Page 139

"I'll be staying at headquarters for a while. They said the chief commander will be mentoring me, so I'll be going to City M."

Ming Xia told Ye Jiang that the Ability Control Bureau planned to focus on cultivating her.

Ye Jiang wasn't too surprised to hear this. She had known for a long time that this child was known as some kind of unparalleled genius, so it was normal for him to be given important responsibilities. However, the fact that Ming Xia was going to meet with Xiao Pei made Ye Jiang a little concerned. Considering that Xiao Pei defined their relationship as friendship, she thought for a moment, then took something out of her pocket and handed it to Ming Xia.

"When you see the captain, give this to her for me." Ye Jiang said blankly, "Just say it's a gift."

She gave away the last willow leaf she had obtained as a gift to a friend.

It feels a little awkward.

Ye Jiang's fingers twitched slightly. From what she had learned, bringing gifts for friends after going out seemed to be a normal exchange between friends, but this was a bit unfamiliar to her, so she felt awkward.

The moment the energy willow leaf appeared, a gaze immediately fell upon it—it was from the young man Rong Yin. His gaze towards the energy willow leaf seemed a little...unhappy?

Ye Jiang paused for a moment before letting Ming Xia take the willow leaf. Ming Xia, unaware of the sudden change, solemnly assured her, "I understand, I will definitely deliver the willow leaf."

Ye Jiang thought there was no need to be so formal.

Having said everything she needed to say, the time for parting had come, Ming Xia finally revealed a hint of reluctance.

Mixed with the reluctance was a hidden unease, actually from the Ability Control Bureau.

The little genius was filled with questions. What exactly was the light she saw when the Moon Tree appeared yesterday? She felt as if she had glimpsed some incredible secret, but she couldn't think about it too deeply, and dared not think about it too deeply.

She kept the secret.

"Well... teacher, I'm leaving now."

Ming Xia is gone.

Little Genius didn't notice that when she stepped out of the room, the energy willow leaf in her pocket had been replaced by an A-Rank item by someone unknown.

One month later.

Ye Jiang went down from the second floor of the log cabin and saw the owner Hua Ling, who was eating a kind of flatbread. Ye Jiang's gaze lingered on the fragrant flatbread in Hua Ling's hand. Hua Ling didn't notice it for the first second, but then she paused and silently offered a flatbread to someone, who gladly accepted it. Hua Ling looked at the person eating the flatbread and couldn't help but ask, "Didn't someone bring you breakfast today?"

There's a strange sight in the cabin: two guests claim they don't know each other, but the male guest, who doesn't know the female guest, brings her breakfast and fruit every day.

"Who brought these?" Ye Jiang asked, a sesame seed stuck to the corner of her mouth, oblivious to her expressionless face as she chewed. "They weren't for me. Rong Yin bought too many, and he shared them with me."

Hua Ling: "..."

Yeah?

Hua Ling's lips twitched. "Then why didn't he buy more today?"

Ye Jiang said, "He's gone."

She and another guest stayed in this small town for a full month. Ye Jiang wanted to find some peace and quiet here, so she didn't leave. As for the other person... Ye Jiang didn't know why they hadn't left. She still didn't know why they had come to the town or why they had suddenly left.

Hua Ling was startled. "Gone?"

Ye Jiang said "Mmm," and another sesame seed stuck to the corner of her mouth.

Hua Ling took a moment to accept the fact that the guest had left, but something left her feeling uneasy. She muttered, "They left without even saying goodbye."

"He said it," Ye Jiang said. "He told me."

Hua Ling: "..."

Okay.

Why am I feeling increasingly uneasy?

Ye Jiang was eating her pancake, lost in thought. The young man next door, Rong Yin, had suddenly approached her last night, saying he had to leave town first, and then... then he gave her a prop box. Later, Ye Jiang opened it and found that inside was...

It's the moon.

The silver metal box, glowing with fluorescent light, contained 26 moons.

The kind that fell from the Moon Tree.

Ye Jiang now knows the magical origin of the Moon Tree, but she doesn't know how the young man managed to collect so many moons and preserve them.

The moment Ye Jiang saw the moon in the box, she was dazed, and the emptiness in her chest deepened. She felt that she might have forgotten more than one important thing.

Ye Jiang composed herself and asked the owner of the small building, "When are you leaving?"

Hua Ling: "..."

A month ago, people from the Ability Control Bureau came. They didn't do anything to the townspeople, but simply asked if they needed any other help. The townspeople said no. After the Ability Control Bureau left, the town underwent some changes and became increasingly desolate. Fewer and fewer people remained in the town, and the townspeople gradually left. No one knew where they went.

Ye Jiang went out yesterday, but only saw a few people. Every town resident she met was aloof and silent, with very distinct characteristics. They were clearly townspeople who had participated in the hunt. These townspeople went out to make medicine at the factory. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't even leave their homes, let alone leave the town.

