Chapter 51

With the zombie king gone, the remaining horde of zombies immediately descended into chaos.

But the carnivorous plants and carrots chased after them, and the plant team followed closely behind, leaving the horde of zombies behind.

Only the human group was unaware of what had happened, staring blankly at everything.

Upon seeing this, the two high-level zombies roared loudly, causing the horde of zombies to scatter.

With the Zombie King gone, they can take over the horde. The situation is dire, and we must retreat immediately to ensure the survival of the remaining zombies.

The horde of corpses received the order and scattered in all directions like a tide.

Subsequently, two high-level zombies also traveled together towards the direction of the zombie king.

They stayed by the zombie king's side for a long time and were given special training. Their intelligence was also higher than that of zombies of the same level. They knew how to preserve the zombie horde in time and instinctively followed the zombie king.

So, just a few minutes later, the zombies and mutated plants left one after another.

The nut was the last one to fall. It took a breath, looked down at the wound on its belly, and figured it wasn't a big deal. It then rolled away with a "glug glug".

The remaining human superhumans were almost ignored, and everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

One of the team members asked Qi Yue, "Should we evacuate?"

Although I don't know what happened, I should leave now if I'm going to.

Otherwise, once the zombies and the alien plants have settled their differences, they might be the next ones to be dealt with.

Qi Yue looked into the distance, hesitant.

All of this happened so suddenly, including the appearance of the alien plants, forcing the team to join the battle.

But I chose to stay yesterday for the mission, and there's been no progress yet. Besides... the zombie king's escape is probably not as simple as it seems.

“Let’s follow them first,” Qi Yue said, “and see what’s going on.”

He arranged for a few people to go to the location where the modified car was parked and drive it over, preparing for both possibilities.

Several team members responded and acted accordingly. Qi Yue led the rest of the group cautiously toward the direction where the zombie king and the alien plants had left.

On the other side, Qianhui stood in front of the low building.

As the torn walls above were gradually removed, a deeper space, resembling a basement, was revealed.

A foul, murky odor wafted out, like sewage pooling in a ditch, or like rotting meat left out for a long time.

The little mushroom hiding in the pocket was so curious that it poked its head out and peered out from behind the sunflower petals.

The little succulent was with it too, nervously and timidly hugging the little mushroom.

The mimosa plant stuck to the back of Qianhui's hand stirred, carefully sniffing the scent in the air.

No... there seems to be another zombie down there, but its aura is very special, it smells different from the other zombies, and it was previously classified as human by the Mimosa.

When the deep space was fully exposed, Qian Hui gasped softly, utterly shocked.

[Hidden quest completed! Gain current story points.]

[In mid-October of the sixth year after the apocalypse, a base in the south was attacked and captured by a horde of zombies. Nearly twenty ordinary humans who were minors were captured alive. Zombie King 03 secretly hid these humans and fed them the flesh and blood of a high-level zombie (number 2489/special). Six months later, eleven ordinary humans successfully evolved superpowers and were transformed into high-level zombies with extremely strong combat capabilities. They subsequently assisted Zombie King 03 in four raids, causing heavy losses to the human forces.]

[Original ending: High-level zombie (ID 2489)]

[During a battle between the human and zombie factions, high-level zombie 2489 was captured alive by humans, who discovered his special abilities. His whereabouts are currently unknown. Some suspect he was taken by a base to secretly increase the probability of ordinary humans evolving supernatural abilities, but there is no concrete evidence.]

Inside the basement, whose roof had been cut off, more than a dozen people were huddled together.

They all looked quite young, mostly between twelve or thirteen and sixteen or seventeen years old, with the youngest estimated to be only six or seven years old, and they were wearing tattered clothes.

Suddenly seeing the sunlight again, everyone huddled in a corner, shivering, their faces a mixture of confusion and fear.

The basement was cramped, but it had a window. The floor was covered with a layer of bedding, and several cloth bags were piled up against one wall, with some raw rice and flour scattered around the edges.

Presumably because these humans were the focus of the zombie king's "cultivation," the room where they were locked up had obviously been cleaned, but the smell was still unpleasant.

