The apocalypse is coming, but thankfully I have a harem of paper dolls.

Page 23

Along the way, looking at the giant vines entwined on the nearby buildings, Dreyer said quietly, "Although these plants have damaged the buildings, they then fall into a deep sleep and hardly move anymore. To be honest, I don't even think they pose any danger."

“As long as you don’t try to disturb them,” Zyra replied calmly to Derek. “These giant vines are just longing for sunlight.”

While listening to Derek and Jera's conversation, Archina had a different opinion. She quickly brought up the danger she encountered last time she went to Shuijingwan Park with Luo Jiajun and Akiyama Rinko.

After listening to Archina's story, Zyra slowly said:

"Then let me walk at the front of the line, I'll calm those restless little ones down."

Since the distance was not far to begin with, the group arrived at the main entrance of the park while they were talking.

After receiving Luo Jiajun's approval, Jiela walked ahead to clear the way.

Wherever she went, all the deformed plants behaved peacefully.

Even the highly aggressive snake plants and man-eating flowers that Luo Jiajun encountered when he brought Achina and Akiyama Rinko into the park last time did not show any intention of attacking Luo Jiajun and the others. They simply swayed in the wind, presenting a strange yet natural beauty.

“Most of them just don’t like being disturbed, and some are indeed restless, but I’ve subdued them,” Jera said, turning to Luo Jiajun and the others who were following closely behind her.

As soon as she finished speaking, she gently waved her hand.

Several deformed flowers by the roadside, now the size of washbasins, had their petals suddenly become much more vibrant in color.

She not only intimidates them, but she also makes these "little guys" like her.

Seeing this, Luo Jiajun had only one thought: with Zyra, it seemed that he could now roam freely in this apocalyptic version of plant mutation.

……

five minutes later.

"Whoosh!"

"Beware!"

With a whoosh, a vine-like tree root that had suddenly attacked Zyra was severed by Akiyama Rinko's sword.

Ok……

It doesn't mean you can just roam around like a madman.

Not all mutated plants are willing to be close to or submit to Zyra.

For example, the "source of corruption" that has now come into the view of Luo Jiajun and others.

Luo Jiajun clearly remembered that when he last saw this towering ancient tree, its branches were almost bare, as if they had all turned into thorny, withered leaves and detached from the tree. But today, the towering ancient tree had grown back with lush, verdant leaves.

Furthermore, between Luo Jiajun and the others and the source of corruption at the edge of their vision, a large expanse of open land remained the same as before, with the ground covered by a complex network of roots.

However, the numerous dead leaf mummies that had previously come here to weep and worship have all disappeared.

What's most bizarre is that at the base of the tree trunk, which is dozens of meters high and the source of the decay, hangs a strange, contradictory figure in a hollow only two meters high. Its upper body has rosy skin, while its lower body is as withered as wrinkled tree bark. Its left half is slender with breasts that are distinctly female, while its right half is strong and muscular, more like a male.

Luo Jiajun clearly remembered that before, there was only a human-shaped outline formed by intertwined tree roots in this tree hole. He never expected that only a day had passed, and the "person" inside had almost become real.

Right now, standing at the very front of the line, I'm looking across at the strange man in the tree hole.

“Rotten, gloomy, decay…” Jera murmured softly.

Then he turned to Luo Jiajun and said, "Its roots are completely rotten; there's no cure."

"Swish swish swish~!"

Just as Zyra finished speaking, more roots, like tentacles, flew out from the open ground ahead and attacked.

Rinko Akiyama rushed out and slashed repeatedly with her sword. In the flash of the blade, a large number of roots were severed, and bright red blood spurted from the cuts.

"This thing is like a spirit!" The more Luo Jiajun looked at it, the more frightened and strange he felt.

At the same time, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble.

The dense, intricate root system ahead began to wriggle and sway, like a swarm of snakes dancing wildly.

But just as these roots were about to take hold, Zyra suddenly spread her arms and let out a low growl, as if summoning something.

In an instant, accompanied by a dense rustling sound, a large number of emerald green vines with bright red thorns broke out of the soil in front, which was covered with the roots of ancient trees. Like chains, they tightly entangled all the restless roots and suppressed them all.

"Master, now is the time!"

After suppressing hundreds of roots, veins were faintly bulging on Zyra's forehead, showing that such a large-scale operation had taken a toll on her.

