Apocalyptic Island - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Her hand rested on Bai Mi’s shoulder. Her shoulders were a little thin, and she could easily feel the shape of the bones.

Wen Yishu was a little surprised that her rather frail body had such good stamina, but this thought only lasted for a moment.

Soon, she couldn’t think of anything else, because the aloe, which had been quietly sitting in the corner, was rioting again.

She pulled Bai Mi down with force and shouted: “Watch out for the leaves!”

The aloe’s leaves swept over their heads with a foul wind. History was surprisingly similar. Wen Yishu rolled back to her original position.

The lights in the stairwell turned on, but this time it wasn’t as lucky as the last.

The mutated aloe leaves seemed to have lengthened a bit, and they heavily whipped toward Bai Mi, who was in front of her.

Wen Yishu could barely see her movements, only a dazzling blue flame spraying out in front of her.

The aloe leaves instantly shrank back, and the scorched area made a sizzling sound.

The rest of the leaves became more violent, whipping toward the two of them like a storm.

Wen Yishu, without a word, pulled Bai Mi back to the middle of the stairs and finally stopped.

Her jacket was also torn, revealing the white lining underneath. Fortunately, she wasn’t injured.

Her body had also reached its limit at this moment. The things she was carrying in her hands fell to the ground, and she uncontrollably fell forward.

Fortunately, the person in front of her held her steady, which prevented the tragedy of her face hitting the ground.

Wen Yishu felt her eyelids were too tired to open. She deeply regretted the physical toll of her two years of nonstop studying for interviews and written exams.

“I’m sorry, Minister, I’m just too tired.”

She said in a low voice, not knowing if Bai Mi heard her. Even in this dangerous situation, she didn’t have a single bit of strength left to get up.

The aloe upstairs was still whipping. Bai Mi helped her lean against the wall.

She twisted open a bottle of water and handed it to her. Wen Yishu’s throat felt like it was on fire. She gulped two mouthfuls and then heard Bai Mi start to analyze.

“The body that disappeared upstairs must have been absorbed by the aloe.”

Wen Yishu nodded in agreement and opened her quantum computer to ask Wang Li: “The plants upstairs are rioting again. Are you guys okay down there?”

The minister quickly replied: “What’s wrong? We’re fine here. What’s the situation?”

Wen Yishu: “Go back quickly. The aloe on our floor has mutated again.”

“There are also bodies in the money tree downstairs. I asked the minister, and she said there was nothing abnormal. Could it be because of the bodies?”

Bai Mi turned on her quantum computer’s flashlight. The concentrated beam of light shone on the bottom of the aloe pot, revealing that the originally intact pot had cracked at some point.

The body that was lying on the corridor was now just a sweater, hanging alone on its thick root system.

Most of the liquid on the ground was also absorbed, leaving only a dark brown shadow.

The two of them both saw the iconic sweater. The body had been mostly absorbed.

Bai Mi: “It seems the answer is obvious. Was the aloe you saw before this big?”

Wen Yishu shook her head: “No. The money tree downstairs must have also grown this big. I don’t know if there’s any solution.”

The aloe had completely blocked their way back. Now, even if they stuck to the wall, they would be cut in half by the sharp leaves.

Wen Yishu said this and quickly opened the live feed. The information was still exploding.

However, it was no longer as optimistic as it was at the beginning. Some people were already showing signs of panic, questioning why the Federation was not taking action.

In some remote areas, small-scale riots had already broken out. In just a few hours, order in some regions had collapsed.

Although the Federation had serious polarization, due to the monitoring of the all-seeing eye, public order had always been very good. Perhaps it was because this disaster was so sudden and on such a large scale that many sensitive people smelled a crisis.

Those who were living in constant fear took the initiative, completely disregarding whether it would cross the line of the law.

This sense of crisis also existed in everyone. Everyone’s nerves were tense. Another piece of explosive news might make it impossible for the Federation to stabilize the situation.

There was also a hot search on the future predicted by artificial intelligence. It had rarely made mistakes under the current version of its calculations.

The public’s opposition was getting louder and louder. Wen Yishu clicked in to see its analysis results.

Aix’s latest data analysis is loading…

A few lines of characters quickly jumped out:

Disaster rating: S-class.

Recovery time: Indefinite.

Below were the cold data analyses, as if giving an indefinite sentence to humanity.

Previous disaster ratings, like tsunamis and earthquakes, were A-class. The scale of this event was beyond its calculation model, and it was more like a data error that occurred when the artificial intelligence went down after the ecosystem was completely overturned.

There was no update on how to deal with this kind of mutated plant. If she went back, Wen Yishu swore she would stay in her room for the next few days and never come out again!

