The giant cat moved too fast. Wen Xian instinctively raised her hands to shield her head and face.
With a bang, she was knocked backward several steps and fell to the ground. The giant cat was also thrown aside, letting out pitiful meows, which somehow sounded a little wronged.
Wen Xian shakily lowered her hands, and saw not her own hands, but two thick pieces of bark, like shields, blocking in front of her.
Her pupils constricted sharply. She instinctively shoved the tree shields aside, her voice trembling as she cried in panic: “No, no, no! Don’t! I don’t want to become… a monster! My hands! My hands!”
A flicker of green light passed, and the tree shields truly transformed back into her hands.
Wen Xian froze, staring at her two clean, slender palms in disbelief, her mind a chaotic mess.
“Meow~”
The giant cat approached again. This time, it didn’t charge. Its yellow-glass-like eyes gazed at her pleadingly. Its meow was soft and coaxing, though much deeper than a normal cat’s voice because of its enormous size.
Wen Xian instinctively stepped back. Sensing her caution, the cat stopped advancing, letting out two soft meows before raising its right paw to lick it, then stared at her.
Only then did Wen Xian notice that the paw, as thick as her fist, had been injured, something had torn the flesh, exposing the bone.
For a moment, the girl and the giant cat simply faced each other. Wen Xian cautiously asked, “Do you want me to treat your wound?”
The giant cat meowed twice. Wen Xian felt she had guessed correctly but was still amazed that it seemed to understand her words.
She shook her head. “I don’t have any medicine, and I don’t know how to heal. You’ll have to find someone else.”
The cat tilted its head and meowed two more times. Wen Xian could swear she heard a note of pleading. But she truly had no way to treat it. She was also afraid that if she tried, the cat might go wild and hurt her. So all she could do was sit there stiffly, shaking her head.
Perhaps realizing she really wouldn’t help, the giant cat let out a disappointed meow, then silently turned and walked away.
Wen Xian finally exhaled, too. She didn’t dare linger in the wild any longer. Whatever else, she had to get back to the town to find help.
She lifted her basket, but the path she had come by was now completely overgrown with mutated snow peas in the fields. She barely found a way through, but didn’t dare step down.
Frustrated, she muttered to herself, wishing the plants would just move aside.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than the long stretch of snow peas parted with a swish, revealing the ridge she had walked on earlier.
Wen Xian gaped in astonishment. But after encountering so many strange things in a single day, even her shock wasn’t as paralyzing as it had been at the very start.
A faint thought flickered in her mind.
Cautiously, she glanced at the snow peas on either side of the path, each now as long as a hand, and silently thought, “Make way.” Sure enough, the snow peas ahead parted with a swish.
Wen Xian paused and looked at a giant bok choy growing beside the snow peas, taller than her chest, and silently thought, “Shake.” Obediently, the giant bok choy wiggled.
She then looked at the pepper tree behind the bok choy, it had really grown into a tree, and thought, “Dance.” This time, the pepper tree only twitched; it did not dance as she had hoped.
Could it be that plants respond differently depending on the type?
Wen Xian was puzzled. Next to the pepper tree was an eggplant tree. She commanded it to dance, but this time it didn’t move at all.
She didn’t understand the reason, but there was no time to experiment further. Fortunately, all the other plants along the path gave her way, allowing her to safely return to the town.
Besides the giant cat, she also encountered a rabbit-sized mouse.
She froze in shock at first. The mouse, however, seemed even more timid than she was; it squeaked and scurried into the dense grass, disappearing from sight, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.
When she finally stepped onto the town’s streets, it felt as if she had arrived at the ruins of human civilization.
All sorts of plants, familiar and unfamiliar, had completely overtaken the town. Only in a few corners could the original streets still be seen.
The place was silent. From some distant point came one or two faint howls of cats or dogs. She cautiously approached the inn where she was staying, only to find no one there.
Panic and unease gripped her; she felt abandoned by humanity.
She didn’t dare call out and carefully pushed the inn’s door, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Who’s there?”
A wary, low voice came from inside. Wen Xian’s heart leapt with hope, and she replied softly, “Is that the landlady? I’m a guest in room 303. Could you please open the door?”
A low murmur came from inside. Wen Xian felt a little anxious, but soon she heard footsteps approaching the door and couldn’t help but relax.
The door opened. She looked grateful. “Thank you so much, landlady…”
But the person opening the door was the young man from the hostel next door, the Shouzi. He was clearly injured, with his neck bandaged, his face pale, but his eyes bright, almost unnaturally so.
Seeing her, he looked surprised, then even more delighted. “It’s really you? You’re alive?”
Wen Xian instinctively steadied herself and quickly said, “Thank you for opening the door for me.”
“Don’t mention it. With danger all around, there’s barely anyone left nearby. We should help each other.”
He stepped aside to let her in. Wen Xian hesitated for a moment, but the bizarre experiences she had just gone through and the fear of being alone were still vivid in her mind, so she walked inside.
Passing by Shouzi, she noticed he was carrying an old-fashioned rifle in his hand. Her eye twitched, and for a moment she felt a pang of regret.
But by then Shouzi had already closed the door, and Wen Xian had no choice but to go further in. When she entered the courtyard, she saw that all the succulents, hanging bells, roses, and other flowers the landlady had planted had been uprooted. Broken pots littered the ground.
The shade umbrella for resting had been toppled, and several rattan chairs were missing. It looked as if a battle had taken place. On the wall opposite, there was a splatter of dark brown marks, and she vaguely smelled a rotting, bloody stench.