There was another zombie in the corner, its right arm flesh torn off, leaving only blackened bone, trying to crawl into a hole in the wall to escape.

Halfway through its escape, its body suddenly became immobile. It was forcibly pulled out, thrown to the ground, and its throat bone was broken, causing it to immediately lose its breath.

Nan Tingjin's face was gloomy. Even though he didn't know the plot points that Qian Hui had seen, he could guess a bit about it.

Qian Hui, standing to the side, trembled as she breathed, "Xiao Jin..."

He snapped out of his shock and decided to get the human children out first.

The sunflower seemed to understand him perfectly; the light emanating from its petals spread outwards, enveloping the basement.

However, before he could finish speaking, several powerful wind blades came hurtling towards them.

Sensing danger, the mimosa plant shook its leaves to warn others, and a section of the broken wall rose up from the side, blocking all the wind blades.

A familiar dark shadow landed immediately afterward; Zombie King 03 had appeared.

It roared, its mouth stretched to an eerie width, its red eyes bulging as if about to burst, its reason swept away by rage, and pounced on Qian Hui and Nan Tingjin.

However, it had been attacked by the plant team for a long time, its combat power was somewhat depleted, and it was also injured, so it was not as strong as it was in the last time.

The zombie king leaped into the air, only to be slammed back by the wall that was being controlled by the levitation mechanism. Once it regained its footing, more debris and rubble moved in from all around, trapping its body firmly.

It struggles on, the shattered ruins scatter, and new ones fill the gaps.

Nan Tingjin glanced around and saw half a thin steel bar rise from the ground and pierce into the gaps in the encased ruins.

Seeing that the zombie king was temporarily unable to move, Qianhui quickly went to the edge of the basement.

He bent down, placed the sunflower beside him, and whispered to the human child inside, "Don't be afraid, I'll get you out right away."

The basement has a ceiling height of over two meters. Qian Hui stretched out her right hand, and the soft vine on her wrist slid down the wall, turning into a rope.

The soft vine swayed, signaling for someone to hold onto it.

The sunflower's glow had a calming effect, but a group of human children were still terrified.

Given Qian Hui's silver hair and red eyes, they cowered and dared not move, making no response.

As the light gradually increased, small plants began to emerge from Qianhui's coat pockets, curiously observing the plants.

The little mushroom and the little succulent stood side by side on one side of their chests, clutching the edge of their pockets and cautiously peering outside.

The two pockets at the bottom have a mini cabbage and an apple peeking out from the left, and a peach and a morning glory from the right.

The zipper of Qianhui's backpack on the other side was opened, and Big Cherry couldn't hold back and jumped out, causing the backpack to deflate instantly.

It was bolder and came to the wall to look around: "Huh?"

Upon seeing these moving plants, a few of the younger children showed a hint of curiosity in their eyes.

Before they were locked up, they most likely stayed in the base and never went out, let alone had the opportunity to see the alien plants.

The sunflowers are still trying to soothe the soul, their rays conveying a constant stream of friendly signals.

Qian Hui waited patiently and repeated, "Don't be afraid..."

Finally, the oldest of the human children moved.

She stood up, slowly walked to the wall, and mustered her courage to reach out to the soft vine branches.

The soft vines immediately wrapped around her shoulders and waist, pulled her upwards with force, and steadily brought her to the ground above.

After a successful start, things went much more smoothly, and all the human children gradually approached.

They were all very thin and weak, posing no challenge to Ruan Teng; he could even pull two or three people up at a time.

Just as they were rescuing half of the human children, two advanced zombies arrived.

Upon discovering that the zombie king was injured and trapped, they instinctively wanted to help, but were controlled by Nan Tingjin's supernatural abilities and were thrown into the ruins behind them.

Hearing the commotion, the Zombie King suddenly unleashed its power, breaking the stone that had been binding it and briefly freeing itself, hoping to distract Nan Tingjin.

It growled in its throat, ordering two high-level zombies to kill Qian Hui.

Upon receiving the order, the two zombies quickly got up and rushed towards Qian Hui's direction.

Qian Hui helped a human child who had just been pulled up, instinctively shielding him behind her.

