Nan Muran nodded. “They said that all the survivors from the residential area went into the mountains to search for people.”

The mountain in front of them didn’t look like a good place. As a plant-based ability user, Nan Muran usually had an innate affinity with forests, but this mountain was so eerie that she couldn’t help but feel the urge to retreat.

The eagle looked at the mountain, which in his memory had only been a few hundred meters high, and now seemed unfamiliar.

The plants on the mountain were clearly denser and healthier than he remembered, and the large flock of birds that used to be there was nowhere to be seen. The entire mountain emanated an inexplicable aura of danger.

Normally, if they encountered such a situation, Nan Muran would have no hesitation in ordering everyone to retreat.

But now, with the eagle’s family members’ lives unknown, they had to hurry into the mountain to search for them. It had already been a day and a night. If they delayed any longer, they feared it would be too late.

“Stop standing around, let’s get up the mountain quickly,” Nan Muran said. She shared the same concern as Si Ye, and the mountain definitely had an ominous feel to it.

The eagle understood everyone’s concerns but was still grateful for their quick decision. He nodded and immediately took the lead.

The path that had once been paved with steps was now completely covered by dense vegetation.

Fortunately, the eagle had grown up at the foot of this mountain and had run up and down countless times. He could still accurately determine the path.

“Why are there no traces of anyone having walked this mountain road?” Jia Wu furrowed his brows as he looked at the completely overgrown path, with no sign of human activity.

“The only path up the mountain from the machine factory’s residential area is this one. The other path is on the other side of the mountain. They wouldn’t have gone that way,” the eagle, leading the way, agreed, sensing the oddity.

“I’ll let Xiaoliu and the others check.” After entering the forest, Nan Muran, being a plant-based ability user, could sense a multitude of forces and auras. Xiaoliu and the Treeman, two high-level mutated plants, had even greater energy.

A green willow branch and a brown tree branch quickly shot out from her left wrist and then merged into the forest.

Nan Muran and her group continued up the mountain. About ten minutes later, Xiaoliu and the Treeman returned.

Xiaoliu: “Did you see that? It scared the life out of me.”

Treeman: “Why are there so many beavers here?”

Nan Muran frowned when she heard “beavers.” So many beavers? But weren’t they a protected species, on the brink of extinction? Where did these beavers come from?

Xiaoliu: “Ranran, this forest is very strange. Many plants and animals have mutated. Even the beaver group we encountered has mutated, and we almost got bitten.”

Treeman: “It seems like there’s something in this mountain that can cause mutations in all forms of life. It’s not mutated fruit, but more like a special substance.”

Nan Muran was intrigued by the mention of the beaver group. These creatures were protected, and yet there was a large group of them? Where did they come from?

“How many beavers did you see?” Nan Muran couldn’t help but ask.

Xiaoliu: “About ten?”

Treeman: “This guy can’t count.”

Sighing, the Treeman added, “Thirty-nine, and they’ve all mutated. They’re eating trees at a fast rate. But the bigger trees on the mountain have also mutated, though they’re all around level three. There are many of them. They don’t dare to eat them all, though—they can’t handle it.”

“What exactly is this special substance you’re talking about?” Nan Muran was glad she hadn’t dismissed the Treeman earlier, or she might’ve been in a bind today.

Treeman: “It must belong to this mountain, a substance that can cause mutations in all forms of life.”

Nan Muran couldn’t contain her excitement at the thought. A substance that could cause mutations across the entire mountain? If she could find it and take it back to the villa halfway up the mountain, it would be incredible.

Suppressing her unrealistic thoughts, Nan Muran continued, “Any news on the people from the machine factory?”

Xiaoliu: “Some small plants and trees said they saw a lot of people heading up the mountain, saying they were looking for colleagues who entered the mountain.”

Treeman: “It should be them.”

Nan Muran trusted the Treeman’s judgment, especially since the creature had lived as a human for a long time. Though it hadn’t done much good, it had plenty of experience.

Before Nan Muran could share this with the others, a series of squeaky sounds suddenly echoed from ahead.

“It’s a rat swarm!” Jia Wu and Si Ye reacted at the same time, shouting loudly.

At the same time, Nan Muran conjured a water shield, while Xiaoliu and the Treeman fell silent. A rat swarm was an absolute disaster for plants.

In a moment, the dense swarm of rats appeared in the distance, heading toward them.

Si Ye tightly grasped Nan Muran’s hand, which had grown cold, and immediately activated the water shield.

He remembered Nan Muran once saying that her least favorite animals were rats, and just seeing them made her feel disgusted, her scalp tingling.

Jia Wu’s lightning abilities surged through the water shield, quickly blasting the rats away. The rats, sensing the attack, started gathering in their direction.

“I’m getting a panic attack from all these rats,” the eagle muttered, using wind blades to deal with the rats while looking at the endless sea of them, his scalp tingling.

The worst part was that these rats had clearly mutated—they were nearly the size of cats.

Wind blades swept through the swarm, killing dozens, but soon, more rats rushed at them.

Nan Muran looked at Si Ye. “You protect me.”

She then closed her eyes and used her mental power. The rats around them began to explode, their heads bursting open, and red blood erupted in rhythmic spurts, like a musical fountain.

Seven Jin also used his control-based powers to kill the mutated rats.

“We can’t keep killing like this. We’ll be overwhelmed before we finish off the swarm,” Si Ye said, looking at the endless flood of rats.

Suddenly, Nan Muran thought of the rat poison in her space. “Would rat poison work?”

“Try it.”

Nan Muran tossed out an entire box of powerful pest control powder from her space. Everyone was stunned to see the full box—it seemed like her space had everything.

“Eagle, use the wind to scatter the powder and see what happens,” Si Ye instructed, continuously forming water shields.

Since the rats were constantly breaking through the water shields, their movement space was getting smaller.

“Ranran, I’ll release two water shields at once. You handle the rats that break into the first layer of the shield.”

Nan Muran nodded and released Xiaoliu, Treeman, and Xiaobai to surround the inside of the water shield.

Si Ye quickly expanded the outer water shield. The three little creatures darted under it, weaving through the air like candy skewers.

At the same time, the eagle used wind power to blow the rat poison powder out and also covered the water shield with it.

At first, the mutated rats seemed unaffected, but after a while, some began to fall to the ground. Soon, more and more rats died from the poison, and the fallen bodies began to pile up in rows, expanding rapidly.