Chapter 34: Chapter 29: Discovering the Target

The Golden Cicada flapped its wings, scouting the path ahead of Flora Bloom. The vegetation grew increasingly dense, forcing Flora to use her axe to chop away the small branches blocking her way.

"CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP."

The Golden Cicada sent another signal.

Flora Bloom walked over to take a look, and her eyes lit up.

Beside a giant, ancient tree with a trunk five or six meters in diameter, a purplish-black Lingzhi glistened, emitting a faint medicinal aroma.

’There’s actually a Lingzhi in these mountains! Judging by its size, color, and faint medicinal scent, it must be ancient.’

In her previous life, she had seen a 300-year-old Lingzhi at an expert’s stall in the base city. It had no medicinal scent, its size was deceptively large, and its color wasn’t nearly as deep. Most importantly, that Lingzhi was completely dull and lusterless, looking no different from an ordinary herb. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

’But this Lingzhi right here, with a luster that almost looks like Spiritual Energy... it has to be a Spiritual Medicine at least five hundred years old.’

Her first instinct was to pick the Lingzhi and store it in her space. But then she recalled the expert from her past life. To obtain that 300-year-old Lingzhi, his nine-person team was wiped out, leaving him the sole survivor. The others had all been killed by the poisonous centipede guarding it.

’The more ancient the Spiritual Medicine, the more powerful its guardian beast.’

Flora Bloom took a few steps back, using her axe to probe the surrounding weeds and dead leaves. All clear. No danger.

She cautiously circled the area. Behind the giant, gnarled roots on the far side of the tree, she spotted a large, leafy broken branch. Curious, she stepped forward to investigate. Pushing aside the dense foliage, she was startled to find a pregnant monkey pinned underneath.

Flora Bloom quickly knelt to check the monkey’s condition.

’Sigh... What a shame. It’s already dead.’

Flora Bloom looked at the pregnant monkey with regret. "If you had even a breath left in you, I could have saved you. I guess it just wasn’t your day."

Flora Bloom stood up. ’No wonder I couldn’t find a guardian beast for the Lingzhi,’ she thought. ’It must have been this monkey. And since a fallen branch could kill it, it probably wasn’t an evolved creature.’

Just as Flora Bloom was about to collect the Lingzhi, a faint rustling from beneath the branch put her on high alert.

But she scanned the area and saw no other creatures.

Just then, the leaves on the branch twitched again.

This time, Flora Bloom saw it.

The mother monkey’s swollen belly was squirming violently. It seemed she had only just died; the baby in her womb was still alive.

Watching the belly squirm, feeling that intense craving for life, Flora Bloom couldn’t help but touch her own stomach.

"Polly Bloom," she murmured, "I know dissecting a body is gruesome, but the mother monkey would be happy to know her baby survived, right?"

Flora Bloom took out a pair of scissors. The baby would die of oxygen deprivation if it stayed inside for too long. To save it, she would have to cut open the mother’s abdomen and deliver it. It was its only chance.

Flora Bloom mumbled to herself as she performed a C-section on the dead monkey.

"Polly, Mommy’s saving a baby monkey. I’m not doing anything bad. When you’re born, he can be your playmate. How does that sound?"

As she murmured, Flora Bloom pulled out a tiny, blood-soaked baby monkey. She expertly snipped the umbilical cord and immediately poured a bottle of space water into its mouth.

Fearing the scent of blood would attract unknown dangers, Flora Bloom sent the baby monkey into her space, gave it a bath, and placed it on the bed in her little thatched cottage.

She used her superpower to wash away the bloodstains, then dug a hole and buried the mother monkey. Finally, she collected the Lingzhi into her space. Just as she was about to move on, the Golden Cicada flew over. It carried a small twig in its mandibles, to which a familiar-looking piece of cloth was tied.

The fabric had been torn from a white T-shirt. The once-white cloth was now covered in dark dirt and mud, as well as a trace of slime from a zombie corpse.

She remembered Leigh Atwood and Luna Thorne were both wearing T-shirts. Before entering the club, they had copied her and smeared themselves with filth, so their clothes were also dark and stinking.

It looked as if the small piece of fabric had been deliberately torn off and tied to the branch. But if that was the case, Flora Bloom was puzzled.

