Chapter 158 – Becoming Fertilizer!
“Kachikachi…”
Before the iron fence, the Bald Youth, hunched over, held a pair of wire cutters. As he pried open the door, he introduced the plan to Su Jiu and the other three:
“Miss Lucica, you two will be responsible for preventing strange undead monsters, while we will explore.”
“You should all know Laura’s identity from the car – she’s a half-human with the identity of a superior Blood Clan. We’ll find the auxiliary utility room that collects the Initial Embrace of Life according to the map. Then, we’ll have Laura use her bloodline senses to find it.”
“After finding it, we’ll rely on Miss Su Jiu to unravel the surrounding Blood Clan formations, and then retrieve the Initial Embrace from the alchemical artifact. This shouldn’t be a problem for Miss Su Jiu, right?”
“No problem.”
Su Jiu nodded in agreement. Although she didn’t understand anything about Blood Clan alchemical artifacts, that didn’t stop her from nodding.
She didn’t believe these people were pinning all their hopes on her. Moreover… an auxiliary utility room, didn’t that sound like a janitor’s closet in a laboratory?
With a “click,” the door was opened.
Su Jiu watched them pry open the door like idiots and followed them inside.
As soon as they entered, a strange sweet floral scent mixed with a hint of dampness assailed Su Jiu’s nostrils. Her body then experienced a slight rejection reaction, causing her to become secretly vigilant.
What was going on?
The life force brought by her Ice Chih Bloodline was repelling this scent. She knew that although she was of the Blood Clan, the presence of two other bloodlines in her main body didn’t mean they had disappeared, but rather that they were still operating slowly.
It was just a matter of dominant and recessive traits.
At this moment, E Huo on Su Jiu’s wrist began to wriggle slightly, emitting a snowy white energy aura – her energy shield.
“Mama, it smells so bad, this stuff is like poop.”
While Su Jiu was slightly surprised, E Huo’s voice also echoed in her mind. Gone was its usual lazy tone, replaced by a hint of seriousness.
Pulling Yun Xi, who was running around aimlessly, and tightly gripping her wrist, Su Jiu said in a low voice, “Something’s wrong. This place doesn’t feel as simple as some old house. We need to be careful.”
Yun Xi stopped, as if re-evaluating Su Jiu, then nodded heavily and obediently followed behind Su Jiu.
After walking only a few steps, a dilapidated fountain sat directly in front of everyone. Several peculiar, wine-barrel-sized, purplish vines spread from the center of the fountain to the surrounding buildings. The floor was cracked open by the weight, revealing patches of soil, which was awe-inspiring.
“Is that what was emitting that smell before?”
Su Jiu’s gaze moved from the center of the fountain along the vines to the roof. She saw small purple flowers on the roof rhythmically breathing. Yellowish dust particles on the pistils fell down with the wind, scattering onto everyone’s faces.
Immediately, her expression darkened. She added a layer of crimson energy shield to herself and Yun Xi, then spoke, “There’s pollen from these vines in the air. Be careful, it might be poisonous.”
“Poisonous?”
The others were stunned by her words. Laura’s eyes flickered with a hidden sharp glint, but she quickly smiled and explained, “It’s been neglected for a long time, so it’s normal for some strange plants to grow.”
“Heh heh, what poison could our old house have? This smell is actually quite sweet, it’s a bit like the smell of nectar from my hometown.”
The brawny John glanced at Su Jiu, a hint of disbelief in his expression. He chuckled and took a deep breath as if smelling a delicacy, a look of intoxication on his face.
But it was clear that the others weren’t fools. Laura was the first to raise an energy shield to protect herself, and the other two also summoned their energy shields.
The Old Priest squinted his old eyes, glanced at John, who seemed unaffected, and waved his hand, saying, “This lowly one doesn’t need it. These things probably aren’t effective against War General Level.”
Following Su Jiu’s gaze towards the roof, the Bald Youth frowned, as if he had thought of something. He looked towards Laura, but seeing her shake her head slightly, he didn’t mention it again.
Laura smiled and changed the topic, “We need to pass through the garden of this outer gate to reach the main hall of the family in the central area. Only when we get there and restart all the power switches can we activate the door to that utility room. Otherwise, even a War General can’t break through that material.”
This entire scene was observed by Su Jiu. Her eyes became slightly deeper. These people from the Lobey Family didn’t seem honest at all!
They were hiding quite a few things.
But Su Jiu didn’t speak up. She wouldn’t turn hostile over a minor issue like this.
Su Jiu and the other five followed the map’s guidance. Along the way, there were occasional low-grade undead, which Lucica casually swatted away with a wave of her hand. They were white cloth monsters, the same white specters Su Jiu had seen before.
“Hold my hand, don’t let go.”
Seeing Yun Xi following behind her, carrying her backpack, her large rose-red eyes blinked at Su Jiu with an obedient look, which made Su Jiu feel a pang of affection. She whispered her instructions.
She observed for any strange anomalies along the way but found everything to be too normal. Everything was happening too normally, even exceeding her expectations—but it was precisely this normality that made it eerie!
She was 100% sure that other people had been here before her, but now those people… had vanished!!
At this moment, a soft touch pressed against her arm. Su Jiu stiffened slightly. She mechanically turned her head to look at her arm, only to find it being held tightly by Yun Xi, even tighter than yesterday.
Hiss~ At such a young age, raising a little white rabbit, how terrifying would she be when she grew up?
Yun Xi, of course, was unaware of Su Jiu’s internal monologue. Leaning her arm against Su Jiu’s like a couple, she softly exhaled, “Sister Jiu, let’s hurry. I’m afraid of encountering danger.”
Seeing this, Su Jiu inwardly grumbled. This little fairy was here to torment this humble monk!
Soon, they reached a dilapidated garden filled with all sorts of oddly shaped flowers in full bloom. The only common characteristic was their exceptionally vibrant appearance.
The vines also followed them like ivy, and as they ventured deeper, the purple flowers on the vines became even denser.
Looking at the blooming flowers in the surrounding garden, Su Jiu’s brows furrowed. She felt a sense of eeriness but couldn’t pinpoint what was strange. She muttered to herself, “What’s wrong?”
“Sister Jiu, do you know? I used to be in charge of growing flowers at the orphanage. We had camellias there.”
Hearing this, Yun Xi leaned her shoulder against Su Jiu’s, her scarlet eyes scanning the flowers. She suddenly asked, her voice soft,
“Mmm, but those flower buds never seemed to open… but everyone at the orphanage didn’t have money to buy fertilizer. We came up with a solution—we really made the camellias bloom!”
Su Jiu turned around, thinking Yun Xi was reminiscing due to seeing the garden. She playfully flicked Yun Xi’s nose and asked with a smile, “Did you secretly save up money to buy fertilizer? After all, little Yun Xi is so obedient.”
However, what Yun Xi said next caused Su Jiu to have an epiphany, her hair standing on end from the chill.
Yun Xi blinked her ruby-like eyes, looked at the giant vine, and pouted her lips, saying:
“No! I spent all my money on snacks. Actually… we used the corpses of some dead monsters as fertilizer.”
