The human skull rolled to Shen Shi'an's feet, he didn't need to look carefully, he immediately found that it was the head of a zombie.
The left hand quickly dropped the backpack, and held the hilt of the sword with the backhand, a cold light flashed, and the long sword came out of its sheath.
"Stop!" The man's eyes were burning with anxiety. He wanted to rush over to snatch the head but he didn't dare to act rashly. He could only look at Shen Shi'an and begged: "Don't kill him, I beg you, don't kill him! He didn't harm anyone, I just want to bring Let's go to the capital together!"
Shen Shi'an paused his movements and looked at the head carefully: the human head was cut off from the Adam's apple, the broken part was tightly wrapped with black canvas, and the blood vessels and air cavity were not visible, and a circle was usually used by beasts to prevent them from biting people. The bamboo mask covered part of the face, but if you look closely at the eyebrows and eyes, you can find some similarities with the young man.
This human head has obviously turned into a zombie, because the brain has not been destroyed, and it still maintains the basic activity and instinct of yearning for flesh and blood. Even if the mouth is covered, it still rolls around on the ground, trying to bite people.
And the most surprising thing is that there is no sign of decay and decomposition on this head, and the age is no more than fifteen years old. If it is not for the black and blue blood vessels that are clearly visible under the skin and the cloudy and bloodshot eyeballs, it looks like it did not pass through. What a way to hide a normal teenager from the neck down. The rotten and bloody smell of the zombie's head was very weak, and it was packed tightly in the backpack, so Shen Shi'an couldn't detect it, but Shen Xun, whose sense of smell was far more sensitive than him, discovered something was wrong early on.
He thought that the child who kept staring at other people's backpacks was mischievous, playful and disobedient to discipline, but he didn't expect that Gouzijing had already sensed the danger, so he used an excuse to expose the zombies hidden in the dark.
"Mr. Shen," the man saw that Shen Shi'an stopped his movements, and hurriedly continued: "I really don't have any malicious intentions, and I don't want to harm anyone with this head, as you can see, his mouth is covered and he can't bite anyone at all. I beg you not to kill him."
Shen Shi'an glanced at him, called the child to his side, then took a step back, sheathed the long sword again, and said to the man, "Pick it back."
The man seemed a little unbelievable, but immediately picked up the head, his movements were gentle and careful, and even carefully wiped off the dust on the head. But the human head has no rationality or consciousness. After transforming into a zombie, what remains in the body is only the crazy desire for fresh flesh and blood. Therefore, even if the zombie head had any relationship with the man before its death, it is still alive at this time. I don't remember it at all, struggling violently in the man's arms trying to bite.
"Shh, shhh..." The man stroked the zombie's hair with his hands. Unbelievably, the zombie really calmed down, allowing the man to hold it in his arms without moving.
Shen Shi'an focused his eyes: this is the second time he has witnessed tonight that the man successfully calmed down the zombie's emotions. But how? Could he communicate with zombies
"Thank you," the man said to Shen Shi'an, "Thank you." He knew that this was not an easy decision. There is no need to repeat the horrors of zombies and zombie viruses. A living zombie head is undoubtedly a ticking bomb. No one can be sure when it will detonate and affect themselves. If it were him, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to easily accept that such an indeterminate bomb was in the same room with him for several hours. The so-called hidden dangers are naturally removed as soon as possible. So he is sincerely grateful that the other party is willing to stop when the hidden danger can be easily solved. For him, this is more than anything.
Shen Shi'an shook his head and said, "Sit down and talk? If you want, I want to ask you some questions."
The flames flickered in the small shop, and the occasional beeping sound of firewood bursting could be clearly heard. Shen Shi'an took the child and sat on both sides of the bonfire with the man.
"Let me introduce myself again," Shen Shi'an said, "My surname is Shen, and my name is Shi'an. This is my son Shen Xun." The reason why he dared to give his full name is because the other party must avoid crowds and move around. It is possible to enter the safe base, and naturally it is impossible to know that the military is looking for a person named "Shen Shi'an".
"My surname is Chen, and my name is Chen Nan." The man paused, then pointed to the backpack that had become bulging again: "That's my younger brother, Chen Jiamu."
"You just said that you want to take this... you want to take your brother to the capital?"
