Grass Clones

The view returned to Yu Jing and Yu Xiaoxiao's room.

When Yu Xiaoxiao proposed taking action that night, Yu Jing rejected it on the spot.

"Yu Xiaoxiao, since we have no experience fighting ghosts, we should stay calm tonight. We can slowly explore the inn tomorrow morning, learn about every area, and get information from the old woman at the counter. Once we know enough, we can act. Tonight is simply too dangerous."

"It's true that I've never killed a real ghost, but I've killed plenty of bad people." Yu Xiaoxiao replied coldly.

Yu Jing, who had never liked talking much, became unusually talkative in front of Yu Xiaoxiao.

"Let me analyze how bad our current situation is. There are more than eight hundred rookies in physical training, but only a single-digit number of ghosts in the deep-mountain region. By simple arithmetic, that means one ghost for every hundred people. Even under those circumstances, Commissioner Lu Chuan considers a hundred people against one ghost extremely dangerous and disagrees with Dihua's approach...

"Also, the old woman in the lobby just now had no aura of a living person. If we count the old woman as a separate ghost, it means the six of us might be facing two real ghosts. Acting rashly would inevitably leave us dead without a trace. Even now, there are several important questions I haven't figured out, so we should stay in the room and rest tonight.

"Although I've never seen a ghost, based on what I know from ordinary life, nighttime should be when they're most at ease. Besides, my ability is strengthened under the sun during the day. So shall we investigate everything tomorrow?"

Yu Xiaoxiao, who was beside him, stared at Yu Jing with her round eyes as he finished this long string of words in one breath.

In the end, Yu Xiaoxiao nodded. "I knew you were impressive. Let's go out tomorrow during the day. Anyway, physical training lasts seven days. We can kill whatever is hiding here at any time."

"You sleep for a while. I'll keep watch." Yu Jing said with a smile.

"Mm."

Without the slightest suspicion or worry, Yu Xiaoxiao covered herself with the bedding and closed her eyes on the nearby bed.

Yu Jing sat on the edge of the bed and looked at his right palm. Strands of green vines grew from its center as he began pondering several questions.

"Why did it lock onto me? It even targeted me the moment I entered Dihua Ability Institute's territory instead of anyone else... Wait, these ghosts were arranged by commissioners from the various departments. Could Commissioner Liang have manipulated the other commissioners and deliberately chosen this ghost to target me? Then he could observe what I'm capable of under such dangerous circumstances after fusing with an unknown plant?"

"That's the only possibility!"

Yu Jing's gaze swept over the corners of the room. Having already witnessed Dihua's spatial transmission and spatial storage technology, Yu Jing knew that they certainly had special means of monitoring this place. Perhaps even their current experience was being broadcast live to Dihua's evaluators, with Commissioner Liang watching it as entertainment.

Yu Jing glanced sideways in a certain direction, then raised the middle finger of his left hand.

At that moment, inside a laboratory in one of the buildings of Dihua Ability Institute, which was shrouded in thick white fog, Commissioner Liang watched the surveillance footage before him. Although the image seemed to be experiencing interference and periodically lost its signal, Yu Jing's cold gaze and raised middle finger were clearly visible to Commissioner Liang.

A shadow in the laboratory carried a freshly brewed, steaming cup of coffee and handed it to Commissioner Liang.

"Your reaction and thinking abilities are truly impressive. As expected, you've been familiarizing yourself with the plant inside your body in private. Let's see how far you can use this plant at the 'Rook Stage,' shall we?"

Back in Yu Jing's room, Yu Jing lowered his middle finger and stared at the vines he could control at will in his palm. With a thought, the vine withdrew into his arm again. At the same time, he casually swept his right hand across his face, leaving nothing suspicious for the surveillance to detect.

"If I hadn't familiarized myself with the plant in my right arm during those two months of vacation, Commissioner Liang would have gotten me killed here."

A vine had been secretly implanted in Yu Jing's eyeball and connected to his retina. Besides the scene before him, his vision now had an additional filtering window created by the internal plant.

Yu Jing had discovered this once during practice, when the plant in his right hand had accidentally touched his eyeball.

An evaluation of his physical condition and the plant's state, along with an ability report, was projected separately through his retina for Yu Jing alone to see. The plant in his right arm seemed capable of checking his physical condition at any time.

The current evaluation was as follows:

The symbiotic host's overall health saturation is 87%. It is recommended to raise it to the completely healthy state of 95% through sleep and plenty of water.

The plant body has been infected by some strange core virus, has lost all abilities, and is currently at the lowest stage. It is strongly recommended to find a way to eradicate the virus and restore the plant body, or allow the primary plant body to evolve back to its original form by absorbing energy.

Plant body form: Grass Clone (lowest stage)

Grass Clone evolution progress: 0%

The following basic abilities can currently be granted to the symbiotic host:

Grasswood Healing: Can accelerate the repair of superficial wounds. Severed limbs can be restored once, but this will cause the Grass Clone to enter a prolonged dormant state until it absorbs sufficient nutrients and vitality.

Grass Vine Control: Can split off large numbers of grass vines for binding attacks. Control strength is related to distance, with a maximum control distance of fifty meters.

Root Absorption: Can absorb nutrients from other life forms. All organic matter can be converted into vitality energy supplied to the Grass Clone and the host. Evolution energy must be obtained from organisms stronger than the current plant body.

The description of these abilities was as detailed as the character analyses in the games Yu Jing had once played. Because of this, Yu Jing had also wondered whether the plant body had had a previous owner before ending up inside him. After all, based on its description, the plant body needed to coexist symbiotically with a host.

Symbiosis meant that the host provided nutrients to the organism living inside it, while the organism, in turn, gave the host certain benefits.

The vines Yu Jing had previously spread across the wall of the dormitory room had been the second ability, Grass Vine Control. In Yu Jing's view, the three current basic abilities had already made him inhuman. As long as organic matter and plenty of water existed, he could survive forever without eating.

"The three abilities don't strengthen my body, and they're relatively lacking in offensive power, leaning more toward support. But in a fixed environment like this inn, they'll be extremely useful. Once the sunlight appears tomorrow morning, I'll spread the plant body into every corner of the entire inn."

Just as Yu Jing was thinking this—

"Bzzzt!" The television in the room, which had not been plugged in, switched on by itself.