Chapter 25 Part 2

For safety, Lin Juan didn’t bring the five-colored ropes back to Lu Garden. Instead, he planned to find an empty house far from people for the experiment.

The infected all showed issues on the seventh night, so Lin Juan figured he’d wait until then to move out.

When he brought it up at dinner, it met unanimous opposition.

Lu Mingxuan clung to Lin Juan’s arm and wouldn’t let go. “Little Uncle, if you’re moving out, take me with you. I’m scared alone.”

Lin Juan said silently, You’re not alone.

Lu Garden had plenty of people.

“If issues really hit on the seventh night, our exposure times to the ropes are similar. Problems would strike the same day. You moving out alone isn’t wise,” Lu Yanzhou pointed out sharply.

Reminded, Lin Juan realized it too. “We can’t do it right here in Lu Garden, though. If I have to fight, my destructive power is huge. What if we wreck the place and can’t live here anymore?”

The key was, everything in Lu Garden—from buildings to furniture and decor—was extremely valuable. If it got destroyed, Lin Juan’s heart would ache.

“How about we all move out for a day?” Lu Mingxuan’s eyes lit up. “Like camping!”

“We’ll find somewhere deserted and have barbecue at night!”

Barbecue—Lin Juan hadn’t had it in a while. His interest piqued. “I’m pretty good at grilling meat. You guys can try my skills then.”

“Sure, sure!”

In just a few words, what had been a very serious matter turned into a casual outing, and everyone’s mood relaxed considerably.

After selecting the location, Lin Juan sent it to Zhuang Yufeng so he could deliver the Five-Colored Rope they had handed in.

Zhuang Yufeng replied with three words: No problem.

With everything arranged, they only had to wait for the seventh night to arrive.

In the intervening days, Zhuang Yufeng took in several more people infected by the pollution from the Five-Colored Rope, which verified their guess: the pollution caused by the Five-Colored Rope did not disappear even after the rope was removed.

For safety’s sake, the Anomalous Affairs Bureau arranged for everyone who had handled the Five-Colored Rope to be isolated.

Fortunately, not many people knew about that shop. The Five-Colored Rope had only circulated in a small area and was discovered in time by Lin Juan, preventing it from spreading further. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

On the evening of the seventh day of wearing the Five-Colored Rope, Lin Juan headed to the chosen location with the Lu family.

“It’s been a long time since we went camping with the family,” Lu Mingxuan said. As far back as he could remember, the last time had been in elementary school with his parents. Grandpa had been busy with company matters and hadn’t come, Little Uncle was studying abroad, and Third Uncle was attending a seminar overseas. It had just been their immediate family.

It hadn’t been anywhere near as lively as this.

“Afraid?” Lin Juan teased, seeing his excitement.

“Honestly, with Little Uncle here, I’m not scared at all.” Lu Mingxuan grinned and ran off to set up the tent.

The spot they chose was in the Capital Suburbs, a very remote area where hardly anyone would come.

This was also to prevent too much of a commotion.

At the same time, the Anomalous Affairs Bureau sent Ability Users disguised nearby, ready to provide support at any moment.

Though they figured that with Lin Juan there, they probably wouldn’t need it.

The food had been prepared in advance—various meats and vegetables. Lin Juan expertly sliced the meat and skewered it on bamboo sticks.

He seasoned it, brushed it onto the meat, and placed it on the grill.

Before long, the aroma wafted out.

Lu Mingxuan instantly found the piece of charred meat in his hand unappetizing. He tossed it into his father’s bowl and squatted down by Lin Juan’s side. “Smells so good, Little Uncle. Can you share a skewer with me?”

Just then, the skewers Lin Juan was grilling were ready. He divided them among the Lu family members. “Try some.”

Lu Mingxuan took a skewer and eagerly popped it into his mouth.

Delicious.

The fragrance hit him straight in the brain.

After the aroma came the meat’s tenderness. Somehow, Lin Juan had grilled it so that it was fully flavored while retaining the meat’s essential freshness—not dry or tough at all. The texture was fantastic.

Lu Mingxuan devoured his skewers and gave a thumbs-up. “Little Uncle, your skills are top-notch!”

Even the best barbecue place he’d reviewed didn’t taste as good as Lin Juan’s.

Seeing how much they enjoyed it made Lin Juan happy too. Anyone who liked cooking probably enjoyed getting positive feedback while feeding others. As he skewered more, he said, “When I was a kid living in the mountains, there wasn’t much good food. Catching a rabbit now and then was a real treat. Ingredients were limited up there, so I had to focus on the flavors.”

“That said, it’s not like the mountains lacked ingredients. There were plenty of things to eat; some were just hard to get.”

Lu Mingxuan recalled that Lin Juan hadn’t had an easy upbringing and had suffered a lot as a child. He patted his chest. “Little Uncle, whatever you want to eat from now on, just say the word. The chefs at Lu Garden are pretty good.”

“Right, my Little Uncle is great at pan-frying steak.” Lu Mingxuan winked. “Little Uncle, when we get back, have Little Uncle make you some steak. It tastes amazing.”

At the same time, he resolved to buy back all sorts of delicacies from the mountains that Lin Juan had never tried and let him have a proper taste.

With that, he turned to Lu Yanzhou. “Little Uncle, fair trade—you should be willing to let Little Uncle try your cooking too, right?”

It would be even better if he could mooch some himself.

Thinking of Little Uncle’s steak made Lu Mingxuan swallow. He had tried it once in his sophomore year of high school and hadn’t had it since.

“You sure talk a lot.” Lu Yanzhou chided him mildly but didn’t refute it.

Lin Juan leaned over curiously. “You know how to cook?”