Chen Nan nodded, probably because he had exposed the biggest secret, so he let go of all his defenses: "I am a student of the provincial sports school in province B, and I am also a first-level athlete of the provincial track and field team. There was originally a large-scale competition in early May this year. In the national track and field competition, as long as you get a good ranking, you may be selected for the national team. I promised my brother that I will strive to enter the national team, and I will take him to live in the capital. He has always wanted to visit the capital.”
"Your parents?"
"There are no parents, just me and my brother."
Chen Nan didn't explain in depth, and Shen Shi'an didn't continue to ask. After a pause, he continued, "Your brother, when did you become infected with the mutation?"
"From the beginning of the outbreak of the virus." Chen Nan lowered his head slightly, his eyes were looking straight at the fire, his voice was not loud, with a deep and hoarse voice unique to young people: "The sports school is a fully enclosed training, and you can't leave it at ordinary times." school, and can’t contact the outside world privately. I make phone calls about once a week, and go home every half a month. If it’s approaching an important event, the training is even more busy, and it’s common to have no contact with the outside world for a month or two. I My younger brother caught a cold before the virus broke out, but he never told me that I didn’t go home for 28 days because of training, and I called twice in the middle, but he didn’t find anything abnormal. Until after the virus broke out, in a hurry I hurried back, only to find out, only to find out that he had turned into a zombie."
After he returned home, he rescued a neighbor. The neighbor told him that Jiamu had been suffering from a cold for more than half a month. He took leave from school and went home to recuperate. Can't do it. Fortunately, the neighbor noticed something was wrong and called the property manager to open the door, which allowed him to have a hot meal. But even that failed to save his life after the virus broke out.
Shen Shi'an was silent for a moment to let the other party calm down, and then continued after a while: "If your brother is suffering from the flu, so he became the first batch of mutated zombies after the virus broke out, which means that he has mutated for a month and a half, but His head doesn't show any signs of decay, do you know why?"
Chen Nan shook his head: "I thought about this question too, but I couldn't find the answer." For a while, he even wondered if this meant that Jiamu was still "alive" in a certain way? But witnessing Jiamu's irrational and crazy desire for fresh flesh and blood and his indiscriminate attacks are enough to shatter any of his illusions.
"I found that you seem to be able to calm his emotions. Can you communicate with zombies?"
"No." Chen Nan stopped suddenly, and after a while, he seemed to have finally made up his mind, and said to Shen Shi'an, "I have supernatural powers."
Shen Shi'an's heart moved: "What kind of supernatural power?"
"I don't know exactly how to define it, but I can give birth to plants." Now that I opened my mouth, I simply said it all: "The potatoes I used to exchange instant noodles with you before were born with supernatural powers."
Sure enough. Shen Shi'an secretly breathed out in his heart.
After discovering that Chen Nan collected seeds purposefully, and that the potatoes were obviously newly grown, he made two guesses. One is that the other party has the same portable space as him that can be planted, and the other is related to the growth of plants. ability.
But Shen Shi'an's portable space was obtained before the end of the world. Leaving aside the shocking spiritual springs and exercises, the existence of the portable space itself is so mysterious that it is difficult to explain it with common sense. There is another person in this world who has the same abilities as him. The possibility of space is too low. On the premise of discovering that humans can evolve after the end of the world, it is more reasonable to attribute it to supernatural powers.
The reason why he didn't take the initiative to ask is because this kind of thing is too private. In the previous situation, even if he asked the other party, he would not be able to tell him. Instead, he would strengthen his guard and cause trouble; It's just that I was lucky enough to meet a vegetable field. The purpose of collecting seeds is to cultivate the land for self-reliance in the future. If I rashly ask about things related to abilities or space, it is very likely that the other party will associate it and turn it into a fire, exposing my biggest hole card.
Now that the other party is willing to tell the truth, it is the best result for Shen Shi'an. Chen Nan was the second person with supernatural abilities he met after Ms. Dong in the library, and the supernatural abilities were related to plants, so he had too many questions that he wanted to understand carefully. "Are there any restrictions on your ability?" He asked Chen Nan, "For example, how long does it take to spawn a potato? How many can be spawned at most?"
"It takes about 20 minutes to grow a potato, and now it can grow up to four per day." Chen Nan replied honestly, after thinking about it, he added: "But you can't eat all four, you have to keep one to sprout and use as a potato. seed."
