Chapter 97: The Road of Exile, Part 39

Shi Xianyu thought it over seriously, but she could not come up with an answer.

If the flower toxin could affect growth, then how were the thorn python and the giant flower lizard to be explained?

Both creatures had been parasitized into monstrous sizes. The giant flower lizard in particular, if it grew two more circles larger, could have gone straight to play a monster in Ultraman.

Why, then, had Lu Li, who was likewise parasitized, grown only this tiny?

Lin Yuan pondered for a moment before saying, “It’s adaptability. The flower toxin seems to know instinctively how to alter the environment it lives in. As for Lu Li, being smaller makes it easier to win people’s sympathy and care.”

“That makes sense,” Ye Liuyun said after thinking it through carefully. “Human bodies aren’t like lizards or pythons. We don’t have claws, and we don’t have venomous fangs. Even if you grow taller and stronger, it’s not much use for hunting. Better to be little and cute instead.”

As she spoke, she paused, suddenly unnerved by her own words. Then she murmured, “Lu Li has been so obedient. Could she be using a child’s cuteness to deceive us... to make use of us?”

“No way,” Shi Xianyu said hastily. “Lu Li is cute because she really is cute. If she were capable of deceiving and using people, Yu Jing wouldn’t have treated her like trash.”

Ye Liuyun quickly waved a hand. “I was just thinking aloud. I also think Lu Li wouldn’t lie to us. If the flower toxin were smart enough to do that, it would have conquered the world long ago.”

Lin Yuan, standing nearby, said, “If we’re talking about adaptability, maybe it already has.”

Ye Liuyun fell silent for a moment.

Shi Xianyu and Lin Yuan both looked at her.

“No... why are you both staring at me?” Ye Liuyun said helplessly. “I’m a warrior of Oasis, and I’m supposed to protect human interests, but I’m not going to hurt Lu Li. She’s so small, and she’s still just a child.”

She glanced toward Lu Li in the motorhome and felt a stir of emotion. “If I ever have a daughter of my own, I wonder what she’d look like. Would she also be as cute as Lu Li...”

Shi Xianyu said, “Daughters usually take after their fathers.”

Ye Liuyun pictured that man’s sharply chiseled face, and her expression turned oddly subtle.

“Xiaoyu, you’ve ruined my beautiful fantasy.”

Shi Xianyu burst out laughing. “Sister Ye, maybe you’ll get the chance someday.”

“For now, let’s not think about it,” Ye Liuyun said, smiling as well. “When the environment gets a little better, and we don’t have to worry about food and water anymore, then people should be able to have children without fear.”

“That may not be enough,” Shi Xianyu said slowly after some thought. “I think the surrogate mother system probably has to be changed. Otherwise, people still won’t be able to have children freely.”

Ye Liuyun said, “If food and water are no longer scarce, not many people should want to be surrogate mothers. Even if a few still do, that shouldn’t matter, right?”

“But as long as surrogate mothers exist, the people above will always use them as model examples for propaganda, and ordinary people will naturally follow suit,” Shi Xianyu said. Recalling what the high priestess had said last time still made her uneasy. “For example, if you wanted to wear a piece of jewelry, the people around you would persuade you not to, saying it could scratch the baby, that surrogate mothers don’t wear such things, so why should you? If you wanted to eat something, they’d say surrogate mothers don’t eat it, so why should you? If you wanted to go somewhere, they’d tell you surrogate mothers stay home and rest, so why should you go out?”

Ye Liuyun hissed through her teeth, then answered with a very stubborn air, “I’d do it anyway. What right do they have to meddle?”

Shi Xianyu smiled. “Then you’re doing very well. But most people would be bound by those ideas, unable to live properly, too afraid to bear the pressure. In time they’d become timid, even resistant to having children.”

Her tone was so matter-of-fact that Ye Liuyun couldn’t help becoming curious. “You make it sound as if you can see the future.”

Shi Xianyu made up a story on the spot. “I read about it in a book. There was a world like that, rich in supplies and stable in life, and yet everyone refused to have children. To encourage women to give birth, the whole world praised mothers for how selfless and great they were. And yet the more they were praised, the less people wanted to have children.”

“Why?” Ye Liuyun asked. “Our Oasis has always praised the greatness of surrogate mothers too. It’s meant to encourage more women with the ability to bear children to become surrogate mothers and be proud of it. Why would the world you’re talking about produce the opposite result?”

Shi Xianyu spread her hands helplessly. “Because only those who give everything and ask for nothing in return are usually called selfless and great. Once you decide that motherhood means that, then if a mother is not selfless or not giving enough, she’ll be accused of being selfish, cold-blooded, and not loving her child. And don’t you think it’s strange? Just because you’re pregnant, you’re immediately expected to become a saint who can handle everything perfectly. The moment you show even the slightest flaw, someone jumps out and asks you, ‘How are you even a mother?’”

A child falls down — how are you even a mother?

A child gets sick — how are you even a mother?

A child goes astray — how are you even a mother?

Even if a child is only bitten by a mosquito — how are you even a mother?

Ye Liuyun’s expression became complicated. “You’re making me feel suffocated. How did praise and glorification become a bad thing?”

Shi Xianyu thought it over seriously. “Praise isn’t wrong in itself. I just think... mothers need care and understanding more than praise. They’re only ordinary people too. They have flaws of their own, and they make mistakes now and then. Putting mothers on a pedestal and treating them as sacred doesn’t help them become better; it only leaves them more lost. Compared with empty praise, a house and some money are far more practical.”

Ye Liuyun listened with a mix of laughter and tears, feeling that some of it made sense and some of it sounded absurd beyond belief.

How could anyone possibly dislike praise?

What she did not know was that the world Shi Xianyu spoke of truly existed.

Lin Yuan interrupted their conversation. “Look over there. What is that?”

Shi Xianyu looked toward the road behind them. In the distance, a murky cloud of dust was spreading outward, like a sandstorm, though the area it covered seemed too small to be one.

Ye Liuyun’s face changed. “It’s the dust raised by a convoy. They’ve come after us! Get in the vehicle! We’re leaving now!”

Shi Xianyu was startled and hurried into the motorhome, starting the engine.

She heard Ye Liuyun shouting for her to drive faster, but this motorhome was simply too heavy. How could it possibly be faster than those modified battle vehicles?

Shi Xianyu slammed her foot on the accelerator in a panic. Her terrified gaze flickered to the rearview mirror, and the convoy behind them was closing in at high speed! One vehicle after another burst out of the rolling dust, and there were eight of them in all!

In Oasis, manpower and material resources were precious beyond measure. Even hunting mutated beasts outside the city was only done by small teams of three. And yet now, simply to capture them, eight battle vehicles had been dispatched!

Shi Xianyu knew at once that things were bad. She didn’t even need to guess; Lu Li’s matter must have exploded into a major incident. Otherwise, the higher-ups in Oasis would never have sent out so many squads.

She gripped the steering wheel tightly and drove with the accelerator pressed all the way down.

She had to get Lu Li out.

She had to make sure she escaped.