However, before Nan Tingjin could make a move, dozens of radish thorns fell, forming a wall that blocked the zombies back.

The giant carnivorous plant followed closely behind, biting off half of the advanced zombie's body and throwing it away.

The rest of the plant team arrived one after another and surrounded Qianhui to protect her.

The soft vines rescued the last human child. After arriving on the ground, they remained confused and timid, huddled together without moving.

Big Pea also arrived, shouting loudly, and ran quickly towards Qian Hui.

Upon seeing it, Qianhui was overjoyed: "DouDou!"

Big Pea ran closer and suddenly pounced into Qian Hui's arms.

[I have already acquired the premium mutant plant "Big Pea"!]

[Big Pea's loyalty has increased dramatically, reaching 100%!]

Qianhui hugged Wandou tightly, noticing its recently healed wounds, and said with heartache, "What are you doing here too..."

He didn't know what had happened and thought it was a fight between humans and zombies, and that Pea had accidentally gotten involved.

Big Pea whimpered pitifully, then rubbed against Qian Hui's hand tightly.

Suddenly, it felt its head being touched. Looking up, it saw a little mushroom.

The little mushroom waved happily: "Yeah!"

The pea was also very excited and moved closer to rub against it.

On the outside, the two high-level zombies were quickly killed, leaving only the trapped zombie king.

It was incredibly tenacious; despite being pierced by the steel bars controlled by Nan Tingjin, it still had the strength to struggle.

The carrot made a "whoosh" sound, and Nan Tingjin seemed to understand what it meant. He moved the stone on the zombie king's head, revealing an opening.

Several plants stood guard not far away, and a large number of ranged attacks were thrown in, creating all sorts of explosions.

The carrot had used its charged attack not long ago and still had some strength left. It held its breath and split the electromagnetically charged carrot thorns to the limit, letting them fall one by one from the top of the zombie king's head.

The zombie king roared in pain, and its struggles gradually weakened.

But the plants did not let up at all, and their attacks continued.

After a long time, the stones encasing the zombie king began to shake violently and then suddenly exploded.

The body and limbs were torn to pieces, scattering outwards with the last wind blades.

This was the Zombie King's last attack before his death. The plants quickly dodged, and the giant nut rolled over in time to block it with its body.

After a short while, the surroundings returned to calm.

Nuts couldn't hold on any longer, so it shrank and jumped into Qianhui's arms, snuggling up with Big Pea and closing its eyes to rest.

Qian Hui raised her head and looked around.

It seems... it's over?

Zombie King 03's body exploded into several pieces, and its head rolled not far away, its red eyes wide open.

A few mournful howls of zombies echoed from afar, perhaps sensing its demise.

So, how much reward will you get for killing a zombie king...?

The moment this thought crossed Qian Hui's mind, she received a system notification.

[Congratulations on successfully defeating the Zombie King (ID 03)! The reward has been credited to your account!]

When Qian Hui opened the box, she found that her balance had increased by a full 100,000.

[The tenth faction conflict has ended. Congratulations to our side for the victory! Reward: 500 Prestige Points]

[You seem to have done something extraordinary, which will have a huge impact on both the zombie and human factions. Reward: 500 Prestige Points, 500 Faction Points]

Two more notifications popped up, rewarding a total of 1000 prestige points and 500 faction points.

Qian Hui stood up, holding the peas and nuts in her arms. He seemed to sense something, looked up to the side, and met Qi Yue's gaze.

Qi Yue also saw Qian Hui, and his expression was extremely shocked.

He and his team witnessed the entire process of the zombie king being killed near the ruins not far away.

They also saw Qianhui, who was surrounded by all the exotic plants and was clearly under protection.

—A silver-haired, red-eyed boy with zombified features.

Qian Hui's hair color had changed, and her eyes were no longer covered by the cloth strips, so Qi Yue recognized her at a glance.

But he's not human? And how can he control so many strange plants?

Qi Yue was deeply shaken and unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

He forced himself to calm down and looked behind Qian Hui.

There was also a group of young children there, who were probably ordinary humans.

