Chapter 221: Dean is Controlled
“The zombies behind us are relentless—way too many!” Ning Yuan, who was at the rear, panicked upon seeing a vast, dense mass in the distance. It wasn’t just a few times more—there were dozens of times more than before. It was hopeless.
“Young Master, something’s not right up ahead.” Lin Yimu, the driver, looked at the road, which was now filled with pink flowers. The flower buds were as large as soccer balls, half open and half closed. He didn’t know whether they should drive through.
“Mutant plants?” Gu Qingji had seen what it was like around the mutated ivy plant—wilderness everywhere, but lush greenery around it.
And now, even though the temperature was rising, vegetation still struggled with the sharp day-night temperature differences. Very few had begun to regrow, let alone bloom.
Lu Weiyi saw the same scene.
Normally, he would have ordered them to take a detour, but the zombie horde behind them left no choice. He gritted his teeth and said, “Drive in!”
As he urged Lin Yimu to speed up, Lu Weiyi used his mental power to shield the entire truck. He then said to the wood-type ability users, “Try to sense where the mutated plants’ root systems are.”
“Got it.” Gu Qingji, who had experience, replied, explaining the method to the other two and dividing up the area.
As they entered the flower-covered field, the zombies followed closely behind, not slowing their pace at all.
This confirmed to Lu Weiyi that the zombies were being controlled. Whoever was behind it was at least a higher level than him. Otherwise, the zombies would’ve lost his trail the moment he raised the mental shield—they wouldn’t still be pursuing so accurately.
“Lu, this doesn’t quite feel like mutant plants—why aren’t they moving?” Antonio had seen the mutated ivy attack people before. Now, as they kept driving forward without any movement from the surroundings, he began to doubt whether they’d misjudged.
Especially since the zombies were still hot on their heels, they had no choice but to keep moving at full speed.
Lu Weiyi shook his head, eyes fixed on the pursuing zombies.
“Watch our backs. Liu Rui, be ready. If anything feels off, immediately surround the vehicle with a fire dragon.”
“Understood.” Liu Rui replied, keeping his eyes on the surrounding mutant plants.
“They’re moving… they’re moving—WTF…” Xu Sa’s voice rose with excitement, then turned to fear. He pointed behind them, face full of disbelief.
All the flowers along the path the zombies had taken suddenly bloomed wide open. Petal-like leaves, almost like hands, reached out and grabbed the zombies tightly. The zombies struggled, but the blossoms opened wide and swallowed their heads. When they opened again, all that remained was a pile of shattered remains.
“Liu Rui! Burn all the flowers around the zombies!”
Lu Weiyi pulled two of the prototype guns Lu Xi had developed from his spatial storage. Although they couldn’t withstand prolonged use with fire-type cores, they’d hold up for a shot or two. He threw several fire-type crystal cores to Li Zhuang and Antonio—one gun for each.
“Stop the mutant plants from absorbing the crystal cores!” Once they did, the plants would only grow stronger—and they might all die here.
The mental-type zombie among the horde seemed to notice something was wrong. At first, it tried to keep the zombies away from the plants, but eventually it couldn’t hold control anymore. The zombies stopped chasing and started wandering aimlessly.
Bang! Bang! Two shots rang out. Lu Weiyi instantly tossed the gun back into his spatial storage. Three fireballs burst across a wide area. Liu Rui’s fire dragon filled the gaps in between. The zombies and plants alike were consumed by the flames.
A plain-looking zombie hiding in the crowd suddenly darted out, avoiding the fire. It stood unharmed among the flowers—yet wasn’t attacked by them.
“That’s the one,” Lu Weiyi said as the zombie suddenly rushed toward them, a powerful wave of mental energy surging in their direction.
“Everyone, be careful!”
As he spoke, Lu Weiyi dropped his mental shield and met the incoming force with his own. At the same time, the little green branch in his hand flew toward the zombie. Invisible mental forces collided in the air, tearing and surging—an unseen battle filled with volatile energy.
Li Zhuang and Antonio quickly backed him up. A wall of earth trapped the zombie in place. Several throwing knives shot toward it. Just as it seemed the zombie had no way out—
Bang! A gunshot rang out. All the knives clattered to the ground.
“…” Antonio turned his head in disbelief. His mouth opened, but not a word came out. He slumped straight down off the truck.
“Dean, what are you doing?!” Gu Qingji shouted in shock, using mutated ivy to catch Antonio mid-fall and glaring up at Dean.
On top of the truck, Dean held a gun. After shooting Antonio, he turned and aimed at Li Zhuang. The sudden twist left everyone stunned—they couldn’t react in time.
Bang! Another shot. The group was jolted back to awareness. Li Zhuang quickly used his ability to block the bullet.
“Restrain him!”
Because of Antonio’s unexpected collapse, the mental zombie broke free of Li Zhuang’s trap. Lu Weiyi had been wondering why the zombie’s power—originally stronger than his—now seemed equally matched. Turned out it was all a feint.
Bai Miao urged a vine to grow and tied Dean up, confiscating his gun and tossing him into the truck. He shouted inside, “Keep him restrained!”
