Logan could only stare. It was like walking outside into your backyard and seeing your formerly pristine manicured lawn turn into alien mold. Bloody hell, it was as if Logan had walked into a scene from War of the Worlds! Worst yet, he’d had nightmares about this very same scenario. The other day, the System had interrupted a nightmare about green beans smothering him, covering him in a house full of the fuckers, crushing him underneath their weight while he gasped for breath.

Somehow, the green beans had escaped from the makeshift greenhouse, exploded onto the shore, and kept growing. And growing.

Logan inched forward, the plant flexing underneath his feet like a mini trampoline, the vines crackling under his weight. There was nowhere to step other than on the plant. It had spread all the way from Jack’s cabin to the edge of the neighbour’s property, and it was already climbing up the fence.

Something was making this thing explode, and the problem was that the bigger the plant grew, the more exponential the growth.

Logan scanned it with [Idiot’s Inspect]:

[Green bean plant. These beans multiply when harvested, fulfilling a self-growing, endless cycle. They will never run out, never die, and feed an army if properly harvested.]

Although it felt like an age since he’d last harvested these green beans, he remembered that pulling on a pod and picking it directly resulted in a multiplication of the pods, but you could stop the multiplying effect if you cut the stem underneath the knotted Karma regenerating knob.

Logan had made sure to show Jack and everyone how to do it before he’d left. So, either they’d gotten lazy and forgotten, or someone had deliberately sabotaged the plant. Once the green beans escaped the greenhouse, there would be no controlling them since any animal chowing away could make it into a monster all its own.

The rabid squirrels, the mutated deer. Fuck, even the snakes slithering through the vines could accidently dislodge a pod.

But now, Logan had a huge advantage that he didn’t have when he’d first grown the plant. With [Life Fabricator], he could figure out how to stop the plant in its tracks. And yet… he hated to do it before he had a chance to harvest the beans. This may be a ton of food, too much food for just Jack and Tasha’s group, but once he transported Brooke and Chase and the others, they could use it all. After all, he had fifty people to feed. Fifty people times three meals a day was a heck of a lot of food.

And yet Logan didn’t have time to go around harvesting thousands of green beans himself, so it would have to wait until the others arrived.

For now, he needed to figure out what the hell had happened here. He doubted Tasha and Jack would have let the plant get to this state if they were in control of the group. That meant that bad shit had gone down. And he knew who was at fault.

Matt.

Grinding his teeth, Logan made sure that his armour camouflage effect was still active and then made his way towards Jack’s property, his boots crackling and crushing the plant underneath his feet. The plant was so large that the thing emitted a smell that almost drowned out the wildfire smoke, a sharp, sugar odour that reminded him of times from his childhood.

Back then, Logan and Lara had sat outside the cabin, working their way through a bucket of green beans, dropping them into water, while their grandfather chucked corn. After they’d finished with the beans, Logan remembered taking the corn husks and crafting them into ropes, props for his willow tree toy army.

As the gleaming solar panels on the roof of Jack’s cabin reflected the glare of the orange sun, Logan inched closer and came to a stop on the beach.

Or what had been the beach.

Even here, the plant had spread, covering the sand in a layer of green.

And yet, something was different. Scattered throughout the green bean vines, there were black spots. They reminded him of mold or a plant that was fighting off root rot. As he made his way further down the beach and closer to the water, it only worsened. That sharp, sugary scent had turned off, like overripe fruit left in the sun. The smell was so strong that Logan was surprised that he wasn’t dealing with a swarm of fruit flies or bugs.

At the edge of the beach, the waves crested against what looked like…

Fuck.

It looked like mycelium. That same shit that had covered the resort, emitting toxic spores and transforming people into undead minions.

Fuck fuck fuck!

Ernie had mentioned that mushrooms were leaching up the shoreline, which meant that the queen serpent was doing her best to extend her influence and infect as many people and animals as she could. But if it had spread to the cabin, there was no way he could bring Lara and the kids here. Not to mention the others.

Clenching his fist, Logan kicked the nearest green beans, the plant cracking and exploding in a combination of sap and spores. He didn’t know if the spores were toxic, but either way, his armour stopped them from touching his skin. By now, he had no concerns that the same spores that he’d fought against at the resort would have any ill effects. Logan had advanced too much.

That wasn’t to say that anyone else wouldn’t have problems.

