“Did we encounter many of these mutated plants on the path we took before?” The team regrouped at a relatively safe location near the gate, and Colonel Lu asked Xu Song and Yue Zheng. He was aware that these two individuals seemed to have a special method for detecting hidden mutated plants and animals. It couldn’t be just enhanced hearing, and he couldn’t believe it.
There were quite a few sound-based abilities users in the military, but none of them could hear the movements of these mutated plants or the dormant undead creatures. Even second-tier abilities users couldn’t do that.
Xu Song and Yue Zheng exchanged glances and nodded. “There were quite a few.”
Colonel Lu’s face turned grim. “Are they all like… that?” What did “quite a few” mean? If they had to deal with these elusive mutated plants all the way back, their losses would be enormous!
“It’s possible,” Xu Song pondered for a moment and said, “they weren’t this… aggressive before. It’s as if they woke up from hibernation.”
“Hibernation…” Colonel Lu nodded, expressing his gratitude to the two. If even plants could hibernate… and with the previous encounters with insects, animals with mutated abilities… could there still be a place for humans in this world?
After the attack by mutated plants at N University, everyone believed they were prepared for anything. Xu Song and Yue Zheng were responsible for vigilance and guidance, which served them well in avoiding danger. However, when a mutated plant extended its bizarre, unseen reddish-brown flowers from a high windowsill and sprayed concentrated acid at their team, their worldview was once again shaken.
“Even plants have abilities now?!!” One of the soldiers, narrowly avoiding the acid, exclaimed.
“Stay focused! Target its roots!” Xu Song fired a white rocket at the plant, growing out of the ground, and severed it, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Do you want to let anyone live?” Colonel Lu spat, staring at the plant on the ground, contemplating picking it up to bring back to the base for analysis by the scientists.
“Don’t go,” Yue Zheng quickly pulled him back.
“Why?”
“It’s a plant. Even if it’s cut or broken, other parts won’t die immediately.”
The group shivered once again, and a young soldier, thinking quickly, picked up a snowball and threw it at the fallen flower on the ground. With a “pop,” the flower exploded, emitting a strange, putrid odor, drenching the snowball entirely. Colonel Lu’s face turned green.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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This was no longer a human habitat; it had become a terrifying abyss.
They wondered if other exploration teams that had entered the city had encountered these threats. At this moment, these individuals could only hope that they encountered these threats merely because they had ventured too deep and too far.
The entire day, they quickened their pace without taking any breaks, arriving at the location where they had separated from the convoy. But all they found was a ground covered in fresh blood.
“They’ve been taken away; it shouldn’t be the plants,” Xu Song observed, examining the dried and slightly darkened bloodstains on the ground.
Colonel Lu closed his eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling the pent-up frustration. “Let’s go.” Before returning here, he had lost contact with the driver and the soldiers left behind. There had been no distress signals, and the base remained oblivious, knowing only that they might have encountered trouble.
Nevertheless, they had to return to this location. Even if the vehicle had broken down, they had to take this path back.
The military truck had no issues, except for some bloodstains on the seats.
Colonel Lu selected two young soldiers to drive. Xu Song, Yue Zheng, and two visual abilities users, along with one hearing abilities user, were in charge of guarding. Colonel Lu sat with a grim face, starting to write a report.
The encounters with mutated animals and insect swarms during their journey had already been unnerving. However, on their way back, they encountered even more disturbing sights, which made it clear that the base needed to address these issues. Allowing the expedition teams to freely explore the city was proving to be detrimental to both them and the base.
“Something is approaching from the southeast. It’s from the sky,” Yue Zheng rose from his seat, his face darkening. “Be cautious; they might launch aerial attacks.”
The soldiers, who knew that birds had become proficient in using abilities, shuddered nervously. One soldier, trying to lighten the mood, glanced around and said, “At least there aren’t many rocks around. Their firepower might not be enough.”
After about ten minutes, the sky group arrived. Then, “Damn! Fireballs, lightning balls, water balls! The birds have wind abilities!”
Xu Song did his best to conjure a fiery net above the truck, blocking the attacks of these wind birds. However, this consumed most of his abilities and mental energy, preventing him from attacking the birds.
Yue Zheng took out a gun, using his excellent eyesight to take shots. “I miss my mother and Mo Tiancheng and Mo Tianyou,” Xu Song muttered as he watched the bullets, although hitting one bird’s abdomen, failing to kill it instantly, especially missing his mother’s lightning explosion technique.
“We’ll be home by tonight at the latest, and we’ll see them,” Yue Zheng said, contemplating whether to jump up and confront the birds directly.
