Chapter 88: The Mysterious Giant Flower

Deep in the southwestern forest, four soldiers from Squad Five of Reconnaissance Company Two of Hope Base advanced slowly through the undergrowth.

Company Two had followed the main force led by Rat into the southwest, but they had not taken part in the main operation.

This time, they had entered the region to gather far more detailed intelligence, even crossing the border that had existed in peacetime and winding their way into the turbulent lands of Southeast Asia.

The squad leader, Zhang Xiu, was the exact opposite of the image his name suggested.

He stood under five and a half feet tall, with a slight, dark frame. On his sharply cheekboned face, the most striking feature was his bright, alert eyes.

Within the reconnaissance company, he stood out for his agile movements and meticulous mind, earning him the nickname Zhang Monkey.

Not long ago, Zhang Xiu had married at the base, and the wedding had been lively and grand. Everyone from Reconnaissance Company Two had come to congratulate him. Thinking of his wife’s shy and lovely face, the corners of his mouth lifted faintly.

As a soldier in the reconnaissance company, his monthly pay was enough to let his aging mother and young wife live contentedly and happily. If he saved for a few more years, he could even retire, buy a small shopfront, and earn a modest living for his family in peace.

A short birdcall suddenly sounded from far ahead to the left.

Zhang Xiu’s whole body jolted.

He pressed two fingers to his lips and gave two soft whistles in reply, while signaling the other two soldiers to move up slowly and provide support.

In no time, Zhang Xiu had advanced under cover of the brush to the scout who had raised the warning.

“Squad leader, there’s something wrong up ahead!”

Zhang Xiu nodded, took out his binoculars, and looked toward the flat ground in the valley before them.

White mist coiled through the valley, making the place look almost like a paradise from a distance.

Two little rabbits, drawn in by the valley’s lush grass, ran blindly into danger, chirping cheerfully as they went.

Zhang Xiu cast a puzzled glance at the scout.

“Squad leader, look more carefully at the center. The fog is too thick. Take another look.”

Zhang Xiu nodded and focused his gaze.

Within the mist, a shadow in the middle of the valley could faintly be made out. It was roughly as tall as a one-story building, but it looked much like the nearby trees, swaying slowly in the breeze.

Then the two little rabbits suddenly cried out in alarm, as if sensing danger. Yet something unseen seemed to draw them in, and they did not flee at once.

By the time they finally judged the threat to be real and turned to run, it was already too late.

Two red root systems burst from the ground and coiled tightly around the rabbits. With overwhelming force, the creatures were strangled instantly and pinned to the earth, where they shriveled before the eye.

A few seconds later, the breeze swept over the rabbits’ remains, scattering them away and leaving only a few bones behind.

Zhang Xiu exchanged a grave look with the soldier beside him.

“Xiao Li, go find the others. Use the high-magnification camera to record this anomaly. I’ll move closer and take a look.”

The soldier, Little Li, said anxiously, “Squad leader, let me go. You go get Brother Five and the others.”

“That’s an order!”

After saying that, Zhang Xiu dropped to the ground and slowly crawled forward.

Seeing this, Little Li quickly slipped away to the side, summoned two comrades, and regrouped at their original position.

Once the equipment was set up, he finally saw the true form of the mysterious shape in the valley.

It was a gigantic flower, sunflower-like in appearance, except that it stood nearly sixteen feet tall. Its trunk-thick stem rose like a tree, its leaves were larger than palm fans, and in the center of its bud something mysterious seemed to be forming, giving off a faint white glow.

Little Li’s expression tightened at once. Filled with uncertainty about the anomaly, he said, “Brother Five, please keep filming. I’m going to help the squad leader!”

By then, Zhang Xiu had already closed to within about two hundred yards of the giant flower. Suddenly, he caught a scent on the wind. He frowned and shook his head, trying to drive away the strange sensation.

Yet in less than a few seconds, his eyes blurred.

“Oh? Such a nice smell. Is my wife making something delicious again?”

It was as though he had returned to the warmth of home, where the enticing aroma of food drifted out from the kitchen. It was a familiar smell.

“Hm? It sounds like someone’s calling me from behind?” Zhang Xiu shook his head. “Forget it. I’ll go back and eat first.”

But behind him, Little Li stared in horrified disbelief as he watched Zhang Xiu rise unsteadily and stagger, dazed and vacant, toward the strange flower, as though he had been hypnotized.

“Squad leader! Danger! Come back!”

With no time to think, Little Li sprang up and shouted at the top of his lungs.

The giant flower seemed to sense the disturbance. Seeing Zhang Xiu, whose vitality far surpassed that of the little rabbits, its roots churned violently beneath the earth and lunged in his direction.

The roots burst from the soil and shot straight toward Zhang Xiu’s chest.

In a panic, Little Li raised his rifle, sighted through the optic, locked onto the roots, and fired without hesitation.

The crisp crack of gunfire rang through the dense forest, startling the small animals nearby.

The bullet struck the roots accurately, but it only left a few shallow streaks of blood. Still, it shifted the trajectory that had been aimed straight for Zhang Xiu’s chest.

Zhang Xiu let out a pained howl and woke from the hypnotic state, only to see one of the roots has pierced his right arm. Blood gushed out in an instant.

He felt a terrifying suction force pulling from the wound, as though all the blood in his body were surging toward it. Panic flooded him. His face twisted ferociously as he drew the dagger from his belt and, with a savage motion, severed the entire arm.

By then, Little Li had already closed to within several dozen yards, while the other two soldiers provided suppressive fire from farther away.

