“Does the dandelion want to go?”
Lulu was the first to ask. “If it doesn’t want to, this whole alliance falls apart.”
Fu Changxun loosened the cuffs of his sleeves, and Xiao Pu immediately shot out, inflating in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, it had returned to the form they’d first seen it in—a giant dandelion taller than a person.
Its sheer size pushed everyone else into the corners of the room.
Fu Changxun: “…Shrink. Smaller.”
Xiao Pu flailed its leafy arms indignantly, as if deeply wronged.
In fact, it was ranting in outrage: “I heard everything! I heard all of it! Damn it, human! You actually used me as a bargaining chip in negotiations with other humans! I curse your alliance to fail! Did you hear me?!”
Fu Changxun calmly ignored it. “It’s fine. It’s willing. It said it doesn’t mind.”
“I do mind! AAAHHH! Can you listen when I talk?! This is outrageous! You’re just taking advantage of the fact that only you can hear me!”
Xiao Pu’s leaves flared dramatically, as if it really might hurl Fu Changxun out the door.
“Enough. One more size up and I’m putting you back in the inventory,” Fu Changxun said, grabbing a leaf with practiced calm.
“Aaah! You got what you wanted and now you don’t appreciate me! Humans are all the same! Boohoohoo!”
Despite its complaints, it clearly didn’t want to go back into the inventory. Grumbling under its breath, it shrank back down, still muttering nonstop.
Though smaller now, everyone had seen enough to realize the dandelion wasn’t just weirdly alive—it was dangerous. They’d also seen it listened to Fu Changxun.
“As long as it’s willing, that’s all that matters.”
Qiu Yi, oblivious to the furious yelling only Fu could hear, breathed a sigh of relief. Still serious, he added, “Since we’re working with Dagong, we need to weigh the risks carefully. He’s sitting on a ton of points—his overall power must be significant. Doctor Fu, do you think you can handle him if things go sideways?”
Fu Changxun was straightforward. “No. All my points were earned with Ah Zi. We complete missions together.”
Dong Zi nodded. “If it were just Dagong, maybe the two of us could take him. But he’s got a partner we know nothing about.”
Qiu Yi considered this. “That’s fair. I mean, it’s how he managed to unify all of City C. But can you at least make sure we’re not the ones getting played?”
“That much I can do.” Fu Changxun replied. “He’s clearly not interested in working with the Special Affairs Office—but he’s very interested in me personally. I doubt he’ll want to cross me outright.”
The purpose of this cooperation was to act on what the dandelion had relayed from the tomato.
There were more—and bigger—plant mutations coming.
It had only been two weeks into the thirty-day timer, and they’d already encountered a tomato with powers.
Given how the game loved to trap and kill its players, the hardest part of the instance was almost certainly still ahead.
They didn’t know why Dagong had chosen such a long-term survival instance this time, but clearly, he hadn’t underestimated its difficulty.
“In any case, let’s focus on recovering our health for now,” Dong Zi concluded. “And keep a close eye on all incoming news. Ah Xun, come with me.”
“Ah…” Fu Changxun didn’t even get a word out before Dong Zi grabbed his hand and dragged him away.
The two of them exited in perfect sync, leaving behind a room full of players who could only stare blankly at the dandelion left in their midst.
Xiao Pu: “#%￥￥$…”
Players: “We… we don’t understand a word…”
What do you call ‘playing a lute to a cow’? This was it.
Xiao Pu: “Let me out too! Why are you closing the door and blocking the way?!”
They were just trying to give the couple some space, but poor Xiao Pu clearly got the wrong idea.
Meanwhile, outside the room, Dong Zi turned serious.
“You said I was your boyfriend in front of everyone just now. You’re not taking that back, are you?”
His eyes were firm, like he wouldn’t budge until he got a real answer.
Fu Changxun met his gaze for half a second—then quickly looked away.
“If… and I mean if… we survive the full thirty days and clear this instance, and make it back to the real world,” Fu Changxun said slowly, “then let’s be together. I don’t know if saying that makes it a death flag. But if a flag’s set, it’s meant to be broken.”
For once, the composure he maintained so flawlessly with patients cracked—just a little. Beneath it was a ripple of panic he couldn’t quite hide.
Dong Zi stared at him for a long, long time before finally replying, “That’s fine. I’ll wait for you.”
The long silence in between had nearly convinced Fu Changxun that he was about to hear, “This is the last time,” or “I give up.”
But he didn’t say it.
As Fu Changxun turned to go, he murmured quietly, “This is the last time.”
The last time he would turn Dong Zi down. Next time… he’d be the one to confess.
Dong Zi spun around and threw his arms around him in a tight hug. “Alright—but you promised!”
Fu Changxun was trapped in his embrace, but this time… he didn’t push him away.
Inside the instance, when faced with the threat of death, hormones surged and intensified everything.
