Chapter 31: Rotten vines, the wonderful use of searching!

【Retriever: Barrett】

[Current coordination rate: 57%]

[Currently searchable scope: Intelligence, Items, Skills]

[Search target confirmed: Skill (lv.1)]

【Searching....】

...

【Search successful! 】

Barrett Stewart (Parasitic Ecology)

[lv.1 skills]: Rotten vine life*, Rotten vine strength*, Rotten vine speed*, Rotten vine recovery ability*, Rotten vine digestion ability*, Lock*, Lock*, Lock*.

[lv.2 Skill]: Lock

[Note]: It has been detected that the searcher is affected by a special power and his skills have been alienated. The collector has issued a *Note warning. Collectors, please be sure to pay attention: if the searcher is equipped with this special skill, they will be affected in the same way.

[Note]: After unlocking the equipment Rotten Ivy*, you can view the specific information of the locked*.

...

"Why are there only rotten vines?"

"Wait, this is... an infected body?"

When he first saw the information on the panel, Cheng Ye was still wondering what kind of old martial arts system this person was practicing, as the skill names were so uniform.

Moreover, unlike Chu Yunfeng's skill tree which is divided into different directions, Barrett's panel directly and roughly lists life, strength, speed, recovery, digestion, etc., which gives a weird feeling of numbers.

However, the next second, Cheng Ye suddenly reacted.

How can this be called a practitioner of the old martial arts?

This guy is clearly a genuine infected person!

Grass!

What's going on?

The collector can even search for infected bodies and extract the transformed abilities of the infected?!

Isn't this equivalent to directly obtaining special powers that are comparable to the extraordinary?

Unfortunately, before Cheng Ye could get excited, his eyes fell on the note information below.

The four words "equal impact" were like a basin of ice water, instantly extinguishing all impulses.

Since the side effects of the infected body can also be extracted, why use a collector to search? Can't we just let the infected body parasitize directly?

"No, this function..."

Cheng Ye raised his eyebrows, suddenly realizing another wonderful use of the search function:

As long as the target's cooperation rate exceeds 50%, wouldn't it be possible to identify whether it is infected from the root through retrieval?

This is a magical skill!

In just a moment, Cheng Ye thought of several scenarios in which this function could be used.

For example, when you are out on a field mission, if you are not sure whether your teammates are infected, you can just search for them.

For example, during the inspection process, if someone is unsure, they can also get the results through search.

[Please select the collector. If you cannot select, you can cancel the search. After cancellation, the charge value will not be returned and it will be considered a failure, but you can get double action points.]

The collector panel lights up as a reminder.

Double action points!

Cheng Ye's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected that canceling the search would actually yield such an extra benefit. Without hesitation, he decided, "Cancel the search."

Although searching for the 'Rotten Ivy' ability might increase some information value if he didn't equip it, he still instinctively resisted this risky operation.

After all, if one day you make a wrong decision, or switch skills without paying attention, and accidentally use this infected skill on yourself, wouldn’t you explode directly?

"Unless we find a way to completely expel the source of infection, we absolutely cannot use these skills."

Cheng Ye was silently alert in his heart.

Impulse is the devil. If you encounter a life-and-death crisis and have no ability to infect the source, you may be able to survive by relying on calm judgment.

However, once you are infected by this alienated power, there is no guarantee that you will not develop a gambler mentality of "trading life for life" at the critical moment.

By then, it may seem like there is an extra path, but in fact it is just a shackle on oneself.

[Cancel the search and return action point '4' (lv.1)]

The panel information flashed by, popped up and disappeared from Cheng Ye's sight.

Although a search opportunity was wasted, an alternative way to identify the infected body was found by chance, and action points were also gained.

Cheng Ye did not feel disappointed. He immediately took a few steps back, intending to make up for his losses from another direction.

"Sir..Sir.."

Barrett, who was lying on the railing waiting for questioning, was confused.

He was stunned for a moment, and then he heard a violent roar in his ears. The shock wave made his eardrum hurt, as if his head was about to be blown off by the loud noise.

skull?

