The First Bloom 21

Jianyu stepped out of the car, his heart feeling heavy as his eyes settled on the building in front of him. It was his university—the place where he had once spent years chasing his dreams, surrounded by the quiet hum of learning and the scent of fresh soil from the greenhouse.

The tall stone columns, the ivy crawling along the walls, the familiar cracked path leading to the main entrance—all of it stood just as he remembered.

But in reality, this place didn't exist anymore. The Black Bloom had destroyed it, just like it had destroyed everything else he held dear.

He could almost see it now, in his mind's eye: the once-bustling campus overrun with the thick, black vines of the Bloom. The large oak tree where he used to sit and study, its branches once full of golden leaves, now twisted and lifeless. The greenhouse—his sanctuary—shattered, its glass walls broken, its plants withered under the Bloom's grasp.