Seeing that Zyra had directly suppressed all of Corruption's roots with her ultimate, Luo Jiajun was about to call for the others to attack together, but at that moment, Corruption's branches began to shake, and a large number of green leaves fell off the branches with a rustling sound. (The remaining text appears to be unrelated and possibly machine-generated gibberish.)

These leaves turn yellow and wither at a visible rate after being detached from the branches.

They fell densely and slowly in the air, forming a tattered, yellowish curtain that momentarily covered the original body—the ancient tree known as the "Source of Corruption."

The lesson of Archina's experience is still fresh in our minds. It was only because Archina, as the tankiest front-line tank in every sense of the word in the team, had extremely high virus resistance that she was able to withstand the toxins of the bristly dead leaves before.

If Rinko or Delaire were poisoned, it would be uncertain whether they could withstand it. Therefore, Luo Jiajun had to temporarily suppress his thoughts of charging into battle and only said to Delaire, "Use magic to bombard that tree from a distance!"

Upon receiving Luo Jiajun's order, Delaire stepped forward and raised his hand to release an energy blast formed from condensed magic.

The magical projectile, shimmering with blue and white light, passed through the curtain formed by fallen leaves, then sank without a trace, as if it had disappeared into the sea.

Delaire's eyes narrowed, and his right hand's five fingers tightened and curled inward, immediately condensing an energy ball that shone with blue light in his palm again.

When the second energy blast passed through the curtain formed by the fallen leaves, Luo Jiajun, whose physical condition was now extraordinary and whose eyesight was even more amazing, took a closer look and found that the tree hole at the bottom of the tree trunk, the source of the decay, had already closed.

Draiel's energy blast struck the tree bark, merely turning the wrinkled bark completely black, without causing any effective damage.

At the same time, from the soil where a large number of thorny vines and roots were intertwined and struggling, withered arms suddenly emerged.

Soon, one after another, the mummified corpses burst from the ground and pounced on the thorny vines summoned by Zyra. They ignored the thorns piercing their withered bodies and simply opened their mouths to tear at every green vine.

"Well……"

Zyra groaned, standing stiffly in place, completely motionless. Clearly, by unleashing her ultimate power to suppress the entire root system of the source of corruption, she had also immobilized herself. As the summoned thorny vines were torn apart by the numerous desiccated corpses bursting from the ground, her pressure began to multiply.

Luo Jiajun immediately recognized that these newly emerged mummified corpses were definitely related to the withered leaf mummies from before. It was practically a hardcore version of Plants vs. Zombies, making Luo Jiajun's expression even more grave.

"Rinko, go and deal with those mummies!"

"Dreyer! Provide long-range cover for Rinko!"

"Archina! Protect Jera!"

Under Luo Jiajun's calm command, the situation quickly stabilized. Although eliminating one dried corpse after another amidst a multitude of tangled thorns and roots while avoiding accidental injuries was quite troublesome, Rinko and Delaire did an excellent job. One was a melee fighter, and the other a ranged fighter, and both their sword skills and spells were executed with remarkable precision.

Achina also stood beside Zyra on Luo Jiajun's orders, focusing all her attention on protecting Zyra. She could see that if Zyra hadn't suppressed the hundreds of roots covering the ground in front of them, the difficulty of this battle would have at least doubled!

However, Luo Jiajun's arrangements only resolved the crisis, not the victory.

At this critical moment, someone needs to step forward and strike at the heart of the enemy!

"...You're unlucky to have met me."

Gazing into the distance, at the "source of corruption" hidden by the curtain of fallen leaves covering the tree trunks, Luo Jiajun slowly drew his weapon.

“Sizzle~!”

With the ability to manipulate electricity activated, the half-sword held by Luo Jiajun's hands no longer just gleamed with a cold light, but was also wrapped with wisps of electric arcs.

"Whoosh!"

The next second, Luo Jiajun moved with lightning speed, shooting forward like an arrow released from a bow.

"Xiao Luo!" Seeing Luo Jiajun rush out without a word, Achina, who was guarding Jiela, was immediately alarmed, fearing that something might happen to Luo Jiajun.

Even though she had already witnessed Luo Jiajun's Terminator form, she didn't think too much about it at first; she was only worried about Luo Jiajun's safety.

Rinko Akiyama and Dreyer were briefly distracted as a result.

