Chapter 2

Read at: https://blogspot-translatedstories.blogspot.com/?m=1 

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Bright sunlight spilled down upon lush green trees and rugged, jagged rocks, among which densely intertwined vines wound together, shaping a sunken basin terrain.

Huo Yin quickly realized he was still in the very same valley where he had encountered the Bone-Spine Vine. Ji Ming's betrayal remained fresh in his mind, a bitter pill he could hardly swallow. Not only had Ji Ming defected to another nation, but he had also tried to take his life.

"You're awake?" A voice, both unfamiliar and yet strangely recognizable, broke his chain of thought.

Huo Yin turned his head to see a girl sitting with her knees pulled up nearby. Her medium-length hair was casually draped over her shoulders. Wearing shabby, worn-out clothing, her expression was indifferent, and her deep, quiet eyes gazed calmly at him.

It was her...

He had met this girl a few days ago in Sector 17. Seeing her covered in injuries with nowhere to go, he took her in and shared some of his food and water with her.

She seemed to be nothing more than a ordinary Physical Enhancer without any specialized superpower. Quiet by nature, she frequently helped out with chores around the group, a person with virtually no presence.

Huo Yin had never imagined that the person who saved his life in the end would turn out to be her.

The Bone-Spine Vine was exceptionally powerful. Beyond emitting high-pitched screeches that induced mental disorientation, it possessed rapid self-healing capabilities, along with powerful, tentacle-like vines armed with poisonous thorns. 

That was precisely why Ji Ming had abandoned him without a second thought; the survival rate when facing such a mutated beast alone was practically zero. And yet, he was alive.

Huo Yin tried to move his body, only to find zero response, it was as if he were completely paralyzed.

"What... happened to me?" He could not bear to accept the possibility of becoming a useless invalid.

"I don't know." Yuan Chu walked over, gently supported his head, and fed him a few sips of water.

In truth, she knew his current state all too well, but she could not casually utter certain trigger keywords. Huo Yin had fused with the Bone-Spine Vine's regenerative cells and its Source Core, putting him right in the middle of a newborn incubation period.

Once the incubation concluded, he would emerge as a dual-element Evolver commanding both Element and Plant powers, endowed with formidable self-healing capabilities.

Huo Yin's dark eyes grew dim as he stared listlessly at the sky.

If he had been reduced to a cripple, what was the point of surviving at all?

"Why... why did you save me?" Huo Yin asked quietly.

"You took me in and gave me food." Yuan Chu had only recently condensed a physical body to enter this world. Not yet accepted by its reality, she suffered constant harm from the power of the World's Laws, making her appear exceedingly fragile. 

Fortunately, Huo Yin had taken her in, otherwise, she would have had to drag a battered, broken body around, scrambling for ways to approach him.

If she failed to establish a connection with him, the Child of Luck, within half a month, she would be completely rejected and expelled by the laws of this world.

Huo Yin let out a self-deprecating laugh. Companions he had spent ten years with had betrayed him for personal gain, yet a stranger he had helped on a whim was willing to risk her life to save him.

How truly ironic.

Back then, more than a dozen children were dispatched to Creation Star, yet only seven survived. They endured ten arduous years together, and many companions sacrificed themselves for their shared goal.

Ji Ming had carried the hopes of them all. They had spared no effort to protect and nurture him, waiting for the day he would bring those novel plants back to their homeland to solve the radiation crisis.

In the end, he chose a despicable route, he didn't even hesitate to send Huo Yin to his death. As long as Huo Yin died, Ji Ming could change his name, erase his past, sever ties with the Flower Nation once and for all, and become an untainted citizen of the Dali Nation. 

In the future, he might even be hailed as a hero of the Dali Nation for cultivating radiation-resistant plants.

At that thought, a icy gleam flashed in Huo Yin's eyes. No matter what, he could not allow Ji Ming to stride to the peak of his life by stepping over the honor of their homeland and the bones of their companions.

Even if his body was broken, he still had a mouth to expose that traitor's ugly face to the world.

"Eat something." Yuan Chu cut wild fruit into pieces and fed them into Huo Yin's mouth.

Huo Yin tried to chew, only to realize he didn't even have the strength to bite through the fruit!

Yuan Chu glanced at him, then calmly reached in with her fingers and scooped the fruit back out of his mouth.

Huo Yin: ...

As if ignoring his awkward embarrassment, Yuan Chu fetched a few large leaves and wove them into a makeshift cup. Taking a piece of fruit, she pressed her palms together. Fruit juice instantly squeezed out from her grip, trickling down into the leaf cup. She repeated the process until the cup was full.

Huo Yin looked deeply at her. Instead of refusing her help, he leaned toward her hand and slowly swallowed the juice.

In his current state, he had no right to waste time wallowing in self-pity.

The next day, Yuan Chu carried him on her back, navigated through the cave, and left the valley.

Her slender frame carried a man nearly 190 centimeters tall, her steps slow yet steady.

Plagued by injuries inflicted by the World's Laws, her old wounds burst open from time to time. Blood flowed and dried repeatedly, leaving her original blue-gray attire covered in dark, unsightly bloodstains of all sizes.

Huo Yin never heard a single complaint from her as she stumbled forward step by step. When tired, she stopped to rest, when hungry, she scavenged for food everywhere, cautiously avoiding danger. Along the way, she even crafted a wooden wheelchair for him.

Huo Yin saw everything she did, carving it deep into his heart. He did not know why this girl was willing to go to such lengths for him, but he vowed to repay this kindness with his life.

Five days later, as Yuan Chu was washing her face by a river, she suddenly sensed a change. Raising her arm, she watched as the scars on her skin began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, leaving behind only faint traces moments later.

Yuan Chu turned her head back toward Huo Yin, who silently met her gaze.

