Chapter 492: It's Heading South
Chapter 492: It's Heading South
Several flying knives dance around the petals like flies, trying to shave off the rest of the stamens. But the petals close, layer by layer, hiding them inside.
It will never bloom again.
One flying knife cuts through the outer layer of flesh, causing severe damage. The wound bleeds like a cut on pig liver—bright red blood—but the bleeding soon stops, and the flower quickly heals.
An Ran sits in the driver’s seat watching. After a moment, she turns to Little Mint.
“Mint, can you extract the crystal core from the flower bulb in the basement?”
Little Mint thinks for a moment, then shakes her head. The carnivorous flower is too high-level—it’s beyond her abilities.
Just then, several people come running from the direction of Jiahe Supermarket. An Ran looks closer—it’s Yun Tao.
She rolls down the window. “Brother Tao, what’s going on?”
Yun Tao rushes over, hazmat suit torn and tattered as if he’s just fought a hundred people.
He shakes his head. “That flower’s too strong. We can’t take it down. Zhan Lian and the others might not be able to hold out. We should retreat.”
As he speaks, Zhan Lian comes running back, his clothes in even worse shape. He has no pants legs left and looks like he’s fought a thousand people. He’s covered in the dripping mucus of the mutant flower. Behind him are Zhang Boxun and Luo Feifan.
From a distance, Zhan Lian waves at An Ran. “Run! That carnivorous flower’s gone berserk!”
Just above their heads, a vine shoots up into the sky. The flower’s petals, which had been curled, suddenly drop, as if trying to crush them.
Everyone flees. An Ran slams the accelerator and reverses. But then she makes a decision, rolls down the window, and shouts to Zhan Lian as he runs past:
“The flower bulb’s in the underground parking lot! To kill it, we have to destroy the bulb!”
Zhan Lian stops abruptly, turns, and drags Luo Feifan toward the parking lot entrance. Zhang Boxun, covered in blood, follows.
As if the flower senses what they’re doing, a mass of vines shoots up at the entrance, completely sealing it off. Yun Tao, donning a fresh hazmat suit, yells, “Strength-Type Ability Users! Follow me! Clear the entrance!”
He charges forward. A vine whips at him, but he catches it and wrestles it to the ground. The other soldiers—who’ve just been retreating—rush back like madmen. Some are stopped by vines. Others reach the entrance and pull away the vines blocking the way.
As the saying goes, there’s strength in numbers. Together, they create a gap.
Luo Feifan hurls a fireball into the darkness, and Zhan Lian and Zhang Boxun slip through.
An Ran, still in the car, gets out and stands by the side, watching.
Yun Tao and the others keep pulling out the vines while more keep crawling in. The petals, once tightly closed, begin to open again, prying up the floor tiles—especially toward the south.
Tiny as an ant on the ground, An Ran widens her eyes and cries out, “It’s running! It’s running south!”