Plants vs. Zombies for All: I Can Add Passives to Plants

(The fist grazed past Kelp!!! It was really just a tiny bit away! Just a tiny bit! Kelp had nearly been turned into seaweed paste!)

Its leaves trembled violently. It took a while before it recovered, unfurling again and obediently continuing to release oxygen.

Third column of the fourth row, Power Lily quietly watched the scene.

Its layered petals quivered slightly, and another patch of green light condensed at the center of its stamen, all absorbed from the Zombies that had just died.

The corners of Power Lily's mouth curled into a faint arc, revealing a sweet, slightly bashful smile.

Power Lily: (⊙?⊙)

"So I'm this useful." Her smile held an innocent sense of fulfillment, not pride, but more the comfort of discovering that she could help too.

"Ribbit—"

Before Power Lily could savor that sense of achievement for more than a few seconds, Toadstool was back in business.

First row, the final Zombie—Toadstool's tongue shot out like it had a scope mounted on it.

That tongue was covered in tiny mucus glands. It drew an arc through the water, accurately wrapped around the Zombie's waist, and yanked hard.

The Zombie did not even have a chance to struggle.

Its body was dragged toward Toadstool's mouth by the tongue. Its rotten hands flailed twice in the water, but it was useless.

(Toadstool: The more you struggle, the more excited I get.)

Toadstool opened its mouth wide and swallowed it in one bite, its cheeks bulging as if stuffed with a basketball.

It chewed twice with force. A muffled thud sounded in its throat, followed by a satisfied gurgle.

[HP +20]

[Zongzi +2]

Toadstool burped. Golden light flashed over its body, and 50 sunlight burst forth.

Lin Yue leaned against the control console and raised a hand to wipe away the fine sweat on his forehead. Bok Choy's attacks were simply too terrifying.

Lin Yue lowered his head to look at the panel, swiping his fingers across the screen to bring up the current resource data.

The blue glow of the screen reflected in Lin Yue's pupils. The numbers on it made him relax slightly.

Sunlight: 150.

Zongzi: 116.

One hundred and sixteen zongzi was already quite a lot.

He quickly ran through the plant exchange list in the event shop. That amount was enough to exchange for a rather decent plant.

But which one?

Lin Yue frowned and thought for a moment before making his first decision.

Spend 150 sunlight to summon Chomper in the fourth column of the first row.

Chomper's roots sank into the submarine's planting slot with a faint "puff," clinging firmly to the flat surface like suction cups.

Its iconic huge mouth was tightly shut, with a ring of tiny spikes around the edges of its lips. It faced rightward, toward the area that even Bok Choy's ultimate could not cover.

With Chomper stationed there now... it could be said to be quite safe.

Then he opened the zongzi exchange interface.

Lin Yue's finger passed over one plant after another before finally stopping on a yellow five-pointed star.

Starfruit.

The starfruit veteran players from the first generation always talked about.

Five points, five directions, five firing lanes.

In this submarine environment surrounded by Zombies from all sides, this kind of omnidirectional firepower was practically tailor-made for them. Starfruit's ultimate, in particular, could solve most of their problems.

[Spend 100 Zongzi—Exchange: Starfruit]

Starfruit

HP: 200

Ability: Five-Point Star (fires stars in 5 directions)

Passive: Awaiting scripting...

A golden-yellow Starfruit appeared in the submarine.

Its main body was a plump five-pointed star, its surface smooth like amber congealed from sunlight. The tips of its five points glimmered faintly, poised and ready.

"Passive ability, awaiting scripting." Lin Yue stared at that line and began operating the interface again.

Every time the system allowed a custom passive, it meant another test. The system would judge it based on the passive effect he entered. If he wrote something too outrageous, it would be rejected; only something just right would pass. Sometimes, the system even patched in extra effects.

Lin Yue turned to glance at the busy Cattail kitty.

If only Starfruit could share some of the kitty's burden.

A thought suddenly flashed through Lin Yue's mind—rotation.

True, high-speed, controllable rotation.

If Starfruit could rotate, then the stars fired from its five points would no longer passively cover five fixed directions. It could adjust its angle at any time and support any lane.

If Zombies came from the left, it could turn left. If the pressure on the right grew heavy, it could angle right, like a rotating turret that could adjust its fire coverage at any time.

Then the kitty would not have to work so hard.

And the more Lin Yue thought about it, the more excited he became. Starfruit's Energy Bean ultimate fired five streams of stars in five directions at once.

If it used its ultimate in fixed directions, at most one firing lane would hit the direction packed with Zombies. The other four would most likely fire into empty space, a complete waste of firepower.

But what if rotation were added?

During its ultimate, Starfruit could spin at high speed, its five streams of stars sweeping through the water like five golden whips, covering all 360 degrees without blind spots—

(Basically getting a free skin... Angel.)

That image was too beautiful.

The entire screen would be cleared by a barrage of golden stars.