In an instant, the rejection from the World's Laws vanished without a trace. Yuan Chu could clearly feel the natural rhythm of this world: The cool breeze, flowing water, earthy scents, moist soil, warm sunlight, ambient temperature... She felt completely grounded within it.

The fate connection was successfully established!

From this moment onward, she would share the power of luck with this man until the day he died.

"Xiao Chu, let's eat fish today." Unaware of the transformation that had occurred within Yuan Chu, Huo Yin was currently staring with bright, intent eyes at the lively stream before them.

"I don't know how to catch fish." Having just settled down in this world, Yuan Chu was bound by constraints, she could not kill living beings at will, nor could she directly use her powers on living creatures.

Huo Yin went silent. After spending over a dozen days with her, his understanding of her abilities remained vague at best. She excelled at avoiding danger, had never been involved in a real fight, and possessed absurdly lucky fortune, frequently stumbling upon wild Source Cores out of nowhere. 

And every single one of those Source Cores she handed over to him without holding back a bit.

"Eating veggies all the time isn't good for you. Let me teach you how to catch fish." Having eaten vegetarian meals for so long, Huo Yin was craving some meat as well.

Yuan Chu remained crouched by the riverbank, motionless. 

"Catch them yourself."

"I'm disabled." Huo Yin's tone was surprisingly righteous.

"Your body can't move, but that doesn't mean your abilities can't be used." Yuan Chu could feel the dormant power within him gradually reviving.

Huo Yin froze for a moment before his heart skipped a beat. He tried to mobilize the energy inside his body, and to his surprise, it actually worked!

The tip of his right index finger glowed softly as a faint current of air slowly circulated, expanding outward to form a mini whirlwind.

The superpower Huo Yin had awakened was a rare Element type. In theory, it allowed him to control all elements between heaven and earth, but leveling up was exceptionally difficult. 

It required absorbing large amounts of Element-type Source Cores, yet elemental mutated beasts were exceedingly rare and notoriously difficult to capture.

After testing it a few times, Huo Yin confirmed he had recovered roughly 20% of his power. Though not a massive amount, it meant he was no longer a useless cripple, he still had hope of standing up again!

An unhideable rush of wild joy broke across Huo Yin's face.

"Are we still catching fish?" Yuan Chu's sudden voice interrupted his excitement.

"We are!" Huo Yin quickly pulled himself together, using his wind power to push the wheelchair toward the riverbank. Under his gaze, ripples stirred on the water's surface before a dozen fish were bounced into the air by water pillars, landing on the ground with loud plops.

Not yet satisfied, he fished out a few crabs, river prawns, clams, and even two wild Source Cores.

Carried away by excitement, he couldn't stop in time and accidentally dragged out an aquatic mutated beast several dozen meters long! 

Furious, the creature leaped out of the water, shooting toward Huo Yin like a deadly arrow. In the blink of an eye, it closed in on him, only for its body to suddenly stiffen and freeze in mid-air less than three centimeters from his face.

Huo Yin shifted his gaze to see that Yuan Chu had somehow grabbed the aquatic beast by its tail. With a casual flick of her arm, she tossed it back into the river like it was nothing.

That type of beast was lightning fast, even Huo Yin hadn't been able to react in time just now. Yet Yuan Chu had caught it with pinpoint precision.

A strange gleam flickered in Huo Yin's eyes. He couldn't help feeling that her abilities were far more extraordinary than she let on.

Yuan Chu built a campfire and gathered the fish and prawns from the ground. Instead of preparing them right away, she sat by the fire, slowly boiling water.

Huo Yin raised an eyebrow. 

"Don't know how to prep fish?"

"I do." Before condensing her physical body, Yuan Chu had already acquired a general understanding of this world's civilization, mastering basic survival skills like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. 

"I'm waiting for them to die before I start." She was forbidden from taking life, but she could process carcasses that resulted from natural or accidental death.

With a thought from Huo Yin, the flopping fish and prawns on the ground instantly stopped moving and went stiff.

Only then did Yuan Chu begin preparing the meal.

An hour later, a pot of fish soup along with dozens of grilled fish and prawns were completely devoured by the two of them.

Huo Yin ate to his heart's content, his cold, hardened gaze softening noticeably. Just as the two gathered their things to hit the road again, a sudden noise echoed from the distance.

Huo Yin and Yuan Chu simultaneously looked toward the source of the sound, only to see a dozen colorful fireworks bursting in the sky, a sign that a small temporary market had opened nearby.

On Creation Star, there were no fixed trading hubs. Whenever Evolvers needed to trade, they would set up a temporary market lasting three to four days and send out a signal. These markets were typically organized by large teams possessing Utility Evolvers, with Source Cores serving as the primary currency.

Both the appearance of these markets and the goods available were entirely random. It wasn't that Evolvers were unwilling to build permanent trading posts or living zones, but rather that Creation Star itself forbade it.

Seventy to eighty years ago, a certain power from Blue Star that had been among the first to set foot on Creation Star cordoned off a plot of land to build an armed city. Once completed, fully planned, fully equipped, heavily armed, and packed with concentrated resources, the city suddenly came alive one day. 

It generated its own Source Core, developed intelligence, and continuously learned human knowledge. Ultimately, it drove every single human out, summoned other mutated beasts to move in, and created the largest, most advanced beast city known to date, Pandora City.

Only then did the people of Blue Star realize that anything on Creation Star could potentially awaken, not just trees, flowers, mountains, and rivers, but also large structures, vehicles, weapons, equipment, and everyday items.

This was the very reason Blue Star humans had never managed to conquer Creation Star. The core consciousness of Creation Star would not allow anything that disrupted the balance of its origin power to exist. Anyone seeking to gain knowledge, acquire power, and continuously evolve had no choice but to play strictly by her rules.

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