Apocalyptic Island - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Her hands started to tremble uncontrollably. She had forgotten that the refrigerator was full of groceries she had bought over the past two days.

But why would vegetables that had lost their life mutate?

The abnormally extended green color inside the gray-blue refrigerator was rapidly approaching the two of them.

It seemed to know that Wen Yishu had discovered it, and it completely abandoned its previous sneaky approach.

It sped up its movements. The branches became thinner, and the color became lighter, changing from tender green to yellow-green, like watching a sped-up growth documentary.

Seeing that it was about to touch her, Wen Yishu didn’t hesitate to turn around, grab the wrench from Bai Mi’s hand, and accurately swing it at the approaching branch.

With a crisp “crack,” the swinging branch broke instantly.

The sharp tendrils at the front, which were originally clustered together, turned into two soft, spread-out leaves and fell lifelessly to the ground.

The remaining broken end quickly retracted back into the refrigerator and made no more movement.

Bai Mi suddenly stood up. Wen Yishu didn’t care about the person behind her. Instead, she looked at the plant on the ground.

Her eyesight was excellent. It was a broken mung bean sprout, no different from an ordinary one.

The broken front end showed no signs of wilting, as if it had just been picked.

It was just that the newly mutated branch had changed its original natural growth shape, so she hadn’t noticed it.

The originally crystal-clear stem had turned green. No wonder it looked so familiar.

Mung bean sprouts in the market that don’t have roots are usually products of technology. She naturally bought the ones with roots, as they were healthier to eat.

Perhaps because the plant itself was relatively small, it wasn’t that aggressive.

Otherwise, given the distance just now, it would have been enough to cause trouble for both of them.

This was her first time encountering such a situation. Wen Yishu was so nervous that she forgot she had bought groceries.

She didn’t know how many of the vegetables in the refrigerator had mutated, but given the current situation, there shouldn’t be many.

Otherwise, Bai Mi wouldn’t have lasted until now.

Wen Yishu returned the wrench to Bai Mi and told her to quickly fix the door lock.

Bai Mi took the wrench, and a somewhat cold and muffled voice came from behind her: “Thank you.”

Wen Yishu felt a little embarrassed. Although it wasn’t intentional, the things in the refrigerator were indeed hers.

She didn’t feel at ease accepting the thanks. It was a conditioned reflex from being a subordinate. After a long time, she managed to say, “You’re welcome.”

The two of them discussed it, and Wen Yishu went upstairs to see if there were any stragglers.

She felt much more relaxed. There were no live plants in the room except for the vegetables she had put in the refrigerator.

The only potted plant had been thrown out the window by her at the very beginning.

She wondered if there were any spider plants in Bai Mi’s room. Since she was able to get to safety, she must have already dealt with them if there were any.

She stood nervously in front of her team leader’s door. Besides work, she knew very little about her team leader’s daily life and private matters.

Even though the two of them were assigned to live together this time, neither of them had any intention of getting to know each other.

Now that their relationship had fast-forwarded to inspecting the room, she felt a little uncomfortable.

These strange feelings naturally disappeared when she touched the doorknob.

Her room was pitch black. The windows seemed to be completely blocked by the branches outside, just like the windows below. The sensor light in the room quickly turned on after she entered.

Her room was very clean and tidy, with a bed, a wardrobe, a solid wood desk, and a chair.

Rhine’s apartments were also nicely decorated. The creamy color scheme felt like a relic from before technology developed rapidly, unlike those cold, metallic-colored houses that felt stiff and lifeless.

However, her room was so clean that it had no signs of a person living in it, more like a model home.

Even the quilt on the bed was meticulously folded. A strange feeling appeared in Wen Yishu’s heart.

But this feeling was quickly and reasonably explained downstairs.

When she went downstairs, Bai Mi was still standing in front of the refrigerator, staring at it motionless.

Hearing her come down, Bai Mi asked without turning her head, “How do we deal with the stuff in the refrigerator?”

She looked at the toolbox in Bai Mi’s hand and asked, “Team leader, do you have any other tools? If not, we’ll have to throw the entire refrigerator out.”

This was the safest method. Now that they didn’t know the situation, it was best not to take any risks with the things inside the refrigerator.

Wen Yishu was about to try to persuade her when Bai Mi said, “Is a flamethrower okay?”

Wen Yishu: ?

Wen Yishu swallowed with difficulty. “Is it the flamethrower I’m thinking of?”

The Federation has strict control over weapons, but important personnel, such as researchers at Rhine, are allowed to use one type of weapon.

It’s not exactly a weapon. A flamethrower, as the name suggests, is a long-barreled heating weapon used to spray fire.

Initially, these flamethrowers were only used to heat food, but later they evolved and became a conventional weapon.

Of course, the control over this weapon is also very strict. It can only be used if many conditions are met.

Its use also needs to be reported. Ordinary people would never have this thing in their hands.

Wen Yishu wanted to fight one last time, but she saw Bai Mi nod without hesitation. “I have a gun license.”

