Chapter 12

The air was awkward. Both the human and the mysterious creature didn’t know if the other had noticed them.

Staring at the cup of water on the table, Shi Yu was surprised to find he wasn’t very scared. Normally, if something strange happened at home, his heart would race or at least his scalp would tingle.

But now…

Maybe it was because the creature across from him looked clumsy and harmless, Shi Yu took a deep breath and surprisingly calmed down.

Oh well, this wasn’t the first time either. It was already the third strange incident recently.

After looking at the creature for a while, Shi Yu decided to ignore it and let it go—let both of them off the hook.

But just as he was about to walk away, the strange creature beside the cup grabbed his hand. That familiar feeling of being stuck in place made Shi Yu’s forehead twitch, and a wild thought popped into his head.

That move… wait.

“Invisible mimosa?”

Number 233, often called that by humans, barely understood a few words and shook the little leaves in its hands.

Yes, it was that creature.

It had escaped again!

This time, it even escaped from someone wearing a black combat suit.

Mimosa felt a little proud. It was its first escape, and it went really well.

When it saw this handsome young man, it instantly felt close to him. Even after being caught and brought back, it still didn’t give up. Because it looked harmless, the people guarding it let down their guard. So it escaped again last night and followed this human home.

The mimosa gently pulled Shi Yu’s finger and guided his hand toward the cup of warm water.

Shi Yu followed the movement and guessed,

“You want me to drink the water?”

The mimosa nodded, but then remembered it was invisible. So it gently shook Shi Yu’s finger again.

The human hadn’t had water since coming home last night—almost fifteen hours now. He needed water, or his body would feel bad.

The mimosa was shy but firm as it tied itself around Shi Yu. Shi Yu glanced at the water and twitched his mouth.

“Thanks, but I’m not thirsty.”

But the mimosa didn’t move, pulling him a little closer.

Shi Yu: …

So persistent.

Seeing that he wouldn’t be able to leave unless he drank, Shi Yu hesitated. Remembering that the Mimosa was known to be harmless and had never hurt anyone, he picked up the cup of water.

It wasn’t too full or too empty—he had no idea how this creature poured it.

Can a plant even use a water dispenser?

That weird thought made Shi Yu cough awkwardly. Then he looked away and took a sip of the water.

Just one taste made Shi Yu blink.

“Did you put honey in this?”

He looked at the floor. Though he couldn’t see anything, he felt like he was staring at the mimosa.

The mimosa shook its tiny leaves, looking a little shy.

Then Shi Yu felt the leaves around his ankle slowly retreat. But the mimosa nudged the cup again.

This little guy really knew how to take care of people.

Shi Yu liked adding honey to his water, so he kept the honey jar near the water dispenser. He didn’t expect the mimosa to notice and even add honey for him.

Do little weird plants really have that much intelligence? Shi Yu was amazed.

But as he drank, he couldn’t help but glance down again.

“Um, can I touch you?”

Even Shi Yu was surprised by his own boldness. But since he already asked, he couldn’t take it back. Touching once shouldn’t be a big deal, right? He was really curious about this thing that followed him home.

Last night, the mimosa was invisible the whole time. Shi Yu still didn’t know what it looked like. Did weird plants look different from normal ones?

The curiosity made him itch, but nothing happened in the air.

When Shi Yu asked to touch it, the whole mimosa curled up into a ball, like a human blushing. Its leaves were burning hot.

Ahhh!

He wants to touch me?

Does Shi Yu like me too?

The mimosa trembled shyly, swaying side to side. Just when Shi Yu thought it didn’t want to be touched, the familiar leaves gently grabbed his finger.

Just a light touch, then they quickly pulled back.

Was that a yes?

Shi Yu guessed and bent down to touch the mimosa’s leaves. Since it didn’t move away, he carefully examined it.

Hmm, compared to a normal mimosa, this one was bigger, with larger leaves. And maybe because it was a strange version, the leaves were also colder and could turn invisible.

Shi Yu gently poked it, and the whole plant shrank back again, so he quickly pulled his hand away.

“Okay, I get it now.”

“Thank you.”

If someone had told Shi Yu a day ago that he’d be sharing a room with a mysterious creature—and even touching it out of curiosity—he wouldn’t have believed it. But here it was, happening for real.

Now that his curiosity was satisfied, Shi Yu felt a bit conflicted. As the mimosa curled up again, he hesitated: should he report this to the Ability User Association?

He didn’t know why the mimosa came to find him, but it had escaped again, and the association must be in chaos right now.