Qi Yue's team arrived a little late and cautiously did not approach, but they still witnessed the scene of the human child being pulled up from underground.

Combined with recent anomalies and the bizarre behavior of the zombie horde...

Qi Yue pondered for a moment, instructed his team members to stay put, and stepped forward alone.

Several plants stared at the scene menacingly, as if they were about to launch an attack at any moment.

Qi Yue remained calm and walked a little further, stopping two or three meters away.

Qian Hui was a little nervous, staring warily at Qi Yue.

He had been blindfolded and didn't recognize Qi Yue, but he still remembered the base insignia on the other's clothes.

I think I've seen this somewhere before, what was its name again...?

Carrot jumped onto Qianhui's shoulder, made two "woo-woo" sounds, and then quietly pointed at the durian.

Qian Hui suddenly remembered that the durian had been stolen from this group of people...

He immediately became even more nervous, shielding Nan Tingjin, who had come to his side, behind him, clearly intending to protect him.

In contrast, Nan Tingjin remained indifferent, showing no regard for Qi Yue and the others.

Qi Yue took a few deep breaths and cleared his throat: "Chief Nan, and this gentleman... Hello, we were assigned by another base to investigate the cause of the missing supplies, and we happened to encounter a horde of zombies..."

He was friendly and took the initiative to state his purpose.

“We originally planned to leave immediately,” Qi Yue continued, glancing again at Qian Hui’s back. “Could you please hand over these children to us? Please feel free to make any requests.”

Regardless, these dozen or so children should be taken back to the base by them.

Qi Yue wanted to try to negotiate with Qian Hui. After the battle just now, he intuitively felt that the other party and the strange plants around him were not as ferocious and terrifying as rumored.

If Qianhui is willing, they can exchange some supplies or something else as a way of expressing their gratitude.

Qi Yue knew that without the alien plants, even if they found the hidden human child, they probably wouldn't be able to rescue him immediately.

But the risks of doing so were enormous. If he wasn't careful, he might not only fail to take the children away, but the entire team might also perish here.

Qi Yue felt uneasy, waiting for Qian Hui's response. At the same time, he heard his teammate's voice in the real-time communication, saying that the modified car had been driven to the vicinity.

Qian Hui hesitated, then turned to Nan Tingjin and asked in a low voice, "Can we give it to them?"

It would be best if the rescued human children were taken in by the human camp, but he didn't understand Qi Yue and his team.

Nan Tingjin's gaze swept over Qi Yue, and he said, "Okay."

Qian Hui was relieved and nodded, "Okay."

Hearing their conversation, Qi Yue finally breathed a long sigh of relief and immediately called several team members over via the communication system.

He couldn't help but look at Nan Tingjin again, his feelings complicated.

Although I had known for a long time that Nan Tingjin and Qian Hui had an unusual relationship, that was before.

Qian Hui is now showing signs of zombie-like behavior, and standing next to Nan Tingjin adds to her mystique.

Moreover, aside from her silver hair and red eyes, Qian Hui looks no different from a human.

Why is that...? Qi Yue was very curious, but wisely he didn't ask any more questions or dare to look any further.

As the team members approached, Cabbage and Chili led all the human children over and handed them over to them.

With the sunflower's continuous reassurance, the children's emotions stabilized considerably. Upon seeing the group of human superhumans, they realized they were safe and behaved very well.

With the negotiations going so smoothly, Qi Yue, to show his stance, added, "Please feel free to make any requests, as long as we can meet them..."

Qian Hui hesitated: "Let me think about it... wait a moment."

He turned his head and whispered something to the plants beside him. The carnivorous plant, still maintaining its enormous size, stood guard to the side, its cold gaze fixed on Qi Yue.

A short while later, Qian Hui raised her head and said to Qi Yue, "Call all the people behind you over here."

Although Qi Yue was puzzled, he still complied.

He wasn't worried about the plants' intentions at the moment; if he wanted to attack them, he wouldn't have waited until now.

At Qi Yue's request, all team members stepped forward, including those who had driven the car over and returned to the team.

Being so close to the alien plant again, they were far less composed than Qi Yue, hanging their heads and not daring to breathe.

