“Nicely done!” Moon’s Surface complimented Chi Xue. He had expected Candidate 100, brimming with confidence, to be capable, yet they proved to be a letdown. Instead, the quiet and unassuming Candidate 4 possessed unexpected prowess. This truly caught him by surprise.
A flush of crimson bloomed on Chi Xue’s cheeks as she heard the praise, and she parted her lips, about to utter a reply.
Just then, a vast shadow swept across the distant sky, accompanied by a piercing, high-frequency shriek that even the clamor of the battle below could not drown out. Gazing into the distance, the trio realized it was an immense flock of silver-white birds.
“Flying monsters, too!” In the garden, Huang Xiu had also noticed the unusual sight in the sky. ‘This doesn’t bode well,’ she thought, her eyes narrowing slightly. Her usually vibrant face was now a touch pale from blood loss. Allowing this flock of silver-white birds to draw closer would not only cause the already deteriorating battlefield to collapse instantly, but it would also utterly strip them of any room to maneuver.
The examination originally necessitated defending the channel, which was why Huang Xiu had primarily mutated plants suited for close-quarters combat. Now, however, she decisively altered her strategy, transforming the next wave of plants, originally intended as meat shields, into formidable long-range turrets.
The wound on her palm had largely healed, yet the rapidly dividing cells beneath the surface brought a piercing, almost maddening itch. After a moment of hesitation, Huang Xiu switched hands, making another incision. As her blood splattered, the void energy within her rapidly depleted, simultaneously fueling the explosive growth of the garden’s flora. In the blink of an eye, over a dozen more mutated plants took shape, but Huang Xiu had reached her absolute limit, her void energy almost entirely spent.
The young woman gasped for breath, then turned, her gaze sweeping upwards to the distant sky. Beneath the silver-white expanse of the sky, diverse birds flapped their wings, drawing ever nearer. Their incessant, chaotic chirping was an irritating din.
*Chirp, chirp, chirp!* A continuous whistling filled the air as tiny fireballs and pebbles shot forth from the plant-covered outer wall.
–Candidate 100 and Chi Xue had engaged, both realizing they couldn’t afford to let the bird flock draw any closer. The fireballs, though small, radiated searing heat, capable of considerable destructive power. Each stone, empowered by [Great Momentum], struck with the force of a pistol bullet.
Yet, no matter how potent the attacks, they were useless if they failed to connect. Birds were incredibly swift creatures; with a single flap of their wings, the flock dispersed, effortlessly evading the majority of the incoming attacks. Only a handful of unfortunate birds were struck by their assaults, plummeting from the sky with mournful shrieks.
Moreover, the mutated plant army on the battlefield beneath the wall was visibly faltering, its decline growing more pronounced by the moment. What had initially appeared to be a manageable situation had abruptly spiraled into a perilous one.
‘This is bad!’ Moon’s Surface’s heart lurched.
Just then, however, a soft female voice drifted up from below the staircase.
“Catch it!”
‘Catch… what?’ Moon’s Surface turned his head, bewildered.
Behind him, within the garden, a rustling, scraping sound began. A colossal vine python coiled and reared its head, and atop its serpentine crown stood a striking young woman with short, stylish hair. In her hand, she clutched an utterly bizarre contraption. The device, as a whole, resembled a Gatling gun, yet its original muzzle had transformed into a sunflower’s vibrant disc, and its body into the flower’s green stalk.
With a flick of the vine python’s tail, several dark shapes soared through the air, landing with a distinct *thwack* against the wall. These, too, were devices resembling modern firearms in their overall shape, but with every intricate detail clearly fashioned from plant matter.
“I need guns, lots of guns!” The young woman’s lips curved into a smile. Raising her left hand, she held the “Gatling” horizontally across her chest, while her right hand slammed down on the trigger. The flower disc spun rapidly, showering golden petals. *Bang, bang, bang!* Brown, oval-shaped sunflower seeds erupted like bullets, tracing a long, dark serpentine path through the air as they swept towards the bird flock.
