"Wow, this is practically a post-apocalyptic paradise." A man exclaimed with admiration, stepping out of the vines and into the green sea.

Gu Mingyue glanced at him sideways. Did this man know this place well? He didn't even test it with a pebble before stepping on it. She exhaled and stopped looking at him. He must have his reasons for doing this.

Seeing that the man's footsteps on the grass had not attracted the attention of the two strange trees, several people followed suit, approaching the two strange trees. Some even dug into the grass, trying to find out the secret of how ordinary plants could grow there.

"This place isn't so scary. The news that those five apocalyptic teams all perished here isn't just scaremongering, is it?"

Gu Mingyue didn't follow. It was very peaceful here, and not even an ant or a small flying insect could be seen. Based on her experience from her previous life, the more peaceful a place was, the greater the danger lurking beneath. She shifted her gaze to the two strange trees and began to observe them carefully.

Those two strange trees, one is taller than a hospital building, the other is much shorter, only two meters tall.

The tallest, strange tree's vines stretched directly over the rooftop, looking up at the sky like a giant green net.

Just then, a level 3 winged membranous monster flew overhead, flapping its wings, and a very thick vine suddenly rose into the air.

The suction at the top of the vine firmly gripped the monster, pulling it down from the sky. The vines on the rooftop began to surge and extend, quickly wrapping the monster tightly around itself.

The monster struggled frantically for two seconds inside the green vine cocoon, then fell silent before anyone could make a sound.

Hearing the noise above them, everyone looked up and instantly felt a chill run down their spines.

The green cocoon quickly opened, spitting out a gray monster skeleton, which landed right at the feet of the man who had first stepped onto the grass.

"Ahhh!" The man cried out in terror, his voice loud and powerful.

The strange tree's vines instantly locked onto him, hundreds of vines moving together to wrap him up like a dumpling, and the last vine sealed his mouth shut, stopping his screams.

Startled by his noise, the strange tree came to life, and thousands of vines, like giant green pythons tens of meters long or arrows from tens of thousands of crossbows, rustled as they rushed toward the back door of the clinic.

Everyone quickly retreated, but the glass door they had pushed open was instantly shattered by the vines, which then opened their sharp, fang-like teeth and lunged at them.

Several slow runners were bitten by the suckers of the vines and were sucked dry within seconds.

The group quickly retreated while activating their supernatural abilities to resist.

Gu Mingyue was the fastest runner. While everyone was still watching the strange tree eat the strange creature, she was the first to leave the crowd and run into the hall.

I ran to the lobby and saw... wow!

Several vines were hanging down from the main entrance of the outpatient building and were creeping into the building, and they were still extending. The light in the lobby was getting dimmer and dimmer, and the situation behind the outpatient building could no longer be seen!

"Did this strange tree eat a Devil Fruit? It's like Luffy, with its vines reaching all the way to the front door."

Gu Mingyue muttered a complaint and hurriedly ran upstairs to the second floor.

The situation on the second floor was not optimistic either; with vines constantly breaking through the window panes.

Gu Mingyue drew her meteorite knife from her waist and slashed at the vines reaching towards her. However, the vines seemed inexhaustible, constantly regenerating from the severed limbs. The green sap was corrosive, dripping onto her fair skin and making a hissing sound.

The wolf cub's flames could only burn away some of the vines, but its tail was immediately caught in the vines. It quickly turned around and breathed fire, and soon it was in a very sorry state, with its fur charred black.

Seeing this, Xinghe spread his arms and created four spatial barriers, forcefully pushing the vines away from Gu Mingyue. The two, the dog, and the snake then huddled together and stopped their desperate counterattack. They looked at the vine suckers that were constantly hitting the spatial barriers outside and gasped for breath to calm down.

"Big sister, big brother, come here." A little girl carrying a pot of succulents ran out from around a corner, waved her hand, and quickly went back into the room and closed the door. The vines eerily stopped in front of the door and did not penetrate it.

Gu Mingyue and Xinghe exchanged a glance, got up, picked up the burnt-smelling wolf cub, and followed.

The two pushed open the door and entered. They saw that the windows and doorways were filled with green plants. There were also two small doors inside the house, leading to two different places. Gu Mingyue slowly walked in and saw two green potted plants at the door. She stepped over them.

When the little girl saw the two of them come in, she whispered a reminder: "Be careful, don't pull on the potted plants here. If the green plants in the pots wither, the vines will crawl in."

She led the two through a small door, across a green corridor, to a ward with six beds.

Before long, Zhou Yanli and his companions, dressed in tattered clothes, were also led here. Their fitted black suits were corroded by the vine sap, revealing several round holes.

Zhou Yanli and the others, dressed in suits, looked embarrassed as they took out several clean sets of clothes from the space ability user and changed into them.

Wang Yanan and the others casually threw on a few clothes, appearing quite uninhibited about exposing their skin.

Zheng Yu, whose face was covered in bruises, showed no signs of acid corrosion on his body. With swollen eyes, he held Lin Meier, who had regained consciousness, and looked at Gu Mingyue and the others provocatively.

Gu Mingyue glared back without hesitation. She hadn't expected that the strange tree would show such a strong preference for other plants, even extending its affection to plant-based ability users.

After everyone awkwardly adjusted their attire, there was a knock on the door.

The little girl led a group of nurses in white coats into the room. Although they were all very thin, they weren't exactly skin and bones.

Zhou Yanli stepped forward and struck up a conversation with them, inquiring about the strange tree in the hospital center. They gave him some stammering answers.

“Those two trees aren’t monster trees, they’re sacred trees that protected us. We survived the monster horde thanks to them,” the little girl pouted as she heard Zhou Yanli’s disrespect towards their sacred trees.

Zhou Yanli had a very good temper; his smiling expression remained unchanged, but when asked again, he immediately changed his form of address.

The survivors in the hospital, seeing that the people inside were all muscular, weathered, and had sharp eyes, were unwilling to talk to them much. After chatting for a while, they left with the little girl.

When Gu Mingyue opened the door, she saw a woman hiding outside with her face completely covered. The woman's eyes were visible as she glared fiercely into the room, or rather, at Gu Mingyue in the crowd.

She recognized the person as Lin Yue'e simply by looking at those eyes with fine lines.

Auntie Xiao San, it's been a long time!

Gu Mingyue thought to herself silently, but her face remained expressionless as she looked at Zhou Yanli and listened to him speak.

"The vines won't be able to find anyone, so they'll retreat back to the strange tree tomorrow morning. Don't worry, everyone. Let's eat something and recover our strength."