Chapter 214: Twin Sisters (2/2)

Ye Chong’s left hand carefully held the two face-like petals, while his right hand wielded the dagger and cut the stem that supported the flower. The petals were now the perfect container for the scarlet red slime within. Ye Chong moved his shoulders, and his backpack slithered down unnaturally to his right hand.

Studying Lan Yixing’s chip, Ye Cong could now control his muscles to an unusual extent. His way of retrieving his backpack just now was a good example, though it went by unnoticed. If Ye Chong was naked waist up, they would have noticed the way Ye Chong’s muscles rippled from the shoulder down like waves, passing the backpack to Ye Chong’s right arm.

Lan Yixing’s chip did not teach this technique; it was a trick that Ye Chong came up with himself. This was also a way to train his muscles. Ye Chong could only do this with his shoulders and arms for now, still quite aways from controlling his entire body in this way.

Fortunately, everyone was looking at Meng Fei’er at the moment, and did not notice this tiny detail.

Ye Chong opened the backpack with his right hand and took out a rectangular metallic container. He opened the container, and cold air slowly wafted out from within. One could see rows of spheres lined through the cold air. Ye Chong took one of those fist-sized spheres from inside the container. It had a peculiar texture - the surface shined with a metallic luster, but through the semi-transparent shell, one could see inside the sphere. This one was empty. Since it was stored at a constant cold temperature, the sphere was cold to the touch.

Ye Chong pressed on a protrusion beneath the sphere, and the sphere buzzed as its upper half opened up, leaving a hemispherical bowl in his hand. Ye Chong carefully placed the fiery red petals inside. He pressed the protrusion again, and the sphere closed up into its initial spherical semi-transparent form. From the outside, one could see the flower within. Ye Chong kept the sphere with its new content back inside the container.

The container was a special specimen container used by alchemists. It kept its contents fresh by maintaining a cold temperature within, and once the container was sealed, the spheres within would become suspended in a zero-gravity vacuum. Such a cutting edge specimen container was like a dream toolkit for every alchemist.

”What was that?” Meng Fei’er spoke. Her voice was still tinged with fear. It took only a moment for Meng Fei’er to compose herself again after she landed into Qin Zuo’s embrace. Qin Zuo could only regret that the moment passed by too soon. Meng Fei’er watched Ye Chong’s every move, and she finally understood what had happened. The young man who was currently looking very focused was the one who saved her.

Ye Chong relaxed at last. He had to be very careful handling such a dangerous sticky slime. The petals were worthless for him, but he wanted the vine with its sticky slime. In Lunatic Guan’s chip, there were quite a few concoctions that called for this ingredient. Since Twin Sisters was a rare plant, who knew when he would see one again?

Ye Chong put the specimen container back inside his backpack and turned to her. ”This is Twin Sisters. Its known for its ability prey on other organisms. Inside the petals is a red vine, like a snake. This vine secretes an extremely corrosive slime. The slime also has paralytic properties. Please wear your mask, your carelessness will delay us. Also, please don’t approach unfamiliar plants without thought. The forest is more dangerous than you think.” Ye Chong lectured coldly.

He ignored Meng Fei’er after that.

They were very much delayed, and Ye Chong did not intend to waste any more time. Meng Fei’er knew that she had acted too recklessly. As the young man turned his back to her, Meng Fei’er quietly put on the mask from her protective suit.

The group advanced.

Ye Chong grew more and more anxious. He could not understand how this team had managed to venture so deep into the forest and return unscathed.

Many of the plants here were recorded in Lunatic Guan’s chip. Looking at the easy expression on the four members of the team, aside from Meng Fei’er, Ye Chong marvelled on how the ignorant could afford to be fearless.

Less than half a meter from Phal was a dark brown vine, from the infamous Blood Sucking Vines. These vines were covered entirely with thorns. Any animal that was pricked would be injected with a very powerful anaesthetic. The poison from 25 thorns was enough to make an adult lion defenseless. Once a prey was anaesthetised, it would be drained of all its blood until only a dry corpse remained.

Three meters above Ye Chong was an egg-shaped fruit, from the honey juniper tree. Honey juniper fruits were sweet and fragrant, and rich in nutrients. One could smell its scent from a long distance away. However, the fragrance was equally terrifying.

Honey juniper fruits were natural nests for the black-winged hornets. One would almost never see one without the other. Ye Chong noticed with his sharp eyes that a few black-winged hornets had just burrowed into one of the fruits. Black-winged hornets were horrible beings, and if you accidentally touched their nests, you would have sealed your deadly fate.

These insects were very aggressive, and even vengeful. A healthy member of the black-winged hornets would penetrate a centimeter-thick alloy board with the stinger on its tail. Besides, the stinger was packed with enough poison to kill a person very quickly. Ye Chong had no confidence of their protective suits against these insects.

The were too many dangerous plants around here! Moreover, Ye Chong did not recognize many of them, and did not know if they were harmful. Of course, he would not care to experiment now.

Fortunately, the incident with Meng Fei’er had made everyone more vigilant. The corrosive slime had left a deep impression in them.

If the walk along the river was this hard, trekking through the forest would be even more so.

The river water was clear, and the sound of flowing water helped create a peaceful atmosphere unique to the forests.

Up until now, they had not encountered anything like vicious wild animals. Ye Chong was disturbed by the fact. If even the plants were so dangerous here, Ye Chong would not believe that the animals here would fare any better.

Coxcomb’s landing may have scared off plenty of the animals, but Ye Chong still understood the territorial nature of the more intelligent animals. On the trash planet, Ye Chong had fought against various mutants, and he had grown familiar with the ways of these animals, especially the fiercer ones.

Ye Chong would never underestimate the strength of wild animals. Take the iron lizard on the trash planet for example. Ye Chong believed that if all the mech pilots from the Five Galaxies tried to take on the iron lizard one-on-one, most of them would never survive. This dangerous forest, on the other hand, was home to hundreds and thousands of creatures undisturbed by mankind. Ye Chong could not begin to imagine what they would be like.

However, with a water source like this, it must be where animals nearby quench their thirst.

Why have they not encountered a single animal? This baffled Ye Chong. After all, they were quite a distance from the Coxcomb already.

Could it be …

Ye Chong had an ill premonition. Behind him, the river flowed, and many silver lines flickered into existence.