Chapter 340: The golden fruit 51.

A thin cloud of golden dust floated into the air.

Bai Li immediately pulled Yan Cijin backward.

"Do not breathe it."

Yan Cijin covered her mouth.

The dust settled.

A small insect touched one of the leaves.

The insect grew larger in seconds.

Its shell thickened.

Its body changed.

Then it dropped dead.

Yan Cijin stared.

"That is new."

"Yes."

Bai Li looked at the plant.

"The fruit is changing everything around it."

"Including the monsters."

"Including the humans."

They moved carefully through the transformed level.

Several creatures attacked from the plants.

Small at first.

Then larger.

Bai Li burned through the vines with a controlled burst of power.

Yan Cijin cleared the creatures that came through the gaps.

Neither woman took unnecessary risks.

The plants were more dangerous than they looked.

One vine wrapped around Bai Li’s wrist.

She tore it free.

Another tried to coil around Yan Cijin’s ankle.

Bai Li cut it before it could tighten.

Yan Cijin looked at her.

"You are getting protective."

Bai Li shrugged.

"You are useful."

Yan Cijin laughed.

"That is the nicest thing you have said today."

"It is true."

"Still counts."

They reached the final stairwell of the human-controlled section.

The door had been reinforced from this side.

There were no locks.

No traps.

No signs.

Only a single sentence scratched into the metal.

THEY ARE AWAKE.

Bai Li read it.

Yan Cijin stood beside her.

Neither joked this time.

Something above them moved.

Not once.

Several times.

Heavy steps.

A low growl.

Then silence.

Bai Li put her hand on the door.

The metal was warm.

Almost hot.

She looked at Yan Cijin.

"Ready?"

Yan Cijin nodded.

"Always."

Bai Li opened the door.

The next floor was empty.

Empty in the worst possible way.

There were no humans.

No weak zombies.

No broken furniture.

No signs of anyone trying to survive.

Only a long hallway leading toward another set of stairs.

At the end of the hallway stood a huge statue.

It had once been a decorative angel.

Now its face had been torn off.

Something had written a message across its chest in blood.

DO NOT GO HIGHER.

Bai Li looked at the words.

Yan Cijin looked at her.

"We are definitely going higher."

"Obviously."

They walked past the statue.

Halfway down the hall, Bai Li stopped.

"Do you hear that?"

Yan Cijin listened.

A heartbeat.

Not hers.

Not Bai Li’s.

Something huge was breathing behind the walls.

The sound was slow.

Steady.

Waiting.

Yan Cijin smiled faintly.

"That is probably what the warning was about."

Bai Li nodded.

"Probably."

Then the wall beside them exploded.

A huge limb came through.

Bai Li shoved Yan Cijin aside.

The claw missed her face by an inch.

Yan Cijin landed cleanly and immediately attacked the limb.

Her strike drove it back through the wall.

The creature roared.

The hallway shook.

Bai Li looked at the hole.

"Not level two yet."

Yan Cijin nodded.

"But soon."

The two women moved toward the stairs.

The creature followed through the walls.

They did not stop.

One wall collapsed.

Then another.

The monster followed them upward like a shadow.

Bai Li glanced back.

"It is chasing us."

"Let it."

"You sound confident."

Yan Cijin smiled.

"I am."

They reached the next landing.

The creature burst through behind them.

It was enormous.

Its body filled half the staircase.

Its arms were long enough to touch both walls.

Its face was covered in bone.

A row of spikes ran down its spine.

Its eyes glowed faintly yellow.

Bai Li looked at it.

"Now that is more like it."

The creature roared.

Yan Cijin stepped beside Bai Li.

"Together?"

"Together."

The monster lunged.

Bai Li caught one arm.

Yan Cijin caught the other.

The staircase cracked beneath all three.

The creature pushed.

Bai Li and Yan Cijin slid backward several feet.

For the first time since entering the mall, Bai Li’s expression became serious.

Yan Cijin noticed.

"Stronger."

"Yes."

"Want help?"

Bai Li smiled.

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

They moved at the same time.

Bai Li pulled.

Yan Cijin pushed.

The creature lost its balance.

They redirected it into the wall.

Concrete shattered.

The monster fell through the opening.

It caught the edge.

Bai Li stepped forward.

Yan Cijin stood beside her.

They looked down.

The creature was hanging below them.

Its claws dug into the concrete.

It stared upward.

Neither woman attacked.

For a moment, they simply watched it.

Then the monster let go.

It fell into darkness.

They listened.

The impact came several seconds later.

Yan Cijin looked at Bai Li.

"That is one way to save energy."

Bai Li nodded.

"Exactly."

They continued upward.

Neither said it aloud, but both knew the rules had changed.

The floor below was the final section where weak humans and weaker creatures could still exist.

Above this, everything would be stronger.

The fruit had become close enough that its presence could no longer be ignored.

Every step upward felt warmer.

Every breath carried the scent of something ancient and powerful.

Bai Li looked at Yan Cijin.

"You still want to keep going?"

Yan Cijin smiled.

"Do you?"

Bai Li smiled back.

"Yes."

"Then I do too."

They climbed.

The golden light ahead grew brighter.

And below them, in the darkness of the mall’s human floors, the survivors were already beginning to whisper the same story.

Two women had entered the mall.

Two women had walked through the gangs.

Two women had broken every rule that was supposed to keep ordinary people alive.

And they were still going up.

Above them, something roared.

Bai Li stopped at the final landing of the human-controlled section.

The next staircase was dark.

No campfires.

No barricades.

No human voices.

Only the sound of claws scraping stone somewhere far above.

Yan Cijin stepped up beside her.

"So this is where the real trouble starts."

Bai Li looked into the darkness.

"Looks like it."

"Good."

Bai Li glanced at her.

"You really like trouble."

Yan Cijin smiled.

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TO BE CONTINUED.