Chapter 497: Is She Really Dead?
Chapter 497: Is She Really Dead?
"An Ran, are you okay?"
Yun Tao holds An Ran steady. Her eyes look strangely bewitching, almost as if they could enchant the mind. Unable to help himself, Yun Tao reaches out and covers her eyes with his hand.
She blinks and snaps back to her senses, gently removing his hand. Her eyes have already returned to their original color.
"What happened?" she asks dazedly.
It feels like she’s been trapped in a trance for an eternity, like she’s lived an entire lifetime in a dream before finally waking up.
Before Yun Tao and the others can respond, she notices the towering fleshy flower beside her. Its petals have completely withered, leaving only a few fleshy remnants, which are being absorbed by her plant. Before long, the once-arrogant petals vanish into her mutated vines, leaving only a few scorched yellow fragments behind.
An Ran’s heart fills with emotion. The carnivorous flower is dead, but she isn’t as happy as she imagined she’d be. In fact, there’s a faint sense of melancholy.
She turns to Yun Tao and asks calmly, "Was the crystal core taken?"
"Yes. The storm's over, and the sky's clear!" Yun Tao helps her up, smiling.
Everyone is overjoyed. With the crystal core removed, the petals lose all vitality and remain still.
Cheers erupt. Amid the flames lit by Luo Feifan, everyone embraces one another, overwhelmed by a genuine sense of triumph. These people, who’ve been persecuted by the apocalypse, forced to flee and hide, have faced this monstrous carnivorous flower with nothing but desperation and the will to survive. They never imagined that humans—mere ants at the bottom of the food chain—can work together and defeat such a giant.
If they can defeat something like that, what can’t they overcome?
Looking at the remaining soldiers, weeping and laughing as they embrace one another, An Ran smiles as she stands still. It’s a faint, mechanical smile. Even in this moment of celebration, a bitter taste lingers in her heart.
This carnivorous flower—she raised it. It killed so many people. And in the end, it took its own life.
Yes, An Ran doesn’t know why, but she’s certain the flower's destruction has nothing to do with her, Yun Tao, or even Zhan Lian and Zhang Boxun. In truth, no one here could have killed it. It has surpassed everything, no longer even a plant in the human sense.
She stands beside the remains, reaching out to touch a scorched yellow petal, murmuring, "Are you really dead?"
Something inside her feels unfinished.
Then, she turns and watches as Zhan Lian and Zhang Boxun emerge from the dark underground parking lot. Zhang Boxun holds something green in his hand. An Ran’s heart suddenly drops. She desperately wants that green crystal core.
Yun Tao and the others rush back, lifting Zhan Lian and Zhang Boxun like war heroes, tossing them into the air in celebration.
An Ran quietly returns to her car and drives away without fanfare. Unlike the excited soldiers, she feels only relief. The major threat is resolved—but the scene is too chaotic, and she doesn’t want Zhan Lian and the others to wake Doll.
Then she’ll spend hours coaxing her back to sleep.