Wasteland: I Awakened A Plant System - Chapter 226: Testing The Effect Of Black Fog

“How is it him again?” Percy shivered all over when he heard that name. “Brother Vikram, did we cause you to be targeted?”

“It has nothing to do with you,” Vikram replied calmly. “They were just rats who kept troubling me, but they couldn’t do anything to me. That’s also why I didn’t mind that you were targeted by Snape.”

After hearing Vikram’s explanation, everyone had a look of sudden realization. At the same time, a glimmer of hope rose in their eyes.

Because the strength Vikram had shown earlier was still vivid in their minds, the electrified territory, hot weapons, and a powerful vehicle. Just these three things were enough for them to admire him, not to mention his own strong physique.

A thought simultaneously arose in everyone’s mind: Was there a possibility of using Vikram’s strength to fight back against the people of Green Wind Shelter?

Thinking of this, their gazes toward Vikram changed, now carrying a deep degree of admiration.

Then Vikram remembered that he hadn’t finished answering the previous question and continued, “Don’t touch those tied-up survivors for now. Later, when you go outside, Ron, light a fire next to them so they don’t freeze to death. I’ll have a use for them later.”

The previous group of people had been tied by Vikram to tree trunks outside the perimeter wall and were currently enduring the cold wind.

Ron listened, stood up, and immediately agreed, “Understood, Brother Vikram!”

“And also, don’t think about doing anything else. Just rest. These twenty people are enough for the other tasks.”

“Okay, Vikram Boss,” the others replied.

As Ron left the dining table, Harry and the rest also greeted Vikram respectfully. After learning that Vikram had no other tasks for them tonight, they returned to their assigned places.

Aunt Ginny, however, was somehow pulled into the kitchen by Anjali. Vikram noticed that Anjali seemed to have said something to her, but he didn’t quite catch it…

The next morning, at dawn, Vikram was already awake from his big bed.

Today was another day of natural disaster changes, and being an early riser, he couldn’t comfortably sleep in.

Sitting on the sofa, he simply steamed corn for himself as breakfast.

While eating the corn, he leisurely checked the messages in the group.

There weren’t many people chatting early in the morning, but yesterday’s messages were very lively.

Since the last time the group chat members soared, with many unfamiliar people appearing, the messages had increased even more.

Most of them were about sharing market material prices.

For example, if a certain material dropped in price today, many group members would voluntarily notify others.

It seemed a bit redundant, but once he considered the possibility of future market function issues, everything made sense again.

Just as he was slowly scrolling through the previous messages, he found someone @-ing him from below.

Looking closely, it was Radhika, who he had a good relationship with before.

[Radhika: Big Boss Vikram, how does a busy man like you have time to check group messages so early in the morning?]

The chat group in the Wasteland World was different from social groups on Earth. As long as someone entered the group chat, their avatar would light up. It was clear at a glance who was secretly checking messages.

Vikram, who was currently using his free time to gather information, was caught red-handed.

Before he could reply, Radhika spoke again.

[Radhika: Big Shot, what do you eat for breakfast? Take a picture and show us, so I can see the difference between me and a Big Shot.]

[Vikram: What’s so good to see in the morning?]

He replied vaguely, only to find Radhika replying instantly.

[Radhika: I’ve introduced many of the original Big Shots in the group to the new members before, and you were among them. Aren’t you going to show off your strength now?]

“Heh heh.” Vikram chuckled helplessly at the remark.

He took a casual photo of the half-eaten corn he was holding and uploaded it, then closed the group chat.

He hadn’t forgotten that he had many important things to do today, things like observing the Survivors who had been soaking in the black fog all day, and keeping an eye on the new members, since he was planning to return to the Hospital ruin soon. All of it needed his personal attention.

But Vikram, after closing the messages, would never have imagined that a simple breakfast photo would cause such a stir in the group…

—

After a simple breakfast, Vikram walked out of the shelter.

He had intended to go check on those new Survivors. As he arrived near them, he saw Ron and his group (except Ginny) already there.

Stepping outside, he observed them quietly.

Noticing Vikram’s appearance, they immediately greeted him.

“Brother Vikram, you’re awake?”

Vikram nodded in response to their greeting, then asked, “What are you all doing here?”

He didn’t recall assigning them any tasks, so seeing them up so early made him somewhat curious.

“Haha, it’s nothing. Now that we’re Brother Vikram’s people, it’s only right for us to help you with some work,” Ron replied with a grin.

“Brother Vikram, I’m telling you, if those Survivors from Green Wind Shelter set their sights on you, you need to be extra careful. Those beasts aren’t very capable, but there are a lot of them, and they’re extremely troublesome. You can’t let your guard down.”

“Look, we don’t have anything else to do right now, so we’re just helping Brother Vikram keep an eye on these Survivors.”

Ron said, waving his hand as if implying that Vikram should go about his business and not worry about them.

After hearing this, Vikram secretly sighed. He thought he hadn’t wasted his time finding these new members, and a hint of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

Finally, he said, “It’s fine. But for now, there isn’t anything that requires extra hands. If you have nothing to do, you can do whatever you like. I won’t restrict your movements.”

Of course, the precondition was that they could only move around in Territory 2 and the outside world. They couldn’t usually enter Vikram’s Territory 1.

