The tree was not big. It was about seven to eight meters tall and less than half a meter thick. It was bald and looked malnourished. What caught Luo Yuan's attention was that the bark was smooth and ruddy, like human skin. It gave him a strange feeling.
Although he did not feel any danger, he still remained cautious. He pressed on the handle of his saber and his aura was faintly discernible.
However, when Luo Yuan got closer, the weird tree did not show any signs of movement.
"Seems like it's just an ordinary tree!"
Luo Yuan was relieved. He picked up a branch and jumped on the spot. When he was in mid-air, a flash of saber light appeared and the branch fell down.
Suddenly, Luo Yuan felt that the tree's body seemed to tremble for a moment before it returned to normal.
Luo Yuan jumped down and took a closer look.
The tree was motionless like a normal plant. If it was not for the branch that was twisting like a snake, he would have been tricked by it.
"I didn't expect plants to have the ability to play dead!" Luo Yuan thought to himself. It was normal for living things to seek benefits and avoid harm. Although Luo Yuan did not show his strength, the aura he exuded was comparable to a dark blue level mutated beast. A light blue level tree would not provoke a humanoid mutated beast unless it was looking for death. If it had a stronger sense of perception, it would have noticed that there was a dark blue level giant lizard nearby. That was the overlord of most mutated beasts.
That was the reason why Luo Yuan had been extremely quiet along the way. Otherwise, no matter how rare the mutated beasts were in the land of radiation, they would not have passed the journey without any danger.
He looked at it for a while and did not want to cause any more trouble, so he let it go.
When he picked up the branch, it was stimulated and wanted to wrap around the back of his hand. Luo Yuan snorted and shook it hard. The branch suddenly spasmed like a cervical vertebra. Luo Yuan used the identification technique and the information in his mind made his eyes light up.
"Branch of Radiation Tree"
"Rarity: Light Blue"
"Weight: 3kg"
"Additional Ability: Radiation Absorption"
Evaluation: Radiation Trees generally live in areas with nuclear radiation. The high concentration of radiation causes the trees to undergo adaptive evolution. They feed on radiation and occasionally eat mutated creatures. They are extremely aggressive, but their sap is the best raw material for anti-radiation drugs, mostly used for medical purposes.
Now that everyone was exposed to the radiation, Luo Yuan did not dare to stay any longer and quickly returned.
"This branch can't be poisonous, right?" Wang Shishi looked at the still twitching branch with a look of disgust.
"Don't worry, it's not poisonous. We'll make it into juice and everyone will be fine after drinking it," Luo Yuan said.
"It's too scary. I didn't expect plants to move," Cao Lin said in fear.
"Hehe, women should like this thing the most." Huo Dong couldn't control his mouth and said a dirty joke.
The men laughed out loud. Even Luo Yuan started to laugh.
Not only did Huang Jiahui and Cao Lin blush, even a young girl like Wang Shishi blushed. Huang Jiahui glared at him. "Don't make jokes like this again!"
The other women didn't give him any face either.
Huo Dong shut his mouth in embarrassment. He could not afford to offend these women, so he apologized profusely.
Luo Yuan took the branch and asked Huang Jiahui to take out a few wooden bowls. He twisted the branch as if he was squeezing a bedsheet. Soon, a big bowl of blood-red juice was squeezed out and everyone drank a small bowl. Even Luo Yuan, who was worried that his body would not be able to withstand the radiation, drank a bowl of it too.
The tree sap wasn't as bad as he had imagined. There was a hint of sweetness in the bitterness, and there was also the fragrance of plants. After drinking it, he couldn't help but feel refreshed.
The effect was immediate. Wang Xiaguang's spirit was much better, and those with milder symptoms were even better.
To prevent the radiation from not being completely removed, Luo Yuan cut a few more branches and put them in his bag. Then, he climbed onto the giant lizard and quickly left the place.
Due to the presence of the radiation zone, they had to walk another 10 kilometers. Fortunately, the giant lizard was huge, so each step it took covered four to five kilometers. Its Dexterity was 15 points, so it could travel at a speed of 20 to 30 meters per second even when walking in the dense forest. Luo Yuan had asked it to slow down because he was worried that they would fall if it went too fast.
Therefore, even though they took a long detour, they arrived at the highway by two o 'clock in the afternoon.
They were already 10 kilometers away from the Heaven's Pillar Tree, so the road was not damaged.
When they got on the highway, they looked back. A volcano that was a few hundred meters tall was already standing in the distance. The crater was still emitting thick smoke, and there were no buildings within a 10 kilometer radius. All the areas were covered by solidified volcanic rocks.
Even half of Hedong City was covered by the volcanic rocks.
The vicissitudes of the world, the extinction of all living things, the mighty power of nature, no words could describe it.
