Apocalyptic Island - Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Wen Yishu stood numbly on the tree branch, looking at the String of Pearls which had been tossed up there and was unable to move. She couldn’t help but turn her back to the scene.

Her worry had vanished; the String of Pearls was constantly flailing its vines, attempting to reach Wen Yishu’s body. The banyan tree, having been a silent listener for ages, was now using Wen Yishu as a medium to patiently “take care” of the plant. Surprisingly, it showed no signs of impatience.

An aerial root twisted into a pincer-like hand and pinched the wildly thrashing String of Pearls. “Was it always like this?”

Wen Yishu found it hard to look at and didn’t offer a rebuttal. “It’s always been like this.”

The banyan laughed softly. “It seems like a human child. It’s rare to see one as energetic as this.”

Wen Yishu nodded. “It’s not a child; it’s my partner.”

Although she felt a bit embarrassed by its rowdiness, the String of Pearls was indeed a partner she could trust and rely on. She had brought it back from the seaside; the vast majority of plants near Rhine had died from the saltwater soak. If the String of Pearls had stayed there, it would have met the same fate. It had also paid with its life to save her—when falling from the sky, the plant hadn’t hesitated for a single second. Even when its stems snapped, it refused to let go. They were partners who shared life and death; though different species, their bond was the same.

The aerial root softened its movements and began to tease the plant.

Seeing Wen Yishu preparing to climb down, the tree lowered the entire cradle and spoke: “You can go do your own things first. You can leave it here with me.”

Wen Yishu felt that the banyan was like a patriarch with endless patience. She bowed her head in thanks and stepped back onto the ground. The moment she left the branch, her body no longer felt as light and energized as before. However, she was still much better off than when she first fell. She wondered where her earpiece and glasses had landed.

The banyan indicated that there were too many fallen fragments and it couldn’t distinguish what those small components were. Since it didn’t understand high-tech products, Wen Yishu gave up on asking and tried to search for them herself.

The optical computer on her wrist had no signal. Electronic devices were likely to malfunction near such a massive mutated plant. The helicopters had only stayed airborne because they were flying high enough.

She roughly knew she was in Binhai City’s Central Park, but the idea of walking out of this dense forest on foot was a bit far-fetched. The optical computer could only perform simple functions; she saw the time was now 6:00 PM. She didn’t know how long she would have to stay here; without a helicopter, entering the city would be difficult.

By her estimation, Rhine likely wouldn’t send anyone here, as the cargo on her flight wasn’t the mermen. She didn’t know what had happened on the other helicopters, but the banyan told her hers was the only one that had crashed; no other helicopters had fallen from above.

She planned to find the wreckage to investigate.

Dusk was fast approaching. Although this place acted as a natural thermal insulator, the nighttime temperature wouldn’t be high, so she needed to find survival supplies. With the banyan guiding the general direction, she only had to follow the path. The staggered leaves slightly illuminated her way; despite the dark and damp environment below, Wen Yishu didn’t feel afraid.

The shipping container had crashed nearby. Since she had closed the door before the drop, the items inside hadn’t scattered. The container was made of sturdy material and had been buffered by branches during the fall; only one corner was embedded in the wet, soft mud, with no major damage. After Wen Yishu inspected it, the banyan used its aerial roots to dig the container out and haul it away.

Only a large pit remained on the ground. Wen Yishu continued forward, her black boots covered in mud. She had to clean them simply every now and then; otherwise, walking became too heavy. There were still continuous stone paths; the lawn had turned yellow from the low temperature, but traces of human activity were still visible. They were merely completely obscured by the banyan’s lush foliage. If one didn’t look intentionally, these relics of the old era would remain hidden in the darkness.

The smell of engine oil was unpleasant. Wen Yishu soon reached the wreckage of the helicopter. Above this spot, the foliage still had a massive hole, with faint scorch marks around it. Wen Yishu stroked the aerial root following her as a comfort and strode forward to check the wreckage.

The cold, massive metal giant was burned down to its frame. The “indestructible” craft had slammed into the ground, deformed by the impact, with glass shattered everywhere. Wen Yishu carefully stepped around it, looking at the shapeless heap. There weren’t even charred bodies inside; the people in the cabin hadn’t escaped after the crash and had been burned to charcoal by the intense fire. Only a few black clumps remained, indistinguishable as humans; with a slight touch, they would turn to ash. The drifting black soot was soaked by the rain, preventing it from flying up for now.

