In the dead forest, Bai Mo turned a blind eye to the miserable corpse, and just stared at the twisting black branch with a look of thought in his eyes.
"It's a bit strange that the branches of Qi Yishu would hunt outside the restricted area..."
He was a little confused. He must know that every branch of the tree is connected to the trunk, and the trunk cannot move.
Rooted in the restricted area.
The fact that this branch can reach here either means that its length has reached an incredible level, or it means that after a long period of evolution, the branches of the tree can survive independently of the main body.
He observed carefully and saw that the branch was not long. It looked more like it grew from an ordinary dead tree.
It's quite strange.
But no matter which possibility it is, this change is enough to illustrate one problem, that is, after a long time,
Everything in the restricted area is also changing, developing in an unknown and uncontrollable direction.
He said to Zhang Tao: "I hope the branches of a tree will not change its position easily after determining the hunting area. You can remind others to pay more attention to the top of their heads recently. It is best to change the route."
Zhang Tao glanced at the miserable corpse hanging in the air and said with some worry: "Can't we get rid of it?"
"Of course." Bai Mo nodded slightly and said calmly, "—if you have that ability."
Seeing Zhang Tao's expectant look, he shook his head slightly and said, "Don't count on me. I'm no better than you now and can't deal with this thing. But my advice to you is, don't die if you can live well."
The implication is self-evident.
Zhang Tao's expression froze: "Is this thing so powerful?"
"You have to know that most of the dangers in the dark forest come from the Qiu Yi tree. Each tree trunk can probably reach the level of a D+ level extraordinary person, and the branches are D level and faster than bullets.
It can easily penetrate your head."
Zhang Tao quickly covered his head: "What about using a gun?"
"Do you have a gun?" Bai Mo asked curiously.
"I don't have one, but I heard someone in the gathering place has one."
"If it's just an ordinary pistol, then I still recommend it as before, don't die."
Zhang Tao was a little embarrassed, but then he seemed to have a sudden realization and said, "What about fire? Can we burn it with fire?"
Bai Mo glanced at it: "As I said, this thing has a deep connection with Yan Hua. You should have some understanding of the characteristics of Yan Hua."
Zhang Tao: "..."
After a moment of silence, he wondered: "But if it continues to kill people..."
"That's why I suggest you change your path in the future."
Bai Mo interrupted him, shook his head and said, "Qiu Yishu has a territorial theory. As long as you don't come here to die, there is actually no problem."
"And it's not all bad to have this thing here. Didn't someone just say that someone wants to take advantage of Rouzhu? If used properly, this branch may be used as your 'guard'."
Protect...protect?
Hearing the words,
Zhang Tao suddenly opened his eyes wide,
He looked extremely shocked.
He was not only shocked by what Bai Mo said, but also shocked that the other party had paid attention to his previous conversation with Wu Fan, and had even been thinking about how to solve Rou Zhu's problem.
He could see that although Bai Mo looked easy to talk to, his temperament actually tended to be cold, and he always gave people an indescribable sense of alienation. He seemed to have no interest in anything, but he didn't expect that he was actually concerned about the safety of their brothers and sisters.
"Then...how to do this?"
"Don't worry, you have to wait until it is hungry."
Zhang Tao was stunned for a while, hesitating and hesitating for a long time, and finally he could only hold back one sentence: "Brother Bai, you know so many things."
In fact, what he really wants to say is, are you serious...
Bai Mo corrected: "It's not too much, it can only be said that it's still a lot."
Zhang Tao smiled bitterly.
"But...normally speaking, people like you, Brother Bai, shouldn't fall into the buffer zone, right?"
After a short silence, he finally asked the question in his heart.
"What does 'fall' mean?"
Bai Mo smiled, "Whether it is a safe zone, a buffer zone, or even a restricted area under my feet, it is part of my feet. There is essentially no difference -"
"The difference is in the people."
He raised his hand and patted Zhang Tao's shoulder, and said seriously, "As long as you are strong enough, there is no such thing as a restricted area in the world, because you can go anywhere, even a restricted area can be your place of residence."
After saying this, he walked straight under the black branches under Zhang Tao's astonished eyes.
Not sure if it was an illusion, Zhang Tao noticed that when Bai Mo passed by, the black branch on the dead tree obviously lifted up, as if a person instinctively retreated after being frightened.
What this means is... Baiwu doesn't think the buffer zone is dangerous at all?
