Published: February 8, 2025
“Thank you, Cold Autumn, for the 500. Thanks to Bad Eight and Shen Lin, and thanks to everyone for your various votes!”
The apocalypse completely erased the clamor of human industry; for most of the time, the world is silent.
Aside from the occasional waft of putrid odor and the smell of blood, the PM2.5 level here is always in an optimal state.
However, the nearby Linhai City feels a bit too quiet.
Ye Zhongming and the two others stood at a road leading into the city, feeling an inexplicable sensation in their hearts.
Not far down the road, it had become pockmarked, with clear signs of the mutated plants that Little Tiger had mentioned, and there were similar signs on the buildings flanking the sides. That should also be their ‘exit.’
On the road and the walls of the buildings, there were traces of purple or green liquids that had dried up. Little Tiger had these substances on him just now, likely the sap from the mutated plants after they were cut down.
Based on the surrounding soil and rock conditions, this sap should be non-toxic.
However, Ye Zhongming always felt a faint fishy smell in the air.
For Ye Zhongming, an expert in tracking with a rough background, these signs were not hard to interpret.
“We entered from here on our first day, but the attacks we faced were the fiercest, probably because there are too many mutated plants here,” Little Tiger pointed at the road and said, “Do you see that collapsed building? A mutated plant over fifteen meters long appeared there at the time, and we were forced to retreat by that thing.”
Perhaps feeling that his description didn’t adequately convey the strength of that mutated plant, Little Tiger added behind him, “It was very strong.”
Rubbing the exceptionally smooth fur of the earth yellow pill, Ye Zhongming narrowed his eyes as he observed the road, quickly recalling similar events from his past life. After a moment, he confirmed he had neither encountered nor heard of anything like this before. As for whether he had seen such mutated plants, he would have to see the real thing to know.
“You all wait for me here; I’ll go and take a look.” After Ye Zhongming spoke, he stepped forward but was immediately pulled back by Xia Bai.
“I’ll go,” she said and directly bypassed Ye Zhongming, stepping onto the road in the blink of an eye.
Ye Zhongming said nothing, just focused on watching.
As soon as Xia Bai stepped onto the road, Ye Zhongming immediately felt that the originally quiet street had come alive.
This sensation was strange; everything had not changed, yet it felt as if something had awakened or been stirred.
“Be careful!”
Almost as soon as Ye Zhongming's voice fell, Xia Bai, who had taken three steps forward, suddenly leaped ahead. The next second, several green, ribbon-like mutated plants burst from the ground where she had just stood, just as Little Tiger had described. These long, palm-width mutated plants had sharp serrated edges, with several-meter-long leaves clearly veined and featuring evenly distributed tiny depressions.
These leaves were incredibly agile; as they erupted from the ground, they charged directly toward Xia Bai, who had not yet landed, with flying debris all around. Each one attacked in a different way: some thrust straight forward, some struck from the side, and others coiled from below...
Without looking back, Xia Bai swung her sadness ink pattern scythe behind her in a whirl, severing several of these mutated plants in half. The sap, the same color as the leaves, burst forth from within, splattering across the side of the road.
However, this was not the end; a clattering sound echoed throughout the street as more mutated plants continually sprang from the ground, attacking Xia Bai. They came in both green and purple; the purple mutated plants were longer and had wider leaves with higher attack power, clearly a higher grade, while the green ones were weaker.
Based on Ye Zhongming’s observations, even the abilities of mutated plants of the same color differed, with darker colors obviously being more powerful than lighter ones.