“Swish, swish, swish.”
That sound broke the stillness of the darkness.
The ground began to tremble, as if something beneath the soil was about to burst out.
“Ah…”
Countless branches lashed toward them. Someone in the team failed to notice in time and was swept up by the branches.
Hundreds of branches wrapped around him. In an instant, he dissolved into a pool of blood.
“Wh… what kind of monster is that?!”
Everyone’s faces changed drastically. It was the first time they had seen such a mutated plant, and none of them knew what to do.
“Bang bang bang…”
Someone behind them fired bullets into the tree roots. The countless branches shrank slightly, but the attack only caused negligible damage. A few thin branches snapped off, yet they quickly grew back.
“This tree can actually feel pain? Has it become a spirit or something?” Qi Hua exclaimed in shock.
Once the branches reacted, they attacked again. The ability user who had been carrying Ah Bin failed to escape in time and was slammed hard to the ground by the branches.
“Old Chen, quickly, use fire!”
Yu Chen gave a bitter smile. “When we fought the Licker earlier, I used up all my abilities. They haven’t recovered yet.”
Qi Hua looked at the many ability users behind him. Everyone wore similarly bitter expressions.
None of them had expected to be this unlucky. On the same map, they had encountered two major bosses.
“Go that way…”
At that moment, Yue Feiyao pointed toward the other end of the factory. Without hesitation, everyone immediately followed her.
At this point, Yan Jin and the others had no choice but to follow as well. Moreover, that batch of supplies was still inside Ah Bin’s space.
Under Yue Feiyao’s lead, they quickly arrived at a building. The branches attempted to surge inside, but their strength was insufficient to break through the thick walls. In frustration, they could only pound violently at the door from outside, yet they still could not get in.
Even so, no one’s heart truly settled. Everyone was afraid that branches might suddenly shoot out from somewhere.
“Let’s rest here for a while. Once our abilities recover a little, we’ll think of a way out.”
Yan Jin looked around the room. It was simply an empty space with nothing inside, and it was relatively clean. Before the apocalypse, the factory had probably used it to store something.
“Boss Yan, do you want something to eat?” An ability user from the team handed her a pack of compressed biscuits.
“Uh… no, thank you!” Yan Jin shook her head. Out of curiosity she had tried a pack of those biscuits before, and the taste had been truly unbearable. She was almost traumatized by them now.
“Oh.” The man had no choice but to take them back with disappointment.
A low and gentle male voice sounded from behind.
“Xiao Yan, do you want some dried meat?” Ji Yanting’s voice was not loud, yet it was impossible to ignore. “I roasted this jerky overnight before we set out. Try it and see if you like the taste.”
As he spoke, he took out a bag of jerky from his backpack. The meat was a bright reddish brown color, and the rich aroma carried a slightly sweet saltiness. It instantly overshadowed the man’s dry compressed biscuits.
Yan Jin had not eaten for almost an entire day. Seeing Ji Yanting looking at her as if urging her to try it quickly, she could not bear to refuse. “This… isn’t that appropriate.”
Originally, she had planned to find an excuse later to leave the group and bring Ji Yanting and the others somewhere to improve their meal.
“It’s fine,” Ji Yanting said gently.
From beginning to end, he maintained a completely calm expression. Only after Yan Jin walked away did he turn his head to look at the man who had offered the compressed biscuits earlier, his eyes carrying a trace of unreadable scrutiny.
At that moment, Cheng Yi woke up. When he saw that the group had tied up both him and Ah Bin, and that a strange woman was sitting in the room staring quietly at him, he immediately became furious.
“Are you planning to rebel?” Cheng Yi shouted angrily.
“Captain Cheng, we’re not planning to rebel. We’re just afraid you might run away,” Yan Jin said immediately.
“You… what do you mean by that?” Cheng Yi’s eyes flickered as he avoided looking at her, pretending not to understand.
“Cheng Yi, I never expected you to be such a despicable person,” Qi Hua said angrily.
Everyone thought about how Cheng Yi had abandoned them earlier to face the mutated Licker alone just so he could take the supplies and escape. If it had not been for Yan Jin, they might all have died there.
The thought filled them with resentment.
“You are working for the base. You should be prepared to sacrifice yourselves for the base,” Cheng Yi said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Ah Bin, did you hear that? If you hadn’t been carrying those supplies, you would have been the one sacrificed at any time,” Yan Jin said to Ah Bin, who was tightly shutting his eyes. From the movement of his eyes beneath his eyelids, she knew he had already woken up but refused to open them.
Ah Bin began to struggle internally.
“Don’t listen to her nonsense. You are my most capable assistant. How could I abandon you?” Cheng Yi said seriously.
“Everyone here is also your capable assistant. Yet you abandoned them without hesitation.”
Yan Jin reviewed everything that had happened today and understood his plan clearly. He had intended to use her and Qi Hua to obtain the supplies, then eliminate them and keep everything for himself. He had never intended to give her half of the supplies.
No wonder he had agreed so quickly at the beginning.
If they had not encountered the Licker, he might already have fled far away with Ah Bin, leaving the rest of the ability users behind as disposable tools.
Everyone else realized this as well. Their eyes lowered, and none of them bothered to defend Cheng Yi anymore.
Yan Jin also knew that a few words alone would not completely change the ability users’ opinions of Cheng Yi.
At that moment, the previously silent night was broken by loud banging sounds outside.
Those branches had gone a long time without feeding. Now that they had discovered a group of prey they could not reach, they became restless again.
Earlier, when no one was paying attention, Yan Jin had secretly given Yu Chen and Qi Hua two bottles of recovery nutrient solution so they would have abilities left to save themselves when necessary.
Boom!
Hundreds of branches burst through the door. In an instant, the small room was filled with banyan tree branches. Everyone feared the branches would drag them away and turn them into pools of blood, so they fired their guns wildly at the ground.
“Use fire!” someone shouted.
Only then did everyone react.
Right, plants were afraid of fire. Even mutated plants should be no exception.
The fire ability user gathered the small amount of energy he had just recovered and condensed it into a small fireball.
With that strike, many of the banyan tree branches were destroyed. The branches inside the room weakened significantly, allowing everyone to finally gather together and retreat.
“Run! This mutated plant is too powerful!”
Cheng Yi walked in front, with Yue Feiyao following behind him. The moment they stepped outside, everyone immediately regretted it.
The mutated banyan tree had already been waiting at the intersection, as if anticipating them walking straight into its trap.
Cheng Yi unleashed hundreds of wind blades at once.
Bang bang bang!
The banyan tree was cut into segments. The pain made it sway violently, and many leaves were knocked down.
“Brother Cheng, you’re amazing!” Yue Feiyao hurried to his side, seeking protection.
Cheng Yi examined Yue Feiyao carefully. She seemed somewhat familiar, but he could not remember where he had seen her before.
“Ah…”
The fallen leaves suddenly gathered together into small clusters and shot toward them in attack.
Yue Feiyao was terrified by the sudden assault, her face turning pale with shock.