Chapter 2443: Digging the Ground
When Xu Huo came out from Granny Yi's place, he happened to run into the players who had returned with the villagers. They had probably come to see what was going on with the little girl, but unexpectedly ran into him. While remaining wary, their interest in the little girl had only grown.
"I thought you'd gone missing." Chi Cai and Yang Tian had also come along with the Painting Woman, the former putting on a relieved expression.
Watching the players heading into Granny Yi's courtyard, the two were also curious about what the little girl had experienced, but they each had grudges with several other players and didn't want to crowd in right now. They planned to wait until the others left, so they asked Xu Huo first.
"It's just a child missing her friend." Xu Huo said flatly. "If you want to ask something, you can ask her yourselves later."
With that, he led the Painting Woman to visit Tuo Tuo's parents.
Tuo Tuo's parents looked older than their actual age. They still didn't know why Granny Yi's granddaughter had suddenly run off, but seeing so many players, they were too afraid to come over for now.
When Xu Huo arrived at their door, they were still very frightened. But when he said he wanted to help the little girl pay respects to Tuo Tuo, tears welled up in the couple's eyes—one part grief for their daughter who had died along with her unborn child, and one part guilt over deceiving the little girl, which had nearly caused her to get lost in the forest.
"Was it really Tuo Tuo calling her?" the woman couldn't help asking. "Why doesn't Tuo Tuo call us?"
"Enough!" the man snapped, then drew a simple route map. This fog forest could only give a general direction; to truly identify areas, one had to rely on the plants in the forest. Some plants had their own territories, only growing in certain patches or occupying a specific range.
After getting the map, Xu Huo left the couple's home and went to find Tuo Tuo's grave.
The villagers somewhat believed in the idea of returning to nature, so most of their graves were very simple. They had encountered some while searching for the little girl earlier—some had become small mounds completely covered by vegetation, others had just a few stones placed on top, and some were even placed in small animal burrows.
Tuo Tuo's grave was at the foot of a tree, with a few stones piled on top. The stones had a few small characters carved into them, reading "Tuo Tuo" along with two other names, presumably her husband and child.
Xu Huo placed the two candies entrusted to him by the little girl in the grass nearby, then carefully noted the main plants growing in the area. Most of them could be clearly identified through the Under Dimension's database, though some had unclear names and could only be roughly categorized. However, none of them matched the vine Granny Yi had mentioned.
Tuo Tuo had married into Xiamu Village. The two villages weren't that far apart, but if the "Hidden Friend" was some kind of mutant plant that had appeared in several villages, there shouldn't be any territory it couldn't cover. If a body was buried underground, it would very likely become its fertilizer directly, since it deceived people for hunting anyway.
After confirming the surface plants, Xu Huo chose a spot a little distance from the grave and used the Black Blade to make several cuts across the ground, both horizontally and vertically.
Many plants were indeed alive. Some surface branches and leaves curled up or withered directly when damaged, and there were rustling sounds from underground. Judging by the noise, the ground wasn't solid.
But this wasn't surprising. The area was thick with trees, and countless plants with massive root systems hid underground, including the trees themselves. Their roots appeared to be buried, but were actually just covered by a layer of grass that had grown over them. Therefore, many large bulges in the ground likely had cavities several meters deep beneath them.
Xu Huo dug up several patches of earth, finding plenty of severed roots, but most were harmless plants. The only unusual thing was that the sap they secreted came in many colors, unlike surface plants which were mostly green.
A head-sized object caked in wet mud rolled to his feet.
The Painting Woman found several more from a nearby pit. She cut one open to find a thick, viscous pink liquid inside with a strong fruity fragrance.
"Can this be eaten?" she asked eagerly.
"Normally, if it's not poisonous, it should be edible," Xu Huo said.
That was true enough. Human corpses weren't much different from animal corpses in the end—both just decomposed underground.
"Are you tricking me?" the Painting Woman looked at him suspiciously.
"I haven't seen any villagers eat this, so it's best not to," Xu Huo pushed the round object back into the pit.
The Painting Woman still wanted to take one back and urged him to find out what it really was.
Xu Huo took a photo and looked it up. To his surprise, it turned out to be the seed of a carnivorous plant. The seed looked big, but the mature plant's flower was only this size, specializing in catching small animals. It had several mutant varieties, the most aggressive ones only eating mice and rabbits.
Of course, no large mutant animals came into this forest—first because some plants gave off scents animals disliked, and second because there were plenty of carnivorous plants. Some caught small prey, and naturally some caught larger ones, though they were rare near the village.
After hearing this, the Painting Woman lost interest. She put all the seeds back and covered them with dirt. "Let them grow more, eat more rats and cockroaches."
Scavengers with strong reproductive abilities that liked living in human environments were the bane of housekeeping enthusiasts.
Just as they finished filling the pit and were about to leave, more people arrived.
The four players who had been chasing Yang Tian and Chi Cai had gathered together. They must have learned about Tuo Tuo's story and asked about the grave before coming here.
"What are you looking for?" the Missing-Ear Player scanned the ground and immediately demanded.
Xu Huo pointed at the roots he had dug up. "Can't you see?"
Clearly, that wasn't the answer he wanted. After forming an alliance with multiple people, the Missing-Ear Player had more confidence than before. He sneered, "And you still say you're not an Instance Player!"
Xu Huo's face showed just the right amount of impatience. "I've said it many times already. I don't want to repeat myself. If you want to pick a fight, I'm game, but there's no need for a war of words."
He tried to leave, but the Missing-Ear Player thought he had found some clue and was eager to get away. He flashed in front of Xu Huo, weapon in hand, but said, "We're all in the same Instance. You can't keep the clues to yourself. If you want to hog everything, you'd better weigh your own abilities!"
Bubble Bean, Yin Yang Master, Yang Tian, and Chi Cai had all arrived nearby, but only Chi Cai jumped out, her voice cold. "I advise you not to kill people casually. The Instance has a clear requirement—the Hidden Friend only needs one friend per day!"