The town's high walls have crumbled, but another wall stands in the hearts of these townspeople.

"Why do you care so much?" Hua Ling shouted, trying to hide something with her voice, but an insurmountable wall stood in her heart. "You just go your own way. I wanted to ask you, Healer, where are you? The mission is over, why are you still here?"

After finishing her pancake, Ye Jiang brushed the sesame seeds off her fingers and said, "I'm leaving right away."

Hua Ling was taken aback. Was the Healer leaving too?

If the Healer leaves, this little building will... be all empty except for me, right?

It's better that they've left.

We all have to leave eventually.

Concealing her complex emotions, Hua Ling deliberately clicked her tongue. "You should have left long ago!"

She waved goodbye as if shooing someone away, "Go, go, goodbye."

Ye Jiang looked at her for a long while, then said, "Okay, goodbye."

A goodbye shattered Hua Ling's pretense. Her waving hand stopped, and her expression froze. Ye Jiang glanced at her, then walked out of the small building. This time, she wouldn't be coming back. Realizing this, an indescribable feeling welled up in Hua Ling's chest. The footsteps faded into the distance, and the small house fell silent. Hua Ling dejectedly covered her face with her hands.

Peeking through her fingers, she suddenly noticed that the pancakes on the table were gone—not a single one.

Hua Ling: "..."

Why steal someone's breakfast when you can just leave?!

As if she had found a reason to say goodbye, Hua Ling suddenly stood up and chased after him as fast as the wind.

However, the person she wanted to say goodbye to had already gone far away, so far that she could no longer even see their back.

Hua Ling remained silent.

Just as he was about to turn around, he suddenly noticed something unusual about the yard. Looking down, he saw that there were some things carved on the bluestone slabs of his yard, some lines, curved and complex. One end of the lines connected to Shuiling Town, and the other end connected to a city called City A.

This is a route map.

Someone told her that if she'd had enough, she should go out for a walk.

"... They all love to ruin other people's yards."

Hua Ling's chest heaved, and her eyes became slightly moist.

Ye Jiang walked through the desolate streets, passing by Mei Ti's courtyard, and paused. In the abandoned courtyard, only the Willow Mother Tree stood silently, forever gentle.

Ye Jiang came to the tree, looked up and waited, and a willow leaf gracefully fell.

She accepted the gift, stood there for a while, and then left.

A pink Polluted perched on the dilapidated high wall of Shuiling Town. The Polluted had grown to a very large size. It lay on the wall with its eyes closed, letting its tentacles dangle down. Ye Jiang knew that this Polluted had always been lying on the wall. Every departing townsman passed beneath it, and it remained silent, simply watching them leave, like a spectator from beginning to end.

Ye Jiang was passing by on her way out of town, intending to just leave, but seeing the drooping tentacles, she felt an urge to grab them. Completely unaware of the concept of restraint, she impulsively reached out and pinched them. The enormous Polluted still had drooping eyelids, its thick tentacles motionless. Only when Ye Jiang pinched too hard did it finally coil up, grab the tiny human, and toss her aside. Ye Jiang adjusted her posture in mid-air, calmly landing on the wall, next to the Polluted's head. She decided not to leave and sat down beside it.

"Are you going to stay here forever?" Ye Jiang asked the Polluted. The Polluted didn't answer, but Ye Jiang didn't seem to care. She reached out and pressed her hand against the Polluted's soft skin, then suddenly blurted out casually, "Are you Mei Ti?"

The lazy Polluted suddenly opened its eyes and took the humans next to it into its many eyes.

The sight of several humanoid eyes on the highly mutated Polluted was somewhat eerie, but Ye Jiang simply watched calmly. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before the Polluted Polluted away first.

The Polluted curled one of its tentacles and spoke in human language, saying, "Ah."

Ye Jiang sensed its tone. "You're not?"

The Polluted was somewhat speechless. "What else can I do?"

Ye Jiang said "Oh".

Polluted: "..."

The Polluted rolled its eyes. "How do I resemble a stupid human?"

Ye Jiang said, "Hua Ling said that when Mei Ti was hunted, she was also turned into something like you."

However, this Polluted did not have the crucial black markings. Before the Moon Tree appeared, the black markings were a sign of the townspeople's immortality. Therefore, although Hua Ling found it too coincidental, she did not believe that the Polluted was the girl Mei Ti.

"It's just a resemblance!" The Polluted paused, then said quietly, "But I do know that little brat."

Ye Jiang revealed a knowing expression. "Oh, I know, you mutated by imitating someone else's appearance, you like them."

Polluted: "..."

"%&&￥%#"

The Polluted ' foul language has resurfaced.

The filtration mode of Ye Jiang is back.

The person and the Polluted stared at each other blankly.

The Polluted turned its head away, refusing to look at the infuriating human. It angrily swept its tentacles across the rubble below, saying, "That little brat became Polluted a long time ago; it mutated over two months ago!"