017 Collaboration Three

Li Chengyi thought this way, and he acted accordingly.

It was only when he walked into the residential area and passed the strings of drooping wisteria flowers that

he made a detour. In the end, he still walked over, stopped, and gently reached out to touch the blossoms.

Without the Floral Dress fully repaired, he doubted he could sleep at all.

Hiss...

A wispy cool breath flowed from the petals into his fingers.

Soon the breath dissipated, and he distinctly felt that the wisteria flowers he had touched seemed to turn into hollow shells, a certain special substance within them gone, drawn out.

He could feel that the roots of the flowers seemed to be slowly replenishing this special substance, but very slowly, only replenishing a bit before he absorbed it again instantly.

Lifting his hand, he quickly switched to another wisteria flower that hadn't been drained and rapidly absorbed the special substance.

In his view, within the circle on the back of his right hand, one of the compartments was slowly lighting up with a faint purple glow, as if charging.

In about half a minute, he had touched all the wisteria flowers here, until the Evil Flower Ring on the back of his hand gave a prompt message for the third time — Floral Dress fully repaired.

Only then did he reluctantly leave the flower stand and head towards the building where his home was.

He felt that by touching them more, perhaps he could store up a bit of that special substance for future use when the Floral Dress was damaged again.

Now it seemed he had been too optimistic.

'Tomorrow, quickly understand the information about the blind spot, then research the evolution of the Floral Dress, and how to unlock the next Divine Flower Position!'

With this thought, Li Chengyi returned to his as-yet unoccupied home, closed the door, didn't even bother to remove his clothes, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The soft pillow, smelling of laundry detergent, completely buried his head.

At this moment, he didn't want to think about anything, he just wanted to sleep peacefully.

Time flowed slowly like a stream, and he didn't know how much had passed.

A faint sound of car horns, in Li Chengyi's consciousness, went from distant to near, gradually becoming clear, louder and louder.

He slowly woke up from a deep sleep.

In a vague state, he heard people cursing and arguing over parking spaces below.

The irritable blare of car horns, in the memory of his former life, always seemed bothersome, but at this moment, it gave him a sense of comfort he hadn't felt in a long time.

Though he had only been gone for a few hours, it felt like much longer.

"This child, sleeping without taking off his clothes, and even lying face down." The voice of his predecessor's mother, Feng Yurong, buzzed near the door.

Then came the feeling of a thin blanket being laid over him.

After that, Li Chengyi's consciousness once again sank, falling into another round of sleep.

Darkness, tranquility, warmth.

He didn't know how much time had passed again, but when he regained his senses, his eyelids were dark red.

This was because light from outside shone on his closed eyes, creating a blood-red light.

The sound of birds chirping came in through the window, mixed with the noise of a mop rubbing against the floor.

Li Chengyi woke up and slowly opened his eyes.

He lay on his pillow, not having removed his clothes before sleeping, saliva soaking a large part of the pillowcase, sticky against his skin at the corner of his mouth, which was quite disgusting.

There was also an unpleasant smell of saliva.

Turning over, he sat up from the bed.

In the room, his mother Feng Yurong was wearing a black apron, bending over to mop the floor in her home clothes.

The wet mop left clear wet marks on the floor and emitted a faint smell of laundry water.

"Mom, you're mopping the floor with laundry water again," Li Chengyi blurted out without thinking.

This scene was exactly like what his mother did in his last life, the two images strangely overlapping at that moment.

"Water costs money too, why waste it by pouring it away after washing clothes?" Feng Yurong straightened up, wiping sweat from her forehead.

She was the typical mild-mannered housewife, somewhat thin, somewhat short, with pale skin that hardly saw sunlight, slightly sickly. Her features were ordinary, not pretty, but not ugly either, though her eyebrows were always furrowed as if she had constant worries.

"Water from mopping the floor can still be used to flush the toilet. That way, our family saves at least a third on water, which means our water bill is a third less," Feng Yurong earnestly figured with her not-so-proficient arithmetic.

"Okay, okay," Li Chengyi responded perfunctorily, turning his face to the window.

Bright sunlight, clear blue sky.

A white quadcopter drone slowly flew by high in the sky. Not too far away, two black birds chased and played.

"Get up for breakfast, sleeping till ten in the morning, and you haven't found a job yet, are you starting to slack off?" Feng Yurong urged.

"Got it, got it." Li Chengyi propped himself up on the edge of the bed, put on his slippers, and stood up.

Only after getting out of bed did he feel his entire body aching, his calves soft and powerless, his shoulders and back also somewhat weak, clearly because of the excessive force used in the blind spot, causing muscle strain.

He walked to the dining room, pulled out a chair, and sat down at the table.

On the long table with a brown wood grain pattern, there were four small bowls.

In the gray-white bowls speckled with black dots, there were a bowl of black rice porridge, a bowl of finely chopped unknown fruit, as well as two pancakes with egg and green onions.

"The pancakes are a bit cold, heat them up in the microwave for half a minute," Feng Yurong's voice came from the bedroom.

"Got it."

Li Chengyi replied and picked up the silver metal spoon, scooped up a spoonful of black rice porridge, and delivered it to his mouth.

The sweet porridge, with its coarse grains, carried the faint aroma of black rice.

The warm taste made him feel an unprecedented reality at this moment.

