Chapter 1: The Thousand-Year Bamboo Spirit

Lin Mo woke up feeling that something was wrong with her body; her waist was sore and aching, and her legs felt sluggish.

She climbed out of bed, shook her head, and walked to the vanity with her eyes half-closed to squeeze out some toothpaste, unable to stop herself from grumbling.

“Why are my legs so sore after just one night of sleep?”

Song Qing was standing by the vanity, holding a comb and styling a few strands of her bangs.

“I told you not to go out at night to absorb moonlight. Animals have been appearing frequently lately; if some panda takes a few bites out of you, you’ll be the one suffering.”

Song Qing was already used to this; she went out every morning to lie by the grass and drink dew, and every time she returned, she had to check the school grove to see if Lin Mo was squatting there so she could pick her up and bring her home.

“But I clearly stayed in the dormitory the whole time.”

Lin Mo spat out the foam in her mouth and poked her head through the crack of the door, two stray hairs sticking up on top of her head.

Lin Mo didn’t believe the nonsense Song Qing spouted every day; she wasn’t a tree, so why would she stay in the woods?

Song Qing pinched Lin Mo’s collar and dragged her in front of the mirror, pointing at a mysterious red mark on her neck that looked like a hickey, clicking her tongue.

“Come look at this red mark on your neck yourself. You don’t know how to return to the dorm every morning; sooner or later, you’re going to be gnawed clean by a giant panda from the Taotie Academy next door.”

White foam still lingered at the corners of Lin Mo’s mouth as she stared blankly at the red mark on her neck; she… clearly had no memory of last night at all.

Lin Mo scratched her head.

“I might have been sleepwalking.”

“Give it a rest. You’re a straight, tall bamboo; it’s natural for you to want to absorb moonlight at night, so staying in the woods is understandable, but can you please get your priorities straight?”

Song Qing pinched the flesh on Lin Mo’s cheeks and shook them back and forth, trying to wake up this bamboo spirit who had suddenly turned stupid.

“I think I might be sick.”

Lin Mo looked steadily at Song Qing, her hands resting on the other girl’s shoulders.

“You’re sick too. We need to get this illness treated!”

Lin Mo’s gaze was firm, and a fresh fragrance, like that of bamboo joints sprouting, began to permeate Plant Room 301.

Plant pheromones often influence one another; Song Qing felt herself becoming restless under the influence of the growing bamboo, even feeling a sense of boiling blood.

For a moment, she almost believed Lin Mo’s words—that they were both sick and needed treatment immediately.

Song Qing quickly sprayed some self-made orchid-scented perfume into the air to restore her calm.

She raised her hand and gave Lin Mo a flick on the forehead, saying crossly, “You’re the one who’s sick!”

Song Qing had been nearly driven to death by Lin Mo lately.

Ever since Lin Mo woke up, she not only forgot who she was but also forgot she was a bamboo spirit; yet, she still instinctively wandered into the woods at night to absorb moonlight and failed to remember the way back to the dorm in the morning.

She didn’t know which giant panda had taken a liking to her, but it seemed to spend every day pouncing on the bamboo and gnawing away.

Song Qing wanted to drive the panda away in the mornings, but unfortunately, the panda’s aura was too strong; as a delicate little flower, she could only watch her bamboo roommate be ravaged while clutching her small handkerchief and weeping behind her hand.

Her perfectly good roommate had turned stupid just like that!

Can you imagine the heartbreak of a delicate flower who puts on beautiful makeup every morning to drink dew, only to end up drenched in sweat while carrying a bamboo stalk back, gasping for breath every three steps?

Song Qing silently swallowed her own blood and tears, took out her orchid perfume, and thoroughly scrubbed the dormitory of the excited and firm bamboo pheromones.

While packing her biology books, Song Qing urged, “Let’s go, time for class. Today Professor Yang is lecturing on plant photosynthesis; the credits for this required course are very high.”

Lin Mo washed her face and said indistinctly, “You go ahead, I haven’t finished getting ready yet.”

“Then hurry up, don’t be late again.”

Seeing that Lin Mo was still taking her sweet time, Song Qing got angry and decided to leave first; she didn’t want to have more participation points deducted.

After the door closed, Lin Mo was left alone in the room, staring blankly into the mirror.

She cupped her small face and looked at her reflection with the two stray hairs, her heart still feeling incredibly conflicted.

