Although Park Su was wary of him, he allowed Meng Shan to stand beside him. Then, he watched as Meng Shan addressed Meng Hu, "Meng Hu, given how the world is now, people will see what you do. I really don't want to be part of such an immoral act. Since you've made your stance clear, to prevent you from coming after me later, I have no choice but to stand with this young man."
Meng Hu was infuriated by Meng Shan's actions and was about to lash out when Meng Shan continued, "We're all from the same village, and everyone knows what kind of person Meng Hu is. Do you really think after he deals with this youth, he'll leave any benefits for you?
Over the years, how much have we suffered under his hand? He's after this youth's goods now, but who knows, after he's done with him, which one of us might be next? We all understand the principle of 'when the rabbit dies, the dog is cooked.' If we help this youth today, at least he won't come after us later. But if we help Meng Hu, how can you be sure he won't harm us when he needs more benefits in the future?"
His words were reasonable and persuasive, and those who had been reluctant to get involved with Meng Hu were swayed. Those seeking personal gain thought that without Meng Hu, they might end up with a bigger share, but they were also hesitant because they lacked a pretext to act without him.
Park Su observed all their reactions without commenting further. He was surprised that Meng Shan, under Meng Hu's threat, didn't back down but instead chose to support him.
This made Park Su take a closer look at Meng Shan, but he didn't say much, just quietly watched their actions. From his perspective, the one who should be more annoyed was Meng Hu.
Sure enough, seeing that some of the people around him were swayed by Meng Shan's words and seemed ready to take sides against him, Meng Hu angrily said to Meng Shan, "You're something else. How did I not notice your sharp tongue before? Let me see how you keep talking once I break those teeth of yours."
With that, he threw a punch at Meng Shan. Park Su narrowed his eyes but didn't intervene; he wanted to see how Meng Shan would handle this, whether he had some backup or was just acting impulsively.
Soon, Park Su saw Meng Shan dodge Meng Hu's punch with a slight movement of his feet. Park Su raised an eyebrow; it seemed Meng Shan had awakened a speed ability. He hadn't expected to meet another early awakener in this small town.
Seeing his punch miss, Meng Hu became even more furious, his muscles tensing in anger, looking quite menacing as he turned to launch a series of attacks at Meng Shan. Meng Shan knew he was no match for Meng Hu in a direct confrontation, so he kept dodging, trying to wear him down.
After multiple failed attacks on Meng Shan, the ferocity in Meng Hu's eyes was almost palpable. He angrily shouted at the people around him, "What are you standing there for? Come help me grab him!"
Although the others had no affection for Park Su, they could have watched or even joined in if it were just about dealing with him. However, Meng Shan was from their village, and his words made them hesitate. Meng Shan, seizing the opportunity, continued to dodge while persuading, "Everyone can see what Meng Hu is truly like. If you're on his side, that's fine. But if you displease him even slightly, today's me could be tomorrow's you!"
Upon hearing this, those who were still undecided about intervening stood back even further, and some who were solely interested in personal gain quickly spoke up to calm the situation, "We're all from the same village, grew up together. Why fight over such a small matter? Meng Hu, Meng Shan, stop fighting. Those who don't want to help should just leave. Without help, there's naturally no reward. Why should we fight amongst ourselves over an outsider?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Meng Hu, who had been focused on Meng Shan, immediately shifted his gaze to Park Su, while those who had no desire to partake in Meng Hu's schemes moved even further away.
After expending some energy, Meng Hu lost the desire to continue the argument with Park Su and said with a cold face, "Kid, today you'll leave the house whether you want to or not. Don't think that just because Meng Shan speaks up for you, you can keep my house!"
Park Su was nearly driven to laughter by Meng Hu's righteous indignation. Even if he wasn't the most formidable, as a second-stage ability user, could he really be bullied by an ordinary person? He gave a cold laugh. "If that's the case, then show me what skills you have to take my house!"
As he spoke, a faint green light began to flow from his hand, but Meng Hu didn't notice this change. He was only surprised by the young man's audacity. He had already said so much, yet Park Su didn't voluntarily give up the house and forced him to take action.
This made Meng Hu suspect that perhaps because he hadn't gained the upper hand against Meng Shan earlier, Park Su might be underestimating him. This thought made his impression of Meng Shan even worse, thinking that after dealing with this youth, he would need to properly retaliate to show who was the boss in the village!
This desire to save face in front of his fellow villagers made Meng Hu even more determined to reclaim the house. His expression grew grimmer, thinking, could he not deal with a pretty boy if he couldn't handle Meng Shan? So, with a cold face, he said, "Since you're asking for it, don't blame me." With that, he lunged at Park Su.
Park Su was prepared, but he knew his own hand-to-hand combat skills weren't necessarily superior to Meng Hu's, considering his experience in the apocalypse was more about killing than pure fighting. However, after awakening his abilities, his senses had greatly improved.
