"Okay, I will help," Yang Zhang nodded. "But the process will take the whole night, so let me stay here until tomorrow morning."
"Oh, thank you so much, Brother Zhang!" The teenager was delightfully surprised by Yang Zhang's willingness. It was very rare to find someone that still had a heart in this apocalypse world. "You can stay here for the whole night! I still have venison left from my hunt this morning."
"Wait, you can hunt a deer?!"
"Yeah, it's not that hard when you're living in a secluded village. Hunting is a hobby or even a source of food for many in my village, even before the apocalypse."
…
'Well, that's definitely a good reward,' Yang Zhang thought. Out loud, he asked, "Anyway, what's your name?"
"Xi Feng," the teen boy replied. "And my little sister's name is Xi Mudan."
"I see. Nice to meet you, Xi Feng."
Xi Feng smiled and gave the box containing his sister's Brain Bead to Yang Zhang, and he got up, "I'll wash and cook the meat first for dinner. Um… Brother Zhang, please do something for my little sister. Thank you so much."
"I will. Don't worry about it," Yang Zhang smiled at Xi Feng, and the latter walked out of the cave to prepare dinner.
Yang Zhang opened the box, and the luster from the Brain Bead silently told him how much Xi Feng treasured his little sister. Even after her supposed permanent death, he still kept this Brain Bead as the memory of his little sister.
Yang Zhang opened his palm. Little Ivy was still sleeping, and so was Chestnut. They must've been exhausted after what happened in the village.
He was lucky to quickly find Chestnut and Ivy after getting kicked out of the shelter, so he didn't have to feel lonely, but Xi Feng spent the whole year alone in this secluded village, surviving by himself. Still, his mental strength was quite commendable; he was able to maintain his sanity in this harsh world alone as a teenager.
If it was Yang Zhang, he wasn't sure that he could keep the same level-headedness.
Yang Zhang saw that Xi Feng was busy setting up the fire to cook the venison, so he used this time to quietly take out the Brain Bead from the box and plant it in the small pot of peonies.
He buried the Brain Bead deep within and gently caressed the peony's petals, "I know that you want to hug your big brother again. So please wake up tomorrow morning and accompany him, okay? He is lonely without you."
Yang Zhang felt like an idiot for talking to a plant, but then, he remembered how Little Ivy was basically Xiao Mei Jie's soul inside the Brain Bead.
Xiao Mei Jie in plant form was accompanying him right now.
So he made a wish that this would work again and that the peony would mutate tomorrow morning.
After a while, Xi Feng called Yang Zhang out, "Brother Zhang, come and eat with me. I roasted the venison for dinner."
This was the first time Yang Zhang ate real meat after days of chips and instant noodles from the minimarket. He gobbled the venison happily and then returned to the cave to sleep with a full stomach.
"Brother Zhang, how is it? Does it have any effect? Can I meet with my little sister again?" Xi Feng asked while looking at the potted peony.
"It'll take overnight. I uh... I have consumed your little sister's Brain Bead and used my ability to transfer her consciousness to this peony. Don't worry about it. It will work--"
'Hopefully,' Yang Zhang added silently in his heart, praying that it would come true.
"Then, can I hug my little sister's potted peony in my sleep?" Xi Feng asked again. "I just want to be the first person my little sister sees once her consciousness has been restored."
"Sure, why not," Yang Zhang said.
Xi Feng was sleeping near the cave mouth while he told Yang Zhang to sleep on the bed because he was the guest, and as the night passed, they both fell into a deep sleep.
**
Yang Zhang woke up quite early the following day as Ivy tickled his waist, and Chestnut repeatedly jumped around his body to wake him up.
"Urgh, what?"
"Squeak! Squeak!"
"Vii!"
Yang Zhang rubbed his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Xi Feng, who was fast asleep, with a mutated plant hugging his neck.
The plant was twice the size of Little Ivy, and peony petals surrounded her body. Her conjoined arms formed an 'O' shape and beautiful peony flowers adorned them.
The 'O' shape of the mutated peony's arms was encircling Xi Feng's neck, creating the illusion that the plant mutated by using the little girl's Brain Bead was clinging onto her Big brother.
The mutated Peony saw Yang Zhang and opened her tiny mouth, "Mu... daann..."
"Yes! Thank you, Buddha, it's really working!" Yang Zhang was excited and quickly patted Xi Feng's shoulder. "Xi Feng! Xi Feng! Your little sister is here!"
Xi Feng immediately opened his eyes when he heard 'little sister.'
He looked at his left and right but found no sign of his little sister. Feeling a bit pissed, he said, "Brother Zhang, please don't give me that kind of hope! I really miss my sister--'"
"No, you idiot, look down. Your little sister is hanging on your neck right now!"
Xi Feng looked down, and his eyes met with two tiny eyes peeking out of a mutated flower. The plant was cute and looked harmless, just like his little sister. Even after she had been zombified, she had never been hostile.
"Mudan?" Xi Feng asked to make sure.
The flower smiled and hugged Xi Feng's neck tighter, "Daan! Mu...dan!'
The moment he heard the voice of the mutated Peony, Xi Feng's tears pooled on his eyes and streamed down on his cheek, wetting the mutated peony in the process.
"Muu... Muu... daann..."
The peony noticed the tears and buried her small face on her big brother's neck.
Xi Feng gently caressed the petals of this mutated flower. His emotion was uncontrollable right now as he mumbled, "My little sister, Mudan. It's okay now. Big brother is here with you..."