Chapter 36 Plant Mutation

In the middle of the night, the temperature dropped again, and Ruan Ning was woken up by the cold. She heard the howling wind outside and felt the cold air seep into her bones. Ruan Ning quickly took out an electric blanket from her spatial storage and used a small battery to charge it.

When Ruan Ning woke up the next day, she was surprised to find that it was frozen outside, and all the water on the ground had frozen into ice.

Ruan Ning took out snow boots from her spatial storage and put them on, also putting on gloves.

After finishing her hot breakfast, Ruan Ning went to the mission hall alone, deliberately avoiding the group missions. She paused for a moment in front of the bulletin board and selected a cleanup mission marked "high danger level"—cleaning up the zombies in the abandoned industrial area on the west side of the base.

"A single person taking on this task?" The registrar looked up at her. "A liability waiver needs to be signed."

Ruan Ning signed her name briskly and accepted the mission token. She deliberately chose the most remote west gate to exit the base, avoiding any acquaintances she might run into.

The abandoned industrial area was shrouded in deathly silence, with a cold wind howling among the broken walls and ruins. Ruan Ning deliberately walked heavily, quickly attracting his first batch of "sparring partners"—six ordinary zombies that moved slowly.

Instead of immediately using her superpowers, she drew a machete from her waist. In addition to physical training, Ruan Ning also wanted to improve her zombie-killing skills, close combat techniques, and various bodily reactions.

"Whoosh—"

A flash of light, and the head of the foremost zombie fell to the ground. Sidestep, slash, parry... she deliberately used the most basic sword techniques to fight, feeling the power in her muscles, and getting back to the long-lost rhythm of killing.

Five minutes later, six corpses lay on the ground. Ruan Ning was slightly out of breath, her wrists a little sore.

"I'm getting rusty," she muttered to herself. Continuing deeper, they arrived at an abandoned factory.

This time there were ten zombies, one of which was slightly faster.

Ruan Ning sheathed his machete and formed a hand seal:

"Water Binding!"

The puddles on the ground suddenly came to life, binding the zombies' legs like ropes. Taking advantage of their struggles, she began practicing her precision strikes:

"Rapid water rocket firing!"

Five water arrows were fired in succession, accurately hitting the foreheads of five zombies. However, the sixth arrow missed slightly and only struck their shoulders.

"My control is still not enough." She frowned and switched to an area-of-effect attack.

"Ice mist!"

A chill permeated the air, and the remaining zombies moved noticeably slower. She seized the opportunity to get close and finish off the last few with her knife.

Deep within the factory grounds, she encountered an unexpected enemy: three mutated zombies burst forth from behind rusty storage tanks, their speed far exceeding that of ordinary zombies. Ruan Ning's eyes sharpened, and she finally became serious.

As the first zombie lunged at her, she instantly conjured a "water shield" to block it, while ice formed beneath her feet. The moment the mutated zombie slipped, a "water blade" slashed across its neck.

The second zombie attacked from the side. She neither dodged nor evaded, but a "water tornado" suddenly erupted around her. The swirling water swept the zombie into the air, and countless ice crystals tore it apart like blades.

The third zombie accelerated and charged straight at Ruan Ning's face. Ruan Ning immediately clasped his hands together, and water molecules in the air rapidly condensed, forming an "ice-freezing path" that instantly froze the zombie's legs. A simple water arrow then ended the battle.

The battle was over, and she began to review the game.

"The water shield has sufficient defensive strength, but it consumes a lot of energy."

"The water blade can condense 0.3 seconds faster."

"The range of the ice fog can be expanded, but the accuracy will decrease..."

Ruan Ning spent the rest of the time fighting. At sunset, she dragged her exhausted body back.

During the handover, the registrar looked at her in surprise: "You cleared out the industrial area all by yourself? There have been mutants appearing there recently."

Ruan Ning simply nodded and accepted the points.

Back at her residence, she immediately entered her spatial dimension and immersed herself in the spiritual spring to recover. Today's gains were significant: she not only became familiar with the practical application of various supernatural abilities but also discovered several weaknesses that needed improvement.

“Tomorrow we’ll go to the eastern forest area,” she planned, “to try out the use of my abilities in complex terrain.”

