"Kill her! You're so strong—just kill her and take her body so we can leave!"
Xu Kang's eyes were bloodshot, and he was acting incredibly erratic. "Stop hesitating! They're just NPCs who were polluted long ago. Why are you playing the saint?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Kang was kicked directly out of the circle of thorns.
Zhu Xi Ning's face was clouded with an impatient, violent streak. "Since when does someone useless who only drags us down have the right to speak?"
"Since you don't like our methods, don't hide in our defensive circle."
Zhu Xi Ning sneered. "I'd like to see just what you're capable of."
"No! You can't do this!"
Xu Kang lunged back toward them, completely disregarding the fact that he was being mangled by the iron thorns.
"This is murder! Let me in!"
"You vicious woman! Let me in right now!"
The blood vessels behind him slowly closed in, and Xu Kang began to scream curses.
"You'll all die horrible deaths! You group of murderers!"
Ants quickly swarmed up Xu Kang's body from the hem of his clothes. With just one bite, he was paralyzed, unable to utter another word.
Su Hong watched helplessly as Xu Kang was slowly consumed by the maggot-like blood vessels.
"He deserved it."
Huo Fuyu let out a cold snort. This kind of person was both wicked and stupid, and he didn't spare another glance.
However, Su Hong was terrified. She trembled as she hid behind Bai La La, wanting to say something but keeping it to herself.
Bai La La seemed to know what she was thinking, though the usually gentle woman now seemed like a different person.
"Do you think he's pitiable?"
Su Hong nodded, then shook her head.
Bai La La sighed. "Do you remember what the Scavenger's Second Lesson is?"
The Scavenger's First Lesson: Devote your everything to the Scavenger Purification Project.
The Second Lesson: In a purification mission, you cannot rely on anyone but yourself.
This was why the Scavenger Training Academy kept them until they were twenty despite the heavy mission load. It was to ensure they knew that when life was on the line, they could only depend on themselves.
Moral blackmail, respecting the elderly, and being a gentleman did not exist here.
Survival of the fittest.
No one was responsible for their lives except themselves.
Therefore, no one needed to play the role of a protector, no matter how strong they were.
Su Hong was stunned and immediately apologized.
"I was wrong."
Bai La La glanced at her. "It's because your mental stability has dropped too much. You're being irrational. You'd better maintain your sanity, or even if you leave this place, you'll die in the next mission."
Su Hong felt a chill in her heart. When mental stability dropped, people were governed by fear and emotion, losing their judgment and composure. They became aggressive, dependent, or even blamed others.
In more severe cases, they would perform all sorts of bizarre behaviors.
She took two deep breaths, trying her best to stay calm.
"Wen Que."
Nan Yue, who had been confronting Wen Chu, suddenly spoke. "Is the person you love most your mother?"
Wen Que had already stood up. She looked like a human octopus, supported by countless blood-red vessels emerging from under her skirt.
Her expression was panicked because she could no longer control her body.
The massive vessels supporting the castle were not obeying her commands.
Hearing Nan Yue's sudden question, she was caught off guard.
"Yes... how did you know?"
Nan Yue looked at Wen Chu, her eyes like shards of ice forged in fire. "Because I know what happened to you."
"Ever since Wen Chu used you as a social tool to gain favors, your mind became twisted. You believed that everyone in the Wen family and Eden Garden relied on your flesh and blood to survive. They were cannibalizing you, yet you were the one supporting the Wen family."
"These vessels built the entire manor, and Wen Chu fed them in secret. He used half-dead criminal servants as fodder to trigger the resentment and violence within your body."
"Gradually, you lost control of these things. You didn't even know how they were changing as they began to hunt in the darkness."
Why did the roses scream when broken? It was because Wen Que was like a rose being raised in Eden Garden.
Wen Chu appeared to be taking excellent care of her, but in reality, she was being watered with blood.
The blood roses were also Wen Que's avatars.
The one thing that had led the scavengers' logic astray was the photo of the woman in the office.
Nan Yue had thought it was Wen Chu's way of remembering his mother, but it was actually a restraint on Wen Que.
Wen Que indeed could not control these vessels and blood roses that grew from resentment, but the final target of her grudge was Wen Chu.
To avoid being harmed by Wen Que, Wen Chu came up with an extreme method.
He used their mother to protect himself.
Wen Que did not want to go on a killing spree under her mother's gaze. She didn't want her deceased mother to see what she had become.
Wen Que and Wen Chu lived together in this Eden Garden in an extremely twisted relationship.
In this Eden Garden maintained by Wen Que's blood and flesh.
Wen Que stared blankly at the woman nearby. Why did this woman understand her so well? Why was she protecting her?
A voice in her heart told her that everything she said was true. She could hear the deep heartache in Nan Yue's tone as she spoke.
"Calm down, Wen Que."
Nan Yue looked back, her gaze firm as if they weren't currently surrounded by disgusting and terrifying blood vessels.
"You can control them."
"I said I would take you away."
"And I keep my word."
Wen Que's eyes widened instantly. She took a deep breath and strained with all her might to control those vessels.
The effect was minimal.
Yet, Nan Yue still smiled and said to her, "Well done, Wen Que. That's amazing."
Tears overflowed from her eyes without her realizing it. By the time Wen Que noticed, her face was already covered in them.
A massive surge of black mist erupted from Nan Yue's body, rushing toward the castle walls like a roaring beast.
Wen Que saw the black mist entwine with the vessels, and in the next moment, that mist gathered even more darkness from within them.
"What... what is this?"
Nan Yue didn't answer her. The pollution on Wen Que's body was too heavy; absorbing it all would be incredibly difficult.
Thicker black mist surged toward Nan Yue. Wen Que covered her mouth as she watched Nan Yue be swallowed by the dark fog, completely losing sight of what was happening.
After about seven or eight minutes, the black mist thinned slightly, and a silhouette could be seen within.
"Nan Yue!"
Wen Que called out softly. She had never intended to remember a servant's name, but she had remembered hers.
Inside the black mist, Nan Yue's skin looked like a cracking porcelain vase, splitting apart as blood seeped through, forming a beautiful yet eerie scene.
White mist darted out, struggling to squeeze into the shroud of the black mist.
Rate on N.U.
