“My ability is useless in this instance. Plants don’t have anything worth seeing through.” Song Zhenpeng sounded genuinely regretful. “I’ll hold down the fort. NPCs without abilities can’t beat me.”
A perfectly reasonable stance.
Qiu Yi nodded and turned to the others. “Anyone else staying behind? Now’s the time to speak up.”
Lu Zhaodi glanced at Lin Shu, then raised her hand. “I’m staying too. I don’t have an ability, and I’m not in great shape either…”
Even the usually overlooked Lu Tiangan raised his hand.
Two of the older folks chose to stay as well.
In the end, six people would remain in C City. Heading out were Fu Changxun, Dong Zi, Xiao Xiao, Director Qiu, Lulu, Lin Ze, and that man with zero presence—the one everyone had completely forgotten until now—Zhang Wei.
Could his name be any more generic?!
With a name and face that bland, Zhang Wei was practically invisible in every instance. But that had actually saved him a lot of trouble.
“Sorry about that,” Lulu said sheepishly. “I totally forgot to ask your name.”
“No worries, I’m used to it,” Zhang Wei said with a smile. “It’s actually pretty nice. At least no one tries to mess with me.”
He was surprisingly optimistic—after all, he was the one who’d gathered the scattered players together before.
Compared to Fu Changxun, who seemed to cheat his way through the game, or Qiu Yi, who had solid backing from the Huaxia Special Affairs Office, Zhang Wei was the true symbol of the average player. His experience reflected that of the majority: Surviving with grit. Pushing forward with effort.
Fu Changxun stepped in to ease the mood. “Don’t worry—we’d never bully you.”
Zhang Wei laughed. “Hahaha, thanks!”
The seven of them spent half a day gathering supplies and prepping gear before finalizing their destination.
S City. A small county town under C City’s jurisdiction, not highly industrialized.
But it had a well-developed livestock industry. If they were lucky, they might be able to bring back a few animals.
Mutant plants hadn’t affected animals the same way. Some had been killed by the mutated flora, while others survived—thanks to their sharp teeth, strong beaks, and resilient stomachs that allowed them to eat the mutated plants and live on.
Even in C City, chickens, ducks, cows, and goats had survived by feeding on less-advanced mutant weeds.
But just as they were ready to set off, they stepped outside and saw…
“What the fuck? Who the hell’s this much of an asshole?”
The minivan and SUV were both parked downstairs, but someone had slashed the SUV’s tires.
They couldn’t drive it even if they wanted to, and they had no spares or way to fix it. So Lulu spent the next hour down there, loudly cursing whoever did it.
“You bastard!”
“Fucking trash! Didn’t your mom teach you how to be a decent human being?!”
“Let me catch you—just once—and I’ll slash your feet and see you try to walk!”
“……”
“All right, all right. Don’t waste your breath.” Lin Shu wheeled herself outside and gave Lulu a resigned look. “At least the other car still works.”
Lulu had cursed herself hoarse, but still fumed. “Now I have to go find a matching tire somewhere out there and bring it back—what a joke. What kind of person does this in the apocalypse?! Do they seriously think screwing others over will help them survive alone? I just don’t get it. What kind of trash mindset is that…”
Lin Shu patted her hand gently. “Stay calm. You don’t need to try to understand them. Some people are just absurd. Just ignore them.”
Like Lu Tiangan, the spoiled brat. Or his mother, who never listened to orders. Or those lone-wolf players who insisted on total individualism… There were plenty of them out there.
But instead of calming down, Lulu only got more pissed.
She didn’t take it out on Lin Shu though. Instead, she stomped back upstairs—and proceeded to beat the crap out of Lu Tiangan.
That finally did the trick. She came downstairs bright-eyed and refreshed, climbing into the van like she was heading off on vacation.
Lu Tiangan: “……”
What did I do?! Why am I always the punching bag for these awful grown-ups?!
To be fair, Lulu’s beatdown wasn’t entirely without reason. The kid had been on his best behavior for two days after Dong Zi roughed him up last time, but this morning he’d already gotten into a fight with his sister again.
Didn’t learn your lesson? Then I guess you need a few more beatings.
By noon, everyone was loaded into the van. Fu Changxun double-checked that everyone was ready, then said to Dong Zi, “Let’s go.”
This time, Lin Ze wasn’t driving—he’d been exhausted after last time and hadn’t fully recovered even after two days. So the job fell to Dong Zi, whose driving skills were second-best.
S City lay due north. The route was no longer a barren, relatively safe wilderness, but overgrown fields and thick vegetation—the danger level spiked instantly.
“I don’t know why, but I feel uneasy. Like, really uneasy,” Fu Changxun suddenly said.
As a Stealth Walker, he was more sensitive than most ability users—and his SAN value dropped faster, too.
Dong Zi pressed the gas a little harder, speeding through the wild grass, but the road ahead was still all plants.
Now it was a full-on orchard. Rows of fruit trees and vegetables alternated across the landscape. Fu Changxun’s internal danger radar was going off like mad, and he sighed in resignation.
