The plants blocking their path really did resemble enlarged pea vines.
However, after mutating, the pea vines’ leaves were no longer the mouthwatering emerald green people remembered. Instead, they carried an ominous purple tint within the green, looking almost poisoned. They had also spread wildly out of control, stretching several kilometers ahead with nothing but these vines in sight.
“Can’t we go around them?” Zhuo Dahong asked.
“We can’t. The other route is through mountain roads, which is even more dangerous.” Yun Yanwu shook his head.
“Then let’s just go through. Compared to the ones before, these aren’t much bigger, just more numerous. They probably aren’t aggressive mutations. We just need to be careful.”
Since there was no way around anyway, they could only move forward.
“Mhm. The captain thinks the same. Stay close later. Take this walkie-talkie and keep in contact at all times.” Yun Yanwu handed a walkie-talkie to Zhuo Dahong before returning to his vehicle.
The vehicles started moving again, though much slower than before.
Aside from Sheng Ge, who was still watching the mutated pea vines outside with great interest while thinking about the “most delicious vegetable before the apocalypse” that little Wang Zihan had mentioned, everyone else looked nervous.
Soon, all three vehicles entered the area covered by the mutated pea vines.
As the tires rolled over the vines, the sound of pea pods being crushed occasionally echoed beneath them. Fortunately, after traveling one or two kilometers, nothing happened, but nobody dared lower their guard.
“Cluck cluck!”
Suddenly, Xiao Huang, who was lying between Ah Bao and Wang Zihan, started screeching toward the outside of the vehicle while flapping its wings frantically, trying to rush out.
“Xiao Huang, stop messing around!” Ah Bao reached out to hold down the struggling chicken, while the others also helped catch it.
Bang!
Bang bang!
At that moment, pounding sounds suddenly came from the vehicle.
At first, everyone had been distracted by Xiao Huang’s commotion and failed to notice. Only when the impacts became more frequent and louder did they realize something was wrong.
At the same time, Yu Sheng’s voice came through the walkie-talkie.
“We’re under attack. Everyone, be careful.”
Everyone hurriedly looked outside.
Purple peas the size of bullets were shooting toward the vehicles nonstop. More and more came flying over, and even through the vehicle body, they could feel that the force behind them was no weaker than real bullets.
As the attacks continued, the vines on the road also began writhing constantly, drilling themselves into the tires and obstructing the vehicles’ movement. Left with no choice, Zhuo Dahong could only stop the van.
“I told you…” Ah Bao was still feeling smug about his earlier prediction. “This really is Plants vs. Zombies—”
Bang!
A pea suddenly shot straight through the glass window.
“Ah!”
The women in the vehicle screamed instinctively.
Just as the pea was about to strike someone and seriously injure them, it suddenly froze midair in the next second before lightly dropping onto the floor inside the van.
At the same time, Sheng Ge threw out several defensive talismans, sticking them onto the vehicle.
The sounds of impacts finally disappeared.
“Haaah~”
Everyone collectively sighed in relief, looking at Sheng Ge with eyes full of gratitude and shock.
Ah Bao, who had nearly gotten too cocky and ended up having his head blown off by a pea, looked at Sheng Ge emotionally.
“Grandma Grandmaster, thank goodness you’re here…”
“You’re too useless,” Sheng Ge scolded irritably. He had talismans on him, yet he did not even know how to use them.
Ah Bao: “……”
I’m the sect master, okay? Grandma Grandmaster, can’t you at least save me a little face?
Grandma Grandmaster?
Gu Xiaoxue froze slightly when she heard that title. She somehow felt like she had heard that form of address somewhere before.
Before she could think too deeply about it, Yun Yanwu’s voice sounded from the walkie-talkie again.
“You guys okay over there, Ah Bao?”
“I’m fine. Eh… Xiao Huang!”
Ah Bao leaned forward to answer through the walkie-talkie, but the moment he loosened his grip, Xiao Huang shot straight out through the broken window.
Ah Bao instinctively tried to jump out and chase after it, only to be held down by Sheng Ge.
“Stay put properly for This Venerable One.”
After saying that, she got out of the vehicle herself.
“Hey, little sis, it’s dangerous!” Zhuo Dahong reached out to stop her but failed. After thinking for a moment, he decided he could not let Little Ge Sis go out alone, so he unfastened his seatbelt and prepared to get out as well.
“Brother Dahong, I’ll go.”
Gu Xiaoxue suddenly spoke up. Without waiting for Zhuo Dahong to object, she grabbed her baseball bat and the iron plate she used for defense before climbing out of the vehicle too.
After getting out, Sheng Ge first glanced toward the other two vehicles parked twenty to thirty meters away.
However, both vehicles were filled with well-trained ability users, so there was obviously no need for her to worry. Earthen walls surrounded the vehicles protectively, while the others were trying to counterattack.
For the moment, there did not seem to be much danger there.
So Sheng Ge ignored them for now and focused on finding her chicken first.
Very quickly, she spotted Xiao Huang pecking away in a corner.
When Sheng Ge walked over, she discovered that Xiao Huang was not pecking at bugs like she originally thought, but at the roots of a mutated pea vine.
Looking closer, she realized it was not actually the root itself, but a green crystal growing from it.
