Chapter 87: Dangerous Expansion Beyond the North Wall
Today’s objective was to purge that suspected B-rank mutant.
The Red Flag Society squad had discovered it yesterday.
After a grueling, day-long battle, it proved exceptionally troublesome.
Two of their members were gravely wounded during the retreat. Upon returning, they immediately reported the situation to high command that very night.
Based on the debrief from Heixi’s squad, the administration classified the mutant as B-rank.
The Commander requested both squads cooperate to neutralize the B-rank threat, with the bounty split down the middle.
The missive brought by the city guard instructed them to muster at the North Wall gate at 9:30 AM before departure, where designated rations had been prepared for them.
The provisions were divided into two bundles, handed separately by the guard to Zhou Xue and Heixi.
Zhou Xue unknotted hers to look inside.
…Roasted sweet potatoes and boiled corn?
Portioned out strictly according to head count, too.
One of each per operative.
Tucked into the bundle was a slip of paper detailing the exact buffs granted by both foods.
At the very bottom ran a final line:
[These supplies were procured from the Chinese Restaurant outside the West Wall. You are welcome to visit at your leisure once the mission concludes.]
The authorities knew about the Chinese Restaurant?
On Zhou Xue’s side, the squad members traded swift glances.
The Red Flag Society, on the other hand, was far less composed.
“…Food?”
“The Chinese Restaurant?”
“Purges toxins… and restores stamina?!”
“How can something like this even exist?”
Even through their cloth masks, the sheer astonishment gripping the Red Flag Awakeners was impossible to hide.
Amidst the shock, Heixi caught the unnatural calm on Dark Star’s side and threw them a couple of puzzled, probing glances.
Luo Xianghuai whispered, “Captain, shouldn’t we put on a bit of an act?”
“Otherwise it looks like we knew all along,” Turner murmured.
Before Zhou Xue could open her mouth, Hall bellowed, “WHOA!!!! What is THIS?! This is utterly shocking! A roasted… po—sweet! po! ta! to! that purges toxins!”
As he blustered, he snatched one from the bundle and hoisted it high overhead, roaring, “It smells so incredible! I want to devour it this very second!”
Shelley: “…”
She hissed under her breath, “Dial it back, you’re laying it on way too thick.”
Hall wasn’t done milking his performance yet. Taking a loud, exaggerated sniff of the sweet potato, he began again, “Holy crap! This—burrrp.”
Under the bewildered stares of the Red Flag Awakeners, Hall let out a thunderous, contented belch.
Well… after getting their takeout from the Chinese Restaurant earlier, they had found a secluded, safe spot along the way and polished off the whole feast together.
They were still stuffed to the gills.
Hall clamped a hand over his mouth immediately. “Haha… this roasted sweet potato is truly a miracle! It’s so amazing that just a single whiff leaves you completely full!”
The Red Flag Society crew: “?”
Do we look like idiots to you?
Heixi’s gaze turned probing. “Captain Zhou, were you already aware of this Chinese Restaurant?”
“Not for terribly long.”
“This restaurant sells edible provisions that grant miraculous effects?” Heixi was sharp; he had deduced that much simply from the rations the Commander had provided.
Zhou Xue gave a single nod.
Now that the authorities knew of its existence, there was no longer any need to keep secrets.
“The establishment sells food, and also purchases energy crystals and raw produce. You will understand once you visit.”
“Is it state-run?”
“No.”
“…How is it accomplished?”
“No idea.” Zhou Xue gave an indifferent shrug.
Every word of it was the plain truth.
“…Understood. Thank you.”
Suppressing his shock, Heixi distributed the rations among his squad mates.
How many years had it been since the cataclysm? For such an establishment to suddenly appear…
And to offer such miraculous food.
Run by an outsider, no less.
Just what kind of powerhouse was backing this diner?
“President Xi, what are the specifics on this B-rank mutant?” Zhou Xue asked.
Right now, the purge took absolute priority.
Heixi’s expression hardened. “It sprouted from urban ruins. The core organism appears to be a banyan tree fused with Virginia creeper vines. Its expansion rate is alarmingly fast.”
Though both Zhou Xue’s and Heixi’s squads operated beyond the North Wall, their operational vectors differed.
Zhou Xue’s team pushed northwest toward the city fringes abutting the foothills. The terrain was a chaotic mix of mutated flora and fauna, frequently yielding hybrid abominations of the two.