Lin Yue did not hesitate any longer. In the passive scripting field, he entered two words: Rotation.

[Rotation... Evaluation passed—]

That line of green text popped up on the screen. Before Lin Yue could celebrate, the prompt box continued with the second half.

[Additional effect: The faster the rotation speed, the faster the attack frequency]

Lin Yue stared at the panel, blinked, then blinked again.

"So... the faster it spins, the more bullets it fires?"

He reread the system description and confirmed that he had not misunderstood it.

Originally, he had only wanted a simple rotation function so Starfruit could flexibly adjust its firing direction.

But the system did not see it that way. The system thought the "Rotation" passive was too simple, not exciting enough, and casually added an extra effect: attack speed was tied to rotation speed.

The faster it spun, the more frequently it fired stars. Did that mean that as long as it spun fast enough, it could unleash its ultimate whenever it wanted?

Lin Yue's breathing stopped for a moment.

He began imagining uncontrollably.

If the rotation speed was high enough, how terrifying would Starfruit's damage output become?

What if it activated its ultimate in that state?

Its ultimate already fired five streams of stars at once. Add the bonus from absurdly high attack speed, and Starfruit's ultimate while spinning at high speed—

Wouldn't that clear the entire screen? It might not be very effective against boss-type Zombies, of course, but for clearing mobs, it would be absolutely awesome—

Lin Yue pulled his wandering thoughts back and forced himself to stop daydreaming for now and focus on what was in front of him.

Starfruit's planting position was set—the second column of the first row.

He had carefully considered this position.

Chomper was in the fourth column of the first row, facing right and responsible for intercepting Zombie assaults from the right.

Toadstool was positioned toward the left side of the first row, facing left and handling the scattered Zombies from that direction.

With its rotational direction, Starfruit could support both sides and even help relieve pressure in the other rows.

The golden five-pointed star slowly rotated in its planting slot, the light on its five points brightening and dimming like breathing.

"Starfruit... please take care of us from now on..."

Starfruit's five points trembled lightly, as if nodding hard.

The golden glow around it suddenly brightened, brimming with energy.

Starfruit: ☆(≧?≦)☆

With Starfruit joining them, the situation became much easier over the next stretch of time.

Scattered Zombies occasionally poked their heads out of the darkness. They were either sniped from afar by the kitty's spikes, or they entered Starfruit's firing range and were blasted so hard by the golden star barrage from its five points that they searched the entire seafloor for their heads.

As the star bullets flew through the water, they left sparkling golden trails behind them. When they struck Zombies, they made a crisp "ding," like metal colliding.

The Snorkel Zombies were staggered by the hits. After only a few steps, they sank to the seafloor.

Only the Deep-Diving Zombies had a chance of getting close... but only close.

Lin Yue also discovered something interesting. When Starfruit spun at high speed, the edges of its five points stirred the water and generated a faint thrust.

That force was not strong, but it really was slowly pushing the submarine to shift direction slightly.

The movement was extremely subtle, but at a crucial moment, it might create some strange chemical reaction.

Then Lin Yue noticed another, even more exciting detail.

Planting Power Lily... had begun.

When Bok Choy defeated those Zombies, something strange happened.

Whenever a Zombie was defeated—whether it had been shot by the kitty or taken down by someone else—the instant its body dissipated, several extremely tiny green motes drifted out from its remains.

Those motes were smaller than mung beans, translucent emerald-green in color. They drifted leisurely through the seawater like fireflies scattered by the wind.

They did not sink. Instead, they floated against the current, one by one, all drawn toward Power Lily.

When the green motes landed on Power Lily's petals and merged into them, the petal surface glimmered faintly.

As more and more motes accumulated, the Energy Pea inside Power Lily also condensed faster. Originally, it took a long time to form one, but now the speed was visibly increasing.

Zombie corpses nourished Power Lily, and Power Lily in turn provided ultimate energy for Bok Choy and Starfruit.

A perfect cycle.

Lin Yue was so excited by this discovery that the corners of his mouth rose of their own accord—

"Boom—"

A deafening blast erupted from the darkness ahead. The sound traveled through the water and the hull, muffled and heavy, like someone striking a huge bell on the seafloor.

The Cattail kitty's fur instantly stood on end, and its tail shot straight up like a feather duster.

Lin Yue abruptly raised his head and looked toward the observation window.

Ahead, in waters that had been pitch-black moments ago, a submarine staggered out of the darkness.

That submarine's hull was pitted and uneven, covered in dents and scratches from impacts. A half-meter-long gash ran along the side of the vessel.

Even more alarming, Zombies packed the waters around that submarine.

Deep-Diving Zombies, Conehead Zombies, ordinary Zombies—there were all kinds, and a great many of them. A quick glance put the number at over twenty.

They clung to the hull, pounding it with their fists, biting it with their teeth, and scraping it with their nails, producing dense, piercing sounds of friction.