Zhang Tao quickly came to his senses, but he did not dare to walk under the branches like Bai Mo did. Instead, he quickly changed direction and hurriedly followed Bai Mo towards home.
The forest became quiet.
The black branch remained motionless until it sensed the danger and then reacted slightly. Spreading out from the tip, it formed a four-petal "mouth" with jagged teeth, swallowing up the dried corpse bit by bit from the inside out.
The only sound left in the forest was the sound of chewing.
…
When Zhang Tao and the two returned to their residence, Zhang Rouzhu was busy in the kitchen.
In addition to bringing danger, the expansion of the restricted area has also brought many new changes to the buffer zone, such as novel plants.
Many plants can actively harm people, but some plants can be used medicinally or edible, and many more are toxic.
Since each buffer zone is formed by the expansion and intersection of different restricted zones and is affected by the restricted zone, the plants growing in different buffer zones are also different.
These plants are all kinds of strange and very different from conventional knowledge. There is no reference basis, so most plants can only be distinguished based on personal understanding.
Zhang Rouzhu doesn't go out much on weekdays. He spends a lot of time in the kitchen studying the effects of these plants.
However, she had no professional knowledge in the first place and no relevant instruments. It was more about tinkering with things to pass the time than research.
"Dong dong dong."
Hearing the knock on the door, Zhang Rouzhu immediately became vigilant. He quickly picked up the fire stick on his side and carefully approached the door.
The next second, the door was suddenly opened. She was startled and almost swung the stick out.
Seeing that the person coming was Zhang Tao, Zhang Rouzhu breathed a sigh of relief, threw away the fire stick, and then asked doubtfully: "Brother, why did you come back so early today?"
You must know that Zhang Tao would not come back until around six o'clock in the past, because the robots in Hansheng Mine would allocate rewards according to the mining volume, so Zhang Tao worked extra hard every time just to make more money.
Facing the confused Zhang Rouzhu, Zhang Tao did not hold anything back and told his sister everything that happened in the Hansheng Mine, and also told the other party what Wu Fan said.
After listening, Zhang Rouzhu frowned slightly and said doubtfully: "Although I go out more frequently recently, I am always near the gathering place, and always in the direction away from the Hansheng Mine. How could anyone from the Hansheng Mine notice me?"
?”
After hearing this, Zhang Tao thought about it carefully and was stunned.
Yes, this gathering place is some distance away from the Hansheng Mine, and there is nothing good nearby. With the urine of the people in the Hansheng Mine gathering place, why would they bother to come here to check it out?
But if they hadn't come to see it, how would they know the information about Rouzhu?
"Have there been any strangers in the gathering place lately?" he asked.
"I haven't seen it."
Zhang Rouzhu shook his head firmly, "If I have to say it, Brother Bai Wu is probably the most unfamiliar face in the gathering place."
"Since I haven't met you, how could they know about you... Could it be that Xiaofan is lying to me?" Zhang Tao frowned.
Zhang Rouzhu shook his head: "No, it won't do him any good. He has no reason to lie to you."
"Is that what others mentioned to them?"
"have no idea."
"Forget it, forget it." After a while, Zhang Tao shook his head and said, "Since I can't figure it out, then I won't think about it. Anyway, I have to be careful recently."
After thinking for a while, he continued: "By the way, the path at the gathering place that we often walk on is no longer usable. There is a branch-like forbidden creature on the road, which is quite dangerous. Li Yang died in the hands of that thing."
Zhang Rouzhu opened his mouth, and after a while, a sigh sounded in the room.
"Yeah."
The relationship between their brother and sister was pretty good with Li Yang, they lived not too far away, and they kept in touch with each other on weekdays. Although she had long been accustomed to the fact that people died every now and then, she still couldn't suppress the sadness in her heart.
"Anyway, you must pay attention when you go out in the future. I am going to see if other people are there and tell them the news as soon as possible." Zhang Tao reminded again.
"Okay, please pay attention to your safety."
Zhang Tao put down the stone and cotton clothes, said hello to Bai Mo again, and then left in a hurry.
Bai Mo and Zhang Rouzhu were the only two people left in the kitchen.
"You haven't fully recovered yet, right? Go inside and rest. I'll cook right away."
It was Zhang Rouzhu who broke the silence first.
