Chapter 28 - 27: Cannot Sell a Child for Any Amount of Money

In her deep sleep, Rose had no idea her adoptive mother and brothers were worrying about her.

In her dream, she wandered into a lush forest. With her short little legs, every step she took allowed her to sense the joy of the surrounding plants. They seemed to welcome her arrival, and she could feel their happiness.

Rose didn’t find this strange at all. For as long as she could remember, she noticed that the plants around her home always gave her a feeling of intimacy. She thought this was normal, but later realized her brothers were different from her.

For instance, when she played with her brother, if he accidentally stepped on a blade of grass, the grass would get very angry. But if she stepped on it, the grass would instead shake its leaves, as if saying to her, "It’s okay, you just weren’t careful."

In her dream, she couldn’t help but start dancing in the forest, and the surrounding flowers, grass, and trees swayed along with her. Rose felt overjoyed! Even though they were just plants, she felt as if they were all her good friends.

Just then, she caught a whiff of a clear, crisp fragrance. She remembered this scent vividly; it was exactly the smell of the Mutated Lemon Tree seedling back home.

She smiled, reaching out her small hand to gently touch its treetops. "Why haven’t you borne fruit yet? The dried wild yam Mom baked with your juice tasted absolutely amazing!"

The little lemon tree seedling seemed a bit anxious too. It passed a message to her: it needed more Energy to make the fruit ripen quickly.

In her sleep, Rose’s mind shifted, and green light began to flow from her fingertips.

The little lemon tree seedling happily accepted the Energy she gave it, and very soon, it grew bright yellow little lemon fruits. There were so many that she couldn’t even count them.

Rose was thrilled. In her excitement, she opened her eyes. When she turned her head, she saw that the little seedling in the wooden box on the floor next to her bed had already grown as tall as her adoptive mother.

The little seedling had turned into a large sapling. Among its lush branches and leaves, countless bright yellow spots faintly swayed. Parting the leaves to take a look, she realized they were indeed mature Mutated Lemon Fruits, and they were much larger than the two her brothers had brought back. Her small hands couldn’t even grasp a single one.

"Mom! Everyone! The lemon tree bore fruit!" Rose shouted at the top of her lungs, her clear and bright childish voice echoing throughout the entire yard.

Looking at the bright yellow lemon fruits in front of her, Sev was so excited she was on the verge of tears. She looked at her beaming youngest daughter, feeling that this girl was truly considerate. Sev had just been worrying about when the lemon fruits would ripen, and the girl had already accelerated their growth to maturity.

Not long ago, they had been green, mung-bean-sized little fruits. In just over half an hour, they had turned into bright yellow, ping-pong-ball-sized ripe fruits. Her good daughter must have used her Ability to accelerate their growth.

She looked at her worriedly and asked, "Rose, do you feel dizzy?"

The book said that overusing an Ability would lead to dizziness, tinnitus, palpitations, cold sweats, and full-body weakness. She was afraid that since her youngest daughter had only just awakened her Ability, accelerating the growth of so many fruits all at once would overdraw her Ability.

However, Rose simply shook her head. "Mom, I’m fine. I just really love the smell of these fruits."

Sev plucked two lemon fruits and used the Detection Knife to slice off a small piece. A voice broadcast sounded:

"BEEP! Detected edible plant: Mutated Lemon Fruit. Radiation level: 25. Classified as low-level radiation.

"This species is endangered and highly rare. Please promptly hand it over to the local agricultural research institute for study."

Sev’s eyes instantly went wide, and the three boys reacted the same way.

What had they just heard? Low-level radiation?!

After their precious Rose awakened her Ability, the very first fruits she accelerated the growth of were actually low-level radiation?

Although they had no idea what kind of plants other Wood Ability Users grew, they clearly knew one thing: when the poor from the safe zone went scavenging in the wild, they sometimes wouldn’t come across a single low-radiation plant all year. They also knew that low-radiation plants could be sold at the trading hall for at least ten times the price of similar medium-radiation plants.

At this moment, Sev felt deep regret. If she had known, she should have saved a piece of raw wild yam. Perhaps her little girl could have kept it alive. If that were the case, their family would never have to worry about running out of yams to eat from now on.

There was no cure for regret. Sev decided she would go back tomorrow to the spot where she had first crossed over. Maybe she could find some leftover roots of the mutated wild yam. When the time came, she would definitely dig it up and bring it back, treating it as reverently as a precious heirloom.

While she was thinking, she heard Rusty say, "Mom, I have something I’d like to discuss with you."

This was the first time since she crossed over that the boy had taken the initiative to talk to her. Naturally, Sev was going to cooperate.

"Come on, let’s go talk over by the woodshed," Sev said expressionlessly.

She was still struggling to maintain her persona, but she felt like she was really on the verge of breaking character.

The mother and son arrived at the woodshed. Speaking softly at this distance would ensure the other three children couldn’t hear them.

Rusty fell silent for a moment before finally mustering the courage to speak up. "Mom, could I beg you not to send my sister away?"

"Send her away? Why would I send her away?" Sev asked in astonishment.

She hadn’t done anything out of line, so why did this ready-made eldest son of hers have such a misconception?

"I heard that if a poor child awakens an Ability before the age of eight, the authorities reward the parents with a large sum of money and then take the child away for centralized training." Rusty deliberately omitted the exact amount of money, carefully observing her expression.

"I wouldn’t sell my child no matter how much money they gave me!" Sev blurted out.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she cast a wary glance at Rusty. What she just said had obviously broken her persona. Would the boy suspect her true identity?

To salvage her image, she quickly added, "Our Rose can grow low-radiation plants! She’s our family’s cash cow. I wouldn’t sell her for any amount of money!"

Hearing this, Rusty’s eyes darkened, but his hanging heart finally settled. As long as she didn’t sell his sister, he was willing to accept it, even if she continued to exploit and abuse him.

"Alright, alright. If a little kid like you spends all day letting your imagination run wild, you’ll never grow tall." Seeing his bitter and resentful expression, Sev waved her hand in exasperation.

After tossing and turning all day—buying milk and nervously watching Rose awaken her Ability—Sev felt like all her brain cells had died. She washed up haphazardly and went to bed early.

Hearing Rusty say that the bad woman wasn’t going to sell their sister, the boys also felt relieved and climbed into bed early.

When she opened her eyes again, Sev counted on her fingers; this was already the fifth day since she crossed over.

On the first day, she had brought back the wild yam and giant mushrooms. On the second day, she had processed the wild yam and sold it for money at the trading hall. On the third day, she went to Virenswood, encountered a massive battle between mutated bamboo rats and a Mutant Snake, picked up the scraps to make a fortune, and coincidentally adopted a fifth cub. On the fourth day, she bought milk and watched her youngest daughter awaken her Ability.

Time really flew by. She hadn’t expected her life after transmigrating into a book to be even more fulfilling than her college days, leaving her absolutely no time to feel sentimental.