Chapter Thirty-Three: A Sea of Blossoms on the Gobi Desert

Having returned to his human form, Ye Hai grinned, finally realizing the source of the problem.

“This entire area is blanketed by a scent so subtle it escapes ordinary perception…”

“This peculiar fragrance not only induces hallucinations but is potent enough to deceive the T-virus in my body, rendering it completely unresponsive.”

“What is emitting this aroma? If it isn’t a mutant… could it be some kind of plant?”

Ye Hai resumed his mimicry, transforming into the first form of the Tyrant, and held his breath completely.

Fifteen seconds later, his vision began to blur.

In a fleeting instant, the sky, the earth, and even the scenery around him shifted as if the world itself had spun on its axis. Ye Hai, who had been facing the three northern moons for months, now saw, after a brief, dizzying distortion, the three southern moons hanging directly overhead.

“So it’s true. When the wind blew through, the fragrance in the air thinned…”

“Fresh air flooded in, dispersing the pervasive scent here, allowing the zombie crows to briefly break free from the hallucination and regain their ability to guide the way.”

“But as the fragrance spread again, the crows succumbed once more to the illusion…”

“That’s why I spent over two hours wandering in circles.”

“The crows were able to issue continuous warnings because it takes time for the strange scent to refill this region…”

“And the fragrance must first saturate the area near the ground, only slowly rising skyward as the lower atmosphere becomes saturated.”

“That’s why I would quickly slip back into the hallucinatory state!”

“And the crows, higher up, would take much longer to be enveloped by the scent again…”

“That explains why, during that half hour of circling, the crows called out in a flurry of warning cries.”

“Because then, I was lost in illusion… while the crows remained alert.”

“But over time, as the crows were again affected, they too would end up circling with me…”

With these realizations, Ye Hai held his breath and started to run in his Tyrant form.

For zombies, although they need some air to keep the virus active, the requirement is minimal. The frequent breathing in zombies is merely a vestige of their habits before infection.

This is also why, in films, zombies are often seen attacking humans from underwater.

When Ye Hai ran in his original form, the exertion allowed him to hold his breath for at most two minutes. In Tyrant form, however, he could go for hours without breathing.

After running for about a quarter of an hour, an endless field of flowers in yellow, purple, and white unfolded before his eyes.

A glint of sharpness flashed in Ye Hai’s gaze as he cautiously approached the sea of flowers.

It was clear that, in this barren wasteland, such a lush and vibrant field was wildly unnatural.

Therefore, Ye Hai swiftly deduced that the scent which had trapped him in illusions must be emanating from this tri-colored expanse.

At the edge of the field, he plucked a few petals of different hues and examined them closely.

He found these strange flowers not so different from the common wildflowers along the roadside.

But for so many to thrive in a desolate wasteland was uncanny.

Moreover, that these flowers could exude a substance potent enough to bewilder the T-virus and plunge someone into inescapable hallucinations filled Ye Hai with curiosity.

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

Frowning, Ye Hai stepped into the blossoming field.

He uprooted a flourishing flower and began digging with his bare hands.

After he’d dug down a dozen centimeters, he uncovered the decayed remains of a mutant—long dead.

From certain features on the corpse, Ye Hai could tell… that buried here was a mutant of the seventh stage.

He moved forward several dozen meters and repeated the process.

Another mutant’s corpse lay beneath the soil.

This was a graveyard—a vast burial ground for mutants.

And the long-buried mutants had become fertilizer for the flowers.

After pondering for a moment, Ye Hai grasped how these flowers hunted high-level mutants.

He surmised that when the first mutant entered the area blanketed by flower scent, the fragrance lured it into wandering in circles within a fixed zone.

Until another high-level mutant discovered this “ownerless land.”

The flowers of different colors must have other distinct effects.

Ye Hai suspected the flowers responsible for his hallucinations were the purple ones.

For purple blooms covered more than two-thirds of the field; such a vast quantity could easily spread their scent afar.

The yellow and white flowers, he guessed, might release substances inciting mutants to turn on one another, or maintain a balance of power between two, ensuring mutual destruction in the end.

And during their battles, the mutants would be drawn into this field of flowers.

Ye Hai deduced all this from the scattered traces of both old and new flowers throughout the field.

With these realizations, a chill crept down Ye Hai’s spine…

Had he entered the fragrant zone tonight and found a seventh-stage or higher mutant already ensnared there,

He might not have detected the faint, elusive scent in the air at all—

And, under the manipulation of these plants, might have fought that mutant to his last breath and died.

“The inner rings of the high-level territories are truly fraught with peril!”

“Perhaps these flowers mutated after prolonged exposure to high radiation, gaining such extraordinary abilities.”

“When these abilities are harnessed by the field to hunt mutants for fertilizer…”

“These flowers have embarked on the path of plant mutation.”

“Just like that giant mutated tree from before…”

“In time, after prolonged exposure to the zombie virus, they’ll be activated,”

“And become new high-level mutants themselves.”

Both the mutated giant tree and the field of flowers evolving into mutants stirred a vague sense of crisis in Ye Hai’s heart.

He could feel… Zombie Star was starting to change.

What exactly was changing, Ye Hai couldn’t say.

But after ten years living on Zombie Star and many ventures into the radioactive zones,

He had never once encountered a single mutated plant.

Yet in just one night, he’d come upon two cases—one of a fully mutated plant, one mid-transformation.

Through the field of flowers, Ye Hai realized something truly terrifying: the flora of Zombie Star had begun to actively evolve.

This left him somewhat at a loss.

He could not find the root cause of these dramatic changes.

Yet he had a foreboding that, before long, this terrifying shift might bring about a world-shaking transformation on Zombie Star.

And for the humans living here, such a change would be anything but benevolent—more likely, an existential catastrophe.

A powerful sense of crisis and urgency compelled Ye Hai to abandon his study of the flower field.

He turned north, and hurried on his way…