"This can be digested," An Zhe argued.
He extended a strand of hyphae to show Lu Feng. The hypha climbed up to the cuff of the Colonel's black uniform sleeve and formed on the silver sleeve buttons a verdant new leaf that gently trembled in the wind.
This was An Zhe's recent amusement. Ever since he discovered he could safely fuse with all living and non-living things, he tried many of them—apart from the ugly ones.
On one relatively successful occasion, he turned himself into a room full of drifting willow catkins and nearly choked the Colonel.
But fusion was not always safe either. Just as Lu Feng said a long time ago, polymorphic-class monsters would sometimes make mistakes when changing form. Not long ago when he was drinking potato soup, out of his love for this plant, he went to the laboratory and fused with a small piece of potato, then unexpectedly fell unconscious and woke up only after three hours had gone by. Pauli had said, This is because your frequency as a mushroom and the potato’s frequency are too different, so rejection occurred. It was the same when fusing with other things. Although the results were always positive, the process was full of uncertainty, just like how a piece of sodium would dissolve in water but the process would produce an explosion.
From then on, Lu Feng prohibited him from eating things willy-nilly.
But An Zhe wished to eat this small piece of vine. This action would not cause any harm to the vine's life, and furthermore, the vine had no abnormalities. It was just a quiet and beautiful blooming vine.
An Zhe gently scraped a small opening in its skin, and juice seeped out.
It was very… quiet. As the pale green juice saturated the hyphae, a wind from the Abyss blew through the cold sky, stirring this vine that was attached to the research institute. The sun, moon, stars, everything in the sky shone upon it. An Zhe closed his eyes. It seemed like his body was likewise relaxing, and Lu Feng was right at his side, so he did not need to worry about anything. Allowing Lu Feng to half-hold him, he sat down on the bench in the dark green corridor.
Perhaps his condition was normal and the vine was also normal. Lu Feng had not allowed him to eat this vine, but he did not stop him either.
That was an implied acceptance.
He lay in Lu Feng's arms, grabbing his hand, his thoughts very disorganized. It was like he was soaking in warm water.
"It's been growing here for many years, and it was originally a vine that wouldn't flower," he said. "Later, some winged animals brought pollen over, so then it had white flowers. It thinks they're very pretty, and it's very happy."
As he softly rambled about the feelings he experienced from the vine and its memories, he reached up to hold Lu Feng by the shoulder and burrowed deeper into his embrace. He rubbed his head against Lu Feng's neck, then pressed his cheek against the slightly cool silver tassels on the other man's chest, feeling very comfortable.
Lu Feng hummed to indicate that he was listening.
A vine's feelings and memories were very simple things, but there were also some things that couldn't be described in human language. An Zhe scraped together a few words. "It also wishes to have blue flowers. Then… it also hopes that birds or butterflies and bees will come again and pollinate its flowers. After pollination, it can bear fruit."
Then there was nothing else to talk about.
Lu Feng ruffled An Zhe's hair.
Just then, Lu Feng's communicator lit up, and he picked it up. An Zhe also looked at the communicator screen, which showed a message from the already departed doctor. "You really won't consider Extract No. 1014? Your friend truly needs you very much. He needs a test subject."
The doctor still hadn't given up on peddling his extract.
With a smile, An Zhe watched Lu Feng push a button and reply with one word. "No."
The doctor replied, "Why is your attitude so cold? Isn't night vision good? You don't need it? Don't you want it? Every time you go to the Abyss, I worry for your safety. It's only after you inject Extract No. 1014 that I can rest easy."
He spoke as if it were actually true.
Lu Feng replied, "Aren't infrared glasses easy to use?"
"Then you can consider Extract No. 1015, pure black membrane wings with an average wingspan of four point three meters. You'll be able to fly, and it looks great. I sincerely hope you can experience the feeling of gliding through the air. Won't you consider it?"
"Don't need it," Lu Feng said.
The speed at which the doctor replied was swift. Even through the screen, his resentment as he quickly typed could be felt.
"Times have changed, Mr. Arbiter."
"You must forget the doctrine of human lineage, lay down the prejudices in your heart, and embrace foreign genes."
Lu Feng's reply was as simple and cold as before. "Thank you."
"It's not right of you to be like this. Do you need psychological counseling?"
"No."
"You're beyond saving!" The doctor went so far as to send an exclamatory voice recording.
It was followed by a text message. "Just when will you be able to cure your obsession with clean bloodlines and morals? You once exiled yourself. Have you still not come back yet? I wish to splash you with extract."
It was clear that the doctor was already irate.
He was always like this after failing to peddle his extracts.
With an expression that was as calm as always, Lu Feng replied, "I'm very normal."
"Choose between 1014 and 1015, and I'll believe you."
Lu Feng said nothing.
"See, you're beyond saving," the doctor said.
Lu Feng frowned slightly. After a long time, he tapped out a single word on the communication interface and sent it.
"Ugly."
A brief silence.
"You really are something," the doctor said.
Lu Feng loosened his grip, and An Zhe held the communicator, smiling as he read.
He thought, the doctor unexpectedly just learned it, whereas he had guessed it long ago.