Rebirth: Exclusive Love in the End of the World-Chapter 67 - The Egg of Space-Time

One day, when she was tracking a lone mutant wolf, since the fur of the mutant wolf could keep her warm, its meat was edible, and its blood could expel poisonous insects, she was reluctant to give up and chased it for a long time, until she strayed far from the cave she dwelled in. Then, she saw a massive skeletal remnant towering ahead. It didn’t look quite like a skeleton; it was more like the husk shed by some enormous creature, dark brown and semi-translucent, as tall as a two or three-story building.

Han Jiaojiao’s fate with mutant plants began here. —She easily walked into the inside of this remnant, which was a semi-translucent hollow on the inside, the air slightly moist, and the temperature was very mild, neither cold nor hot. Han Jiaojiao found four eggs and one Crystal Core inside this hollow. Among the four eggs, one had already softened; her fingers barely touched the eggshell when the egg turned into a puddle of semi-translucent liquid.

Han Jiaojiao took the Crystal Core and the remaining three eggs. As she walked out with these items, the skeletal remnant turned to sand behind her in an instant, becoming countless fine particles of dust scattered on the ground, mixing with the gravel as if it had never existed…

Han Jiaojiao guessed at the time that the remnant was probably the mother of these eggs, using the Crystal Core inside its body even after death to desperately maintain its energy, just so that its offspring would have a chance to survive.

Han Jiaojiao couldn’t describe the taste in her heart.

She thought of her brother. —Would her brother regret it? Hadn’t he cared for her just like a fledgling? Giving up his life for her, a person like her, would he regret it?

Originally, she had intended to use these eggs as food, but at that moment, she couldn’t bear to. Thinking of how their mother had struggled so hard, only to possibly end up being eaten, how tragic… However, she also knew that such sentimentality was laughably foolish at this moment because she simply didn’t know what was inside the eggs. Perhaps a venomous snake that bites, perhaps a ferocious beast. This moment of tenderness might just be her demise in the next…

Han Jiaojiao ultimately didn’t get rid of these eggs. She placed them in a depression outside the cave and covered them with several layers of Mutant Beast skins, weighed down with stones around the edges to prevent small animals from stealing them. After a few days, when she opened it again, she found that two of the eggs had already cracked! Two tender green sprouts had taken root in the crevices of the rocks.

In such a barren place, where all sight was veiled with a layer of dust, the sight of such vibrant greenery brought her an undeniable joy. No matter how cold-hearted Han Jiaojiao was, she couldn’t bear to snuff out these two seedlings. She lifted the Beast skins, moved away the stones, and poured clean water from the cave over the small green sprouts—and they actually moved! The tiny stems wriggled twice in the droplets of water, the leaves quivering slightly as if very pleased, making very soft cooing sounds.

Han Jiaojiao couldn’t help but grin. She wondered, without a mouth, how could it make cooing sounds?

Days in the Gobi became a bit more enjoyable for Han Jiaojiao. Besides hunting, she started to take careful care of these two sprouts, though the other egg showed no signs of hatching.

The two sprouts grew very similarly, apart from the cooing and writhing, they didn’t seem different from other plants, growing buds and leaves in the sunlight. After the leaves grew to six or seven, several slightly coiled vines grew around the stems, getting longer and longer, but still slender and not very robust. It wasn’t until one day, when Han Jiaojiao caught a desert lizard, that she took a clear notice of them. She brought the lizard back to the cave, cut off its head, tail, and all four legs, discarding them to the side. She washed the rest, skewered it on a stick to roast, and upon turning to clean up the remains, she found that the chopped tail and lizard legs had been taken away by the tendrils of the sprouts. At that moment, Han Jiaojiao suddenly realized that they were carnivorous too.

Han Jiaojiao speculated that they must be some kind of Mutant Plant. She began to leave some meat for them every day and closely observed the sprouts’ feeding process—the bodies of the animals would be entwined by the vines, without any visible chewing or swallowing, and in a short time, they would shrivel to just a layer of skin.

They only ate fresh meat, and wouldn’t touch anything that had been dead too long. After feeding, the sprouts grew rapidly, with thicker leaves and vines. Han Jiaojiao named the two of them, one Xiaogua and the other Xiaodou. Suddenly, one day, they burrowed out from the crevices, as if they had completed a metamorphosis, shedding their roots from the soil layer, no longer relying on sunlight and water, roaming about hunting for food they needed. And at the same time, the other egg finally hatched.

Unlike its siblings, the sprout from this egg was pale purple. At first, Han Jiaojiao thought it was sick, but seeing it grow day by day without any signs of ailment, she was reassured. Fond of its purple color, Han Jiaojiao named it Pepper, the English transliteration meaning purple.

Xiaogua and Xiaodou soon grew to be as tall as her knees, capable of hunting for themselves early on, but they never left her side, coming back to the cave to sleep at night after playing outside during the day. During an excursion, Han Jiaojiao witnessed their ferocity while hunting and it was at that moment she solidified her plan for revenge. She felt it was a gift from the heavens, and she had to seize this precious opportunity for revenge.

Thinking of that enormous carcass, if they could grow that big and obey her commands, even if Qin Nanyi was surrounded by many experts, even if Qin Nanyi possessed the Ability, what was there to fear?

Han Jiaojiao began her patient wait.

Pepper also grew, emerging from the soil layer faster than Xiaogua and Xiaodou, but grew much more slowly in stature. Its color, however, deepened, from a light lilac to a dark purple heavy like thick ink, exuding an unusual beauty.

Han Jiaojiao waited in the Gobi for a year and a half. Xiaogua and Xiaodou rose over four meters tall, Pepper only reached up to her knees, and, if its vines were fully retracted, it was only as big as a cushion when held in her arms. It was very docile, always sticking close by Han Jiaojiao, never hunting on its own like Xiaogua and Xiaodou, making it less trouble-free, but Han Jiaojiao just couldn’t help but dote on it a bit more. Perhaps, it was because of its unique color.

Looking at the three wondrous Mutant Plants beside her, Han Jiaojiao quietly told herself: The time has come.