The attack of the roots was jolted to a halt.

Clutching his wound, Zhang Xiu cast a bitter look at the giant flower, hurled two high-explosive grenades, and, forcing back the dizziness spinning in his head, ran toward the rear as fast as he could.

The explosions damaged some of the roots. The giant flower swayed violently, seeming to enter a frenzy, and from within it a powerful psychic wave erupted.

The vegetation around them bent under the circular surge of mental force, which swept across Zhang Xiu as he fled. Blood began to flow from his eyes and nose, and a stabbing pain struck his skull.

“No! I have to go back. My family is still waiting for me!”

Struggling, Zhang Xiu tried to rise from the ground.

Little Li, who had narrowly escaped the range of the psychic wave fifty yards away, fired anxiously while shouting, “Squad leader! Get up! Get up!”

Clenching his teeth, Zhang Xiu managed to get to his feet and crawled toward Little Li on hands and knees.

Little Li slung his rifle onto his back and hurried to meet him. But when he had gone about two hundred yards, he, too, caught a whiff of that fragrance on the wind, and his gaze immediately began to blur.

Zhang Xiu’s face changed drastically. He forced himself forward, seized Little Li, and slapped him hard twice across the face with his left hand. Little Li’s cheeks instantly swelled red and raw.

Little Li cried out in pain, then abruptly regained his senses. “Squad leader!”

“Go! Move! Notify company headquarters!”

Seeing that, Zhang Xiu finally breathed a faint sigh of relief. The last of his strength vanished all at once, and he collapsed against Little Li’s shoulder.

Little Li quickly supported him, and the two of them ran back the way they had come. Only after they had barely made it beyond three hundred yards did those roots finally stop their pursuit.

It seemed that three hundred yards was the safe distance.

“Squad leader! How are you holding up?” Little Li shouted anxiously when they returned to the camera equipment.

Zhang Xiu’s face was deathly pale from excessive blood loss, and his labored breathing only deepened Little Li’s worry.

“I... I’m fine... Pull back... one kilometer. Send for... support.”

Zhang Xiu’s head tipped to one side, and he passed out on the spot.

“Squad leader!!”

The three of them cried out in alarm.

Little Li, still bearing the two glaring handprints on his face, managed to stay relatively clearheaded.

“Brother Five, give the company commander emergency first aid. He’s lost too much blood—use all the hemostatic bandages and stamina medicine we have.”

He slapped a hand to his forehead. “If only we were back at company headquarters. We have a clotting agent there; it can stop the bleeding fast.”

The other two quickly treated Zhang Xiu’s wounds and carried him back another kilometer.

Little Li packed away the camera gear and hurried after them.

When he caught up to Zhang Xiu, he saw that the wound on the severed arm had already stopped bleeding, but the many complications caused by severe blood loss still left him in mortal danger.

“Brother Five, stay here with him. I’m going to march at full speed toward company headquarters. I should be within communications range in about an hour. I’ll bring people back for you then.”

Brother Five nodded solemnly. “Go. We’ll take care of the squad leader.”

Little Li gave Zhang Xiu another worried look, then without the slightest hesitation slung on the radio backpack. Forgetting stealth altogether, he ran quickly toward company headquarters.

...

A string of urgent alarms sounded from the communications center.

When the duty officer pulled up the alert and saw that it was an item only supervisors and above were permitted to read, he immediately realized something serious had happened and hurried off to the supervisor’s office.

Shortly afterward, Li Qing personally arrived at the communications center and saw the message bar flashing with a permissions warning on the large screen.

He nodded, took out a tablet, and said, “Leave this to me. Keep working, and notify the military leadership to come to a meeting.”

Then he opened the red-tagged message and saw several high-resolution images captured by the camera, along with a short video.

The images showed the giant flower. The video recorded the moment Zhang Xiu was attacked, as well as the fragment of Little Li’s rescue.

After watching it, Li Qing fell into thoughtful silence. Then, without another word, he forwarded the information to Wang Ji.

Within minutes, Wang Ji appeared in the conference room of the communications center.

“Old Qing, what’s the situation now?” Wang Ji asked as he stepped inside.

Li Qing and several supervisors quickly stood up. “The message came back five minutes ago. Captain Li is currently leading the reconnaissance company toward the target area.”

“Good. This target has been discovered thanks to Squad Leader Zhang and the others. They’ve made a great contribution. From the video, Squad Leader Zhang’s injuries look severe. Has he been treated?”

Li Qing hesitated for a moment, then said with a wry smile, “Sir, the report doesn’t mention that. But I think Captain Li and the others should have reached Squad Leader Zhang by now. There shouldn’t be a problem.”

Wang Ji nodded. In his mind flashed the image of the giant flower. Deep within him, he had a strange feeling about the thing being nurtured inside it. It was something like that mysterious fruit from before, a true natural treasure of heaven and earth.

“All right. Assign a transport aircraft, bring along medics and a special operations team, and I’ll make the trip myself,” Wang Ji said decisively.

“Yes, sir!” Li Qing saluted at once.

Just then, the military liaison arrived, and Li Qing immediately coordinated the arrangements with him. In less than half an hour, the aircraft and the soldiers’ equipment were ready.

“Move out!”

Wang Ji waved his hand and boarded the transport aircraft first. It was an improved model developed after the successful test of the Hawk Type-1 transport plane. It was slightly inferior in speed and firepower, but it had room for ten people and their equipment.

Once the transport aircraft lifted off, it tore across the sky toward the coordinates at high speed.