Chapter 26
The situation was completely surreal.
The razor-sharp leaves had now become Jiang Liu’s personal enforcers, diligently helping her excavate the ground. Jiang Liu, not even half the height of the branches, moved nimbly among them, her dark gray hoodie and pants blending perfectly into the night.
“Over here!”
Zhao Ziming’s shovel moved at lightning speed as he shouted without looking up.
Jiang Liu didn’t answer, but she used the momentum to launch herself into the air, landing beside him with a beautiful backflip. Behind her, the menacing leaves spread out, attempting to surround her.
She remained unruffled, taking a deep breath and charging forward with her blade. With the sound of the sharp edge slicing through the air, Jiang Liu swiftly sidestepped. A huge branch slapped down on the ground, conveniently connecting to the pit Zhao Ziming had just dug.
Jiang Liu was drawing most of the fire. The onlookers watched with breathless excitement, and Zhang Xiaochen could barely restrain himself from clapping and cheering.
“So amazing!” Cheng Da had just been woken up by Xu Meng and had gotten a rough idea of what was happening. Knowing they were rescuing Cheng Ji, he couldn’t help but stare intently at Jiang Liu.
Just as he said that, he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around in confusion—
A massive rose lunged at him, its bright red petals like a gaping, bloody mouth, ready to swallow him in the next instant.
Cheng Da’s pupils constricted. He instinctively raised his hands to block it, only to have them torn to shreds by the thorny branches.
“Get down!”
A whistling sound approached from a distance. With Jiang Liu’s shout, a shadow seemed to rush toward him, carried by the wind. Cheng Da’s face turned pale with pain. Hearing her, he quickly ducked down, just in time to hear a loud thud—
Jiang Liu had swung half of a rose head over, which flew through the chaotic mess of plants and accurately struck the other rose. The impact sent it staggering, and it swayed as it prepared to approach again.
A flicker of fire suddenly erupted. Xu Meng, having reacted at some point, raised a torch to burn it. The rose let out a series of high-pitched squeals and, with its head on fire, retreated rapidly, but it couldn’t escape its fate of being burned to ashes.
Cheng Da’s heart was pounding. He stared blankly at Xu Meng. “Th-thank you.”
From a distance, Jiang Liu shouted in exasperation, “Stop acting out a soap opera over there and pay attention!”
These plants were quite clever. Seeing that they couldn’t gain an advantage against her, they immediately turned to attack the other side.
Zhang Xiaochen had almost thought he was watching Jiang Liu’s personal show. It was only when he heard her roar that he snapped back to reality. He quickly lit the torches he was holding, two in each hand, and continuously fended off the plants’ attacks.
To be fair, they were doing very well.
But this was a garden, after all, the main base for these monstrous things. Even if they burned one, dozens more would quickly take its place. The supplies Zhao Ziming had prepared were only for self-defense and wouldn’t last long.
Seeing that the situation over there was not looking good, Jiang Liu rushed over to draw their fire, taking a moment to glance in Zhao Ziming’s direction. “Have you found him yet?”
Zhao Ziming’s arms were stiff from digging, and he didn’t hear her shout at all.
Even with these things helping to turn the soil, it only helped him quickly locate where things were. He had thought Jiang Liu’s idea was bold before, but now that they were implementing it, it was indeed very difficult.
He was the one who prepared the supplies. The torches wouldn’t last much longer. Zhao Ziming gritted his teeth and decided to go all out, abandoning his most basic defense and speeding up his movements.
Although most of the attacks were focused on Zhang Xiaochen, it didn’t mean his side was without problems. Jiang Liu’s heart tightened as she watched his actions, and she grabbed a burning piece of wood and ran over.
She was agile, but as the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands.
With Jiang Liu’s return, the pressure on Zhao Ziming was greatly reduced, but the situation on the other side was not looking good.
Earlier, Zhang Xiaochen had arranged the wood in a circle and lit it to ensure their absolute safety inside. No one had expected that these plants would also understand the concept of sacrifice.
Countless vines and petals approached the circle of fire without a care for their own safety. Even as they were engulfed in flames, they did not retreat, striving to leap into the circle to shrink the safe zone.
At this rate, they would be burned to death sooner or later.
Zhang Xiaochen was covered in sweat, it was unclear whether from anxiety or heat. His throat was so dry he couldn’t even ask about the situation, only able to mechanically wave his torches.
Suddenly, a scream interrupted his movements.
“Help!”
Xu Meng was dangling from a hydrangea leaf, her legs kicking helplessly, unable to find a foothold. Her face was pale with fright, and her shrill scream pierced the night sky, sending a cold sweat down everyone’s spine.
Jiang Liu pursed her lips, casually stuck a torch in the ground near Zhao Ziming, and dashed towards Xu Meng.
The hydrangea itself was nearly half a person’s height. As it shook its head and prepared to approach Xu Meng, a cold light suddenly appeared in mid-air, accurately striking the enormous flower head and slicing off half of it.
It seemed to have been provoked. Its branches and leaves swayed, and Xu Meng’s emotions were like a roller coaster, going up and down. Amidst the dizzying spells, only one voice remained in her ears.
“Give me your hand!”
It was Jiang Liu’s voice.
Xu Meng’s eyes widened. She saw Jiang Liu swinging towards her, holding onto a branch, and unhesitatingly reaching out her hand.
Jiang Liu’s palm was warm. The moment she grasped that hand, Xu Meng almost burst into tears.
