Return

"What is this..." Before his eyes stretched a patch of young grass. As far as he could see, there was nothing but desolation.

Lin Chenxing was so surprised that he fell into a daze. Why was he seeing this? Where was his body? Why was he here?

After observing his surroundings carefully for a while, Lin Chenxing realized that his body was actually a newly sprouted bamboo shoot. It was growing rapidly, and in just a few hours, the shoot had transformed into a slender young bamboo.

Using his newfound height, Lin Chenxing took another careful look around. It turned out that nearby, the traces of a Bamboo Forest that had been cut down were still there. One after another, bamboo roots had been dug up and scorched by fire until they were cracked and lifeless.

However, the area outside the Bamboo Forest hadn't been cleared, because the bamboo roots had been severed right at the edge of the forest.

Lin Chenxing was puzzled. Why had he turned into a bamboo shoot?

After recalling the Bamboo Forest's memories, he learned that when only one bamboo stalk remained, the forest had acted decisively. It had withdrawn some of its nutrients and sent them into a section of bamboo root. The root then carried the nutrients and the forest's consciousness away, and a new bamboo shoot had been sent beyond the forest so it could survive.

But while the root was transporting the nutrients, Lin Chenxing had been blasted away by the bamboo. As luck would have it, his head had landed right where the root was exposed aboveground.

The Bamboo Forest's consciousness hadn't reached the level of a human's, but it was still immense. The impact had caused some of it to leak out and strike Lin Chenxing's Consciousness Sea.

Although that consciousness was quickly drawn back in, it had taken part of Lin Chenxing's consciousness with it. That was the main reason he had passed out.

That part of Lin Chenxing's consciousness drifted endlessly through the Bamboo Forest's consciousness, absorbing both the forest's consciousness, which had yet to re-form, and the scattered pieces of his own. It gradually grew larger and larger until it took control of the Bamboo Forest's consciousness and successfully merged with all of it.

Carried by the Bamboo Forest, this consciousness eventually reached the bamboo shoot growing outside the forest.

After Lin Chenxing regained consciousness—that is, after the Bamboo Forest's consciousness woke up—the shoot was finally stimulated. It released all the nutrients it had accumulated at once and began to grow rapidly.

After sorting through the memories, Lin Chenxing finally learned the truth, and it left him in despair: he had become a shoot, and now he was a stalk of bamboo.

Was there any way to return his consciousness to his original body? Lin Chenxing kept pondering the question.

He slipped back into his Consciousness Sea and began exploring its secrets, hoping to find a way back.

After searching for some time, he finally discovered something. A faint, intermittent line stretched from his current consciousness into the distance.

Following the line, Lin Chenxing pressed onward until he reached the edge of his Consciousness Sea. He watched as the line pierced through the barrier and disappeared somewhere beyond.

But Lin Chenxing had a theory: his body was at the other end of the line. If he could break through the barrier, he could return.

But he wasn't strong enough yet. His current mass of consciousness was still too large and insufficiently concentrated to break the barrier.

So Lin Chenxing began trying to reshape his consciousness. He succeeded, but he couldn't maintain the shape for long before he ran out of strength.

He realized that his current body couldn't provide enough nutrients. He would have to draw nutrients from outside to grow stronger.

After returning to the bamboo's body, Lin Chenxing began trying to control its leaves and branches. First, he controlled a few leaves to change their direction. Then, without moving the stalk or branches, he gradually learned to make all the leaves tremble.

Once he had mastered this, Lin Chenxing began using the leaves to kill small animals that wandered near him and absorb their nutrients. At the same time, he used his roots to wind around other plants' roots and steal more nutrients.

Several days later, Lin Chenxing had grown from a small bamboo into a tall, stately one. But the plants that had once surrounded him had withered and died.

He had finally gathered enough nutrients to try condensing his consciousness into a cone that could break through the barrier. After he succeeded, Lin Chenxing felt an enormous pull coming from the direction of the line. Before he could prepare himself, his consciousness was swiftly sucked toward it.

Lin Chenxing plunged into darkness once more.

As he kept struggling to wake, voices reached his ears.

"Miss Xi, look, Mr. Lin's hand moved."

"Finally. I can't believe he's waking up at such a crucial moment. By the way, keep this confidential. Don't tell anyone yet, especially people over there. Just pretend you didn't see anything, understand?"

"Mm, don't worry, Miss Xi. I know what to do."

As Lin Chenxing kept fighting to wake up, a hint of confusion stirred in his mind.

"What happened? Why does this need to be kept secret? And who are 'people over there'? This Miss Xi—judging by her voice, it must be Xi Qing. But we haven't had much to do with each other. Why is she here taking care of me?"

The questions kept circling in Lin Chenxing's mind, making him anxious.

But there was no point in worrying if he couldn't wake up. He had no way to resolve any of his questions, so he could only endure it and try even harder to wake.

After who knew how many more days, Lin Chenxing finally became aware of his eyelids. He tried to force them open, but even opening them a crack exhausted him.

Over the past few days, he had heard more news.

For instance, Gao Zheng's injuries had grown more severe; He Qishun's subordinates were acting more and more brazenly; new kinds of monsters had been discovered; and that place had been reclaimed.

He had also heard some very strange terms, such as Beast General, Battle General, and Lord.

The words seemed strangely familiar, but he couldn't remember why. Somehow, he felt they had something to do with his previous life.

It seemed that while he had been unconscious, everything had changed, as if he had arrived in a whole new world.

He began memorizing these terms, analyzing and calculating, hoping to find a clue in the conversations.

But finding one wasn't so easy. Aside from people's names, everything else was different from before he had passed out.

Finally, one day, his eyes adjusted to the light and opened. He moved them around, taking in the room's furnishings, which were exactly as they had been before. A wave of emotion rose in him.

"He's awake! Miss Xi, Mr. Lin is awake!"

A young nurse in a uniform cried out happily. Her voice wasn't loud, though; once she left the room, it probably wouldn't be heard.

Lin Chenxing followed the nurse's gaze. A young woman in armor, her hair tied in a ponytail with two horn-like tufts, stood by the window. She slowly turned around, bathed in sunlight.

So beautiful, Lin Chenxing thought. Why had I never noticed before? He couldn't help questioning himself.

Xi Qing walked over, and the slight furrow in her brow gradually smoothed out.