Shen Shi'an's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help clenching his palms for a moment: "You mean, the potatoes you spawned with supernatural powers can also be used as seeds to spawn new potatoes?"
Chen Nan nodded.
Shen Shi'an's Adam's apple moved up and down, his palms were sweating slightly, and he looked down at the child.
Chen Nan's ability is similar to the effect of the spiritual spring water in the space on plants. But the crops produced can be replanted again, which is impossible in space.
Shen Shi'an tried it as early as after he came out of the library, but whether it is cherries, tomatoes, or sweet potatoes, which use tubers for asexual reproduction like potatoes, once they grow, the seeds are planted into the black soil again. Both are decomposed and recycled by the soil as ineffective parts like a bare tomato plant.
That is to say, no matter how good the crop varieties cultivated in the space are, they cannot carry out secondary reproduction. Otherwise, he doesn't need to rush to collect seeds, just keep the tomato seeds and cherry pits and plant them again.
Chen Nan's ability has an effect that cannot be achieved due to the shortage of space. This raises a question: what if it is a plant that Chen Nan has cultivated twice or even multiple times with his abilities? Can it be grown in space? To put it simply, it is to take out one of the cherries in the space at this time and give it to Chen Nan, who will give birth to a new cherry tree from the cherry pit. Then, can the seeds grown on this cherry tree survive in the space
If it is possible, it means that if they cooperate with each other, both he and Chen Nan will have the highest quality and continuous source of seeds.
Of course, this is just an assumption. His understanding of Chen Nan is close to that of a stranger. If cooperating with the other party means taking unpredictable risks, then he would rather put an end to any possibility of cooperating. Although the collection of seeds will delay the itinerary slightly, it is not too troublesome. The safety of the spiritual spring and space is the top priority. What's more, among the remaining hundreds of millions of survivors, Chen Nan is definitely not the only one who will evolve the ability to give birth to plants.
Shen Shi'an quickly stabilized his mind, and continued to ask: "You came here to collect seeds, just to use supernatural powers to give birth as food?"
Chen Nan nodded, and he didn't know why a bit of grievance and a trace of fear suddenly appeared in his expression: "I don't want to just eat potatoes anymore."
Shen Xun interrupted: "You only eat potatoes all the time?"
"Well," Chen Nan said, "I only brought potatoes with me when I left home. Later, because I carried Jiamu on my back, I didn't dare to go to crowded places. Today is the first time I entered a store to collect seeds."
The child's face was immediately full of sympathy: "It's too miserable, brother."
Shen Shi'an asked, "How long have you been away from home?"
"Today is the thirty-fifth day."
"Thirty-five days, only potatoes??"
"Yeah. I baked and cooked it when I could, and I ate it raw when I couldn't."
Now even Shen Shi'an had to feel sympathy for him: No wonder his face was so thin that he started to salivate when he smelled the instant noodles.
After thinking about it for a while, I felt something was wrong: "But why are the seeds you collected all radish and taro?" In comparison, don't tomatoes and melons taste better
"Because I can only produce tuber vegetables, the others cannot bear fruit because they cannot be pollinated."
Unable to pollinate
"When you spawn plants, do you have to mature them in one go, or can you stop at any stage in the middle?"
"It can be stopped."
"Then why don't you stop the plant after it blooms, and manually help the petals to pollinate and continue to promote growth? This way it will bear fruit."
There was a moment of emptiness on Chen Nan's face: "... I haven't considered this issue."
There was an awkward silence around the campfire for a while.
About half a minute later, Chen Nan rubbed his nose to break the silence, and looked up at Shen Shi'an: "I know you are also collecting seeds, do you have the same ability as me that can give birth to plants?"
Shen Shi'an thought for a while, then nodded: "You can understand it this way. I do have a way to accelerate the growth of plants, but the specific details are more complicated, and it is not convenient to disclose them in detail. I am sorry." Does it mean that the fruits and vegetables grown in the space can be taken out in a fair manner in the future
The other party told the truth, but he had reservations. Shen Shi'an felt a little guilty, and apologized to Chen Nan again, and said: "After the end of the world, you are not the only one who has evolved supernatural powers, and there will only be more and more people. The ability will be your biggest trump card to survive in the apocalypse, and you must not reveal it to others casually in the future." People are unpredictable and hard to guard against.