‘This is actually a gun!’ Moon’s Surface was utterly dumbfounded. ‘Could Candidate 122’s superpower truly be wielded in such a way?’
“Omnipotent… she truly is omnipotent!”
In that instant, he finally grasped the profound meaning behind the two words Huang Xiu had uttered. He hesitated no longer, bending down with the other two to retrieve the firearms. The trio pulled their triggers, unleashing a barrage of green, brown, and even yellow projectiles that erupted with a deafening crackle. What’s more, the recently mutated long-range offensive plants had clambered up to the base of the wall, where they began to relentlessly unleash their ammunition.
In that moment, the botanical garden transformed into a veritable fortress of firepower, unleashing an overwhelming torrent that mercilessly mowed down the bird flock in the sky. No matter how agile the birds were, they could only fall to their deaths when confronted with such a relentless, saturated barrage of firepower. The frantic, chirping wails were ceaseless, as the silver-white birds plummeted from the sky like dumplings dropped into boiling water.
“Hahahaha!” Huang Xiu’s face was alight with exhilaration and fervor as she laughed wildly, sweeping her fire across the sky, her hands steady as a rock. Once a man, she, too, had harbored the profound desire to bear arms and defend her homeland.
*Click-clack…* A sound like an empty mechanism whirring echoed, and the flower disc ceased its rotation.
“Of all martial arts, this is the firearm!” she roared, as the dwindling void energy within her surged frantically into the weapon in her hands. Within the flower disc, brown sunflower seeds materialized one after another, and in a flash, the magazine was more than half replenished.
This was a novel type of mutated plant she had devised, born from the insights gained during yesterday’s battle on the national highway. Mimicking modern weaponry, this mutated plant was a singularly potent instrument of slaughter: powerful, recoil-free, and capable of generating its own ammunition simply by absorbing void energy. Its sole limitation was the need for manual operation, as it possessed no inherent self-awareness.
The bird flock had been decimated to a mere fraction of its original size, yet even this small remnant had pressed forward, now hovering within a hundred meters above the botanical garden. With shrill cries, they surged upwards, ascending to the very zenith of the sky. Their wings beat furiously, and then, one after another, silver-white cones materialized, spinning rapidly as they shot forth.
“Danger!” Moon’s Surface cried out, a surge of anxiety in his voice. Yet, deep within him, an overwhelming urge to weep with joy welled up. ‘Finally… finally, it’s my turn to rack up some points.’
With a shout, he leaped forward, raising his hands high above his head and rotating them as if plastering a wall. Void energy surged wildly through his body. [Solid Wall] activated! In a flash, an invisible, transparent wall of air materialized, solidifying before them.
A faint smile touched Moon’s Surface’s lips. He had personally tested the air wall solidified by his ability; though it appeared soft, it was, in fact, incredibly resilient. Not even arrows fired from a compound bow, renowned for their piercing power, could penetrate it.
‘Come on!’ he silently cheered, his heart brimming with anticipation. The silver-white cones, spinning and twisting, grew larger in his pupils, just moments before they would have impacted the air wall. Suddenly, a colossal black shadow burst forth from the garden, instantly eclipsing the four individuals, blocking out the light and everything else.
Moon’s Surface gazed upwards, dumbfounded, his mouth agape. It was a banana leaf the size of a truck, its veins as thick as a human forearm. Its thickness rivaled that of a Xinhua Dictionary.
*Bang, bang, bang!* The spinning cones, designed for armor penetration, drilled into the banana leaf, tearing through ten centimeters of its tough, fibrous flesh before finally losing all momentum.
“Phew! Good thing I reacted quickly!” Huang Xiu exhaled roughly, wiping a bead of phantom sweat from her forehead as she stood atop the giant serpent’s head.
*Thud!* Moon’s Surface’s legs gave out, and he collapsed onto his knees.