Zhong Xuezhi held the hair he had just plucked from his head and offered it to Mu Yi again.
"Take it. You'll need it when we enter the Ruined City."
Mu Yi still didn't understand. "Why do I need your hair?"
Zhong Xuezhi explained, "There's a pack of Red Weasel Variants outside the Ruined City's gates. You don't have a Mutant's scent, and you can't use an ability to defend yourself, so you'll be an easy target for them to gang up on."
"Keep my hair on you, and they won't dare get too close."
Mu Yi nodded in understanding, guessing that Zhong Xuezhi's hair carried the scent of a large beast, enough to intimidate little creatures that instinctively sought safety and avoided danger.
But how was he supposed to carry it?
Neither holding it in his hand nor stuffing it into his pocket seemed right.
Finally, Mu Yi looked at his half-braided bracelet and suddenly had an idea.
He reached out, took the hair, and smoothly wove it into the Gray-White Spider Silk.
His reasoning was simple: Zhong Xuezhi's hair matched the fur on his ears, making it perfect for improving a detail he was about to braid.
But the sight left Zhong Xuezhi feeling awkward, three questions firing through his mind in quick succession.
What's he braiding? A bracelet? Who weaves someone else's hair into their own bracelet?
Not only did Mu Yi do exactly that, he made a fine job of it. His hands flew through a series of flower knots before he held it up to Zhong Xuezhi with a smile.
"Look. Doesn't it look like you?"
Zhong Xuezhi took a closer look and froze.
Although the bracelet in Mu Yi's hands wasn't finished, its overall design was already clear.
At either end, along the thin knotted sections, the Gray-White Spider Silk formed a pattern of spots arranged almost exactly like those on his tail.
At the center sat a cartoon snow leopard head, an improved version of the one Mu Yi had sewn onto his cuff last time.
"..."
For a moment, Zhong Xuezhi couldn't understand how such a thin bracelet could contain so many details.
"Gone stupid?" When he remained silent, Mu Yi pressed, "Does it look like you or not?"
Zhong Xuezhi abruptly snapped out of it and countered, "Wait... you're making that to wear on your wrist?"
Mu Yi pulled his hands back, his fingers flying as he finished it off. "Of course."
Zhong Xuezhi tried to dissuade him. "Even three-year-olds don't wear that style anymore."
Without looking up, Mu Yi scoffed. "What the hell does that have to do with me? Nobody gets to tell me what I can wear."
He was used to doing whatever pleased him. As long as he liked it, he could walk down the street in a diaper without an ounce of shame.
What were other people's opinions worth, anyway?
Zhong Xuezhi opened his mouth, then found himself at a loss. He merely watched the pattern and snow leopard head on the bracelet, along with the strands of hair about to disappear completely beneath the knots.
Something about it felt awkward, but he couldn't say exactly what.
In the end, he rubbed his neck and urged, "Time to go."
"Almost done." Mu Yi tied the final set of knots and pulled them tight, finishing the bracelet.
Then he slipped the gray-and-white bracelet onto his left wrist, raised it to inspect it for a few seconds, and nodded to himself.
Not bad. A pretty successful reproduction.
Just then, the group of four finished taking down the rain shelter. The rain had stopped, and there was still plenty of daylight, making it a good time to travel.
Zhong Xuezhi waved a hand and announced, "Move out."
The Ruined City wasn't far from here. They had more than enough time to reach it before dark.
The dozen or so people shouldered their packs and set off briskly toward their destination.
Nearly twenty minutes later, Mu Yi noticed that, perhaps because they were getting closer to the Ruined City, the scenery along the road increasingly took on the shape and feel of an urban landscape.
Farther ahead, abandoned vehicles, gas stations, crumbling overpasses, and the remnants of collapsed high-rises came into view.
They looked as though they had been abandoned for years, their surfaces covered in a thick layer of moss.
The moss was lush and green, glistening even more brightly after the spring rain. Its vigorous life stood in stark contrast to the silent ruins.
Mu Yi narrowed his eyes at the sight, finding a hint of absurd humor in that sharp contrast.
It made him want to grin.
Yet Zhong Xuezhi, walking beside him, wore a dark expression the entire time.
"The Dread Gloom Forest's boundary has expanded again."
Curious, Mu Yi asked, "Again?"
Zhong Xuezhi gave a low hum of assent, his voice heavy. "The vegetation along this stretch is much denser than when we came through a week ago."
"A week..." Mu Yi was a little surprised. "It grows that fast?"
Zhong Xuezhi slashed through several vines in front of him. "Mutated creatures have become much more active in recent years."
"As a gathering place for so many mutated creatures, the Dread Gloom Forest is no different from a giant beast that's suddenly awakened. It's constantly devouring everything around it."
"Perhaps in another ten years, or a few decades, the Ruined City will cease to exist."
And if the Ruined City disappeared, how much longer could humanity's Safe Base hold out?
After hearing this, Mu Yi roughly understood. Although the people here had abilities and advanced technology, the various Variants had still squeezed their living space down to almost nothing.
No wonder it was called the Safe Base.
As he lowered his head in thought, he caught sight of Zhong Xuezhi coming to a sudden stop, followed by the words, "We're here."
He looked up toward the entrance to the Ruined City. Before him stood a gate over ten meters tall, its opening wide enough, by his estimate, for several large trucks to pass through at once.
It was imposing. Even in its thoroughly dilapidated state, traces of its former grandeur remained.
After studying it for a moment, Mu Yi turned his head and asked, "Why aren't we going in?"
Everyone was standing outside the gate.
Zhong Xuezhi shook his head. "No rush. We need to prepare first."
As he spoke, he turned to Wenren Jin behind him and gave a meaningful nod.
"You got it." Wenren Jin clapped his hands in understanding and wrapped each of them in an eggshell.
Mu Yi received one too. Curious, he reached out a finger and poked the thin blue membrane, only for his finger to pass straight through.
"Huh?"
He couldn't help sticking both hands outside the shield, then kicking his legs out. "Can this actually protect us?"
As a max-level fifth-tier tank, Wenren Jin hadn't had anyone question his defensive capabilities in a long time.
He smiled and swept back his bangs. "Of course it can."
"The personal shield has no physical form. What you're seeing is just a visual effect that lets me monitor how much more damage it can absorb."
"I see." Mu Yi nodded, a little impatient to test how effective the shield really was.
So he immediately strode toward the entrance to the Ruined City.
But he had barely taken two steps before Zhong Xuezhi grabbed the back of his collar and hauled him back.
"What?" He struggled irritably. "Quit manhandling me."
Zhong Xuezhi carried him effortlessly all the way behind himself, then reminded him in a low voice, "You're an ordinary person. Stay in the middle and don't even think about leading the way."
With that, Zhong Xuezhi strode forward, leaving Mu Yi in a cool draft.
Mu Yi irritably straightened his collar and started after him.
As they stepped through the Ruined City's gate, faint rustling began to sound here and there.
Mu Yi turned to look around and caught sight of several fiery-red figures darting past.
They were small and long-bodied, their four stubby legs barely supporting them as their soft bellies dragged along the ground.
These were probably the "Red Weasels" Zhong Xuezhi had mentioned.
Tsk. They looked even more bizarre than those gray rats on the tropical savanna.
[Note: The gray rats of the tropical savanna are banded mongooses.]
Before you continue