He subconsciously reached out to touch the painful spot on his forehead, but what he felt was not red or white, but some kind of sticky black-green liquid that kept overflowing from the hole made by the bullet, with a disgusting stench of decay.

I...

this...

yes...

Confused thoughts exploded in his mind. At this moment, he suddenly realized that his vision had changed from first-person to third-person and he saw his body from a bird's-eye view.

The place where the head should have been was empty. On the half-broken, uneven neck, clusters of green vines were gushing out from the cross-section, like boiling asphalt, intertwining and entwining in the air, forming a distorted outline of a human face.

Me, I'm infected?

The moment I realized this, the memories sealed in my mind suddenly flooded out like a tide.

In the ruins of the city at sunset.

A dilapidated Jinbei car rushed into the dead end madly, the door was pushed open, and eight people stumbled out of the car, all looking at the alley entrance with terrified eyes.

In the last rays of sunset, a green vine monster over ten meters high slowly appeared. In the center of its huge body, a distorted human figure was looming, like a flying insect trapped in a spider web, silently telling the great terror that strikes the human heart!

Everyone fired frantically, and dense gunfire suddenly rang out. Bullets rained down on the monster, but only made black craters on the tough vine skin.

The monster twisted its limbs like a giant python, and every time it lashed out, it could accurately grab a person from the crowd and tear them apart in the air, with blood and flesh falling like rain.

Seven, six, five...

As his companions continued to die tragically, fear overwhelmed Barrett like a tide.

When he was left alone, Barrett's legs went weak and he fell to the ground under the gaze of his dead teammates' empty and desperate eyes.

He had neither the courage to pull the trigger to fight back nor the guts to end his own life. He could only kowtow to the monster and beg for mercy in a trembling voice.

The monster was stunned for a moment, then a branch split out and slid into his body through its mouth and nose.

And these memories, before this moment, were sealed tightly in the depths of his consciousness.

He only remembered that he had escaped by chance, but he didn't know that he had already become a puppet of the monster.

So, I was already dead?

It turns out that I am no longer human?

He looked at Cheng Ye, who was standing outside the isolation cabin and firing continuously. His broken face, which was tied up in the air by vines, suddenly showed a sinister smile.

The scattered vines seemed to have received some kind of instructions and rushed out frantically from the gaps in the fence of the isolation cabin.

The other three people in the same isolation room with Barrett were terrified, but soon they discovered that green vines were growing out of their skin.

Then the memory emerged. It turned out that during the days of isolation together, they had been infected by the rotten vines in Barrett's body, but the painful memory of the infected part was selectively sealed!

"Damn, why is this rotten vine so hard to kill?"

The host being shot in the head by a bullet did not seem to affect the operation of the rotten vine roots at all.

And one infected body suddenly turned into four, with hundreds of vines squeezing in the narrow space of the fence and trying to rush out.

Fortunately, the quality of the isolation cabin was very good and the fence remained intact, otherwise Cheng Ye would have turned around and run without hesitation.

"Still standing there? Hurry up and call someone. Are you watching a show?"

After emptying a magazine, Cheng Ye reloaded with one hand and found that Raven and Owl were still standing there in a daze.

After he called out to them, the two of them finally woke up from their dream.

Raven rolled and crawled towards the pillar nearby, and pressed the alarm button hard as if he was going to smash himself against it.

The owl was even more decisive. It rushed to the back of the passage and picked up a device that looked like a fire extinguisher.

"Sir, let me do it!"

With a loud shout, Owl turned the valve, picked up the sprinkler head and ran forward, pressing the trigger button with his thumb.

boom!

A tongue of fire wrapped in the smell of sulfur gushed out, and the orange-red flames licked the green vines like a living thing. The roots that had just been frantically drilling out of the gaps in the fence instantly curled up into charcoal, and the splashing black droplets carbonized and smoked in the flames.

A strange burning sound was heard, not a crackling sound, but a crisp sound similar to bones bursting mixed with the hissing sound of the gas expanding in the vines, as if countless trapped souls were screaming in the fire.