In all the time since Lu Yanzhou had woken up, Lin Juan had never seen him cook.

“A little,” Lu Yanzhou said. He fed a piece of his grilled meat to Lin Juan’s mouth. “I couldn’t get used to the food abroad while studying, so I learned some myself. I can make homestyle dishes. I’ll cook for you next time.”

Lin Juan puffed out his cheeks as he chewed. “Alright, looking forward to Chef Lu’s skills.”

As night fell, Old Master Lu was the first to hold out and went into the tent to sleep. The three Lu brothers chatted outside. Second Brother Lu was at the hospital with Qiu Lishu and didn’t come.

It had been a long time since the three brothers had spent time like this—sitting out in the open with moonlight overhead and grass beneath them, as if they were carefree kids again.

As they chatted, the conversation inevitably turned to work.

Third Brother Lu Yanmo worked in research, specializing in biotech. He was a top researcher at an international research institute.

“Lately, a lot of my colleagues have made subtle shifts in their research directions. A couple days ago, someone fished a previously unrecorded fish out of the sea. Xiao Juan, want to see it? Once the confidentiality period is over, I’ll take you to check it out. Our research institute has all sorts of weird stuff.”

“Third Uncle, why didn’t you invite me?!” Lu Mingxuan yelped and pounced, draping himself over his third uncle’s neck. “I wanna go too!”

“You’re a grown man with no decorum.” Lu Yanmo swatted his nephew. “I’ve got to head to Shenhai in a couple days. That’s where the fish was found, and the main research will probably be there.”

“Huh?” Lu Mingxuan slid off Lu Yanmo and sat beside him. “How long will you be gone, Third Uncle?”

“Shortest case, one or two months. If it’s longer, who knows.”

It was two in the morning.

From where the Five-Colored Rope was placed, black mist spread like smoke, drifting into the noses of the people sleeping in the tents.

In the darkness, Lin Juan sensed the weird aura and abruptly opened his eyes.

“Lu Yanzhou, it’s here.”

No response.

Lin Juan’s heart skipped a beat. He turned to look at the man lying beside him.

Lu Yanzhou’s eyes were tightly shut, his brows furrowed as if trapped in some inescapable nightmare.

“Lu Yanzhou?” Lin Juan patted him. “Wake up.”

Still no reaction.

Had he been hit?

Lin Juan simply sat up, turned on the light, and observed his surroundings.

The tent was deathly quiet. He got up and walked over to where the Five-Colored Rope was placed.

The Five-Colored Rope lay quietly on the table. Unlike what it had looked like during the day, the shimmering Five-Colored Rope had turned dull and gray. Pale gray mist drifted from the rope and eventually dissipated into the air.

Lin Juan picked up the Five-Colored Rope.

The texture felt different too.

The Five-Colored Rope was now cold and rough, like a root stem covered in bumps. Upon closer inspection, what he held wasn’t a Five-Colored Rope at all—it was a vine looped end to end.

Lin Juan was all too familiar with this thing.

It was the enlarged version of what he had previously drawn out of an infected person’s body using the 【Water Tower】.

Lin Juan pressed on the vine, and sure enough, he found a bump. With a slight push of his finger, he crushed the protrusion.

The vine withered.

He didn’t deal with the remaining strands yet and first contacted the Ability Users lurking nearby. Before long, they arrived, dragging along a green, humanoid creature.

“Mr. Lin, we’re here.”

Lin Juan stepped out of the tent.

At first glance, he saw the green, gooey mass being held in front of the Ability Users.

The person’s body was covered in plant-like parts—it looked utterly bizarre.

“Mr. Lin, when we got here, this guy was skulking around in the woods behind,” the Ability User said, pushing the vine-covered figure forward a bit.

Lin Juan walked closer. Only then did he see clearly that the green humanoid creature was a person entirely draped in green vines.

His face was obscured by the vines, and his hair consisted of thin vine-like tendrils, as if countless vines were growing directly from his body.

Seeing the Vine Person shrink back, Lin Juan was certain. “You know what this is.”

“Did you sell the Five-Colored Rope?”

Though phrased as a question, Lin Juan already knew the answer.

“You little…” Lin Juan grabbed a vine on the man’s body and yanked. “Tricking consumers, scamming money, having bad intentions…”

With each accusation, he tore off one of the vines from the Vine Person.

“Aaahhh!!!” The Vine Person let out a shrill scream.

Lin Juan pulled off several more, feeling a bit satisfied. “Speak! You gonna dare do it again?!”

“No, no, I won’t ever dare again!” The Vine Person burst into tears.

The Ability Users exchanged glances, unsure whether to intervene.

Mainly because Lin Juan was ruthless—they winced just watching.

Wouldn’t this kill him?

No, probably not. Mr. Lin wouldn’t be that reckless.

Out of blind trust in Lin Juan, even though they didn’t know how he’d pegged the Vine Person as the mastermind or why he’d suddenly exploded in anger, they knew Lin Juan had never been wrong about weird matters.

Lin Juan released the Vine Person. Several green vines crumbled from his hand as the Vine Person writhed on the ground in pain.

He rolled around while sobbing, “I was wrong. I won’t dare again.”

Finally, the Vine Person stopped crying. Lin Juan’s head throbbed from the noise, and he was already sleepy, so his expression darkened further. He pointed at one of the Ability Users. “You, come here. Ask him what exactly is going on.”

The Vine Person was brought before the Ability User, but when no one was looking, he lunged at Lin Juan’s feet and tried to hug his leg.

Lin Juan jumped back in fright. “What are you doing?!”

The Vine Person stammered, “Um, sir… could you pull off a few more of the vines on me?”