“Yes.”

Upon hearing the affirmative response, the possibility that had crossed her mind made Nan Muran’s body tremble uncontrollably.

Four people had lost contact in Cuishan a month ago. Did that mean the four people she failed to catch back then were exactly Si Ye and the others?

“Girl, what’s wrong?” Chen Jianguo was startled by Nan Muran’s appearance.

“I… it’s nothing,” Nan Muran felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave from a thousand years ago.

She knew that if Si Ye and the others were the ones who disappeared at that time, they were likely already taken to Dr. Jin’s underground laboratory.

The thought of the pain and despair they might be enduring there made Nan Muran’s heart ache terribly.

There was no time to think further. Nan Muran immediately looked at Jia Wu nearby. “Brother Wu, let’s go straight to Cuishan.”

“Ranran.”

Nan Muran turned to Guo Fei. “Brother Fei, please apologize to Sister Jiajia for me. I’m skipping dinner. I need to head to Cuishan as soon as possible.”

“What happened?” Guo Fei, increasingly worried about Nan Muran’s abnormal behavior, hurriedly grabbed her.

“I need to find someone. Brother Fei, can you wait until I come back to explain everything?” Her voice was anxious, unwilling to waste even a second.

This was the first time Guo Fei had seen Nan Muran so uncharacteristically agitated since dealing with the Nan family. “Be careful.”

“Mm.”

As they passed by, Chen Jianguo, usually calm, felt his brows twitch when the gray predator flashed in front of them.

Where did that Si Ye kid find such an online romance partner?

Seeing Nan Muran in a hurry, Jia Wu drove fast along the way.

The speeding sound startled many zombies wandering along the road, and every time they passed a spot, a small wave of zombies gathered. But because the car was going fast, it didn’t cause too much trouble.

Once they arrived at Cuishan, Nan Muran first went to the riverbank where she had previously tracked them while riding a bike. She then began to search along the river downstream.

Throughout the process, she kept asking Xiao Liu to help question the small grass and trees along the banks, and finally, near the waterfall downstream, they found some signs of them.

“They were taken away, heading toward the big tree and small tree direction.” Hearing Xiao Liu’s response, Nan Muran couldn’t help but frown.

This was a dense forest deep inside Cuishan, rarely visited by people. Everywhere she looked, there were plants. But with the confusion of small grass, shrubs, vines, and trees, they all judged the situation based on their own observations. Each answer was partly right, but not entirely correct.

Nan Muran pondered for a while and finally concluded that it was likely a tree of medium height.

Well, looking around, that was even more common.

Reluctantly, the two of them could only try to continue deeper into the forest until they reached a place where the trees were so dense that it felt like the sky was blocked out.

“Ranran, something feels off here.” Jia Wu, during his mercenary days, had been on multiple missions in tropical rainforests.

He had a keen sense of the dangers in the jungle.

Nan Muran, of course, understood. She began to release her psychic power and plant-based abilities, trying to sense any incoming danger.

Unfortunately, as a Level 2 psychic in the early stages, her sensing range was currently less than one hundred meters. Within this range, she could clearly see everything happening around her, but she was powerless against threats outside this distance.

Her Level 2 early-stage plant ability was even worse—unable to communicate with plants, and only able to control the smallest plants to launch an attack.

To enhance her attack, she could only form a contract with stronger mutated plants. But not all mutated plants were as obedient as Xiao Liu, and there were many cases of being backfired upon.

The reason Nan Muran was able to use plants to attack zombies was because of Xiao Liu’s help.

Suddenly, vines that resembled snakes appeared around them, rapidly approaching from all directions.

Nan Muran initially wanted to use her abilities, with Xiao Liu’s help, to attack the vines, but she suddenly realized her abilities had disappeared, as if they had vanished completely.

“Ranran, be careful.” Jia Wu saw that Nan Muran was motionless and urgently warned her.

After coming to her senses, Nan Muran immediately ran toward a large tree ahead and, using the tree’s momentum, performed a somersault and landed directly on the back half of the vine.

Her dagger stabbed down without hesitation. After being attacked, the vine didn’t fight back, but instead retracted at a speed faster than before.

Then, the surroundings quickly returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

They exchanged a glance, quickly regrouped, and remained on high alert, no longer daring to be careless.

In the jungle, once attacked by mutated plants, one could be injured at best, or killed at worst. Moreover, it was uncertain whether it would attract other dangers.

“Xiao Liu, do you think it was that vine?” Nan Muran, recalling the attack method of the vine earlier and her inexplicable disappearance of abilities, asked Xiao Liu with some uncertainty.

Xiao Liu, on her wrist, slightly shook its head, unsure.

But it was certain that the vine that attacked them earlier fled because it sensed its presence. That vine was at most Level 3, and was no match for Xiao Liu.

Nan Muran didn’t think that plants capable of making abilities disappear were common. After all, in her previous life, she had only seen it once in the underground laboratory.

So, this vine was very likely the same one from the underground laboratory in her last life.

“Xiao Liu, find it.”

Following Xiao Liu’s guidance, Nan Muran and Jia Wu headed east, walking less than a hundred meters.

Above them was a giant ancient tree that had already withered, large enough to be embraced by four people. The area beneath the tree was dense with branches and vines, with flowers and plants everywhere.

“This is it.” Nan Muran signaled Jia Wu to stay alert.

She began to search through the surrounding plants when suddenly a small vine caught her eye.

Although it was much smaller than the vine that attacked them earlier, Nan Muran, as a plant-based ability user, was sure she wouldn’t be mistaken.

She verified her guess by directly using her plant abilities to absorb the vine’s life force.

The white threads barely touched the vine when, almost instantly, the vine began to grow wildly, extending over ten meters and continuously expanding. This forced both Nan Muran and Jia Wu to retreat.

Looking at the vine before them, which now resembled a towering tree, Nan Muran was ready to attack at any moment but was stopped by Xiao Liu on her wrist.

The faintly glowing green Xiao Liu rapidly extended from Nan Muran’s wrist, winding around the vine, circling it twice until reaching the top.

“This is a real eye-opener.” Jia Wu couldn’t help but sigh. Since meeting Nan Muran, he had witnessed so many unbelievable things.

Nan Muran was helpless. Could she say that this situation was also a first for her in both her lives?

Looking up at Xiao Liu and the vine, it seemed like… a romantic moment? Or maybe… a cuddle? It was all very strange.