He wasn’t giving up. [Life Fabricator] should help him fix the green bean problem, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t use it for this shit as well. He’d barely scratched the surface of what he thought it was capable of. Hell, back in Pied’s Kingdom, he’d figured out a way to use the skill to age another person! A bunch of mushrooms should be child’s play.

Logan passed the beach and then made his way over to the dock, then stopped and blinked.

Boats.

Empty boats.

What had to be ten boats were tied to the dock, from small dinghies to sailboats. There wasn’t a space free. Others were tied to the edge of another boat, stacked side-by-side. It looked like Jack’s dock had transformed into a frigging harbour.

Logan peered from the cabin to the boats, narrowing his eyes. At the end of the dock next to the ladder that went into the water, someone had nailed a long, thin piece of plywood and attached a poster board to the top.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Logan jumped on the dock, his boots clacking against the hot wood as he made his way to the end of the dock so he could see the front of the poster board.

Just as he suspected.

A sign.

In big black letters, someone had written:

FOOD. GREEN BEANS.

HELP YOURSELF.

FOR MORE FOOD,

COME TO THE FRONT DOOR.

Logan’s stomach dropped to the floor in dread. During his encounter with the murderers next door, one of the men had proposed doing the exact same thing to lure in unsuspecting users. XP harvesters.

Jack would have never let this stand. He’d barely given his permission to help the people who Logan had saved at the resort. He never would have put up a sign that invited others.

So… that posed the question. If this were here and Jack never would have allowed it, where was Jack?

A sour taste in his mouth, Logan turned his attention towards the cabin. The thing was modern with huge, wide-open windows that overlooked the lake, but someone had closed the white blinds, blocking anyone’s view inside. Biting his lip, Logan deployed [Life Fabricator], searching for life. Any life.

The mass of green beans burst onto his senses like staring into the sun. So intense, so numerous that it was challenging to look past it. Although the aura had a complexity to it that pinged like an organic, living being, there was a coldness to it, a blip there and gone.

Not good.

Feeling a tension headache radiating behind his nose, Logan pushed past that aura and focused on the cabin. Although he was already expecting the worst, it was a gut punch when only one life force radiated from inside of it.

Only one.

Where the hell was everyone else?

***

Based on the written sign on the dock, Logan had to assume that was Matt inside of the cabin. No Tasha, no Jack. Either they’d fled, or the fucker had done something to them. A muscle on his jaw twitched as Logan made his way around the cabin. He no longer cared about being stealthy, his fists clenched and his mouth in a thin line. Logan had saved that pimply asshole, saved him from turning into a mushroom zombie, and this was the thanks he got?

He’d had suspicions about Matt, that he was slightly off and someone to watch; he’d even warned Tasha and Jack to watch him with their lives, but that was then, and this was now. After seeing the sign, guilt sloshed through his stomach.

The Logan who had left Matt behind had been a different person, a person who still had normal world Logan’s moral beliefs and restraints. That Logan would have never envisioned doing anything to Matt before leaving, since other than killing a kitten and being a squirrely little jerk, he hadn’t done anything to justify removing the threat.

But the Logan who was ranked second in the world was a changed man.

He shouldn’t have left him here.

He should have taken out the threat.

Logan passed the greenhouse on the side of the house, sighing as he saw the state of it. The green beans had overtaken the whole thing, crushing anything else, including the tomatoes. There were so many vines exploding out of the door that there was no room to inch your way inside.

Past the greenhouse was the front of the cabin, the side that faced the street.

Logan stopped.

And stared.

To someone without his high perception, they might have missed it, so excited about the prospect of food, their guard let down after taking their fill of green beans, that they may have not looked beyond the front door.

The little squirrely fucker had rigged the door into a weapon.

Behind the front door, there was a line of pine trees that cast a shadow on the entrance. Up above, Matt had managed to attach an axe to a line of tight metal wire, held in a position so that if the wire released, the axe would swing at the back of the person facing the doorbell. That little fucker.

If he looked even closer, he could see the remains of splattered blood on the ground that Matt had tried covering by spreading loose dirt and gravel.

So. He lured in users with a welcoming sign and the evidence of green beans. Let them pick as many green beans as they wanted, gaining their trust, lowering their guard so that it was easier to kill them when they approached the door. That wouldn’t work with a large group, so he must have leveled up enough to be a serious threat.

