Chapter 367: The golden fruit 78.

She barely finished the sentence before the fruit opened its eyes.

Yan Cijin froze.

There were no literal eyes.

There was only a golden slit that appeared across the skin.

The slit opened.

Energy exploded outward.

Bai Li grabbed Yan Cijin and jumped.

A golden beam swept across the rooftop.

Concrete vaporized.

The wall behind them vanished.

The beam continued into the night sky until it disappeared among the clouds.

Yan Cijin stared.

"That was a fruit?"

Bai Li landed beside her.

"Apparently."

"You sound entirely too calm."

"Panicking wouldn’t stop it."

The fruit’s glow intensified.

Another beam formed.

Bai Li raised Whisperfang.

The blade darkened.

She waited until the instant the beam fired.

Then she cut across it.

The golden energy split around the blade.

Half went to the left.

Half went to the right.

The rooftop behind Bai Li disappeared in two separate explosions.

Yan Cijin stared at the destruction.

"You know, normal people would run."

"We’re not normal people."

"That isn’t exactly comforting."

Bai Li smiled.

"It wasn’t meant to be."

The fruit fired again.

Bai Li moved.

This time she did not cut the beam.

She ran along the trunk.

The golden attack followed her.

She jumped across a branch.

The branch exploded behind her.

She landed on another.

The fruit turned.

Bai Li moved again.

Yan Cijin realized what she was doing.

"You’re making it shoot at itself."

Bai Li did not answer.

She did not need to.

The next beam struck one of the thick branches.

The branch shattered.

The fifth fruit trembled.

Bai Li smiled.

"Got you."

She moved upward.

The fruit fired again.

Bai Li cut through the branch below it.

The entire branch dropped.

The fruit swung wildly.

Yan Cijin loaded another bolt.

"Hold it still!"

Bai Li reached the end of the branch.

She grabbed the fruit stem.

The tree exploded with golden roots.

Bai Li was dragged downward.

Yan Cijin fired.

The bolt pierced the thickest root.

Bai Li pulled upward.

The root snapped.

The fruit came free.

For an instant, everything stopped.

The golden slit across the fruit closed.

The energy vanished.

Bai Li held the fifth fruit against her chest.

The tree went completely still.

Then the entire canopy dropped.

Not toward them.

Away from them.

It fell outward, branch after branch, dissolving into golden particles before touching the ground.

Yan Cijin lowered her crossbow slowly.

"That was it?"

Bai Li looked around.

"I think so."

A deep rumble came from beneath their feet.

Both women looked down.

The roots were still moving.

Yan Cijin sighed.

"Never mind."

The rooftop cracked open.

A huge golden root erupted from the center of the ruined soil and swung across the roof.

Bai Li jumped.

Yan Cijin rolled.

The root smashed through the concrete wall.

Bai Li frowned.

"It really doesn’t want to die."

"Can you blame it?"

"No."

The root struck again.

Bai Li blocked it.

The impact drove her boots backward several meters.

Her arms trembled.

The root was incredibly dense.

Bai Li looked at Whisperfang.

The weapon vibrated in her hand.

"Interesting."

She pushed.

Soul power surged outward.

The black blade cut deeper.

Golden sap exploded.

The root recoiled.

Yan Cijin ran forward.

"Behind you!"

Bai Li turned.

Another root was already there.

She ducked.

Yan Cijin fired.

The bolt struck the root’s side.

The root bent away.

Bai Li stepped through the gap and sliced upward.

The root split.

Two halves fell apart.

The rooftop became quiet again.

This time the silence lasted.

Bai Li waited.

Nothing happened.

She slowly lowered Whisperfang.

Yan Cijin released the breath she had been holding.

"Now?"

"Now."

They looked at the five fruits.

The golden radiance around the rooftop had almost disappeared.

Without it, the tree’s true remains were visible.

The soil around the base was black.

The concrete had been torn apart so deeply that they could see old foundation beams below it. The roots had gone down through several levels of the mall. Some of them were thick enough to fill entire stairwells.

Bai Li crouched and touched one of the broken pieces.

It still carried energy.

"The tree was connected to the building."

Yan Cijin crouched beside her.

"You think that’s why the monsters gathered here?"

"Partly."

Bai Li turned the piece over.

"The tree probably sent its energy down through the roots. The creatures sensed it long before the fruit ripened."

Yan Cijin looked toward the edge of the rooftop.

"So every monster we fought was drawn here because of this."

"Yes."

"And humans too."

Bai Li nodded.

"The fruit was worth enough to make everyone crazy."

Yan Cijin looked at the five golden pomelos again.

She could understand why.

Even now, after fighting for them, the scent made her heart beat faster.

She could feel warmth in her stomach.

Her muscles wanted to move closer.

Her mind wanted to examine the fruit.

Her instincts wanted to consume it.

She did not like the feeling.

"Bai Li."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think the fruit is dangerous to eat?"

Bai Li studied one of the fruits.

"Probably."

Yan Cijin stared.

"That was fast."

"A fruit powerful enough to attract level three zombies across twenty kilometers is not going to be normal."

"Fair."

Bai Li turned the fruit slightly.

The golden patterns under the skin moved again.

"We’ll test it carefully."

"How carefully?"

"Very."

Yan Cijin nodded.

They began checking the rooftop.

The fight had changed everything.

There were deep trenches where the roots had struck.

Sections of the railing had disappeared.

The stairwell door was bent inward.

The roof surface was covered in golden sap that was slowly evaporating.

Bai Li walked to the edge.

She looked down.

The city stretched beneath them.

The mall was one dark block among hundreds of ruined buildings.

For the first time since entering, she could see how high they had climbed.

The streets below were tiny.

Cars looked like scattered pieces of metal.

The zombie-filled intersections they had crossed earlier were almost impossible to recognize from this height.

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TO BE CONTINUED.