Rustle...

A shuddering, grinding sound echoed. Near Xu Shuangyao, the thick moss on the ground curled and wriggled to the sides as if alive, revealing the moist, dark soil beneath. Then, dozens of hair-thin vines, gleaming with a dim green light, silently emerged from the soil like the most nimble snakes. In a flash, they wrapped around the unconscious Xu Shuangyao's wrists, ankles, and waist! These vines, seemingly slender, possessed an eerie resilience and strength, instantly binding Xu Shuangyao's body and pinning it to the ground, like a sacrifice nailed to a green altar!

"You—!" Pei Du's body instantly erupted with terrifying murderous intent! The dark golden light shone uncontrollably again! He almost rushed forward recklessly!

"Shut up!" Qing Man's voice was like an icy blade, instantly severing Pei Du's rage. "This is just a necessary measure to ensure the smooth progress of the transaction." Her dark green eyes swept coldly over Pei Du. "If you don't want her to be drained of every last bit of life force by these 'Life Threads' right now."

Pei Du gritted his teeth, clenching his dark gold-lined fists until his knuckles crackled as he forced the destructive impulse back into his body. His molten-gold eyes, a golden glow like a volcano on the verge of eruption, fixed his gaze on the dark green vines entwined around Xu Shuangyao. He could clearly sense that the vines didn't immediately absorb her life force, but rather acted as cold shackles and... detectors? They pulsed subtly, as if sensing some faint aura within Xu Shuangyao.

Qing Man then took her first steps, slowly and steadily approaching Xu Shuangyao, who was bound by the vines. Her footsteps landed silently on the thick moss, like a drifting ghost. Her dark green eyes, with an almost greedy, inquiring gaze, carefully scanned Xu Shuangyao's unconscious face, neck, and vine-wrapped wrists.

"A perfect vessel..." Qing Man extended a pale, bark-grained finger, its tip pointed and hovering above Xu Shuangyao's forehead as if appreciating a work of art, without actually touching it. "The craftsmanship of the cradle remains so... disgusting yet fascinating." From her fingertips, a tiny, almost imperceptible thread of pale green energy emerged, as if alive. Slowly and tentatively, it approached Xu Shuangyao's brow.

"Cradle?" Pei Du's icy voice suddenly rang out, interrupting Qing Man's movements. His molten-gold eyes fixed on Qing Man, "You seem... to know it well?" He caught the undisguised, deep-seated hatred in Qing Man's words. Perhaps this hatred could be exploited.

Qing Man's movements paused slightly. She slowly turned her head and looked at Pei Du with dark green eyes. Her gaze was like a poisoned ice needle, filled with a hatred that seemed to freeze the other person's soul.

"Understand?" She let out a short, cold laugh, like the cry of a night owl, sounding particularly harsh in the deadly green space. "Of course I understand! This hell, and us 'monsters' struggling to survive in this decaying world... are all caused by it!"

She raised her hand suddenly, pointing at the boundless, twisted forest around her, emitting the sweet, pungent smell of decay, at the murky, flowing green sky, at the enormous vines twisted like dragons, covered in glowing moss and strange fungi. Her voice trembled slightly with intense hatred, becoming increasingly hoarse and piercing.

"Look here! What do you think this is? A naturally formed Jedi? A forgotten corner?" Her dark green eyes burned with venomous flames. "No! This is Cradle's garbage dump! It's the abandoned testing ground where they conducted their forbidden experiment of 'Life Fusion'!"

"Life fusion?" Pei Du keenly caught this key word, and his golden pupils condensed slightly.

"Heh..." Qing Man sneered, filled with endless mockery and pain. "What a high-sounding name! Using their cold, ruthless star core power, they forcefully inject it into all kinds of native plants, even... living embryos!" Her eyes swept over Pei Du's body covered with dark gold patterns. "Just like they created you! However, what they're trying to do here is forcibly graft the power of the star core with the most primitive and chaotic vitality of plants! To create a kind of... living weapon... capable of self-replication, infinite proliferation, and absolute obedience!"

Her fingers suddenly pointed at the dark brown lines on her pale cheeks, like bark, and at her dark green, inhuman eyes!

"And we! 'Life Tendrils'!" Her voice suddenly rose, filled with an almost insane indignation. "We are the defective products of those experiments! We are the monsters that were contaminated by the star core, twisted and mutated in pain, and who managed to survive, but were regarded as failures and discarded, dumped here like garbage to die!"

"Cradle abandoned this place. The experiment was deemed a failure. The power of the Star Core Blood was too overbearing, cold, and absolute. It was in stark contrast to the chaotic, disordered, and wild vitality of plants... an irreconcilable opposition!" Qing Man's voice was filled with bitter sarcasm. "The result of forced fusion is the creation of people like us... deformities that are neither pure Star Core creations nor true life! And this piece of land... twisted, mutated, constantly devouring and regenerating itself amidst the Star Core pollution and plant decay... a living hell!"

Her words were like a cold hammer, hammering down on Pei Du's understanding. Star core blood... plants... fusion... contamination... defective products... monsters! The strangeness of this space, the vines' unusual reaction to the star core blood in his body, the aura of the green vines, a mixture of plant and inhuman characteristics... all instantly became explained!

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!