Chapter 654: It Wants to Control Me
The women in the room exchanged tense looks. Liu Shasha’s face went pale. “An Ran, your husband’s knocking on the door.”
“Wife, open the door! Hurry! The building’s on fire—grab Zhan Anxin and come out!”
An Ran didn’t move. Her expression showed hesitation. Of course she knew about the fire, but right now she could only “see” the short stretch of hallway outside their door—and even that view was vague and distorted, like looking through fog.
How could she be sure the man outside was really Zhan Lian?
The voice sounded urgent, like he was truly panicking about the fire, desperate to get her out. From upstairs, survivors were flooding downward. News that the upper floors were burning had spread fast, and many who had refused to open their doors earlier were now rushing out in panic toward the first floor.
An Ran stood by the door and called out, “Where’s Luo Feifan?”
“He’s protecting the kids on the first floor! Wife, open the door and come out! Hurry—another powerful zombie just evolved!”
The man outside—whether he was truly Zhan Lian or not—sounded frantic. Sweat slicked his forehead. Several people ran past him down the stairwell. He turned aside as if to prove his words true, then ran off with them toward the elevators.
Moments later, An Ran “saw” it—a creature moving through the corridor outside her door. No, not a person, but a wood-type zombie. Its skin looked like rough, dried bark, and its back bristled with writhing branches that creaked and twisted like living snakes as it moved.
When it passed by her door, it suddenly stopped. Its head turned with a sharp, cracking sound—directly toward her room.
“Ah!”
An Ran staggered back, clutching her head and collapsing to the floor. Pain shot through her skull as though a needle had been driven straight into her brain.
Zhao Ru and Liu Shasha rushed forward to help her, but An Ran suddenly lashed out. She shoved Zhao Ru down, pressing her to the ground, gripping her arms tightly with a wild, predatory glare in her eyes.
“An Ran! An Ran, what’s wrong with you?!”
Zhao Ru’s eyes widened in shock. For a split second, she felt like An Ran was about to tear into her like a beast.
But then An Ran squeezed her eyes shut, brow furrowed in agony. She forced herself to let go, pushing away from Zhao Ru and staggering upright. Her body trembled, drenched in cold sweat.
Through clenched teeth, she forced out the words—“It wants to control me!”
Wood-type zombies couldn’t distinguish between humans and animals—in their perception, everything was food. But unlike normal zombies, a wood-type variant was similar to a high-grade mutated plant. It could sense, suppress, and control ordinary vegetation.
An Ran’s own energy was deeply linked to plant life. That connection had drawn the evolved wood-type zombie’s attention—it sensed her presence and mistook her for another plant to dominate.
The realization was terrifying.
If wood-type zombies could control human wood-type ability users, they could force them to grow vegetation endlessly, covering the earth in uncontrollable plant life.
And worse—if it managed to control An Ran, she could, in turn, command mutated plants. Even if she controlled just one—the monstrous Flesh Flower still devouring Hexi—it would be enough to annihilate the entire Yaoyang Base.