PSW - Chapter 107
Chapter 107
The mutated plants appeared quiet and still, but inside their local network, it was unbearably noisy. They were chattering away, a chaotic mess of screams, miserable cries, complaints, and frantic outbursts. After listening for just a minute or two, Zheng Yi became very worried about the mental state of these mutated plants.
'I should have let Yu Yinan connect to this and preach directly.' Amidst the cacophony, Zheng Yi couldn't help but think. She was already starting to regret it. There were simply too many mutated plants in this area. It had been fine when she couldn't hear them, but now that she was connected, she could understand the specific meaning of their every thought. In a single second, hundreds of thoughts would appear and resound simultaneously.
[With Yu Yinan's mental strength… I don't think she could connect.] Zero One couldn't help but say. It was bound to Zheng Yi, so when Zheng Yi connected to the mutated plants' local network, it was forced to connect as well. Zero One's head was splitting from the noise. While perfunctorily replying to Zheng Yi, it quickly checked its settings, hoping to unilaterally block out the voices of the mutated plants.
'Wait, didn't you hear that? It seems like a strange presence… has joined us?'
In the instant Zheng Yi and Zero One were communicating, a mutated plant's voice timidly rang out in the local network. It sounded nervous and scared, as if it had just discovered a paranormal event among the mutated plants. Right after that sentence, the plant network suddenly fell silent.
[What's going on? When you connect with your mental strength, do your thoughts get broadcasted directly too?] Zero One was puzzled. Since Zheng Yi was capable of connecting, it should have been easy for her to block her own mental signals. How could she let these mutated plants capture the information?
'Heavens, it has an accomplice?! Who is it talking to? Is it these two humans in front of us? But they don't look like they're communicating with us mentally at all!'
[???] The entire Zero One system was shocked. Could it be… no… impossible, right? Was it the one that had been exposed? But it was just a system. How could its brainwaves possibly connect to these plants? [Zheng Yi, Zheng Yi, say something! How am I the one who's connected?!]
'As a system, don't you have any ability to protect your own privacy?' Zheng Yi asked sincerely. Her own deepest thoughts, of course, couldn't possibly be exposed. The communication she intended to have with Zero One was naturally on a different mental frequency. Although it was all mental and telepathic communication, it was all within her control. It could be understood as her communication with Zero One being on a private channel, while listening to, and even communicating with, the plants' mental network was on a separate public channel belonging to the plants.
[I do, but why didn't it work?] As an ordinary, weak, and pitiful little system, Zero One felt it was not doing well. It was a system! Why was its conversation with Zheng Yi leaked directly to the plants? How on earth was this communication template designed? It's time for an update!
What was worse, it was clearly talking to Zheng Yi, but all the mutated plants on the channel went into an uproar. One demanded, "What's a Zheng Yi? That human seemed to say 'Zheng Yi' too?"
Another said, "Didn't that human say Zheng Yi is a Saint? A deity? But a human god can't have dominion over us plants, right?"
Even more plants were curious about what it meant by "work." Some clamored for it to show itself and speak, while some bad-tempered ones told it to get the hell out of the mutated plant network.
'Can you save us? My roots are about to freeze off!'
'Yeah, you're not a plant, and you're not saving us… why are you staying here eavesdropping on our chat!'
'What are you? Why were you able to join? And what kind of existence is that human and the Zheng Yi you mentioned?'
With one voice after another, Zero One's mind had never been so chaotic. In the past, its hosts had only ever complained that it was too talkative and noisy. To be "harassed" like this in return… this was a first for Zero One.
Zero One rapidly submitted "bug" reports and update requests, and racked its brain to send a log entry that didn't mention Zheng Yi to briefly explain the situation.
'Dear Zero One, you are the Saint Growth Plan system.' Zheng Yi said gently and earnestly to Zero One, watching Yu Yinan's serious proselytizing. 'The fact that you can join the network and communicate with them, isn't this a golden opportunity?'
'They've already started asking about Zheng Yi and the Saint on their own. As the Saint Growth Plan system, don't you have an obligation… to answer their questions and clear their doubts, just like Yu Yinan?'
[…] Zero One didn't really feel like it had such an obligation, nor did it think this was any kind of golden opportunity. Besides, it was the Saint Growth Plan system, not the Saint Proselytizing system!
But, how to put it? It was now irrevocably bound to Zheng Yi. It had been carried by this powerhouse for so long, and now the powerhouse needed it…
Zero One gritted its teeth and finally got serious. [Allow me to introduce you: the Saint, Zheng Yi, goddess of all creation, who has risen in the apocalypse to wander the world and deliver all living beings.]
It coordinated with Yu Yinan, who was outside the plant network, working with her from the inside while she worked from the outside, and began to preach.
[Ding! Detecting… Warning! Warning! An unknown error has occurred, investigating!]
[Ding! Investigation complete, unable to detect! Warning! Warning, an unknown error exists!]
[*&…~%¥…#·#@¥(@!]
After a complex string of garbled characters, the system seemed to return to normal.
