The Mutant Fish Mint grew from a tiny plant that could fit in a palm into a towering tree in the blink of an eye, shooting toward the clouds and rooting itself inside the base.
One enormous leaf spread like a giant umbrella, covering the sky overhead.
The once-bright West District went dark, and the pungent smell of fish mint gradually filled the entire base.
It seemed to be doing this for the first time, too.
Its body swayed precariously, its supporting roots trembled, and cracks spread through the ground they gripped. But it held on with everything it had, filling the entire base with the scent of fish mint.
The Base Chief and the others all smiled.
Most of the Vampire Mosquito crisis inside the base had been resolved.
With a moment to catch his breath, the Chief Base Director ordered, "Maintain the lockdown. Burn the Vampire Mosquito corpses as quickly as possible, eliminate the remaining mosquitoes, and keep planting fish mint..."
They still couldn't let their guard down.
The Mutant Fish Mint had done its best. They had to do theirs, too.
Once all the arrangements were made, the Base Chief murmured, "I wonder how the Special Affairs Office is doing. Can they eliminate the Mother Organism? That's the true source of this disaster."
["Reporting: the Mutant Blood-Sucking Mosquito Mother Organism has been eliminated. Mission complete."]
The Base Chief's head snapped up.
Beside him, Elder Li, Dr. Yan, and the others' eyes lit up.
Outside the base.
Exposing M and killing the Mutant Blood-Sucking Mosquito-Sheng An had completed both of today's objectives. From the moment she confirmed Hao Jingye's superpower, she had known they couldn't keep him here today.
What they had to keep here was the Mutant Blood-Sucking Mosquito.
Sheng An raised her head, looked at