Her hanging heart didn’t know whether to feel relieved or dead. Wen Yishu nodded blankly.

The world was about to end, and she was still worrying about whether her team leader could have a gun.

The study was not far. Bai Mi quickly retrieved the flamethrower from inside.

It was a bit larger than an ordinary thermal weapon. The blue fuel sloshed around in the transparent gun body, making it easy to imagine the scorching, stinging sensation.

She seemed to have every tool imaginable. She handed Wen Yishu a long pole with a hooked tip.

Wen Yishu stood a bit farther back nervously. The hook pulled the refrigerator open. Inside, the originally white inner wall was wrapped in a dense network of stems, like a spider web, suffocating the refrigerator.

Bai Mi stood in front of the refrigerator fully armed. Before the plants inside could attack, she pressed the flamethrower’s switch without hesitation.

The stems that had just been cut off futilely shrank back inside the moment the door opened.

The tender green leaves were instantly scorched by the high temperature of the flamethrower, curling up and turning yellow, shrinking into a ball.

It coiled into a sphere, as if it had intelligence, trying to resist the invasion of an external enemy.

After the root tip was ignited, the entire root network instantly turned into a miniature city map in the dark night. It was brilliant and then quickly extinguished.

Wen Yishu seemed to hear a faint scream, like the sound of a chair scraping against a dry floor, harsh and unpleasant.

That giant mung bean sprout finally turned into a pile of ashes.

The other vegetables in the refrigerator did not mutate, but they were all damaged to varying degrees by the flamethrower.

It was clear how terrifying this would be if it were used on a person.

Fortunately, the refrigerator was not badly damaged.

Wen Yishu simply put all the remaining vegetables into a pot to cook.

After setting the smart timer, the two of them observed from a distance from the kitchen. Wen Yishu was so tired that she collapsed on the sofa.

But she didn’t dare to stop now. She took out her quantum computer and started checking the live feed.

The overwhelming amount of information made her feel a little sick, but with her previous experience, she suppressed her nausea and continued to look at the information below.

Overwhelming live updates refreshed one after another, making her feel dizzy.

The top trending topic on the live feed was what had just happened. There were announcements from various cities and the Federation.

Wen Yishu took a quick look and found that Rong City had also experienced a large-scale plant mutation at the same time.

Because the uploaded images were too dense, the live feed’s servers couldn’t handle the intensity, so Wen Yishu saw all the original, un-watermarked images.

What impressed her the most was a snapshot from a home security camera.

A blueberry plant with fruit on an open balcony, right when the plant explosion began.

First, it swayed in the windless room, and then its delicate branches grew many tender green shoots, growing at an extreme speed.

The sharp front end suddenly pierced the neck of the hostess who was watering the flowers next to it.

The watering can in the hostess’s hand fell to the ground. She staggered a few steps and fell to the ground, quickly losing her life.

A large pool of blood quickly spread beneath her.

But the blueberry plant’s branches did not pull out of the body. It stretched out its branches and leaves, and the entire plant expanded rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The branches inserted into the body trembled slightly, stretching out tender shoots, as if they were comfortably absorbing nutrients from the body.

The high-density plastic pot beneath it was also burst by the thick roots. The entire plant, relying on gravity, landed squarely on the hostess’s body.

The video was sped up here. The roots plunged into the hostess’s face, and the blood on the ground quickly dried up.

The blueberry plant grew from forty centimeters to almost a meter before it completely stopped moving.

The entire video was only this long, no more than ten minutes, but it made Wen Yishu’s hair stand on end.

The comments below also exploded. People were asking if this was real.

Some people also asked if it was AI and what new movie trailer it was.

The video was posted very early, almost as soon as it was recorded. The poster was clearly very anxious.

They wrote that the woman in the video was their mother and that they were in another city, asking if anyone could help check on her.

The woman was most likely in grave danger. With that amount of bleeding, the chance of survival was very low.

Not to mention the fact that the blueberry plant later completely destroyed her face. Countless roots entered her brain, and even the best doctor would be powerless to save her.

Everyone advised her to accept her loss, and many more people also started worrying about their own families.

These active people were in safe places when the crisis began, so they could now browse the internet without a care in the world.

Everyone had lost their sense of crisis, always thinking that no matter how big the difficulty, as long as the Federal government was there, it could be solved.

But Wen Yishu knew that from this moment on, the world was in chaos.

She looked at the tall trees outside the window and was clearly aware that the comfortable days were gone forever.

Her wrist also vibrated at this time. Wen Yishu’s heart fluttered. Messages from Ling Shuang and Huo Xiaoguan, who had just been out of contact, appeared, along with check-ins for safety and rescue in the main research group chat.

Her fingertips holding her wrist turned white. She wasn’t happy that Rhine had sent a timely rescue confirmation message.

Because the messages from Ling Shuang and Huo Xiaoguan were the same: “Don’t let them know you’re still alive!”

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