"In its mouth?"
Zhou Yu'an's expression changed.
"Could it be that the body of 'that thing' is right beneath the Kyoto Research Institute?"
Yan Qingdu frowned, appearing relatively calm.
"Since Commander Gu dared to bring us here, it means this isn't a dead end."
"He should know how to escape."
The group continued forward, even climbing up a long stretch of the way.
The slime beneath their feet grew thicker and stickier; they could easily slip if they weren't careful.
A faint light appeared in the distance.
It proved they had chosen the right path.
Li Xichen subconsciously joked,
"Do you guys think we're walking from its mouth into its nostrils right now?"
Chu Liuyue stopped thoughtfully, feeling it made some sense, and looked at the other two.
"Why don't we try scratching the surrounding walls?"
"Scratch the walls?"
Zhou Yu'an and Yan Qingdu only hesitated slightly before quickly doing so.
The seemingly hard walls showed no reaction after being scratched.
Just as everyone relaxed, a rumbling sound like thunder suddenly echoed in their ears, followed closely by a hurricane whipping up around them.
Unable to stand steady, they were swept directly toward the light by the fierce wind.
"It worked."
Chu Liuyue's eyes lit up.
After landing safely, they finally got a clear look at the behemoth before them.
'That thing' was as large as a small mountain, with thick green vines winding upwards, suspending a gigantic head.
It was different from what they had seen at the Jiang City Research Institute.
The head in front of them was terrifying because it was densely packed with human faces, one next to another. Some were crying, some were screaming, making for a truly gruesome sight.
It had no eyes, though its nose and mouth were somewhat similar to a normal human's.
But altogether, it was enough to make anyone's blood run cold.
Those vines twisted around its body like snakes, occasionally swaying gently, as if ready to pounce and entangle someone at any moment.
Right then, the giant plant seemed to notice Chu Liuyue and the others.
"Watch out!" someone yelled.
The vines instantly came alive like steel whips. One of them lashed out with a swish toward Yan Qingdu, who was closest.
Yan Qingdu reacted quickly, swiftly dodging to the side.
But the vine seemed to have eyes of its own, instantly wrapping around his ankle.
With a hard yank, it dragged him straight toward the giant plant.
The giant plant's huge mouth, made up of countless human faces, slowly opened with a creaking sound.
Inside were dense rows of long, sharp fangs, and a nauseating stench of rot rushed straight into their noses.
Chu Liuyue remembered the archivist's diary.
Dean Zhou was so smart, wouldn't he have secretly hidden a part of it?
A part of that thing was indeed in the Jiang City Research Institute.
That was why Dean Zhou had turned into a monster, neither human nor ghost.
If the one at the Jiang City Research Institute was a newborn version, then the one before them was the complete form.
Amidst his struggles, Yan Qingdu pulled out his handgun and fired at the behemoth, but it was useless.
The bullets sinking into its body were like drops of water in the ocean, having no effect whatsoever.
It was more like a mere tickle.
Seeing the critical situation,
Chu Liuyue quickly reminded him, "Hide in your spatial dimension!"
She remembered that Yan Qingdu's dimension could be used for hiding.
However, a trace of despair appeared on Yan Qingdu's face.
He shook his head with a bitter smile.
"It's no use! After getting close to it, all abilities are completely blocked."
Even the two guns in his hands were only usable because he had taken them out of his dimension beforehand and put them in his pocket.
Zhou Yu'an and Li Xichen exchanged a glance.
The former clenched his fists.
"I have no strength."
The latter instinctively tried to conjure ice blades, but even with all his might, there wasn't a single spark of ice.
Zhou Yu'an suddenly realized,
"The black bracelets that controlled us before were extracted from this plant."
Just what kind of creature was this carnivorous spore plant before them?
One thing was for sure: it wasn't any plant, or perhaps animal, currently discovered on Earth.
Seeing himself getting closer and closer to the giant plant,
and with no hope of breaking free,
Yan Qingdu suddenly turned his head to look at Chu Liuyue and smiled with relief.
"Yueyue."
"Didn't you say before that you wouldn't forgive me?"
"Unless I died right in front of you."
"So, can you forgive me now..."
His tone was still light, but his tightened lips betrayed his inner tension.
Chu Liuyue's pupils flickered.
She looked up at the mountain-like giant plant in front of her and furrowed her brows.
In her original world, she had seen all sorts of immortal and spiritual plants; there were plenty much fiercer than the one before her.
She curled the corners of her lips.
And said loudly,
"I, Chu Liuyue, haven't given you permission to die, and no one dares to snatch a person from my hands!"
As her words fell,
she quickly formed hand seals, chanting softly, and her body was instantly enveloped in a layer of eerie blue flames.
Chu Liuyue's gaze was sharp.
Pushing her hands forward fiercely, a surging pillar of eerie blue fire swept toward the giant plant like a sea dragon erupting from the ocean.
Wherever the Hellfire passed, the air was burned to the point of distortion, emitting crackling sounds.
The giant plant seemed to possess spiritual awareness.
Knowing it couldn't afford to offend the person in front of it, it released the vine wrapped around Yan Qingdu, tossing him forward.
Then, it quickly retreated backward.
It was genuinely running away.
Who knew how deep the vines underneath had taken root, but they retracted rapidly as it made a real effort to move backward.
Yan Qingdu was thrown heavily from high up.
If he had hit the ground directly like that, his internal organs would have likely suffered hemorrhaging, but fortunately, Chu Liuyue stepped forward and caught him in time.
She patted his cheek.
"Still alive?"
Yan Qingdu opened his eyes groggily, his lips pale, and gave a cynical smile.
"I'm alright, not completely dead yet."
"Yueyue, I..."
He wanted to say more but was interrupted by Chu Liuyue.
"Shut up! I have more important things to do."
She tossed him to Zhou Yu'an, her eyes full of trust, and said, "An'an, you're a doctor, take care of him first."
"Okay," Zhou Yu'an replied, his gaze gentle.
Chu Liuyue then looked at Li Xichen.
"Let's go, we'll keep chasing it."
"Yeah!" Li Xichen nodded excitedly.
That giant plant genuinely seemed terrified. Although the eerie blue flames had been extinguished, it still harbored a lingering fear of Chu Liuyue.
It continued to flee backward recklessly.
Meanwhile.
The ground of the Kyoto Research Institute began to shake violently, and various pieces of equipment toppled over.
"An earthquake? No."
"What's going on? Didn't we feed it? Is it angry?"
"Could the food have escaped?"
The research team looked at each other in dismay, and one researcher said fearfully:
"Ever since it came to us, it has always stayed in the same place sleeping or eating. But with this level of shaking, it feels like it's moving."
"Run! The research institute is going to collapse!" someone pointed out the critical issue.
But before they could hurry to salvage the important data,
someone else screamed in terror:
"Oh no! When the ground was shaking just now, the glass enclosures shattered. The mutants... the mutants have all escaped..."
Barely had the words faded when a bloodcurdling scream pierced the air.
The research institute, which had been a picture of tranquility just moments before, instantly descended into an absolute bloodbath.