"It's not a water gun, it's a fire gun?"

Cheng Ye was stunned.

This operation is totally out of the ordinary. Which psychopath would install a flamethrower indoors?

"This is...the emergency incinerator for Plan No. 3..."

The owl turned around and grinned.

But just as he turned around to explain, a vine covered with thorns suddenly emerged from the gap in the railing and shuttled up and down in the flames like a poisonous snake.

By the time the owl discovered it, the tip of the vine was less than three meters away from its chest!

Oh no!

Is this thing not afraid of fire?

"Get out of here!"

Cheng Ye didn't have time to think about it. He rushed forward half a step and swung his leg like an iron whip, knocking the owl to the ground.

At the same time, he reached out and grabbed the falling flamethrower head, rolled over on the ground, and when he stood up, he suddenly exerted force with his arms and smashed hard on the firing button.

Wow.

Tongues of blazing flames gushed out from the side, licking the thorny vine like a giant python.

Unexpectedly, this thing's fire resistance was simply outrageous. It was not until it bent and rushed to within two meters of Cheng Ye that its skin "crackled" and sparks exploded, gradually splitting into black charcoal from the tip to the root.

Was it pretending to be afraid of the fire?

Cheng Ye's pupils suddenly shrank, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, once again deepening his understanding of the infected body.

These ghost things are far more terrifying than what is recorded in the books.

And it is indeed evolving in a direction that humans cannot predict. No wonder Brother B said that being cautious will help you live longer than being familiar with the rules.

Ta-da, ta-da...

The alarm sounded, and more than a dozen guards rushed in. The sound of rifle fire instantly filled the corridor.

Seeing this, Cheng Ye stopped the flamethrower, whose fuel was about to run out and the intensity of the flames was weakening, and pulled up the owl that was paralyzed by fear on the ground and retreated quickly.

The moment the flames went out, he caught a glimpse of the vines that were "hit" by bullets healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The green liquid gushing out of the broken parts repaired the wounds like a tide, and even more dense fibrous tissue grew around the bullet holes.

My goodness, where did this rotten vine come from? It is constantly learning and evolving through contact, becoming immune to the physical impact of bullets.

However, the farce ends here.

Faced with a sudden outbreak of infected bodies, the guards might be slaughtered unilaterally.

But it is extremely easy to deal with an infected person trapped in an isolation cabin.

Cheng Ye turned and walked out.

I could only hear continuous loud noises and explosions behind me, and within a minute, everything returned to calm.

"Reporting to the Inspector, the infected entity codenamed 'Unknown' has been successfully eliminated!"

"The station has dispatched professional containment personnel, and they are expected to clean up in ten minutes."

The raven came out and reported. At the same time, he caught a glimpse of the owl sitting at the door of the warehouse, looking lost and obviously frightened.

"Codename unknown?"

Cheng Ye pondered secretly, he didn't expect that not only was there no record of "rotten vines" in the books recording infected bodies in the Survival Library, but even in Happiness City, no one had ever seen this source of infection.

Is this thing a newly evolved source of infection, or did it migrate from somewhere else?

"Congratulations, sir. Unknown infection sources always have generous contribution point rewards. Based on the attack power of the green vine just now, you can get at least 40 points."

"Really?"

Cheng Ye nodded slightly.

For the inspectors, killing infected bodies is the most direct way to make money rather than exploiting loopholes in the rules.

And...it's so fucking exciting.

Although both are aimed at immovable targets, shooting at rotten vines and shooting at ordinary targets are completely different things.

Especially when he raised the flamethrower at the end, the feeling of adrenaline rushing through his body made Cheng Ye still unable to help but recall it and feel a little intoxicated by it.

"Sir, I'll go deal with the aftermath first."

Raven respectfully took his leave without asking Cheng Ye why he could tell that Barrett was an infected person with just a few words.

For the low-level staff at the checkpoint, they only saw Cheng Ye step forward at the critical moment and save the owl.

Among the 150 inspectors in the station, only a handful can do this.

Treat them as human beings, not cold tools.

This is enough for them to risk their lives!

...