Fu Changxun figured that’s what he was experiencing now.
Fortunately, it didn’t feel so bad.
***
The next five days passed in an eerie calm. So quiet that some players began to doubt their earlier suspicions, until a sudden announcement shattered the peace.
***
Day Seventeen of the Instance, Dusk.
A squad of players returned from beyond the city gates—half-crawling, half-scrambling—rushing back behind the walls. Gasping for breath, they shouted in panic to the guards:
“Close the gates! Hurry!”
“There’s a shit-ton of mutated plants! Massive numbers! They’re headed straight for the city!”
“Someone go find Dagong-ge!!”
“Move—now! We don’t have time!!”
The players manning the gates paled. They knew just how dangerous mutated plants could be. And for plants to leave players this wrecked?
The lookouts exchanged glances, then took off sprinting toward the center of the city to report to Dagong.
The returning group, even though they had survived, looked far from relieved. They stared in horror at the steel city walls.
“Can these walls hold them off? They’re huge—and packed with all kinds of freakish abilities. If we hadn’t run fast enough…”
Before they could even finish, a deafening boom shook the entire wall—followed by a low, rustling shhhh of countless leaves scraping against each other.
The monsters were here.
Just on the other side of that wall.
Realizing this, the players didn’t dare linger. They sprinted toward the city center with everything they had. And along the way, driven by guilt and fear, they kept shouting out warnings to the people around them:
“Mutant plants incoming! Get inside—now! Take shelter!”
It was this urgent, desperate shouting that caught Fu Changxun’s attention from inside the hotel.
“Mutant plants? Don’t tell me… they’ve learned to form groups now?”
Individual fights among them were common—like that tomato that got beaten to a pulp by stronger plants—but most still chose to evolve solo.
This kind of organized assault… was virtually unheard of among plant life. Plants almost never formed alliances, let alone worked together.
Which could only mean one thing: These were intelligent plants.
The same kind of sentient mutation as the dandelion.
Only… they’d be far less reasonable than Xiao Pu.
News spread fast, but most of the city’s NPCs refused to believe it. After all, the returning players, while messy, had come back alive.
And truly dangerous mutated plants didn’t leave survivors—they lured people in, devoured them, and grew stronger. If these were really that deadly, no one would’ve made it back.
But the players knew the truth: They’d survived thanks to rare items and unique abilities. Without those… they’d be dead.
And then, as if to silence all doubt, the steel wall in the distance cracked open, buckled with a crunch, and collapsed entirely with a thunderous crash. Several grotesque, misshapen “creatures” staggered through the breach.
One of them—a giant, mutated pitcher plant—towered at six or seven meters high. Its massive, gaping maw and hideous exterior froze everyone in place. But it had no intention of giving them time to admire it.
Without hesitation, it chomped down on the terrified NPCs in one gulp—one after another, gone in seconds.
“Run!!”
“Aahh—help!”
The NPCs scattered, screaming. But the players had no choice but to stand their ground.
City C had the strongest defenses of any city. If even this place fell, they’d have nowhere left to run. There’d be no way to survive thirty days in this instance.
Within moments, the giant pitcher plant had staggered its way toward the hotel.
Those still alive dove indoors, hoping they wouldn’t be spotted.
At the window, Fu Changxun stood silently, watching it through a narrow gap in the curtain.
He had already told Xiao Pu to shield the others—its leaves and root tendrils curled protectively around them. But Fu Changxun himself had been spotted.
The giant mutated plant began to lower its head toward him.
Its jaws opened wide. Thick, corrosive slime dripped from its maw.
“They’re coming!” Xiao Xiao screamed. “Ge! Ge, get back here!”
Fu Changxun’s ability was completely useless against plants. Right now, the only things he could rely on were Dong Zi—and the dandelion, which was already protecting the rest.
In a panic, Dong Zi drove his blade deep into the creature’s roots. But the pitcher plant barely reacted. It just kept moving forward, mouth descending.
Just as Dong Zi prepared to charge in—
Fu Changxun opened the game shop and, gritting his teeth, bought an item worth a full thousand points. The moment the purchase went through, his Points Leaderboard rank dropped from second to fourth.
But none of that mattered.
In his hand, a spray bottle materialized.
[Herbicide – The thing plants fear most. Even mutated ones. Even ghosts of them.]
The item was exorbitantly expensive—far out of reach for most players. Even Fu Changxun felt his heart bleed. But price meant power. This wasn’t some cheap 50-point gimmick.
No time to waste—he sprayed it right at the pitcher plant.
The monster’s gaping mouth froze mid-bite, then violently convulsed like it had been poisoned. A wave of corrosive fluid splattered onto the ground as it retched and flailed, dragging its massive form away in a panicked retreat.
Everyone exhaled.
But their relief came too soon—. When they regrouped afterward, they realized: Lin Shu and Lin Ze were missing.
