“Wha—“ before Yang Zhang could react, Little Ivy suddenly stretched its vines and coiled around his hand like a snake.

“Wha! Let go of me!” Yang Zhang tried flailing his hand to make the ivy let go, but the ivy gripped even tighter.

Little Ivy whimpered again, “Vii… Vii…”

Yang Zhang stopped flailing when he felt Little Ivy start to tremble again. He watched the plant sticking to his palm. After Little Ivy coiled all its vines on Yang Zhang’s arm, he could finally see its true appearance beneath the leaves.

It was actually a small stick with two beads as eyes. Little Ivy’s body was covered in ivy leaves, and two more leaves clung to an appendage that looked like a leg, acting as a long skirt for the stick’s lower half, and the limbs that stretched and coiled on Yang Zhang's hand were made of vines.

Yang Zhang patted Little Ivy on its head, and it calmed down gradually, “Ah, this Little Ivy is so easily frightened….”

Little Ivy finally sat comfortably on Yang Zhang’s palm after he stopped flailing. Chestnut woke up soon after and saw its master with a strange ivy plant coiling around his left arm.

“Squeak?” 

“Ah, Chestnut, this is Little Ivy, our new friend!”

“Squeak?” 

Chestnut jumped on Yang Zhang’s shoulder and then scrambled down his arm. It sat on Yang Zhang’s palm, staring at Little Ivy.

“Vii?” Little Ivy looked curious as well, and Chestnut started sniffing around. “Vii… viii!”

“Chestnut, you’re tickling her… is it her? Or him? I’m not sure… I think it’s her….” Yang Zhang said uncertainly.

Chestnut ignored Yang Zhang and suddenly hugged Little Ivy. 

Surprisingly, Little Ivy didn’t look scared at all. It created another pair of vines from inside its body and hugged Chestnut back.

“Hehe, what a little family we got here,” Yang Zhang was relieved that Little Ivy wasn’t hostile to him or Chestnut. 

At least his promise not to waste Xiao Mei’s Brain Bead had been fulfilled. But he still had to prove one thing.

He opened the door and then walked outside. Seeing another empty pot in the front yard, he looked at Little Ivy still sitting on his palm and instructed her, “Little Ivy, would you mind helping me?”

“Vii!” 

Yang Zhang opened his palm and pointed it at the pot a few feet away from him. “Please retrieve that pot for me.”

“Vii!” 

Little Ivy created a second pair of arms out of vines and lashed them towards the pot. She carefully grabbed the pot and retracted her vines, putting the pot in Yang Zhang’s other hand.

“Great job, Little Ivy!”

“Vii! Vii!”

Yang Zhang scanned his surroundings for another way to test the strength of Little Ivy, then he saw a big log quite far from his position, “Can you grab that, Ivy?”

“Vii!”

Little Ivy stretched her vines again, and surprisingly, the two little vines could carry the big log without any problem! 

That Little Ivy could even swing around the big log easily. Yang Zhang was surprised and scared because Little Ivy was swinging the log recklessly.

“O—Okay, that’s enough, Little Ivy, you’re doing good.”

“Vii!”

Little Ivy put the log back in its place and looked at Yang Zhang expectantly. She seemed to be happy with that compliment. 

Yang Zhang concluded that Little Ivy was strong enough to grab the luggage near the territorial tree, but he wanted to do one more experiment, “Little Ivy, look at that rock there.”

“Vii?” 

Yang Zhang pointed at a big rock near the log and then instructed, “Would you help me? I need you to break that rock over there.”

“Vii!” Little Ivy looked excited. She stretched her vines and then hit the rock with a whip-like strike.

CRACK! 

Yang Zhang’s jaw dropped when he saw that Little Ivy’s whip was strong enough to crack open the large rock. 

“You…”

“Vii?”

“You… are amazing! IVY, YOU’RE AMAZING!”

“Vii! Vii!”

“Squeak!”

All three of them were rejoicing over this newfound power. Little Ivy might look fragile and shy, but she had super strength. 

“Alright, let’s go and take back the luggage. I need to change my clothes as well!”

Thus, Yang Zhang, Little Ivy, and Chestnut paced through the forest and returned to the territorial tree. 

Yang Zhang pointed at the luggage near the tree trunk and coaxed, “Little Ivy, that one is my luggage. Would you mind retrieving that?”

“Vii!”

Little Ivy stretched her vines and grabbed the luggage easily without alerting the territorial tree. With the luggage returned to Yang Zhang, they celebrated, “Little Ivy is amazing!”

“Vii!”

“Squeak!”

Yang Zhang checked his luggage and found that the initial attack from the tree had torn up half of his shirts and pants. 

But his phone, charger, shoes and sandals, and many other clothes still survived! 

“Yes! I can change my clothes today!”

“Oh, my phone also survives! But the battery….”

Yang Zhang realized that he didn't have any source of electricity. In the shelter, the leader used solar panels as a source of electricity for everyone in the base. There he could charge his phone at least once every two days.

Now that he didn't have any electricity source—

“Wait—“

Yang Zhang looked at the squirrel, who curiously scavenged through his luggage.

“AH! Chestnut, please help me here!”

“Squeak?”

Yang Zhang handed the charger to Chestnut and pointed at the plug, “Hold the plug with your hand.”

Chestnut grabbed the plug, and electricity instantly flowed through the charger. Yang Zhang heard the sound of his phone charging again, and he nodded, “Hehe, thanks, Chestnut.”

“With all of this, we can return and prepare everything first. Then we can hunt for more Brain Beads from the zombies. When Yang Zhang said ‘zombies,’ Little Ivy suddenly trembled, terrified. She curled up inside Yang Zhang’s hand and tightened her grip around his arm.

“Ah, Little Ivy, what’s wrong?”

“Vii… Vii…”

Seeing that Little Ivy looked so scared, Yang Zhang asked, “Are you scared of zombies?”

“Vii…”

Little Ivy nodded slowly, and Yang Zhang immediately connected this behavior to Xiao Mei since the Brain Bead originated from her.

“So it’s true, all the subconscious thoughts of the human are still retained inside the Brain Bead. Xiao Mei is scared of zombies, so Little Ivy inherited that from her.”

“Vii…”

ForeverPupa

Sorry for slower update, it's Christmas here. Merry Christmas everyone ^^