Chen Nan laughed. Under the orange firelight, for the first time, this young man showed the kindness and heartiness that should be the most common at his age: "I know. But you are different. I'm not afraid to tell you that you are a good person. "
Shen Shi'an: "..." Where did this conclusion come from
After thinking for a moment, the topic was brought back again: "You said earlier that the reason why you can calm your brother's emotions has something to do with your supernatural ability?"
Chen Nan nodded. In order to prevent Shen Shian from being confused, he simply started from the beginning: "After I returned home and found Jiamu turned into a zombie, I started to have a fever that night. I thought I would become a zombie too, and I happened to die with Jiamu At home, I didn’t expect to burn for two or three days in a daze, and when I woke up, I found that I had supernatural powers. Later, I decided to take Jiamu to the capital to fulfill the agreement between me and him. Because his zombie The transformation was too obvious, and I couldn't take him around with me, so after I found out that the zombie would not die as long as it didn't hurt the brain, I tried to cut off his head and put a mask on him to prevent him from biting people. In the few days when I just left home, I often met other survivors on the road, and Jiamu would start to make trouble as soon as he smelled the survivors. I was afraid that he would be noticed, so once I held my backpack tightly, I accidentally found that as long as I Put the power into his head, and he will be quiet."
"Input ability?"
"Yes," Chen Nan tried hard to think about how to explain it: "After I evolved a supernatural power, it was like an extra thing in my body that I didn't have before. This thing can be used to give birth to plants, and it can also be imported into other objects. , For example, Jiamu's head. It's like, like the inner strength shown on TV, do you have this feeling?"
Shen Shi'an understood. This is similar to the aura in his body.
From Chen Nan's words, at least two conclusions can be drawn: First, according to Ms. Dong in the library, the evolution of supernatural powers seems to have the same step as mutating into a zombie, that is, fever. But whether it is Ms. Dong or Chen Nan, both of them had a fever after the outbreak of the virus. As for the people who had a cold and fever before the outbreak of the virus, it seems that without exception, they all turned into zombies. It is not yet known whether there is any connection between them.
Second, the abilities of the supernatural being, like the spiritual spring water in his space, have a similar or even greater attraction to zombies than fresh flesh and blood. Shen Shi'an did not doubt that if he fed Lingquan water to Chen Nan's younger brother, he should also be able to temporarily soothe his head.
There are many and complicated questions raised from this conclusion: Is there any relationship between supernatural powers and spiritual spring water? Spiritual spring water is essentially liquefied spiritual energy, and his skills can be advanced after absorbing spiritual energy, so can a person with supernatural abilities advance after drinking spiritual spring water? Why are zombies interested in abilities and spiritual spring water? After ingesting supernatural powers or spiritual spring water, can zombies advance and further mutate? As time goes by, there are more and more supernatural beings, will they become the key targets of zombies like him in the future? …
These problems are too many and too messy, and I can't sort them out at once. But what is certain is that the reason why Chen Jiamu's head did not rot should be inseparable from the ability Chen Nan gave him.
It is not a wise choice to rush all the way to the capital with a zombie head that can no longer be called "alive" and is very likely to mutate further. But Shen Shi'an had no choice, and had no position to persuade the other party to give up this idea.
Can still feel the fetters of family affection, and is willing to give everything for it, isn't it the biggest difference between humans and zombies
He looked at Chen Nan: "Did you come all the way?" Chen Nan's home is less than two hundred kilometers away. According to Chen Nan, he left home thirty-five days ago and embarked on a journey. Avoiding the long way around the crowd, this speed can only be matched by walking.
Chen Nan nodded and shook his head again: "At first, I rode a bicycle for a while, but the tire blew up and I couldn't find a place to repair it. After that, I had to walk."
Shen Shi'an said: "From here to the capital, there are still thousands of miles away."
Chen Nan smiled: "I know, but I have to give it a try. I promised Jiamu before the end of the world but failed to do it. I want to realize it after the end of the world." He had long been prepared to die halfway. The journey was nominally to fulfill his agreement with Jiamu, but in fact, it was also for himself.
