It was dark.
Thick vines wrapped around the steel bars.
Red moss climbed up the ruins, emitting a disgusting odor, like coagulated blood.
The rotting corpse was squirming on the ground, with yellowish-brown pus dripping from its deformed limbs.
The murmurs of cutting and chewing in the corners were like the whispers of demons.
The entire city became dark and damp in places occupied by plants, with disgusting mutilated limbs mixed with black, dirty blood, mixed with things like carrion and fly larvae.
This is a hellish scene that is almost unimaginable and unbearable for humans. The sticky, filthy slurry declares death, but the putrid flesh and blood are controlled by plants to twitch and move.
As soon as the rescue team from Mowu City arrived at the scene, many team members with weak psychological endurance vomited.
The stench is unpleasant.
This area challenges their physical and psychological limits every moment.
"There are still many hiding residents in the areas occupied by these plants. We need to rescue them."
"Do you really want to go in? Will we become one of them?"
There was fear and panic in the eyes of the young team members.
Everyone is wearing thick protective clothing, with no gaps in their bodies to prevent the intrusion of plant seeds.
In front of them is an area occupied by plants.
One-twentieth of the entire central city.
The broken cement slabs were covered with plants, and dark red weeds grew on the remaining bricks and tiles.
The upside-down rotting corpse was entangled in vines, twitching from time to time, and the twisted and broken bones looked like disgusting puppets being manipulated.
There was also some strange gnawing sound all around.
The sound can penetrate the protective clothing and go straight into the brain. It seems to be ringing in the brain, like some kind of evil summons, making people feel deeply uncomfortable.
The deeper parts of the plant area were shrouded in a thick haze.
It's the first day of October.
Central City is experiencing the worst haze this year.
Deep in those gray areas, there seemed to be more terrifying creatures twisting and squirming. Their figures were blurry, their eyes were scarlet, and their sharp fangs were dripping with yellowish-brown liquid. They were dragging their deformed and weird bodies, waiting for everyone to enter.
Fear hangs in the hearts of every team member who is about to set off.
It is a fear of the unknown and death.
Lu Wen frowned. He could feel that his connection with other bodies was much weaker in the haze.
The visibility of the human eye is extremely low in this haze, almost to the point where you can't even see your fingers. In this case, the team members who enter face considerable dangers. After all, those plants will take the initiative to attack.
The improvement of the world's environment should indeed be put on the agenda, but everything needs to wait until the end of this war.
Lu Wen suggested: "Let's just let the androids go in and search. The fear of flesh-and-blood creatures facing these weird plants will get in the way, and unexpected situations may occur."
Another person in charge at the scene said: "In the face of emergencies, human beings should have stronger reaction capabilities than androids. These plants are really weird."
Every city sent rescue teams.
Finally, after discussion, a mixture of androids and humans were formed into groups to go deep into the urban area occupied by plants.
Lu Wen and other leaders came to a nearby hospital.
Now the whole hospital is full of special patients.
These patients either have strange plants growing on their limbs, or they are already corpses but still squirming, so their families are unwilling to believe that they are dead.
The old mayor of Central City was beside Lu Wen. His old face had a few more wrinkles than the last time we met. He asked, "Have you seen "Annihilation"?"
"I have seen it. There is still a big gap between the current situation and the movie. You have to believe in science." Lu Wen answered seriously.
"I watched it when I was very young." The old mayor recalled: "It was an old restricted-rated movie. What impressed me most at the time was the squirming intestines in the soldier's belly, like strips. A smooth, skinned snake..."
It may be the childhood shadow of the old mayor, so he remembers it very clearly.
Inside the hospital and outside these special isolation wards, the people in charge in each city can clearly see the patients.
The literal meaning of "vegetative".
Look through the glass.
Small scarlet flowers grew on one of the arms, swaying gently, and seemed to be spreading towards the body.
It’s hard to imagine the pain and panic this patient is facing.
The other's leg was entangled with dark red slippery vines, and sticky blood covered the surface of the vines. The doctor said that the white roots of the vines had entangled most of the internal organs and penetrated into them. This patient could not be saved at all. Euthanasia followed by direct cremation.
Fire is currently the only way to deal with these plants.
The doctor who was accompanying him looked at the ward on the other side, pointed inside and introduced: "The person we are seeing now... This is already a corpse, highly decomposed, but due to the action of certain plants in the body, this rotten corpse They often twitch or move. The family members of the deceased are religious and believe that this is a revelation from the gods... "
The medical staff in the hospital are all wearing white protective clothing and coming and going.
