novelraw Chapter 257 - 248: Dread
Chapter 257 - 248: Dread
Originally, Tian Tian and the other watcher in the car both thought the Special Service Team was just making an excuse to ditch them and act alone.
But now, seeing the long, thin branches attacking them at extreme speed like a bundle of whips, the two of them began to have second thoughts.
After all, mutated plants didn’t take orders from humans.
’So, were they just overthinking it?’
The two exchanged a look. Ahead, Zhang Xin’s expression was grim. He had the accelerator floored, but after a full night of torrential rain and a major earthquake, the road conditions were so complex and terrible that they couldn’t really pick up much speed.
Everyone in the car ducked down as low as possible, their eyes glued to the branches lashing violently toward them.
Just then, Wei Heng, who was covering the rear, suddenly leaned the upper half of his body out of the car and raised his gun.
The gun was loaded with liquid rounds specifically designed for mutated plants. When these rounds hit a mutated plant, they would quickly enter its sap and produce an effect similar to a hypnotic anesthetic.
Wei Heng was an excellent shot. After three consecutive shots, the mutated branches’ assault clearly slowed.
Seizing the opening, the SUVs slammed on their accelerators and sped past.
Seeing that they had escaped disaster, the people in the cars breathed a sigh of relief. But the road conditions in the area were just too terrible. The lead SUV quickly got stuck in a huge mud pit, and while the vehicles behind tried to go around it, the effect of the liquid rounds was limited.
The branches, which had just drooped limply as if drunk, quickly perked up and lunged toward them again, brandishing their tendrils.
Moreover, the momentum of their attack was even more ferocious than before.
What was worse, after a night of fleeing in the wake of the major earthquake, the windows of the SUVs were damaged to varying degrees. And those willow-like branches were thin, long, sharp, and resilient.
The instant they lashed out, they split into countless smaller tendrils, like silent, tiny, dark-green threadworms. They enveloped the entire vehicle and suddenly stabbed through the broken windows.
In that instant, Tian Tian’s pupils dilated. Before she could react, the person beside her pushed her toward the window. Immediately after, her body was ensnared, and she was violently dragged out of the window like a silkworm in its cocoon.
Darkness flooded her vision, and she felt herself suffocating. Just as she opened her mouth to cry for help, the threadworm-like branches surged into it...
Soon, she lost consciousness.
「Half an hour later.」
Shen Yue looked at the tree full of dangling "cocoons" and walked over to Gu Xi. "Are you really not going?"
In her mind, Gu Xi unilaterally severed her connection with that thing. She lowered her gaze, warningly poked the restless little green sprout, and said in a light tone, "Let’s leave it at that."
Just then, Qi Xiang also ran over, panting. She looked up at the large cocoons swaying in the air, clicked her tongue, and said, "Hey, look. Doesn’t this look like someone’s fishing?"
Everyone else: "..."
Gu Xi couldn’t help but give Qi Xiang another look. The girl’s words often seemed flippant, but she had a habit of hitting the nail right on the head. ’Just like right now... this really is a fishing expedition.’
—Everyone thought that keeping an eye on Gu Xi would inevitably lead them to the Hibernation Chambers, but Gu Xi had left the real opportunity for Ye Junhan.
Now, she was the diversion in the open, while Ye Junhan operated from the shadows. She was drawing everyone’s attention here. By the time they realized what was happening, Ye Junhan, with his capabilities, would have already dealt with the Hibernation Chambers.
Over the years, Gu Xi had grown accustomed to using herself as bait.
’As long as it works, that’s all that matters.’
However, she had underestimated just how wary those people were of the Blood-colored Asura.
Gu Xi’s fingers, which were fiddling with the little green sprout, paused slightly.
Sensing something was wrong with Gu Xi, Shen Yue and Wei Heng simultaneously looked up toward the depths of the dense forest. Qi Xiang, knowing she couldn’t help, quickly turned and ran.
She grabbed the shoulder of a passing Special Service Team member. "Get the research team out of here, now!"
But it was too late.
A bank of mist that had been shrouding the mountain forest suddenly dispersed with the wind, carrying with it the faint scent of blood.
Qi Xiang realized something and dashed toward the research team members.
Earlier, the research team members, including Liu Jia, had been knocked senseless by the tremors and remained in a stupor. They hadn’t left the vehicle at all during the journey. Even during the recent, seemingly thrilling escape, they had remained unconscious and missed the entire event.
When Qi Xiang ran to the vehicle and saw the situation inside, she was stunned.
The members of the research team were all there, lying unharmed in the vehicle, still unconscious. But the Special Service Team member who had stayed behind to protect them was slumped rigidly over the driver’s seat, his condition unknown.
Qi Xiang lunged forward, wanting to save him.
However, when she helped the team member up, she discovered his face was a ghastly bluish-purple. ’He’s been poisoned!’
"Zheng!" Zhang Xin and Qian Shan ran over as well, shocked by the sight.
Hearing their shouts, Zheng, his eyes shut and brow tightly furrowed, gritted his teeth and let out a few muffled groans.
’He’s still alive.’
The two breathed a sigh of relief, but they immediately noticed that the bluish-purple on his face was deepening. His consciousness seemed to be fading, and he gradually stopped responding to their voices.
After Fang Rui gave him two consecutive injections of antidote, Zheng’s symptoms didn’t improve in the slightest, and he lost consciousness completely.
Seeing that his comrade wasn’t going to last much longer, Zhang Xin slammed his fist into a nearby boulder, his gaze fixed fiercely on the six research team members in the vehicle.
’The person who poisoned Zheng had to be one of those six.’
’If I find out who it was, I’ll tear them to pieces!’
Beside them, Qi Xiang hesitated.
’She knew that Gu Xi could definitely save Zheng.’
’But right now, Gu Xi was already in a precarious position. If people found out she also possessed an ability like that...’
’Besides, in the end, the decision of whether to save him—and whether to let others know she could—had to be Gu Xi’s alone. Anything anyone else said at this point would be a form of moral blackmail.’
Just then, a calm voice came from behind. "Let me see."
Qi Xiang let out a sharp sigh of relief. She pulled Gu Xi through the crowd and immediately shouted, "Make way, everyone."
The crowd turned, and seeing Gu Xi approaching, they quickly made way for her. Gu Xi walked up to Zheng and reached for his wrist, and the little green sprout instantly wrapped around it.
"Miss Gu..." Fang Rui and the others watched her nervously.
Gu Xi suddenly ripped open Zheng’s shirt. A dagger materialized in her hand, and she stabbed toward the area over Zheng’s heart.
Zhang Xin and the others were startled and instinctively moved to stop her, but Fang Rui held them back.
Immediately after, the crowd saw Gu Xi use the dagger to extract a white thread from the spot over Zheng’s heart.
Zhang Xin and the others sucked in a sharp breath.
Once exposed to the air, the white thread swelled rapidly, turning into a plump, white, dazed-looking grub that looked somewhat similar to a pre-apocalypse silkworm.
"Miss Gu, was that the culprit that poisoned Zheng?" Fang Rui asked. "Is he going to be okay now?"
Gu Xi nodded, but as she stared at the plump insect, her expression became graver than ever before.
’To take down a high-level ability user right under her nose... someone was really willing to pay a hefty price.’
Seeing her unusual expression, the others couldn’t help but exchange uneasy glances.
Just as Fang Rui was about to ask for more details, he noticed that the faint scent of blood in the air, previously mixed with the dampness of the rain, had suddenly intensified.
Everyone’s expression changed slightly.