He couldn't stay at home any longer. For more than a month, he couldn't help thinking about it over and over again, asking himself over and over again: If he could go home once, if he could find Jiamu's abnormality, if he could take Jiamu to the hospital in time, if he could Taking good care of Jiamu doesn't give him the chance to get sick at all, so can Jiamu still live well? He didn't dare to imagine how Jiamu managed to pretend to be normal when talking with him when he was seriously ill, and he couldn't even imagine how the frail Jiamu would be when he was away. survived every day? Before this flu, how many other ailments he didn't know about? And what kind of evil did he fall into, only the competition and honor were left in his heart, and he left the most important brother behind
He had to do something, he had to start this journey. He promised that Jiamu would take him to see what the Forbidden City looks like, so this is his only goal now. Perhaps the day when he dies halfway will be his end and relief.
Chen Nan looked at Shen Shi'an, "What about you, where are you going?"
"The capital," Shen Shi'an said, "I'm going to find two people."
Chen Nan was a little pleasantly surprised, but at the same time understood: "That must be someone who is very important to you." Because it was important enough, he was willing to take countless risks and travel across mountains and rivers to meet each other.
After some chatting, the understanding between each other has deepened a lot, and the atmosphere has become more harmonious. Shen Shi'an didn't expect that Chen Nan was not yet eighteen years old, probably because of years of training, he was physically fit, and his personality was more stable and restrained than his peers, so he looked older than his actual age.
Integrating the information he had obtained in his heart, Shen Shi'an suddenly remembered something: "Have you ever been in contact with a zombie crystal nucleus?"
"What?" Chen Nan looked confused: "What crystal nucleus?"
Shen Shi'an thought for a while: "Wait for me." Then he said to the child: "Sit here obediently and don't run around." Then he went out with his long sword.
About ten minutes later, he came back with a sword in hand, and handed a shiny transparent crystal nucleus to Chen Nan: "This."
Chen Nan took the crystal nucleus with some curiosity, and looked at the firelight: "What is this? It looks a bit like a diamond..."
Before the words were finished, the crystal nucleus in the palm suddenly turned into a handful of white ashes like a fruit that had been drained of nutrients, and fell away in a rustle.
Chen Nan opened his eyes wide: "... I didn't do anything!"
Shen Xun also opened his eyes wide: Damn it! Why can he absorb it!
Shen Shi'an's eyes brightened, and he was not completely surprised by this result: "Describe in detail, what happened?"
Chen Nan frowned and tried his best to recall: "I just feel that this crystal nucleus is very beautiful, and then the supernatural power in the body suddenly moved for some reason..."
Shen Shi'an said: "Feel it carefully, have the supernatural powers in your body increased?"
Chen Nan closed his eyes, and quickly opened them again. The light from the fire was astonishingly bright: "It's increased! Not much, just a little bit, it can probably produce one-tenth of a potato, but it's increased!"
Shen Shi said with peace of mind: It is indeed so.
The crystal nucleus of the mutated zombie can promote the recovery of the spirit spring, and it can also promote the ability of the supernatural being to improve. Although he couldn't directly absorb the crystal nucleus like Chen Nan did, he could use the recovered spirit spring to enhance his skills, and the essence was not much different.
"You can also absorb crystal nuclei, right?" Chen Nan also realized, "You just said that this is a zombie crystal nucleus?"
Shen Shi'an nodded: "It grows out of the mutant zombie's brain. Do you know that mutant zombies are the ones whose speed and reaction ability are much faster than ordinary zombies."
"I know, but I haven't fought head-on."
"Why?" He walked all the way for more than 30 days, so he should have encountered mutant zombies.
"They don't run as fast as I do."
Shen Shi'an still didn't understand at this time, but soon in the process of searching for mutant zombies to collect crystal nuclei the next day, he deeply understood what Chen Nan meant by "running faster than me".
He runs too fast.
Affected by the spiritual spring water and exercises, Shen Shi'an's running speed is about three times faster than before he got the portable space. Usually, he can run 100 meters in about four seconds, and this speed can be further improved when he uses the exercises at full strength.
But Chen Nan's speed was faintly faster than him. The whole person is as fast as lightning, not to mention the mutated zombies, Shen Shi'an has to use some real kung fu to catch up with him, which is really amazing.
