Chapter 647

Chapter 647: Little Sapling

It was the same familiar room, with the same familiar furniture, the same small living room, the same studio apartment.

Everything still remained as it had been when he left, as if sealed in amber outside the flow of time. No matter how long had passed, nothing here seemed to change.

Zhou Ming stepped into the small living room of the studio apartment. Standing in the place where he had once lived for many years, he let out a soft breath.

He had not returned here for quite a long time—sometimes he even felt that he had already forgotten about this studio apartment, forgotten the “other world” it stood for.

But in the end, that self-deceiving “forgetting” meant nothing.

He shook his head with a smile, then walked straight toward the desk. He did not check the tightly closed window as he once did, because the clutter on the windowsill and the flour he had sprinkled there on purpose had already been cleaned away last time. In this last little room deep within the mist, he no longer expected any more Guests to visit.

A faint green ghostly light was slowly fading on the desk. As the flames receded, a new “collection item” gradually took shape.

Zhou Ming walked over and sat down in the chair, resting his hands on the desk. His gaze was calm and gentle as he looked at the little thing that seemed full of life… the “little sapling”.

She floated above the desk. Her crown spread to about the length of an adult’s forearm, lush and full of branches and leaves. Her trunk was connected to a large clump of soil beneath her, her roots sunk deep into that soil, with a few roots stretching out underneath and exposed in the air.

She just floated there, about ten centimeters above the desk, maintaining that height in an… unbelievable way. She presented a style completely different from the rest of the “collection”.

Zhou Ming lifted his head and glanced at the big shelving unit not far away. The other collection pieces sat quietly in their own cubbies, resting safely on the wooden shelves.

Right now, this “little sapling” floating above the desktop was the only collection item that showed such obvious supernatural traits.

…Was it because her essence came from “dream”? So even after becoming a collection item here, she still kept some properties unique to creations of dream?

Half idly, Zhou Ming wondered that to himself as he reached out and gently brushed Atlantis’s crown. The “World Tree” that looked like a floating potted plant drifted aside from his touch, then slowly floated back to its original spot.

Aside from that, though, the little sapling showed no other lively traits. She did not speak, nor did she react in any other way to Zhou Ming’s touch.

“Now you really have become a little sapling again…” After quietly watching the tiny “World Tree” for a long time, Zhou Ming finally spoke in a low voice. “I don’t know if you can still hear this… To be honest, I don’t even understand the principles by which you all become ‘collections’ here after being burned by the spirit flame. But…”

He paused and glanced at the shelving unit. His gaze swept across the models of the Vanished, the White Oak, and the two city-states.

“But no matter how it works, this will be your new home from now on,” he said softly.

The models did not answer him, making him feel as if he were muttering to the air. If anyone else had been here, it would have been an awkward scene—but fortunately, there had not been any “outsiders” here for a long time.

He reached out with both hands and carefully lifted the clump of soil where Atlantis had taken root, then carried her toward the shelving unit in the corner. He was very careful, afraid that the loose-looking soil might crumble. If it fell apart, gathering it back together might not be so easy, and some dirt might slip into the gaps in the floor and be “lost”.

In this little room, “soil” was a precious resource.

But to his surprise, the clump of earth that looked so loose turned out to be quite stable, as if some invisible force was holding it together. On the way over, not a single grain of soil fell.

He set Atlantis in an empty cubby on the shelf, right next to the model of the Vanished.

The “little sapling” kept floating in the cubby, like a quiet potted plant.

Zhou Ming stood in front of his new “collection” and studied her for a while, but his feelings this time were no longer the same as before. All kinds of complicated thoughts rose and fell in his mind. After a long time, he finally let out a soft, relieved sigh.

At the very least, when he went back, he could tell Goathead that its “little sapling” really was still here.

“You shouldn’t need watering, right…” Zhou Ming suddenly thought of something and could not help muttering. “In theory you shouldn’t… And I hope you don’t grow any bigger. I don’t have that much space here…”

The “World Tree” in the cubby did not answer his muttering. Atlantis only floated there quietly, turning slowly.

Zhou Ming shook his head, then turned and sat down on the sofa in the little living room. He rested there for a while, then casually picked up a book from the small round table beside him and flipped through a few pages without any purpose.

