Chapter 8

Sera Westbrook's POV

By the time I got back to the dining room, the others were already chattering away. Vera suggested I should stay on with the team, and Jax and Dorian agreed readily—only Taylor and Cole stayed silent.

They were quiet, guarded people by nature, and it was normal for them to have reservations about me joining so suddenly.

I looked up and saw Taylor and Cole exchange a glance.

I looked down at my food. If they didn't agree, I wouldn't argue.

At least I had finally found Kyle, and he wasn't dead—he was still alive. That was enough. I had no regrets.

But unexpectedly, Taylor nodded. "We agree."

I looked at them in surprise.

"Great!" Vera cheered for my joining. "From now on, we're family."

Jax grinned. "Welcome aboard."

Just then, Jax noticed my wound and clicked his tongue. "That's terrifying. I heard from Dorian—you really can't feel pain?"

I gave a soft "Mm." "I can't."

While we were talking, Kyle came back to the table and sat down at the head of it.

"Poor thing." Vera patted Kyle on the shoulder. "Captain, from now on, you're in charge of keeping an eye on her condition."

Kyle glanced at me. "I will."

Vera stroked my head and comforted me. "It's okay. With us here, you won't be alone anymore. If anything's wrong, you have to tell us, understand?"

Her tone was so gentle that I really couldn't bear to refuse. "Okay."

Dorian handed a wristband to Taylor, and Taylor took it and passed it to me. "This is a wristband specially made for our squad. Don't lose it."

I nodded. "Okay. Thanks."

At night, I looked at the bandage on my forearm. Vera sat beside me and talked about what had happened during the day. After a while, she got sleepy too, said goodnight to me, and fell asleep. Before long, I was asleep as well.

In the morning, I stood by the window looking out.

Ever since that heavily polluted rainstorm, everything had been growing wildly. Many plants and animals had already lost their original forms. The lawn had shot up to knee height overnight, new buds on the tree trunks changed every day, let alone everything else. Mutated creatures crawling up from the seafloor lined up and pushed inland, giving no ground to one another. In the early days, those creatures were about as tough as early-stage Sequencers—manageable. But as they gradually evolved, they became harder and harder to deal with.

Outside the vehicle, the mutated kapok trees had already grown more than ten meters tall, their spore capsules swollen to abnormal size. The moment a capsule split open, what burst out wasn't soft fluff but gray-white spores, spreading like an explosion, pressing the sky askew, covering the ground and the road. Visibility was extremely low—you couldn't see ten steps ahead.

Suddenly, Odysseus's voice came from above: "External spore concentration exceeds the limit. All personnel are to implement the highest level of sealed protection immediately."

The alarm sounded, and everyone stopped. Actually, staying inside the base, we shouldn't be affected much, but no one could be sure whether there were more enemies behind the kapok trees. Just in case, we decided to deal with the mutated kapok first and then move to a safer place.

Dorian personally supervised us putting on our combat suits. He casually pinched the seam at the cuff and said, "Taylor's work is really good—the stitching is flawless."

Jax tightened his belt and grinned. "Right? Taylor's work is absolutely top-notch!"

Cole didn't respond, just lowered his head and adjusted his collar. Vera leaned against the windowsill, looking at the gray-white outside, and said rather gloomily, "It's all spores. Just looking at them makes me want to sneeze—really terrible for allergy sufferers."

Kyle lowered his head and put on his black leather gloves. "Stay safe."

I glanced at him, then down at the wristband on my arm to confirm today's mission: head to the abandoned town ahead and search for uncontaminated supplies.

Dorian turned back to remind Vera that thermal abilities absolutely could not be used in a high-spore-concentration environment. Vera laughed. "I know. I'm not Jax."

Jax immediately protested, and Cole agreed. "Vera's right."

The two of them started bickering, the atmosphere very lively—noisy, teasing each other.

Dorian sighed and stressed again, "Once the spores meet a spark, a dust explosion could level the whole street. Be careful—don't hurt yourselves."

Kyle pulled his zipper up to his chin. "Understood."

Cole, Jax, and Vera echoed him, and we were ready to step out of the Titan at any moment.

The Titan advanced at low speed along the set route, its engine almost inaudible. Just before entering the town, the Titan stopped, and the five of us switched to the hover bikes Taylor had modified: Kyle on one alone, Vera riding with Jax, Cole on one alone.

I walked straight to Kyle's bike, put on the spare helmet, and fastened the strap.

The hover bikes raced silently, fast, without alerting the Eroded or the mutated plants and animals along the road. Not long after the world fell, this town had already rotted through. Mutated plants pushed up out of the asphalt, climbing upward, covering the buildings on both sides, thick vines reaching out of window frames. Herds of Eroded wandered the streets with heavy, dragging footsteps—quite a sight.

We reached the battlefield, and without a word, we began to fight.

Kyle used neural resonance to control the Eroded, dividing them into separate groups so they'd be easier to wipe out. Jax controlled the direction of the earth, Cole petrified the Eroded's legs with rock, and then we harvested them together—very efficient.

Vera couldn't use thermal abilities, so she only needed to provide cover. Kyle was mainly responsible for controlling the high-tier Eroded, leaving the low-tier Eroded and mutated plants and animals for us to harvest. I didn't need anyone's support, so I harvested the mutated creatures on my own.

Mutated bird flocks circled above us, and vines crept along the road inch by inch, without end. The hover bikes had to dodge obstacles the whole way, and their flight speed slowed as a result. Fortunately, the team worked together smoothly, so it wasn't a serious problem.

Jax raised his binoculars and exclaimed, "There seems to be a shop up ahead!"