CH 182

"Good lord, this is a jackpot! We found paradise behind the first door we opened!" said Zhang Bao'er.

"If everything is too calm, there must be something wrong. Be careful, everyone. Zhang Bao'er and I will take point. Everyone else, follow behind us," I said cautiously.

I had barely finished my words when a delicate figure rushed past me toward the lush world behind the door.

"Lady, have you gone crazy?" Zhang Bao'er exclaimed.

Li Yizhi ignored our calls and continued to run into the lush world.

"That woman has gone mad. Follow her, everyone," I said as we helplessly chased after her.

Soon, we arrived at the entrance. Li Yizhi had vanished completely inside the lush world inside the building. The moment we approached the entrance, we felt a blast of fresh and humid air blowing against our faces. The sensation was so comfortable that in only a few seconds, I started to feel drowsy. Abruptly, I felt a kick on my back. I hurriedly turned around.

"Put your mask on. The oxygen level here is around 7 to 8 times higher than Blue's. You will lose consciousness from oxygen toxicity," said Old Du loudly.

My mind was in a daze, but I heard Old Du's words and put on my mask. With my defensive system providing me with a suitable level of oxygen, the mist in my brain cleared out.

'I nearly fell for it without even entering the building. This place is too odd. I need to be careful,' I reminded myself.

"Weird. Why did Li Yizhi look fine when she rushed?" asked Baron Sisse in astonishment.

"She's probably unconscious somewhere? We'll know after entering," said Zhang Bao'er confidently.

After recovering with my mask, I walked in front of Zhang Bao'er. Apart from Wind Spirit and Dondon, the others entered the green world with us. I started seriously observing the world beyond the door. Walking through the entrance, it was as though we were walking into an entirely new world. Our naked eyes weren't able to see the end of this place, and above us were floating clouds and gentle sunlight. An unknown massive star hung in the sky, providing heat to this world.

Due to the high oxygen level, the plants here looked rather different. Each plant was thriving, and some of these plants resembled Blue plants, while others probably originated from other planets in the Orion Constellation. 

The only difference between the plants here and the plants in the outside world was the size. In the green world, the plants were at least 10 times the size of their counterparts outside. A single leaf was the size of a table, so the canopies above us felt like a giant curtain covering the sky.

Amid the dense vegetation, I saw a red flower in the shape of a Chinese olive. It looked especially conspicuous among the green. It was the size of a regular adult Blueling, and it emanated a tempting fragrance. It also constantly released some tiny floating objects that resembled dandelions into the air around it.

"What plant is this? It looks so weird," said Zhang Bao'er as he approached the red flower.

"Watch out, Bao'er. Don't approach it!" Old Du suddenly called out.

Instantly, the flower suddenly opened up and revealed hundreds of barbed fangs and pounced on Zhang Bao'er. Due to the distance and the speed, Zhang Bao'er was unable to move away in time. Half of his upper body was bitten by the flower. His morph-capable shield displayed its effect, blocking all the fangs and protecting Zhang Bao'er from becoming a pincushion.

The red flower reacted speedily. After failing to penetrate Zhang Bao'er's defenses, it pulled upward, as though it was trying to swallow Zhang Bao'er whole. But perhaps Zhang Bao'er was too chubby for it; he was able to resist being lifted, foiling the flower's attempt to swallow him whole.

During the critical moment when everyone was still stunned in shock, Old Du was the first to react. He raised his laser gun and shot at the flower, waking the rest of us from our shock. We also started attacking.

"Bao'er, are you fine? We're trying to free you," I finally remembered to contact Zhang Bao'er with the communicator.

"I'm not fine at all. I feel like there are countless thorns on my head. Free me!" Zhang Bao'er's furious voice came from the communicator.

I was slightly relieved to see that Zhang Bao'er was well enough to complain. However, things did not look like it was improving. Our guns were able to create massive wounds on the flower, but the flower had an astonishingly powerful regeneration ability. It was able to heal faster than we could damage it as its wounds closed instantly. Even after several minutes, we made no progress. Rather, Zhang Bao'er was slowly losing his strength, looking like he was about to be lifted from the ground.

"Canyue, looks like we won't be able to harm this monster without bombs. I'll try using a cluster bomb," said Old Du.

I immediately agreed and notified Zhang Bao'er, "Bao'er, turn your shield to maximum capacity. We'll be using cluster bombs." 

"Do it quickly! This monster's mouth is too uncomfortable to be in! Blast it to death and free me already!" Zhang Bao'er was still complaining, but his voice was obviously weaker than before.

