A Little Excited

After carefully walking through the forest for nearly an hour, examining the traces on the ground and around us, we found nothing that could be identified as the "special scent".

But since he could clearly smell the scent, it was impossible that there were no traces left.

Xiang Kun stopped, closed his eyes, and reconstructed the scenery he had just seen nearby in his mind, supplemented by information such as sounds and smells.

He even began to try using the special cognitive pattern of Little Apple, relying solely on smell to construct the environment.

Although he hasn't fully grasped Little Apple's cognitive pattern yet, and can't always use it to build cognitive models—it's inconsistent—perhaps his nerves are just too sensitive to that special smell, sensitive enough to ignore the influence of other sensory information. So this time, using Little Apple's method to construct cognition in his brain has yielded good results.

A few minutes later, Xiang Kun opened his eyes, took a few steps back, put the compound bow back on his back, put the arrows back in the quiver, then hugged a tree and leaped onto a horizontal branch in two seconds, looking more agile than a monkey.

Xiang Kun searched for a while, then found a leaf, tore it off, put it to his nose, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He then tore the leaf in half, observed its texture, and licked the torn part.

A moment later, Xiang Kun stuffed the torn leaves into one pocket of his work pants, picked a few more, and jumped down from the tree.

Following the scent, Xiang Kun walked for a while, picked some leaves and wildflowers, and gathered some weeds. Before picking them, he would take out his phone to take a picture.

At first glance, these leaves, grasses, and flowers seem unremarkable, but Xiang Kun is now quite certain that the peculiar scent comes from them—or rather, from the various plants around him.

But what's amazing is that the special scent comes only from a part of these plants, such as a branch, a stalk or a few stalks from the same clump of grass, or a flower or a few flowers.

That's why Xiang Kun had always thought that the smell was left behind by the Mutated Creature when it passed by. So he also suspected that the Mutated Creature might not be too far away, or it might have left behind things like remains after eating or traces of fighting.

If he hadn't reconstructed the surrounding environment in his mind based on Little Apple's cognitive patterns and that special smell, he probably wouldn't have been able to discover this so quickly.

After all, the scent was too faint; it didn't seem to be coming directly from the plants, and those plants themselves also emitted normal scents.

Xiang Kun had previously wondered if there might be mutated plants, but based on his own experience, the Giant Owl's experience, and Guo Tianxiang's experience, fresh blood was the most important and indispensable "food" for these Mutated Creature, while plants did not have blood.

However, it now appears that the absence of blood does not mean the inability to "suck blood," and Mutated Creature may not be limited to animals.

But this mutated plant was also very strange; it wasn't the entire plant, only a very small part of it. Surely only that small portion of it had mutated? Moreover, Xiang Kun didn't believe that so many mutated plants could appear simultaneously within such a small area.

He felt that these plants were likely "extensions" of one plant that "parasitized" other plants, just like the objects he had established "Super-Sensory Link" with and "Emotional Injection."

As for their function, it could be perception, or something else.

Thinking back to the video of the wild boar carcass that Host Xue had posted online, and the news reports about the discovery of the bodies of Host Xue and two others, Xiang Kun guessed:

The mutated plant likely "hunts" blood-drinking predators by disguising itself as an ordinary plant fruit, causing wild boars and humans to "accidentally" eat it, thus inducing hallucinations or rendering them unable to move.

The news report mentioned that the three Host Xue, may have accidentally eaten poisonous wild fruit, causing hallucinations, which led to their eventual death from cold and starvation. They also abandoned various equipment, making it difficult for rescuers to find them.

Recalling the video of Host Xue discovering the wild boar carcass, not only the wilderness survival expert who was with Host Xue, but also Xiang Kun, were previously looking for traces of other animals or human activity. But if we determine that the "culprit" is a plant, then many situations can be explained.

However, no obvious or strange plants were found near the wild boar's carcass in the video footage.

Or perhaps those mutated plants are also capable of "moving"?

Or perhaps it uses some other method, such as very long roots or branches extending out to "drink blood"? And then it withdraws after having its fill?

Xiang Kun speculated about the possible attack methods of the mutated plant, including how the wound on the wild boar was caused.

