The wind-type and fire-type users were the only two long-range ability users among the nine, so their role was basically limited to ranged combat. Once they got close to the building and their teammates moved in, it actually became harder for them to act.
So now neither of them was holding back their powers. They were going all out to burn down the entire No. 7 building.
In their view, the only people in Building 7 were that old acquaintance with the metal-type ability, plus one plant-type ability user.
As for plant-types, they already had one in their own team. That one could only provide support, like helping plants grow. Recently he had developed a few small new abilities, but they were not very useful. Even making a single fruit tree grow took a huge amount of effort.
“Today, the crystal core from that plant-type in this building will be yours,” the wind-type said while “keeping watch,” his tone full of sarcastic displeasure. “If you don’t put in some effort today, then don’t expect any share of the supplies or food later.”
The plant-type was a short man whose face looked sly and untrustworthy. Hearing this, he gave a greasy little laugh. “Of course, of course. I may not be good against other people, but against another plant-type, I definitely have the advantage.”
But even with that supposed advantage, as the group slowly moved from Building 5 to Building 6, they still did not see the plants in Building 7 get burned through.
The boss frowned. “What’s going on? Are the sprinklers upstairs still spraying water?”
The wind-type immediately shot back, “No way! I burned the sprinklers on that floor first thing!”
As he spoke, he looked at the fire-type. “Didn’t you put your back into it? Was your firepower not strong enough?”
“Bullshit!” The fire-type wiped the thin sheen of sweat from his face, brought on by overexertion. “How could I not be serious? You were the one who burned in the wrong direction!”
“You motherf—!”
The two of them started arguing on the spot.
Beside them, the woman who had previously warned and saved her teammates lowered her binoculars. “That floor is very strange. It seems able to repair itself. After the faucets melt from the fire, they quickly recover and keep working, continuing to spray water downstairs. And besides the sprinklers we can see, there are also some pipes spraying water.”
This person was a water-type ability user. Her power was not strong; she could only produce one cup of water a day. But she had an extremely sharp intuitive sense.
It could only be called intuition, not prophecy.
That intuition had not only saved the wind-type and fire-type users on the way into this residential complex just now, but had also helped the team avoid one danger after another over the past six months.
This unusual situation in Senyu Residential Complex had also been discovered by the water-type user.
She had been making an ordinary inspection round in the building where they were stationed when she suddenly felt something, pulled out her binoculars, and looked in one direction. She saw a somewhat familiar metal-type ability user—someone she had crossed paths with several times before—walking along the mountainside with another woman.
She quickly went to get a pair of high-powered binoculars and confirmed the metal-type user’s identity, as well as the fact that he was in an almost peak condition.
He was not hungry, not disheveled, and had not been hunted down and killed by ability zombies like the rumors said.
His life was clearly better than that of their so-called number one gang in the university district.
So she kept watching, and saw that man follow the other woman into the nearby residential complex.
After several days of preparation—consulting maps and repeatedly confirming the location—they came straight here and immediately spotted the one building that was obviously different.
That was how the current conflict had begun.
“The smoke and dust are too thick, and the fire is too dense—I can’t see clearly. But there is definitely something unusual about that building. There may be more than just two ability users inside. There might also be some strange ability user.”
The boss gave a cold snort and called to the wind-type and fire-type, who had already been amplifying their powers continuously for ten minutes: “You two wait in the rear. Stay alert, keep watch, and don’t attack recklessly. Don’t hold us back, and don’t lose control of your abilities again and accidentally injure your teammates!”
The two of them no longer had the energy to keep arguing and quickly agreed.
The wind-type withdrew his ability, and from the corner of his eye, suddenly thought he saw a tiny white speck drift into the fire-type’s mouth.
“Hey,” he said, immediately slapping the fire-type hard on the shoulder, “did a dandelion float into your mouth?”
“What?”
The fire-type quickly spat a few times, but nothing came out, and he did not feel any discomfort elsewhere either.
“Don’t scare me like that!” They still remembered how the speed-type had died earlier.
Even though there was not much team loyalty between them, that horrifying way of dying was still enough to make anyone shudder.
“Healer! Check me over!”
The boss and the other close-combat ability users kept moving forward, but the healer and the water-type did not. Normally, they stayed in the rear anyway, mainly providing analysis, observation, and protection.