It was neither a crystal core nor a spirit stone, but a type of crystal Sheng Ge had never seen before, glowing faintly green.
The moment Sheng Ge approached it, she felt a force overflowing with life energy.
This was…
Sheng Ge smacked Xiao Huang aside and reached out to touch the crystal.
Suddenly, countless vines attacked her all at once, while pea bullets rained down toward her like a storm.
The attacks were so fierce that the defensive talismans on her body lost effectiveness after only a short while.
Sheng Ge pulled out a sword from her storage ring and swiftly blocked the attacks.
Then, with one sword technique, she severed all the incoming mutated pea vines.
But after cutting down one wave, another wave immediately rushed toward her again.
“Careful!”
A woman’s voice suddenly came from behind her, followed by a loud bang as something smashed into the ground.
Sheng Ge turned to look at the suddenly appeared Gu Xiaoxue.
“Why did you come out?”
Before Gu Xiaoxue could answer, Sheng Ge suddenly looked enlightened.
“Oh. Your ability is related to plants.”
Gu Xiaoxue’s eyes widened.
How did she know?!
A trace of killing intent even flashed through her eyes.
“I-I don’t have any abilities,” Gu Xiaoxue denied.
“Mhm. This Venerable One doesn’t believe you.”
Gu Xiaoxue: “……”
Could she reject it any more straightforwardly than that?
Where had she exposed herself?
Could it have been… last night?
Meanwhile, Sheng Ge had already cut down most of the surrounding vines.
She walked over to where she had found the crystal earlier, only to discover that the crystal was already gone.
Tsk.
These mutated plants were really becoming spirit-like.
They actually knew how to move treasures around.
Grandma Grandmaster felt that she had truly broadened her horizons today.
After sticking another defensive talisman onto herself and Gu Xiaoxue, she continued wandering deeper through the pea vines.
Gu Xiaoxue assumed Sheng Ge was searching for Xiao Huang, so she followed along as well.
Meanwhile, back at the vehicles, Song Siyu and the others were still using their abilities to resist the attacks from the mutated pea vines.
There were simply too many vines, making direct attacks difficult, so they could only focus mainly on defense.
But clearly, constantly defending forever was not a viable solution.
Thus, they decided to use fire to burn open a breakthrough point and force their way out.
Conveniently, Zhuo Dahong was a fire-type ability user.
“I wonder how the people in the back vehicle are doing. Their vehicle doesn’t really have any strong defensive ability users.”
“Don’t worry. With Miss Sheng’s talismans, they should probably be okay… right…”
Yun Yanwu sounded uncertain.
Although the talismans truly did have defensive effects, he did not know whether they could still withstand attacks this powerful.
Thinking this, Yun Yanwu used the walkie-talkie to ask about Zhuo Dahong’s side again.
Zhuo Dahong replied that they were still relatively safe for now, but they needed to break through quickly or they would not be able to hold out much longer.
After discussing it briefly, they decided to rely on Zhuo Dahong’s fire abilities while the others assisted with the breakthrough.
“Xiaoxue and Little Ge Sis went out to look for Xiao Huang. We need to wait for them to come back first.”
“What?! Are those two crazy? At a time like this, they’re still looking for a chicken?!”
When Feng Shuang’er heard this, she immediately shouted angrily.
“If they want to die, that’s their business! Why should we wait for them? I’m not waiting!”
As she spoke, she urged the rest of the ability-user team to hurry up and act. The other ability users also began feeling dissatisfied.
However, Zhuo Dahong insisted on waiting for Sheng Ge and Gu Xiaoxue.
In the end, Yun Yanwu stepped in and suggested they begin breaking through first. By the time they made enough progress, Sheng Ge and the others would probably have returned as well.
At first, it was effective.
Under the assault of the fire abilities, the mutated pea vines’ leaves and pods began burning, and their attacks weakened somewhat.
But very quickly, they realized something was wrong.
The gas produced by the burning mutated pea vines carried a faint purple tint.
“Not good! This stuff releases poison when burned!”
Song Siyu was the first to notice the problem. Her expression changed instantly as she immediately ordered everyone back into the vehicles.
But it was already too late.
Two team members with lower ability levels had already collapsed onto the ground.
Although the others reacted quickly and got back into the vehicles, they soon began feeling dizzy and sluggish as well, eventually collapsing inside.
The people in the other vehicle experienced the same thing.
Although Sheng Ge’s defensive talismans could block attacks, they could not stop poisonous gas from entering.
Very quickly, everyone inside the vehicles lost consciousness.
Except for Zhuo Dahong, who had just gotten out to burn the mutated pea vines. He had barely opened the vehicle door before fainting onto the ground.
After everyone passed out, the burned blackened vines slowly crawled over from every direction.
Very quickly, they wrapped themselves around both the unconscious people and the vehicles until nothing could be seen except densely packed vines.
Even more bizarrely, at the spots where the two collapsed ability users had fallen earlier, the blackened vines gradually turned green again, then regained traces of purple, and finally began sprouting leaves once more.
Meanwhile, Sheng Ge and Gu Xiaoxue had already followed Xiao Huang deep into the mutated pea vine area, completely unaware of what had happened to the others.