[Ding! Detected a being that believes from the bottom of its heart that the host is a Saint! Assessing emotional intensity…]
[Assessment complete. Awarding Saint Points_8!]
The name assessment was completed by directly substituting it with "a being." And the detected emotional intensity actually exchanged for eight Saint Points. Evidently, compared to ordinary humans, these mutated plants were much simpler. Perhaps it was because they had only recently mutated, and also because plants don't have brains to begin with. Even though the mutation had granted them sentience, their intelligence was likely very limited.
'I believe! I believe! Can you unfreeze my roots? I promise I won't run!'
'I believe too! I have faith now! I want to be unfrozen too!'
The mutated plants rapidly contributed Saint Points, and Zheng Yi, as they wished, retracted her ability and stopped freezing their roots. Unless a plant tried to pull up its roots and run right under her nose, in which case it would be frozen again.
A continuous stream of notification sounds rang out. Zheng Yi beckoned Yu Yinan over and gave her some water. "Rest for a bit. That's about enough." The rest could be left to Zero One, who was exceptionally excited from receiving Saint Points.
"Is it working?" Yu Yinan's eyes burned with intensity. She looked at the vast expanse of mutated plants, not knowing if she had successfully earned any Saint Points for Zheng Yi.
"It is. They're very simple-minded. The lowest amount of Saint Points they've provided is 6." Zheng Yi said with a light laugh. In just that short time, Zheng Yi had gained 231 Saint Points. It was just a pity that there weren't many mutated plants trapped in the vicinity, and quite a few vines had just run away.
But the good news was that this plant local network didn't have many restrictions, so Zero One could keep preaching inside it. Even if the other plants weren't caught, with this kind of continuous and efficient brainwashing, plus the encouragement from the other mutated plants, she should be able to get a lot of Saint Points.
Zero One could finally be of some use again.
"Should we go catch more mutated plants then?" Yu Yinan grew even more excited upon hearing Zheng Yi's words. So they really could get Saint Points from mutated plants! In that case, couldn't they also get them from highly intelligent mutated zombies and animals? The difficulty would just be a bit higher, perhaps?
Take that special zombie from the last zombie tide, for example. It knew to flee and its mental power was so strong; it could clearly become a believer. But with its strength… unless Zheng Yi took action, an ordinary ability user would have no chance of taking it down easily.
"That won't be necessary. They can communicate with each other; the information will spread." Zheng Yi cleared an open space with a wave of her hand. She had Zero One find the camping tent they had stored in the truck but never had a chance to use, took it out, placed it on the ground, and began to assemble it. "Let's set up camp here and rest for two days."
"Okay, I'll do it." Yu Yinan agreed, quickly taking the items from Zheng Yi's hands and assembling the tent. "These mutated plants don't seem to have gotten that much stronger after the third great rain." Yu Yinan even felt she could handle them herself.
Perhaps part of the reason was that she was a fire ability user, but… the mutated plants were still very weak. With this level of strength, it was no wonder Zheng Yi had no interest in seeking them out for trouble. If they had even a fraction of the strength of that special zombie from the tide, Zheng Yi would have eagerly hunted them down long ago.
"Perhaps plants just evolve more slowly," Zheng Yi said softly.
It had only been half a year since the apocalypse began. It was just that the pace of survival was so fast that it made people forget this fact. For the mutated plants to have evolved to this extent in half a year, even with three great rains… was already quite impressive. After all, based on the strength of an average human ability user, if other mutated creatures had truly reached Zheng Yi's level in just half a year…
Then this world would be absolutely hopeless, beyond saving.
After all, that single blue-headed lightbulb zombie from the zombie tide had nearly wiped out Humanity's Light Shelter. The immense mental power evolved by that one special zombie alone had nearly killed Zhao Haiyue, Zhu Lanyuan, and Lian Langxi!
In terms of short-term evolution, the mutated zombies were stronger than human ability users. But the human side had the advantage in numbers. After all, the number of zombies was more or less fixed, and would even continue to decrease. While preaching, Zero One recalled the speechless-making original novel. Without the support of the government and powerful firearms, it would be very difficult for humanity to withstand a zombie tide like the last one. The special great rain applied a debuff to ability users, but the zombies, being already dead, were completely unaffected.
The world destroyed, the incubation failed… it really seemed logical no matter how you looked at it. Thinking of this, Zero One suddenly had a thought: The male and female protagonists… where were they now? Were they okay? Had the protagonist's squad even been formed yet?
"That's true. If everything evolved too quickly, there'd be no way for humanity to survive," Yu Yinan realized this as well, sighing with a wry smile. If Zheng Yi weren't by her side, with her own abilities, or relying solely on her own exploration of her powers, she definitely wouldn't have been able to grow to her current level. Her mental strength was also limited. Even if these mutated plants feared her flames, if she were to walk into this forest alone and try to leave unscathed… it would be nearly impossible.
She was merely basking in Zheng Yi's light.
Comments
Post a Comment