Apocalyptic Island - Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Day six.

Wen Yishu woke up feeling refreshed, but the streets outside were already in total chaos.

She quickly dressed, walked to the window, and gently parted a corner of the curtain with her finger to look out. The sight made her heart jump—greenery had sprouted along the streets like bamboo shoots after a rain. Overnight, at least eighty percent of the previously intact buildings had suffered varying degrees of damage.

Wen Yishu recalled the continuous overcast rain from yesterday; it surely had everything to do with today’s plant movement. The rain had been bizarre—falling in sub-zero temperatures without freezing, soaking and saturating all the soil. Residual plant seeds and root systems within the earth hadn’t been fully cleared during the first disinfection, leading to this second outbreak.

A rose bush had grown right by Wen Yishu’s window. Overnight, what had been empty ground was now covered in a massive sprawl of vines. Without an artificial trellis, it had practically exploded, occupying half the street’s surface. Its thorns had become exceptionally sharp and dense; a mere brush against bare skin would draw a trail of blood.

Everyone avoided this area. Wen Yishu spotted several slumped human figures entangled within the rose’s thorns, seemingly devoid of life. Their clothes were sunken in various places, looking as though they had been sucked dry by the plant.

Wen Yishu opened her device. The top headline was no longer about her defection from Rhine; instead, it was Warp Speed’s official announcement of her employment. The massive, bolded headline occupied the top spot, followed by the “Plant Mutation” in second, and “Rhine Attacked, Researcher Defects, Superior Abuses Torture” in third.

Yesterday, she had used her optical brain to record photos of You Zhi’s torture and sent them directly to Qu Yue upon her return. Warp Speed moved fast; the news had exploded as soon as it was released this morning.

Wen Yishu clicked on the second headline. Countless people were spamming the comments, asking why danger had returned just as the Federation called for everyone to start heading outdoors. Fortunately, for most, fear had triumphed over the spirit of adventure, so the casualties this time weren’t as heavy as the first.

Images of crazed greenery growing tall enough to blot out the sun were being uploaded constantly. The update speed within the Doomsday Laws was incredible; the AI was uploading organized data every second.

Tier 1 Mutated Plants: Highly aggressive but afraid of fire. They can be completely incinerated with high-firepower attacks and are relatively easy to handle.

Tier 2 Mutated Plants: Both attack power and health points have risen by a full tier; they require much larger amounts of energy.

Currently, the highest level of mutated plant discovered was Tier 3. Wen Yishu clicked on a photo—an aerial shot taken by a drone. In the center of Binhai City’s ecological park stood a giant banyan tree. It had a circumference of ten meters, a height of over forty meters, and covered an area of fifteen acres. These were the pre-mutation statistics. Strangely, after the mutation, these numbers hadn’t changed. Humans initially didn’t even realize the tree had mutated until pedestrians walking beneath it were sent flying by drooping aerial roots.

However, so far, this tree remained the most “human-friendly” mutated plant. Based on its appearance and data, researchers inferred this King Banyan was the highest-tier mutated plant currently observable on the island. The Federation didn’t dare make a move against it; if things remained peaceful, the policy would likely be to simply wall off the area.

The government no longer had the energy for extra measures. In just a few days, animal variants had also evolved, and mutated humans had reached Tier 2. The existence of crystal nuclei within the bodies of the variants was no longer a secret. The research team had found crystal nuclei in Tier 2 plants identical to those in mutated humans; their use was currently unknown and being studied urgently.

The discussion below was heated. Wen Yishu noticed a few videos being pushed to the “trending” list. In one, the camera didn’t shake much, clearly recording the process of the filmer killing a variant face-to-face.

Wen Yishu noticed this elderly variant in the room didn’t seem as clever as Wang Li; it lacked obvious wisdom. Her movements were slow, her body covered in black patterns, her wrinkled skin tight and coarse, and her once white-haired head was now bald. Her arms and legs had become long, thin, and spindly, yet her belly was massive—when she crawled on the ground, she looked exactly like a giant spider. Her head still carried a human face; otherwise, one wouldn’t be able to tell this was a mutated human.

Her fuzzy front claws moved, trying to approach the filmer. Anyone seeing such a grotesque image would feel fear and a deep chill. The room seemed to reek; even through a window, there was no stopping the spreading stench.

The filmer gagged while carefully pushing the window open, whispering: “Grandma.”

The variant below suddenly leaped, perching on the windowsill. That human face appeared against the old red ceramic tile exterior wall; her cloudy eyes stared fixedly into the lens, her mouth opening to reveal a black, toothless hole.

