"It’s fine. He’s a lost one. Even if he hears, he’ll automatically ignore it."
“He fell.” Qing Ling interjected.
Wu Dahai turned around, and sure enough, Old Zhang had collapsed on the ground.
“Old Zhang?” Wu Dahai quickly approached. “Are you alright?”
The night wind swept across as Gao Yang gazed at the fallen Old Zhang. A sense of unease crept over him. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason, but it was as if his heightened perception had triggered an instinctual warning.
“Wait! Don’t go near!” Gao Yang shouted, stopping Wu Dahai.
Wu Dahai, barely three meters away from Old Zhang, halted. “What’s wrong?”
In the next moment, everyone except Wu Dahai saw it—Old Zhang stood up!
But not in the normal way. His stiff body defied gravity, abruptly straightening as if an invisible force had pulled him upright.
Qing Ling unsheathed her long blade. Officer Huang swiftly drew his pistol.
Gao Yang, knowing his own limitations, immediately retreated. He was fully aware of how useless he currently was. The best he could do was not to drag the team down.
Seeing the group’s reaction, Wu Dahai sensed something was wrong. He spun around, only to see Old Zhang’s head lolling to one side, his limbs rigid and taut like a broken "chopstick." His mouth twitched rapidly, foaming at the lips as he muttered incoherently, “Human…human…human, human, human…”
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Suddenly, Old Zhang’s skin appeared to burn under an invisible fire, melting and evaporating into a bloody mist, exposing the raw, glistening muscle beneath. His body convulsed violently, as blotches of blood exploded from within.
Old Zhang’s agonized muttering escalated into a maniacal wail: “Human! Human! Human!” His chest swelled grotesquely, ribs tearing through flesh, spreading apart like the gaping maw of a monstrous carnivorous flower. From within his chest sprouted a hideous fleshy tumor, covered with grotesquely formed human facial features.
If one were forced to describe it, it was as though countless eyes, mouths, ears, and noses had been grotesquely wrapped in plastic and thrown into a furnace, melting together into one monstrous mass.
The tumor unfurled slowly, like the blooming of a flower.
Old Zhang’s upper body transformed into the twisted branches and vines encasing the "flower bud," while his lower body dissolved and sank into the ground, as though corroding into the earth itself.
In less than half a minute, Old Zhang had morphed from a man into a grotesque, blood-soaked "man-eating flower."
“What kind of beast is this?” Qing Ling furrowed her brows.
“I don’t know,” Officer Huang’s voice dropped.
“Kill or flee?” Qing Ling asked.
“Run. It doesn’t seem capable of pursuit, and it’s lost its intelligence…” Before Officer Huang could finish his sentence, Old Zhang’s intestines had already transformed into several blood-drenched tendrils, one of which shot towards Wu Dahai.
Startled, Wu Dahai turned and fled.
*Splat.*
The tendril coiled around his ankle and yanked him to the ground with force.
“Don’t touch me! Get away, get away!” Wu Dahai writhed in panic, desperately grabbing at anything within reach, but it was all in vain.
Just as he was about to be dragged to Old Zhang, becoming its prey—
*Bang!*
A gunshot rang out, severing the tendril wrapped around Wu Dahai’s ankle.
The tendril spewed a mist of blood and quickly retracted. The severed part loosened its grip and slithered back like a snake, disappearing into Old Zhang’s body and merging with it once again.
In no time, the severed tendril began regenerating.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—*
This time, three tendrils shot out, all aimed at Wu Dahai.