Chapter 18

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From beginning to end, Shen Shanwu didn’t sleep at all. The person on the night watch tonight was the lieutenant, but Shen Shanwu could not rest assured that he was awake alone in this barren wilderness.

Because of being hugged by Jiang Huan in his arms, Shen Shanwu always maintained a state of illusion. At about one or two o’clock in the morning, he felt the arms around him shrink tighter and tighter, and he faintly heard Jiang Huan murmuring something. The sound was like a mosquito, almost unheard.

Shen Shanwu also had no hobby of listening to people talking in their sleep. He now focused all his attention on the outside of the temple—

It was too quiet, terribly quiet. The rain had completely stopped half an hour ago, and what followed was a deathly silence.

It’s as if this small temple was isolated from the whole world, isolated in a pure white and silent space.

The lieutenant rubbed his stiff neck, and his protective clothing made a slight rubbing sound with his movements. He didn’t seem to notice anything wrong. After all, it was normal for his ears to be quiet in the middle of the night after the rain.

But if he couldn’t even hear anything with his mutant’s hearing power, it’s very abnormal.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Shen Shanwu decided that he had to go out and take a look. He slowly raised his head from Jiang Huan’s arms and touched the hand that clasped his lower abdomen from behind.

Jiang Huan woke up in an instant, “What’s the matter?”

“…I want to go to the toilet.” Shen Shanwu didn’t realize the broken reason for going to the toilet until he finished speaking. He had really used it for a few days, but not once did he really take off his pants.

The lieutenant also noticed the movement of the two of them. Jiang Huan made a soothing gesture towards him, took the lead in getting up, then pulled Shen Shanwu up from the ground and put on a helmet, “I will accompany you.”

Naturally, Shen Shanwu couldn’t refuse. He nodded, and even took the initiative to take Jiang Huan’s hand and hurried outside. At this time, Jiang Huan was thoughtful. He held down Shen Shanwu, bent over and took out a tube of anti-radiation cream from the outer pocket of the backpack next to Xiaowen, “Apply it.”

“What?“ Shen Shanwu looked at his heavily armed face in mask, hood, helmet, and gloved hands, and said embarrassedly, “No need. I’m young. I’ll be fine soon.”

Unexpectedly, Jiang Huan used his index finger to draw a circle below Shen Shanwu’s waist, “The skin will be exposed. Remember to apply it before and after.”

Shen Shanwu: “……”

Jiang Huan sent the anti-radiation cream forward again, urging, “Hurry up.”

”…” Shen Shanwu took off his gloves with a heavy burden of humiliation, squeezed a little into his palms, then opened his waistband and put his hand in for a random touch, then glared at Jiang Huan angrily, “Okay?”

Jiang Huan felt a little helpless about this child’s rebellion and disobedience and said, “I’m doing it for your own good.”

“I know, but I just like to be unreasonable.” Shen Shanwu raised his eyebrows, and the arrogance between the words wasn’t hidden. If Yao Wuque was here, he would definitely not resist beating him up, but Jiang Huan, as the leader of the team, had a stable personality and didn’t care about children. Holding a lamp in one hand and holding Shen Shanwu’s hand in the other, he led him around to the rear of the lonely temple, selected a hillock with dense vegetation, and said, “Just here.”

Shen Shanwu didn’t take off his pants immediately. He hadn’t left the wall outside the broken temple from the beginning. Every corner of the wall from front to back was covered with turquoise creepers; lush branches; leaf tips all facing down; and the leaves were neatly arranged in layers, like a heavy and huge vine gown, which caged the entire temple under its body.

The inspectors in the team were the first to report the existence of creepers, and they also suggested that the walls that had fallen into disrepair were likely to shatter and collapse due to too many creepers.

It was normal for abandoned human buildings to be occupied by wild plants. Even if there were creepers in the broken temple, it was not surprising. Shen Shanwu didn’t care about this at first, but he was now skeptical of everything. The more he looked at these creepers that were everywhere between the stone cracks and tiles, the more suspicious it became.

Jiang Huan followed Shen Shanwu’s gaze and looked at the wall. He raised the night light, obviously misunderstanding the reason for the long-term stay of the other party’s gaze, “This plant is called a creeper. It is fire and cold-resistant, and its vitality is very tenacious.”

“…” Shen Shanwu took two more steps forward in silence. He was the one who was in a hurry to go to the toilet before, but he was the one who didn’t take off his pants when he got there. Jiang Huan faced the wall and didn’t notice the red light flashing in the eyes of the person behind him. Suddenly, Shen Shanwu asked, “Creeper…are there any flowers?”

“Yes,” Jiang Huan replied quickly. He looked at Shen Shanwu again. There was nothing strange in the other party’s eyes, but he looked at the wall of the small temple without blinking.

Shen Shanwu stood closer to Jiang Huan, “…is it that big?”

“Hmm?” Jiang Huan frowned. He followed Shen Shanwu’s gaze and looked behind him. In the dark corner close to the ground, there were two yellow flowers the size of a basketball blooming. The core was facing the direction of the two of them. At a glance, there was actually a turquoise vine with two eyes on it, staring at them upright like an illusion.

Or maybe it’s not an illusion at all.

Suddenly, a third ‘eye’ appeared in the leaves of the creeper. It stretched its delicate petals against the wind and slowly lowered its flower heart. Just like the drooping eyes, it aimed straight at the two uninvited guests.

“No…” Jiang Huan lowered his voice. He slowly grabbed Shen Shanwu’s arm and said, “This is not a creeper flower. There is a problem with this plant.”