"Leave me alone! Just do your own thing!"

Luo Jiajun continued his sprint without stopping, and shouted with a rare display of the spirit befitting a leader, his tone filled with an unquestionable air.

Despite the dense thickets of thorns, vines, roots, and mummified corpses that had not yet been cleared away as obstacles along the way, Luo Jiajun, whose physical condition had improved and whose running speed and agility were now far beyond that of ordinary people, quickly approached the main trunk of the source of decay.

Facing the endless, bristly, withered leaves slowly falling from the sky, Luo Jiajun didn't even blink. With a "whoosh," he passed through the curtain of fallen leaves.

Of course, the consequence of doing so was that he was immediately covered with a lot of thorny, withered leaves.

Some landed on his head, some clung to his chest, and some rested on his shoulders.

But Luo Jiajun was incredibly fast. So fast that the thorny, withered leaves had barely landed on him, the thorns not even having time to pierce his skin, he was already in front of the tree trunk, aiming at the spot that had been a hollow but had now closed, leaving only a tiny crack—

chua~!

A sword pierced through!

"Zizi..."

An electric arc danced across the sword.

Amidst the swaying branches and the rustling sound of falling leaves—

Luo Jiajun saw that thick, dark red blood was seeping from the gap where he had stabbed with his sword.

unexpectedly!

In the blink of an eye, the gap opened up like a door!

The moment the tree hollow reappeared, the inhuman, ghostly thing hidden inside, perhaps the true "source of corruption," suddenly emerged. Its slender, woman-like left arm and thick, man-like right arm instantly clamped down on Luo Jiajun's neck, locking it shut. Even though the half-sword with "lightning enchantment" in Luo Jiajun's hand was stuck in the creature's waist and abdomen, it did not affect its strength at all, and it was about to strangle Luo Jiajun to death at any moment.

"Blood...flesh..." Luo Jiajun, whose face had turned red from being choked, heard the ghostly thing uttering a hoarse, neither-male-nor-female voice.

But Luo Jiajun showed no fear of death; only a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.

As soon as Luo Jiajun had a thought.

The next second—

Zhila~!

A burst of dazzling electric light erupted from his body.

The intense radiance engulfed Luo Jiajun's figure.

When that momentary flash of light faded.

The ghostly thing in the tree hole had its arms forcibly pried open by a pair of incredibly thick claws.

Transform!

A monster, its entire body blue like will-o'-the-wisp and resembling a "ghost," appeared.

—Biological Terminator!

Without much fuss, Luo Jiajun, now the Terminator, not only easily pried open the ghostly thing's arms in the tree hole, but also easily twisted them off.

"what!!!"

The monster immediately let out a shrill scream.

Even more monstrous than this creature was the Terminator, Luo Jiajun, who then grabbed the ghostly thing's waist with both hands, trying to pull it out of the tree hole as if uprooting a willow tree. However, the lower half of the ghostly thing seemed to be completely integrated with the tree hole or the trunk, and even with Luo Jiajun transformed into the Terminator and his strength increased to a terrifying level, he was unable to pull it out.

But having already done all this, why would Luo Jiajun easily back down?

Under the horrified gaze of the inhuman eyes of the "Source of Corruption," the Terminator, resembling a descended Thor or a monster wreathed in will-o'-the-wisps, suddenly swelled his muscles even more, sprouting spikes! His body began to change from deep blue to yellowish-green!

evolution!

Alien Terminator!

"Roar--!"

The next second, accompanied by a roar from Luo Jiajun's throat that was even more terrifying than a tiger's roar.

“Swish~!”

The source of decay in the tree hollow had its entire upper body torn off by him!

Under the force, his upper body flew backward along with Luo Jiajun, flying outside the leaf curtain.

Outside, Zyra, Archina, Rinko Akiyama, and Draiel were all keeping an eye on Ye Mu.

When "Luo Jiajun" flew out carrying the upper body of the source of corruption, which had been torn off, the four women were stunned.

"Do not……"

The source of corruption, which had been forcibly torn off by Luo Jiajun, let out a miserable scream in Luo Jiajun's arms.

Luo Jiajun then rolled over, stood up, and threw the mangled remains of the source of corruption onto the ground.

Then it bent down, like an ancient ferocious beast breaking free of its shackles, and suddenly swung its claws.

Swish!Swish!Swish!Swish!