Psychic Plants

One hour later.

The motorcycle screeched to a halt, the tires sliding as it slid sideways to a stop.

Lin An slammed on the brakes suddenly, his face grim.

Not far ahead, a massive mound of bodies lay blocking the road into the city, yet there were no zombies around.

Wen Ya awoke with a jolt, her vision blurry from sleep.

Lin An hadn't given any warning before coming to a sudden stop, and her chin collided hard with his back. The impact left her slightly stunned.

"Ugh... that hurts."

Why is he so hard? Is his body made of stone?

Wen Ya couldn't help but silently complain, feeling a bit annoyed by his lack of consideration.

Lin An glanced back, unbothered. At this point, his body was tough enough to endure physical impacts without feeling a thing. With a physical capacity of 14.4, not even cold weapons could easily break his skin.

The sight before them was strange. A mountain of corpses, yet no zombies were around.

Without hesitation, Lin An activated his Judgment Eye, scanning the scene quickly.

The result was eerie.

"Scan complete."

The Judgment Eye had analyzed the area in mere moments.

"Survivors: 0."

"Zombies: 0."

"Destroyed vehicles: 11,219…"

The mound of bodies was at least ten meters high, consisting of over ten thousand corpses stacked together.

Around the area, more bodies were found in vehicles, on the ground, some still partly eaten. The remains showed signs of being gnawed for some time.

The area around the pile was surrounded by crushed zombie corpses.

Lin An, though cautious, felt there was no immediate threat and approached the strange cluster of destroyed bodies.

What is this?

He examined the broken bodies carefully, his eyes narrowing.

The wounds were cleanly sliced, and the flesh within was reduced to a soupy mess, not the result of any explosion or physical strike.

This was… different.

Lin An looked down, deep in thought. There was an unsettling feeling in his gut.

He glanced back at the towering pile of corpses, then at the bloody chunks of flesh in his hand. The summit of the corpse mountain had been flattened, as though something had stood atop it.

What could cause this level of damage?

After replaying the scenario in his mind, Lin An made a grim realization.

Psychic energy shockwaves!

Only a psychic force of such magnitude could do this kind of destruction.

A cold shiver ran down his spine.

Psychic shockwaves? That could only be wielded by a Tier 3 awakened or a mutated entity.

Such an indiscriminate attack across such a large area...

But this wasn't supposed to happen.

In Lin An's knowledge of the game, Tier 3 beings only began to appear after the game had progressed for several months. In fact, when the first Tier 3 Zombie King emerged, it led a horde of over a million zombies to wipe out a large military base. The result was catastrophic—nearly a million casualties.

A single entity of that tier could easily destroy an entire army.

But what could this force be?

Lin An furrowed his brows. Could it be the butterfly effect?

His gaze lingered on the ground again, noticing massive signs of zombies that had recently moved toward Linjiang City. He had a feeling that a horde led by a Tier 3 mutated entity might soon march toward the city.

The crisis was real.

As far as he knew, Linjiang City already harbored two Tier 1 mutated entities, and now a possible Tier 3 entity.

It was a disaster waiting to happen.

Behind him, Wen Ya, now fully awake, stepped forward, her expression pale with concern.

"Linjiang... are there any survivors left?"

This was the only road out of Linjiang City. If it was blocked, it meant no one could escape.

Wen Ya's voice trembled with desperation, though Lin An knew the real question behind it. She must have family or friends still inside the city.

Lin An remained silent for a moment, then responded coldly.

"Yes."

There were still two million survivors in Linjiang, but this was no comfort. Within a week, the city would be overrun by a horde of new zombies.

Wen Ya opened her mouth, as though about to say something, but then stopped, unable to find the words.

Without another word, Lin An turned and walked back to the bike, signaling to her to follow. He started the engine, veering away from the direct path of the Tier 3 entity's probable route.

There was no reason to take the risk of encountering such a powerful foe if they didn't have to.

"Where are we going next?" Wen Ya asked hesitantly, as she climbed onto the back of the motorcycle.

"Flower shop," Lin An responded briefly, his voice as terse as ever.

Xingyi Flower Shop

The shop entrance was littered with petals, trampled and soaked into the muck. Several zombies were gnawing on the half-eaten corpse of a young woman, her body still wearing a short skirt. The zombies, driven by hunger, tore at her flesh eagerly.

The store's iron shutters were tightly closed, its protection seemingly useless against the growing danger outside.

Not far away, Lin An and Wen Ya's motorcycle roared toward the store.

Upstairs, a middle-aged woman peered out the window, watching helplessly as the flowers were crushed underfoot by the zombies. She was full of grief for her lost livelihood.

When the apocalypse began, this shop's remote location had spared her from the early zombie outbreaks, allowing her to survive. But now, she was trapped on the second floor with no way out, afraid to even descend the stairs. The zombies outside had stripped her of any will to survive.

"Boom!"

The motorcycle roared as it arrived.

Someone's coming!?

She rushed to open the window and called out, her voice full of hope.

"Help! Please, someone help me! There are monsters outside!"

The zombies, hearing her cries, lifted their heads, eyes red with hunger. They growled in unison.

The flower shop owner recoiled, frightened, and hurriedly ducked behind the window.

Lin An glanced upward but saw that the shop owner had already disappeared from view.

Without hesitation, he dismounted and walked straight toward the flower shop.

"Quick and decisive," he muttered to himself.

On the way into the shop, he and Wen Ya had changed into firefighting gear for protection, sealing off vulnerable points with tape. Though Lin An wasn't afraid of zombies, he couldn't risk Wen Ya getting hurt.

Wen Ya, awkward in the bulky suit, followed behind him, gripping an axe tightly. Her nervousness showed on her face as she struggled to keep up.

Lin An moved swiftly, cleaving through zombies with precision.

The sound of his Nepalese machete slicing through the air was deafening as he severed the nearest zombie's head. Blood sprayed across the shop door like a grotesque splatter of paint.

With a sharp turn, he launched a brutal kick, sending another zombie flying toward the metal door.

The remaining zombies, now sensing the bloodshed, began to stagger toward the noise.

"Inside!" Lin An barked, signaling Wen Ya to follow.

Wen Ya, following suit, clumsily chopped the final zombie in her path, before they both stormed into the store.

The flower shop owner, watching in stunned silence from above, was filled with both relief and disbelief at their raw power.

With a rapid, controlled motion, Lin An kicked open the shop door, knocking it off its hinges along with the half-eaten corpse of the zombie.

"Quick, find the colorful flowers!" Lin An ordered.

Wen Ya nodded and began searching frantically through the shop's cluttered shelves.

"Hey, hey! Don't mess up my store!" the flower shop owner called, now annoyed at the chaos.

Lin An ignored her, his focus unwavering.

Wen Ya paused for a moment, bewildered by the owner's complaints.

"Just let them do it," Lin An muttered without looking back.

At the same time, the shop owner, realizing the zombies were gone, greedily eyed the stash of food Lin An had given her earlier. She couldn't help herself, her eyes darting from the food to the two survivors.

"Do you have more food?" she asked eagerly, her stomach growling.

Lin An simply tossed a chocolate bar over to her.

But his mind was focused on something far more important than her petty demands. They needed to gather whatever they could for the upcoming fight.

"Check the brightly colored flowers, Wen Ya." Lin An said once again, his tone unwavering as he scoured the store.

Despite everything happening around them, the flower shop owner couldn't shake the nagging feeling that she was being robbed, her business trampled beneath the weight of the apocalypse.