The healer was not a doctor, and her healing ability was limited, so it had to be used carefully where it mattered most. So now, she only sent in the bare minimum thread of power as a token check. When she sensed nothing unusual, she stopped.
**16th floor.**
There was a faint sheen of sweat on Fu Erdai’s face. One hand was pressed against the wall, the other gripping the roots of the succulent plant, while she used her ability on both the house and the plant at the same time, keeping them in relatively good condition despite the flames.
After connecting the rain-spray sprinkler to the windowsill, the little old lady joined together all the water pipes they had previously collected during supply runs, linking them not only to the shower sprinkler but also to every faucet that could still be connected.
She was flustered and working in a rush, and sometimes the pipes were not fitted securely. But the house could, to a certain extent, alter the structure of objects touching its walls, so it adjusted them on its own to match. Together with the little old lady, it added even more water outlets in every direction on the 16th floor of Building 7.
Nothing below the 16th floor of the entire building had caught fire. Instead, the places above the 16th floor that had already been burned were still on fire, and they had no time to deal with that for now.
Once the little old lady was done, she fed Fu Erdai some fruit.
The fruit had some effect in stabilizing the body and restoring strength. Fu Erdai thanked her, ate it, and continued giving instructions:
“Guzi, pay attention. The tunnel can’t be too wide, and it can’t be too narrow either. It has to be just right to drag the wind-type down for me. Don’t let it surface above ground. On the surface…”
Fu Erdai let out a cold laugh. “They’ll blast it open for you themselves.”
“All plants, attention! The enemy is already within ten meters! Use the strategy I just described once they reach the point I specified!”
“They’re close.”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One!”
The boss was still moving forward when he suddenly discovered that one of his feet had been wrapped by a thin, long leaf, something like a spider plant leaf.
He disdainfully lifted his foot and snapped the leaf, not even bothering to look at it before continuing forward.
More spider plant leaves wrapped around him. But the leaves that had always been effective against zombies were as brittle as paper in front of this gang leader, easily snapped again and again.
Without even turning his head, the boss said, “Earth-type, blast this area apart. Crush these plants for me.”
The earth-type was just about to do as told when he felt his hand grabbed by a burst of green leaves.
This time it was not spider plant, but pothos. The earth-type saw no difference between the two and intended to shake it off casually, but the moment he tried, a chill ran through him—he could not break free.
The seemingly fragile vine now gripped him like a giant steel claw, locking his right arm in place at the elbow.
He was used to releasing his ability through his right hand. Now, seeing more pothos vines emerging to entangle his feet, he had no choice but to use his feet to activate his ability instead.
But using his power through his hand had always been precise and effective; through his feet, he could not bring it out properly. He only managed to stir the soil shield slightly underground before he could no longer continue using his ability.
“What are you doing?” the metal-type woman snapped, slashing with her blade and cutting the pothos vines off the earth-type.
The earth-type looked around and saw that the plant-type man looked perfectly relaxed, while around the stone-hardening man there was only a mess of unknown branches and leaves on the ground. He alone had been immobilized by a mere little pothos vine.
As a defense-type, he had actually needed someone else to help him.
He was furious. “You all go ahead. I’ll blow this place apart!”
With a loud boom, the ground exploded into a crater five meters wide, and many plant roots were blasted up into the air.
He was very satisfied, feeling that he had taught this plant-type a lesson. But weeds had to be eradicated at the root.
“Wind-type, fire-type, get over here and burn all the plants in the pit!”
After saying that, he followed after the close-combat teammates at the front.
The wind-type and fire-type naturally came over to burn things. The fire-type in particular was used to this kind of task and could follow the direction of a root with his flames all the way back to the main body.
The wind-type could not actually contribute much, but still came over to watch.
Watching this scene from afar, Fu Erdai smiled.
Plant roots were sometimes like human hair—they shed every day. Earlier, she had the plants gather their fallen roots in that area, and now that they had been blown out of the ground, they had indeed fooled the whole group.
“Burn my plants?” Fu Erdai’s smile turned cold. “Can you afford to?”
The wind-type, completely unaware, stepped closer to the crater. Suddenly he felt his ankle tighten, and in an instant he was dragged down into the pit. And at one corner of what had originally just been an ordinary crater blasted out by his teammate, there was now a narrow tunnel—just the right size to yank him inside.
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