After the apocalypse, humans themselves were struggling for food and clothing, let alone sparrows. People were dying from starvation and disease. With their natural food sources gone, creatures like sparrows began to feed on zombie flesh, or the flesh and blood of various zombified and evolved beings.
With birds claiming the skies as their territory, Flora Bloom dared not imagine a future where the birds would collectively transform into zombified creatures and attack humanity.
After feeding on zombie flesh, a large portion of these sparrows would become infected and mutate. Those that didn’t mutate would just be attacked by the ones that did.
The more formidable ones would evolve into advanced lifeforms, standing apart from the rest to become avian overlords, separate from the flock.
But no matter the outcome, it was never good news for humanity.
The group traveled for a full day and night. Along the way, they cleared out zombies to harvest their Zombie Crystal Cores, hunted for game, and took breaks for meals and rest. At last, they reached the entrance to Morhaven, as indicated by the GPS on their tablet.
This was the first time Flora Bloom and her group had been to the entrance of Morhaven. Gazing at the city, which was completely engulfed in verdant foliage, they thought that anyone who didn’t know better would mistake it for a primeval forest.
It was now impossible for any zombies or zombified creatures to exist in the entirety of Morhaven. But Flora Bloom knew full well that even without them, the city was still teeming with danger at every turn.
These seemingly motionless, vibrant green plants could very well be powerful, plant-based lifeforms.
Superior numbers were useless against plant-based lifeforms. They were vulnerable to the Fire Element or overwhelming Combat Power. However, some plants didn’t even fear fire; they were nigh indestructible, just like Cynthia Grant’s little piranha flower. Had it grown to its full size, it would have been a force to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately, it was still unknown where the lab personnel had taken the little piranha flower or what its fate was. Cynthia Grant said the psychic channel between her and the flower had snapped, severing their connection completely.
Each member of the group readied their weapons. The Crown Prince and Leopard Cat went into stealth, merely informing the others that one would be at the front-left of the formation and the other would bring up the rear.
Neal Wallace, wielding the axe Flora Bloom had given him, took the lead and acted as their trailblazer. They had originally picked up a few fire axes from Orinburg Airport, but when Neal had put all his strength into chopping a thin branch blocking their way, the fire axe had ended up chipped while the slender branch remained utterly unscathed.
It was then that everyone realized the plants in the primeval forest that had consumed Morhaven couldn’t be damaged by ordinary weapons.
So Flora Bloom handed her father’s reinforced axe to Neal Wallace, while she took the second position in the formation, armed with a dagger.
Although Annelise Locke was in her serpentine form, Beast-type Adepts were the most formidable warriors in the forest. Furthermore, Annelise, Cynthia Grant, and Mervin Warren had all been injected with a serum at the lab. Spurred on by its effects, the three of them had now reached a Combat Power equivalent to or bordering on that of a High-level Superpower User.
Annelise Locke, of course, was the only one of them who was actually a High-level Superpower User.
As Cynthia Grant moved through the forest, she found her senses were keenly attuned to the surrounding flora, a natural affinity for her plant-based abilities. On several occasions, she helped the group evade powerful plant-based lifeforms, allowing them to approach the Morhaven base with relative ease.
The closer they got to the Morhaven base, the clearer Flora Bloom’s connection to her ’little pets’ inside became.
The group continued through the primeval forest of Morhaven, and it seemed they would soon reach Area Nine, the outermost sector of the base.
Suddenly, a massive porcupine covered in gigantic quills burst from the dense, overgrown jungle. The creature was five or six meters long, with four sturdy, powerful legs. Its body bristled with black-and-white quills as it charged toward Neal Wallace at the front of the line, building up power to launch its poisonous spines forward the moment it got close.
The dozen or so water shields Flora Bloom had layered in front of Neal Wallace instantly shattered upon contact with the porcupine’s quills, offering no defensive power whatsoever. This was clearly just an ordinary porcupine, lacking the unique energy signature of an evolved creature, yet its attack was incredibly vicious.
The group scattered, and Neal Wallace agilely leaped onto the trunk of a large tree. A poisonous quill from the porcupine’s back, a full three meters long, shot out and pierced the trunk. In the next instant, the wood around the point of impact turned black and purple, causing Neal to sway precariously on his perch.
Flora Bloom moved closer for a look. ’Good grief,’ she thought. The poison from that back quill had seeped into the tree, turning the trunk soft and spongy, like corroded plastic.