Everyone was shocked, and it took them a long time to recover.
"Is it going to erupt again?" Huang Jiahui suddenly asked as she looked at the pillar of thick smoke.
"It's an active volcano, but it'll take a long time for it to erupt again after this time. It might erupt the next moment though," Luo Yuan said.
"If the volcano erupts again, Hedong City will be in danger. Besides the survivors, there are hundreds of thousands of people living in the underground base," Huang Jiahui said, her face pale.
"Sister Huang, we can't even protect ourselves. Why do we care so much?" Cao Ling said. She felt a little conflicted when she mentioned the underground base. She had planned to go to the underground base, but she was separated by the crowd before she could even see the gate. She did not have a good impression of the people in the underground base.
It was not just Cao Ling, but the rest of them too.
"My daughter might be in there!" Huang Jiahui was silent for a while, then said sadly, "I thought she would be safe, but even the underground base is not safe."
Her ex-husband was the captain of the Armed Police Force, so he had priority in terms of security and position. She had asked her daughter to stay with her ex-husband because it was safer for her.
Everyone was silent.
A trace of grief flashed across Huo Dong's face. His eight-year-old son had also been pushed away by the crowd. He had long since given up hope. With the chaotic scene at that time, such a young child had no hope of surviving at all. But sometimes, he hoped that he could survive.
"No one knows when they'll die in the apocalypse. It could be today, or tomorrow. It's the same for us, so don't think too much about it. At least they're safer here than with us." Luo Yuan hugged Huang Jiahui and said, "Your daughter will be fine too. Let's go."
Huang Jiahui nodded, but she still looked back from time to time with a confused look on her face.
… …..
The giant lizard sped up as soon as they got on the highway, taking full advantage of its high Agility attribute. Its speed was over a hundred kilometers per hour.
The surrounding scenery quickly receded behind them, and a strong wind blew in their faces.
Everyone held onto the blanket tightly, looking nervous. Wang Shishi was holding onto Luo Yuan's arm tightly, afraid that she would be thrown out.
They finally arrived at the sea bridge before the sky turned dark.
Luo Yuan stopped the giant lizard and looked into the distance with a frown. "Damn it, looks like we'll have to take a detour again."
The sea bridge, which used to be as long as a dragon, was now broken in many places. Thick steel cables hung messily on the viaduct, a few huge concrete slabs hung in the air, and even the huge stone piers that were the pillars of the viaduct were knocked to the ground by the terrifying force.
It was low tide, so other than a few low-lying areas that still had seawater, the rest of the area had become an alluvial plain. Looking down from the sea bridge, he could see that there were sparse plants growing below. Given a little more time, it would probably become a sea of trees.
What made Luo Yuan's heart sink was the huge footprints on the beach. They were obviously left by sea creatures. However, these creatures should have already left when the tide receded. At least, when he looked over, he didn't see any of these huge creatures.
"If we take a detour, we'll have to take the provincial road. I'm afraid we'll have to walk a few hundred kilometers and go through a forest. We don't even know if there's a road there." Huang Jiahui looked worried. "Can we walk from the bottom?"
"The beach is too soft. I'm worried that we'll run into a swamp. If we sink, it'll be dangerous," Luo Yuan said hesitantly. He was not afraid of anything else, but he was worried about running into a swamp. If he fell into it, it would be useless no matter how strong he was.
"Don't think about it now. It's getting dark. Let's wait until tomorrow," Luo Yuan said as he looked at the sky.
Because the sea bridge was across the sea, it was more dangerous than on land. Therefore, the security there was much tighter than on the highway. On both sides of the bridge's entrance, there were two symmetrical fortifications that occupied thousands of square meters of land.
Three rusty armored vehicles were parked in front of the gate. After entering the gate, there were also two multiple rocket launchers inside. The rocket launchers were more than three meters long and looked like a beehive. It was a huge deterrent.
In addition to the fortifications, there were more than ten machine gun holes. Luo Yuan guessed that even if they encountered a beast tide, they would be able to defend against it.
Luo Yuan stopped the giant lizard at the entrance and walked into the fortifications. The first floor was the control center. It was very messy inside, with documents and cigarette butts scattered all over the floor. It seemed that the place had been evacuated in a hurry. He noticed that there was an office desk that did not even have any personal items like a photo frame taken away.
Luo Yuan turned the corner and pushed open the door to an office. He was greeted by a rotten stench.
It seemed that Luo Yuan had disturbed them, as countless black beetles were scrambling to leave the area.
In front of the office, there was a skeleton in a major's military uniform lying on the chair. His skull had fallen to the ground, and there was a round hole in his temple. There was also a pistol hanging from his arm. It was obvious that he had committed suicide.
What had happened here?
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