Heixi’s squad drove deep into the northeast, navigating dense pre-cataclysm city ruins dominated by predatory plant life.
Ordinary scavengers only foraged for salvageable relics within the ruins inside the buffer perimeter; their job was to exterminate threats festering in the city depths.
This particular B-rank entity had been detected near a municipal park flanking the eastern edge of the ruins.
The squad had been pursuing an E-rank mutant moth toward a massive, towering wall of vegetation.
Before they could strike, tendrils erupted from the green foliage, throttling the moth and dragging it into the verdant wall to be swallowed whole.
To their horror, the squad realized that was no overgrown wall—it was a collapsed highway overpass.
Densely clustered Virginia creeper vines blanketed the entire structure, baring lethal fangs the instant they were disturbed.
Rumble—
Every patch of green across the area sprang violently to life: along the overpass, up the facades of neighboring towers, and beneath the very ground beneath their boots.
That wasn’t corrupted soil stained emerald; it was all part of a single predatory organism.
Banyan branches intertwined within the creeping vines, crushing an E-rank mutant with effortless ease.
When fully awakened, the canopy blotted out the sky like an inescapable emerald web.
Heixi’s team was caught entirely off guard, having stepped straight into its kill zone.
They ordered a retreat on the spot.
Relying on their squad’s defensive barrier, flame generation, and haste abilities, they barely managed to break free from the B-rank creature’s reach.
The two operatives who stayed behind to cover the rear were critically mauled in the process.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
Only after breaking out of its hunting ground did the squad realize the creeper’s runners had already slithered into the urban center of the ruins, its leafy tentacles beginning to scale the crumbling facades of derelict shopping malls.
The distance separating it from the outer boundary of the human safe zone was down to less than half a district.
The mutant had been expanding silently the entire time.
“That troublesome?”
En route to the ruins, having listened to the debrief of yesterday’s skirmish, Luo Xianghuai furrowed his brow.
“Yes. It’s extremely resilient, but we cannot allow this plant to spread any further,” Heixi stated grimly.
Zhou Xue nodded. “It has already grown to B-rank; further evolution is merely a matter of time. If it truly spills into the safe zone or encroaches upon the base of the wall, the fallout will be catastrophic.”
“Precisely. When I reported in yesterday, the Commander offered a squad of city guards to reinforce us. But the creature’s vines are dense and tough; once snared, ordinary humans have almost no chance of escaping,” Heixi explained. “After weighing the risks, I declined. We have greater power, and with it comes greater responsibility.”
When the Red Flag Society was first founded, its rallying cry was Hope Endures, the Embers Never Die.
The printed newsletter had ceased publication long ago, yet their tradition of distributing emergency monthly rations to struggling citizens had persisted uninterrupted.
After so many bleak years, even with its original founder long dead, the successor leading the Red Flag Society still carried an idealism that outsiders found faintly laughable.
Along with a heavy sense of duty that felt starkly out of place in this ruthless wasteland.
Zhou Xue found no fault with Heixi’s stance, answering in clear, measured terms: “Then getting bogged down in attrition is out of the question. We must pinpoint the creature’s core as swiftly as possible and extract its nucleus. That is our safest play.”
Having run countless purges, they had honed their field doctrine down to a science.
“My thoughts exactly.”
“During yesterday’s clash, did you manage to spot the core?”
“No, only deductions. If the primary host was originally the banyan tree, it’s most likely anchored in the Great Banyan Park to the east. If the creeper was the primary host, locating the core will be considerably trickier.”
“Then we prepare two distinct plans. Let’s run through everyone’s abilities first and draft our tactics.”
Zhou Xue’s instructions were crisp and decisive.
The Chinese Restaurant.
Inside the kitchen, Chef Ling’s arm was a blur as she swung the wok spatula, throwing off afterimages.
Di San Xian—plated!
Two orders of Di San Xian—plated!
Garlic Broccoli—plated!
Now slice two orders of braised master-stock platters!
Sliced, boxed, and sealed for takeout.
Ling Jing gave a brisk tap to Caicai’s chassis as the robot scrubbed away in the sink. “Order up!”
“Understood, Boss!”
Caicai rinsed its mechanical arms and hoisted the trays.
“Any new tickets?”
“All clear, Boss!”
Clang— Clang— Clang…
Distant bell chimes drifted over from the city walls.
Chef Ling wiped the sweat from her brow and slipped off her clear splash visor.
This grueling, productive day was officially over!
