Chapter 176 Fighting the poison tree

Chapter 176: Chapter 176 Fighting the poison tree

Meanwhile, Kai was watching everything with growing suspicion.

The conversation had confirmed something he had already begun to suspect.

They weren’t simply confused about how they had returned.

They were missing pieces of their experience.

And the more they tried to remember, the less certain they became.

Suddenly, a strange chill swept through the sitting room.

The air had been relatively warm a moment earlier, but the temperature dropped so quickly that everyone noticed.

Kai rubbed his arms.

"What is that? I could’ve sworn a snowstorm was about to hit us."

He looked toward the windows, then back at the others.

Nobody had used their powers.

At least, nobody he had seen.

Yet the room had become noticeably colder.

Luna finally lifted her head.

Her expression had changed.

The confusion in her eyes was gradually giving way to something sharper.

"You guys were worried about me, I see."

She looked at each of them.

"And you want to know what happened, especially you, Rowan."

Rowan turned toward her.

Luna raised a hand before anyone could interrupt.

"But let me tell you something. I have my own mouth and my own expressions. Nobody should speak on my behalf unless I give them permission. If I’m here and capable of speaking for myself, allow me to do it."

Rowan immediately understood that she was referring to him.

He opened his mouth, perhaps intending to apologize, but Luna continued before he could say anything.

"Don’t feel singled out. I wasn’t talking about you in particular."

She glanced around at the others.

"This applies to all of you. I love your attention, but you men need to remember that you have one another too."

Her voice softened.

"We’re supposed to be a family, aren’t we? And that means being there for each other. You should protect one another instead of worrying about protecting me more than yourselves."

She paused, studying their faces.

"Do you think I’ll be happy if I survive and all of you die?"

Nobody answered.

The question seemed to catch them off guard.

They were so accustomed to putting Luna’s safety first that they hadn’t considered how she might feel if she were the only one left alive.

Luna gave them a small smile.

"So do for them what you would do for me, love. Look after each other. Protect each other."

Her smile gradually faded.

"And as I said, something isn’t right."

She forced herself to stand.

The movement made her head throb again, but she ignored the pain and began examining the room, as she was about to stand the room tilted and she would have fell if not for he holding her balance well.

Something about the surroundings bothered her.

At first, she couldn’t identify what it was.

Then she saw it.

A thick vine curled around the edge of the doorway.

Luna stopped.

Her eyes narrowed.

There were more vines along the walls, twisting around the furniture and spreading across the floor.

She looked toward the windows.

The same strange growth covered their frames.

The entire house was filled with vines.

For several seconds, Luna simply stared.

Then a slow, dangerous smile spread across her face.

"Nice try, tree."

The others turned toward her.

Luna walked toward the dining table, her eyes fixed on the vines.

"I know what’s happening."

She glanced at the men behind her.

"Well, maybe I didn’t know before, but thanks to my men, I think I do now."

She reached the table and picked up a knife.

The moment Kai saw what she was doing, his expression changed.

"Luna, wait!"

But she had already turned toward one of the vines.

The others reacted at once.

Ethan moved first, followed closely by Rowan, both of them rushing toward her. Adrian stepped forward too, while Kai watched with his heart pounding.

For a moment, they thought Luna was about to hurt herself.

But she wasn’t aiming the knife at her body.

She drove it straight into the vine.

The reaction was immediate.

A sharp, unnatural hiss filled the room.

The vine convulsed, twisting violently as though it had been stabbed in a living body. Its surface changed before their eyes, and the illusion surrounding it shattered.

Suddenly, the others could see it clearly.

The vine wasn’t an ordinary plant.

It was a thick, writhing tentacle attached to something far larger.

More tentacles emerged from the walls and floor, thrashing wildly as the creature reacted to Luna’s attack.

The floor cracked beneath them.

Furniture toppled over, and the walls trembled as the entire room began to collapse.

"What the hell—"

Kai barely managed to get the words out before the ground split open.

The others stumbled backward as the illusion twisted around them.

The familiar sitting room distorted, stretching unnaturally before breaking apart like glass.

For a brief moment, Luna saw the house unravel around her.

The walls disappeared.

The furniture vanished.

The men standing nearby dissolved into shifting shadows.

Then everything snapped back into place.

They were no longer inside the base.

They were back inside the massive vine cocoon.

Luna found herself bound tightly among the thick roots, her body suspended inside the living prison.

Her eyes flew open.

She was awake.

Fully awake.

And now she understood what the creature had been doing.

It had trapped them inside an illusion, making them believe they had escaped the island and returned to safety.

It had given them a false home, false memories, and a false sense of security.

All while their real bodies remained trapped inside its grasp.

Luna looked around at the vines coiling around her.

Then she laughed.

It wasn’t a frightened laugh.

It was the kind of laugh that came from someone who had finally figured out the enemy’s trick and was no longer impressed by it.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared into the darkness beyond the cocoon.

"Bitch, enough!"

She pulled against the vines, her smile widening.

"Let us out if you don’t want me to burn your entire tree down!"