Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Passing by the third floor's restroom, the ivy made a sudden halt, seemingly ready to dive in, but Wu Yin immediately stopped it with a stern shout. After all, entering the bathroom could at best mean getting rinsed under a tap, but more likely, the ivy would plunge him into the toilet for a harsh swirl before fishing him out, possibly even asking if he'd had enough.

A special frequency of ultrasonic howling made Wu Yin extremely uncomfortable and also affected many mutated animals confined on the third level of the research vessel. Their hearing was more sensitive than humans', restlessly barking in their cages, pacing anxiously, some even losing their sanity and violently crashing against the glass walls blocking their path.

The persistently pursuing security personnel, well-equipped, nearly caught Wu Yin in an electric net that brushed past his spherical surface to catch the ivy's leaves. The ivy instantly snapped off its charred stem, sprouting a new shoot and zigzagging rapidly between the walls and ceiling to escape.

Suddenly, seizing an opportunity before another electric net flew towards it, the ivy agilely dove into the vent of the central air conditioning. It was dark and cramped inside, filled with annoying dust, but the upside was that the ultrasound weakened slightly, allowing Wu Yin to catch his breath.

The mutated devil's ivy lay back like a sun-wilted leaf for a few seconds, then resiliently propped up its roots again, picking up the useless, withered meatball and crawling cluelessly through the ducts.

Wu Yin—find a laboratory; there's bound to be saline there.

Mutant Pothos—Sure, no problem!

Five minutes later.

Wu Yin—Any room will do, as long as there's water.

Mutant Pothos—Okay.

Another five minutes pass.

Wu Yin—If it comes down to it, the bathroom will do. I'll even settle for toilet water.

Mutant Pothos—...

After the third five minutes, the pothos, covered in dirt and grime, finally sticks its head out from another air conditioning vent, with a tiny, dirt-covered meatball in tow. Its deep green leaves gently sway in the warm air, hesitantly peeking out.

The uneven meatball tries hard to sprout a thin tendril, using the pothos's roots as a bridge, stretching out to observe the room's interior.

The bright room is filled with transparent observation boxes, each containing a gaunt, mutated animal confined in a cramped space, with no room to spare, forced to curl up and lie motionless.

At the end of the corridor, a young woman in a blue intern uniform slightly bows her head, tears in the corners of her eyes, softly sobbing. She is steadying a metal trolley that is half her height, on which sits a large trash bin, topped with a precariously tilted plastic lid.

For some reason, the usually listless mutated animals are unusually restless today, their rapid breathing echoing throughout the room.

The pothos extends a whole leaf, looking down from above.

The animals in the transparent observation boxes become even more agitated, sniffing and barking erratically, even those usually calm and collected are unusually disturbed.

At this moment, the intern finally regains her composure, dries her tears, and for some reason, suddenly feels a bad premonition. She nervously covers her chest, the warmth from her breath fogging up her glasses inside the mask.

The cries of the mutated animals grow louder, and the intern tightens her grip on the trolley handle, looking around hesitantly.

Suddenly, a series of fierce and violent roars cause the trash bin lid to fall to the ground, startling the already spooked intern into a scream, as she retreats in fear.

The plastic lid fell, revealing a segment of a black plastic bag in the trash bin and beneath it, a six-legged tiger barely alive. This was clearly a full-grown male Siberian tiger, but it was crammed into a bin utterly unsuitable for its size, emaciated, with fur withered and flesh nearly invisible, leaving nothing but a skeletal frame pitifully curled up inside the bin motionless.

Like a piece of discarded trash.

The intern waited for a moment, not noticing anything unusual, then nervously bent down to pick up the lid, intending to cover it again. But as she looked down, she noticed the six-legged tiger had opened its round brown eyes.

"You're awake!" exclaimed the intern joyfully, revealing a smile. She looked around, quickly took a bag of glucose from a nearby cabinet, poured it into a dish, and carefully offered it to the tiger's snout.

The six-legged tiger gave her a deep look but didn't move.

The intern became anxious: "Drink it! You had stopped breathing earlier, the assistant said you were dead and told me to throw your body into the sea, I, I..."

Footsteps hurried outside, frightening the intern into quickly hiding the glucose water. The leaves and tendrils from the vent also swiftly retracted, but then the intern seemed to think that giving some glucose to a dying mutant animal wasn't such a big deal, even if the assistant returned she could face the consequences, so she boldly offered it again, "Drink!"

The six-legged tiger still did not move. After trying twice, it finally managed to stand up from the trash bin, then lifted its head, its golden fur marked with a black "king" character among them. It gasped for air, then suddenly opened its mouth, roaring majestically like the king of the forest, just as it had on the day it was captured by the northern camp six months ago.

The mutant pothos, carrying Wu Yin, leaped down from above, its vines lashing out, directly hooking onto the handle of the trolley. The six-legged tiger let out another earth-shaking roar, its ribs visibly vibrating, as the pothos instantly dropped Wu Yin into the glucose water, then rooted itself as well.

The intern watched in shock as all this unfolded, her hand trembling, flipping the bowl onto the ground, splashing water everywhere. The six-legged tiger stuck out its tongue, gasping under the burden.

In the next second, countless dark green pothos roots wildly extended like rapidly breeding seaweed in a river, instantly growing along every climbable surface of walls, floors, and glass without restraint, each touch embedding strong roots into the ground, followed by the unfurling of verdant leaves, like the most tenacious life force rooting in concrete.