Facing Shen Shi'an's compliment, Chen Nan was a little embarrassed: "I specialize in the 100-meter and 400-meter sprints in the track and field team. I started practicing at the age of seven or eight. I have been practicing for nearly ten years. I must be faster than ordinary people. But now this speed is only available after getting the supernatural power, and I didn't even dare to think about it before." If you can have this speed in the provincial team, why do you participate in domestic competitions, and you can directly take the world record.
Shen Shi'an was thoughtful: He knew that after the end of the world, the physique of human beings was constantly improving, such as Li Cheng and the richest man Miao met in the library, but the degree of improvement of the two of them was far less exaggerated than that of Chen Nan. Chen Nan's astonishing speed is, firstly, inseparable from his own foundation of years of training, and secondly, once he evolves supernatural powers, his physical fitness seems to be a step higher than ordinary people. For example, Ms. Dong, when her ability erupted, she threw out two strong men who weighed more than three times her combined weight.
However, although he ran fast, Chen Nan's combat experience was obviously insufficient, and his combat ability was slightly better than that of Miao's richest man. It is estimated that it would not be a problem for a child to beat twenty like him. Especially for the weapon, there is only one water pipe that is almost worn out. Shen Shi'an really can't see it, so he took out the aloe vera thorn from the space and made him a stick.
Shen Shi'an stayed in the town for a total of three and a half days, collected a total of two hundred and one zombie crystal nuclei, and successfully restored the Lingquan water to the thickness of a Wahaha straw. During the period, Shen Xun asked many times to help show off his supernatural power, but Shen Shi'an did not agree: It doesn't matter whether he is suspicious or a villain, he and Chen Nan have only known each other for a few days, and they don't know everything about it. There are too many abnormalities in the child. Much better not to expose.
In addition to crystal nuclei, more than a dozen tons of clean water have been collected—he just needs to put his hand under the open faucet, and he can send water directly into the water container in the subspace, so much water is enough to last for a long time .
After eating at noon that day, he and the child planned to start again.
Chen Nan hesitated for a long time, and finally walked up to Shen Shi'an: "Brother Shen, can I go with you?"
Shen Shi'an was the first person he was willing to trust after the apocalypse. Over the past few days, he got to know each other a little better, and got along quite well with each other, and the other party also had the same ability as him that could give birth to plants. Just the same, no matter how you measure it, you are a rare peer partner.
But if he really wants to go with him, the other party has a car, food, and super strength, no matter how you look at it, he has taken advantage of it, not to mention that he is carrying a zombie head in his bag that everyone can't avoid. Worried that Shen Shi'an would not like it, he hurriedly said: "Brother Shen, don't worry, I won't eat or drink. I can collect or grow food by myself. I will give you one, no, two, no, three crystals every day." As a reward for taking the car, if you encounter any danger, you don't have to worry about me, I will run by myself. I will definitely look after Jiamu and not cause you trouble. If you need me to do anything, just say it. I can make a fire and chop wood. "
Shen Shi'an put the child on the passenger seat and bent down to fasten his seat belt. After closing the door, he turned around and looked at Chen Nan: "The zombie crystal nucleus is not so easy to get."
Chen Nan was taken aback for a moment, and then understood. It's impossible not to be disappointed, but I still nodded: "I understand. Brother Shen, be careful all the way, I hope you find what you're looking for as soon as possible..."
Before the words finished, Shen Shi'an opened the rear door of the off-road vehicle: "However, it is more than enough for one more person in my car."
The author has something to say: Thick and long! !
Congratulations to Chen Nan for joining An'an Gouzi Squad! Sprinkle flowers!
Ask for nutrient solution and ask for tickets~
Thanks to the little angels who voted for me~
Thanks to the little angels who voted [Line mines]: 2 dandans, 1 orange cat and summer, 1 mist paper kite, 1 whole candy candy, 1 fa on a vine, 1 ya
Thanks to the little angels for irrigating me with nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angels of irrigation nutrient solution: 52 bottles of old master, 40 bottles of dandan, 20 bottles of hikaru, 20 bottles of orange cat and summer, 20 bottles of (?-w?`), 20 bottles of I will have a dog, 16 bottles of winwinds, Like Lazy' 16 bottles, obsession 12 bottles, Yixun 10 bottles, maybe? 2 bottles, 1 bottle of Xiaotang, 1 bottle of Piaoguoing15, 1 bottle of .
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard! ^_^