Chapter 339: The golden fruit 50.

The golden roots became thicker.

They covered entire walls now.

Their glow was faint but unmistakable.

The fruit’s influence was spreading through the building.

Bai Li touched one root.

It was warm.

Yan Cijin looked at her hand.

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Anything?"

"It feels like sunlight."

Yan Cijin smiled.

"That sounds nice."

Bai Li looked at her.

"You want to touch it?"

Yan Cijin shook her head.

"Later."

Something about the word made Bai Li pause.

Later.

It sounded more like a promise than a casual answer.

She did not know why that made her chest feel slightly warmer.

Neither of them mentioned it.

The next floor began the true transition.

The ceiling was higher.

The stores were larger.

The abandoned advertisements were torn into strips by claws.

Deep grooves covered the walls.

The blood here was fresher.

Bai Li stepped over a severed claw.

"Level two?"

Yan Cijin looked at it.

"Not yet."

"Soon."

"Very soon."

They found a group of dead monsters clustered around a stairwell.

All of them had been torn apart.

Bai Li examined one.

The wounds were not caused by a human.

Yan Cijin crouched beside another.

"Something hunted them."

"Yes."

"And then left."

"Probably because it smelled us."

A low growl came from the darkness ahead.

Neither moved.

The growl came again.

Then a shadow crossed the end of the corridor.

Too large to be human.

Too fast to be the monster they had just fought.

Bai Li smiled.

"There it is."

Yan Cijin took a slow breath.

"We are almost there."

The creature did not attack.

It simply watched from the darkness.

Bai Li stepped forward.

The shadow disappeared.

A second later, something smashed into the ceiling behind them.

Yan Cijin spun.

A massive claw broke through the tiles.

Bai Li grabbed Yan Cijin around the waist and pulled her aside.

The claw came down where Yan Cijin had been standing.

Yan Cijin looked at Bai Li.

"You could have warned me."

"You were busy looking at the front."

"And you were looking at the back."

"Exactly."

Yan Cijin smiled.

"Fine."

They attacked together.

Bai Li drove the claw upward.

Yan Cijin struck the creature through the ceiling.

A huge body crashed into the floor above.

The entire level shook.

Neither woman waited.

They climbed through the hole.

The monster was gone.

Only a trail of blood remained.

Bai Li looked at it.

"It is running."

Yan Cijin nodded.

"Up."

They followed.

The trail ended at another staircase.

The stairs were covered in blood.

No bodies.

No footprints.

Just blood.

Yan Cijin looked at Bai Li.

"Do you think it is preparing a trap?"

"No."

"Why?"

"It is waiting."

"For us?"

Bai Li nodded.

"For the fruit."

They climbed in silence.

The golden smell had become almost overwhelming.

Both women could feel the energy in the air.

It was beginning to affect the mall itself.

Old lights flickered on.

Cracked screens glowed.

Broken escalators moved for a few seconds and then stopped.

The roots pulsed.

The higher floors were waking up.

Bai Li looked upward.

"We are close to the part where humans stop being the problem."

Yan Cijin looked behind them.

"Good."

"You say that like you are relieved."

"Humans are unpredictable."

Bai Li laughed.

"And monsters are predictable?"

"Mostly."

"That is a terrible theory."

"It has worked so far."

They reached another floor.

This one had once been a luxury section.

The stores were larger.

The ceilings were decorated with gold trim.

Broken chandeliers hung from above.

A thin layer of dust covered everything.

No signs of recent human activity.

Only monster tracks.

Deep claw marks crossed the floor.

Some tracks were huge.

Others were small.

They overlapped in every direction.

Bai Li crouched.

"Several species."

Yan Cijin looked ahead.

"And they are all going the same way."

Up.

The realization sat between them.

Every creature was drawn toward the same place.

The golden fruit had become the center of a natural hierarchy.

The stronger beings had simply pushed everything weaker below.

The top had become a gathering point for predators.

Bai Li stood.

"Then we should not be surprised when the stronger ones start noticing us."

A roar echoed through the mall.

The sound was so deep that the glass vibrated.

Yan Cijin smiled.

"Too late."

Bai Li smiled too.

They kept climbing.

At one landing, they found another barricade.

This one had been built by humans, but there was no gang behind it.

There were dozens of names written on the wall.

Some had been crossed out.

Some had dates beside them.

The most recent date was only a few days old.

Yan Cijin looked at it.

"People tried to record who went up."

Bai Li read the names.

"None came back."

They moved past it.

The staircase became narrower.

The walls began to glow softly.

Golden roots wrapped around the railing.

Bai Li stopped at one landing and looked down.

Far below, tiny lights moved through the lower floors.

Human groups were still active.

The survivors they had helped were heading toward safer rooms.

The remaining gangs were likely reorganizing.

Bai Li could almost imagine the rumors spreading.

Two women had entered.

Two women had crossed the lower floors.

Two women had destroyed the gang that controlled the stairwell.

Soon, more people would know.

Yan Cijin stood beside her.

"You are thinking about the people below."

"A little."

"They will talk."

"Let them."

"That does not worry you?"

Bai Li shook her head.

"No."

"Why?"

Bai Li looked up toward the glowing roots.

"Because the strongest thing here is not going to care what humans say."

Yan Cijin nodded.

They continued.

At last they reached a floor where there were no stores at all.

The corridor was almost completely transformed.

Plants grew through the walls.

Not normal plants.

Their leaves were translucent.

Their stems glowed faintly gold.

Their roots wrapped around doors and railings.

The air was warm and humid.

The sweet scent was everywhere.

Yan Cijin touched one leaf.

It opened.

.

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TO BE CONTINUED.