Whoosh...
A breeze combed the treetops, carrying a sound only the sea can teach.
Yue Liuyi walked down the street, curiosity lifting like a lantern as she looked around.
Nature moved fast; in less than a day, the world around her had shed its skin.
Muscular roots heaved from the soil, prying apart cracked concrete, arching like little bridges that mapped out new paths.
Seedlings pushed from the stone seams, unfurling pale-green leaves, drinking light like thirsty sparrows.
Water tinkled around oval creek stones, a soft chime threading the salt air.
“Plants are amazing—they can even turn poison into springwater...”
After finding the small broom Little Rose had dropped outside the bookstore, Yue Liuyi crouched like a child, studying the sprouts waking across Linelor City.
The acid downpour two nights ago didn’t just soak the cracked earth; it gave the green things the water they craved.
The toxins riding that rain were taken in like rough compost, broken down, turned useful.
“I didn’t expect New Land plants to be this hardy... no sign of transplant shock at all.”
She didn’t know it: New Land flora were bred from wasteland stock, tough breeds made for barren ground.
A thousand years ago, when Chaos invaded, New Land’s ecosystems nearly snapped; most soil charred to ash. Yet through stubborn hands, the land stood up again, and the green returned.
“La-la-la~ Give it a little more time... it should weave itself into a steady ecosystem, right?”
Happy, Yue Liuyi hummed and stirred the mana in the air, lifting a veil of water magic.
Silver drizzle beaded like a light rain, pattering on leaves with a crisp note. Clear drops carried dust away, fell slow, and pooled into tiny mirrors.
“Grow fast, okay? When you’re big, I’m eating you~”
As the World Tree Maiden, Yue Liuyi had zero sense of solemn duty. She watered on, fussing over the rice-tree saplings—maybe lunch would sort itself out today.
But the blue-haired girl didn’t see it coming...
“No one’s competing here—get over here!”
Voices spilled from the other side of the road, sudden as thrown pebbles.
“Huh?”
Winter Leaf Road was usually empty, so the sudden clamor rippled her calm like a stone in a pond.
“There’s no cops here either—start chopping! Brothers, this is our ticket to getting rich!”
From the far end of the street, a ragged band of wasteland drifters boiled out.
Some hefted big axes, some sacks, some iron saws. They came on like a swarm of locusts.
“What are you doing?”
“Beat it, little girl. This ain’t your business!”
They ignored her. Tools up, they moved on a nearby fruit tree.
“Those fruit trees aren’t ripe! And if you cut like that, you’ll wreck the roots—they won’t bear again!”
“Leave before I get mad!”
The men barely spared her a glance. They raised their tools and chopped a branch clean in half.
“Ha! Premium lumber—we’re set!”
They stuffed the cut branches into sacks, eyes lit with the fever of getting something for nothing.
“Ugh!”
Rage flared hot in Yue Liuyi’s chest. The seedlings she’d just tended, tasting sunlight for the first time, were hacked down, their breath snuffed by crude hands.
Worse, they didn’t know how to fell a tree, didn’t know which fruit was ripe. Greed drove them blind; they plundered without a flicker of restraint.
“Stop! Or I really will get angry!”
“Scram, kid. We ain’t got time for you.”
Words wouldn’t stop them. To them, these plants were a treasure within arm’s reach—the more they grabbed, the richer they’d get.
Her heart surged first; power followed. Mana gathered in the blue-haired girl’s hands. If it took force, Yue Liuyi would use it to stop these short-sighted thieves.
But before she could strike, another group of men spilled onto the street.
The one in front wore a leather jacket, an earring gleaming at his ear; his hair was dyed in red spikes. He looked like trouble.
Her stomach dipped. More of them?
“Flame Ruins Gang’s here! All of you, stand down!”
To her surprise, the youths calling themselves the Flame Ruins Gang didn’t seem like enemies.
Because they went straight for the wasteland drifters.
“Blazing Dragon Fist!”
The leather-jacketed youth put one still-chopping wasteland drifter flat on the ground with a single punch.
“You punks! What do you want—wanna throw down?”
The other wasteland drifters stopped cutting and glared at the Flame Ruins youths, bristling like dogs over a bone.
“If you keep cutting, this is what happens to you.”
The leather-jacketed youth stomped the fallen wasteland drifter hard, no mercy at all.
“Hah! Kid, you know the saying—cut a man’s money, and you cut his life. Boys, move! Teach these peach-fuzz brats a lesson!”
On most days, the wasteland drifters weren’t this hot-blooded. But today, the scent of wealth had eaten their reason.
“Flame Ruins Gang, move out!”
And just like that, a vicious street brawl broke loose.