At that moment, the door on the left opened, and the burly man who had spoken to her earlier stepped out, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Seeing her, he looked surprised. “Lady luck’s on your side. In this kind of situation, going missing in the mountains for three days and still coming back alive…”
“Three days?”
Wen Xian was stunned. After waking, she had been too panicked to notice the time. She quickly checked her phone: it was November 2nd. She had left on the morning of October 29th. It really had been three days.
She hurriedly asked, “Do you know what actually happened? Why did all the plants and animals outside change? Did you call the police?”
She held up her phone. “I… I tried calling after I woke up, but… it wouldn’t go through.”
Seeing her dazed and helpless, Chen Lian’s scrutinizing gaze softened a little. He looked her over, noting the sportswear soaked and darkened with blood. “You really don’t know anything? Then… where were you for these three days?”
Wen Xian swallowed hard; her mouth was dry. “I… I went into the mountains to pick mushrooms. Suddenly, vines wrapped around me and dragged me into a black hole. Along the way, I passed out. When I woke up, the vines were sucking my blood, I… I…”
She shivered as she recalled the pain and fear of those glowing tubes piercing her flesh, her eyes full of terror.
Shouzi looked pained, and Chen Lian frowned.
“I was in so much pain and scared, I passed out again. When I woke up, the vines were gone. I managed to escape, only to find that everything outside had changed. Plants had grown huge, everywhere. I tried to call the police, but the phone wouldn’t work…”
As she spoke, she watched their reactions, careful not to reveal any gaps in her story. Yet, as they listened, both men gradually showed expressions of realization, and she sensed something was off.
Then Shouzi said to Chen Lian, “Brother Lian, maybe after being attacked by those man-eating vines, she mutated, gained some ability she doesn’t even know about, which is why she wasn’t attacked by the mutated plants when she returned.”
Wen Xian’s heart skipped. Confused, she asked, “Mutated? Wood ability? What are you talking about?”
Chen Lian took a final drag from his cigarette, stubbed it out with his foot, and explained, “Not long after you left that day, all the plants suddenly went wild. They attacked anyone they saw. Shouzi almost had his neck snapped by the vines. We weren’t prepared, many people died right then.”
“Later we discovered that many of the survivors who had been attacked also mutated. For example, Shouzi’s strength increased after the vines wrapped around his neck. I was scratched by a mutated cat, and my speed improved significantly.”
He studied Wen Xian for a moment. “You must have mutated too, but you probably haven’t realized it yet.”
Wen Xian thought about how her hands had become tree shields when the giant cat appeared, and how she had been able to command certain plants. Could all of that be abilities that came from mutation?
She wanted to understand more in detail, but she wasn’t familiar with these two, and to be honest, there was still a bit of tension between them. So she didn’t ask further, only wearing a blank, confused expression on her face.
“So… it’s really like that? Th-then how much longer do we have to stay here? When will the rescue arrive?”
A trace of seriousness crossed Chen Lian’s face. “Not long after things happened, we tried calling the police too. Same result, we couldn’t get through. Even now, we haven’t been able to contact anyone outside.”
Seeing Wen Xian’s pale face, Shouzi’s eyes shifted. He stepped closer and said softly, “Don’t be afraid, beautiful. Even though the animals have mutated and are hundreds of times more vicious than before, we got lucky. While gathering supplies, we found a few old gun. Now everyone in this inn is under our protection. Also, the food and drink we collected will be distributed by us. As long as you obey, I’ll make sure no mutated plant, animal, or person dares to hurt you.”
His words were half threat, half coaxing, any adult would understand what he meant.
Wen Xian avoided his gaze, shivering all over.
She forced a smile and said to Chen Lian, “Thank you for telling me all this. You two go ahead with your business—I’ll go back and change clothes.”
With that, she ignored their reactions, circled past Shouzi, and quickly went upstairs.
“Hey—”
Seeing that she ignored him, Shouzi’s face immediately darkened. He raised his foot, ready to follow.
“Shouzi.”
Chen Lian called him, his thick brows furrowed. “Don’t act recklessly. Even if you take advantage of the chaos, once everyone is rescued, you won’t escape retribution.”
Shouzi stopped, scowling. He kicked over a broken flowerpot nearby and snorted coldly. “Rescue? It’s been three days and we haven’t seen a thing. Outside is probably chaotic too. Maybe this is like in the novels, global mutation, the apocalypse has come!”
A ruthless gleam flashed in his eyes. He spat and said with wild ambition, “Lian, they say chaos breeds heroes, the times create legends. If this really is the apocalypse, then we, with our abilities and weapons, are the chosen ones! We should recruit and fight while we can. Wealth, status, women, all should be ours for the taking!”
Chen Lian gave him a look that spoke volumes. “If it really is the apocalypse, you won’t be the only one thinking like that. You never amounted to much in normal times, why do you think you can become king or bandit in a world where order has collapsed?”
He ignored Shouzi’s wild fantasies, returned to the room that used to be the landlady’s office, sat down, leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed, and thought about Wen Xian’s timid expression from before. Then Shouzi’s words crept into his mind, and his thoughts became inevitably tangled.
Shouzi, seeing that Chen Lian dismissed his ideas, grew a little angry. Still, his attention remained fixed on Wen Xian. Despite her filthy appearance when she returned, her exposed skin was strikingly fair and delicate, reminding him involuntarily of the can of milk he drank that morning.
At that moment, he truly hoped his prediction was right, if this really was the apocalypse, even if he couldn’t become a top dog, couldn’t he at least dominate a single woman?