She had lived for twenty years, and then she woke up to find her roommate was still the same roommate, the teachers were the same, and the dorm was the same, but she was no longer the same her…

Thinking of this, Lin Mo couldn’t help but feel a surge of grief.

She, a fine youth of the twenty-first century who firmly believed in the scientific outlook on development and opposed feudal superstition, had never expected that she was actually a bamboo spirit.

Didn’t they say spirits weren’t allowed to manifest after the founding of the country? Was it all a lie?

Lin Mo covered her face and wept, then hurriedly tidied herself up, grabbed her books, and bolted toward the classroom.

Lin Mo ran too fast on the road; she couldn’t tell if it was the sound of the wind or something else, but she could clearly hear the rustling of bamboo leaves—and the sound was coming from the top of her own head.

She muttered to herself: ‘It’s a hallucination, all of this is a hallucination.’

Just as she reached the classroom, someone suddenly stepped out of the doorway.

Lin Mo couldn’t stop in time and slammed right into them.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Ignoring the pain, Lin Mo quickly apologized and began picking up the books scattered all over the floor.

Only after she had gathered the books did Lin Mo realize she had bumped into a cold beauty; no wonder no one had spoken just now.

Though the woman was beautiful, her entire face radiated a cold, ascetic aura that screamed “do not approach,” and her gaze was icy.

Lin Mo rubbed her own ice-cold hands and whispered awkwardly, “I’m sorry about just now. I was running too fast. Here are your books, I have to go to class.”

Lin Mo held the books out, but the cold beauty made no move to take them.

“My name is Mo Jin.”

Lin Mo was stunned and obediently apologized again.

“Student Mo Jin, I’m sorry.”

Mo Jin looked down slightly at the small girl who only reached her chest.

Lin Mo’s face was very small, her eyelashes were long and curled, and her features were exquisite and fair, exuding an indescribable natural ditziness.

Her pale pink cherry lips were slightly pouted; even when she wasn’t speaking, she gave off the feeling of someone acting spoiled.

Looking further down, an ambiguous red mark was visible on her fair neck, and the deep blue butterfly bow on her shirt collar was loose.

She looked as though she had been ravaged.

Mo Jin’s eyes darkened, and she raised her finger slightly, happening to meet Lin Mo’s panicked eyes, which looked like those of a startled fawn.

Lin Mo stepped back abruptly, her back foot missing its mark; she failed to steady herself and instantly lost her balance.

Just as Lin Mo thought she was going to fall flat on her face, Mo Jin extended a long arm and pulled her into her embrace.

Mo Jin’s face was extremely close, creating a powerful visual impact.

Her features were beautifully formed, her brow was cold and sharp, and her eyes were as indifferent as glass, reflecting the cold moonlight.

The shadows of the trees swayed and flickered, and mottled light fell across one side of Mo Jin’s face.

In that moment, it felt as if all things had lost their color.

Lin Mo’s breath hitched, and her heart skipped a beat.

Mo Jin let go and stepped back, her well-tailored top remaining meticulous without a single wrinkle.

She was as bright as the moon and as clear as autumn water, cold and indifferent to the extreme, making it impossible for anyone to harbor even a hint of profanity toward her.

Lin Mo’s ears turned bright red as she said blankly, “Thank you.”

Mo Jin lowered her eyelids, her tone indifferent.

“Have you forgotten everything?”

Mo Jin’s voice was very gentle, with a hint of faint laziness at the end of her words that didn’t match her cold temperament at all, making one’s heart itch.

Lin Mo stared blankly.

“Forgotten what?”

The look in Mo Jin’s eyes became inexplicably complex, and the aura around her instantly grew colder, freezing Lin Mo’s legs stiff.

‘I really can’t remember anything!’

Lin Mo trembled and, bracing herself, pushed the books into Mo Jin’s arms.

“Um, I still have to go to class, so I’m giving these back to you now.”

Mo Jin took the books and, after a moment of silence, slowly nodded.

Lin Mo felt a massive surge of relief in her heart; she stomped her feet and bolted toward the classroom.

By the time Lin Mo reached the classroom, Professor Yang had already started the lesson, so she had to crouch down and sneak in through the back door.

Just as she spread her books out on the desk, the person in front of her suddenly shifted.

“Are you okay?”

Song Qing was holding up her book, covering her face as she glanced at Lin Mo.

Lin Mo steadied her breathing and leaned in to whisper, “I’m fine, why?”

Song Qing patted her chest.