“Qingyue, go save him first.” Antonio was still conscious, though clearly badly injured, with blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. Gu Qingji quickly sent him back into the truck and let Gu Qingyue go down.
Dean’s unexpected attack had thrown the entire group into disarray. With the mental zombie breaking free and Lu Weiyi’s mental barrier no longer protecting them, the surrounding mutant plants began to attack. The zombies that hadn’t been burned were now enemies from all directions. The team was clearly overwhelmed, especially after losing one of their key pillars of strength.
Lu Weiyi alone couldn’t possibly hold off a mental zombie. Several times, his mental blades were dodged. He quickly pulled out the last core-powered gun from his space and shouted, “Li Zhuang, trap it!”
Earthen walls rose on three sides, trapping the mental zombie in one spot. A crossbar formed on the remaining side, sealing it in completely for a moment. Lu Weiyi gathered his mental energy and struck swiftly, preventing the zombie from using a mental barrier to dodge, then fired a shot that hit the zombie squarely. Flames engulfed the creature.
In its death throes, the zombie unleashed a mental net that spread out indiscriminately in all directions.
A sharp pain pierced everyone’s brains. Xu Sa, who was closest, collapsed mid-attack, clutching his head, and was immediately entangled by the mutant grass. Liu Rui tried to help but found himself unable to use his powers either.
No one else was doing much better. The adults managed to endure, but the children didn’t understand. Their sharp cries rang out immediately.
Lu Weiyi smashed a mental blade into the flames, slicing through the zombie. As it disintegrated, its scattered mental energy quietly vanished.
A number of teammates were lying on the ground, clutching their heads in pain.
Lu Weiyi was reminded of the moment he self-destructed in his past life. He wondered if the people around him had exploded with him back then.
He didn’t have time to dwell on it—there were still mutant plants lurking. One of them had already started its attack.
Xu Sa, barely recovering, had just caught his breath when a blooming flower bud lunged at his head. On closer look, the bud didn’t even have stamens—it was a mouth-like structure, opening and closing as it aimed to devour his brain. “Fck, fck, f*ck…”
Before Lu Weiyi could help, a crackle of lightning burst out indiscriminately, knocking even the recently recovered teammates back to the ground.
The conductive mutant plants fared even worse, turning into charred silence.
Li Zhuang leaned against the truck, smoke rising from his head with his half-grown hair curling from the burn. He bent over, dry-heaving for a while, and finally spat out, “F*ck.”
As soon as Liu Rui regained his composure, he stumbled toward Xu Sa. Ning Yuan and Wu Yue stood up and dealt with the downed zombies.
Seeing Lu Weiyi’s questioning glance, Bai Miao and Li Dongsheng gave him a distant thumbs-up.
Everyone was injured, but none of the wounds were serious.
Lu Weiyi retrieved the mental zombie’s core and was about to check on Zhuang Ai Yi’s condition when he heard Dean’s panicked sobs coming from the truck.
His heart skipped a beat. Lu Weiyi quickly ran toward the truck, tossing a pouch of power cores to the people outside. “Liu Rui, Xu Sa, Li Zhuang, Wu Yue, Ning Yuan—stay alert for mutant plants.”
Xu Sa, about to follow him into the truck, asked in surprise, “Wasn’t it dead?”
“No,” Lu Weiyi replied. They had only been in one section of the mutant plant zone. They probably hadn’t even reached the main root system. There was no way a little lightning would kill it completely.
At the truck entrance, Gu Qingji quickly stepped aside when he saw Lu Weiyi approaching.
On the bed at the door, Antonio’s blood had soaked the mattress. His face was deathly pale. With limited medical supplies, Gu Qingyue had already sewn up the wound and was dumping hemostatic powder on it like his life depended on it. When he saw Lu Weiyi, he hurriedly asked for more injectable hemostatic agents.
Lu Weiyi’s eyes silently asked how things were going.
Gu Qingyue shook his head.
The bullet had entered from the side and caused a through-and-through wound, damaging the spleen and resulting in unstoppable bleeding.
With limited equipment, they couldn’t run any advanced diagnostics. Everything now relied on experience and guesswork.
Dean was kneeling on the floor, his face buried in Antonio’s palm, tears streaming endlessly. Antonio stroked his face, his gaze weak as he looked toward Lu Weiyi. “Please,” he said faintly.
“No…” Dean cried out when he heard his voice. He looked up at Lu Weiyi, crawling over on his knees and grabbing his arm. “Please help me. Help me.”
The pale boy’s eyes were red and swollen from crying, tears falling continuously. He looked up at Lu Weiyi, as if clinging to his last shred of hope.
Lu Weiyi opened his mouth but couldn’t bring himself to say he couldn’t help.
He looked at Antonio on the bed. The big man looked fragile now, his lips losing all color. He called out softly, “Baby…”
“Lu, Lu—” Dean shook Lu Weiyi’s arm, begging.
For a moment, no one in the truck spoke. At some point, even Zhuang Ai Yi’s crying had stopped. Only the faint sound of sobbing remained.
