Chapter 357: The golden fruit 68.

Bai Li could feel the tree noticing them.

The golden leaves turned slightly.

One branch rotated toward her.

Another toward Yan Cijin.

Neither woman moved.

The tree remained still.

Then the fruit gave off a soft ringing sound.

Yan Cijin whispered, "Did you hear that?"

"Yes."

"What was it?"

Bai Li shook her head.

"No idea."

A second ring followed.

The invisible line around the roots brightened.

Bai Li could see it now.

The barrier was not a wall.

It was a field of compressed energy, woven around the roots and trunk like a net.

And that net was opening.

Slowly.

Carefully.

Bai Li took another step.

No resistance.

She stopped.

Yan Cijin came beside her.

Both were now close enough that the golden light covered their entire bodies.

The smell was overwhelming.

Bai Li’s heart beat harder.

Yan Cijin’s breathing became shallow.

They both knew how easy it would be to simply walk forward and take the fruit.

That was exactly why they did not.

Bai Li closed her eyes for a moment.

She could feel something tugging at her mind.

Not a voice.

Not a command.

A suggestion.

Come closer.

The thought was so gentle that it almost passed as her own.

She opened her eyes.

Yan Cijin was standing perfectly still.

"You hear it too," Bai Li said.

Yan Cijin nodded.

"What does it say?"

"Nothing."

"Then why do you look like that?"

Yan Cijin smiled faintly.

"Because I want to go closer."

Bai Li understood.

That was the danger.

Not domination.

Desire.

The tree did not need to force them.

It only needed to make what they already wanted feel urgent.

Bai Li stepped slightly to the side so they were not directly facing the fruit.

Yan Cijin followed.

"Better?"

"Much."

They both breathed slowly.

The influence weakened.

Bai Li looked at her.

"Stay like this."

"Okay."

For several minutes they stood in silence.

The battle was over.

The rooftop was still.

The city beyond the mall was quiet enough that Bai Li could hear distant wind moving between buildings.

Yan Cijin finally broke the silence.

"Do you think we would have made it without each other?"

Bai Li looked at her.

She did not answer immediately.

"No."

Yan Cijin seemed surprised by the directness.

Bai Li continued.

"Not this cleanly."

Yan Cijin smiled.

"Good answer."

Bai Li looked back at the tree.

"You covered openings I could not cover."

"And you killed everything I could not kill."

"That sounds fair."

"It is."

Neither woman said anything else.

The fruit pulsed again.

The seam across its skin widened.

A tiny crack opened.

Golden light spilled through.

The smell became almost unbearable.

Yan Cijin covered her mouth with one hand.

Bai Li tightened her grip on Whisperfang.

"Almost."

The word came out quietly.

The tree responded.

The leaves shimmered.

The branch holding the fruit lowered by an inch.

Bai Li looked up.

For the first time the golden fruit seemed close enough to touch.

Not yet.

But soon.

The invisible perimeter had shrunk to almost nothing.

Bai Li could see the roots clearly.

They were not ordinary roots.

They looked like veins of gold running through dark wood, each carrying a faint current of energy.

The roots disappeared into the concrete without breaking it.

The tree did not belong on the rooftop.

It belonged somewhere older.

Bai Li wondered where it had come from.

She also knew that it did not matter right now.

The fruit was here.

That was enough.

Yan Cijin shifted closer.

Her shoulder brushed Bai Li’s arm.

Neither moved away.

The building trembled once more.

Bai Li glanced down at the cracks.

The roof was surviving by a miracle.

"We should be ready to move fast," she said.

Yan Cijin nodded.

"When it opens?"

"When it opens."

The fruit gave another ring.

The seam widened.

A tiny sliver of golden flesh became visible through the skin.

The scent surged.

Both women instinctively leaned forward.

They stopped themselves.

Bai Li took a breath.

Yan Cijin did the same.

The perimeter moved again.

There was now almost nothing between them and the tree.

Bai Li looked down.

The line was only inches from her boot.

Yan Cijin stood beside her.

The golden pomelo hung overhead.

The rooftop was silent.

The city was silent.

For the moment, the world had narrowed to the space between their feet and the invisible boundary.

Bai Li raised her eyes one last time.

She could see every ridge on the golden fruit.

Every leaf around it.

Every thread of light beneath its skin.

She could smell it so strongly that her mouth watered.

Yan Cijin quietly said, "Ready?"

Bai Li tightened her grip on Whisperfang.

"Ready."

They remained there.

Side by side.

Not touching.

Not speaking.

Waiting.

The invisible perimeter glimmered once.

Then it began to disappear completely.

Bai Li lowered her center of gravity.

Yan Cijin raised her crossbow.

Neither stepped forward yet.

The final few inches of golden light lay between them and the tree.

And beyond that thin line waited the fruit they had fought through the entire mall to find.

The last part of the fight still lingered in their bodies. Bai Li could feel the soreness in her shoulder where the tall zombie had struck her, the thin cut at her side where the monster’s claw had slipped through, and the faint numbness left in her fingers from forcing her soul energy into the third zombie’s core. None of it was enough to slow her down. Yan Cijin was in worse shape only because she had stayed close enough to fire at the exact moments Bai Li needed it. Her shoulder ached from the crossbow, her revolver was warm from repeated firing, and only a handful of bolts remained.

Bai Li glanced at the weapon.

"How many?"

Yan Cijin checked the quiver. "Four."

"Enough."

"That depends on what happens next."

Bai Li nodded.

The answer was correct. The next enemy might not be a zombie.

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TO BE CONTINUED.