The people around him did not reply to him, but a hand grasped his wrist tightly. Shen Shanwu was like a frightened child who couldn’t help but seek the protection of adults.

But in fact, Shen Shanwu was thinking about how he should protect Jiang Huan and not reveal his identity if the mutant creeper suddenly attacked.

The most annoying thing in the lives of mutants: mutant plants.

The zombie that humans fear and hate the most, in the eyes of the mutants, was a well-behaved thing that could ‘communicate’. They smell the mutants’ breath from afar, and knowing that the ruthless characters couldn’t afford to offend, they took a detour when they encountered them.

The same was true of mutant animals, even with a more sensitive sense of smell, better skills, and faster running.

Only mutant plants, who were so stupid, didn’t understand anything, didn’t care about anything, and didn’t care what living things they saw. However, the weakness of mutant plants lies in the rhizomes, and if they want to kill it, they have to dig the soil first. Lazy mutants were really annoyed about this.

“Don’t make a sound.” Jiang Huan held Shen Shanwu’s hand. He pulled out the umbrella knife from his waist and said softly, “Hide behind me and don’t run around.”

“They have to come out quickly. The temple is very dangerous.” Shen Shanwu raised his head, his voice so calm that he didn’t sound like a child at all.

Jiang Huan had to let go of the hand holding with Shen Shanwu. He clicked the communication button and lowered his voice, “Lieutenant, wake everyone up carefully. Be sure to keep quiet after waking up and leave the temple in an orderly manner, one by one, in the shortest possible time.”

He only said once, and the mobility and execution of the Shanhai team never required the captain to repeat the order a second time.

In less than three seconds, the first member of the team walked outside the house. He pinned the light source to his chest. Judging from his size, it was Yao Wuque. The opponent cautiously held a gun in both hands and looked around the house for a while. Found two people standing like sculptures behind the temple.

He remembered the gesture of the lieutenant asking to be quiet just now, so he just used the gesture to ask Jiang Huan in the distance if he could pass.

Jiang Huan’s hand holding the knife slowly hooked, and Yao Wuque immediately walked towards the two of them.

During this period, Shen Shanwu had been observing the movement of the creeper. Just as Yao Wuque left the house, he keenly noticed that two more yellow flowers were blooming. This time, the direction of the stamens was not towards them but towards Yao Wuque.

Following Yao Wuque’s footsteps, the creeper slowly changed its direction, just like a pair of eyes peeping closely at its prey.

“It noticed,” Shen Shanwu said. There was no need to make it clear; Jiang Huan naturally knew who it referred to.

Another team member appeared in the field of vision. He turned his face to show the direction to the other teammates behind him, but Shen Shanwu tightened his fingers at that moment and grabbed Jiang Huan’s left hand tightly.

The creeper did not bloom two yellow flowers as before. It drilled countless stamens from under the leaves in an instant, and they all bloomed in the blink of an eye. The walls that were still emerald green a few milliseconds ago instantly turned golden. Shen Shanwu cursed in secret, and Jiang Huan’s voice was already ringing in his ears, “Spread out! Pay attention to the creeper!”

Yao Wuque reacted quickly. Before Jiang Huan’s voice fell, he had already turned from walking to jumping, and instantly left his original position. His body was still in mid-air and did not land. There was a chilling sound of corrosion in his ears. He looked back and saw a greenish-green mucus had appeared where he had just set foot. The mucus quickly disappeared into the soil, corroding a deep pit the size of a human face.

If Yao Wuque reacted slower, it would not be the pit that disappeared at this time, but his head.

“Damn it!” He rushed to Jiang Huan with lingering fear, turned around, and saw the huge yellow flowers crawling all over the walls and roof. It was extremely dazzling and disgusting. The thin white stamens were like dense teeth, and they opened to humans on the ground with bad intentions.

Suddenly, all the flowers trembled their petals at the same time, as well as the entire dilapidated temple.

After years of erosion, the mutant creeper had filled every gap in the temple, and at this time, it would undoubtedly completely destroy the temple.

There were a few shouts from a distance, and Shen Shanwu could tell that it was Xiaowen’s voice. It seemed that there were still people staying in the temple before they had time to escape.

“Ugh!” Yao Wuque pulled out his umbrella knife and was about to rush back, but before he could step forward, a force pushed him back.

Shen Shanwu only felt a flash in front of him, and the whole person was thrown into Yao Wuque’s arms by Jiang Huan, and Jiang Huan’s cold and tough order came from above his head, “Protect him here.”

“Captain!” Of course, Yao Wuque was reluctant to stand by and watch outside the battlefield, and had to take care of a nasty bear child, but Jiang Huan didn’t give him a chance to object. After speaking, the person had already arrived five meters away.

Yao Wuque’s hand holding the knife trembled with eagerness, and the blue veins under his gloves must have appeared, but he couldn’t really abandon Jiang Tong, so in the end he could only hold Jiang Tong’s hand bitterly and protect him within his own abilities.

The author has something to say:

Creeper: Shivering

Here’s a look at the timeline:

In the first year of the end of the world, the human Shen Shanwu died; in the third year, Shen Shanwu mutated and resurrected; in the fourth year, Shen Shanwu and Xiao Jiang Huan met for the first time; in the fifth and sixth year, Jiang Huan had been following Shen Shanwu; in the eighth year of the end of the world, there was no connection between them; now it is the eleventh year of the end of the world.

So Jiang Huan has always known that Shen Shanwu is a mutant, and the reason for his death, Jiang Huan did not know.