The Awareness of Being Wanted

The rumors grew more and more outlandish, with people's noses and eyes painted on.

The news had originated from White Dragon Base.

After people from the base confirmed with Gu Mingshi, the wanted posters spread like wildfire.

Jiang You, Yan Chi, Zhang Shuhui, and Da Zhuang had practically become household names as major wanted criminals.

The wanted posters depicted the appearances of the three individuals and the cat with striking clarity.

The rotting corpses created by Yan Chi were, in a sense, a new type of warrior.

After all, no base could refuse the existence of a force that could continuously output berserkers.

As long as the method of control was mastered, these rotting corpses were fearless, insensible to pain, devoid of fear, and only knew how to kill madly – they were simply the best war weapons!

The bounties offered by the various bases were more enticing than the last.

Before the apocalypse, this kind of wanted notice would have been issued only if a country had been bombed.

White Dragon Base had suffered enough, but other bases hadn't!

Even though the White Dragon survivors described Ancheng as a living hell that could frighten children into stopping their nighttime crying.

But these people didn't believe it, thinking the people from White Dragon Base were simply too weak and were making excuses for themselves.

Especially after learning that these people were hiding in Ancheng.

Many self-proclaimed powerful ability users rushed to Ancheng from all directions, drawn by the immense fortune.

One blizzard after another drove the temperature down another notch.

None of the ability users who flooded into Ancheng survived.

They either joined the rotting corpse army or became food for the rotting corpses.

During the continuous half-year of harsh winter, as waves of ability users disappeared in Ancheng, the terrifying reputation of Ancheng spread to all the major bases.

Thus, no matter how enticing the wanted posters were, no one dared to set foot in Ancheng's territory again.

Ancheng became a place that truly made people's hair stand on end.

It was also marked as a zombie no-go zone by ability users everywhere.

Meanwhile, Jiang You, looking at the wanted posters brought into Ancheng by ability users, couldn't stop laughing until tears streamed down her face.

"Madmen, hahaha, a bunch of madmen!!"

"Gu Mingshi, that madman, since he couldn't get them, he just released the information, hahahaha!!"

After laughing her fill, Jiang You nestled on the sofa, eating roasted corn and looking at the wanted posters.

Yan Chi spat out disdainfully, "The wanted poster from Blue City Base is so ugly, the color scheme is just awful!"

Zhang Shuhui also leaned over to offer her opinion.

"Boulder City is simply ridiculous. Our Cult Master is only worth a thousand crystal cores? Are they trying to bribe a beggar? So petty~"

"Hey? This wanted poster from Qiushan Base is the best looking, they even used beauty filters!"

"The wanted poster from Black Lion Fortress is just there to make up the numbers, right? What's the matter, are you afraid of not fitting in if you don't issue one?

They even made it black and white, if you didn't know better, you'd think it was a memorial for ancestors."

"..."

The group showed no self-awareness of being wanted and continued to stay put in Ancheng.

Ancheng, woods.

The snow outside had begun to melt, and icicles under the eaves of the treehouse dripped with melting snow.

Gu Ling still stubbornly resided within the man-eating tree's tree cage.

She would nestle inside every time she slept, without fail.

She had slept in a black box since she was little, so she couldn't sleep in overly large spaces.

So, the man-eating tree reinforced and sealed the tree cage for her, allowing her to live there permanently.

In fact, it was very happy to have someone on the tree to keep it company.

Now, the man-eating tree had two little companions, Mei Qiu, and Gu Ling.

Actually, no, she couldn't be called Gu Ling anymore.

Jiang You had said she would give her a new name and let her think of one herself.

She stared at the tinkling silver tokens all over the tree, and after deep thought, under Zhang Shuhui's expectant gaze, she uttered two words.

"Bai Yin."

The hope in Zhang Shuhui's eyes instantly collapsed.

She fell straight to the ground as if she had heard some terrible news.

It took her a long time to recover.

Yan Chi grew, studying day and night throughout the winter.

He was no longer the "elementary schooler" struggling with the Three Hundred Tang Poems. He matured daily, like a fruit hanging on a branch, gradually revealing the light and shadow of time within.

Of course, he still sounded a bit foolish when he spoke occasionally.

He was like two different people compared to the bloodthirsty, murderous figure in Jiang You's memories from his previous life.

If the Yan Chi of his previous life was a bloodthirsty beast that went mad at any moment, then the Yan Chi of this life only went mad intermittently, and was mostly normal.

The degree of his madness usually depended on the enemy's strength.

The stronger the opponent, the crazier he became.

However, overall, Zhang Shuhui had completely shed the responsibility of teaching him.

This was something worth celebrating.

The ice and snow melted, and the temperature gradually rose.

Green grass tips began to emerge from the snow-covered ground, and the trees in the woods started to sprout new buds.

The man-eating tree kept scratching a certain spot with its branches, feeling as if it was about to grow a brain.

Jiang You increased the amount of crystal cores fed and also increased the amount of fresh blood given daily.

She sat in the yard every day, enjoying the warm sun, while also keeping a close eye on the man-eating tree's condition.

Recently, she had been spending more and more time on the man-eating tree.

Zhang Shuhui felt like she was up to something.

But she wasn't telling anyone else.

She wanted to go find Yan Chi, but then she thought, Lord Yan Chi wasn't as cute as before.

A Yan Chi who wasn't silly was like snail noodles without snails, having lost the soul she liked.

She reluctantly settled for hanging out with Bai Yin.

She pulled Bai Yin along and they hid behind the doorframe to peek.

"Bai Yin, you're always on the tree, have you noticed anything strange about the man-eating tree?

Lord has been staring at it every day lately, and she's been feeding it crystal cores by the basketful and also feeding it blood.

But this man-eating tree is completely useless right now. Given Lord's personality, she wouldn't raise something useless!

I can't figure it out, I really can't figure out what use this tree has?!

Cult Master never paid this much attention to me, hmph~

╭(╯^╰)╮"

Bai Yin squatted on the ground expressionlessly and uttered a few words with a blank face.

"It's losing a lot of leaves."

"What?"

Zhang Shuhui was stunned for a moment before realizing that Bai Yin was answering her first question.

"Losing leaves is what's wrong? Trees don't lose leaves, they can't exactly lose fruit!"

"No, my brain isn't enough!

I really want to ask, but Cult Master hasn't said anything, so it's definitely not appropriate for me to ask. I can't be a butler with no foresight.

Ahhh, why can't my brain be smarter!!"

Zhang Shuhui frantically scratched her scalp, causing dandruff to fall in large amounts.

It all landed on Bai Yin's head.

However, Bai Yin's hair was white, so it wasn't noticeable.

Bai Yin paid no mind to the "heavy snowfall" on his head, his eyes fixed on a purple beetle crawling past him. After a moment's hesitation, he directly reached out.

With lightning speed, he quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Crunch~ Crunch~"

"What are you eating?"

"You're eating random things again! Spit it out right now!!"