The closer he got to the restaurant, the more he could hear the scalp-tingling rustling sounds coming from within.
The moment he stepped through the main entrance, everything within his field of vision—walls, ceilings, floors—was a vibrant, pulsing green.
Vines crawled everywhere, thicker and more vigorous than the ones Yue Shi had seen before.
None of the people who had entered the restaurant at noon had come out; they were likely all dead.
He just didn't know what Bai Wanyang's current situation was.
Suddenly, there was a sharp whoosh.
A vine, as thick as an adult's arm, shot out from the shadows on the side, aiming straight for Yue Shi's face.
Yue Shi's reaction was lightning-fast. As he stepped aside to dodge, he casually shoved the petrified Mr. Wang forward.
"Ah!" Caught off guard, Mr. Wang's ankle was ensnared by the vine.
A massive force abruptly yanked him to the ground, dragging him at high speed toward the depths of the restaurant.
"Save me! Yue Shi, save me! I don't want to die, I was wrong..." Mr. Wang let out a horrific, pig-like squeal, his hands clawing futilely at the floor. His fingernails split and tore, leaving trails of blood, but it was all for nothing.
His entire body was swiftly swallowed by the darkness, leaving only desperate wails echoing faintly.
Soon, even those echoes vanished, replaced by the chilling rustling sounds becoming even more active.
Mr. Wang never understood, even in death, why he had met such an end.
Perhaps he had spent too long in a desk job at headquarters, becoming accustomed to using bureaucratic political rules to eliminate dissenters.
Encountering an unreasonable, violent individual like Yue Shi, being allowed to live for a few extra days instead of being steamed alive in a pot was truly a rare moment of kindness from Yue Shi.
Yue Shi expressionlessly brushed non-existent dust off his hands, as if he had just discarded a piece of trash.
Soon, a massive wave of vines surged toward Yue Shi from all directions, instantly wrapping him in layer upon layer.
The vines coiled and tightened frantically, forming a rapidly growing sphere of vegetation in the blink of an eye. Yue Shi was submerged within it, his figure no longer visible.
However, the moment the vine sphere stopped expanding...
Sizzle—!
A strange, ear-grating sound emanated from inside the sphere. The vibrant, emerald-green vines began to wither and decay at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually all shriveling up.
In just an instant, the massive vine sphere disintegrated and collapsed, turning into a pile of withered branches and dead leaves.
Yue Shi still stood in his original spot, not even a corner of his clothes ruffled. He merely twitched his fingers slightly.
It was a matter of attribute countering.
The decaying curse was the natural nemesis of the Life Vine.
Sensing the threat, the surrounding vines let out more urgent rustling sounds and rapidly retreated, snapping themselves off to discard the parts tainted by the decaying aura.
Yue Shi casually grabbed a vine that was a bit slow to retreat.
Sizzle, sizzle—
The decaying curse spread rapidly along the vine. The vine shuddered violently and, without hesitation, snapped again in the middle to dump the contaminated section.
Yue Shi began to walk forward. Wherever he went, the vines retreated in succession.
Any vine that was too slow to withdraw would be brushed by his fingertips, immediately resulting in large patches of withered necrosis.
He strolled leisurely up to the second-floor restaurant. In the hallways and private rooms, the density of the vines increased significantly.
Soon, Yue Shi reached a private room. The door had long been crushed by the vines, and the tables and chairs inside were covered in writhing greenery.
Yue Shi struck out casually but did not stop.
He continued deeper. The vines parted to make a path before him and silently closed up behind him. They seemed terrified of him, yet also seemed loath to let him go.
In a corner, Yue Shi saw a bewitching, flamboyant flower in full bloom. Its petals were layered and stacked, showing an unnatural, deep crimson hue.
And in the very center of the flower, a woman's face was embedded!
The face had clear features and was still quite attractive, but it displayed a strange expression—a mixture of greed and terror.
Below the flower was a withered female corpse wearing a chef's apron. The shriveled face was identical to the one in the center of the flower.
"You smell so good... let me have a taste, okay?" Upon seeing Yue Shi, this human-faced flower actually spoke with an incredibly longing tone, making such an unreasonable request.
The response it received was Yue Shi's hand, transformed into talons.
He grabbed the stem of the human-faced flower, the decay spreading as he simultaneously yanked upward with force.
Crack—!
The vine was forcibly torn apart. The face in the center of the flower immediately twisted in pain, letting out a piercing shriek: "No!"
Subsequently, a small patch of vines surrounding this human-faced flower withered and decayed at high speed. The remaining vines retreated even faster, leaving an empty area around Yue Shi.
The human-faced flower in Yue Shi's hand, along with the agonized human face, withered within seconds and was heartlessly tossed to the ground.
Looking at the vines still writhing in the distance, Yue Shi knew that the main body of the vines wasn't dead yet.
He followed the direction in which the vines were concentrating and retreating, eventually stopping at the entrance to the restaurant's kitchen.
The kitchen door had been crushed. Inside, dozens of bewitching human-faced flowers stood tall. They swayed slowly, their petals emitting a blurred luster; at first glance, it looked like the beautiful scenery of a sea of flowers blowing in the wind.
Unfortunately, the center of every single flower was embedded with a human face, making this beautiful scenery eerie and grotesque.
Below the flowers was a large pile of shriveled corpses, clearly the victims from the restaurant.
Yue Shi even saw Mr. Wang among them. A newborn human-faced flower was growing out of his eye socket. In the center of the flower was Mr. Wang's face, filled with shock, rage, and resentment, still daring to glare at Yue Shi.
"Found you at last."
"The scent is so sweet."
"Come, be my fertilizer..."
Dozens of flowers spoke simultaneously, their voices overlapping to form a multi-layered reverberation filled with the most primitive greed and desire.
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