Since We're Here

Under the gentle breeze, the Sea of Flowers in front of me was a riot of colors. Although there were no living creatures in this Sea of Flowers, the flowers were blooming exceptionally beautifully.

Previously, Fireworks of Romance would have admired the beautiful scenery here, but after hearing Bai Zhi's speculation about the man-eating Flower Field front of her, she felt disgusted by it.

How much blood and flesh would it take to irrigate such a vast and beautiful Flower Field before us?

However, she was no longer in the mood to focus on such trivial matters.

Could this situation occur because Time Flow Rate differently in the two locations?

After a moment's thought, Fireworks of Romance came up with an idea.

"Time flows more slowly at the mountaintop, while it flows faster at the foot of the mountain. That's why we can see future events from the mountaintop and past events from the foot of the mountain?"

The more he reasoned, the clearer things became, and he began to speak with great interest about Fireworks of Romance.

"And as you just said, this is a Breeding Farm, so speeding up the passage of time in the Breeding Farm to allow more food to be produced is a perfectly normal thing, isn't it?"

"Clear logic, well-defined sentences, you're pretty good, although your physics Teacher might want to punch you..."

Bai Zhi glanced at the other person with slight surprise.

"Don't underestimate me. I'm not some kind of burden."

Fireworks of Romance and Romance gave him a slightly disgruntled glare.

"So, what's our purpose in coming here? This place is so dangerous, and there's nothing worth exploring. Shouldn't we be trying to find a way back?"

"If we want to go back, we can go back anytime. And it's not that we wanted to come here; we were forced to. We'd either die in the Forest or in this beautiful Flower Field right in front of us. If it weren't for that cage that suddenly fell from the sky, we would have gone back long ago. After all, there's nothing worth exploring here."

With a slight pursed lip, Bai Zhi turned his gaze to the Sea of Flowers in front of him.

"But why should we go back so early? Let me get my hands on the stuff first."

"What... uh?"

Following Bai Zhi's gaze, Fireworks of Romance was slightly taken aback when she saw the situation in the Flower Field in front of her.

At some unknown time, a riot broke out in the Sea of Flowers.

The beautiful, harmless flowers of the past have now transformed into ruthless predators. They have pulled their tentacles out of the Soil and are ferociously Interception Kill any creature that ventures into the Sea of Flowers.

The plucked tentacles blotted out the sky, weaving together to form a vast net that even obscured the sun.

During this process, large sections of the Soil ground were turned up, revealing the skeletal remains buried beneath the Flower Field. These included animal remains, remains of Inhuman Existence creatures, and human remains. Bai Zhi even discovered a large number of Number Plate representing the Chef's identities in the Soil.

--There must be quite a few Chef have died in this Sea of Flowers right in front of them.

"That's your Shadowkhan... What exactly did you make them do?"

Her body involuntarily shrank back, and after staring at the raging Sea of Flowers in front of her for a while, Fireworks of Romance turned to Bai Zhi with a slightly incredulous look and asked him a question.

--When the Sea of Flowers rioted, the two of them had already retreated into the woods with great vigilance.

"Just borrowing something."

While tossing a small stone he had hastily picked up from the ground, Bai Zhi shrugged slightly.

"Since we're already here, we should at least bring back some souvenirs..."

Before he could finish speaking, Bai Zhi's eyes lit up slightly. As the pebble he had tossed disappeared in an instant, he suddenly reached out and grabbed something.

At that very moment, the raging Sea of Flowers in front of them all seemed to freeze for a moment, as if time itself had stood still.

"Uh... something doesn't seem too good..."

Bai Zhi's lips twitched slightly. Just as he was about to call Fireworks of Romance to run away, the Sea of Flowers in front of him suddenly surged violently toward the woods.

"Get out of here!!"

Without a second thought, Bai Zhi's hand, which was holding the Fireworks of Romance, vanished instantly. Immediately afterward, two Shadow Guard appeared in place in their place, only to be torn to shreds by the raging tentacles that surged forth the next second.

"No... what exactly did you do?"

Standing atop the mountain, looking down at the Sea of Flowers that had completely erupted and begun to erode the entire Eroded Forest, Fireworks of Romance's lips twitched involuntarily.

"I already said I was borrowing it."

With a pursed lip, Bai Zhi turned around and went back to the stone wall.

"Let's go, there's nothing to do here. If we don't hurry up and leave, that cage will be back."

"Oh..."

The experience was the same as when they first entered; after a brief shift in perspective, they were back in the hall.

However, before Fireworks of Romance could ask Bai Zhi what he had obtained from the Sea of Flowers, Bai Zhi pulled her into the painting depicting a bustling trading market.

The entire sequence of actions took less than two seconds, so much so that she didn't even have time to react before being pulled into the painting in Fireworks of Romance.

The very next second after they disappeared from the hall, a man's figure suddenly appeared silently in the hall.

"... They're gone? This new recruit seems pretty alert... but it looks like that guy's going to have to pay a hefty price."

Looking at the empty hall in front of him, the man reached up and scratched his head.

"But that guy deserved it; he tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead. It's just a shame for me, hetushu. com. com, now I have to clean up the mess..."

The man shook his head slightly, sighed, and then disappeared without a trace.

"... What are we doing here again?"

Looking at the lively and Utter Chaos gathering before him, Fireworks of Romance's lips twitched violently.

She realized that ever since the Sea of Flowers riot, she couldn't keep up with the other person's thought process at all.

What appeared before them was a bustling trading market.

There were countless people selling things, buying things, setting up stalls, and trading.

Of these, humans make up a small portion; the majority are those with physical deformities.

Two heads, three heads, five arms, six legs... Fireworks of Romance thought she had a pretty good mental fortitude, but seeing all this, she still couldn't quite handle it.

And among them, there are some who clearly seem to be Inhuman Existence Anomaly... such as the Mud Swamp Monster that has been following them around since the very beginning, incessantly promoting its own products.

... It stinks horribly.