And just as Shi Yu guessed, back at the association, people were panicking. No one expected that the mimosa—”Subject 233″—which they had just locked up again last night, would be gone by morning!

Among the creatures held by the Ability User Association, 233 had always been the quiet, low-profile kind. Nothing had ever gone wrong before. But now, two incidents in a row!

After the first escape was a false alarm, the second time it really got away.

The staff searched the entire building but couldn’t find any trace of the mimosa. Zhao Wen pressed his forehead and looked up:

“Captain Fu, what should we do?”

“The detector can’t find its location. This time it really escaped.”

Who would’ve thought the invisible 233 had such a strong will to escape? After being returned to its tank, it even dug a hole under the flowerpot and ran away again. It was both frustrating and unbelievable.

Captain Fu Nanyao frowned. He looked at the time the mimosa escaped.

It matched perfectly with when Han Chuyi dropped off a young man named Shi Yu.

Was that just a coincidence?

He lowered his eyes. “What’s the danger level for the mimosa?”

Zhao Wen paused, then looked at the report: “Still normal, Captain.”

Unlike random wild creatures, the ones held in the association had special tracking devices. Even if they escaped, the system could still detect their danger level.

If a creature remained harmless to humans, the reading stayed green. If it hurt someone, the danger level would spike.

Right now, the mimosa’s reading was still normal, meaning it hadn’t hurt anyone.

Everyone waited for Captain Fu’s decision: should they start a full-scale search for the “invisible mimosa”? After all, manpower was limited and this one wasn’t dangerous.

Fu Nanyao thought for a moment and said, “Leave it for now. Focus on the more dangerous ones.”

Zhao Wen and the others nodded: “Alright, we’ll go now, Captain.”

“Okay.” The man replied after signing the document. He didn’t lift his head until everyone else had left. For some reason, he felt like something about this situation was wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what.

Just one floor away, Sang Huaiyu tilted his head. When he saw the people from the Ability Users Association leaving the hallway, he immediately understood what was going on. He raised his eyebrow slightly, thinking of the mimosa plant he had accidentally seen last night — the one that had escaped.

If he guessed correctly, that plant had gone to find Shi Yu.

That same young man who had given him a strange feeling as well.

After hiding among humans for so many years, Sang Huaiyu rarely saw something so interesting. A shy, strange plant — one that usually didn’t even dare to be in the sunlight — had gathered the courage to run away, just for a human it had only seen once.

Out of curiosity, he had secretly helped the little plant escape, even though it was right under Fu Nanyao’s nose.

But now…

Sang Huaiyu took his eyes away and sensed the little trick he had placed on the mimosa. A slight smile appeared on his lips.

At that moment, Shi Yu was lowering his head to pick up the mimosa when he suddenly felt a chill down his back. He tensed up, thinking something had happened. He quickly looked around, but didn’t see anything.

“Did you feel anything just now?” Shi Yu asked in confusion.

Feel something?

The mimosa shook its leaves and checked the surroundings. No, everything was normal. It was just the two of them — nothing strange.

Was he imagining it?

Shi Yu looked back once more. The room was completely empty. Maybe he really was just being paranoid. In a creepy world like this, it was easy to feel scared over nothing.

“So, you really don’t want to go back to the Ability Users Association?” he asked the mimosa with a frown.

The mimosa didn’t answer. It just pitifully hugged Shi Yu’s leg. Even though it was invisible, Shi Yu could still feel its clinginess and got a bit of a headache.

This plant was way too cheerful and lively — it didn’t feel like a scary being at all.

He had just touched it a moment ago, so now he felt a little guilty about sending it back by force.

Fine…

“I’ll say this now: you can stay here today. But if the people from the association come tomorrow, you’ll have to go back with them.”

Mimosa: Whimper… okay!

Even though it was only allowed to stay one night, the mimosa was so happy just to be near the person it liked. Even a little while was enough to make it excited.

It started hopping around joyfully, and its soft little leaves quickly wrapped around Shi Yu. Before he could react, it gently touched his cheek — then ran away shyly.

Meanwhile, Sang Huaiyu was about to leave after monitoring the mimosa’s situation, when he suddenly paused. He felt a strong, unfamiliar emotion coming from the plant’s connection to its body.

Unlike the pure happiness earlier, this feeling had a bit of embarrassment in it too?

This was…

Hmm?

Realizing what the mimosa had just done, Sang Huaiyu blinked in surprise and narrowed his eyes. Through the link, he could clearly and instantly feel the temperature from the human’s cheek just moments ago.

Very warm.

And also… very soft.