Chapter 474: Old Friends
Compared to that big, fat, pink ball, the Jade Pendant was pitifully small, like a coal baron and his pet.
The Emotional Pearl had absorbed far too many emotions over the past few days. Although its connection with Tang Mo’s consciousness was temporarily severed, the feelings others had for Tang Mo could still be absorbed.
With more energy, it could do more things. After all, as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
After the Emotional Pearl had accumulated enough energy, it finally released its energy once again to search for its master.
And this time, Tang Mo, who had been waiting, finally succeeded in receiving the signal and absorbed the energy searching for her into her conscious form.
Tang Mo had wanted to follow that energy back to her own body, but her attempt failed.
The energy was still a bit too weak. It wasn’t enough.
Tang Mo sighed, but she wasn’t discouraged.
‘Energy has started coming to find me. That’s a good start, isn’t it?’
Only after absorbing all the energy did Tang Mo realize which pearl it had come from.
It was the pink Emotional Pearl.
Tang Mo looked at her conscious form, which was turning a light pink, and felt a wave of mixed emotions at the very girly color.
She had originally thought the pink pearl was completely useless and had even considered removing it from her sea of consciousness.
But now, this was the very pearl that had come searching for her.
After gaining the energy, Tang Mo felt her five senses grow sharper. Not only that, but she even had a bit of weak Strength she could use.
Beneath the rolling, snow-covered terrain, Tang Mo could now faintly make out the things buried below.
‘Now I can go where I want and visit my old friends,’ Tang Mo thought, satisfied.
“Mama, look! There’s a pink cloud over Heavenly Mountain.”
In a small human surface settlement, a young child a few years old pointed at the sky for his mother to see.
“Oh.”
The boy’s mother was vigorously swinging a tool in her hands, trying to dig deeper into the hard earth.
“Mama, I’m serious! There really is a pink cloud!”
Seeing his mother’s lack of reaction, the little boy grew anxious and tugged on her arm, trying to make her look.
The boy’s mother wasn’t old. Annoyed by her child’s pestering, she looked up.
There was indeed a pink cloud.
But the woman didn’t react much.
“Be a good boy, Dou Dou,” the woman said, smiling as she teased the child.
“Mama is digging up yummy things for you. Don’t disturb Mama while she’s working. How about you tell me next time a spaceship flies by in the sky, okay?”
The boy was speechless.
‘He was young, not an idiot.’
But it was to be expected. People who had struggled to survive in the apocalypse for several years had seen all sorts of strange things.
A pink cloud wasn’t going to attract anyone’s attention these days. Maybe a spaceship with a few aliens on board would make them look up.
Meanwhile, Tang Mo looked at her pink form and sighed.
‘I used to be transparent and inconspicuous. Now that I’ve absorbed that energy and my form has turned pink, there’s no way to keep a low profile.’
But Tang Mo’s old friends probably wouldn’t care about her color. After all, her old friends weren’t human.
The first one Tang Mo went to see was Da Hua.
Tang Mo had met Da Hua a long time ago. It was from Da Hua that Tang Mo had obtained the Heaven-reaching Axe.
Though later, due to the nature of the weapon, she had given the Heaven-reaching Axe to Xiao Tao to use.
Tang Mo still remembered how Da Hua had been gloomy and listless back when she had a crush on a human boy. She wondered how she was doing now.
Beneath the vast white snow, the gorillas that had once lived on the mountaintop now all resided in caves. The caves were already lined with thick layers of dried grass and cottony fluff, and the entrances were covered with rocks and snow, so the temperature wasn’t quite as cold.
Gorillas were naturally much stronger than humans, and with an added layer of thick, mutated fur, they had no major problems dealing with such a harsh climate.
Although the entrance was sealed, Tang Mo didn’t even have a body now—she was just a ball of light. Naturally, nothing could stop her.
After finding the right spot, Tang Mo squeezed inside.
Da Hua had already taken a mate. Her belly was large and swollen; it seemed she was expecting a baby.
She sat in the cave, weaving a mat from grass.
Tang Mo attached herself to an inconspicuous spot on the cave ceiling, observing Da Hua’s life.
Da Hua no longer wore human clothes, and Tang Mo didn’t know where she had put the clip she’d given her.
Some of the gorillas’ caves had been connected for convenience, in a way that didn’t compromise the mountain’s structure.
So Da Hua was, in a way, living with her parents. They didn’t argue anymore, and life seemed to be going well.
Da Hua’s mate seemed to be very good to her, too. In this environment, food for the gorillas was scarce, and they mostly survived by digging for buried roots and tubers in the mountain crevices.
The father of Da Hua’s child split the dug-up roots into two portions, giving one to Da Hua’s parents and the other to Da Hua.
Only after Da Hua said she was full did the male gorilla take a few symbolic bites for himself.
Da Hua looked very peaceful as well. It seemed their lives were stable and calm.
Tang Mo stayed in Da Hua’s cave for a whole day.
She actually had enough energy to speak now, but Tang Mo didn’t.
Da Hua had finally, with great difficulty, started a new life of her own. Tang Mo didn’t want to disturb her again and make her recall those unpleasant memories related to humans.
After staying for a long time, Tang Mo prepared to leave.
But just as the father of Da Hua’s child went out to search for food again, Tang Mo saw Da Hua cradle her belly, walk to a corner of the cave, and pull something out from a hiding spot.
It was the hair clip Tang Mo had given her.
Tang Mo watched as Da Hua preciously held the hair clip, looking at it over and over, stroking it again and again, before carefully putting it back.
After putting the hair clip away, Da Hua began to stare into space on her stool. She sat like that for a full hour before finally continuing her unfinished task of weaving the grass mat.
For that entire hour, Tang Mo just watched Da Hua quietly.
She didn’t know what Da Hua was thinking or what she was reminiscing about, but whatever it was, it no longer mattered.
As she left Da Hua’s cave, Tang Mo felt a moment of confusion. ‘Where should I go next?’
In truth, Tang Mo had met many people along her journey, but most of them, and the places she knew, could no longer be found.
For instance, the small bases she had visited were now buried ruins.
And the people she had met at the base—Xiao Fei, Momo, and that Golden Retriever—had all remained in the first Illusion World.
The persistent and righteous teacher who lived in the junkyard had also stayed behind in the Illusion World.
They had chosen the lives they wanted and were living them. ‘That must be nice.’