Chapter 31

"Look out!" Lin Tu sprinted over, shouting. "They're parasitic dandelions! Don't touch them!"

She was far from the gray van, at least half a minute away at a full run. In that short span, all she could do was shout that one warning.

From a distance, Zhang Jie felt his face itch, prickling with pain. He used his other hand to fend off Cai Dui, but then watched in horror as Cai Dui bit down on his hand—

"Get over here and help!" he roared at the others.

The underlings holding the umbrella and the water stumbled backward, bumping into Yi Ying behind them. All three wore expressions of stark terror, afraid they'd be caught in the crossfire.

Only Luo Yongzhi remained rooted in place, steel rod raised, uncertain whether to use his "Shatter" effect and dash his hopes of clearing the mission. The scene before him made him hesitate.

"Parasitic dandelions..." Lin Tu's shout suddenly rang in Luo Yongzhi's ears.

It struck him—just yesterday, Lin Tu had warned him to be careful of people infested with dandelions. Did that mean dandelions could infect humans, and Cai Dui was one such victim?

With that thought, Luo Yongzhi recalled that dandelions feared water, and Cai Dui had deliberately knocked over that cup of water moments ago. He immediately retracted his steel rod and pulled his own water bottle from the side pocket of his backpack—

"I've got food here!" He shouted to draw Cai Dui's attention while unscrewing the cap and splashing the water all over Cai Dui.

"Ah!" Cai Dui let out a miserable scream and released Zhang Jie's hand at once.

By then, Lin Tu had reached them.

The bitten underling had collapsed to the ground in convulsions, clutching his chest and screaming in agony. Lin Tu quickly produced her portable shower, aimed the nozzle at his mouth, and blasted him with water. The underling shuddered violently, then went limp, unconscious.

"Cai Dui! What's wrong with you?" Zhang Jie shouted at his superior, then turned to the others and barked, "Go check on him, now!"

One of the underlings hesitantly stepped forward, holding a finger under the man's nose and then pressing it to his chest. He stammered, "He's... he's dead!"

"What about Cai Dui?!"

When it came to Cai Dui, Lin Tu had already become proficient—she dislocated his jaw with practiced ease and kept flushing water into his throat. The man who had been shrieking for food and biting people moments ago was now silent, dead as can be.

Seeing Lin Tu turn and head toward him with the shower head, Zhang Jie's face flickered with panic.

"You... you're insane?"

"Take a look at your hand," Lin Tu said.

Zhang Jie raised a trembling hand to his face. On his palm, where Cai Dui had bitten him, a patch of lush dandelions had sprouted. The plants were burrowing into his flesh with desperate vigor, many already submerged, leaving only tufts of fuzz above the skin.

"Quick! Help me!" He looked to the remaining survivors for aid, but seeing their terror, he turned to Lin Tu. "Cut it off! Please! Cut off my hand!"

Lin Tu drew the blade from her back in a flash. One clean swing, and Zhang Jie was left with only his right arm. Luo Yongzhi sprinkled some water on the wound, and a few dandelions that had nearly entered his torso fell to the ground.

The casualties were heavy, but at least the situation was under control.

Only Zhang Jie's screams echoed down the street.

The two underlings and Yi Ying finally dared to step forward and tend to Zhang Jie's wound. Luo Yongzhi sighed again and again as he dragged Cai Dui's and the other underling's bodies to a corner by the roadside.

Cai Dui wore little—just two pockets in his trousers. After a quick pat-down that yielded nothing, Lin Tu searched the van and eventually found a work log.

It detailed the work targets he had completed over the past few days.

As Zhang Jie had said, he had indeed come from the capital in the northeast, bringing a magnetic card granting top-level access to the Plant Research Institute.

Following the log's notes, Lin Tu located the card, tucked it into her pocket, and continued reading.

"Hmm..." Lin Tu's brow furrowed deeper with each line, because—

The shelter Zhang Jie had claimed was absolutely safe didn't exist; or rather, it did. But it wasn't a shelter at all—it was a metal-free prison built by the research institute to hold the Zero mutant plant.

According to the log, Cai Dui's job was to retrieve the magnetic card from the capital and bring it here. To save time, the simpler tasks—"preliminary clearing of the research institute" and "stockpiling supplies"—had been assigned to another person: Zhang Jie. To ensure he completed the work, the Black Factory had equipped him with plenty of tools and resources.

Once Cai Dui arrived, he and Zhang Jie were to enter the deepest part of the institute, eliminate the mutant plant in its cell, and hide everyone inside until the mission ended.

Interestingly, hiding until the disaster ended was only Cai Dui's side quest. His main objective was to use the magnetic card to open the lab's main door and collect the employee records from the institute.

Collect "employee records"? Lin Tu stared at those words, momentarily lost in thought—was the Black Factory searching for someone? But these were all locals of the disaster world; who could they be looking for?

Still, the main mission required her to enter the institute anyway. Right now, what mattered more was figuring out how to get in—

As far as she knew, that damn Zhang Jie had spent only the first day stocking up supplies at a house, then holed up in the hotel playing cards every day, never once leaving his room.

He hadn't even begun clearing the institute, much less touched its doorknob!