My Mother Has a System but Won't Use It

146  Getting the fruit without sowing the seeds

Han Li hesitated a lot, but in the end, decided to take a strategic retreat. Life-type treasures were important, but not nearly as important as his mother's or Ruo's life, his too.

Greed could kill, so he has to be greedy with a plan. And he decided to go with the simplest of plans.

He would let his good brother, Yang Wei, work his skin and bones to collect the Life-type resources, and when it was time for a harvest, it would all come to him naturally. It was not like he would use all the resources immediately, and for Han Li, the resource in itself didn't matter as long as he had a decent quantity.

Once again, Yue Li and Han Li found themselves in a cave. It was such a well-hidden hideout, full of hidden routes and winding tunnels and so hard to find that Han Li was sure he wouldn't find it by himself half as quickly. Nevertheless, he had used a simple cantrip to find this place.

The "Demon World" was not without its own aboriginals. Nonsentient as they were, there were many creatures in this world, for example, the Black Crane he killed just after waking up here. Han Li just found and wounded a sort of rabbit with his Life Sword and used the sword's ability to see its memories.

Soon enough, he found this underground cavern hidden under a rabbit hole. It was dark, but with their senses, it might as well have been bright. It was easy for them to see through it.

After killing or wounding dozens of animals, this was the safest he could find, and finally, here, Yue Li sat down on one of the hundreds of tree roots spread around and, with a sigh, murmured, "This place is really cool."

Han Li nodded, sitting before her. While in the center sat Ruo, still looking at his mother in wonder. He couldn't help but feel that pang of guilt again.

"Are we safe here, Xiao Li?" Yue Li asked.

Han Li nodded, pushing away the thought of what he would miss due to not fighting outside at this moment with the thought that his mother and Ruo were safe.

"So can I lay down for a while?" Yue Li asked.

Han Li looked at her with a soft gaze. "You don't need my permission for such things, why are you acting… so dramatic?"

Yue Li pouted her lips, unamused. "It's natural. My son killed so many people today, and I am almost starting to feel numb; we're both wrong; of course, I knew it was all wrong, and in a sense, I even approved of it earlier…"

"But because I killed without batting an eye, I was able to save Ruo."

Yue Li looked at the girl looking back at her with that weird gaze and felt a bit smug inside, but she pushed such thoughts away, wondering why she was not feeling so worse now after basically watching her son kill others just half an hour ago. With her own eyes, for the first time.

Han Li pointed out. "Don't push yourself too much. They are all just dead till I gain the ability to revive them anyway."

Yue Li blinked and nodded. "That's true, I forgot."

"And I went out of my way to remember their names…"

"Yeah, I was just too preoccupied with what I was feeling like, you know? It's natural that I forget some things, my head hurts thinking about all this… I've heard about such defense mechanisms that would trigger when you see someone close doing something you don't want them to. Like my love for you is too much; it makes me not see your flaws or something like that." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"…is that so," he could only awkwardly shift his gaze back to Ruo.

She was still staring at his mother. Probably the first person to show her kindness.

"Can I know this girl's story?" Yue Li asked, gently caressing the girl's hair. She had never seen such beautiful white hair. Was it natural?

Probably, she guessed, she herself had red hair when her Spark activated after all.

"What is your name, girl?"

Ruo just looked at her with that weird gaze without any words, making Yue Li speechless.

Han Li gently took out a sweet candy he had made the other day using Sea Serpent Honey from his Empty Space, and immediately, a sweet smell started to spread around the area. Ruo smelled the scent and looked at it with wide eyes.

His heart beating like a drum, he extended his hand towards her to feed her, but her face paled instead, and she moved towards Yue Li with a frightened face, almost making Han Li flinch out of his seat.

Yue Li smiled and brought the girl back into her embrace. Gently coaxing her with her head pats, she could feel the girl's heart, and it was wild, making her wonder what kind of experience such a small child had to have been through to make her like this. So frightened and so… weird.

She was like a cat, in all sense of the word, mind included.

Yue Li said with some amusement, "Children don't like Demons. Especially not a mass murderer like you. Don't come close, bitch, get lost."

"I murder for you," Han Li said with a speechless expression. But he could feel how Ruo was in Yue Li's embrace. She was calmer, less trembling.

'Even last time, you always liked to be coaxed like a child by Mom,' he smiled inside.

He felt a bit of relief for some reason at the fact that she didn't accept it from him. He also realized how truly he felt undeserving of Ruo's trust once more.

"Tell me the girl's story, and I will give you a chance to feed her. I am pretty sure I could help you there," Yue Li said joyfully, feeling like a mother once again. Instead of a damn motherfucker's wife, that is.

Han Li smiled and snorted coldly. "No need, you old hag; coax her for now, and let me think of how to get the Magical Resources."

His mother's eyes widened in anger. "Wha..What did you just call me?"

"Only you can call me hurting names and slap me, but I can't. Did you think I only know the curse words stupid, dumb, and idiot?"

"Of course, I am the Mother, not the other way around. I have no reason to respect you, but you have a lot of them, damn you!"

"Well, cry about it. Like you always do anyway."

Yue Li glared at him with real anger this time, while he delved into his thoughts.

With a chuckle, he exclaimed as he stretched his back, "Yang Wei, all my hope rests on you, do your best!"

He couldn't wait for the trials to end and his harvest to arrive. 'But for now, let's use the chance to cultivate...'

Sadly for him, his mother didn't seem to be in the mood to let him immediately cultivate.