Fine, let her do as she wishes. Yijie compromised and continued to keep silent. He didn’t know that in his helpless gaze towards Number 0, there was an undetectable hint of fondness.
How much time had passed, Number 0 no longer remembered. When she came back to her senses, the moon had already moved westward—it was at least after midnight now, and she felt a chilling coldness in her hands and feet.
The area was quiet. Number 0 shivered, only then remembering she was in the midst of corpses. The shivering stopped quickly, as she heard a slow and forceful breathing sound. He’s still here? An inexplicable feeling of relief, she truly thought that bald monk had left him behind.
Number 0 turned her head back, just as she was about to express her suspicions, the scene bathed in the frosty moonlight had already changed.
By her side, the corpses had been mostly cleared away, leaving a relatively clean clearing. Yijie was sitting cross-legged not far away. His eyes closed, with a faint red glow surging around him.
(Meditation, don’t disturb him, he is in a state of meditation. Meditation can not only restore physical strength and spiritual power but also stimulate one’s comprehension ability to conceive certain secret techniques.) Little Eight spoke out.
The secret techniques in "Military Road" are different from special skills, often conceived by the holder on the basis of existing special skills. Meditation is one of the better ways to trigger the awakening of special skills.
Number 0 fell silent, observing Yijie. The red glow on his body grew brighter and hotter, looking like a bright flame. The bald head that seemed hateful during the day, at this moment, was not bothersome to look at.
In the fiery red light, Yijie’s facial features appeared even more handsome. "Turns out he’s quite a good-looking bald monk," Number 0 thought of Xia You in reality, her current short crop of hair bore an eight or nine-point resemblance to Yijie, making her smile wryly.
Perhaps, he really was comprehending some special skill. Thinking of her own pitifully unique special skill, Loli Reconnaissance Skill, that was certainly chilling. She wondered in what year and month she would actually learn to use meditation to comprehend her special skill.
As she stuffed the investigation manual back into her military bag, the blue amulet of Yu’s blessing radiated a treasure-blue luster.
Number 0 let out an "Eh" and took out the blessing amulet. This blessing amulet was passed on by Yu; she hadn’t looked closely at the time. At night, the inscription on the amulet looked different from during the day.
In Hua Country, with the rise of David Sect, there weren’t many Buddhists left. But Xia You’s mother, Xia Yun, was a Buddhist. Despite converting to Christianity with her Italian ex-husband after moving abroad, she reverted to Buddhism after returning to the country. When Xia You’s health was unstable, Xia Yun would go back to the temple to ask for safekeeping amulets. When the restaurant business was bleak, she would also go to the temple to pray.
Therefore, in the Xia Family, amulets serving different purposes were still often seen. Apart from its color, the special feature of this God Yu amulet lay in the four lines of small text on its surface: Prajnaparamita, supreme goodness like water, man like water, turns bane into blessing.
After reciting the sixteen letters akin to the size of flies’ heads once, Number 0 didn’t feel anything unusual. She recited them again, and this time, Number 0 felt something special.
She raised her head, and the scenery before her eyes seemed to have changed. She could see the distant mountains and nearby people more clearly than before.
Number 0 hurried to the trees she had seen before and investigated them again. The data in her mind became clearer, "Black Sago, a tree-like fern species, its trunk can be used medicinally and for graft cultivation, and it is a critically endangered species."
It really is a Sago Tree. Number 0 let out a long breath, the dinosaur grass had been found.
When Yijie opened his eyes, his vision was blurry, and he instinctively grabbed at the strange object that had been waving in front of his forehead for quite some time.
The strange object in his hand was soft; it was Number 0’s left hand that he had grabbed, her fingertips still covered with some dirt.
Almost simultaneously, Number 0 and Yijie both let go of their hands. After a brief awkwardness, it was still Number 0 who broke the silence.
"I have a new discovery." Having confirmed the identity of the Sago Tree, Number 0 had been waiting by Yijie’s side. She waited until the red light on his body completely dissipated before extending her hand and waving it in front of his eyes.
The day had already dawned, beside Yijie, apart from Number 0, there was also a tree sapling that had been dug up with its roots.
"What is this?" Yijie had just disengaged from the strange state of meditation, seeing such a green and lush subtropical tree species, he was clearly still adjusting. They came to suppress bandits, not to celebrate the Arbor Day.
"This is our mission reward. Having found it, we won’t have to return empty-handed," Number 0 replied, her smile exceptionally brilliant. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)