Strange wailing could be heard from time to time in the surrounding isolation wards.
The entire hospital was enveloped in an atmosphere of depression and panic.
Lu Wen could see that the faces of the medical staff under the masks were a little pale.
After the war started, they faced a lot of blood every day, and many of the sick and wounded had mutilated limbs, but this was the first time for everyone to see this strange situation.
“I believe everyone can understand Central City’s current predicament.”
The old mayor took them to see it, not only to show what Central City is currently facing, but also to warn other cities.
If the disaster in Central City is not contained, this situation is likely to spread to other cities.
"Currently, we have stopped fighting with the machine clan. Those machines seem to be worried about being entangled by these weird plants. It is unclear whether they released these plant seeds."
"The first known infected person is John Williams, a middle-aged man. A week ago, he lived in the outermost part of the quarantine area and on the edge of the central city. He was a farmer... This area is closely related to the mechanical tribe. The area where they appeared and mainly attacked is far away, so we speculate that it is not a machine race... "
In just one week, these terrifying and strange plants took over one-twentieth of the central city.
The casualties caused have exceeded the mechanical invasion.
Those tiny plant seeds are almost invisible to the human eye.
They float in the wind and enter the room through windows, ventilation ducts and other places. They are pervasive. As long as they land on flesh and blood creatures, they can quickly take root and sprout. They also seem to release some kind of anesthetic drug, making the parasitized person feel nothing at first. By the time it was discovered it was too late.
Most parasitism occurs at night.
People usually wake up to find strange plants growing on some part of their body, and these plants are sucking their blood.
Although there is no pain, fear still drives these parasitized people to come to the hospital.
That John Williams was the first documented case.
He was admitted to the hospital for observation that day and died in the ward the next day.
It was early in the morning when he was discovered. The nurse opened the door to his ward and found that his body's chest had been broken open by plants, his sternum was broken, his internal organs were heavily entangled with white roots, and a strange scarlet flower grew out of his chest, the size of a human face. , and seemed to have some kind of perception, the flower looked towards the nurse at that time.
Another city expert asked: "Have you studied the cells of these things? Are they plant cells or animal cells?"
"this… "
The person in charge of Central City hesitated to speak and seemed to have a hard time explaining it.
In the end he had to ask all the experts in biology to follow him to the laboratory.
There are many weird things that are difficult to describe using existing language.
Lu Wen could probably guess the result.
The cells of these plants would certainly divide rapidly and would have some of the properties of animal cells.
If the war ends, Lu Wenhui will want to meet the scientist who originally developed this thing in Haoyue, and if necessary, kill the scientist on the spot.
"More than 300 search and rescue teams have entered the plant quarantine area from different directions to search. I think... I hope it won't be too big. The Central City residents hiding inside are unlikely to survive. They will die in pain. I hope they Keep a gun by your side, suicide will be less painful.”
All were wearing white isolation suits.
Outside the isolation zone, residents in the thirty-kilometer area have been evacuated, forming a vacuum zone.
Under the gray haze, the whole city looked like a dead city.
Empty streets, overgrown weeds, and rusty street lamps shine dimly in the haze.
I couldn't see the sky clearly when I looked up.
Many people had no time to take away the clothes they had hung to dry on their balconies, and the pale clothes were floating gently in the cold wind.
Although it was only the beginning of October, everyone couldn't help but feel cold.
"The source... we must find the source, otherwise the entire world will face a threat. This is a greater threat than the invasion of those creatures underground."
People are worried.
They do not want their own city to send a message for help next.
These plant seeds are more difficult to defend against than underground creatures.
The underground creatures also understand this truth. Not all the people living in the mechanical tribe are robots. There are also a small number of other races. They don't know that this thing was created by the scientists of Haoyue Company in the high-level world, so the war has been temporarily stopped. .
Lu Wen stood outside the quarantine area, his eyes fixed on the slowly wriggling plants and corpses. The blurry haze had less impact on him than on human eyes. After a moment of silence, he said: "I think I know where the source might be."
Suddenly everyone was quiet.
They either turned their heads or took a few steps closer, all looking at Lu Wen, eager to know the answer.
Lu Wen said slowly: "There is a city..."
…
A few days later.
dusk.
The haze cleared.
In an uninhabited land not far from Central City.
A ruined city that has been abandoned for a long time.
The yellow sand rises slightly.
Lu Wen once entered the city to hunt down one of Xia Chuluo's enemies.