“You scared me to death. I just saw you run into the Iceberg; I thought you were a goner.”

Lin Mo gripped the book on her desk.

“Iceberg?”

Song Qing pointed cautiously toward the window and said nervously, “Mo Jin from the Taotie Academy! People call her the Iceberg Goddess. No one dares to look her in the eye for more than a second, or they’ll be frozen into a popsicle.”

“That scary?”

Lin Mo ducked her head to peek out the window.

“You bet! High beauty, long legs, and strong abilities. She’s the acknowledged goddess of the neighboring academy. Her only trait is being icy cold—frozen three feet deep!”

Song Qing shivered at the thought and added another point.

“No one can get within a meter of her. Legend says she has an extreme obsession with cleanliness.”

Mo Jin was standing in the middle of the plaza, her long legs tall and straight; standing there, she was like a natural ice cellar, making the surrounding temperature feel like it had dropped to zero.

As if they were telepathic, their eyes met.

Lin Mo, caught in the act, immediately retracted her head.

‘I don’t even have a crush on her, why am I so nervous?’

She took another secret peek, but the person who had been standing there was gone.

Song Qing grabbed Lin Mo’s shoulders and shook her.

“Little Bamboo, I can’t believe your luck is so good that you managed to escape that unharmed.”

Lin Mo gave an awkward smile.

“…It was alright.”

Song Qing was about to continue gossiping when a sharp gaze swept over the two of them.

They immediately turned into two cowardly quails, obediently lowering their heads to look at their textbooks.

The professor adjusted the reading glasses on the bridge of his nose and said earnestly, “Tomorrow you will go on your internships. The knowledge I am teaching you now is what you will encounter during your wilderness explorations. If you don’t study hard now, how will you help other little spirits later?”

Internship? What internship? Why didn’t she know anything about this?

The professor then dropped a bombshell.

“This year’s internship is different from previous years. This time, it’s a collaboration between Maolin Academy and Taotie Academy. Senior-year animal and plant spirits will cooperate in pairs. Only one group will be assigned to a specific region. It will be conducted in a live-stream format and broadcast on the official Flora and Fauna platform. The person with the highest live-stream points will receive a generous sum of funding.”

Exclamations of surprise rose throughout the classroom; everyone was showing great interest in this internship.

“Everyone, be quiet,” the professor said with a serious face. “Although the reward is generous, some spirits on the deserted islands may be aggressive. Students can choose whom to help; the important thing is to ensure your own safety. If you encounter danger, send a distress signal to the Little Bee robots immediately, and the school will ensure your safety.”

After speaking, the professor took a stack of white papers from the podium and had the class monitor distribute them.

Lin Mo looked in shock at the title at the top of the paper: [Two-School Alliance Intended Spirit Teammate].

How did a perfectly normal human like her suddenly get categorized as a spirit and end up about to have a spirit teammate?

She had to be dreaming; it was about time to wake up.

She reached out and pinched Song Qing in front of her.

“Ow, ow, ow, that hurts!” Song Qing’s eyebrows twitched from the pain. “Let go, let go! You’re bruising my petals!”

It wasn’t a dream.

Lin Mo quickly rubbed Song Qing’s arm.

“Song Qing, are you really an orchid spirit?”

Song Qing said crossly, “I’ve always been a delicate flower.”

Lin Mo wanted to ask Song Qing to turn into a flower to see, but then felt it might be a bit offensive; besides, she couldn’t handle the shock of a living person turning into a plant.

Lin Mo poked the table with her finger and asked in a low voice, “Can I skip the internship?”

Song Qing was rubbing orchid ointment on her arm and widened her eyes.

“No. If you don’t go, you won’t graduate. Internships are great; you can save a few little spirits, earn money, and experience the breath of nature.”

Lin Mo propped her chin up and turned her head.

“Didn’t the professor say some spirits are aggressive?”

“We are great spirits with knowledge and standards, be confident. You are, after all, the only thousand-year-old arrow bamboo specially recruited by Maolin Academy in hundreds of years. There will definitely be no problem with you going on an internship,” Song Qing guaranteed, patting her chest.

Her roommate had already turned stupid; for safety’s sake, she had to find someone powerful to be her teammate.

On the [Two-School Alliance Intended Spirit Teammate] form, Lin Mo neatly wrote: Strong.

Her pen paused for a moment, and then she added two more words: Female.

Perfect. This way, she definitely wouldn’t run into any accidents.