Wen Yishu pushed aside a metal plate to investigate and discovered an unusual “body.” This corpse had been thrown quite a distance from the helicopter. Wen Yishu didn’t know how she had gotten out; there were no obvious burn marks on her. Instead, she had been skewered from top to bottom on a steel pillar that had also been flung out. Wen Yishu moved closer; the woman was wearing the uniform of a Federal Special Security officer. Her facial features were obscured by soot, and she looked thoroughly dead.

Wen Yishu searched her for a while but found nothing useful. Basically everything in the helicopter had been destroyed by fire. It was a stroke of luck that the banyan hadn’t caught fire, but there was nothing to salvage. Aside from a few pieces of scrap metal, only the frame remained.

Wen Yishu turned to go back and check the contents of her container—after all, she had brought everything from her apartment. As she walked past the helicopter frame, she suddenly heard some rustling sounds behind her. Wen Yishu was confused; was it some animal living in this forest?

She stopped, turned, and saw a reflection from the metal frame. That body skewered by steel, which had been “standing,” was now squirming. Wen Yishu quickly pulled out the gun at her waist and fired a shot at the corpse. She had no marksmanship to speak of, so she chose the easiest target—the heart. The bullet entered the body, blooming into a flower of blood.

However, the “blood” flowing out was a thick, green liquid. Wen Yishu quickly holstered the gun, realizing in a second that the woman had turned into a variant. She found it very strange; had she not died during the fall? Bullets were ineffective against variants; the woman merely twitched before wrenching her entire body free from the iron pipe.

A large amount of green sap flowed from her punctured abdomen. She began to howl in pain. Wen Yishu rushed forward, drawing her short blade to plunge it into the woman’s chest.

“Wait, I’m human!” The woman’s shrill howl suddenly weakened into a human voice.

Wen Yishu’s hand didn’t pause; she stabbed down rapidly. The woman’s newly mutated body was extremely fragile, with no ability to fight back. Or rather, she hadn’t fully mutated and lacked the power to resist, yet she still possessed the deceptive consciousness to know danger was approaching.

Wen Yishu saw the newly grown scales on her face and twisted her wrist to redirect the blade, not stabbing in. The woman breathed a sigh of relief, secretly gloating. Just as she was about to say thank you, she saw the tip of the blade enlarge infinitely before her eyes. Before she could even make a sound in her terror, her eyeball was flicked open by the blade.

A crystal nucleus that hadn’t fully formed was quickly flicked out by Wen Yishu. The woman’s short scream lasted only an instant before she collapsed. With a heart full of resentment and hatred, she died in despair at Wen Yishu’s hands.

Wen Yishu was just that “dishonorable”—she couldn’t be bothered to talk nonsense with variants. Especially mermen. The corpse on the ground grew dense scales visible to the naked eye; in less than a minute, it dissolved into thick liquid and disappeared completely into the soil beneath her feet.

The banyan pushed aside the clothes on the ground and drove an aerial root down to absorb the nutrients from the earth. The healing speed of the large hole above seemed to accelerate instantly; the shadow expanded until it was covered. Below, it went dark for a moment before being manually brushed open by the banyan.

Wen Yishu tossed the crystal onto the ground as well to make it easier for the banyan to absorb. She had almost missed this merman; it seemed the mermen had already infiltrated the special task force when they boarded. This strain of variant was very strange, distinct from others. If they had infiltrated the planes, then You Ning was in danger. The one on this plane might have just mutated and failed to control its primitive desires, leading to the crash.

Wen Yishu still remembered the person who had locked them in the basement; it might have been one of the escaped mermen. She wondered if Rhine had “shot itself in the foot” by insisted on bringing such dangerous variants back for research. If it were her, she would definitely have killed them to eliminate any future trouble.

She scanned the surroundings one more time. Confirming there was nothing else, she turned to leave.

Once Wen Yishu was completely out of sight, two figures hidden under a charred mass of metal crawled out of the ashes. The medical uniforms on them were burned beyond recognition. They lay on the ground without any sense of decorum, panting heavily.

“Is she gone?” a shrill voice asked.

“She’s gone. That other one was too careless, getting herself discovered. This woman is terrifyingly powerful. Luckily you’re smart; you didn’t move when you saw her coming.”

The shrill voice chuckled, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth, and its inorganic fish-eyes curved into crescents. “Of course. If that idiot had a brain, she wouldn’t have killed the pilot and caused us to lose contact with the Boss.”

The other voice replied: “It doesn’t matter. Once we’ve rested, we’ll ambush that woman. Once we walk out of this place, we can reconnect with the Boss soon.”

“Such tender skin, hahahahaha. I’m definitely eating her eyes first.”

The two mermen snickered quietly, completely failing to notice a figure approaching noiselessly.

Wen Yishu leaned down, her face appearing in their field of vision: “Are you looking for me?”

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