A Narrow Escape (Part One)

The eighteen of them set off at once, passing through several residential districts that had long since fallen into ruin before finally nearing the Municipal Building.

A vast open square stretched before the Municipal Building. The decorative fountains were coated in thick dust, and clumps of weeds sprouted across the square amid all manner of scattered objects. The place looked desolate.

The Municipal Building had a three-tiered structure.

The first tier comprised the Municipal Hall and its adjoining floors. Rectangular in shape, it covered an enormous area.

The second tier was an offset, cube-shaped section rising from that huge base, giving the building a distinctive look.

The third tier was a square tower rising above the cube. It had likely been built for government departments that were not fully open to the public. Among the surrounding residential blocks and streets, it towered over everything else.

"This is one of the areas we need to survey, but something about the Municipal Building feels strange," Jingjing said. "Have you noticed those plants? Instead of growing toward the sunlight, they've all pushed into the Municipal Hall. It makes no sense."

Mu Nujiao also studied the Plant Element. She examined the dark, bark-covered growths, which looked like neither vines nor trees.

The growths were incredibly thick. Some were as wide as an adult's torso.

They had threaded through the windows, doors, and vents into the hall at the building's base, then spread unchecked across its spacious interior.

The Municipal Hall had once been bright and open, but the growths now crowded out even the sunlight. It was gloomy inside, less like entering a building than stepping into a jungle of vines.

"Leave one or two people outside to back us up. Everyone else, go in," Lu Zhenghe said.

"Wait. Don't rush in," Zhou Sining