The camera shook—the filmer was clearly startled. Wen Yishu, outside the screen, could hear her rapid breathing.

The face perched at the window suddenly spoke slowly, the old woman’s voice drifting out of that black hole: “Baby Xinxin is here… Grandma has money, you take it and spend it.”

The voice was kind and warm. The filmer couldn’t help but sob quietly. The whimpering cries, accompanied by the sound of the monster swallowing saliva, were difficult to hear clearly.

Those thin front limbs hooked an old-fashioned gray cloth coin purse with a hand-woven colorful lanyard, raising it tremblingly toward the camera. A few old coins fell out. A fleeting shot let Wen Yishu see the style—it was old paper currency from twenty years ago, completely phased out years ago.

The filmer’s crying grew louder, and the expression on the face in front of the lens became pained: “Good girl, don’t cry… what’s wrong, good girl?”

Another front limb rose quickly, sweeping toward the top of the frame.

Wen Yishu couldn’t help but break into a sweat. Suddenly, a cluster of orange flames shot out, completely engulfing the reaching limb in a wrap of fire. A piercing scream came from the variant. It tried to retract its limb but was caught by the throat by iron pincers reaching out from behind.

The fire soon consumed the variant entirely. The filmer’s crying grew louder; she seemed to want to step forward but was held back firmly by someone behind her.

“Miss Fang, thank you for your cooperation. You may leave now.”

“Run, good girl…”

The voice continued from within the flames. The scorching air made the video frame blur like a mist, and a water trail slowly trickled down from the top as the air condensed. The gray purse fell to the ground. The video froze on the image of the old currency stained with mud and water amidst the sounds of despairing sobs and shouts.

Wen Yishu closed the video. She didn’t know what kind of emotion she was feeling. This was likely the Federation’s way of obtaining crystal nuclei: finding trapped low-tier variants and then killing them. The action was justifiable, but was the method in the video too cruel?

The comments below were split into two camps, arguing incessantly. While both sides supported killing variants, for the relatives of the variant, this method was too cruel for the living. The other camp mindlessly attacked these views, believing there was no “good or bad” method when it came to exterminating variants. When neutralizing danger, one should use any means necessary. They shouldn’t let kindness overflow, or else when variants came out to eat their families, these people would likely cry even harder than the person in the video.

Wen Yishu stopped watching the videos below. In the mutations following the fusion of humans and animals, the level of intelligence seemed to be restricted to varying degrees. Variants like Wang Li, who turned into mermen, had relatively high intelligence. Insect types were not as smart.

Wen Yishu made distinctions in her notes; her understanding of variants had reached a new stage.

There weren’t many pedestrians on the road, so Wen Yishu pulled the curtains open to look down at the rose bush. This plant didn’t give her a very good feeling—it lacked the natural sense of kinship she felt from previous plants.

She was still somewhat confused about her current ability. Although she could clearly perceive that powerful force within her, she was still in the dark about its functions. She didn’t know if all plants would be kind and gentle toward her.

She grabbed the resting String of Pearls from the side and gave it a shake. The plant’s vines swayed loosely, then its leaves stiffened before relaxing again—it looked like it was stretching. It slowly climbed onto Wen Yishu’s hand, touching her gently with a leaf.

Wen Yishu held it up to the window: “How do you feel about the rose below?”

The previously relaxed String of Pearls tensed the moment it neared the window. It accelerated its crawling, quickly wrapping itself around Wen Yishu’s arm. It seemed unwilling to approach the window. Wen Yishu raised an eyebrow and pulled it back down: “What’s wrong? I’m not going to throw you out again. Do you just dislike that rose bush?”

The String of Pearls tapped a leaf in a nod and continued to cling tightly to Wen Yishu’s arm.

Wen Yishu saw the rose bush below suddenly shudder. Water droplets clinging to the plant fell in a patter onto the asphalt. The puddles reflected its dark green branches and the low-hanging dark clouds in the sky. She had a fleeting illusion of being a frog at the bottom of a well, with heaven and earth inverted.

The thick branches seemed to perceive something, rapidly shooting up and growing toward the second floor.

Wen Yishu heard a loud SLAM. A massive, serrated leaf slapped against the window, leaving a wrinkled water stain. There wasn’t a crack on the glass, but the entire rose branch recoiled quickly, gathering strength for a second strike.

Wen Yishu’s bad premonition grew stronger. This wasn’t a friendly greeting—it truly wanted to force its way in!

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