How to Feed an Abyss!

Chapter 43.1 – Farewell to Gleaning City

The entire command center screen was red, and the infection value soared to an incredible level. It was too late to give a warning, the monster wave had already approached the city!

It was a large swath of blooming flowers.

They were all bizarre and possessed the most colorful hues in the world, spreading out like a painter’s brush splashing colors on the wasteland. Obviously, it was night, but it was still eye-catching to the extreme.

A series of shots by the laser weapons on the city wall pierced the petals and vines, but they were endless, and they rushed up like a wave in an instant. Gleaning City was like a lonely and powerless boat, floating in the colorful waves.

In just 10 minutes, the petals reached the bottom of the city wall and began to climb. The flamethrowers arranged on the wall could not burn them at all. Instead, they were swept up by the vines and got completely destroyed. There was a fierce stalemate, followed by mortars, kinetic machine guns, and searchlights, all of which were completely destroyed by the plants.

After that—

The colors burst out, crossed the high wall, and poured into the city!

The line of defense of Gleaning City fell.

Lu Tinghan’s hunch was not wrong, the “prelude” was over, and the “main chorus” was coming. This was the horror of peak infection: the deadliest outbreaks come suddenly and with such fury that there is no room for reaction. Even if the city wall was strong and unbreakable, it was just paper in front of it.

This is why the Alliance at its peak gradually fell, and cities were swallowed up by the wilderness.

There were still more than a thousand people in the eastern district who hadn’t been evacuated. The sound of gunfire and screams was incessant, and the exploding flames soared into the sky, like a hellish scene. Infected flowers bloomed in every place, from the streets to the roofs, from the underground waterways to the bell towers, they grew too fast, the vegetation covered the steel structure, and it became a carnival of plants.

Everyone ran around, only Shi Yuan rushed toward the Eastern District.

His goal was the Grand Theater.

The road was long, he was panting for breath, and there was a sweet and sour smell in his throat.

If he turned into black mist, his speed could be much faster, but Lu Tinghan taught him a lot, including how the army locates monsters based on the pollution index. His pollution value was too high. If his true body appeared, it would only disrupt the war situation and cause the army to lose all effective positioning. This would undoubtedly be fatal; he did not dare to touch monsters in the form of black mist, which would kill them in an instant, and turn them into kin again, giving them strength and eternal time.

He could only run.

Exerting his not-so-good physical ability, he tried to run forward.

By the time Shi Yuan entered the Eastern District, the people had already dispersed, and every few intersections were troops fighting in the corner – fortunately, Lu Tinghan had already asked them to strengthen the stationed defense points, condensing the surface defense forces of the city wall at the point defense, providing people with valuable shelter.

Shi Yuan didn’t meet anyone else along the way, but saw a few bones in the blooming flowers.

The lights of the theater were not far away. Shi Yuan leaned against the wall and took a few breaths. As soon as he was about to continue his steps, he heard a cry: “Help! Help!”

The voice came from the alley, Shi Yuan turned his head abruptly and rushed over.

Vines crawled on the alley walls, quickly approaching the depths. Shi Yuan ran faster than them and found a dirty girl at the far end of the alley.

The girl was about seven or eight years old, trembling, and her white skirt was full of mud and blood. The infected flower was approaching, and she would die in a few minutes. When she saw Shi Yuan, her eyes widened, and she stumbled into his arms: “Help me! Wuhuhu help me!”

She found a life-saving straw, her body was limp, but her slender fingers scratched Shi Yuan’s wrist quite painfully.

In the next second, they were shrouded in a shadow. Shi Yuan hugged her and looked back: a huge human figure stood in the darkness, five or six stories high.

The human form was composed of tree roots. It had no facial features. The place where it was supposed to be the eyes was sunken deep, a dark mass. It lowered its head to judge the two of them. The roots of the tree gushed out from its feet, covering the entire alley, twisting like a mad snake.

The roots of the tree were very close to them.

But at Shi Yuan’s feet, the roots of the tree twisted and hesitated, not daring to move forward for half a minute.

Shi Yuan knew what it was afraid of; it was afraid that Abyss No.0 would cover its own infection characteristics.

It was afraid of death, just like any creature.

And there was fanaticism in this fear. In the depths of its soul, it longed for the favor of Abyss No.0, even if the price was death.

The girl was so frightened that she lost her words, she closed her eyes tightly and almost knelt on the ground.

Shi Yuan took her, looked at the tree root humanoid, and said as viciously as possible: “Don’t come over, I’m very fierce!”

—If Cheng Youwen were here, he would definitely cover his face in misery, saying why are you being delicate again, this can’t even scare a mouse away.

And this weak and delicate threat made the humanoid tree root shrink, the roots of the tree retreated several meters, and it didn’t dare to twist around, like a child who had been scolded for a moment.

It did not leave.

It was respectful and fearful of Shi Yuan, tentative, groping, it wanted to escape but also wanted to religiously embrace Shi Yuan to gain ascension.

It was so contradictory and tangled that even the leaves on the roots of the tree were spinning.

Shi Yuan only wanted to scare it away.

He didn’t know what to say to show his aggressiveness, he thought for a few seconds, and raised his tail high!

The black scales of his tail exploded, and he shook his tail quickly, making a metal rubbing sound.

—Like canines showing their teeth, felines blowing hair, raccoons standing up and raising their hands… Creatures have their own set of threatening ways, and Shi Yuan chose to become… Rattle-Tailed Abyss!

Rattle-Tailed Abyss’s tail wagged frantically in a warning.

The huge humanoid paused for several seconds, then fled, and finally gave up the dream of ascending.

Shi Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and calmed down.

He was a little fortunate. Although he couldn’t be the savior of the world, he could still save the person in front of him by using tricks and betting on some luck. In this world, at least he still had that little something to hold on to.

He just didn’t know how many times this luck could last. After all, he must never infect monsters again.

The girl in his arms trembled uncontrollably, completely unaware of what had happened.

Shi Yuan said, “Come with me.”

He took the staggering girl by the hand and walked up the street. The army in the distance was approaching, large flames ignited the flowers, and the vines twisted at the roots.

Shi Yuan squatted down and looked at the girl and said, “You go to them, understand?”

The girl’s eyes were dull, as if she didn’t understand.

Shi Yuan pointed in the direction of the soldiers: “Go to those brothers and sisters, they will protect you.”

The girl still clung to him tightly and asked, “…then, what about you?”

“I have other places to go, I can’t be taken away by them.” Shi Yuan recalled Lu Tinghan’s movements and touched the girl’s head. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on you and watch you meet them.”

The girl hesitated for a few seconds and slowly let go. They were less than 50 meters away from the military, but the night was dark and they were not seen in the alley. The girl took a few steps back and stood on the street. A soldier immediately noticed her: “At 2 o’clock, there’s a survivor!”

Suddenly, the soldiers accelerated their steps, and the man leading the team stepped forward to pick up the little girl and asked eagerly, “Is there anyone else? Is there anyone else!”

The girl turned her head.

But the alley was empty, and the figure of Shi Yuan had long disappeared.