After a satisfying meal and a bit of unsolicited help, Lu Zhi felt generally quite pleased.
However, this good mood didn't last even half a day. Her idle phone suddenly received a text message. Ever since she got her optical computer, Lu Zhi had been using her phone solely as a wallet.
Seeing who the sender was, Lu Zhi curiously nudged Shen Qi's arm with her elbow. "Hey, hey, hey, that's weird. This guy actually sent me a text. Did I ever tell you about this little brat who's two years younger than me, named Lan Guoguo, who was hostile towards me the first time we met?"
Lu Zhi was so engrossed in complaining to Shen Qi that she didn't notice a delivery man pulling a cardboard box towards them. Shen Qi grabbed Lu Zhi's hand and pulled her to the side of the street to avoid it.
Lu Zhi lowered her head to open the text, still talking, "I wonder if I just don't come across as very likable? Otherwise, why would that brat dislike me... Damn it!"
Her complaint was only halfway done when, upon seeing the message's content, Lu Zhi's expression drastically changed: "My brother is in danger!"
"Hmm?" Shen Qi seemed surprised. "Where?"
"Kensa." Lu Zhi anxiously called Lan Guoguo, but the call showed that the other party's phone signal was out of service.
"No, I have to go find my brother." Lu Zhi grabbed Shen Qi's hand. "Lan Guoguo doesn't like me, but he wouldn't joke about my brother's affairs."
"Okay." Shen Qi held Lu Zhi's hand and led her into a dark alley, directly tearing open space to transport Lu Zhi to an area near Kensa.
Across the Linmu Bridge outside Kensa.
An off-road vehicle was abruptly stopped by a deep ditch on a narrow road.
A rift appeared in the void, and Shen Qi appeared beside the off-road vehicle with Lu Zhi. Lu Zhi immediately recognized the license plate as belonging to the one Sister Li Mei often drove.
Shen Qi calmly looked towards the Kensa Forest, which blended into the dense fog. "Beyond the bridge is the Kensa Forest, and the Kensa Tower is deep within the jungle."
Lu Zhi didn't ask why Shen Qi didn't teleport them closer to the Kensa Tower. If he could, he wouldn't be outside the Kensa Forest.
Lu Zhi looked up at the Kensa Forest. The lush green mountains and forests intertwined with the white mist, blocking even the sunlight, giving a sense of dark, ominous danger.
Lu Zhi looked into the car and froze. There was someone inside?
The person sleeping in the back seat was Li Mu, who had brought Lu Chengxuan to the Kensa Forest. Upon hearing the tapping on the window, he immediately opened his eyes with joy, only to see a face that was both unfamiliar and somewhat familiar.
Lu Zhi tapped on the car window again, asking directly, "Who are you? Why are you in my brother's car? Where are my brother and the others?"
Lu Mu wasn't sure if Lu Zhi was a good person or a bad person. Seeing Shen Qi behind Lu Zhi, he was afraid to open the car door. Hearing Lu Zhi's questions, he suddenly realized and then rolled down the window. "Hello, my name is Lu Mu. I was paid by Sister Li Mei to be a guide."
Lu Zhi's eyes lit up. "Were there three other men, one of whom was very tall?"
Lu Mu nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, yes. They crossed the bridge the day before yesterday and told me to wait for them here. I've been waiting for two days now..."
If it weren't for the remaining food in the car, Lu Mu would have wanted to leave long ago.
Lu Zhi frowned. "Did my brother and the others go to the Kensa Tower?"
Lu Mu shook his head. "They went to Kensa Village, in the deep valley east of the entrance."
Lu Zhi asked a few more questions, but Lu Mu was just a guide and didn't know much.
Lu Zhi: "Thank you for making you wait here so long. I'll have my boyfriend send you back first."
Shen Qi decisively tore open a spatial portal. Before Lu Mu could react, he was thrown into it. In the blink of an eye, Lu Mu found himself near his town and thought he was dreaming.
Lu Zhi frowned, looking at the Kensa Forest. "Let's go check out Kensa Village first. Do you know the way?"
Shen Qi stood on the edge of the deep ditch. The wind howling from the unfathomable depth whipped their clothes. "This place has changed a lot. This entire mountain forest used to be connected."
"Go this way." Shen Qi stepped onto the wooden bridge, his silver-gray eyes gazing at the forest before him, as if searching for a remembered path.
Lu Zhi followed closely, unable to resist asking, "Kensa Tower, what zodiac sign is it?"
The two crossed the bridge and stepped into the forest shrouded in dense fog. The air was damp and cold, and the ground was wet.
An inconspicuous small path disappeared into the depths of the forest. The muddy path underfoot was a narrow trail trodden by people, surrounded by dense trees.
Concerned about Lu Chengxuan's safety, Lu Zhi just wanted to enter the Kensa Forest quickly to inquire.
"Someone who likes this kind of cold and damp jungle, which animal do you think it would be?" Shen Qi countered with a question instead of answering.
Lu Zhi blinked in surprise, pondered for a moment, and then hissed, "What you're saying, could it be the Serpent God?"
Shen Qi hummed in acknowledgment. "This way."
Shen Qi pulled Lu Zhi's wrist, and they bent down to pass through thick, long tree trunks.
The deeper they went, the dimmer the surrounding light became. The dense fog blocked most of their vision, and the surrounding bushes were tangled. After walking for a short while, a small stream appeared before them.
The source of the water was unknown; it seemed to flow down from the deep mountains. The water was very clear, and the stones at the bottom were covered in moss.
At this moment, Lu Zhi noticed several white flowers, buds just beginning to bloom, growing by the stream. In this dark and damp environment, they looked exceptionally pure and flawless.
"Those are One-Eyed Flowers," Shen Qi glanced at them and explained. "Highly poisonous."
Lu Zhi hissed. They say the more beautiful a flower is, the more potent its poison. But these tender white flowers, so pure and beautiful, so white and radiant, why were they called One-Eyed Flowers and deemed highly poisonous?
With curiosity, Lu Zhi followed behind Shen Qi, stepping on stones across the stream to the other side. She inadvertently saw an insect fly near a One-Eyed Flower.
Suddenly, the white flower bud slowly bloomed. Seeing the black and purple bud resembling an eyeball, Lu Zhi's eyes widened in shock.
What was even more terrifying was that the insect was still half a meter away from the cluster of flowers, yet it flew into the bud as if bewitched, and then... then it died and was eaten by the One-Eyed Flower.
Lu Zhi: "Uh... this is what they mean by 'appearances can be deceiving'?"
Just because something looks pure and flawless doesn't mean it's harmless; it's just that you don't know its true nature.
"The Kensa Forest is unlike other sacred paths. Under the influence of this thing, all the animals, plants, and insects here carry poison." Shen Qi raised his hand to push aside the dense branches in front of them.
The entrance to a deep valley appeared before them.
"Wait!" Suddenly, Lu Zhi grabbed Shen Qi's hand nervously, looking at a crack in the wall at the entrance of the deep valley. A snake as thick as an arm, with scales of a scarlet hue, was flicking its tongue and looking down at them with cold eyes.