Run.
That was the first thought that flashed through Fu Erdie’s mind.
She had never encountered other ability users before, but after spending the past few days with Sang Wenhao, she knew one thing—if there was a group he openly admitted he couldn’t beat, it was a group they absolutely could not afford to cross.
“Get ready to leave. Head toward the city centre.”
As soon as she said this, she whispered something to the dandelions.
Sang Wenhao didn’t ask why they were heading toward the city centre. He immediately moved to go downstairs.
But the moment he stirred, he noticed a change in the approaching group—two of them suddenly sped up.
They were speed ability users from the 23-person gang!
Without hesitation, they stuck close to the shadows of the walls and silently charged toward Building 7.
They intended to strike first.
Sang Wenhao raised his gun and fired a few shots.
But while bullets were fast, speed ability users were faster. They weren’t like ordinary moving targets—hitting them wasn’t so simple.
“Fu Erdie, two speed ability users are coming—”
Before Sang Wenhao could finish, one of them suddenly stumbled and collapsed to the ground.
The other skidded to an abrupt stop, sensing something was wrong.
The fallen one clutched his throat in a desperate suffocating motion. Then, large clusters of white, fluffy flowers—stained red with blood—burst from his throat.
A second later, they sprouted from his ears. His eyes.
Sang Wenhao adjusted his scope and finally saw it—at some point, the air around them had become thick with drifting dandelion seeds.
Fu Erdie spoke calmly, “Yesterday, when I was exchanging energy with the dandelions, I told them to consciously store ability-infused seeds”.
“Now’s the time to use them”.
“These seeds grow fast, absorb energy quickly, and catch people off guard.”
Sang Wenhao held his rifle steady, though his heart was shaken. “All those floating seeds… are they all mutated?”
“No.” Fu Erdie’s voice remained even. “Each dandelion only stored two mutated seeds. The rest are just for intimidation. Keep your focus on sniping the wind ability user.”
Sang Wenhao didn’t hesitate. He shifted his aim.
The rest of the enemy group had walkie-talkies. When they asked the surviving speed ability user what had happened, they quickly learned of the situation.
The wind ability user raised a hand and started gathering wind.
But just as his ability activated, a woman beside him yanked him backward, hard.
BANG!
A sharp gunshot rang out.
A sniper bullet tore through the spot where the wind ability user had been standing a second earlier.
“Shit!” he cursed, but before he could even process what happened, another bullet came flying.
Sang Wenhao, still scoping the target, asked between shots, “How did you know they had a wind ability user?”
Fu Erdie was already carrying Zhang Granny downstairs. She responded in a steady tone:
“If they had one, you’d shoot them. If they didn’t, you’d ask me. And if there was no wind ability user, then our priority targets would be fire ability users and long-range attackers.”
At the same time, she issued orders to the plants.
Any plant with energy to spare was to move water, food, solar chargers, and phones downstairs to the car they had salvaged a few days ago.
She also had the pothos fetch the potato plant and move it onto the car roof.
Right now, among all the mutated food crops with intelligence, the potato plant was the only one that hadn’t spread its roots throughout the entire building.
It always preferred staying in a pot, making it convenient for Fu Erdie to carry it whenever she moved to claim new territories.
But this time, it wasn’t about expanding territory—it was about survival.
They needed the potatoes for food.
They needed its mutated wound-healing leaves in case of injuries.
And if they ran out of water, they would need it for cleaning.
The potato plant was an all-purpose tool—wherever it was needed, it would go.
At that moment, the potato plant was sunbathing in a metal bucket on the first floor. When it sensed the commotion outside and received the pothos’ instructions, it cheerfully stayed in its bucket while the pothos rolled it toward the car.
Once it reached the vehicle, it used its leaves and roots to haul itself onto the roof.
Completely oblivious to the impending danger, it puffed up with pride at its new high vantage point.
Fu Erdie’s plan was simple—have the plants move everything, then play dead.
The house, too, needed to “play dead.”
She wasn’t going to fight these people head-on.
But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t come back.
She needed to get to the city centre—to her grandmother’s house—to find an object that could carry the house.
With each energy exchange she conducted, her ability continued to improve.
Once she found a suitable vessel for the house, and after more training to strengthen both her and Sang Wenhao’s abilities, she would return.
These people were here for resources.
Once they raided everything and left, the rooms would be empty.
And she could take them back.
Fu Erdie adjusted Zhang Granny’s position on her back, tightening her grip.
She gritted her teeth.
Letting these people steal all their supplies… was infuriating.
Taking a deep breath, she quickened her pace down the stairs.
She was naturally fast.
One of the enemy’s speed ability users was already dead.
The other was paralyzed in place, wearing a hood and covering his mouth and nose—surrounded by floating dandelion seeds, he didn’t dare move.