There was no point in it. He had already read that book countless times. Its dry content no longer brought any joy in reading.

But he had grown used to doing something “meaningless” whenever he returned to this studio apartment—either sitting down to read a few pages, or writing two lines in his diary, or tidying up the clutter and cleaning a room that was already almost spotless.

For Zhou Ming, these things were like running a little shop in a city-state or working as a warden in a cemetery. They were not truly necessary, but they were like an Anchor of Humanity, letting him feel that he was still a human being, still living within “order” and “civilization”.

After a while, Zhou Ming set down the book and got ready to stand up and return to the Vanished.

But the moment he lifted his head, his movements froze. Half-risen from the sofa, he stared fixedly at the desk not far away.

Atlantis was now floating quietly several centimeters above the desk, as if she had been there the entire time and had never moved.

Zhou Ming blinked and, for a moment, even doubted his own memory. Then he frowned, walked over to the desk, and examined Atlantis from all sides as she floated in the air. After that, he lifted his head to look at the empty cubby on the shelf.

After a brief hesitation, he picked Atlantis up again and carefully set her on the shelf.

He stared at that cubby for several seconds to make sure, then slowly stepped back and turned around. He walked a few steps away and then quickly snapped his head back.

Atlantis still sat obediently in the cubby.

Zhou Ming frowned, exhaled, and walked toward the front door of the apartment—but just when he was almost there, he suddenly stopped again and turned his head back without any prophetic omen at all.

Atlantis was once again floating quietly above his desk, as if she had never left.

Zhou Ming: “…”

He walked over with a straight face and stared unblinking at the “little sapling” hovering in midair.

“Are you doing this on purpose? Can you move around freely?”

Atlantis, of course, did not respond. She just stayed there quietly like a real tree.

Zhou Ming stared at the “World Tree” for a while longer, then picked her up and put her back in the cubby on the shelf. Right after, he turned his back and stood there for a while on purpose. Ten seconds later, he spun around—Atlantis was floating above the desk again.

The corner of Zhou Ming’s mouth twitched. He strode up to the desk and pointed at it: “This is my desk. It’s where I work. And if any new collection items show up later, they’ll appear on this desk too.”

Then he raised his other hand and pointed at the big shelving unit in the corner: “That over there is your place. The second cubby from the bottom is for you. You should be in your cubby, not occupying my desk!”

Atlantis gave no answer. She simply floated in the air, quietly turning in slow circles.

Zhou Ming’s eye twitched. He picked up the “little sapling” without hesitation and put her back on the shelf.

Then he stared at her for a long moment, turned around, and fixed his eyes on his desk.

Atlantis did not appear on the desk this time.

Instead, Zhou Ming heard a banging sound behind him.

He turned around and saw that Atlantis had somehow appeared in another cubby—the one that held the model of the White Oak.

Atlantis was using the big clump of soil at her roots to ram the hull of the White Oak again and again, making loud thumping noises. The model ship was on the verge of getting knocked off the shelf.

“Stop!” Zhou Ming reached out and pressed down on Atlantis’s crown. “You can’t knock into your ‘roommate’!”

Atlantis shivered under his hand, then suddenly swayed to the side. Zhou Ming felt his vision blur for an instant. When he looked along the direction of that last sway—

The tiny “World Tree” was floating quietly above his desk.

Zhou Ming: “…”

A short while later, Duncan opened the door of the captain’s cabin and stepped inside, a trace of weariness on his face as he walked over to sit down at the chart table.

Goathead, perched on the edge of the desk, twisted its neck with a creak and fixed its gaze on the captain.

“Duncan Abnomar.” Before Goathead could speak, Duncan waved his hand and began on his own.

“Ah, Captain! You’re back. I thought you would come straight here, but I didn’t expect…” Goathead immediately perked up. With the fading of the Mythic Form, that familiar chattering energy had returned to the talkative wooden carving. But it quickly noticed the subtle look on Duncan’s face. “Uh… you look tired?”

Duncan waved his hand again and let out a sigh this time.

After several seconds, he lifted his head and met Goathead’s eyes: “Your little sapling has occupied my desk.”