Chapter 26: The Mutant Plant

After their conversation with Leanna, both fell into a heavy silence.

At that moment, three zombie crows suddenly appeared in the sky, cawing frantically. Ye Hai’s eyes narrowed; he stood abruptly and gazed upward. Three strange tentacles—swift as thunder—lashed out from another direction toward the zombie crows. In Ye Hai’s intense stare, the nimble crows were instantly sliced in two by the tentacles. The assault did not cease; the tentacles continued to pulverize the bisected bodies until only powder remained.

Then, the tips of these three tentacles turned and locked eyes with Ye Hai for an instant. Sensing danger, Ye Hai shouted, “Everyone up! Something’s happening!”

“Hurry—” His shout seemed to startle the tentacles. They swooped down from the sky, aiming directly at Ye Hai. Without hesitation, Ye Hai retreated quickly, leaving Leanna standing alone, terrified as the three tentacles lunged at her.

The tentacles were about to tear Leanna apart when, in a flash, Joe appeared before her. He yanked the stunned Leanna out of harm’s way, narrowly escaping the deadly strike. With a swift move, Joe drew a dagger from his boot and severed the three tentacles. In pain, the tentacles recoiled and vanished.

Yet Joe, familiar with the nature of mutants, knew this respite was only temporary. Those were just three tentacles—the main body had yet to reveal itself.

After rescuing Leanna, Joe turned and glared at Ye Hai. “Are you insane? You just stood there, watching your little girlfriend die?”

Ye Hai replied coldly, “The Chrysalis Trial has begun.”

Joe’s pupils dilated in shock. “Madness—absolute madness! You expect a powerless girl to undergo the Chrysalis Trial? She’s not even a mutant! And you chose this damned irradiated zone as the trial site? Why not just kill her outright—at least she’d have a whole corpse left!”

Though he cursed bitterly, Joe reluctantly let go of Leanna. For members of the Corpse Hunter Organization, the Chrysalis Trial was sacred, beyond reproach. Once the trial began, only death or transformation awaited.

Perhaps out of pity, Joe flickered twice and reappeared at Leanna’s side, handing her a high-powered pistol—a sidearm he had surreptitiously taken from Ye Hai’s belt, originally seized from Javier.

He pressed the gun into her hand, worry etched on his face. “The boss may be mad… Take this gun. From now on, you’re on your own.”

For the first time, Leanna sensed that beneath Joe’s wild exterior lay something different from the others on Zombie Star. He could feel concern for a complete stranger.

Is this the Corpse Hunter Organization? Beneath their cold, mad faces, do they possess gentle hearts?

She glanced at the distant, indifferent Ye Hai, and doubt crept into her mind again. His coldness chilled her to the bone. Was there truly no mercy, despite sharing a night’s intimacy?

Joe noticed her doubts, glanced at Ye Hai—who stood with his back to them, vigilant—and sneered. “All a show! That brat—if he hadn’t allowed it, I wouldn’t have touched even the hem of his clothes, let alone pilfered a gun from his belt! Stay away from the battlefield; survive, if you can!”

He strode over with his dagger and stood shoulder to shoulder with Ye Hai. Leanna gripped the high-powered pistol, gazing at their tall silhouettes.

She couldn’t help but think: perhaps the Corpse Hunters are among the few whose blood still runs warm on Zombie Star.

“They’re coming!” Ye Hai shouted.

Everyone looked ahead, their scalps tingling. The tentacles that had attacked them were far more numerous than just three. Now, countless tendrils surged like a tidal wave toward them.

“What are these tentacles?” “What kind of sixth-stage mutant can spawn such a maddening ability?” Joe exclaimed in awe.

Ye Hai frowned, scrutinizing the tentacles, uncertain but thoughtful. In the darkness, their source was impossible to discern, but judging by the crows’ previous altitude—around twenty meters—the tentacles must be extraordinarily long, extending from a distant origin.

Now, they were about fifty meters away, and their ends were nowhere in sight. By this calculation, the tentacles easily exceeded a hundred meters, perhaps much more.

Sixth-stage mutants—whether zombies or beasts—had evolved remarkable abilities but generally retained their original forms. Yet a creature with thousands of tentacles had never appeared on Zombie Star.

As the tide of tendrils drew closer, Zela began to panic, unable to contain her anxiety. “Do you have any way to deal with these tentacles? Should I call for fire support?”

Ye Hai nodded without hesitation. “Let’s start with a precision orbital strike.”

Zela immediately contacted the Queen of Dark Waters with her communicator. Moments later, a terrifying beam a hundred meters wide descended from the night sky, forming a majestic curtain of light before them. The entire night was illuminated, brilliance piercing deep into the earth and leaving a bottomless crater.

For the first time, everyone witnessed such grandeur—mouths agape. Leanna trembled violently. If she failed to evolve during this journey through the irradiated zone, that curtain of light might be her final resting place. No, she might not even reach the light, torn apart by mutants in the irradiated land.

After the light descended, a crimson cloud glowed in the northeastern sky, instantly attracting a swarm of flying mutants. They saw a massive, serpentine creature—hundreds of meters long—rise from the heart of the irradiated zone, rushing toward the red cloud.

This red cloud was a high-energy radiation lure, used in space battles to confuse radar. Here, it served as an attractor following the orbital strike. Without it, the terrifying energy output would draw countless high-level mutants.

“No wonder it’s a precision orbital strike—energy barely leaks onto the surface… At this range, apart from strong winds, we’re almost untouched!” “That tentacle monster is unlucky to run into Mr. Black Hand…”

Joe marveled at the immense power, so perfectly controlled. Yet just then, Ye Hai spoke coldly, “Careful—the tentacles are coming again…”

Everyone was stunned. “Impossible! How could a sixth-stage mutant survive such a strike?”

Ye Hai answered calmly, “If I’m right, those tentacles were only… parts of a tree’s roots.”

“Perhaps we’ve encountered Zombie Star’s first plant mutant! And not just a sixth-stage—but a seventh-stage entity!”

As his words fell, another dense wave of tentacles surged toward them, relentless as ever.