After gaining my permission, Old Du rushed forth to install the cluster bomb on the flower. Just as Old Du was about to begin the installation, a figure rushed out of the dense bush with a sharp green wooden spear and stabbed the spear into the middle of the red flower. The force behind the stab instantly skewered the flower. When we looked, we saw that the individual was Li Yizhi.

We were about to say something, but then she gestured at us and pointed at the red flower. At the spot where it had been skewered, the wound was reacting intensely. The flower's rapid healing ability had failed upon the wound's contact with the liquid seeping out of the green spear. At the same time, the wound was actually growing. Before long, it spread to the entire flower, causing the towering flower to wither away.

After a minute, the flower was fully dead. Zhang Bao'er took the chance to pull himself free from the flower. He looked like a porcupine with all the thorns all over his upper body, giving him a rather comical appearance.

After the intense struggle, Zhang Bao'er was greatly exhausted. He slumped down onto the ground and panted heavily. I ran forth with Old Du and Anxashe and helped pull the thorns out.

We spent nearly 10 minutes clearing all the thorns. We could see that Zhang Bao'er's helmet was filled with holes. Obviously, the thorns had actually pierced through the morph-capable shield and reached his helmet. It was clear how terrifying this flower was.

When we were finished, we all lay on the ground while breathing heavily. At that point, I noticed how Li Yizhi was completely fine without a mask. It would seem like this was an environment suited for her.

'Just what mysterious person is this? Her body quality is much higher than a regular Blueling's,' I thought inwardly.

"Senior, where were you earlier? How do you know about killing the plant with that special spear?" asked Old Du.

"Come with me," said Li Yizhi coldly before turning around and walking into the dense forest.

To avoid losing her yet again, we hurriedly followed behind her. The moment we entered the dense jungle, the scene before us caused us to be speechless. We could see the red flowers all over the forest. There was one every 10 meters, and there were so many of them that we couldn't see the end of their habitat.

"Do not get within three meters of them, or they will try to swallow you," warned Li Yizhi.

We could see that dozens of the red flowers had already been killed by the same green spear. Clearly, Li Yizhi had learned about the way to kill the red flower here.

"Canyue, look at the angle of these spear attacks. It's like someone had used their own hands to push these spears into the flowers, looking similar to how Li Yizhi had attacked earlier. From how this scene looks, there must be other life forms here that are equipped with these green spears," said Baron Sisse.

"No. These spears are not stabbed into the flowers by humanoid beings. They were actually shot out from a type of green plant," said Li Yizhi as she pointed at a massive green plant not far from us.

I immediately scanned the green plant with my laser probe and scanner. Sure enough, I discovered that several branches with sharp tips were growing out of its trunk.

"These spear-shooting plants are probably competing for living space against the red flowers. Thus, the moment their roots touch, a conflict will happen. From what we can see, the spear shooters are probably holding the upper hand in the struggle. They are capable of shooting the red flowers to death from afar, but the red flowers have a numerical advantage. Thus, the competition is still rather intense," said Li Yizhi.

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Zhang Bao'er started questioning her again, "Lady, how are you aware of this? It's like you've been here before." 

"Grandson, the variety and competitiveness of life will remain the same no matter where you go in the universe. Survival of the fittest is the way of nature. Eat less. You're overweight," criticized Li Yizhi mercilessly.

"Everyone, stay away from the green plants. Be careful of their green spears," said Master Crystal.

"Master, we're already in one of these buildings. This does not look like a place where we can create lightning. Also, the droid that is supposed to be in charge of this place is still nowhere to be seen. Should we pick a different room?" asked Baron Sisse.

"This place probably holds the oxygen production program, which relies on these plants to produce oxygen. However, I believe we should still look for the droid here and see if we can hack into its system to look for a way to open the other doors," said Master Crystal.

"This place is too big. I already scanned our vicinity. Nothing resembling a droid was found. I think we need to go deeper," said Old Du.

"You should stop. The environmental systems here are designed in an extremely dangerous way. Just wait here. I'll search around," said Li Yizhi decisively before vanishing into the dense jungle without even giving us a chance to react.

"That old lady shows way too little respect for us. Why should we even listen to her?" complained Zhang Bao'er.

"Bao'er, stop wasting your breath. Look at the holes all over your suit. If it wasn't for the senior, you'd already be a porcupine. Just follow her advice and wait here. Do not move around. The plants here are too weird. We are surrounded by dangers," I said.

Shortly after, we heard some clamor coming from far away. The noise sounded like something was running from pursuit, crashing into numerous branches while doing so. After a few minutes, silence returned. A few minutes later, Li Yizhi reappeared before us.

"I found your droid," said Li Yizhi nonchalantly. She then tossed over an object to us. The object landed in front of Old Du.

When we looked over, we saw an ash-gray triangular object wrapped in green vine ropes.