She clutched the bag in her hand, regretting that she hadn’t moved the aloe when she first came out to save Huo Xiaoguan and the others.

The fleshy leaves of the aloe behind them were still trying to reach them. Wen Yishu took a big bite of the energy bar that the minister gave her.

After resting for a while, she walked two steps forward and extended one hand to lure the leaves to come toward her.

Bai Mi’s eyes widened. The leaves seemed to sense it and shot out. Her voice became a little anxious: “What are you doing!”

Wen Yishu ignored her. When the leaf came, she suddenly pulled her hand back, and the short dagger slashed heavily at the leaf.

The leaves of an ordinary aloe would have been easily cut off by this sharp dagger, but the mutated plant was not like that.

She felt that the short dagger, which could cut through iron like mud, was now cutting into a tough piece of rice cake. It was incredibly difficult to cut. Another leaf was about to hit her.

Wen Yishu quickly pulled out the dagger and nimbly moved back two steps, narrowly avoiding it.

The leaf had been cut in half. The tip was no longer curled up but hung lifelessly.

The sticky, gel-like substance belonging to the aloe flowed out of the plump leaf.

The remaining leaves started whipping around even more wildly. The “thump-thump” sounds were endless. The wind they created even blew on Wen Yishu’s face.

The stench of the body had disappeared, replaced by a fresh smell that reminded her of sugar-free aloe yogurt.

It was as if she opened her mouth and thick yogurt would enter it. Wen Yishu swallowed. She was so hungry. The past few hours had consumed a lot of her energy, and she had only eaten a little.

She stuffed the remaining energy bar into her mouth. She was a little excited in her heart. This was working. She raised the short dagger, preparing to try a second time, but her wrist was grabbed by the person next to her.

She turned her head and saw Bai Mi shaking her head at her with a solemn expression.

Wen Yishu was a little confused: “The leaf seems useless after it’s cut. If I cut a little more, we can get past it by hugging the wall.”

Seeing that she still wouldn’t let go, Wen Yishu was a little upset from hunger. She thought the other person was worried about her and anxiously explained: “Let go of me first. Just trust me. I won’t get hurt.”

At the same time, she looked at the other person’s hand holding her wrist. She had a feeling she couldn’t describe. It was probably because the feeling of being cared for was really nice.

She felt a little apologetic for her anxious tone and was about to soften her voice and say something when she saw her raise the flamethrower in her hand: “It’s too slow. I’ll do it.”

Wen Yishu: …

Wen Yishu took a deep breath, forced a smile, extended her hand to make a “go ahead” gesture, and retreated a little.

She watched as Bai Mi took out the fuel from her backpack, filled the flamethrower with the blue liquid, and then walked forward gracefully to burn the aloe.

The aloe’s dancing branches sensed someone approaching and instantly gathered toward her, like a giant hand trying to grab her.

Bai Mi turned the flamethrower to the maximum. A gigantic red and blue flame shot out, forming a fire pillar over a meter long in front of the two of them.

A wave of heat rushed toward them, dispelling the wet cold in the air.

All the leaves retreated at lightning speed the moment they touched the fire.

This was the first time Wen Yishu had seen the true power of a flamethrower. No wonder it was a controlled item.

If ownership were liberalized, the Federation’s public order would probably be greatly compromised.

The aloe was forced back in an instant. Bai Mi moved first: “Run!”

The two of them reached the door in just a few seconds. Wen Yishu took out the key from her pocket and inserted it into the keyhole.

The heat wave behind her gradually subsided. She quickly opened the door and pulled Bai Mi in with her.

The smart butler in the room automatically turned on the lights. She opened the kitchen cabinet and took out the canned luncheon meat.

She struggled to pry open the lid and scooped it out with a spoon.

The moment the ready-to-eat meat entered her mouth, Wen Yishu finally recovered. She sat on the floor and devoured it. She felt that the hunger was about to take away all her sanity.

While she was eating, she didn’t forget to hand a can to Bai Mi.

The other person didn’t eat it straight from the can. Instead, she turned on the induction cooker in the kitchen, scooped out the contents of the can, and fried it in a non-stick pan.

The pink slices of meat turned golden in the thin layer of oil. The rich grease released the aroma, which rushed into Wen Yishu’s nostrils.

Before, she was just eating to fill her stomach, but now, she was genuinely craving it.

The outer skin was crispy, and with just a slight touch of the chopsticks, you could hear the crunching sound of the crispy crust breaking.

But Wen Yishu’s attention was no longer on the luncheon meat. The spoon in her hand was stuck in the half-eaten can of luncheon meat.

The person in front of her had taken off her jacket and was only wearing a thin shirt. The light blue apron didn’t cover her slender neck.

Wen Yishu stared at her neck. A strange thought popped into her mind: She looks delicious.

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