The human child they had just taken over was also brought back and left at the end of the group.

A moment later, a carrot and a durian walked over together from the opposite side.

The carrot should be the same premium exotic plant that appeared in Zone 5 of the Security Area, and the durian next to it...

Qi Yue had personally participated in the arrest; he looked very familiar.

He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say, as the carrots and durians came to him.

Carrot pointed at Qi Yue and asked, "Huh?"

Durian nodded quickly and glared at Qi Yue.

Carrot, looking fierce, put on the boxing gloves he had snatched from Cabbage and jumped up to punch Qi Yue.

Qi Yue was knocked back half a step, somewhat dazed.

Then, Carrot led Durian around him and went to find the other team members.

The durian smelled each of the remaining people, and if it nodded to indicate that it was correct, the carrot would punch it hard.

All the team members remained silent and dared not resist.

After a while, an ear of corn and a potato arrived.

They walked around and spotted a backpack on one of the team members' backs.

The backpack was stuffed full; it probably contained some good stuff.

Both plants have used their charged attacks and are a bit tired now, so they don't really want to resort to violence.

They came over to the team member. Corn pointed to his backpack, and Potato stretched out his hand: "Woof!"

The team members understood what was meant, quickly took off their backpacks, and thoughtfully opened them.

Big Cherry jumped in too, and the three plants turned the place upside down, finding some bandages, medicine, and food.

Corn took a bite of the hard bread, tasted it carefully, and then put it back with disgust.

It gave the humans in front of it a subtle look, shook its head, and walked away with the potatoes and cherries.

After Carrot finished beating up the people who deserved it, he returned to Qianhui's side with Durian.

Several people, including Qi Yue, had large bruises on their faces; they were the team members who participated in the durian capture.

But after enduring that blow, Qi Yue actually felt much more relaxed.

After that, the plants stopped paying attention to the humans in front of them.

Carrot reorganized a small team to search for the remaining zombies in the vicinity and kill as many as possible.

The team was led by a carnivorous plant and a cabbage, while the more consumed plants such as carrots, peas, and nuts stayed behind.

Moreover, while the human group was there, Chili and Bamboo Shoot secretly returned to the previous ruins and dug up all the crystal cores.

Among the plants, the one most severely injured was the nut, which was responsible for resisting the zombie king. After it shrank, it still had scars on its body from being cut by wind blades.

Qianhui felt heartbroken and sat on a rock, feeding it a lot of medicine.

The sunflower's radiance remained undiminished; it was still worried about the rescued children, expanding the treatment area to the widest possible extent, and incidentally also enveloping Qi Yue and his team.

Feeling the soft, warm light with healing effects, everyone was both surprised and curious, and their understanding was refreshed once again.

After learning from Corn that the human team had nothing of value and even their food was hard to eat, Qianhui thought for a moment and then had Cherry send some biscuits over.

He deliberately tore off the cookie wrappers from his backpack and put them all into an old towel.

Big Cherry jumped over with the biscuit on her head and handed the wrapped towel to Qi Yue.

Qian Hui said, "It's for the people at the back..."

Big Cherry waved her fist, warning Qi Yue not to eat indiscriminately.

Qi Yue understood immediately and quickly replied, "Okay, I understand."

He handed the towel to the teammate behind him, who then passed it to the rear.

Turning back, Qi Yue sighed sincerely, "I really didn't expect this..."

He seemed to be talking to himself, then suddenly remembered something and looked at Nan Tingjin next to Qian Hui.

"Chief Nan," Qi Yue asked hesitantly, "you've also been added to the assignment list. Did Captain Yuan tell you?"

Before Nan Tingjin could speak, Qian Hui pressed, "What list?"

"The assignment from Sky Base," Qi Yue answered truthfully. "Any base or team can accept it. Once we encounter any alien plants or...people listed on the list, we can choose to kill them, capture them alive, or report their whereabouts."

“Rest assured, both of you,” he said, then immediately added, “we will absolutely not contact Sky Base, however…”

Qi Yue looked at Nan Tingjin and continued, "The Black Ridge Mountain base may be attacked soon."