For Xiang Kun now, what he fears most is still powerful physical attacks.

For example, if he had smelled the gun on Guo Tianxiang when he realized that Guo Tianxiang following him, then without a doubt, he would have run away at all costs.

He carefully walked a distance and picked almost all the plants he could sense that emitted a "special smell." Some that were easy to carry, he put directly into the pocket of his work pants, while most of them he crushed with his hands and threw on the ground.

Xiang Kun checked the bag that had initially contained the leaves and grass he had picked and found that a wildflower was missing. He felt around at the bottom of the bag and picked up some fine gray powder.

The powder was very fine and dry. Xiang Kun raised his hand to observe it, and a slight breeze dispersed it.

This gray powder is no different in form from the powder that Xiang Kun's body tissue becomes when it is removed from his body. This also shows that the plant parts did indeed come from a creature that mutated due to X, just like Xiang Kun.

However, the other plant parts that also had that "special smell" did not turn gray, which clearly meant that they existed at a different structural level for the Mutated Creature.

Xiang Kun guessed that the wildflower might have been directly "planted" by the mutated plant, while the other plant parts were "affected" by it in other ways.

After nightfall, Xiang Kun sat cross-legged on a large rock halfway up a low mountain. He took off his composite bow and quiver and placed them beside him, as well as his shoes and socks. He observed his surroundings using night vision mode and infrared imaging mode at different times. At the same time, his hearing and smell were also working at their maximum, collecting all kinds of "rustling sounds".

After sunset, all bodily functions and sensory abilities are stronger than during the day. In addition, the environment is relatively quiet at night, making it easier for various movements to spread. Therefore, Xiang Kun believed that he could detect any beasts or Mutated Creature that wanted to approach him in advance.

Although the mutated plant likely knew about him beforehand based on the "special scent" of the plants and leaves he found, he wasn't too worried. After assessing the situation based on various known factors, he believed he could handle the plant's hunting methods.

And most importantly, he felt that this mutated plant's "intelligence" shouldn't be high—if it had any.

After the Giant Owl mutated, although its intelligence seemed to have greatly improved, it was still far inferior to humans, let alone plants that don't even have a brain.

Xiang Kun even started to wonder how he would take the mutated plant back after he "subdued" it, or whether he should just "deal with" it here.

But how can plants solve this problem? They don't have blood. Can they just "squeeze" them? Or, due to mutation, have they ceased to be in a plant physiological form and have acquired certain animal characteristics?

For example, it no longer needs to absorb nutrients from the soil through its roots, so it can "run" around everywhere?

For example, it might stop photosynthesizing altogether, and even start avoiding light and seeking darkness?

What will be the future direction of plant variation and evolution?

What would it look like now?

A large tree that can crawl everywhere?

Or is it just a large clump of strangely shaped vines?

What kind of capabilities will it have?

If Xiang Kun "absorbs" this mutated plant, what abilities will he gain?

Could it also be possible to "graft" parts onto various plants?

Xiang Kun grew increasingly expectant and excited as he thought about it, even impatient to see the mutated plant. He was already prepared for any potential dangers it might pose.

Xiang Kun felt that he had removed so many "branches" of the mutated plant along the way, and regardless of whether those "branches" had the ability to detect or sense, it should have noticed.

Just like the objects he establishes a "Super-Sensory Link" with, although he can only locate and determine the direction, but cannot perceive the actual situation nearby, if the connection is suddenly lost and he can no longer perceive it, he will definitely guess what happened to the object. Similarly, he can also sense when the sensitivity of the Coin or A4 paper in the Little Chubby Girl's possession decreases.

Even if plants weren't as intelligent as humans, they would still be aware of this.

Moreover, Xiang Kun deliberately left a few "branches" around himself untreated, so that the mutated plant could more easily pinpoint his location.

He believed that, whether or not the Mutated Creature realized that Xiang Kun was one of its kind, it would come to investigate on its own.

Xiang Kun wasn't sure if the infrared thermal imaging visual mode he obtained from Guo Tianxiang could detect the anomalies in the mutated plants. After all, he hadn't been able to distinguish the "branches" with the "special odor" from other parts of the plants when he used this mode before.

