Chapter 352: The golden fruit 63.

But together, the two women moved like a single force.

They covered each other’s blind spots.

They shared openings.

They never wasted time.

Eventually, the last monster fell.

Yan Cijin leaned against the wall.

Bai Li looked upward.

There was only one flight left.

The golden light poured down the stairs.

It was so bright that it hid the ceiling.

They climbed.

At the top was a small landing.

A single door stood there.

The door was enormous.

Steel reinforced with concrete.

Golden vines wrapped around its frame.

The entire surface was covered in scratches.

Not from human weapons.

From claws.

Thousands of them.

Yan Cijin stared.

"That is it."

Bai Li nodded.

She stepped closer.

The door vibrated.

Once.

Twice.

Then something slammed into the other side.

BOOM.

The entire landing shook.

Yan Cijin steadied herself.

"There are a lot of them."

Bai Li looked at the door.

"Yes."

Another impact.

BOOM.

This time, a crack appeared in the concrete beside the frame.

A deep growl came through the steel.

Then another.

Then several more answered.

The creatures were not fighting each other anymore.

They were all waiting.

Waiting for the same thing.

The golden fruit.

The pulse beneath the door became stronger.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Yan Cijin looked at Bai Li.

For a moment, neither said anything.

Then Yan Cijin quietly asked, "Still ready?"

Bai Li looked at her.

There was a small smile on her face.

"Always."

Yan Cijin smiled back.

Together, they stepped toward the rooftop door.

Behind the steel, something enormous dragged its claws slowly across the surface.

Screeeeech.

The sound made the entire stairwell fall silent.

Then came another sound.

A roar so powerful that every golden vine on the walls lit up at once.

Bai Li’s expression became completely focused.

Yan Cijin tightened her grip.

The door began to bend inward.

Once.

Twice.

The steel groaned.

A thin line of golden light appeared beneath it.

Then another impact struck from the other side.

BOOM.

The door shook violently.

Something slammed into it again.

BOOM.

The hinges screamed.

Bai Li took one step forward.

Yan Cijin stepped beside her.

The golden pulse suddenly stopped.

Everything became silent.

For one strange second, there was no sound at all.

Then the world above them exploded into noise.

Multiple roars crashed together.

Wings beat.

Claws scraped concrete.

Something heavy struck the rooftop.

Something else screamed.

The door shuddered one final time.

A massive shadow appeared beneath the gap.

Bai Li looked at Yan Cijin.

Yan Cijin looked back.

Neither woman moved away.

Neither woman spoke.

The rooftop door began to open from the other side.

And behind it waited the creatures that had survived all the way to the top.

The golden light flooded over their faces.

Bai Li tightened her grip.

Yan Cijin lowered her stance.

The door opened another inch.

Then another.

And whatever waited beyond finally stepped close enough for its shadow to cover them both.

The rooftop door opened another inch.

Then another. ℴ

And whatever waited beyond finally stepped close enough for its shadow to cover them both.

Bai Li did not flinch.

The first thing she saw was not the creature.

It was the tree.

Beyond the opening, the rooftop stretched under a pale, broken sky, and in the middle of that vast concrete expanse stood something that looked almost impossible in a world that had already forgotten how to be gentle. A single golden pomelo tree grew there, its trunk smooth and dark beneath a strange metallic sheen, its branches twisting upward in elegant curves before spreading into a wide crown of leaves. Every leaf carried a faint gold edge. Every branch seemed to hold a thread of warm light under its bark. At the center of the tree, where the thickest branches crossed, hung a handful of enormous fruits.

One fruit was clearly different from the others.

It was larger.

Rounder.

Its skin was a deep, luminous gold, not the ordinary yellow of a pomelo but something richer, almost like sunlight condensed into a solid shell. A soft radiance surrounded it. The glow rolled across the rooftop in slow waves, catching on pieces of broken concrete and old metal and making them look almost beautiful.

Bai Li stared for one second longer than she intended.

Then she understood what had been making the creatures outside go mad.

The smell hit her.

It was not merely the scent of fruit.

It was sweetness, citrus, warm nectar, cold rain, flowers opening after a storm, and something deeper that did not belong to any ordinary fruit at all. The fragrance slipped into her nose and seemed to travel straight into her blood. Her body reacted before her mind could place a reason for it. Her breathing slowed. Her fingers tightened around Whisperfang. Something inside her whispered that she should move forward. Something older and more primitive than thought told her that the fruit was precious, that it could change everything, that she needed to take it now.

Beside her, Yan Cijin drew in a quiet breath.

Her pupils narrowed.

Bai Li glanced sideways.

Yan Cijin was staring at the tree too.

For a moment neither woman spoke.

Then Yan Cijin said softly, "That smells ridiculous."

Bai Li almost laughed.

"Yeah."

Her own voice sounded calmer than she felt.

The rooftop creatures did not have that luxury.

There were four of them.

Three zombies stood in a wide semicircle around the golden tree, their bodies bearing the unmistakable signs of level 3 evolution. They were no longer slow, shambling corpses. Their muscles had developed in unnatural ways, compressed and sharpened beneath dark, hardened flesh. One had an extra pair of thin, jointed arms folded against its ribs. Another had a long ridge of bone running from its forehead down its spine like a second skeleton growing over the first. The third was taller than the others, almost three meters, with one ruined eye and a cluster of pale tendons wrapped around its throat like cables.

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED.