Chapter 115: The Meteorite

Watching this scene from the side, Ji Linmo’s eyes grew dark.

He reached out and plucked the newly formed purple snake berry. A warm sensation radiated from his fingertips. The berry was still warm, and a single mouse hair clung to it.

"It’s real..."

Ji Linmo frowned slightly. Scanning the vast, seemingly endless field of snake berries before him, he recalled the message his "younger sister" had initially sent.

[No fruit is purple.]

His sister meant that these purple things were not fruits at all, but predatory alien entities! This entire patch of snake berries had likely consumed countless small animals. But what was the point of them absorbing animals and working so hard to bear fruit?

Ji Linmo looked up at the massive meteorite in the center of the gymnasium, and a thought suddenly occurred to him.

He picked up a half-empty can of paint from beside a seesaw and poured it directly over the snake berries in front of him. The yellow paint coated the plants, dripping down the leaves and stems until the ground was soaked.

Nothing happened.

Had he guessed wrong?

Ji Linmo dropped the paint can. A cool breeze blew by, and the brilliant purple snake berries swayed in the wind.

*Sssss—*

Suddenly, the paint-covered plants began to shake violently.

"Wow! They’re moving! They’re moving!" Liu Xiaoxiao widened her eyes, pointing and shouting at the snake berries.

To their astonishment, the plants leaped from the soil as if they were living creatures, bounding away into the distance. Beneath the soil, a long, thick root was dragged up along with the plant.

Ji Linmo reached out to pull up the remaining roots, and in an instant, dust flew into the air. The long, thick root was yanked out of the earth, but its direction was not pointing downward into the ground; instead, it was growing horizontally to the left, toward the meteorite!

"Liu Xiaoxiao, hurry and pull up the roots of the other snake berries to see!"

Liu Xiaoxiao obediently began digging like a dog, dragging the plants out. The long roots, acting like pipes for transporting nutrients, snaked through the surface of the soil toward the meteorite.

Ji Linmo’s eyes darkened. A horrifying hypothesis formed in his mind.

The snake berries were devouring prey not for their own sake, but to provide nutrition for the meteorite!

"Mr. Ji?"

Noticing the shift in Ji Linmo's expression, Qin Feng hopped off a swing and tapped him on the shoulder. But Ji Linmo ignored him, keeping his gaze fixed on the gymnasium. The massive gray meteorite glowed faintly under the morning sun.

"Qin Feng, I intend to investigate that meteorite."

After saying this, Ji Linmo turned to look at Liu Xiaoxiao, who was busy poking at the snake berries.

"The meteorite is likely dangerous. Liu Xiaoxiao, you stay here. I’ll go alone."

"Alrighty, brother! Not that I wanted to go anyway—that rock looks super dangerous..." Liu Xiaoxiao stood up and made a hand-pistol gesture at the meteorite in the gymnasium, miming "pew-pew" a few times. "Look, brother, it’s really dangerous! That meteorite looks like it’s moving! It saw me shooting at it!"

Ji Linmo suddenly stopped in his tracks. The meteorite, of course, hadn't moved; it was Liu Xiaoxiao who had moved. Yet, whether it was his imagination or not, he felt that while she seemed foolish, she was unusually sharp in certain ways. Take the mouse, for instance—she had guessed by pure coincidence, through her gibberish, that the plants ate mice.

"Mr. Ji, sometimes, people like her are the ones who survive the longest in this world," Qin Feng said, the corners of his mouth curling up as he watched her. "Because compared to humans, she acts more like a beast living on instinct and intuition, doesn't she?"

Ji Linmo raised an eyebrow, noncommittal, then couldn't help but smile. "So, are you blatantly calling her a non-human?"

"How could you say that, Mr. Ji? You think too poorly of me~"

Qin Feng chuckled and walked past Ji Linmo, heading toward the gymnasium on his own. It was clear he intended to investigate the meteorite as well.

"Catch! Don't eat the snake berries."

Ji Linmo tossed the biscuits he had saved to Liu Xiaoxiao. Just in case, it was better to leave her with some food so she wouldn't do something foolish like picking and eating the berries.

Liu Xiaoxiao happily caught the biscuits, beamed, and found a corner to squat down and enjoy them.

"What a coincidence, Mr. Ji. It seems we're heading the same way~"

Standing ahead of him, Qin Feng gestured like a gentleman, bowing and waving to invite the man forward.

"If you don't mind, let’s go together, Mr. Ji."

Ji Linmo was neither surprised nor opposed to Qin Feng’s suggestion. After all, when the little madman wasn't being manic, he was a capable teammate.

Along the way, various half-built playground facilities lay on the purple-tinted ground, left to decay. On the walls, the painted cartoon characters remained vibrant and bright. If this amusement park had actually opened, it might have been quite interesting, Ji Linmo mused silently.

After walking for about ten minutes, the two finally reached the entrance of the gymnasium. In the sunlight, swirling dust was clearly visible. Ji Linmo stepped inside, expressionless.

The gymnasium, once used by children for exercise, had been largely destroyed, and the structure looked as if it could collapse at any moment. Not wanting to linger, Ji Linmo quickened his pace and cautiously approached the meteorite.

The portion of the meteorite visible in the gymnasium was only the tip of the iceberg, yet Ji Linmo was shocked by its sheer size.

"The roots... are they underneath?"

The man lowered his body to observe closely. Sure enough, countless plant-like roots were spreading from the base of the meteorite.

The snake berries were indeed there to supply nutrients to the meteorite. Or perhaps, the meteorite had infected them, forcing the plants to feed it.

Ji Linmo moved closer, but the moment his finger touched the surface of the meteorite, he felt a vibration, like a heartbeat.

The meteorite was alive!

He immediately pulled his hand back, not daring to touch it any further. Spotting some newspapers scattered on the ground, he picked up the one on top. It was covered in footprints, but he could still make out the report from August.

*The First to Touch the Meteorite! Small Town Girl Discovers Incredible Meteorite!*

*The meteorite, which landed on August 1st, was discovered by a girl named "Ji Xiaoling" who had come to the abandoned gymnasium to play alone. According to experts, the girl touched the meteorite and is in urgent need of quarantine and treatment...*