0121 Sacred Mother Tree Seed

With a flicker of thought, Hou Rui poured himself another glass of strong liquor, clinked it briefly with the two officers beside him, and downed it in one go.

"Hahaha, Sergeant Douglas, I have some great news for you! You’ve just earned a significant honor from the Alliance. Lieutenant Colonel Timo of the Liberator Alliance is coming to meet you personally; he will be arriving here shortly. Hahaha!" As the boisterous Captain Mulu finished speaking, a crowd of Alliance officers swarmed around Hou Rui, showering him with congratulations.

As a newcomer and an outsider, catching the eye of a Lieutenant Colonel after being in the Liberator Alliance for barely a week was truly rare. While Hou Rui received the well-wishes of the surrounding officers, he also felt the piercing, deepened hatred emanating from Sergeant Kun.

"Come, let’s revel, my brothers! We must enjoy ourselves to the fullest tonight!" Captain Mulu led the charge, swallowing 34 small blue pills in one gulp. The other Alliance officers quickly followed suit, searching for their favorites among an assortment of powders and pills, soon descending into a state of pure, drugged-out bliss.

Hou Rui, who had been secretly keeping a wary eye on Sergeant Kun, noticed that Kun’s attention had finally drifted. He was too distracted to keep watching him; he ordered a girl to administer an intravenous injection while clutching a hookah, puffing away until his eyes glazed over and he drifted into a trance within minutes.

Today was a perfect opportunity. Should he take this chance to push the plunger on that syringe and send this eyesore to his grave, using a drug overdose as the excuse?

Holding his glass, Hou Rui considered this quite seriously, but before he could reach a final decision, Judy, who had been nowhere to be seen since the party began, suddenly appeared.

Tonight, Judy was wearing a tight black dress that not only accentuated her alluring curves but also contrasted with her skin, making it look as glossy under the lights as if it had been coated in oil. The Alliance officers couldn't help but swallow hard at the sight.

However, envy was one thing; everyone present knew that Judy was a servant gifted to Hou Rui by their superior, Captain Mulu, and was now his private property. Not to mention that Hou Rui was currently the rising star of the Alliance—no one would dare offend him over a woman.

"Sergeant, this is a gift specially prepared for you by the Captain." Ignoring the lecherous stares of the other officers, Judy leaned over in front of Hou Rui, displaying her ample cleavage while opening her hand. In her palm, inside a small plastic bag, were 45 small, irregularly shaped black pills. The rough texture of the pills made Hou Rui suspect they had been hand-pressed by the Alliance!

"My god! Are those Mother Tree seeds?" An officer sitting next to Hou Rui exclaimed first, so shocked that he didn't even notice his wine glass slip from his hand.

"What? No, no, no! That’s impossible! Haven't Mother Trees been extinct for ages?" A bearded officer was even more dramatic. He shoved aside the girl in front of him and lunged over, his trousers straining with an obvious, excited bulge, which made Hou Rui wince.

"Let me see! I've never seen a real Mother Tree seed before!"

"Me too! Me too!"

It was unimaginable that these Alliance officers, who had plundered the wealth and resources of half a country, would descend into such chaos over a few strange tree seeds.

Hou Rui tilted his head to look past Judy at Captain Mulu, who wore a mysterious smile, winked at him, and gave him a look that said, "You know what this is; no need to thank me."

"What on earth is this? Another hallucinogen?" Confused, Hou Rui could only raise his glass to Mulu in acknowledgment. When he turned his gaze back to Judy, he asked her in a low voice.

"The Mother Tree is a very rare plant. It usually grows only to a height of two meters, but its resin and sap, when collected and dried, turn into a gelatinous substance. Consuming it is highly effective at stimulating male vitality; even a 90-year-old man would immediately return to his peak at twenty. And these Mother Tree seeds are priceless treasures—a single seed is more effective than 50 Viagra pills, and it has absolutely no side effects."

Judy deliberately picked up a dark seed with her fingers to show Hou Rui up close. But as she finished explaining the true function of the seeds, Hou Rui felt a mix of bitterness and absurdity, his features contorting in distress.