If Leigh and Luna had run into danger, it made sense that they would leave her clues. But it was just as likely they were already dead, or had been captured by an evolved creature to be eaten later. What on earth had happened to them? Flora Bloom couldn’t figure it out for the life of her.

After rewarding the Golden Cicada with some space water, Flora Bloom started moving forward quickly. A short distance away, Vert suddenly sent a warning through their soul connection: danger ahead.

Flora Bloom had Vert turn invisible and lie in ambush while she and the Golden Cicada advanced stealthily.

The sky soon brightened completely as the sun slowly climbed into the air.

Flora Bloom hid behind a thick tree, poking just her head out to survey the scene ahead.

The scene before her was surreal.

A pangolin and two peacocks stood like guards in a triangular formation. In the middle of them were Leigh Atwood and Luna Thorne, trembling with fear.

And that wasn’t all. Two enormous monkeys, which looked more like gorillas at first glance, stood nearby. They were the same species as the dead mother monkey, but they must have mutated into evolved creatures, because they were huge—about the same size as Vert, she estimated.

The two monkeys were on opposite sides, patrolling the area.

Farthest from Flora Bloom, a small tiger lay sprawled on a massive, flat-topped boulder.

When Flora Bloom saw the color of the tiger cub’s fur, she cursed inwardly.

’That Oscar Owen... not only does he host gangsters like Seth at his club, but he also dares to smuggle nationally protected animals.’

The tiger cub’s fur was snow-white, marked with irregular yet evenly spaced black stripes. It was resting, emitting a nearly inaudible purr. On its forehead, the stripes clearly formed the character for "king" (王), lending a touch of majesty to its otherwise goofy-looking large head.

That’s right, goofy. The white tiger cub was so adorable that Flora Bloom couldn’t tear her eyes away. It had stout, strong limbs, powerful hind legs, and even fat rolls on its neck.

Its tail was still twitching as it slept. The black markings across its body had the aesthetic quality of an ink wash painting, making it look both majestic and unbelievably cute.

Flora Bloom stared at the adorable big cat, wishing she could scoop it up and cuddle it relentlessly. But how could she dare approach it now? The aura radiating from the white tiger cub was so strong she could feel the fluctuations of its superpower.

’This is clearly an evolved creature with a powerful superpower. It’s the strongest of the six animals here. Even Vert would have to be wary of it. If I could get it into my space, given enough time, could it rival a super-evolved creature?’

Six evolved creatures. She believed every single one of them was practically invincible in the current apocalypse. This must be why she had traveled so deep into the mountains without encountering a single zombie.

Leigh Atwood and Luna Thorne were being watched by the two peacocks and the pangolin, too terrified to move a muscle.

This gave Flora Bloom a splitting headache. ’Six evolved creatures, and I can’t even take on one of them. Even if I have Vert and the Golden Cicada create a diversion and lure one away each, that still leaves four.’

Looking at Luna Thorne, whose clothes were missing a patch of fabric, Flora Bloom suddenly had a thought.

’Luna was able to leave me a trail. And they’re just being watched; the evolved creatures haven’t hurt them. Why is that?’

So, she used her spiritual power to communicate with Vert and the Golden Cicada.

"Vert, let me ask you. If you had caught me back then, would you have eaten me right away?"

"Of course not. I don’t eat humans. Human flesh tastes bad."

"Then why did you attack us?"

Vert answered honestly, "I sensed you were a threat to me. I just wanted to kill you."

"Master, we primarily level up by absorbing things with energy. We really don’t eat people,"

the Golden Cicada added, joining the discussion.

"Then what about those ones up ahead? Do they eat people?"

"Master, our habits after evolving are influenced by what we were like before. Even though we only absorb Spiritual Energy to level up, our old habits don’t change. Like Boss Vert here... if it wasn’t for you, Master, he... he definitely would have eaten me."

The Golden Cicada’s explanation helped Flora Bloom understand.

The six creatures before her were all keeping a certain distance from one another. Peacocks and monkeys weren’t carnivores. Pangolins ate ants and insects. The only meat-eater was the tiger cub.

’In that case, Leigh Atwood and Luna Thorne are most likely intended as food for the tiger cub.’

She had to come up with a plan, and fast. Once that tiger cub woke up, Leigh and Luna would be as good as dead.