She had already learned about Bai Mo's unusualness from Zhang Tao, but like Zhang Tao, she had no intention of asking about the other person's identity.
"What are you going to do, energy bars and rice?"
Bai Mo couldn't help but ask when he saw that she was forcefully breaking open the long object in her hand.
"Well... now we really only have energy bars as the staple food at home. The taste is indeed not good, don't mind..."
Zhang Rouzhu was a little embarrassed and said comfortingly, "But don't worry, it won't be long before the gates of Wuji City are opened. We can go get the rice. Just hold on for a while."
"I don't mind the taste."
Bai Mo found a place to wash his hands, then walked towards her, took the energy bar from her hand, broke the energy bar into fine pieces without much effort, and put it into the bowl.
The two of them were silent, not knowing what to say for a moment.
After a while, Bai Mo suddenly looked at the strange plants on the ground and said, "Most of these things are poisonous, but the vine as thick as an arm is good and can be eaten."
Zhang Rouzhu stared at the brightly colored vine with wide eyes, and said with disbelief: "Are you sure? This thing has thorns. I was stung, and the wound is still numb to this day."
Bai Mo raised his eyebrows: "Let me see the wound."
The girl glanced at him, but without being shy, she directly lifted up her sleeves, revealing her snow-white forearms.
I saw a small red hole on her forearm, surrounded by purple patches, which seemed to be bruises, and looked quite scary.
Seeing this evening, Zhang Rouzhu's expression suddenly changed, because it was clearly not that serious before, just a little itchy, so she didn't take it seriously.
She started to panic, and the more she looked, the more frightened she became. She couldn't help but ask, "What should I do? Am I poisoned?"
"It's true that you were poisoned, but you'll be fine if you eat the vines."
Bai Mo said, "This thing is called a hand vine. Its thorns are indeed poisonous. They are not harmful. They just make people weak. They will soften when exposed to high temperatures and can be detoxified after being eaten."
"Hand vines?" Zhang Rouzhu asked suspiciously: "Are you telling the truth? Why do I feel that you are telling nonsense, as if you are trying to trick me into eating this thing..."
"Then look at the root of the vine, does it look like the shape of a palm?"
"I haven't dug out the roots, where can I look?" Zhang Rouzhu said angrily.
"Then there's nothing we can do about it. Believe it or not, it's up to you."
Bai Mo shrugged, "This thing tastes very good, and you can recall whether the quantity of this thing is relatively rare?"
Zhang Rouzhu was stunned and thought about it carefully. It seemed that it was indeed the case. She wandered around outside and saw a lot of other plants, but it seemed that she only found this one vine——
Isn't this thing more precious?
"That's right."
Bai Mo seemed to see her thoughts and said, "According to your understanding, the hand vine should be considered a rare treasure. Its stinging toxin will make the body of living creatures become weaker and weaker, but eating it will make the body weaker."
It can strengthen your body.”
"Exotic treasure?" Zhang Rouzhu's eyes lit up, "Isn't it possible to sell it for money?"
Bai Mo didn't expect that the other party would suddenly think of selling for money, and asked: "Oh? Who are you going to sell to?"
"Our buffer zone will hold a market every month. There will be many people trading at that time. We buy our charms and energy bars there. We can also sell things tomorrow - if
This vine is really a rare thing."
At the end of the sentence, Zhang Rouzhu's tone was a little uncertain.
"But this thing is colorful and pretty, and it's almost poisonous. People may not believe it if it says it can strengthen the body."
Seeing that she didn't believe it, Bai Mo didn't explain much and asked, "How long has it been since you were stabbed?"
"In two hours at most, you won't be able to move your left hand. If you don't believe it, you can wait and see if I'm right."
"good."
Although Zhang Rouzhu knew that the other party might not be lying, he still said a little unconvinced.
Two hours passed quickly.
As soon as Zhang Tao got home, he smelled a fragrance that he had never smelled before from the kitchen.
However, when he entered the house, he found that it was Bai Mo who was cooking, skillfully cooking a colorful vine, and he was stunned.
And the reason why Zhang Rouzhu was not the one cooking was because one of her hands... could no longer move.
What Bai Mo said is true.
Before cooking, Bai Mo squeezed out the toxins from the hand vine, stored it in a small bottle, and gave it to Zhang Rouzhu.
In his words, as long as this thing is poured into water, even an extraordinary person will become weak after drinking it. It may be useful for self-defense in the future.
