“Captain, we’re surrounded. We must find a way to break out,” one of the members of the Venomous Snake Squad whispered urgently to their captain.

The captain of the Venomous Snake Squad nodded and lowered his voice. “Everyone, get ready with grenades. Prepare to break out at any moment.”

On the fourth floor, South Muran, who could clearly sense every movement on the second floor with her psychic abilities, slightly curved her lips at the captain’s words. “Do you think they’re afraid of fire?”

Her cold, ethereal voice seemed to drift down from the upper floor, chilling everyone on the second floor.

All the members of the Venomous Snake Squad, even everyone on the second floor, felt an unprecedented fear from her words.

The first reason was that the Venomous Snake Squad had spoken in an extremely low voice, and even those nearby couldn’t hear them clearly. But she had heard everything clearly.

The second reason was that if these mutated plants truly weren’t afraid of fire, they would be trapped here with no way out.

“Who are you, and what do you want?” Ouyang Yun controlled her trembling hands, her mind racing.

She still had two vials of plant suppressant, and she had to find the right moment to help the Venomous Snake Squad break out, or everyone would die here today.

South Muran sighed slightly. “To be honest, that’s the question I want to ask you.”

“I’m Ouyang Yun, and this is the safe base established by my Ouyang family. I advise you to leave immediately, or…” Ouyang Yun’s words were interrupted by Ouyang Feng, who stepped forward.

He took a step forward, his tone calm. “I am Ouyang Feng, and I am the one with the most authority here. Perhaps we can sit down and talk.”

For this powerful and mysterious opponent, Ouyang Feng felt not only unease and fear but also a certain desire. He couldn’t help imagining how his family could free themselves from the Black Lock’s control, or even reverse it and take control of Black Lock.

At this moment, South Muran had already descended to the fourth floor and entered the laboratory on the third floor.

She turned on the lights and looked around.

The blue and white decor, the endless bright lights—it was truly an unpleasant place.

On both sides of the laboratory were glass containers filled with various plant samples and plant extracts of different colors.

It seemed this place primarily researched mutated plants.

“The thing in the front contains a lot of energy fluctuations,” Xiao Liu reminded South Muran at the right moment.

South Muran focused her psychic power on the safe in front of her.

She discovered that there were several different-sized mutated fruits inside—18 in total. On the lower shelf, there were even hundreds of zombie crystal cores. The most surprising thing was that there were five orange crystal cores, which were exactly the third-grade crystal cores she needed.

She immediately drew her gun and violently destroyed the lock on the safe.

She first took out the three third-grade crystal cores inside and gave them to the hungry Xiaobai to absorb. She also took a large handful of first-grade crystal cores to replenish Xiao Liu’s energy.

Afterward, she stored the remaining fruits and crystal cores in her space.

Xiaobai, who was on the verge of a breakthrough, suddenly erupted with dazzling white light after absorbing the three third-grade crystal cores, quickly breaking through.

Xiaobai: What is this thing? It’s amazing.

Xiao Liu: This is a crystal core. Muran said crystal cores can help us break through quickly.

Xiaobai: This is way more effective than for humans.

Xiao Liu: Isn’t it great to follow Muran?

Xiaobai: Mmm.

After Xiaobai absorbed the blood of a mutant, South Muran had felt it was about to break through, so she had it absorb most of the third-grade crystal cores from the safe.

Sure enough, Xiaobai didn’t disappoint her.

“Are you still there?” Ouyang Feng, downstairs, looked at the vines nearby that suddenly began emitting white light, his voice growing more uneasy.

South Muran didn’t answer, instead starting to observe the various syringes in the lab and the experimental records and computer files nearby.

After a long pause, she asked, “Are you doing genetic experiments?”

Upon hearing the cold, ice-like voice again, Ouyang Feng felt a chill run down his spine.

“We are just trying to find the source of the plants’ mutations,” Ouyang Feng responded vaguely, unsure of her attitude.

South Muran sneered. “And then, do you want to experiment on living people using mutated plants?”

As soon as she finished speaking, several sharp-minded ability users among them already began to realize the problem.

They didn’t know what was in the lab on the third floor, but based on the sound, it seemed the woman was indeed on the third floor.

Had she discovered some secret?

Ouyang Feng hesitated, panicking inwardly, but didn’t show it on his face. “You’re joking, miss. How could we experiment on living people?”

“Then, to create an army of mutated plants?” South Muran retorted sharply, exposing his unease.

“We’ve entered the apocalypse. If humanity wants to survive, we must first make ourselves stronger. Researching mutated plants and finding ways to enhance humanity’s abilities is beneficial for the future development of mankind,” Ouyang Feng tried to convince her.

Listening to his contradictory statements, South Muran was filled with disdain.

Suddenly, while observing the various reagents, South Muran heard Xiao Liu’s urgent voice.

“Muran, Xiaobai says that red one is the thing that’s especially terrifying to plants.”

South Muran took a red vial from the collection of finished reagents. “Can this suppress plant abilities?”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Liu promptly separated out a mutated willow branch that was about a meter long.

South Muran poured a bit of the red liquid onto the willow branch. The dark green glow surrounding the willow branch visibly faded.

“It seems to have an effect.” This was definitely something too good to pass up.

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She waved her hand, collecting everything from the third-floor lab into her space. The lab, which had originally been neat and equipped, turned into an empty shell the moment she finished waving.

Once again, an eerie silence fell, causing everyone in the second-floor corridor to panic as they watched the nearby plants that had begun to grow wildly.

“Dad, it’s possible she’s a terrifying plant-type ability user, and she’s successfully bound mutated plants,” Ouyang Yun speculated, glancing at Xiao Liu and Xiaobai nearby.

In the underground laboratory, Dr. Jin had also proposed this hypothesis, but unfortunately, no plant-type ability user had been successful so far.

Ouyang Feng looked at his daughter. “Can you tell what level her abilities are?”

“Dr. Jin guessed that to bind mutated plants, one must be above level three. This woman’s level must be even higher,” Ouyang Yun’s voice trembled slightly. It was the first time since the apocalypse that she had felt the threat of death.

“Friend, what do you want? Tell me, I’ll try to fulfill your request,” Ouyang Feng, who was usually very calculating, was now uncertain about her intentions.

Her power was too overwhelming, and her actions were strangely inexplicable.

He knew in his heart that if they angered her today, it would be hard for everyone to leave here alive.

South Muran took a deep breath and, with a faint smile, said in a voice laced with bloodlust, “I want your lives.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she released an even more powerful life force from her left hand.

Xiao Liu and Xiaobai on the second floor instantly began to grow wildly, rapidly extending toward the group of people in the center of the corridor.

“Throw them.” The Venomous Snake Squad, always on high alert, reacted swiftly.

Ten grenades were thrown in an instant toward the group, aimed directly at the millions of roots from Xiao Liu and Xiaobai.