The pungent smell of liquid and solid fuel echoed throughout the city.
The strange plants spreading in the city seemed to have noticed something. The weeds began to sway, the scarlet flowers became anxious, and the layers of red moss covering the dilapidated walls seemed to be wrapping themselves up.
Inside the city, the huge lake was rippling violently.
A lot of liquid fuel has flowed into the lake and covered the surface of the lake.
Giant vines along the lake's edge were also stained with liquid fuel.
The bell tower collapsed, the amusement park was no longer maintained by plants, and various violent and strange sounds rang out throughout the city.
"It's time, let's go."
As the order was issued, hundreds of drones carrying incendiary bombs flew towards the city.
This is a beautiful sunset. The crimson sun burns in the sky, reflecting the rugged city outline.
Soon, the city began to burn as incendiary bombs fell.
The dust is like a thin veil.
Everyone was wearing protective clothing and standing far away.
In the raging firelight, everyone heard some kind of strange scream, like a strange animal struggling to its death.
In the video transmitted back from the drone, the huge plant vines were rolling wildly, with red liquid flowing all over their bodies, as if they were trying to extinguish the flames.
Plants throughout the city were twisting in the firelight, wailing vaguely.
It's a hellish scene.
The water in the lake was surging violently, and a puff of red liquid rose up from the bottom of the lake, dyeing the entire lake red. The rotten corpses and bones of animals floated on the surface of the bloody lake. Huge vines at the bottom of the lake looked like strange tentacles, and Like a giant python stirring up water, everything seems like some horrific picture of purgatory.
"The second echelon sets off."
No one can feel sympathy for these strange plants.
More drones set off.
They carry powerful missiles and fly over the city.
In the surging firelight, under the beautiful crimson sunset, countless missiles fell like meteors, causing the earth to tremble, and the roar made everyone standing far away feel as if their eardrums were about to be torn.
That lake suffered the most bombings, and the crimson lake water was boiling.
The fire lasted for a full week.
Whenever the fire tends to become smaller, drones will deliver more fuel and incendiary bombs, shrouding the entire city in horrific fires.
Thick black smoke billowed.
Even Lu Wen's clone in the high-level world could clearly see the fire soaring into the sky.
During this period, a sandstorm occurred. The hurricane carried sand, dust and fire, and roared through the burned urban buildings, forming the most terrifying mixture of saloon rolls and fire tornadoes in history. It was connected to the sky and was shocking. At that time, everyone stationed outside the city had to evacuate urgently.
It was very embarrassing, but fortunately there was no safety incident in the end.
After the fire ended, a large number of androids entered the ruined city and began to search the entire land for any remaining plants.
No one let down their guard.
at the same time.
There have been many breakthroughs in search and rescue operations in the city.
In the plant isolation area, there were indeed many people trapped in it, and the protective measures were relatively good, or they were lucky. They eventually put on protective clothing, were escorted out of the isolation area one after another, and were sent to the hospital for observation. .
"We will separate these cleared urban areas and burn them with flames in batches. This is the only way at present..."
Everything is going in a good direction.
Rescue teams from various cities have made plans to stay here for a long time.
Another whole month passed like this.
The evacuation of the West is still ongoing.
In Central City, the Machine Tribe has also been quiet for a month without any action.
This is the first area to cease fire due to these weird plants.
Sometime near mid-November.
In the worldwide war, a second ceasefire zone emerged.
There is a ceasefire between the northern Kree City and the White-Haired Tribe.
The cause was a debate about historical issues.
When the two sides were taking a break during the war, they loudly argued about history through loudspeakers across the battlefield far away. Words like 'invasion' and 'fiction' were used a lot.
In the end, since no one could defeat anyone else, they had no choice but to defeat the other party.
Using hot weapons isn't fun enough.
So both sides put down their hot weapons, rolled up their sleeves and started a fist-to-flesh melee fight. They both seemed to enjoy this feeling of blow.
More than 100,000 people fought in chaos, and civilians on both sides also joined the fight in large numbers. The scene was once very intense.
The battle lasted for several days.
Not a single shot was fired.
In the end, they were all tired from fighting, and they all sat or lay down on the battlefield. They temporarily put aside their differences and exchanged their experiences about drinking.
Finally, it was found that they were highly consistent in their attitudes toward drinking.
So there was a truce.
Lu Wen was stunned for a long time after hearing the news, and finally had to say something.
"This ceasefire... is too hasty."
(End of chapter)