Lu Shiyan became even more vigilant.
Su Wan tried to soothe Hongdou with her mind, but it had little effect. The little one's fear seemed instinctive and could not be suppressed.
They pushed open the courtyard gate of a house and walked in.
The courtyard was very tidy, with several clothes hanging to dry, covered in dust, obviously having been there for a long time. The door to the main hall was open, and the sight inside made all four of them frown simultaneously.
The furnishings in the room were simple: an Eight Immortals table and several long benches. On the table, there were still several bowls of half-eaten food, the dishes completely dried and blackened, and a layer of dust had accumulated in the bowls.
It seemed that this family had suddenly encountered something while eating, leaving in a hurry without even having time to clear the bowls and chopsticks.
But the problem was, there were no signs of a struggle or bloodstains at the scene.
"Strange, where are the people? Even if they turned into zombies, there should be some movement, right?" Xiao Han looked puzzled, nudging a fallen bench on the ground with his toe.
"Let's check the other rooms." Lu Shiyan's expression grew increasingly solemn.
They successively investigated three or four houses, and the situations were all similar.
In some homes, the TV was still on, displaying static; in some courtyards, the axe for chopping wood was still stuck in the log; in some rooms, the quilt was still spread out, as if the owner had just gotten out of bed.
The entire village seemed to have been paused, with everyone vanishing into thin air.
"Brother Lu, look what this is?" A Mo suddenly discovered something in the corner of one of the bedrooms.
Everyone gathered to look, only to see a strange plant growing on the floor in the corner.
It was a dark green vine, only as thick as a finger, with several palm-sized leaves, their edges displaying an eerie dark red.
This vine seemed to have emerged from underground, piercing through the concrete floor, tightly clinging to the wall, full of vitality.
"Mutated plant?" Su Wan whispered. In the apocalypse, not only animals but also plants could mutate.
However, compared to fast-moving, aggressive mutated animals and zombies, mutated plants were often more deceptive.
Lu Shiyan extended his hand. As a Wood-Type Ability user, he could clearly feel the energy flowing within this vine.
It was a… greedy and aggressive life force.
"Not just here." Lu Shiyan withdrew his hand, his gaze sweeping over the other corners of the room, "The entire house beneath is its root system."
At his reminder, everyone noticed that the floor and walls of this house had subtle, almost imperceptible bulges, like a dense network of blood vessels, hidden beneath the plaster and floorboards.
A chill crept up everyone's spine.
"Damn it… Is this thing treating the house like a flowerpot?" Xiao Han felt his scalp tingle, "The people in this village, they couldn't have all… all been… by these things…"
He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood what he meant.
They exited the house, their faces extremely grim.
If the entire village was covered by the root system of this mutated plant, then this place was a huge trap. The vanished villagers had very likely become nutrients for these plants.
"Let's leave here." Lu Shiyan made a decisive judgment.
However, just as they were preparing to return the way they came, a sudden change occurred!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Suddenly, loud crashing sounds of breaking windows and walls erupted from the houses around the village!
Immediately after, countless dark green vines, as thick as buckets, emerged frantically from doors, windows, and even the ground, like awakened giant pythons!
They wielded their grotesque bodies, their tips splitting open to reveal rings of dark red thorns like shark teeth, sweeping towards the four people's location!
"Move!" Lu Shiyan roared, lightning flashing in his palm. A thick electric snake struck out, scorching and breaking the first vine that attacked, green sap splattering everywhere, emitting a pungent, sweet smell.
Xiao Han also reacted immediately, crossing his hands, and a Wind Blades whistled out, cutting through the wildly surging vines.
A Mo calmly fired precise shots, each bullet accurately hitting the relatively vulnerable joints of the vines, slowing down their offensive.
Su Wan followed closely behind Lu Shiyan, retreating while firing her pistol.
But the number of vines was simply too great! It was as if the entire village underground harbored a monster made of vines!
The path they had taken was completely blocked by dozens of vines, forming a constantly writhing, nauseating green high wall.
"Damn it! We're surrounded!" Xiao Han cut off three or four vines with a Wind Blade, but more vines poured in through the gaps, one after another.
"Go to the center of the village!" Lu Shiyan quickly assessed the situation, "These vines all extend from a central point. Destroy its core, and they will naturally wither!"
The four immediately changed direction, rushing towards the building in the center of the village that looked like an ancestral hall.
Along the way, the vines' attacks grew increasingly frantic. They came from all directions—from the ground, the walls, and even the eaves above their heads—all covered with these deadly "tentacles."
"Watch out!" A Mo shouted, pushing Su Wan away.
A vine hidden in the shadow of the eaves lunged down like a striking viper, brushing past Su Wan's shoulder and plunging fiercely into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Su Wan broke out in a cold sweat. If A Mo hadn't reacted quickly, she would have had a bloody hole in her shoulder by now.
Lu Shiyan's eyes blazed with murderous intent. He retaliated with a fiery palm strike, and raging flames instantly burned the sneaking vine to charcoal.
Fire counters wood; flames had a strong suppressive effect on these vines.
Lu Shiyan no longer held back, wielding lightning in his left hand and raging flames in his right, carving a charred path through the sea of vines towards the ancestral hall.
Finally, they broke through the numerous obstacles and burst into the ancient ancestral hall.
The interior of the ancestral hall was even more horrifying.
It was completely overrun by vines. Dense root systems covered the walls and beams, transforming the entire ancestral hall into a massive, constantly pulsating green nest.
And in the very center of the ancestral hall, on the altar where ancestral tablets were enshrined, a huge, pulsating tumor, the size of a millstone and resembling a heart, was rooted.
Countless vines extended from this "heart."
Even more chilling was that beneath the translucent skin of that tumor, one could vaguely see twisted, pained human faces—the very faces of the missing villagers!
They were enveloped within it, not yet fully digested, serving as the energy source for this plant heart.
"Ugh…" Xiao Han's stomach churned at the sight, almost making him vomit.
"This is… the mother body!"
The giant plant heart seemed to detect the intruders, and its pulsation frequency suddenly accelerated. The vines throughout the ancestral hall seemed to be on stimulants, surging madly towards the four people!
At the same time, an invisible, faintly sweet-smelling dust sprayed from the top of the heart, rapidly filling the entire ancestral hall.
"Hold your breath! This pollen is poisonous!" Lu Shiyan reacted immediately, activating his Wood-Type Ability. A light green barrier instantly enveloped the four, temporarily isolating them from the strange dust.