"Evolving into what?" Zixin asked, gazing at him in shock.
The little snake slithered around his neck and let out an offended hiss. "Into a fucking cat. What kind of question is that, then? Zixin, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while…"
He lifted his tiny head and stared directly into Zixin's eyes.
"Are you dumb?"
Zixin simply gaped at him. "I… I'm not…"
"He is," Lin Jing suddenly chimed in with a soft chuckle, clearly enjoying himself.
"My god."
These two were really joining hands to mock him now.
Zixin rolled his eyes and ran down the stairs even faster, deciding it was better not to argue with either of them. He was already dealing with evolving zombies. He didn't need a snake and a child teaming up against him too.
Lin Jing gently rubbed the little snake curled around Zixin's neck. "Bao ge?"
"Hmm…" Bao raised his head and peered into the child's eyes.
"Are we going to die?" Lin Jing asked, biting his lip anxiously.
Bao went quiet.
To be honest, he didn't know what to say to that.
Ever since he had been an egg, he had been fed information about this world and the countless worlds that existed beyond it. He knew what this test truly was. This apocalypse was nothing more than the beginning—the initial selection stage where humans who could not evolve were eliminated. The system was simply filtering them out, rejecting those without the potential needed to survive the stages ahead.
This wasn't even the part they truly needed to worry about.
The next stages were the ones that mattered.
And Bao's eyes lingered on the child for a moment.
Even though Lin Jing carried evolutionary potential in his blood, potential alone wasn't enough. He was still just a young child. Surviving out there without someone strong enough to protect him would be almost impossible.
Right now, Zixin could barely keep himself alive.
So how was he supposed to protect this child too?
In Bao's eyes, Lin Jing was little more than a dead weight at the moment.
But then he remembered the determination he had seen in Zixin's eyes.
That idiot was determined to live for his brother.
If this child ceased to exist…
Bao couldn't even imagine what kind of state Zixin would be thrown into.
He flicked his forked tongue out briefly before simply winding himself more securely around Zixin's neck and settling down.
Unfortunately, the child had other ideas.
Lin Jing gently poked his tail and giggled softly. His swollen eyes and pink lips made him look especially adorable in that moment. He really did look like a miniature version of Zixin.
Bao stared at him for a few seconds before a small smile appeared on his face. He flicked the tip of his tail against Lin Jing's finger in return.
"Hehe… you're so soft, Bao ge."
"Well, you're so small…" Bao murmured.
Then his eyes suddenly widened.
He remembered.
"Zixin!"
Zixin nearly stumbled down the stairs at the sudden shout. "What?!"
"You have that Growth Mushroom!" Bao exclaimed. "You can use it on Lin Jing!"
Zixin froze halfway down the stairs and looked at the little snake around his neck.
"But won't it just make him huge?"
Bao stared at him in disbelief.
"No, you silly human! It will make him grow up into a young man."
Zixin blinked.
Bao continued excitedly, "If he becomes an adult, he'll have the strength to take down monsters too!"
Zixin stared ahead for a moment, his expression slowly changing as the possibility sank in.
The Growth Mushroom.
He had completely forgotten about it.
His gaze dropped to Lin Jing, who was still innocently playing with Bao's tail.
If the mushroom could really make him grow into a young man… Then perhaps Lin Jing wouldn't have to remain helpless anymore.
"That's a good idea too."
Zixin quickly rushed out of the apartment complex, carrying Lin Jing with him. The moment they reached the open ground, he carefully placed the boy down and crouched in front of him.
"Just a second…"
He hurriedly opened his backpack and rummaged through it until his fingers finally closed around the Growth Mushroom he had stuffed inside earlier.
Zixin pulled it out.
It was a simple brown mushroom with an enormous cap. Somehow, despite being tossed into his backpack and jostled around during all their running and fighting, the mushroom remained completely intact. Not even a crack marred its surface.
Zixin narrowed his eyes at it before looking at his little brother, who was standing in front of him and staring up with open curiosity.
'Well… here goes nothing.'
He reached out, preparing to hand the mushroom to Lin Jing.
He didn't even get the chance.
A tremendous force suddenly slammed into them from behind.
"—What the hell?!"
Zixin was thrown forward.
He instinctively grabbed Lin Jing and twisted his body, taking most of the impact himself. His shoulder struck the ground before he rolled several times across the dirt, finally crashing hard against the building next door with a heavy boom.
Pain exploded through his back.
For a moment, his vision blurred, and his ears rang from the impact. Zixin sucked in a sharp breath and forced himself to move before whatever had attacked them could strike again.
His blurry blue eyes slowly focused.
Something enormous was moving behind the building.
At first, he couldn't understand what he was looking at.
Then a gigantic hand slowly crept around the side of the building.
It was enormous.
The fingers alone were nearly the size of a person, the dark, swollen nails curved like claws. The hand looked as though it belonged to some mountain-sized beast rather than a human being. But the wrist still remained lean and thin.
But what truly froze Zixin wasn't its size.
It was the jade bracelet hanging around its wrist.
A familiar jade bracelet.
One he had seen all his life.
Zixin's breath caught.
His gaze traveled slowly upward.
"No…"
His voice came out barely above a whisper.
The massive hand scraped against the wall, crushing pieces of concrete beneath its fingers as the creature pulled itself into view.
Zixin stared at it, his entire body going rigid.
He knew that bracelet.
He had seen it on his mother every single day.
"Mom…?"
The word escaped before he could stop it.
The thing standing before him was no longer the mother he remembered.