Apocalyptic Island - Chapter 36

Chapter 36

The smiling faces of the two people held a blurred halo under the sunlight; Wen Yishu had never even dreamed of such a scene.

The image of her parents in her memory had already grown somewhat hazy; she had long since become accustomed to living alone during those years of high school and university when they were gone.

Before her was the familiar attic she had looked at for so many years—experimental instruments, molecular reagents, and all sorts of experimental data files stacked on the desk and bookshelves.

Her mother took her small hand, preparing to lead her inside. Wen Yishu instantly flung her hand away; the woman’s expression changed, and she looked at her with confusion.

“What’s wrong, Yishu?”

Wen Yishu looked at her face calmly. Such clear features and realistic sensations were things the real world could never rival; it was perfectly normal for the illusions woven by variants to make people sink into them.

She felt a trace of longing and offered a bitter smile: “You shouldn’t have used my mom to lie to me. My family is already gone.”

The scene before her began to twist and deform like a melting block of butter. Wen Yishu stood quietly in place, watching the doorframe turn into vines twisted like fried dough twists. Her mother’s face turned into a disgusting, deformed pink flower, currently emitting a dense fragrance.

The String of Pearls on her arm was still frantically prying at her fingers, shouting: “Master, how am I supposed to live if you die! Who will give me nutrient solution to eat? Master, don’t die! Wake up!”

Wen Yishu pulled her hand back and put the String of Pearls back into her pocket. In just that moment, she had walked an unknown number of steps forward, but everything was within her control.

The rose was somewhat stunned by her escape. It quickly retracted its flower; every bloom required a massive consumption of energy, and it was currently at its weakest moment. But usually, at this time, those enchanted by the fragrance would still be trapped in the illusion; no one had ever been as sober as Wen Yishu.

The floral scent suddenly became intense, heavy as if one had swallowed a mouthful of dust from an attic, leaving the mouth full of a stale, ancient breath. It attempted to pull Wen Yishu back into the illusion again; her mother’s face reappeared, but something seemed to be wriggling beneath that bright skin.

Vines had already coiled around her legs, their thorns piercing through the gaps in her trousers to touch her skin, yet Wen Yishu did not feel a single shred of pain.

“Come in and do the experiment; we’re all ready.” The woman in front of her reached out her hand, her fingertips beginning to mutate into emerald green leaves.

Wen Yishu smiled, drew the short blade from her waist, and sliced off her mother’s hand with one stroke. No bright red blood flowed out; all the illusions dissipated rapidly at that moment.

That pink flower fell lifelessly to the ground.

The vines wrapped around her legs retreated quickly, trying to pick up the flower. The moment the sharp thorns touched the petals, they pierced countless tiny wounds. The rose seemed infuriated; it no longer tried to pick up the flower carefully but instead smashed the entire bloom ruthlessly into the ground.

Before Wen Yishu’s eyes were the people the rose had completely absorbed. They were nothing but piles of bones and clothes. The hollow eye sockets of the skulls stared in the direction of Wen Yishu, conveying an endless despair. Even the most recent corpse had not been fully absorbed; one could still see the expression of pain and despair on the face and the dense thorns covering the body.

The soil at the roots of the rose was saturated with blood; the flower of evil had bloomed to lure the next ignorant person into a sweet dream.

Enraged, the rose lashed out with a thick vine, which Wen Yishu caught steadily. This time she did not use the String of Pearls, allowing the sharp thorns to pierce through her gloves and sink into her flesh. The pain caused the previous hallucinatory feeling to vanish without a trace.

Through the thorns, the rose began to suck her blood frantically, its tone filled with a sort of ecstasy: “You really deserve to die for destroying the crystallization of my hard work. No matter—once I finish absorbing you, I can continue to grow stronger.”

Wen Yishu smiled slightly, unconcerned with the rose’s dying words: “I really want to know if a certain characteristic of plants still works on variants.”

The rose’s joyful gurgling stopped abruptly. It asked with confusion: “What?”

“My ability can force-ripen. In ordinary plants, force-ripening is always accompanied by premature death. Do you think my energy will run out first, or will you die first?”

The branch Wen Yishu held in her hand expanded rapidly, becoming lignified in just a few seconds. The thorns turned yellow. The rose’s screams rang in Wen Yishu’s ears; it simply could not withstand Wen Yishu’s fully unleashed ability.

This process was like transitioning from youth to old age in an instant; all growth speed, time, and size were infinitely magnified. The rose felt a massive surge of energy entering its body; by the time it reacted and tried to pull away, it found it was too late. Like someone being electrocuted, it knew it was in mortal danger but had no way to let go of the wire it was holding.

The plant before her swelled drastically. If its tentacles lashed toward Wen Yishu, they would likely become a connecting channel again. Wen Yishu dropped to the ground and tightly grabbed its old, trunk-like base. The smell of blood mixed with the scent of raw earth in the mud was not pleasant. Countless thick vines covered her body. The plant swelled in an instant, then withered and shriveled down. All the vines were heavily lignified, without a single trace of life left.

Bai Mi rushed forward the moment she fell, standing there with her gun and watching Wen Yishu be submerged. Wen Yishu felt as if she were pressed under a freezing quilt. This rose was thoroughly dead, with no possibility of revival.

She felt exhausted, as if after a workout, and could only lie there quietly, gasping for breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of black boots standing nearby.

Bai Mi’s voice came from outside: “Are you okay?”

Wen Yishu had no strength to answer and simply remained silent.

Bai Mi rejected Aix’s suggestion to use a flamethrower to burn the patch of dried thorns directly. Although Wen Yishu had an ability, she was still a living human of flesh and blood; if burned by fire, she would easily die in a short time. She took out her portable short knife and began cutting through the branches one by one. The short thorns weren’t sharp, but they occasionally pricked her fingers.

Wen Yishu listened to the rustling sounds outside and, after a long while, said with difficulty: “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me there?”

The crisp sound of lignified branches being cut grew closer. Wen Yishu saw the black boots right in front of her. With several “clacks,” the branches shrouding her head were all cut away, and she was yanked up from the ground by Bai Mi.

Bai Mi frowned deeply, looking at the large patches of blood on her. Wen Yishu leaned on her to barely stand straight and explained: “It’s not my blood; it’s someone else’s.”

The blood of the people killed by the rose previously had melted into the soil; once triggered by her body heat, it had soaked into her. She herself was unharmed.

“You shouldn’t have chosen the most dangerous method. There were clearly many other ways to solve it.”

Wen Yishu shook her head: “Human progress stems from trying. Besides, I was confident. Look at me—aside from being a bit tired, I’m fine, aren’t I?”

She had explored her ability very little, having been on the run this whole time. Now that she finally had a chance to experiment, Wen Yishu naturally wouldn’t let it go.

Bai Mi persisted: “I hope my partner can minimize risks. After all, human life is fragile; it only takes one mistake to die.”

Wen Yishu found these words a bit ironic, considering the Team Leader was the one who most ignored the rules. Even if she hadn’t come to rescue her, Wen Yishu would have been able to break free on her own once her strength recovered a little. If any other passersby had seen, they would have just thought she was killed by the plant; she posed no threat at all.

She offered a pale smile, trying to soothe Bai Mi’s mood, but then she looked down and saw Bai Mi’s hands, which were covered in wounds.

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