Therefore, Xiang Kun focused his senses on smells and sounds throughout the night.

If there really were plants that could move, they would inevitably make some noise during their movement, and that noise would certainly be quite unique.

As for the smell, needless to say, since Xiang Kun could smell the "special smell" of that Mutated Creature on all the various "branches" it left behind, its main body must also have a strong smell.

But to Xiang Kun's surprise, what made him notice the anomaly first was still vision, specifically the infrared imaging vision mode.

Around 3 a. m., Xiang Kun on a boulder, spotted a blue dot among the scattered red dots in the distant forest in infrared imaging mode. The blue dot was moving rapidly toward him.

It's finally here!

Xiang Kun felt a little excited, even more so than when he went on his first blind date.

That mutated plant seems to have changed a lot; judging from its shape and speed of movement, it is now more like an animal than a plant.

Xiang Kun didn't make any move, but just stared intently at the movement of the blue dot, slowly waiting for it to get closer.

However, as the distance closed, Xiang Kun, who possessed superhuman vision and had night vision and infrared imaging modes, felt something was amiss after switching visual modes several times.

Because of the rapidly approaching "blue dot," he could roughly judge its size, which should be only about the size of a normal washbasin. Moreover, its movement was somewhat strange; sometimes it seemed to crawl on the ground, and sometimes it seemed to jump and "throw" itself out.

What kind of bizarre thing is this?

Xiang Kun frowned more and more as he looked at the bow, and slowly reached for the compound bow beside him with his left hand.

As we approached the foot of the mountain, the "blue dot" stopped moving in infrared imaging mode.

Xiang Kun frowned. What was this thing doing? It couldn't possibly be launching an attack right there, could it? It doesn't even have a mortar...

Just as he was wondering, Xiang Kun suddenly noticed that the "blue dot" began to move rapidly to the left of Xiang Kun location. After moving for a while, it stopped, then moved to the right, returned to its original position, stopped, and then continued to move to the right.

Xiang Kun was completely bewildered. What was this thing doing?

After moving to the right for a while, the "blue dot" began to change direction and quickly moved back the way it came, as if it was about to leave?

Xiang Kun paused for a moment, not having time to think much, picked up the compound bow with his left hand, and drew two arrows from the bow quiver with his right. He put one in his mouth and held the other in his hand, then ran barefoot down the mountainside—in the forest, he was faster barefoot than when wearing shoes, and he was also better able to handle various complex terrains. Of course, even with his current physique, his feet would be bloodied and mangled after running only a short distance, and he could only endure the pain and wait for them to heal on their own.

Xiang Kun rushed down the mountainside, mostly by jumping for a large portion of the way. Thanks to his extensive experience in "mountain rushing" and the fact that he had scouted and observed the area in the afternoon, he had already planned the fastest route down the mountain, so he descended very quickly.

But the "blue dot" was also moving very fast, darting through the forest.

After rushing down the mountain, without the advantage of the high ground, Xiang Kun's infrared imaging mode also had limited penetration distance, making it impossible to lock onto the target directly with his line of sight. He could only rely on scent tracking.

He had already smelled the Mutated Creature's "special scent," a scent that came from the same source as the scent he had smelled from those "branches" during the day!

Although he was sprinting at full speed, Xiang Kun began to slow down and switch to visual mode to observe the area just before he stopped at the "blue dot".

Xiang Kun previously thought that if the Mutated Creature was originally a plant, its intelligence shouldn't be very high. But that was just his guess. He still needed to be cautious. Otherwise, if he fell into a trap set by a "plant," losing face would be a small matter, but losing his life would be a big deal.

I recommend a hilarious new book, <The Dream Maker of All Realms>.

Thanks to the new helmsman for "an emotionless mosquito-feeding machine", thanks to book friends 0, Wuyinyunju0, China's Strongest Yingweiguai, Jiusijs, 54feimao, Qidian. com iOS, Yimo, Qidian. com iOS, Himmelspol, and the cute Elizabeth Mouse for their rewards.