BFET Chapter 7

Flower Bud

“This stinks!” You Xue immediately covered her nose and leaned back, “What is this!”

Shen Shu stood up even faster, taking several steps back.

Xie Yi frowned, using the tip of his knife to peel off a layer of membrane connected to the roots, revealing a shapeless mass covered with several broken scaly skins, “It’s Cleft-Horn Lizard meat.”

After this mass of meat was completely peeled off, it was clear that the membrane was covered with roots, which were slowly wriggling like tentacles at this moment.

You Xue almost subconsciously turned to look at the giant tree beside her, “This is… from this tree?”

Xie Yi hummed in agreement, reaching out with the back of his knife to touch the roots. The touched roots immediately wrapped around it. “It seems to have developed a feeding consciousness.”

The evolution of Mutated Entities is accompanied by appetite.

From the overly abnormal tranquility upon entering the Central Zone of Fengjiang, to the issue with the last Tagging Anchor near the Source of Pollution, and now the emergence of this tree’s evolutionary trend.

“Something must be wrong with the Source of Pollution.” Xie Yi severed the roots tangled on the knife, stood up, and continued, “Let’s readjust the arrangements.”

“You Xue.” Xie Yi looked at You Xue, who was also standing up, “Next, Shen Shu will work with you. The two of you will investigate the locations of the Tagging Anchors distributed around the Source of Pollution, including the condition of the surrounding plants, which also needs to be carefully checked.”

Understanding the seriousness of the situation, You Xue nodded, “Okay.”

Shen Shu walked over from the side, “What about you, Captain?”

Xie Yi, “I’m going to the Source of Pollution.”

“You’re going alone?” Shen Shu asked, then continued, “Captain Xie Yi, I want to go with you.”

Xie Yi silently looked at him for a few seconds upon hearing this, “No.”

“Why?” Shen Shu asked, “Is it because I’m a newbie on the team? But it’s not my first time entering an Enclosed Zone, you know.”

Shen Shu paused as if implying something, and then continued, “Before, when I was training with Captain Fei, I also went to many Enclosed Zones. I won’t hold you back, and if it weren’t for me just now, you might not have discovered the problem with this tree.”

After saying that, he suddenly turned his head to You Xue and said, “Right? You Xue.”

Suddenly being named, You Xue subconsciously let out an “ah.”

Looking over, she saw Shen Shu already looking at Xie Yi again, and then she heard Shen Shu ask Xie Yi in an almost murmuring tone, “So, Xie Yi, let me go with you, okay?”

If the time and place weren’t wrong, You Xue felt like she really wanted to shout: Is this flirting? This is flirting! My radar is going off!

“You did very well just now.” Xie Yi said, “But no, you stay, and work with You Xue, obey orders, Shen Shu.”

After saying that, Xie Yi looked at You Xue again and asked, “Do you have enough Detector cores with you?”

“I have enough.” You Xue nodded quickly, “Besides the one we just extracted, there are seven Tagging Anchors nearby. I have enough cores with me.”

“Good.” Xie Yi continued to instruct, “Then I’ll leave the outside to you. Remember, if anything unexpected happens, immediately withdraw from the Central Zone and wait at the vehicle. If I don’t come in an hour, you retreat immediately, leave Fengjiang Zone. You don’t need me to teach you what to do next.”

You Xue took a deep breath, “I understand.”

After watching Xie Yi’s figure disappear in the direction of the Source of Pollution, You Xue looked at Shen Shu, who hadn’t said a word since, “Basically, no one can change Xie Yi’s decisions.”

Hearing her words, Shen Shu looked over, “Is that so?”

Even though he didn’t speak, and didn’t have much expression, You Xue inexplicably felt a bit chilly. She couldn’t help but give a dry laugh and said, “Let’s get to work! I’ll send you the locations of the Tagging Anchors nearby first.”

After You Xue finished, she took off the tool bag she was carrying and rummaged through it, taking out two spherical objects and a palm-sized box.

“These are the detector and the cores.” You Xue handed over the things in her hand and was about to say, “Where… is he?”

The person who was just in front of her was now gone.

“Shen Shu?” You Xue looked around, but all she saw were messy, distorted plants.

Almost subconsciously, she looked in the direction of the Source of Pollution, opened her mouth, and muttered in disbelief, “No way…”

After solving the entangled roots for the nth time, Xie Yi had reached the entrance to the Source of Pollution.

The closer he got to the Source of Pollution, the more plants around showed feeding consciousness. Even inside, there were plants with very obvious feeding desires that would directly attack him because of his presence.

The pollution concentration at the Source of Pollution currently did not make him feel uncomfortable, meaning that the concentration index was still within his pollution resistance range. With so many evolutionary trends, still maintaining an abnormal pollution concentration, Xie Yi vaguely had a bad feeling.

He looked at the area less than two or three meters in front of him and strode over.

Everything in sight was a mess.

Broken tree trunks leaned against rotten stumps, lying crookedly on the ground, covered with moss. Dark vines intertwined and spread across the ground, almost filling every corner.

There was also a faint smell in the air, which was very strange, a bit fishy and foul, but with a hint of sweetness.

Xie Yi observed the area for a moment before slowly moving forward.

The last time he came to the Source of Pollution in the Fengjiang Enclosed Zone was when he had just joined the main team. The impression he had was completely different from now. It was as if a great battle had taken place here.

However, the Extraction reports for the past half-year had not mentioned any incidents, and he did not know when it had happened.

Suddenly, Xie Yi felt the smell that had been lingering at the tip of his nose become richer.

He paused, immediately looked around, and after roughly judging a direction, followed the smell. The fishy, foul, and sweet smell became stronger as he approached.

Soon, not only the smell, but he also saw many mottled bones on the ground, which was originally intertwined with vines.

These mottled bones were entwined by vines on the ground, and some even had pieces of flesh attached.

Xie Yi quickened his pace. Following the smell and the mottled bones appearing on the ground, he quickly reached the edge of a huge pit.

The pit was filled with thick vines, and in the middle, a tangled purple flower bud was quietly growing.

Below the flower bud was a mountain of Mutated Entity corpses, tightlyEntangled and bound by vines.

In the darkness, the flower bud also emitted a faint fluorescence.

——Lantern Mushroom, why would this thing appear here?

Xie Yi was immediately shocked, his eyes looking at the flower bud from a distance.

The flower hadn’t bloomed yet, there was still a chance.

Without hesitation, Xie Yi almost immediately jumped into the pit, quickly approaching the Lantern Mushroom along the vines. He didn’t know when the knife appeared in his hand, and red flowing veins appeared on the blade.

His goal was clear, and he directly slashed at the Lantern Mushroom’s receptacle!

The moment the blade approached the receptacle, a thick vine suddenly burst out, and the blade that was originally slashing at the receptacle slashed on the vine instead, and the vine immediately broke.

Xie Yi, who was blocked, did not have a chance to make a second attack, and the vines at the bottom of his feet had already moved one after another at this time.

No, not just the bottom of his feet, but the vines throughout the entire pit were moving!