“It’s okay now.” Jiang Liu squeezed her hand firmly, her eyes constantly scanning the vicinity, trying to find a place to land.
Just as she released her grip on the leaf and leaped with Xu Meng, she suddenly heard Cheng Da’s shout, “Don’t come down!”
His voice was almost breaking, a testament to how much force the young man had used.
Jiang Liu’s heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t help but look down—
A lily that had appeared out of nowhere was sprawled on the ground, its huge mouth open, revealing the brownish-red stamen inside, like a greedy tongue eager to taste a delicious meal.
There was no escape.
Jiang Liu’s heart sank. She forcefully pushed Xu Meng away, her hand already reaching for the dagger hidden in her sleeve, taking a deep breath to prepare for a final gamble.
“What the hell? What is that thing?”
Just as she was about to fall, she seemed to hear Zhang Xiaochen stammer a curse. Then, something unexpected happened—
Branches from an unknown source spread out beneath her, weaving into a large net that firmly enveloped her. It then slapped the lily aside and gently placed her on the ground.
Jiang Liu looked up in astonishment and saw the familiar white camellia standing before her, swaying slightly, waving its leaves as if in greeting, looking quite adorable.
Before she could recover, she heard Zhao Ziming’s excited shout, “Found him! He’s still alive!”
“Quick, quick, everyone come and help!”
Zhao Ziming was so excited he could barely speak, turning his head and desperately shouting at everyone.
When Cheng Da heard that he was still alive, he forgot about the fire and stumbled over, frantically digging with his bare hands.
Jiang Liu started to leave, only to find that her calf had been cut by a branch at some point. Her pant leg was torn into two pieces, and blood was flowing out continuously.
The white camellia moved again.
Its leaves slowly folded, gradually forming the shape of a chair. It bent slightly and stopped in front of Jiang Liu.
A question mark appeared above Jiang Liu’s head, and she looked at it with suspicion.
Are monsters this intelligent now? Why is it so considerate?
Seeing that she was just staring, the white camellia shook its head, then extended a leaf to encircle her. With a gentle motion, it placed her on the ‘chair’ and quickly hopped towards Zhao Ziming.
Zhao Ziming, who had just dug out a person and was covered in dirt, was speechless. “????”
What’s going on? How did you manage to bribe a monster in the blink of an eye?
Jiang Liu cleared her throat, unable to explain the strange situation, so she could only change the subject for now. “Let’s go back.”
There were too many things in the garden. Their goal was only to save the person; the rest could be dealt with tomorrow.
The group reached a consensus and scrambled to carry the person towards the electric tricycle. The white camellia displayed an exceptionally high level of intelligence, cradling Jiang Liu and breaking through all attacks to deliver her safely to the vehicle.
Suddenly sitting on the cold tricycle, Jiang Liu still felt a little unaccustomed. She looked at it hesitantly and tentatively said, “Why don’t you come up too?”
The white camellia nodded, then suddenly shook its head, as if repeatedly hesitating.
“It’s that advanced? It can even understand human language?”
Zhao Ziming jumped onto the tricycle and started it, clicking his tongue as he glanced at it.
Seeing him appear, the white camellia’s leaves trembled, and it suddenly shook its head vigorously. Jiang Liu was afraid it would shake its own petals off and quickly coaxed it, “Alright, alright, then we’ll go first?”
It nodded again, did a 360-degree turn, and its leaves whipped out, striking Zhao Ziming squarely on the head. He yelped in pain, but when he looked back—
The white camellia had long since hopped away and disappeared into the darkness.
He immediately looked resentful. “Control your flower.”
Jiang Liu threw up her hands. “Stop dawdling and let’s go.”
Zhao Ziming rolled his eyes, twisted his right hand—and the electric tricycle shot forward, leaving the rampaging plants behind.
Zhang Xiaochen finally caught his breath, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Exciting!”
Last night was just an appetizer; this was the main course!
Jiang Liu laughed heartily. “There’s more excitement to come!”
She pulled out two flints from somewhere, flexed her wrists, and rubbed the stones together in her palm. With a flash of sparks, the previously hidden rope burst into flames with a whoosh.
Jiang Liu turned to look at the relentlessly pursuing ghost flowers, flicked her tongue to make a loud whistle, and tossed the rope into a nearby flowerbed. The originally quiet garden suddenly lit up with a string of lights.
“Bye-bye!”
She waved a cool farewell to the group of monsters. The electric tricycle sped along its original path, and wherever it passed, a cluster of flames quickly ignited. Countless writhing monsters were burned and retreated rapidly, and the children’s playground was left far behind.
Following the rope, a path of fire lit up. Zhang Xiaochen felt a surge of satisfaction and clapped his hands in excitement. “We really have a connection with fire, huh? This instance is in the bag!”
First, they burned an NPC to death to clear a level, and now they were setting fires to guide their escape. He declared that from now on, fire would be his lucky charm!
The tricycle was suddenly filled with laughter and cheers. Even Jiang Liu couldn’t help but feel her spirits lift, until a cacophony of shouts drifted over with the wind.
Zhao Ziming’s smile froze on his face, and he gradually slowed down the vehicle.
“Everyone, I think we have a big problem.”
As his words fell, a shadow loomed ahead.
A dense crowd of people blocked the garden entrance, staring at them with hostility, as if they wanted to slice them into a thousand pieces with their eyes.