"You didn't go to exercise today, Xiaodong even called to ask about you. Said your phone was unreachable, and no one answered when it finally went through. I said you were sleeping, but he didn't believe it and mentioned he would come to find you after work. And Lin Sang, that young girl also came asking for you, wondering if you were free, she texted you but you didn't reply, your dad even met her out buying groceries, she was all smiles and greeted him politely, quite a well-mannered child..."

As Feng Yurong dragged the mop across the floor, she chattered nonstop within the room.

In the living room, Li Chengyi ate the black rice porridge one spoonful after another.

Then he scooped up a piece of white fruit and stuffed it into his mouth.

It was cucumber.

He tasted it, the peeled cucumber chopped into pieces, a bit sour, but very refreshing.

He finished the porridge in a few gulps, then picked up the pancake and bit into it heartily.

In less than five minutes, everything in the four bowls before him had been wiped clean.

"I'm full, I've got something to do today, it's work-related, so don't worry about meals for me later." He stood up, went into the restroom to quickly wipe his face, the pain at the corner of his eye still reminding him that everything that had happened before wasn't a dream.

"Got it. I'm off today anyway, my section of the machines at the factory needs maintenance, I can only go in the afternoon. If there's news about your job, make sure to let me and your dad know, we've not been sleeping well lately, just worried about this very thing. But don't get too anxious. Your sister is doing well, all is smooth on her end. She mentioned she wants to take that exam, something like a Mecha Engineer, we don't understand, it costs a lot... but once she passes, her income will be much higher, and our family's financial situation will greatly improve..."

Feng Yurong rambled on again.

Li Chengyi was not his predecessor; he felt no impatience, as everything here was new to him.

Merely inheriting the memories could not perfectly relive the vivid past, only through firsthand experience could he feel more.

He responded casually while brushing his teeth quickly and changing clothes; the cuff of his sports jacket had somehow gotten a red stain on it.

He quickly rinsed the cuff under the tap, used soap to wash it, and then rinsed it off.

Then he put on a gray sweater.

"I'm heading out for errands," he made up an excuse to deal with Feng Yurong and put on his shoes to open the door.

"Come back early, don't dawdle around outside on purpose and then come back saying you have an interview," Feng Yurong said with a look that saw through everything.

"I know, I know..." Li Chengyi replied helplessly; the former had done such things for the sake of face, something he hadn't expected.

Bang.

He shut the door firmly behind him, took a deep breath, pressed the elevator button, entered when it opened, and descended.

In the elevator, taking advantage of the descent, he pulled out his mobile phone to check the missed calls and unread messages.

There were messages from Lin Sang, Chen Xudong, Mentor Chen Shan, and also a call from an unknown number.

He quickly called back Mentor Chen Shan and Chen Xudong, used the excuse of being sick and sleeping to get off the phone, then opened the messages and replied to each.

By the time he had finished replying to all, he was already out of the building and walking toward the entrance of the community.

Without any hesitation, he headed towards the small park once again.

Surviving this time had been greatly aided by the Evil Flower, so after waking up refreshed, the first thing he wanted to do was investigate this mysterious trump card that had greatly increased his survival rate!

He made his way to the small park with familiar ease and returned to the stand with the Wisteria Flowers.

The ground beneath the stand was scattered with fallen Wisteria Petals, some of which had been trampled and flattened, whether by the wind or other causes.

This scene caused a pang of pain in Li Chengyi's heart; he wasn't a flower lover, but these flowers were indeed his lifeline.

'It seems I'll need to ensure a stable source of flowers in the future. Now let's first explore the use of the Evil Flower.'

By the flower stand, there were two women who had just finished dancing with red folding fans, chatting with hands on their hips.

Not far away, on a backrest-long bench, sat a young couple with a child. The little one, who could only crawl, was squirming on the mother like a small piglet.

Ensuring no one noteworthy was around, Li Chengyi shifted his gaze and reached out to gently touch a bunch of Wisteria.

'Floral Dress has been repaired.'

A clear prompt emerged in his mind, and beyond that, there was no other movement.

He withdrew his hand, pondered a moment, then shifted his focus, scanning the area before walking a few steps to a cluster of outdoor plants in the bushes.

He bent down and reached out to grab some of the other flora growing on the ground.

The brush was a mess, filled with wild grasses.

Both wild and park-planted flowers grew mixed together, with natural and cultivated blooms intertwined.

Bi red flowers, white flowers, yellow chrysanthemums, and even tiny, light blue unidentified blossoms. Some were fully open, others half-open, and some merely buds.

Li Chengyi reached out to gently touch the largest and most conspicuous red flower.

Since the Wisteria had no effect, he thought to try touching the other flowers to see if he could unlock a second Divine Flower Position.

'Logically, since I have already collected the Floral Dress from the Wisteria, I should meet the requirements for maximally developing the first Divine Flower Position.'

As his fingertips touched the red flower,

New information surfaced.

'Red Peony: Also known as Farewell Herb, its petals can number up to hundreds; its roots are medicinal, can alleviate pain, reduce bruising, and regulate menstruation. It thrives in sunlight, tolerates drought, and its blooming season is from May to June.'

'Flower Language Technique: Unwavering Affection. (This refers to a two-meter-high, one-ton dark red metal bell, which one can lift effortlessly and wield at will to strike others, as long as they hold affection for it.)'

'Floral Dress: Insufficient Divine Flower Positions, please initiate.'