RotA – Chapter 46

In just a moment of distraction, the old woman’s limbs had all become black vine branches, scattering and winding like long snakes.

The moment the gunshot rang out, the bullet pierced her brow and chest, which had not yet fully mutated.

As fresh blood flowed, black vine shoots burst through the wounds, blossoming into fleshy, blood-colored flowers upon the aged husk.

Like a gangrene clinging to the bone, they almost greedily devoured the old woman’s half-mutilated corpse.

In just a dozen or so seconds, the old woman who had been lying in bed a minute ago was now devoid of all flesh and blood.

The mass of vines that had mutated from her flesh and blood was now growing wildly at a horrifying speed, threatening to overrun the small bedroom. Chai Yuening turned and rushed out the door, not even daring to wait for the elevator, and sprinted downstairs at full speed.

“What happened? Why did the alarm go off?”

“Where did that gunshot come from just now?”

“What kind of alarm is this?”

“It sounds… like an experimental accident alarm…”

A panicked crowd had gathered downstairs, their eyes filled with confusion. No one knew what had happened.

“Look… look up there… What is that!” The person who said this had a voice that trembled violently.

Someone followed his gaze and looked up, and in that instant, the confusion in their eyes turned entirely to terror.

“Black vines! It’s the black vines!”

The deafening cries of alarm jolted the bewildered crowd awake.

Chai Yuening, who had just run downstairs, looked back up amidst the shouts. She saw countless vine branches already extending from the small bedroom window on the thirteenth floor, covering a full three stories of the building.

The terrifying speed of its growth shocked every person who witnessed it.

“How can the black vines grow so fast!”

“It’s… it’s like it’s come alive!”

“Main… Main City, E3 District… huff, calling the Main City Defense Office…” The residential area’s security guard was terrified, his hand holding the communicator trembling uncontrollably. “Black vines, there are black vines, they’re so fast, don’t know where they came from…”

“This is the Main City Defense Office. Please calm down and explain the situation.”

“It’s, it’s here, we have black vines that are growing ex, extremely fast…”

As the security guard spoke in a panic, someone suddenly came to his side with a heavy exhale and snatched the communicator from his hand.

“You can’t do that…”

He instinctively reached out to grab it back, only to see the person press the button to transmit.

“Emergency communication!” Chai Yuening’s voice was calm and clear. “Main City E3 District, Building D, Unit 4, apartment 13-06. The sole resident has undergone a physical mutation. The mutation form is black vine. Standard firearms are ineffective against it. The vine branches are spreading and expanding wildly. Please dispatch support as soon as possible.”

After a brief wait, a response came from the other end of the communicator: “Main City Defense Office received. We will dispatch support immediately. Please seal off the residential complex and gather everyone in a safe area!”

“You heard him. Do as he says,” Chai Yuening said, returning the communicator to the security guard.

Before long, the complex’s loudspeakers blared to life. People quickly moved away from the building that seemed to have been parasitized by the black vines, gathering in an open area.

The base alarm, which had rung out suddenly, stopped after three minutes.

Panic filled the residential complex. After an indeterminate amount of time, a gentle yet resolute female voice sounded from the broadcast.

“Good afternoon, residents of the Base.”

“Just moments ago, a city-wide alarm sounded throughout the Base. The signal for this alarm is ‘Serious Experimental Accident.’ The signal originated from the Base Research Institute.”

“After the alarm sounded, the military immediately contacted the Base Research Institute. It has now been confirmed that no experimental hazards have occurred within the institute. This alarm was triggered by mistake by institute research personnel. The Base is safe and sound. There is no need for anyone to worry, much less panic.”

“Please firmly believe that the Floating City Base will forever be humanity’s indestructible fortress.”

The Base broadcast ended, but the black vines before them did not stop their rampant growth. It wasn’t long before they had crawled over half of the tall building.

Chai Yuening stared blankly at the black vines striving to grow under the harsh afternoon sun. The fear in her heart, inch by inch, transformed entirely into a boundless confusion.

The white-haired old woman, before shedding her human shell, seemed to have been waiting for some kind of summons.

She had mutated, but not like the mutated beasts on the surface that madly attacked humans.

She seemed to be merely following a plant’s instinct, clinging to anything she could, desperately growing outward as if trying to break free from her bonds.

As if she were pursuing freedom…

A thin mist rose under the golden sunlight, seeming as if it would dissipate, yet lingering for a long time.

People seemed to realize that the wildly growing vines weren’t particularly aggressive. Aside from their terrifying growth rate, they were no different from the ordinary black vines on the surface.

They stood at a distance, pointing and commenting. Their initial fear vanished amidst the lively discussion.

The people from the City Defense Office arrived quickly. They carried high-temperature cutting blades specifically designed for clearing black vines and ran in formation into the high-rise that was now completely covered.

At the same time, everyone was told to line up and undergo infection testing one by one.

Chai Yuening stood distractedly in the queue. The long wait made her feel uncontrollably irritable.

Suddenly, she saw the old woman’s family member leading a military officer over to her.

“It’s her. She’s been looking after my great-grandmother recently. There were no signs of infection on a daily basis, so how could she have mutated?”

The man speaking was in his early thirties. When he mentioned his elderly relative’s mutation, there wasn’t a hint of grief in his eyes; every word revealed an urgent desire to distance himself from the matter.

His voice was loud, and the people queuing nearby cast surprised glances, all of them backing away from Chai Yuening as if afraid of being infected themselves.

The military officer gave Chai Yuening a deep look. “Were you the one who sent the distress call received by the City Defense Office?”

