Chapter 481: Summoning

Chapter 481: Chapter 481: Summoning

The next day, Lily Hart got out of bed, pulled open the curtains as usual, and stood by the window brushing her teeth.

Suddenly, she noticed something. ’Huh? Why have the plants in the distance grown so much taller?’

That area was full of condemned buildings, all uninhabited. When she looked yesterday, that vine had just crested the wall; she could only see its very tip.

Looking again today, it had already climbed quite a ways up the wall. ’Is this normal?’

She felt that it wasn’t normal, whether in the apocalypse or in a civilized era.

Her motto had always been "if you don’t know, ask." While still brushing her teeth, she pulled out her Light Brain and opened the window.

She aimed it at the wall, zooming in again and again. The pixel resolution on the System-provided Light Brain was absolutely insane; the picture was crystal clear.

She took a picture of the entire wall and sent it to the shopkeeper group chat, adding a voice message describing the height she had seen yesterday.

They were all smart people; they would understand what she meant.

She also forwarded the messages to Elder Shaw and the other three, telling them to be on alert.

Only then did she put away her Light Brain and continue brushing her teeth and washing her face. But in the shopkeeper group chat and on Elder Shaw’s end, all hell had broken loose.

A barrage of messages flooded in, all discussing the phenomenon.

Normally, with the extreme cold, the zombies, animals, and plants should all be in a state of hibernation.

They should be conserving their energy, waiting for the cataclysm to end. But why was there an exception?

An exception meant something was wrong. It demanded attention so that they could avoid danger as much as possible.

After Lily Hart finished washing up, she came down to the first floor and, on a whim, stepped out of the RV.

She went looking for a plant she’d seen while wandering around a couple of days ago. Back then, it was just a tiny green sprout.

’It wasn’t even as big as my finger. Could it have changed too?’

She remembered it clearly because there was a large rock next to it, which served as a landmark, like a planted flag.

In fact, it was because of that big rock that her curiosity had led her to take a look that day.

Good grief. Before she even got close, she saw it. The green sprout that had been smaller than her finger...

...was now as tall as the rock. Taller than her!

It was thicker than her thigh and swaying in the wind, completely unaffected by the minus-twenty-degree temperature.

’Ridiculous. Unbelievable.’

Lily Hart hesitated to go any closer, even though she was still within the RV’s safe zone.

’Who knows if that plant will suddenly go berserk? I happen to value my life very much, thank you.’

"System, run a scan."

[A normal plant. No signs of mutation. It is safe.]

Lily Hart relaxed and took two steps forward, stopping at the edge of the safe zone.

She observed it closely, becoming fascinated. The plant seemed to sense her presence.

It kindly extended a leaf toward Lily Hart. It was long and thin, somewhat resembling a rope.

Lily Hart felt like it was going to strangle her and instinctively took a step back.

The leaf froze, hanging in mid-air, as if to say: ’Seriously? You’re backing away?’

Lily Hart remembered the System’s two words—"it is safe"—and stopped her stubborn legs from retreating further.

She also remembered her own ’character setting’—she was a magnet for zombies, animals, and plants.

Take Owen Warren, Lily, Nana, King, and Jay-Jay for example—the moment they saw her, they all wanted to get close and snuggle.

’Oh, right. My blood is extraordinary.’

The System sighed. ’This woman’s memory is extraordinarily bad!’

Seeing that Lily Hart wasn’t retreating anymore, the leaf tentatively crept forward a tiny bit.

It was really just a tiny bit, the width of a finger. Lily Hart almost didn’t see it.

She also extended a finger, making a little contact with the plant.

The instant the tip of the leaf touched Lily Hart’s finger, it was as if it had been electrocuted. It trembled all over.

Lily Hart: ?

She also shook her arms a couple of times, clearly mimicking it.

System Translation: [The other one is just overly excited. And you are...? May I ask?]

"None of your business," Lily Hart said haughtily.

She reached out and poked the leaf again. It trembled all over once more, shaking so hard that another leaf fell off.

Its leaves looked like snakes; Lily Hart really couldn’t appreciate the aesthetic.

So she didn’t bother to pick it up. The plant, displeased, manipulated the fallen leaf, making it wriggle forward.

Now it looked even more like a snake. Speechless, Lily Hart had no choice but to pick it up, crumple it into a ball, and stuff it in her pocket.

The plant was happy now and started trembling all over again.

Lily Hart waited for it to finish trembling before asking the question that had been on her mind. "How did you grow so fast?"

The plant spent a long time trying to understand and analyze Lily Hart’s question, but it couldn’t figure it out.

It couldn’t understand human speech anymore. It just sounded like gibberish.

After all, it was just an ordinary plant, not even a First Rank mutated creature.

The System offered a suggestion. [I recommend you purchase a plant language package, Host~]

"Why didn’t you say so earlier? Install it for me! Right now! Immediately! I want it now!"

[You never asked...] the System said weakly. What else could it do but comply?

After the installation, the conversation between the human and the plant flowed smoothly.

Lily Hart repeated herself. "How did you grow so fast? When I saw you two days ago, you were still in the ground, just a tiny little thing~"

She didn’t forget to make a gesture, pinching the tip of her thumb against the first joint of her index finger.

To show just how tiny it had been.

The plant shook its head, not quite understanding either. "There is a mysterious power summoning us."

Anyway, it received the summons, so it woke up and grew.

It was just that simple.

"What mysterious power? And who is ’us’?" Lily Hart’s head was starting to ache.

"I don’t know what the mysterious power is, either. ’Us’ is... all of our kind. We have all been summoned," the plant told Lily Hart everything it knew.

Lily Hart didn’t understand, but she had a bad feeling about this.

"So what are you going to do after being summoned?" Lily Hart continued to ask.

"We’re waiting for instructions," the plant said honestly while answering her question.

It also kept extending its leaves to touch Lily Hart’s hand, regardless of whether she wanted it to or not.

’Good grief, this whole thing sounds like some major operation, even requiring them to wait for instructions.’

"Alright, alright. You keep waiting for instructions, then. I’m going back to eat breakfast," Lily Hart said, finding the whole thing too bizarre.

And so she said her goodbyes. The plant couldn’t do anything but watch her leave, full of reluctance.

’Wait, it doesn’t have eyes.’

Lily Hart returned to the RV. Frost Shaw was in the kitchen making breakfast. Seeing her, she asked, "Where did you go?"

"I was communicating with a plant. It said they’ve been summoned and are waiting for instructions," Lily Hart said.

"What in the world?" Before Frost Shaw could even fully hear her, Roman Rowe popped out.

So Lily Hart recounted the entire story to the two of them—the beginning, the middle, and the end.

In short, she had a really bad feeling about this.

After explaining to Frost Shaw and Roman Rowe, Lily Hart went and told Elder Shaw the whole thing as well.

They had to take this seriously. They couldn’t wait until the last minute to deal with it.

By then, it would be too late.

The three of them—Lily Hart, Frost Shaw, and Roman Rowe—gathered to analyze the situation. The plants were waking up on a massive scale and growing rapidly.

There were only a few possible reasons.

One, they needed to feed.

Two, a High-level mutated plant required nutrients, which had to be supplied by other plants.

Three, they were planning to band together and attack humans.

And the plants’ nutrients, their food... was humanity! In short, they had to be on guard.

After their analysis, all three agreed it was a reasonable conclusion and synced the information with the others.