He could clearly see the trajectory of Meng Hu's fist as it came towards him. He tried to block it, and to his surprise, it wasn't as hard as he had anticipated. Indeed, since reaching the second stage, his physical capabilities had significantly improved. He easily blocked several of Meng Hu's attacks without counterattacking, partly because he saw this as an opportunity to practice his own combat skills.
After all, upon engaging, he realized that Meng Hu wasn't entirely without merit; he had some real skills, which explained his arrogance. Taking this as a rare chance to train, Park Su was willing to prolong the engagement.
What he didn't know was that Meng Hu's mindset had undergone a drastic shift during this time. In his eyes, although he wasn't someone who could beat everyone he met, he certainly wasn't someone to be taken down so easily. However, after two consecutive attacks, he hadn't gained any advantage.
When fighting Meng Shan, at least he could feel some caution from his opponent, who relied on a strange dodging technique to evade his punches. But this youth was different; he felt like Park Su was entirely at ease, even as if his rhythm was being dictated by Park Su. More importantly, Park Su was only blocking, not once striking back. Meng Hu, being no stranger to fights, could tell whether his opponent was unable to counterattack or was deliberately not doing so.
Fine beads of sweat began to appear on Meng Hu's forehead. He had a feeling he might have bitten off more than he could chew. Before this, he hadn't noticed anything particularly formidable about the youth, but it turned out he was someone with hidden depths. Now, he could only struggle to keep up, as admitting defeat in front of so many villagers would be too embarrassing.
After fighting for a while, Park Su clearly noticed Meng Hu's fatigue, attributing it to his earlier bout with Meng Shan rather than considering that Meng Hu's confidence had been shattered by their fight. Finding it less and less interesting, Park Su lost interest in continuing. He thought Meng Hu no longer held any value for him to practice with, especially since there was a sick person in the car waiting for his care.
began to panic and scatter in all directions, wanting to get as far away from the strange plant as possible. They had no desire to lose their lives over potential gains they hadn't even seen yet.
As for Park Su mentioning that this was a pothos, that detail was quickly forgotten. After all, who had ever seen a pothos so vicious? This was indeed their first encounter.
After placing Xu Nuo on the bed, Park Su stood by the second-floor window, looking down. Sure enough, his doorstep was empty except for the battered Meng Hu.
He hadn't expected the pothos's combat ability to be so strong, and his earlier statement was just a test. He wasn't sure to what extent he could utilize this pothos from his dantian. After all, his wood-based energy was more of a life support ability, not often used for attack.
In his past life, the only attack he was proficient in was a single move, the wood spike. Of course, once he reached the third level, he could control mutated plants, but this control had its limitations. Firstly, controlling mutated plants required a significant amount of mental energy and current skill levels weren't low. Secondly, one needed to obtain the seeds of these mutated plants to utilize them.
Thirdly, the mutated plant should ideally be one stage lower than your own level; this would allow for longer control time and prevent backlash if your wood energy was depleted. If you attempted to control a mutated plant of a higher level, you risked severe mental energy depletion and potential backlash. Even controlling plants of the same level was challenging, though relatively easier than dealing with plants one stage above.
However, when he first released the pothos from his dantian, he discovered that the usual limitations seemed not to apply. The pothos acted more like an independent entity. Although it resided in his dantian, when summoned, it barely consumed any of his wood energy, almost none at all.
So, he tried letting the pothos fight on its own. He wasn't entirely confident that it would follow his instructions after he spoke, which is why he was secretly observing from the passenger seat while carrying Xu Nuo, ready to intervene with his mental strength at any moment.
What he didn't expect was that the pothos actually did as he said, injuring only Meng Hu without harming the others around him. Additionally, he sensed a slight mental connection with the pothos, yet its actions didn't require his mental control.
This meant that the mutated pothos was more like a sidekick, capable of fighting for him without demanding much of his mental energy. This realization made Park Su's heart beat faster. Having personally experienced the pothos's attack power, he knew that with its help, his combat ability would increase significantly.
However, since he had only recently acquired the pothos, he wasn't sure how much control he could exert over it. In fact, today's actions were somewhat reckless; if he hadn't been certain he could forcibly return the pothos to his dantian, he probably wouldn't have used such a method to test its consumption of his wood energy and its obedience.
He looked at Meng Hu, who had been beaten bloody, and the pothos, which still seemed eager for more action, and couldn't help but twitch his lips. He had a feeling that the pothos might have been holding in a lot of frustration before and was now venting it out by attacking Meng Hu.
Regardless, the pothos could be considered an unexpected gain after his rebirth. Whether it would become a lifesaver or a ticking bomb was yet to be seen. It seemed he would need to spend some time properly researching this mutated pothos that had entered his life after his rebirth.