Among everyone present, Yan Huarong was the first to react.
He frantically pounded his seat, bellowing, “Reverse! Reverse! You damned fools, reverse the car!”
Regret now consumed him.
His decision to leave Ying City and journey to Yanghai had not only laid bare his profound guilt.
It had also propelled him into a perilous predicament.
‘Had he remained sheltered in Ying City, nestled amongst ordinary people, the Special Jurisdiction Bureau surely wouldn’t have dared such an audacious strike!’
“Oh, oh, alright, Boss!” The drivers of the two surviving vehicles only now roused from their stupor.
With a swift motion of their right hands, they yanked the gear levers, rapidly shifting into reverse, then stomped forcefully on the accelerators.
Tires shrieked against the pavement, emitting a persistent sizzling sound, and a pungent, acrid odor permeated the very air.
Pat-pat!
Sounds akin to wet slippers slapping against the ground reverberated from every direction.
A grotesque legion of mutated plants scaled the guardrails, forming an impenetrable blockade around the convoy, front, back, and sides.
They were utterly encircled!
Encircled by Huang Xiu alone!
The vehicles, their engines roaring at full throttle, began to retreat, clearly intending to carve a path through with their steel forms.
But it was already too late!
From the seaweed-like mutated thorns, tenacious tendrils, as thick as a man’s forearm, erupted and spread wildly, drilling into the undercarriages of the cars with the speed of a lightning strike.
All four tires became inextricably ensnared, rendering the vehicles utterly immobile.
Within the verdant plant-sea, mutated white wildflowers launched sharp, flower-shaped frisbees with a whistling sound, targeting the eight tires directly.
The plant-sea army, having already woven an inescapable net of encirclement, now unleashed their diverse powers, forcefully pinning the retreating convoy in place!
“Damn it!”
Realizing the ominous turn of events, Yan Huarong seized the nearby walkie-talkie and bellowed, “Old Ghost, clear the path, now!”
“Alright,” a deep male voice rumbled through the walkie-talkie, and instantly, the rear car door swung open.
A gaunt man with eyes like venom stepped out.
He wore a black T-shirt and denim jeans, his bare arms completely adorned with intricate dragon and tiger tattoos.
The mutated plants surged around him like an encroaching tide, attempting to overwhelm and neutralize this disruptive force.
“Plants? Ha! Who exactly are you trying to disrespect with such feeble things!”
Old Ghost spat a contemptuous glob of saliva onto the ground, and as he lifted his gaze, white light swirled menacingly in his eyes.
Within his pure black ability core, intricate patterns illuminated, one after another, in rapid succession.
*Whoosh!*
The dark asphalt road beneath his feet abruptly buckled and sank by a full inch.
His ability, [Heavy Burden], was activated!
This extraordinary power allowed him to imbue his own body with additional weight, all while his movements remained entirely unhindered.
At this pivotal moment, Old Ghost unleashed his full might, choosing to calibrate his additional weight to a staggering two tons.
This pushed him perilously close to his current maximum limit.
Simultaneously, it signified that from this instant onward, every punch and kick he delivered carried the crushing force of two tons.
He unleashed a ferocious, sweeping right hook, and a sound akin to a sonic boom instantly ripped through the air.
*Boom!*
The mutated plants converging from the side were utterly pulverized by that single blow, their shattered remnants raining down across the sky.
“Ah, battle!”
Old Ghost roared, tore his feet from the crater, and plunged directly into the heart of the plant-sea.
For him, combat was the most exhilarating and deeply satisfying experience imaginable.
Meanwhile, witnessing Old Ghost’s unstoppable rampage through the plant-sea, Yan Huarong finally felt a slight tremor of reassurance.
‘Thank heavens I foresaw this!’
Old Ghost was a special ability user he had procured through illicit channels, leveraging his ‘money ability’ (TL Note: A slang term referring to the power of wealth or financial influence) via the shadowy Black Tower network.