Chai Yuening: “I was.”

“You personally witnessed the old woman’s mutation?” the officer asked. “Besides you, are there any other witnesses?”

“She mutated. I saw it with my own eyes, right on the bed. She was saying strange things at the time. The alarm went off, and then she mutated,” Chai Yuening said. “Before she completely transformed, I shot her twice, in the heart and the forehead. Under normal circumstances, she would have died for sure, but it had no effect on her. The mutation didn’t stop at all.”

“There are no witnesses, so you can just make up whatever you want, right? My great-grandmother hasn’t left the house in years, how could she have been infected? Even if she was, it couldn’t have been her fault. Maybe it was…”

“Quiet.” The officer interrupted the old woman’s relative and asked Chai Yuening seriously, “You said she was speaking strangely before she mutated?”

“Yes, she said…” Chai Yuening was about to continue when she saw the officer give her a look.

She frowned and swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

“Could I ask you to come with us?”

“I can,” Chai Yuening nodded.

After being led to the front of the line for an infection screening, Chai Yuening was taken to the City Defense Center.

In a break room equipped with a camera, the officer poured her a glass of warm water and asked casually, “What did that person say to you before she mutated?”

“She told me to listen. I don’t know what she wanted me to listen for… She was breathing strangely for a bit, and then her eyes became completely vacant, like a dead person’s. She turned to smile at me, and then she said…” Chai Yuening recalled for a moment, then said seriously, “She said something like… it’s here, I’ve waited, for its summons.”

“Whose?”

“I don’t know, she just said ‘it’.”

The officer was silent for a few seconds, then looked up and asked, “Are you sure that’s all she said?”

Chai Yuening nodded. “I’m sure.”

The officer was about to say something more when his communicator suddenly buzzed.

He turned and walked out of the room, leaving Chai Yuening alone.

Before long, the door was pushed open. The officer stood in the doorway, looking at her with a complicated expression.

“Are you Chai Yuening?”

“I am.”

“Then I’ll have to trouble you to come with me again.”

“Where are we going this time?”

“The Base Research Institute.”

With that, the officer turned and walked ahead.

In that instant, Chai Yuening quickly stood up and followed closely behind, as if in a trance.

In truth, she knew that today’s alarm was by no means simple.

She had done a lot of work for the Underground City Base’s military. Even if she hadn’t been to the Main City’s Defense Center much, she had been to the outer city’s defense buildings many times.

Even the outer city’s alarm systems had at least three layers of protective protocols, making accidental triggers virtually impossible.

Could the Floating City’s Main City alarm system be even more careless than the Underground City’s outer city’s?

The old woman’s mutation was too bizarre. She had been to the surface so many times since she was a child, hunted countless types of mutated beasts, and seen countless humans die from mutation, but she had never heard of anyone dying from a black vine infection.

Human scientists had unanimously determined that unless energy was extracted through special means and injected into a living organism, the black vines were not infectious in any way.

Moreover, she had been caring for the old woman for several months. The incubation period for human infection and mutation couldn’t possibly be that long, not to mention the family said the old woman hadn’t left that room in many years.

This was all too strange; it simply defied common sense.

Something must have happened at the Base Research Institute.

This conclusion, reached in her heart, kept Chai Yuening on edge the entire way to the institute.

Could all these abnormalities be related to Chu Ci?

How was Chu Ci now? Would she have a chance to see her?

The mere thought made her feel as if her heart was about to leap out of her chest.

But when she truly arrived at the Base Research Institute, the sight before her quickly calmed her down.

The people of the Floating City would never know that at the same time the Main City military was assuring them of the Base’s absolute safety, that fully sealed, high-tech research institute was already crawling with black vines.

Researchers hurried through the mist.

The cleanup crew sent by the military also hurried through the mist.

“We can’t hide it. They’re growing too fast, we can’t clear them in time…”

“It’s not just the Main City institute. The black vines stored in the outer cities have also started growing abnormally. Even sliced samples are growing on their own!”

“It’s like they’ve been stimulated by something, they…”

“It’s like they’ve suddenly come alive…”

“What on earth is going on with this research of yours? Didn’t you say there wouldn’t be any problems?”

“Sorry, we don’t know either…”

Their words were filled with anxiety.

Chai Yuening passed by an ordinary laboratory. She saw a black vine, used for extracting energy bodies, growing out of a shattered glass tank at a bizarre speed.

Just like the old woman who had mutated.

Chai Yuening stared blankly at everything passing before her eyes. Her mind in turmoil, she was led into an office where the mist was slightly thinner.

A familiar voice startled her.

“Chai Yuening.”

“Dr. Yi?” Chai Yuening frowned and asked, “What in the world happened here?”

“You may have already guessed why I had you come here.” Yi Shuyun looked at her calmly. “There was a problem with this experiment. We may need your help, but I must remind you, once you know certain things, then until the experiment is over, regardless of whether you can truly help us or not, and no matter what happens outside, you will not be able to leave this place.”

“Are you afraid to face the truth? What if it’s far more cruel than you imagine?” As she spoke, she let out a laugh that was almost a sigh. “If you’re afraid, leave now, keep your mouth shut, and you can still be an ordinary person.”

“I’m not afraid.” Chai Yuening took two steps forward. “Doctor, please tell me, what happened here?”

Yi Shuyun was silent for a long time, then slowly closed her eyes.

“In the latest fusion experiment, Sample A0027 has, for the first time, shown signs of non-infectious mutation.”

“The sample’s emotional state is extremely unstable. The human consciousness… is fading.”

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