LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 79—The decision
Chapter 79—The decision
by Bocchan13
“Uwaaahh!!” The large man started crying loudly, bursting into tears which were quickly washed away by the rain. Everyone was still in shock as the red head buried its head in Wang Cheng’s shoulders. Wang Cheng was quite tall too, similar in size to Song Yu at 180cm, but this guys could compete with Yu Ci in terms of size. Seeing this behemoth-like man crying utterly at Wang Cheng made everyone feel awkward.
Lan Zhou’s Blue Sun was still glowing, getting bigger and bigger. Lan Zhou looked at Song Yu with worried eyes, “Are you okay? Did that bastard hurt you?”
Song Yu just looked at the collar of his shirt which had torn by the force of the vines. Other than a sore butt he was fine. He shook his head, “He didn’t hurt me.”
Wang Cheng was extremely flustered as he tried to console the rose as well as reassure the group.
“Lan Zhou, stop! He’s not trying to hurt you guys!” Turning to the big man he helplessly rubbed the man’s back, “Shhh, there there. I didn’t mean it! I—I was out of my mind! Yes! I was just scared that you changed a little too much.”
The rose lifted his head, his tear-stained amber eyes growing even sadder.
“You said that we could be together after I became human. I’m scary?! Waaahhhhh!!!”
The rose was indeed too hysterical to console. Wang Cheng pleadingly looked at the rest of the group, who had taken several steps back.
“Wang Cheng. What’s going on? This…person is rose?”
Wang Cheng could only helpless shrug. “I don’t know! I’m just as confused as you guys!” The man’s arms surrounded Wang Cheng’s waist tightly causing him to grunt in pain.
“Gently! Gently!” Rose immediately loosened his arms, but still kept them circling Wang Cheng. Lan Zhou sighed and rubbed his temples.
“For now, let’s get out of the rain. He’s not going to hurt us now. But we need to interrogate it…him.” The group vigilantly led the way back to the villa, keeping an eye on the man still holding Wang Cheng. They entered the villa and turned on the brightness settings, seeing the man in the light for the first time.
The man’s nakedness showed large pecs, chiseled abs, pubic hair trailing down to a large…aherm. His entire body was pale white tinted with a light green. The dark red hair resembled the color of the rose, the wet strands trailing down his back to his butt.
Those amber eyes had a hint of green in it as well. The man looked to be in his early 20’s with wide set shoulders and a tall frame. Yu Ci was tall, but this man was slightly taller. His aura seemed to be dangerous, but he was crying like a baby. If it wasn’t for that deadly aura, it would look like any other college student bursting with energy.
The contradictions were too much!
Big tears plopped off Roses face, as he practically burrowed himself in Wang Cheng’s embrace. Wang Cheng was still too speechless about this being his rose.
What happened to his cute rose form?
The group led them to a small parlor room that was only used for setting up storage. It was on the outermost area of the house and would not affect the structure if the rose decided to wreak havoc. Song Yu was still shivering from the experience with the vines.
They had moved faster than he could blink and could have easily shredded him to pieces. Luckily, the only thing it grabbed onto was his collar, but if he had moved even slightly faster or slower, there might have been a different outcome.
Song Yu stared at the rose as it clung to Wang Cheng. It looked to be extremely dangerous, but he glanced at the gentleness of his fingers as they trapped Wang Cheng into its embrace.
He didn’t expect this outcome.
The rose was definitely a dangerous entity, but somehow after seeing it, you could only see the pureness in its eyes. Wang Cheng along with the sticky rose was dragged to a chair in the center where a hanging light bulb stood.
Interrogation: START!
Wang Cheng was easily anxious as he watched his friends faces stare at him and rose like they were the enemy. Gulping down fear, he pinched the roses arm to make him stop crying. The rose, detecting this touch thought it was a game and pinched right back.
“Ow!”
Wang Cheng glared at the now smiling plant and shoved him away.
“Wang Cheng, we need his co-operation. Can you help us?” Lan Zhou spoke evenly, but there was still an edge of coldness to it. Wang Cheng easily nodded his head.
Lan Zhou turned to the rose, speaking slowly and precisely,
“How long have you had this form?”
The rose looked at Wang Cheng’s pleading gaze and could only sit down obediently. “Time. I don’t understand. I felt the sun come up many times until the leaf change, then I was asleep. I woke up and try find Wang Cheng.”
Lan Zhou deducted from his broken speech that he was copying words he had heard as a plant. Forming complex sentences might have to be taught.
“That means you weren’t like this when you saved us from the mole.” The rose nodded.
“I want to change. So I go.”
“How did you change? Did you kill someone?”
The rose sensed this question to be the defining moment for him. He didn’t know that this was a trick question from Lan Zhou, only that it had a semblance of ‘meaning’.
“I eat the person after their body sleeps. I smelled fresh blood and followed it to him. He died and I take him in my body. When I sleep, I change.”
Lan Zhou and the rest were dumbfounded. A sentient plant was able to create a human form by absorbing a person before zombification. Xiao Zi was equally as stunned. The evolution of sentient plants and animals did not reach to this extent even in their previous life.
Unless…these sentient plants and animals were extremely rare, learned from humans and did not approach them for fear of death. This was very plausible. If so, there might have been an evolution of human-zombie hybrids living in isolation somewhere.
There was an endless amount of opportunity! If this was so, they might be able to cohesively transform the virus!
However, no one was celebrating as Lan Zhou asked it more questions, “Do you have a taste for eating people?”
The rose was confused. As a sentient plant, it only gained consciousnesses thanks to the virus. It changed his DNA, not overtook it like the virus did. So it did not feed. There were sentient plants that did, but that was only because its consciousness stopped evolving after its instinctual nature.
The rose was leaps and bounds higher in evolution than those other plants. He slowly shook his head and nuzzled closer to Wang Cheng.
“I don’t eat. I only eat the sun.”
This gave everyone a huge sigh of relief. Song Yu was the one to ask something next, “Will you hurt us? If someone is mean to Wang Cheng, will you kill them?”
Rose pursed his lips. He HAD done something akin to that, but that was because Wang Cheng was in extreme danger. If he hadn’t done it, Wang Cheng would have died.
“Will you hurt Wang Cheng? If you do…might.”
Song Yu could easily see the extreme trust the rose had for Wang Cheng. He wasn’t sure if they could teach the plant empathy or ethics.
All of a sudden, Squinty came barreling through the door, his tongue lolling from his open mouth. He was wet from the rain. He must have run to see if the animals were doing okay.
“Bark!”
Wow! It’s the smelly plant! It looks like everyone!? Can I play with him?
Song Yu sighed. A sentient animal wasn’t even on par to a sentient rose. Hearing his little distorted dialogue made him feel slightly better. Squinty did not see the plant as such a threat.
Song Yu had to give props to that. Squinty might evolve at a slower rate, but his love for him would not diminish in the slightest.
Does that mean that sentient animals and plants have the ability to change to humans?
It was both plausible and implausible at the same time. Animals did not have a body useful for absorption. Unlike a plants genetic makeup, an animal is probably more likely to evolve into things akin to beasts like werewolves.
The future…was indeed going to change.
The interrogation lasted another hour, and Xiao Zi, under the super careful supervision of Lu Jingxiu, extracted three vials of Roses blood for scientific research.
In the end, the rose was able to stay, but was relegated to the gym for further observation until they were more comfortable with it. The rose didn’t mind, but was extremely sad that Wang Cheng slept in the shiny house.
Everyone’s sleep was a bit distorted, but soon went off into dreamland.