Chapter 149 Not a Coincidence

Chapter 149: No Mere Coincidence

The roots swiftly penetrated the gap.

Thin, vine-like tendrils frantically extended and crawled inward, like an infectious virus, tightly adhering to the hovercar's inner wall. They then continuously split and grew, forming a vast, intricate web.

Zhong Wan was so terrified by the sight that he nearly stumbled and fell.

"Zhong Wan! Fang Ran! Over here, now!" Fang Liyu shouted.

Fang Ran quickly helped his friend up, and the three of them retreated together.

Lu Tianlin stepped forward, the formidable aura of an S-class Sentinel erupting from him.

His gaze locked onto the roots. From his palm, frost energy surged wildly. With a sweep of his right arm, an ice-blue blast of energy slammed into them.

The icy energy exploded on the root-woven "web," rapidly solidifying into a visible layer of ice, halting the roots' continued expansion.

Fang Liyu stood behind him. "Director Lu, let's hold on a little longer. Reinforcements will arrive soon."

Lu Tianlin nodded, positioning himself protectively in front of everyone.

Meanwhile, outside the hovercar, Cui Ming and the others had successfully lured the raging mutant boar away.

They returned to the hovercar door and shouted, "Everyone inside the hovercar, open the door!"

"We can save you!"

"This mutated root is nothing to mess with! Hahaha!!!"

These individuals actually laughed.

Their eerie laughter echoed through the gap into the cabin, reverberating incessantly.

Just then.

*Crack.*

The ice layer sealing the roots suddenly developed cracks, spreading rapidly like a spiderweb, on the verge of shattering.

Lu Tianlin's expression darkened as he extended his hand again to release energy.

But beneath the ice, the roots surged wildly, glowing with a faint red light.

Finally.

With a loud *bang*, the roots exploded violently, tearing away the section of the inner wall they had been clinging to.

The entire cabin shook violently.

In an instant, a massive amount of roots poured wildly through the large opening.

Like a coiled viper, they struck at their target with predatory precision.

It happened in seconds.

Before Fang Ran could react, his hands and feet were already entangled.

Before he could even cry out, his body was hoisted and dragged rapidly outward.

*Shit.*

Fang Ran closed his eyes, attempting to sense Fu Zhangzhou’s energy.

But...

his Spiritual Sea remained silent.

It was as if the Sentinel no longer existed in this space.

*What happened!?*

"Fang Ran!"

Zhong Wan yelled in panic, reaching out to grab him.

Lu Tianlin reacted the fastest, but he too was entangled by the roots, his movements slowed for a critical second.

In that instant, Fang Ran was already yanked out of the vehicle.

An extremely intense sense of crisis overwhelmed him, nearly robbing him of breath. As he opened his eyes, Cui Ming’s eerie face filled his vision, grotesquely magnified.

"Well, Guide, you were quite difficult to extract."

Fang Ran instinctively struggled, but the roots wrapped him tightly like steel cables, leaving him completely immobilized.

*Just as I thought!*

Their target was him!

Just at that moment, footsteps pounded again from ahead, accompanied by the shouts of Sentinels:

"Let our Guide go!"

Fang Ran wrenched his head around, barely able to see a squad of Center Sentinels rushing over, among them even Chen Yang.

Hope flared in his heart, and he was about to call for help when he heard Cui Ming say in a low, eerie voice,

"Too late."

*What was too late?*

Fang Ran turned to stare at the man before him, seeing that sinister smile once again on his face.

A faint rustling sound suddenly reached Fang Ran’s ears.

The grass beneath him began to shake, the frequency growing increasingly higher.

*This is bad!*

The next moment, an intense sense of freefall swept over him.

The earth beneath him gave way.

A chasm opened up right below him.

Fang Ran’s every nerve went taut. He opened his mouth but no scream escaped, only Cui Ming’s bone-chilling laughter and the frantic cries of the other Sentinels reaching his ears.

His body plummeted uncontrollably.

The next second, darkness swallowed him whole.

Endless darkness, seemingly boundless, as if time itself had come to a standstill. Only wind whistled past his ears.

Fang Ran felt both falling and floating.

Everything spun, his senses gradually blurring.

Just as he was about to lose consciousness, his body seemed to break free from its restraints, hurled into another space.

Suddenly, his entire body grew hot, enveloped in a surge of energy.

This energy was familiar...

*Fu Zhangzhou!*

He had finally sensed the Sentinel’s energy!

This realization jolted him awake, and his eyes flew open.

Light flooded his vision.

Fresh air rushed into his lungs, carrying the damp, earthy smell, making him cough violently.

*Where was this?*

Fang Ran instinctively flexed his hands and feet—there was no dull ache of broken bones, only minor scrapes from the earlier dragging. Even the entangling roots had vanished.

*He was unharmed?*

*That couldn’t be.*

He had clearly fallen into a fissure, and the fall felt endless—how could he possibly be unharmed?

*Was this reality... or a dream?*

Fang Ran braced himself and slowly sat up.

Only then did he realize he was sitting on a large moss-covered rock.

He scanned his surroundings.

The environment was utterly silent.

This place... appeared to be another forest.

But unlike the previous environment, the trees here were thick and lush. Sunlight streamed through the canopy, casting dappled light all around, creating a tranquil atmosphere.

Fang Ran still felt a bit dizzy. He looked down at his right palm.

It was still warm...

This was Fu Zhangzhou’s energy connecting with him...

If his guess was right, the Sentinel must have jumped into the fissure and landed somewhere else. That was why, when Fang Ran was trapped by the roots earlier, he couldn’t sense him.

And after falling through the fissure himself, he must have wound up in the same space.

No.

It was no accident.

Cui Ming’s expression at that moment was deliberate.

But why bring him here intentionally?

This couldn’t be the Guardian’s doing.

Moreover, Cui Ming was nothing like the description in the book, and Shen Ke’s reaction upon seeing him...

Could it be that he... wasn’t the original Cui Ming?

If he wasn’t Cui Ming, then who was he? A marauder? Or...

Fang Ran shook off the chaotic thoughts.

Now wasn’t the time for this.

The most important thing now was to pinpoint exactly where this place was.

He looked down at the screen on his terminal.

Sure enough.

Still no signal.

Fang Ran couldn’t help but heave a weary sigh.

Staying here was pointless—the trees were too dense. He needed to try elsewhere.

He hoped he wouldn’t encounter any mutated creatures before finding a way out.

Fortunately, although the terminal had no live signal, most of its functions were still operational.

Fang Ran opened the system, trying to determine his location.

Unexpectedly, the map system began auto-matching.

*Strange.*

*Wasn’t there no signal?*

Without a signal, it should only match based on previously downloaded information...

Fang Ran stared at the flashing data on the screen, his frown deepening.

A few seconds later, a pop-up window appeared on the terminal.

"DT332 regional overview map has been matched. Confirm?"