This bought Fu Erdie and the plants time to move their survival essentials to the car.
Fu Erdie stuffed Zhang Granny into the already cramped backseat, which was packed full of supplies, and picked up the walkie-talkie.
“Get in the car. We’re leaving.”
Sang Wenhao fired a few more shots, then leaped from the back of the building, flying down to the ground before swiftly circling around and diving into the driver’s seat.
Fu Erdie sat in the front passenger seat, checking the supplies while keeping an eye on Building 1 in the distance.
Sang Wenhao started the engine and sped off. “They noticed my position and hid behind the corner. I didn’t hit them. But I got the other speed ability user. They don’t have anyone left who can catch up now.”
Fu Erdie let out a slow breath of relief.
“Let them take the supplies if they want. As long as we survive, that’s all that matters.”
Just as she said this—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rang out from behind them.
The long-gathered wind howled through the streets, uprooting over a dozen dandelions from the roadside. A street sign was torn from the ground and slammed directly into the potato plant on the car roof, knocking it off and sending it rolling across the pavement.
The powerful gust lifted the rear half of the vehicle into the air—the back wheels lost contact with the ground. The overloaded trunk burst open, scattering their hard-earned supplies all over the road.
Fu Erdie grabbed the car door handle, about to jump out and grab the potato before it rolled too far.
Sang Wenhao shouted, “We need to go! The plants have learned to burrow underground—they won’t be found easily!”
Whether it was the potato plant or the ones in Building 7, they had all learned how to hide in walls and soil over time.
Fu Erdie took a deep breath, clutched her seatbelt, and sat back down.
She couldn’t be reckless. She couldn’t fight.
Now was not the time.
She understood her position clearly—going up against an ability user group that even Sang Wenhao feared would be like an egg smashing against a rock.
She clenched her teeth.
It was fine. Once those people took what they wanted, she would come back for her plants and her house.
But just as that thought settled in—
A massive wave of fire and wind tore through the streets.
The two forces merged into a towering inferno tornado.
It roared from Building 1 straight toward Building 7, devouring everything in its path.
The loose dandelions caught fire instantly.
The flames licked across the tomato and cucumber vines that hadn’t had time to fully retract.
Fu Erdie’s pupils shrank.
It felt like a giant, monstrous hand had gripped her heart.
Those plants weren’t the first batch of seedlings she had raised from the start, but she had planted them herself!
She had chosen safe, expandable zones in the complex before deciding to let them take root there.
“Turn around!”
Sang Wenhao frowned.
Turning back now was suicide.
“These people kill ability users for their crystal cores.”
“I said turn around!”
Fu Erdie glared at him.
Sang Wenhao pursed his lips—but in the end, he turned the car around.
She had only left because she thought the plants and the house would be fine.
Now that they might be in danger, running away would make her a cowardly teacher abandoning her students.
A deserter.
Her mind raced.
Suddenly, she realized—they weren’t completely powerless.
Neither she, Sang Wenhao, nor the plants had ever truly tested their strength since levelling up.
Sang Wenhao had said it himself—he was in the best condition he had ever been.
He had also absorbed the crystal core of the metal ability zombie he had defeated earlier. A same-type core would have strengthened him significantly.
The plants had spent the past few weeks feeding on over two to three thousand zombies throughout the complex.
And yesterday, after discovering her new ability trait, Fu Erdie had conducted energy exchanges with almost all of them.
Every time she pushed and pulled energy with them, their energy levels increased by 5%.
Once that increase reached 30%, the effect had begun to slow down—but on top of their zombie feast, that 30% boost still made a huge difference.
For example—the succulents.
A simple knife could no longer slice through their leaves.
Only if she pressed harder—and harder—could she finally cut through.
Ability users had attacks far stronger than just “pressing harder.”
But the plants didn’t feel pain.
And now, they had healing abilities, too.
With self-repair, thickened defenses, and Fu Erdie’s ability to speed up their healing once she got back—
Their defenses were already formidable.
Her plants could both attack and defend.
They could fight.
The only real loss here was the supplies in the car.
Wait. The supplies…?
Fu Erdie smirked.
If those people wanted resources… If they wanted ability cores…
Let them come and take them.
—
Sang Wenhao drove them back to the 16th floor.
After a quick discussion, he grabbed a strong adhesive and ran downstairs.
Meanwhile, another flaming tornado surged forward.
A large, clear water bucket drifted through the air, swaying in the powerful winds.
At the bottom of the bucket, an iron plate was glued to it.
It was Sang Wenhao’s doing.
The enemy group paused.
They stopped attacking.
The wind dissipated.
The flames flickered out, falling as dying embers onto the already burning buildings.
A scene of hell on earth.
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