one by one.

The obvious roadside trees came first, naturally.

For all he knew, one of them might have undergone a genetic mutation in the future.

Identification: Camphor tree, evergreen broadleaf tree, 25 years old

Identification: Camphor tree, evergreen broadleaf tree, 28 years old

Identification: Camphor tree, evergreen broadleaf tree, 28 years old

"Are all the roadside trees in Coastal Old Town camphor trees? That sure makes things easy."

After scanning the entire area, he found nothing unusual.

There was no helping it.

He could only squat down and inspect every blade of grass one by one.

"Young man, what are you doing here? Did you lose something?"

An elderly man sitting at the bookstore entrance asked him.

Su Wen was no stranger to him either. He was Old Man Lin, the bookstore owner, who had run his shop here for a long time.

At the very least, back in middle school, Old Man Lin had cheated him out of his hard-earned three yuan for Orange Soda by selling him useless "after-class answer sheets," which had even gotten him and his deskmate a zero from the teacher.

That swindling old man sold expensive, shabby books.

Why hadn't his shop gone under yet?

Although that was what he thought.

In reality, he still waved with a bright smile.

"I'm a community service volunteer. I'm here to help clean up trash and do what I can."

"Heh, young people these days are really something."

The old man gave him a thumbs-up.

"You're too kind."

While modestly accepting the compliment, Su Wen casually ran an identification on the old man.

Identification: Lin Yunwen, Tier 3 Transcendent, Director of the Yulin West Street Night Watchers Office, operates an old bookstore. Due to poor business, despite relying on a middle school to sell supplementary educational materials, he often remains on the brink of bankruptcy.

???

Well, well, Old Man Lin.

A Tier 3 Transcendent.

He had hidden it pretty well.

No wonder he could monopolize the supplementary materials around here.

I'd better keep acting convincing.

He took a garbage bag from his backpack, then squatted by the roadside, picking up trash while inspecting the lawn.

"What is he doing over there?"

Not far away, a curious female voice came from inside the bookstore.

"He's helping clean up trash. Xiaoqing, look at him. You're both young people, yet he's doing community service in this summer heat. You can't even be bothered to clean your own room, let alone help this old man clean the bookstore."

"Grandpa, stop talking. How embarrassing if he hears you."

The young woman complained coquettishly.

While continuing to identify things, Su Wen silently nodded to himself. His attitude toward Old Man Lin softened somewhat.

Young girls really were delicate.

But he was different.

He was practically the model of a good young man in the new era, embodying the five virtues and four principles.

Identification: Bermuda grass, family Poaceae, genus Cynodon, perennial low-growing herbaceous plant, weed, utterly ordinary

Identification: Goosegrass, annual herb, extremely developed root system, weed, utterly ordinary

An hour passed.

Su Wen wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Then he continued identifying targets one by one.

Identification: Goosegrass, annual herb, extremely developed root system, weed, utterly ordinary

Identification: Old fountain pen, discarded trash left here by someone unknown

He tossed it into the garbage bag.

And continued.

Another hour passed.

Identification: Dandelion, family Asteraceae, genus Taraxacum, perennial herbaceous plant, weed, utterly ordinary.

Even beneath the shade of the roadside trees, Su Wen's back was soaked with sweat under the scorching southern summer.

But he did not give up.

Perhaps it was because the shadow of death hung over him.

But more than that, it was because of the words Qin Mingyuan had left behind.

He gave a carefree smile that seemed almost self-mocking.

"Old Qin, my goal in life was really just to find a rich woman and coast through life.

"But now, I can neither coast through life nor find a rich woman. I can only wait for death. I didn't even have time to write tomorrow's assignment report.

"How did you keep going? Can you tell me?"

Su Wen was an ordinary young man whose physical fitness had been rated as worse than the village entrance chicken, and who had taken sick leave on the first day of military training just to slack off.

For him to have lasted this long.

Was already no easy feat.

Another hour passed.

He had cleared the trash from more than half the block.

Identification: Rice flatsedge, class Monocotyledonae, family Cyperaceae, genus Cyperus, annual herbaceous plant, no rhizome, fibrous roots, weed, utterly ordinary.

Identification: Hyacinth, order Asparagales, family Hyacinthaceae, genus Hyacinthus, perennial bulbous herb, Origin Point—Starlight, Extraordinary Trait—Natural Selection Theory, Monsoon Evolution, Life Eligibility, Evolution Origin Point, status—dormant

Identification: Dandelion, family Asteraceae, genus Taraxacum, perennial herbaceous plant, weed, utterly ordinary.

Wait.

Su Wen had wanted to rub his eyes.

But when he noticed how filthy his hands were, he restrained himself in time.

The hyacinth swayed gently in the summer breeze.

After confirming it again and again.

He tremblingly cradled the cluster of azure flowers, which looked both incredibly slender and utterly pure.

Contact with the Life Evolution Origin Point detected. Initial Origin Mark activated. Life recovery +3

Contact with the Life Evolution Origin Point detected. Initial Origin Mark activated. Energy recovery +1

Contact with the Life Evolution Origin Point detected. Initial Origin Mark activated. Charisma +5

This was the real thing.

He hurriedly emptied everything unimportant from his backpack, then dug up the hyacinth along with the surrounding soil and placed it inside.

Over the next ten minutes.

Su Wen gathered up the last of the trash he had picked up, intending to toss it into a garbage bin before heading home.

Then the pleasant voice he had heard earlier came from behind him.

"You've worked hard. Take a break. I'll pour you a glass of water."

Su Wen warily turned around and glanced behind him. There stood a beautiful young woman in a pale yellow summer dress, her hair tied up, concern visible in her eyes.

Identification: Lin Xiqing, ordinary person, possesses Transcendent potential, not awakened, single, net worth ten million.

"I'm fine. I'm not tired."

It had even specifically marked "single" and "net worth ten million."

Nice one.

If this had been the old Su Wen, the moment he learned that, he would definitely have clung to the rich woman's thigh and fulfilled his life's dream.

But now.

Not only was Su Wen not tired, he even wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

As he wondered why the girl in front of him seemed slightly flushed.

Could it be.

That she had heatstroke?

But to Lin Xiqing, the fact that this young man could contribute so selflessly to the community and work for four hours without resting even once was enough to earn her admiration.

At least, she could not do it.

Besides.

His profile as he looked up and smiled beneath the sunlight was really handsome!

For someone who had never chased celebrities or liked any young idol, this was an entirely new experience.

But the next second.

Before she could say another word.

That handsome volunteer laborer had already ridden off cleanly and decisively on his battered bicycle.

He had run off.

"The giant tree that will destroy everything three thousand years from now is in the backpack behind me."

The joy of surviving disaster, his thoughts about the future, and the effort he had put in under the scorching summer sun.

All sorts of emotions mingled in Su Wen's mind.

Making him completely overlook his perfect performance as a hopelessly straight man just now.

All that remained by the roadside outside the old bookstore on Yulin West Street was a shallow little pit.

It silently revealed that the timeline of future "destruction" and "contamination" had already been altered.