Honestly, the taste was only average. Without seasoning, it was nothing special, and I almost could not finish the second one. Fatty's appetite was always better than mine, something I could never match.
"I've got the perfect way to deal with it," Fatty said, slapping his thigh and grinning at the pea plant. "What way?"
"I'll throw stones at it from far away. Its neck is so thin, it won't stand up to my throws," Fatty shouted. I rolled my eyes. It was a stupid idea, but I had already calculated the range. In the game, Peashooter could not move, but who knew about this one?
Letting Fatty try was not a bad thing. He picked up a stone at least as big as a fist. With his strength, even a human head would split from a hit.
His aim was terrible. The stone grazed the pea plant's neck and scraped its skin. We saw green juice flow out, and the pea plant trembled all over, looking disturbingly human.
Suddenly, the Peashooter disappeared completely. "Who is bullying my little pea?" a clear female voice echoed through the mountains.
Fatty and I both turned pale.
I looked around with Fatty, but we could not find where the voice came from. Fatty grew scared and grabbed me, ready to run away as fast as possible. I thought that even if we ran into soldiers from United States or natives from Russia, we could still fight a forest guerrilla war if I got hold of a submachine gun.
At that time, we still believed the Peashooter was a new type of weapon developed by United States or Russia. Its power did not seem very strong, since it was clearly worse than bullets. That misunderstanding made us a little less nervous.
A pretty figure walked out from behind the hillside. She was a girl around fourteen or fifteen, about the same age as me now, with fiery red hair tied high. She wore a light gray rough cloth top and short pants that showed her pale thighs, with a belt at her waist, and her build already looked well trained.
Seeing such a lively girl appear in this empty wilderness felt strange rather than comforting. Fatty was almost drooling, and the girl's face flushed as she grew angry. I reacted fast and twisted my body aside.
A sharp cracking sound rang out, and a long red mark appeared on Fatty's face. Only then did we notice that the girl held a long green whip in her hand. Temptation really misleads people.
Fatty was rough by nature, but he never hit women. Now he was both anxious and embarrassed, scratching his head like a monkey. The girl glared at us and spoke.
"What are you people, and how did you sneak into Fourfold Valley?"
So this place was called Fourfold Valley. That answered at least one question for us. I tried to sound calm as I explained.
"Miss, the plane we were on had an accident. When we parachuted, the wind blew us here by mistake. Please help take us out."
Her hair was bright red, but she spoke the language of China. I guessed she might have been bought over by United States or Russia, so there was no need to tell the truth. Fatty secretly gave me a thumbs up, clearly impressed by my quick thinking.
"Plane? What is that? Can umbrellas really be used to jump?" She looked confused, then suddenly angry. "I get it now, you are lying. You must be spies who sneaked into the valley."
"No, no, no." I waved my hands quickly. She probably had some issues if she did not even know what a plane was. "We are good people. We just got lost and wandered in here."
"Lost?" She relaxed a bit but still looked doubtful. "Really lost?"
"Really lost." I pinched Fatty, but his flesh was so thick that my hand hurt and he did not react at all. I had no choice but to keep explaining.
"Look, this fat brother is a fool. He always drools and looks silly, so please do not hit him. If you hit him, he will act like a monkey and ask you for bananas."
"I also like to eat papaya," Fatty added seriously, staring at the girl's chest and drooling.
I felt a chill run down my back, but the girl showed a touched expression. The effect was too strong, and I could hardly bear to watch. She clasped her hands together.
"That is so pitiful. Why do not I take you to our valley? We have lots of papaya there for him to eat."
I completely broke down inside.
As we walked, I kept asking the girl about this place. If I still thought this was territory of United States or Russia, I would be a complete idiot, even worse than Evan Hall. The girl was very simple and answered almost everything.
Her name was Pei Qin, a very nice name, and she was a level four planter. Fatty and I looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what that meant. In the end, I asked, since my face looked more reliable and Fatty was still pretending to be stupid.
She stared at us in shock, like we once stared at UFOs back on Earth. "You do not even know what a planter is? Did you lose your memories?" We quickly nodded and played along, deciding that pretending to have amnesia was a good idea.
She sighed. "Poor Aze, and poor Uncle Fatty." Our foreheads filled with black lines, but we endured it and let her continue. A very bad feeling had already formed in my heart.
To resist zombie attacks and survive, their ancestors had found a way to summon plant warriors. Pei Qin, from Fourfold Valley, could summon a level four Peashooter, making her a level four planter. Her grandfather could summon a level one squash and was a great level two plant knight.
Fatty slapped his forehead, and my heart sank as well. None of this sounded good. I forced myself to ask another question.
"What place is this, exactly?"
"Fourfold Valley, of course."
"No, I mean what city is this?"
"This is under the control of Deko County. The nearest city is De'an County, over a thousand li away, and a powerful gold-armored zombie lives there."
Gold-armored zombie? Fatty pulled his mouth wide open and made a scary face, clearly imagining something terrifying. I silently prayed that this was all just a nightmare.
After half an hour, Fatty and I finally confirmed that not only had we become younger, but this was no longer Earth. This world was called the Bloodstained Continent, and worst of all, zombies were everywhere. Listening to Pei Qin talk about its history felt like hearing a tragic tale.
The continent had once been vast, even larger than Earth, with three great empires. About six hundred years ago, a flaming meteor fell near the capital of the Sun Never Sets Empire by the Endless Sea, and disaster began. People turned into zombies with red eyes, lost their minds, and fed on human brains.
Soon, more people were infected through bites and wounds. Blades barely worked against them, and only smashing their heads was effective. Even that advantage did not last long.
Zombies evolved, and kept evolving. Black-eyed zombies appeared, along with red-eyed ones surrounded by a silver glow that even axes could not break. Humanity was pushed back into small towns and wilderness, facing both zombies and hunger.
One day, a true god appeared and taught humans how to cultivate plant spirit power. People could summon edible crops and no longer starved, and some could summon plant warriors to fight. Those were called planters, while others used plant spirit power directly in close combat and were called warriors.
Humans fought back, reclaimed land, and rebuilt three kingdoms, though their territory was less than half of before. Most regions were still ruled by high-level zombies that even the strongest fighters could not handle. Zombies ranged from common types to silver armor, gold armor, and zombie kings, each with seven levels marked by eye color.