Beneath the overturned bowl, Wu Yin, with his consciousness in the pothos, saw through every vine. He randomly controlled the growth direction of the pothos, quickly breaking into the cabinet the intern had taken the glucose water from, then countless tendrils, like numerous straws, unabashedly drilled into the bottles and bags, voraciously absorbing energy and nutrients.

One sneaky root stealthily fetched a bag of saline, wrapping it back to the edge of the bowl, forcefully opened it, and then, like offering a treasure, handed the saline to Wu Yin.

The rest of the rampantly spreading roots reached every observation box's lock, their thin tips drilling in, proliferating wildly, and after a flash of sparks, a burnt smell wafted through the air, and the locks were rendered useless.

An angry chimpanzee let out a piercing roar, being the first to push open the door and charge out.

Following was an antelope, hornless, with only two ugly scars on its forehead.

A flock of cliff swallows flew low...

The intern stood dumbfounded at the scene unfolding before her, realizing that no matter what had happened today, whether it was her fault or not, she was likely to lose her job. But for some reason, she didn't feel too upset, even experiencing a sense of liberating relief.

The chaotic footsteps were close at hand, and the next moment, armed security personnel kicked open the laboratory door. But instead of a weak plant and an unidentified "urinating cow pellet," they were met by a large group of enraged mutant animals.

Emaciated to the bone, they threw themselves at the uniformed men in a suicidal assault, fearlessly.

Caught off guard by such a ferocious attack, the security guards were forced to retreat step by step, all the way out to the hallway. The mutant pothos was overjoyed, wrapping up the saline bag containing the meatball and fleeing.

Wu Yin looked back amidst the turmoil to see the six-legged tiger unable to support its body any longer, collapsing to the ground. The intern, panicked, tried to help it, but the tiger nudged her towards the door with its snout before closing its eyes forever.

The intern, at a loss, hugged its head for two seconds, then, with teeth clenched and eyes red, stood up and ran outside with the group of mutant animals.

Under the electric nets, one animal after another was electrocuted, their fur charred, while several security guards were bitten through the neck, their blood soaking the floor.

The pothos didn't look back as it leaped over the bodies, like a vast green net jumping through the corridors, its vines touching, and the mutant animals roaring madly, causing the man-made mutants to start howling restlessly as well.

Door after door opened outward under the roots spreading through every inch of the wall, as countless animals flooded out like a deluge.

The leading chimpanzee burst through the stairwell door, leaping down to the bottom floor through the middle gap, its mouth full of sharp teeth roaring, intimidating the deck crew.

One mutant animal after another rushed out, including Wu Yin and the pothos, coiled atop the antelope's head, like a large-scale migration through a canyon.

They swarmed the crowd like a group of headless flies, more and more security personnel arrived, dispersing other workers and opening fire mercilessly.

The mutant animals screamed, blood in their eyes, pushing the enemies and jumping off the deck together into the deep red-stained blue sea.

Wu Yin didn't hesitate, directing the pothos to swing a tendril mid-flight to catch a low-flying cliff swallow, shedding extra branches and leaves, leaving only the main root to trace a perfect arc into the sky amid chirping sounds.

Once out of the ultrasonic range, Wu Yin felt a sudden relaxation of his tense nerves, an unusual fatigue mentally, his whole sphere frantically bubbling in the saline.

Wu Yin—Master Bird, do me a favor, fly south, there's an island, someone is waiting for me there.

Cliff Swallow—...

Cliff Swallow—Which way is south?

Wu Yin—...The story of swallows flying south for the winter is just a myth, huh?

Cliff Swallow—Swallows?

Wu Yin—...

Quickly, the pothos transformed into reins, fastened around the head of the cliff swallow, with the other end tied to a bag of saline, filled with tiny bubbles.

The cliff swallow, following commands, circled over the sea for a while, then suddenly dived down, landing on a beach of an island hidden in the midst of the ocean. A giant Goldwing Sparrow was stepping on an octopus, pecking at it contentedly.

Behind the Goldwing Sparrow, Xue Hongyi was communicating with someone, wandering around while cursing; on the other side, Jie Linyuan's left pupil rapidly scrolled through countless lines of code and pop-ups. He was deeply focused on processing data, oblivious to Wu Yin's arrival.

Suddenly, the Goldwing Sparrow noticed something, released the octopus, and its curious black eyes fixed tightly on the strange cliff swallow carrying a bag of water.

The next second, a vine lashed out directly, whipping the Goldwing Sparrow into a series of chirps.

Xue Hongyi turned back, annoyed: "Goldie, be quiet."

Jie Linyuan, however, seemed to realize something. The fast-transferring data halted, he blinked his left eye, returning it to a human eyeball of black and red, his gaze landing on the nearby beach.

Instantly, his pupils dilated, and he stood up, rushing over quickly.

Only then did Xue Hongyi belatedly react, hanging up the phone and following.

Jie Linyuan carefully picked up the unstruggling cliff swallow, watching as the pothos voluntarily loosened the vine, revealing the saline bag within, with a tiny meatball floating inside.

"...", through Jie Linyuan's exceptionally tender actions and a strong attraction, Xue Hongyi roughly understood who this entity was, but he still couldn't help getting goosebumps, especially when he remembered that the object of his past desire to play a dark, confined game was this meatball...

Toes awkwardly dig into the beach sand.