“As for watching the situation outside the perimeter wall, only one person is needed. You haven’t been to the observation room yet, have you? It’s right next to your room. Inside, there are surveillance cameras covering all directions around the Shelter, so you can know the situation without having to stand guard in the black fog. And also, don’t disturb Archy and Ranzy there, they don’t like that.”

“That’s about it. I’ll contact you if anything comes up. Disperse now. The black fog is poisonous, and it’s not safe to stay here constantly.”

After hearing Vikram’s words, the group was first surprised by the existence of such advanced equipment as an observation room in the Shelter. Then they nodded, waved to Vikram, and left together.

On their way back, Ron proudly patted his chest. “See? I told you Brother Vikram would never harm us. He even worries about us staying in the black fog for too long.”

—

However, Vikram naturally couldn’t know any of this.

Because he was currently observing the Survivors tied to the trees.

Vikram always felt that his understanding of the black fog was still too limited.

Something that only affected visibility was, compared to the previous two natural disasters, like a light drizzle, neither painful nor itchy. However, the toxicity in the black fog was a problem that could not be ignored.

Earlier, when he was out struggling, the toxins that had accumulated in his body were instantly resolved by the system. As a result, his knowledge of the black fog’s toxicity was primarily gained from the chat channel.

This time, he deliberately tied these trespassing Survivors outside because he wanted to observe the effects of the black fog’s toxicity firsthand.

Yesterday, out of the ten people, two had died on the spot. Of the remaining eight captured, four had died overnight from excessive bleeding after being shot by Vikram’s machine gun.

Now, only four people were still alive, tied to the trees.

Vikram slowly approached the four, his cotton boots crunching softly in the snow.

The Survivors, who had been tormented by the cold wind all night, immediately woke up with a start.

Looking at Vikram approaching, their eyes were filled with terror, but they couldn’t speak.

This was because, for safety reasons, Vikram had stuffed cloth strips into their mouths.

After all, if their screams attracted nearby zombies, he wouldn’t be able to observe the desired outcome.

For others, it might have been a cruel decision, but for Vikram, it was a necessary one. He was not some saint.

Pulling out the cloth strips from the four people’s mouths one by one, Vikram looked at them with a serious expression and slowly spoke, “How are you all doing after spending a night in the black fog? How do you feel?”

Unexpectedly, the four, whose cloth strips had been removed, answered irrelevantly. With faces full of fear, they shouted desperately:

“Brother, I beg you, please let us go! We promise we won’t come to your Shelter to cause trouble again!”

“Yes, yes, Brother Vikram! As long as you let us go, we’ll tell you everything we know about Snape!”

“Hmph,” Vikram scoffed coldly and did not respond to their begging.

He had already learned most of what there was to know about Snape’s Shelter from Harry yesterday. He didn’t need these small-time thugs to tell him anything.

He now only wanted to understand the effects of the black fog’s toxicity from them…

—

Outside the Shelter, Vikram scrutinized the four people tied to the tree, a glint occasionally flashing in his eyes.

At this moment, the Survivors on the tree had their clothes stripped off, shivering constantly in the minus 20-degree Celsius temperature.

If Vikram hadn’t thoughtfully lit a bonfire for them, they would have frozen into popsicles long ago.

The few people, unnerved by Vikram’s gaze, kept shaking their heads.

“Brother, what exactly do you want to do? If you’re kidnapping us, at least give us some clothes to wear.”

“Or… Brother, do you have that kind of fetish?”

Thinking this, the four Survivors gasped in the cold wind, their bodies trembling even more violently.

However, Vikram did not respond to them, still staring blankly at the naked figures.

One of the Survivors, seeing Vikram’s lack of reaction, took a deep breath, as if having made a decision.

Then, with a flushed face, he said, “Brother, if you’re interested in me, just let me go. As for what you want to do to me afterward, I… I’m not entirely against it.”

As he spoke, his body, bound by rope, even twisted around.

“Hiss, you really went all out, you actually stoop to selling your ass?”

The other three, seeing this, looked at him with disgust, ignoring the cold, and furiously mocked the Survivor who had spoken.

“What do you guys know? It’s my good fortune that Big Brother Vikram would take an interest in me. You’re just jealous because he didn’t pick you, aren’t you?”

After the Survivor finished speaking, seeing Vikram remain silent, his tone became even more confident, and he even threw a flirtatious glance at Vikram.

This disgusting act naturally startled Vikram, who was examining the system analysis.

Looking at the naked middle-aged man winking at him, Vikram’s expression instantly twisted.

“My goodness, Snape’s subordinates are all quite something,” Vikram exclaimed, putting the cloth strips and clothes back on the few people.

Although he had been mentally polluted just now, he didn’t immediately plan to deal with these people. He had obtained some of the data he wanted, but it wasn’t accurate enough yet.

After a night of exposure to the black fog, their bodies had already been severely eroded by it.

The first parts affected were their limbs and lungs.

However, they didn’t seem to be showing any significant reactions at the moment. He also found, he has somewhere seen this black fog, but he didn’t remember where?

So he decided to keep them tied there for now and observe them for a few more days.

After collecting some information on the toxicity, Vikram turned around.