For her, completing the mission was just a side benefit; the real goal was to break through her own limits through constant battles.

Outside the window, the cold wind howled. Ruan Ning felt the energy within her body replenishing, her eyes resolute. Cultivating alone was dangerous, but it was the fastest way to become stronger.

Before seeking revenge, she must be fully prepared.

Before the morning mist had dissipated, Ruan Ning arrived alone at the edge of the forest on the east side of the base.

She was still assigned cleanup missions, but her main objective was to find more complex combat environments to hone her abilities. This forest was a nature reserve before the apocalypse, but now it was shrouded in an ominous, deathly silence.

As soon as she stepped into the woods, something strange happened. Ruan Ning noticed that the wild grass at her feet was unusually lush, and the edges of its leaves had an unnatural metallic sheen. She cautiously walked around it and continued deeper into the woods.

After walking a hundred meters, Zhou Min's words from yesterday suddenly echoed in his mind: "The energy fluctuations in the forest are very chaotic, be careful."

Suddenly, the bushes on the left started moving without any wind!

Ruan Ning instantly conjured a water shield, only to see a vine shoot out like a venomous snake, slapping against the water shield with a "smack," causing her arm to go numb.

"The plants have mutated too?" A chill ran down her spine.

More strange occurrences followed. The withered tree in front suddenly trembled, its bark cracked open, revealing the scarlet wood beneath. Branches lashed out like whips, moving at a speed far exceeding that of ordinary zombies.

Ruan Ning dodged to the side, and a deep trench was dug out of the soil where he had been standing.

"Freeze!"

She tried freezing the trunk, but found that it only covered the surface; the scarlet wood inside was still wriggling.

Even more troublesome was the grass beneath her feet—the once ordinary green grass had begun to grow wildly, wrapping around her ankles. The edges of the grass blades were as sharp as knives, instantly tearing her trouser legs.

"Troublesome." Ruan Ning clicked her tongue lightly, and a swirling stream of water erupted around her, shredding the tangling grass blades.

Deep in the forest, she saw an even more astonishing sight: a giant Venus flytrap had grown to over three meters tall, its leaves revealing a dense array of sharp teeth as they opened and closed. Even more terrifying, it was digesting a zombie that had unfortunately fallen into its grasp.

Ruan Ning held her breath and slowly backed away. But the Venus flytrap seemed to sense the presence of a living creature, and a vine suddenly lunged at her!

"Water Blade!"

The vine snapped with a snap, spurting a foul-smelling green sap from the break. But more vines swarmed in from all directions.

Ruan Ning acted decisively, pressing his hands to the ground:

Ice Age!

Centered on her, the ice spread rapidly, temporarily freezing the surrounding plants. She took the opportunity to retreat, only to find that the ice was cracking at a visible speed—the vitality of these mutated plants was far beyond her imagination.

She had to fight and retreat simultaneously, her water-based powers switching forms at an unprecedented frequency:

Use water shields to block flying spikes, use water blades to cut tangling vines, use ice mist to slow down the carnivorous plants, and use high-pressure water guns to strike the weak points of trees.

At the most dangerous moment, a giant pitcher plant-like plant emerged from the ground, nearly engulfing her entirely. Fortunately, she managed to transform into a stream of water and escape through a crevice.

When Ruan Ning retreated to the edge of the forest, his combat uniform was torn to shreds, and several bloody scratches marred his arms. Looking back, the forest seemed to come alive, baring its claws in the morning light.

The mission administrator was startled when he saw her like this: "Have you encountered a group of mutants?"

Ruan Ning shook his head and said in a deep voice, "It's more troublesome than the mutants... The plants have started to mutate."

The news instantly silenced the entire mission hall. If zombies could be stopped by walls, then the ubiquitous mutation of plants would completely alter the rules of human survival.

Back at her lodgings, Ruan Ning carefully cleaned her wounds. The plant mutations were happening faster than she had anticipated, meaning the apocalypse was entering a new phase.

She gazed at the distant outline of the forest outside the window, her expression grave. If even plants could mutate, then the threats facing humanity would no longer be limited to zombies.