For the past week, Hou Rui hadn't touched Judy or any of the other girls in the Alliance. To these officers, who partied every night and treated child soldiers like disposable toys, this was simply inconceivable. They had eventually settled on a reasonable explanation: Hou Rui suffered from erectile dysfunction. He wasn't ignoring Judy because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't.

It was based on this assumption that the Liberator Alliance and Captain Mulu had gone to such great lengths to procure the Mother Tree seeds to reward their hero. Strictly speaking, it was a case of prescribing the right medicine for the illness.

*Damn it!* They actually thought he was a failure! But he couldn't exactly strip down in front of them to prove his innocence! Depressed, Hou Rui covered his eyes with one hand. He really didn't want to look at the officers winking at him, or the look of contempt on Sergeant Kun’s face nearby.

"I—uh! Cough, what are you doing?" Just as Hou Rui was about to say something, Judy took the opportunity to toss a Mother Tree seed into his throat, and the "miracle drug" slid down into his stomach.

"Don't worry, the Mother Tree seed is very effective. It will definitely solve your problem," Judy said with a playful laugh, completely unfazed by Hou Rui’s angry expression. After a week of living together, Judy had inevitably grown familiar with him and knew that Hou Rui would never truly harm her.

"I wasn't talking about that, I’m asking why you fed me the medicine!" Hou Rui was genuinely anxious now; he grabbed Judy’s arm and shook it violently.

"Because you're not 'up' to the task!" Judy, confused by his reaction, answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Damn it!" Frustrated to the point of vomiting blood, Hou Rui gave up on pointless struggles. He let go of Judy, grabbed a glass of strong liquor, and downed it.

Within a minute, Hou Rui felt the changes in his body. His blood began to surge, causing him to feel restless and distracted.

After causing the trouble, Judy, who had been tightly clutching his arm, immediately sensed the change. She released his rigid arm, laid back, and reclined directly onto his lap, looking up at his rapidly reddening face.

"Sergeant, have you recovered?" Perhaps due to the seeds, Hou Rui suddenly found Judy’s voice exceptionally seductive and alluring.

Hou Rui did not answer; he was focusing all his willpower on resisting his instincts.

"Sergeant, Captain Mulu also sent another gift." With that, Judy pulled a pack of condoms, commonly sold in supermarkets, from the neckline of her dress.

Despite his conscious reluctance, when Hou Rui looked down, he couldn't help but lock his gaze on Judy’s neckline—and what lay within.

Thirty seconds later, Hou Rui reached the limit of his endurance. His primal urges finally conquered his reason. He slowly, hesitantly reached out a hand, moving inch by inch toward Judy’s neckline. The moment his fingers touched her skin, his mind exploded. With his last shred of sanity, he dragged Judy into the bedroom nearby.

Hours later, after the frenzy had subsided, Hou Rui finally regained his clarity. He looked at the torn clothing scattered by the bedside and at Judy, who was exhausted and still fast asleep on the bed. He felt a wave of regret and annoyance. Feeling physically satisfied but mentally depressed, he put on his clothes and walked out of the small bedroom.

The hall remained a wreck. Many of Captain Mulu’s officers were snoring on the floor, sofas, or tables, clutching girls. Countless wine bottles, pill bottles, clothing, and food were strewn everywhere—it was a scene of typical post-revelry chaos.

Feeling stifled, Hou Rui turned and left the hall. Once he stepped outside Captain Mulu’s fortress, he began to wander aimlessly through the small town.

After taking the Mother Tree seed and spending the night in such a debauched manner with Judy, Hou Rui felt he had betrayed his girlfriend, the young police officer. But what alarmed him most was realizing that his feelings of guilt were not as strong as he had imagined. Perhaps, without him realizing it, he had already undergone a certain degree of change since joining the Liberator Alliance.

It was just before dawn. The residents of the town were fast asleep, with only a few sentries posted by Captain Mulu patrolling the main intersections. Wanting to be alone, Hou Rui wandered until he found himself near the child soldiers' barracks, on the hill behind the school.

Just as he was about to turn back, he heard a noise and quietly crept forward.

Beside a large tree on the hillside, a familiar figure stood with their back to him, wielding a wooden stick and periodically performing strikes and thrusts, fiercely battering the trunk of the tree.