Chen Siyao looked into the distance. Beyond the muddy ground the rat tide had passed over lay another intact stretch of blue grassland. Farther away, she could just make out the outline of a forest.
"Shall we check out the woods over there?"
Chen Hao had already swung himself onto a Fuzhu.
"Let's go."
The five white deer set off toward the distant forest.
This time, they ran at a much more relaxed pace—the danger had passed.
Blue grass rippled beneath their hooves, and wind swept past Chen Siyao's ears. She looked back at the devastated grassland one last time.
That muddy scar looked especially jarring in the sunset.
But along the edge of the scar—she wasn't sure whether her eyes were playing tricks on her—a few tiny, slender blue shoots seemed to be pushing out of the broken mud.
It was already recovering.
The vitality of this world was far fiercer than she had imagined.
The forest ahead was nothing like the grove of Man-Eating Trees they had encountered before.
The trees stood much farther apart, letting sunlight through. There were all sorts of trees, too, in different heights and shapes... gray-trunked trees soaring straight into the sky, short, stout trees with round crowns, and vine-like trees with twisted branches trailing to the ground.
Flowers of every color poked out of the shrubs, while birdsong and insect calls rose and fell around them.
There were sounds here.
Normal, living sounds.
Chen Siyao let out a relieved breath. Sounds were good. That deathly silent grove of Man-Eating Trees had left her shaken.
The Fuzhu stepped into the forest's edge, slowing down and looking around. The light on their rainbow antlers pulsed steadily, giving no warning.
It was safe.
"These woods are much more normal." Yang Wanqing hopped off her deer's