If Mo Tiancheng and Mo Tianyou were present, their Diamond Vines could completely withstand the aerial attacks of this strike team, allowing him to focus on attacking. Combined with his mother’s firepower, Abu’s Wind Blades, and Yue Zheng’s own abilities, they could unleash a formidable offensive. And he can’t forget Xiao Shu in his pocket; they were not utilizing their full combat potential now, especially when facing such an airborne attack, which was deeply frustrating.
“Fold up the fire net; I’ll go up.” Yue Zheng thought for a moment and realized that continuing to attack wasn’t a viable option.
“Be careful,” Xu Song nodded and quickly retracted the fire net.
Yue Zheng took a running start, and then with a “whoosh,” he leaped onto the roof. The soldiers were astounded to see that Yue Zheng had used the momentum from leaping onto the truck’s roof to launch himself into the air, slicing off the head of a bird that had flown too low.
As Yue Zheng descended back onto the truck, Xu Song quickly raised the fire net again, shielding him from the birds’ frenzied attacks. Above the fire net, when the birds were hit by their abilities, only a faint wisp of pale blue smoke arose; in some cases, there was not even a wisp of smoke, as they were entirely incinerated by the fire net.
Upon returning to the truck, Yue Zheng launched himself into the air again with another powerful leap, while Xu Song retracted the fire net. Yue Zheng then quickly sent out several rockets, hitting two birds that had been solely targeting him.
“Quite the freaks,” Colonel Lu recalled the comments made by his comrades who had been on missions with Xu Song and Yue Zheng before. At that time, he hadn’t taken it seriously, but now… with over fifty people, they couldn’t take down a few birds, yet these two individuals were seamlessly coordinating their efforts and quickly dispatched so many wind mutants. If this wasn’t “freakish,” then what was?
Faced with a formidable opponent and having exhausted their abilities, the wind mutants, under the command of their leader, circled around for a moment, leaving a pile of droppings, and then flapped their wings and flew away.
“Is this a parting gift of biological warfare?” Colonel Lu removed his hat, looked helplessly at the pile of bird droppings, and threw it on the ground in frustration.
“As long as the vehicle is fine, we should be okay. Let’s get going,” his deputy patted him on the shoulder, and they signaled everyone to get back into the vehicle, continuing their journey toward the base. The hat, covered in bird droppings, was left as a gift to the earth.
As the light began to fade, the tall walls of the base slowly came into view in front of the vehicle.
The snow had yet to melt, and the gate was still bustling with activity.
The hearts of everyone in the vehicle were filled with a mix of hope and heaviness. The expedition had taken an unexpected turn, and they now faced circumstances they hadn’t anticipated. As they returned to this last refuge in the hearts of humanity, each person couldn’t help but worry. Would spring truly bring a brighter tomorrow, or would it be another nightmare?
Regardless, they had come back alive.
Out of the fifty-seven people in their group, only three remained to watch the vehicle, and the rest had disappeared. Three had sacrificed themselves during the evacuation from N City, and two more during their escape from the city. Now, there were only forty-nine of them left.
While the number of casualties might not seem high, it was crucial to remember that these individuals were all elite members of the force, and they were all abilities users.
Compared to other abilities users, each one of them had the potential to make even elite abilities users within the base turn their heads. In the military, they were considered elite. Yet they had died quietly, killed by mutated plants and animals.
Colonel Lu gave his report to the high-ranking members of the base about the operation. When they heard about the mutated insect swarms and the plants with apparent special abilities, the faces of these high-ranking individuals changed color.
…
“So, does this mean that the city is very dangerous?” Mother Xu, while handing out soup to the two of them, hesitated and looked at her children. “Should we move out of here after spring?”
The decision to move had been made unanimously, but now, the situation outside was uncertain.
“Moving out is still the better choice,” Yue Zheng said, glancing at Xu Song, who was lost in thought, and then at Mother Xu.
“After this trip to the city, we can confirm that both flora and fauna have evolved. It’s only natural; it wouldn’t make sense if only animals had developed abilities, while insects and plants remained at their original level.”
“Before, Xu Song and I had decided to take a look in the city after moving out and find some resources and educational materials for the children. However, since we’ve obtained many books from the library due to this trip and the situation we’ve discovered, we don’t need to go there specifically.”
With a map in hand, Yue Zheng pointed to a location. “I think if we want to move out of the city, settling in this area should be much better.”
Wow. Powered up animals and plants are fearsome… Thanks for all the updates and Happy Holidays! 🤣❤️🤣❤️🥳🎉