“Forget it, Ah Zi. Just keep to our usual speed. There are so many mutant plants… one more or one less won’t make a difference.” He covered his face with a hand. “Just keep your eyes on the road. Everyone, stay alert.”
No one needed the reminder. Everyone began prepping—grabbing items, charging up abilities. Even Xiao Xiao pulled out her building blocks—though they were basically useless without nearby structures.
But it was the thought that counted, and no one stopped her.
The van rolled past the fields, almost reaching the end—when they spotted something moving in the distance. White shapes shifting between the crops.
Squinting to see clearly—they realized…
Goats?
Both mountain goats and sheep were scattered across the vegetable fields, chewing away contentedly.
Qiu Yi eyed the herd and said to Dong Zi, “Hold up. Stop here. Let’s see if we can catch a few.”
Dong Zi hit the brakes, stopping right in front of the flock. But the plants around them didn’t react at all—no movement, no attacks. They just sat there, eerily quiet.
Only the sound of wind rustling through the leaves… and the rhythmic crunch of sheep grazing filled the silence.
The area they were in looked like a tomato field, but the plants were still in seedling stage. The group cautiously sent four people to scout ahead.
Xiao Xiao jumped at the chance, and Zhang Wei wanted to contribute as well. The two of them followed Fu Changxun and Dong Zi down from the van.
Even once they stepped into the field, the plants didn’t stir. Not a single vine twitched. It was too quiet. Almost… unnatural.
Fu Changxun murmured, “There are two possibilities here. One: the plants are already full and aren’t reacting. But based on what we know, even full plants still attack passersby.”
“Which means the second option… there’s a very powerful mutant plant nearby.”
It was suppressing the others—forcing them into stillness, too afraid to move first.
He hoped it was the first one. But judging by the suffocating quiet, it was probably the second.
The sheep kept munching away. The four cautiously stepped into the field, walking past rows of young tomato seedlings.
“You think…” Fu Changxun said slowly, “if mutant plants bear fruit… can the seeds be eaten? Like, boiled or crushed?”
“These sheep seem to be enjoying them, at least.”
Xiao Xiao couldn’t help but imagine it. With innocent logic, she said, “If small animals can eat it, we probably can too, right?”
Dong Zi shook his head. “Let’s try not to get too close. These sheep… they feel off. Like they’ve been penned in.”
But no one was around. Who—or what—had done the penning?
Even as he spoke, a tomato seedling that had looked weak and harmless just moments ago suddenly shot up, growing at breakneck speed. It flowered, fruited, and in less than a minute, clusters of bright red tomatoes hung from its branches, practically inviting the hungry to come closer.
The temptation was overwhelming. Zhang Wei’s eyes glazed over—he couldn’t resist.
He hadn’t eaten anything but stale biscuits for three days. Without thinking, he stepped forward and reached out to pick one.
“Get back!”
Dong Zi shouted and yanked him away hard. “Watch out!”
At that exact moment, the tomato exploded.
Instead of pulp and juice, it was packed full of dense, razor-sharp spikes.
The needles embedded themselves right where Zhang Wei had just been standing. If Dong Zi hadn’t reacted in time and hauled him back, Zhang Wei would’ve been turned into a human sieve.
Still reeling, Zhang Wei finally snapped out of it, his voice shaking. “I don’t know why, but the second I saw the tomato… I just had to have it. Like I went crazy.”
The players instantly realized something was wrong and tried to retreat—while the tomato plant had only fired one fruit.
But of course, it wasn’t about to let its prey escape.
All its remaining fruit swiveled, took aim—and fired.
“Run!”
This was it. The mutated tomato was exactly what Fu Changxun had suspected: the dominant plant suppressing all others in the area.
Which also meant: not only were mutated tomatoes inedible—they might just try to eat you instead.
Literally.
Dong Zi once again grabbed one person in each hand and hurled them back into the van. Then he shouted to Qiu Yi, now behind the wheel, “Go! We can’t take this thing—it’s smart enough to set traps!”
Disguising itself as a harmless seedling, baiting people closer, then instantly sprouting fruit to lure in the starving—it was practically textbook. No normal plant could think of something like that. Its intelligence was clearly comparable to… the dandelion.
Speaking of which—Fu Changxun suddenly remembered and summoned it out.
The dandelion popped up, immediately whining, “Finally! I couldn’t help it anymore—I tried to talk to Xiao Hei-gege and he hissed at me again! It was so scary!”
“I need you to focus.” Fu Changxun cut her off. “Compared to that tomato out there—who wins? It explodes, sure, but you’ve got spikes too. If you had to fight it, what are the odds you’d win?”
The dandelion perched herself on his shoulder, peering out the window at the giant, transformed tomato.
She assessed its intelligence level carefully… and once she was sure it wasn’t smarter than her—well, obviously not smarter—she perked up cheerfully.
“I’m stronger.”
She hopped onto the window frame and gestured for Fu Changxun to open it.
He said, “…Then be careful. The intel doesn’t matter—you do.”
Dong Zi didn’t wait. He had Qiu Yi roll down the window from the driver’s seat, grabbed the dandelion—and yeeted it straight out.
Fu Changxun: “……”
Dandelion vs. Tomato.
Begin.
