Chapter 230
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Chapter 230: A Terrible Invader That Makes My Branches Spin.
The five of them sprinted under the pale moonlight through the eerie and terrifying wilderness.
This was unlike being chased by beasts or wildfires; it felt as though a powerful, instinct-driven, invisible force was pursuing them.
In Lin Qingliu’s perception of the biological field, the scene was entirely different.
The entire wilderness seemed to awaken, with all the mycelium life coalescing into a new, unified entity. This entity appeared distinct from the will of the mycelium he knew, resembling a newly awakened infant, lacking certain thinking abilities.
Lin Qingliu fell into deep contemplation but refrained from offering any assistance to the Fresnel team.
It was not yet a life-or-death moment; acting impulsively would only cast suspicion on Wang Xiao’s identity. Moreover, Fulan, as a vessel of power, was still only at the Second Level, making it difficult for Lin Qingliu to project his full strength.
"Captain, those plants… they’ve come to life!"
The moment Fresnel ordered the retreat, Shi Jin activated her ability to scan their surroundings.
Though her vision and other senses had not significantly improved during her ability awakening and training, by accelerating the flow of time around her, the subtle changes in the surrounding mycelial plants became strikingly clear.
Branches swayed, leaves spun, roots stretched—everything was in constant motion.
But what was the enemy?
At that moment, not only Shi Jin but also the other members realized a problem: for a long time, their training had been centered around extraordinary beasts as the primary threat.
No one had ever imagined that plants, which merely swayed in the wind, could become formidable adversaries for humans.
It was like asking a skilled butcher to chop down a tree. No matter how sharp his cleaver was, it would struggle to inflict significant damage on a sturdy big tree.
A sense of helplessness washed over the five "butchers"—no, five superpowered individuals—as they could only retreat while devising a plan.
The plants’ movements grew more pronounced; they seemed to sense the depressions in the ground, allowing them to track the superpowered individuals’ movements and make basic predictions.
The milky white liquid seeping from their footprints marked their trail, while more milky mycelium spread relentlessly along their path.
Though inexperienced in such matters, both Fresnel and the others sensed that entanglement with that substance would lead to no good outcome.
Ahead of them, the branches intertwined and overlapped, attempting to form a wooden cage to trap them all.
However, the plants moved slightly slower than humans. The closing branches left only scratches on the superpowered individuals’ bodies, failing to capture anyone.
"Drop everything! Keep only the samples and water!"
Fresnel, leading the charge, suddenly shouted. He glanced back at his teammates while guiding their path.
They had been running at full speed for nearly ten minutes, and such relentless, endless sprinting had visibly drained their stamina.
Though superpowered individuals generally possessed superior physical abilities compared to ordinary humans, apart from Wang Xiao, the others showed clear signs of fatigue, their pace noticeably slowing.
Exhaustion replaced the reluctance that should have been on their faces; buckles snapped open, and small packs fell swiftly to the ground, swallowed by the relentless pursuit of the white mycelium.
As the branches ahead grew denser, Wang Xiao, clad in armor, quickened his pace:
"Let me take the lead."
Fresnel understood his intent, adjusted his stride to yield the front position, and intensified the light’s brightness.
Wang Xiao placed one hand before him and charged headlong into the thickening branches.
With a series of snaps and cracks, branches fell to the ground, their severed ends revealing strands of mycelium that remained connected like lotus fibers.
Wang Xiao, already robust after awakening his power, was even more formidable than an average strong man with his armor on.
Although the impact was made while he turned his body, the space created was still sufficient for his teammates to pass through.
The group pressed forward, while the forest’s counterattack grew increasingly fierce.
"Crack!"
As Wang Xiao snapped a thick branch, he felt a deep gash tear across the right side of his face beneath his half-mask.
The wound stretched from the corner of his mouth, exposing his molars and jawbone.
The flayed flesh fluttered in the wind, emitting eerie sounds.
But what was even more unsettling was that Wang Xiao couldn’t see what had injured him.
If not for the sound of splintering wood, he might have mistaken it for a low-flying Avian Creature.
A horrifying thought he refused to acknowledge flashed through his mind. After a brief moment of reflection, Wang Xiao shouted,
"Be careful! There’s something invisible here!"
"Why does your voice sound like it’s whistling?"
Hearing his teammate’s slurred words, Fresnel instinctively glanced up and caught sight of Wang Xiao’s nearly exposed half-face, with stark white teeth and bone laid bare.
"…"
The rushing air from their sprint caused the exposed flesh on Wang Xiao’s face to tremble, while his formidable healing ability worked tirelessly to mend the damage.
Even for someone like Fresnel, who was adept at grilling and piercing, the sight was disturbingly surreal.
"What happened? How did you get hurt like this?"
"Some trees can turn invisible!"
Wang Xiao finally found a more fitting explanation.
Fresnel was momentarily stunned, then he focused all the bright light ahead. Under its glare, he noticed something unreasonable in the space before them.
It was like a transparent glass pillar looming in the distance; though as clear as air, it stood out starkly to Fresnel, whose expertise in refraction made it unmistakable.
Using the directional commands he had trained for, Fresnel guided Wang Xiao to strike at the thick, transparent branches to shatter them.
These branches appeared roughly once in every few hundred, a seemingly low probability, but for the group sprinting at full speed, it felt like an encounter every two or three seconds.
What’s more, these stealthy branches were not only thicker but also cunningly positioned.
Without prior preparation, colliding with them at such speed would leave only two outcomes: unconsciousness or death.
As Fresnel continued to point out targets for Wang Xiao, a sense of unease crept into his mind, gnawing at his rationality—
Soft ground, rapidly growing plants, stealthy branches.
Quicksand, vines, geckos.
