Chapter 45 - 43: Three Men, One Play

Chapter 45: Chapter 43: Three Men, One Play

"Take this gun. Lead the others and kill all the Mutants and Mutated Plants. The sunflowers’ fatal weakness is at the base of their stalks. And do whatever it takes to keep Wang Quanzhi alive."

"Afterward, have everyone who’s still alive gather the sunflower seeds. That includes me!"

Xia Yu spoke in a rapid-fire, hushed tone.

Without waiting to see if Xie Shaokun had heard, she pushed open the car door and left.

"Are... are those all monsters? They’re so scary."

Xia Yu instantly transformed into a damsel in distress. Her voice trembling, she shrank behind Wang Quanzhi, daring only to peek her head out to look toward the glass greenhouse.

Wang Quanzhi couldn’t help but puff out his chest, taking the initiative to explain, "Just like there are human Mutants, there are mutated species of animals and plants, too."

"You’re the one who got them to fight each other."

"It’s all thanks to you."

Xia Yu hurriedly waved her hands in denial.

"No, no, no."

"I was just so nervous, I jerked the steering wheel randomly. I had no idea what would happen."

Looking like she was about to die of fright, she spoke with a tearful voice, "Sniffle... That scared me to death."

Wang Quanzhi was about to say something else.

"Everyone, find a weapon."

Xie Shaokun strode over, brandishing his pig-killing knife. "No matter which of these two types of monsters wins," he said, "the victor will just come after us next."

Hearing this, Wang Quanzhi and the other man with an earring both nodded and began searching for anything they could use as a weapon.

As Xia Yu searched, she kept an eye on the situation in the glass greenhouse.

The individual Mutants were incredibly strong. If it weren’t for the sunflowers’ superior numbers, the battle would have been over already.

Even so, the Mutants were using their immense Power to rip the sunflowers’ Roots apart, even tearing entire plants out of the ground.

「A few minutes later.」

The sunflowers had been mostly destroyed.

The Mutants, on the other hand, had suffered no fatalities, though every one of them was heavily injured.

Just as everyone thought the Mutants were about to claim victory...

...one of the Mutants suddenly collapsed, motionless.

Dead!

Xia Yu’s eyes narrowed. She saw that the Mutant’s mouth, eyes, nose, ears, navel—every orifice—had been pierced by Roots. The inside of its body was utterly ravaged.

Her gaze fell upon the Root that had pierced its eye.

It was still moving.

The other Roots were all retracting.

’The Mutated Plants have no intelligence; they don’t know how to kill a Mutant,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been tied up with them for so long, let alone ended up on the losing side.’

’The Root in the eye must have pierced its brain by accident. That’s what killed it.’

’And once one sunflower has the experience of killing a Mutant, it’s bound to share that information with the others through some special plant-like connection.’

’At that point, the Mutants won’t be able to withstand the Mutated Plants’ assault.’

"The tide is about to turn."

Xia Yu noticed the face on this sunflower’s disk was somewhat familiar. It looked like the beautiful woman who had been kissing someone right before the Mist Event.

Immediately after, everything happened just as she had predicted.

The sunflowers’ Roots slithered up the Mutants’ bodies and drilled into their eye sockets, killing them instantly.

In just over ten seconds...

...all the Mutants were on the ground, dead.

"Huh?"

Xie Shaokun and the other two could only stare, dumbfounded. They had no idea what had just happened.

"Ahem."

Xia Yu cleared her throat.

Xie Shaokun snapped back to his senses and yelled, "Charge! We’ll use this chance to kill these Mutated Plants! Their fatal weakness is at the base of their stalks!"

Wang Quanzhi was right behind him.

Xia Yu deliberately took a slower step, falling to the back.

The man with the earring hesitated, then actually took a step back. He clearly had no intention of charging in to risk his life.

Fear. It was the natural reaction for the weak.

"Move!"

"Or I’ll shoot you dead."

Xie Shaokun noticed this, stopped in his tracks, and pulled out his gun. He pointed it at the man’s head and roared.

"I..."

The man jumped. He was about to say that Xie Shaokun wouldn’t dare shoot him, but then he remembered that Xie Shaokun was a wanted man who had probably already killed people. Fear instantly gripped him, and he scrambled to beg for his life. "Don’t kill me! I... I couldn’t find a Weapon! I’d be useless if I went!"

Just as Xie Shaokun was about to say something else...

"There’s another monster still alive," Wang Quanzhi quickly interjected. "It loves sneak attacks, and it’s much faster than the Mutants."

"It’s not even safe in the car. You’re better off sticking with us."

The man with the earring thought of that Ghost-like monster and grew even more terrified. He quickly picked up a loose brick from the ground and said, "I’ll go, I’ll go."

The four of them charged forward.

"Stay close to me. I’ll protect you," Wang Quanzhi whispered to Xia Yu.

"Okay."

"Thank you."

Xia Yu’s face was a picture of gratitude.

’She had plenty of experience playing the part of a helpless damsel.’

’She was even more convincing than the man with the earring.’

’And she had successfully fooled Wang Quanzhi.’

In reality, she was perfectly calm. The Blood Butterfly hidden in her sleeve slid down slightly. Her knees were bent and her body was tensed, ready to react to danger at a moment’s notice.

Hearing her response, Wang Quanzhi was thrilled.

’If he didn’t take this chance to win over such a beautiful girl, he wouldn’t even be able to respect himself.’

’Besides, wasn’t pursuing Xia Yu under the guise of "investigating a suspect" the whole reason he was here in the first place?’

"Hmph."

Seeing this, Xie Shaokun’s expression was odd.

’This pretty boy likes Yu?’

’Then again...’

’...Yu is so beautiful. Any man would fall for her.’

’Too bad this guy doesn’t know his own limits.’

’He’s not worthy of Yu.’

’Is he really thinking about hitting on a girl at a time like this?’ the man with the earring thought, his lip twitching. ’Is this one of those fucking idiots from a novel who can’t think straight the second he sees a woman?’

’As a super-fan of web novels, he especially hated these types who think with their dicks. If a main character acted like that, he’d drop the story from his library immediately and leave a nasty review.’

Xia Yu had no idea what the three men around her were thinking, nor did she care.

She was certain the hidden monster would take this opportunity to strike while they were busy fighting the Mutated Plants. There couldn’t be a more perfect time.

And similarly, for her, there was no better time to strike and take it down.

「Soon.」

"Watch out for the Roots!"

"Cut them down!"

...

The fight began.

Xie Shaokun led the charge.

Wang Quanzhi followed close behind.

Meanwhile, Xia Yu and the man with the earring were basically just going through the motions.

Even so, the group still had the upper hand.

There were only three sunflowers left. The number of their Roots had plummeted, and the speed and force of their attacks were greatly diminished. More importantly, they were too far apart to help one another.

It took only a minute to destroy the first sunflower.

The group charged toward the second sunflower.

「One minute later.」

Destroyed.

"Push it! This is the last one!"

Xie Shaokun charged forward again.

And at that very moment, Xia Yu’s eyes narrowed. ’It’s coming!’