First mutation!

Yang Zhang woke up a bit late. He was pretty exhausted after a long day yesterday. How was he supposed to know that calling out Deng Fan's gold teeth ability as lame would cost him to get kicked out of the town shelter?

He yawned a few times before checking on Chestnut, who was still curled up in a ball on his chest, asleep.

"Ah, good morning, Chestnut," Yang Zhang patted the squirrel's head and could sense a faint jolt from the touch. The shock was like a cup of morning coffee for him, making him fully awake.

Yang Zhang carefully scooped Chestnut and put the sleeping squirrel on the blanket while he got up quietly. He had one task this morning, which was to bury the deceased baby he found in the crib last night.

He walked to the bedroom and stumbled upon that potted rose he picked last night. At first, he had been so optimistic. After observing that territorial tree with a human face and Brain Bead on its trunk, he had thought that planting a Brain Bead in the same soil as a plant would magically give it consciousness.

But there didn't seem to be anything different about the rose, even overnight, and his hope was crushed once more.

Because there was no change on the rose, it was just the same single rose in a pot.

Yang Zhang sighed and squatted in front of the rose to gently observe it, and after making sure there was zero change, he checked the Brain Bead he had planted in the soil last night.

But when he searched for it…

"Huh? Where is it?" Yang Zhang frowned as he kept searching for the Brain Bead in the soil. "Wait, I remember that I planted it here…."

Yang Zhang started digging the soil, trying to find the Brain bead to no avail, but the moment his finger touched the root of the rose, he felt both it, and the stalk started to move.

He blinked once, thinking that he was dreaming or maybe he was still sleepy, "Did the rose just… wiggle?"

He touched the root again, and the stalk continued wiggling, "No, for sure it starts wiggling! The Brain Bead works! This rose is alive! It's alive! IT'S ALIVE! HAHAHAHAH!"

"Squeak?" Chestnut woke up after hearing its master yelling. It went to Yang Zhang and sat on his shoulder.

"Ah, morning, Chestnut! Look at this, my friend! The rose is moving! It's wiggling!"

"Squeak!" Chestnut was also happy with the progress, although it didn't understand what made Yang Zhang look so delighted since Chestnut had seen plenty of mutated trees in the forest.

Yang Zhang continued watching the wiggling rose as he continued caressing the root. But then, he quickly realized the rose started moving into some kind of weird pose. The leaves acting as hands suddenly drooped down, and the stalk suddenly created an 'S' shape, reminding Yang Zhang of…

"Isn't this… doggy style?" Yang Zhang mumbled. Then he realized what he had just said. "No… wait, WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, YANG ZHANG!?"

Yang Zhang quickly shook his head and warded off the weird thought in his head, pulled his hand, and covered the root with soil again.

The rose then stopped moving around and stood straight like a standard plant.

But whenever Yang Zhang touched the soil, it'd start wiggling like a dancer. It was indeed quite unique.

But…

"What the hell can I do with a wiggling rose?! I just wasted my—I mean, Chestnut's hard-earned Brain Bead for this?!" Yang Zhang wanted to knock his head against the wall for making such a stupid decision last night.

"Squeak…" Chestnut still didn't understand the range of emotion in Yang Zhang and what caused it, but he looked sad. So Chestnut nuzzled their cheeks together.

"Ah, Chestnut…" Yang Zhang looked at the squirrel sitting on his shoulder. It seemed to have marked him as its friend. An idea popped into Yang Zhang's mind, "Oh, that's right. Since we have wasted the first Brain bead, we should search for more! I have you, Chestnut! I can enslave—I mean, I can use your power to get more Brain Beads! We can do this together, partner!"

"Squeak!"

**

Thus, Yang Zhang decided to start hunting for Brain Beads with Chestnut.

But first, he had to bury the baby.

Yang Zhang went to the backyard and found some tools, like a hoe, pitchfork, and machete, in the tool shed. He took out the hoe and pitchfork.

"What? Of course, I won't use a machete. It has a short range, and those zombies are feral and fast! I'd rather use a pitchfork to hold them off!" Yang Zhang said when Chestnut stared at him full of questions.

"Alright, time to make a deep hole for the baby, so no wild animals can eat him."

Yang Zhang started digging and digging until he felt the hole was deep enough. Then he got up and walked to the bedroom. Carefully, he wrapped the decayed baby with the blanket and carried him outside.

He gently placed the baby inside the hole and buried him. When he was done, he took the potted rose from the house and planted it on the grave.

The rose started wiggling again when Yang Zhang touched the soil, which made him feel slightly guilty for wasting the brain of the zombified mother. To top it all off, the rose continued wiggling after it was planted.

This is the least he could do to honor the owner of this hut. At least the mother and baby son could rest in peace now…

Yang Zhang was about to give prayer to the grave, but that wiggling rose was too distracting, so in the end, he just turned around with Chestnut on his shoulder.

He grabbed the garden fork and walked outside, "Alright, Chestnut, be positive! At least we have proven that brain beads can give consciousness to plants! Let's hunt down some more Brain Beads and experiment!"

"Squeak!"