He commanded a considerable reputation within the black market, and it now appeared his reliability was indeed well-founded.
Yet, the very thought made his teeth clench with bitter frustration.
‘Damn it.’
Originally, beyond Old Ghost, he possessed another trusted special ability user, a confidant he had personally cultivated, who was meant to be in the front car, clearing their path.
But he had never anticipated the Jurisdiction Bureau’s ruthlessness, their immediate intent to kill.
That subordinate’s ability wasn’t a physical enhancement type; it was highly probable they were already dead.
****
Huang Xiu raised a hand to shade her eyes, gazing at the vehicle wreckage ahead, her gentle face alight with profound astonishment.
“Holy crap! That power is truly monstrous!”
Even she had been taken aback by the sheer might of that single Forest Tree Spear (a name she had just coined).
However, while formidable, its energetic cost was equally substantial.
That lone Forest Tree Spear attack had drained nearly ten percent of her internal Void Energy.
Furthermore, its deployment necessitated the prior mutation of a Tree Giant.
Consequently, its operational limitations remained quite significant.
Yet, she mused, as her strength inevitably blossomed, these constraints would, in time, dwindle into insignificance.
As she pondered, several connections within her mind abruptly severed, their numbers plummeting rapidly.
‘Someone is decimating the mutated plants!’
“Oh, they even have an accomplice.”
A faint white light flickered in the young woman’s eyes as she perceived the commotion behind the vehicles through her mutated plants.
She then discerned the gaunt man.
Yun Ning, drawn by the sounds of conflict not far off, cast his gaze towards the disturbance and immediately recognized the battleground.
Upon observing a close-quarters combat specialist, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of predatory excitement.
“I’ll handle him,” he declared, looking at Huang Xiu. After receiving her confirming nod, he offered a faint smile and surged forward.
Huang Xiu stretched languidly, extending her limbs. “It appears that ‘whoever’ is destined for me to deal with, then.”
It was almost comical; she had come all this way to obstruct their path, yet she hadn’t even bothered to ascertain her target’s name.
*Thud!
The mutated plants meticulously dragged the survivors from the vehicle wreckage, arranging them in a neat row along the roadside.
These individuals were invaluable witnesses; they absolutely could not perish here.
The young woman, it seemed, possessed an inherently kind heart after all.
She averted her gaze and commanded like an empress, “Go, drag that old man down for me!”
As a summoner, she would never foolishly engage in close combat; rather, kiting, tactical maneuvering, and overwhelming numbers were her preferred modes of operation.
The surrounding mutated plants and Sophora Tree Giants absorbed their directives, roaring as they surged into the fray.
Huang Xiu stood unmoving, like an unyielding reef amidst the ocean’s expanse.
She raised her slender hands high, allowing the mutated plants to burst forth from either side of her body.
And at that very moment, a plump, verdant figure suddenly plummeted from the sky, bouncing several times like a rubber ball before finally rolling to Huang Xiu’s feet.
The mutated cactus, identifying itself as Huang Xiaoxian, looked teary-eyed, its face brimming with longing. “Master, I’m back! I missed you so, so much!”
With that, it flopped down, clutching Huang Xiu’s thigh.
However, in its overwhelming excitement, it clearly failed to perceive its own thorny body.
It delivered a rather painful jab to Huang Xiu.
“Ow, ow, ow!” The acutely sensitive Huang Xiu yelped in pain, crying out like Tom Cat.
She had initially been filled with elation at the cactus’s revival, but now only profound annoyance remained.
“You charge too!” She grumpily punted the cactus away.
“Yes!” Huang Xiaoxian chuckled, transforming into a rapidly rolling wheel and bounding away like a ball.
Within the opulent Cullinan, Yan Huarong watched with eyes bulging from their sockets as the plant-sea army converged.
He had absolutely nowhere left to flee!
“Old Ghost, quick, come here!” he shrieked for assistance, but Old Ghost was already entangled in a fierce struggle with Yun Ning, utterly unable to respond!