Logan wanted nothing more than to barrel through the door, bash it down and grab the little asshole, but he didn’t want to damage the cabin. Growling, Logan used his Pink Sock to jump up into the tree line and latch onto the axe. For good riddance, he tore through the wire line as well, ruining Matt’s trap.

As for the axe, he threw that into his spatial collar before stomping his way back to the door.

Lastly, he collapsed his face mask and helmet and faced the entrance with what he suspected was a wide, unhinged grin.

And knocked.

There was a sound from inside, as if someone were grabbing something or setting something down, before the door opened a crack, then fully.

“Welcome!” said Matt with a wide smile, peering behind Logan at the tree line with a furrow in his brow. “I see you saw the…”

“The sign?” said Logan, his teeth flashing. “You bet I did.”

Matt stared at Logan, blinking, before his face lost all color. “Oh shit.”

Logan didn’t give him a chance to react before he was grabbing him by the front of the shirt and dragging him inside, slamming the door as he went. Matt scrambled, his feet kicking the floor and his nails clawing at Logan’s gloves, but it was like Logan was dragging a ragdoll for all the effect it had.

The cabin was dim, the sun leaking through the blinds and illuminating small specks of dust dancing in the air. Jack and Eleanor had always been tidy, OCD-type homeowners, with everything in its place, messes cleaned up just as soon as they appeared. To see empty cans and rotting tomatoes on top of the dining room table, fruit flies and garbage off to one side, was jarring and unwelcome.

Logan powered through the dining room and into the living room, then threw Mat onto the couch so hard that it scraped against the hardwood floor.

Matt panted, gulping, bracing himself with his palms to get up. Logan slammed his hand onto his chest, making him wheeze. His face had broken out into even more of an acne mess, travelling all the way up his forehead. Unlike last time, his clothes were clean, his torn work shirt gone. In its place, he wore a long sleeved, expensive looking blazer. A blazer that Logan was sure he’d seen Jack wear.

It was all Logan could do to hold back his strength and restrain himself.

Logan scanned Matt with [Idiot’s Inspect]:

[Matt Almaton: Level 55. A human being.]

[Highest Stat: Dexterity. Characteristics: Skilled in hidden weapons. Hidden name: Ted.]

Level 55? This squirrely, knobbly kneed fucker had leveled up to level 55?! Shit, there was no way that he’d done it by fighting monsters, which meant that he’d lured in enough people to do serious damage. And what the hell was up with his hidden name?

“What did you do with Tasha and Jack? With the others? Did you kill them?”

Matt’s face was red, his mouth in a scowl. “What does it matter? You weren’t around!”

Logan’s gloves cracked, grains of sand pooling on the floor as he clenched his fists so hard that he split the knuckles. “You killed them, didn’t you?” he hissed.

Ever since he’d arrived, he’d had that worry, a festering worry that Matt had done the unthinkable. To be encountered with that reality felt unreal. As if he could enter the kitchen and find Tasha and Jack milling in front of the microwave, heating up a bowl of popcorn. There had been too much death since the System Integration, too many people who he hadn’t managed to save. Logan felt a hollowness in his gut, acid in his throat surging.

He had been too late. Too late to save them.

“So you did,” said Logan. “You killed them. You selfish, immature psychopath. Jack allowed you into his home, he fed you and helped you, and this is how you repaid him?”

Matt tried to get up again, his eyes on fire, and Logan slammed his fist into his chest so hard that a crack echoed through the air.

Gasping, Matt struggled to breathe, his lips bloodless. “J-just how s-strong are you?”

Matt’s gaze became faraway as he deployed [Identify]. Then with a wheezing cough, his eyes widened. “Level 161!? Holy shit!” He let out a bark of laughter as he clutched his chest. “You’re user ‘Idiot’! Holy crap, that’s fire, bro! Fire! You’re infamous!”

Logan was still thinking of Tasha and Jack, thinking about how Eleanor would be so disappointed. He’d failed Eleanor, and now he’d failed her son. Sighing, he scrubbed a hand through his hair. Why extend the inevitable? “Any last words?”

Matt’s eyes bulged. “What?” He tried to scramble away, scooting his butt down the couch, his feet scrabbling against the floor. “You can’t kill me! You’ll never find them without me!”

Logan paused. “What.”

“Your precious Jack. That asshole.” He spat. “And that freaky, off her meds girl, Tasha. You want to find them or don’t you?”