Level 5 Demon Seed: Spore Fruit

The Demon Seeds were not the only things that had disappeared.

Jiang He found that even the gasoline burning on the ground earlier had been completely extinguished.

The square fell dark and silent once more. As time passed, even with the concentrated fireball in his hand, its light could no longer reach two meters.

The atmosphere was eerie to the extreme!

A faint glow flickered around the arum in the distance. That inconspicuous light seemed like the only "sanctuary" in the space!

For an instant, Jiang He seemed to see a dark sea before him, with a lighthouse shining in the distance as his destination.

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

A faint sound came from overhead, jolting Jiang He awake just as he was about to fall into a hallucination.

The familiar sound instantly set alarm bells ringing in his mind. Almost without reacting, he reflexively hurled the fireball and dodged to one side.

He looked up, but everything around him remained dark.

His eyes, enhanced by his ability, seemed to have stopped working.

"Darkness Invasion!"

Jiang He recalled one of the Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum's skills from the system's description!

The scene before him certainly fit the skill's name.

The rustling continued to echo in his ears.

He waited a long time, but no attack came.

Burning with curiosity, Jiang He took cover behind the urn and mustered the courage to head deeper into the cave!

[Ding]

[Congratulations, host. You have obtained the weird object, Bearded Face Skin (automatically multiplied by 2 under the double effect). Would you like to spend 50 System Points to appraise it?]

A notification suddenly appeared before him, evidently thanks to automatic pickup.

He took out the two skins covered in beards and put them with the Sequence Crystal from earlier.

He did not appraise them immediately, however. He closed the page and continued forward.

The arum's glow was faint, but it was enough to illuminate the space around it.

Only when Jiang He walked beneath it could he see the scene clearly through the gaps in its enormous leaves!

"Eating skewers???"

Rows of Demon Seeds had been threaded onto straight vines in long skewers and fed into the arum's enormous pistil. As its curved petals opened and closed, it looked just like a human eating barbecue!!!

Such an extraordinarily human-like action could not possibly be a good sign!

[Ding]

[Level 5 Demon Seed, Spore Fruit, detected nearby. Would you like to spend 100 System Points to appraise it?]

Holy shit!

Could there be another Demon Seed nearby?

Jiang He cried out inwardly and quickly scanned his surroundings, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

Just as he was wondering about it, an indicator box suddenly appeared at the edge of his vision.

It was a notification from the system!

Jiang He strained his eyes and saw that a black fruit had appeared at some point above the arum's enormous pistil.

As the petals continued to devour Demon Seeds, the fruit kept growing!

"Appraise!"

[Level 5 Demon Seed: Spore Fruit]

[Level: Lv2]

[Description: A fruit condensed by a level 5 Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum after using Symbiotic Embers. Packed with the essence of its entire body, it can provide nourishment after its ascension.]

[Unique skill, Cross-Dimensional Sublimation: When consumed by a supernatural creature, it grants all the Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum's abilities and raises the creature's level to Lv5. When consumed by a Superpower Sequence, it grants a chance to obtain 20% of its abilities. Ordinary creatures and humans who consume it will be transformed into lesser Demon Seeds.]

"A Superpower Sequence can eat it too?"

After listening to the system's announcement, Jiang He stared at the black fruit high above, a fervent look in his eyes.

For an ordinary Superpower Sequence, a chance at obtaining 20% of its abilities meant risking their life to climb the arum and snatch the fruit. The danger was naturally out of proportion to the reward!

But he had the system. As long as he obtained the fruit, he had a 100% chance of gaining a derived ability!

Besides, with the urn, it would not be difficult for him!

"I have to snatch the fruit before this thing finishes ascending!"

With that thought, Jiang He struggled to overcome his fear and reached out to climb the branches and leaves in front of him.

The Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum was a creature formed from the fusion of tobacco and devil arum spores. Most of the leaves on its lower half were tobacco leaves, and their surfaces were not smooth, making them exceptionally easy to climb!

Whew!

Standing on the highest tobacco leaf, Jiang He slowly let out a long breath and looked up again.

By now, the petals had nearly finished devouring the Demon Seeds.

[Level 5 Demon Seed: Spore Fruit]

[Level: Lv3]

Seeing the fruit's level keep rising on the system panel, Jiang He was frantic!

He knew very well that the fruit would ripen at the same time the arum completed its ascension.

Once it could turn its attention elsewhere, he would have no chance!

"I have to go faster!"

Clenching his fist, Jiang He reached to his waist and drew the Bloodsucking Dagger.

The petals on the upper half were very smooth, so he would need a tool!

Psh!

Jiang He plunged the dagger into a petal, took out his bundle, and strapped the urn to his back before moving again!

Compared with the arum's enormous size, these little wounds were naturally nothing. At such a critical moment, it had no mind to spare for a bug that could turn invisible.

That made things easier for Jiang He!

Before long, he had climbed halfway.

By then, all the Demon Seeds had been devoured, and the light inside the petals was noticeably brighter. The arum was probably concentrating on digesting the nutrients.

[Level 5 Demon Seed: Spore Fruit]

[Level: Lv4]

Jiang He did not dare pause for a moment. His dagger flew, cutting handhold after handhold for him to climb.

Just as he was about to reach the tip of the petal, he suddenly noticed something was wrong!

The petals, which had originally been closed tight against the pistil, had opened at some point.

They were no longer pressed against the pistil.

That meant that even if Jiang He climbed to the top of the petal, he would not be able to reach the fruit on the pistil!

"Damn it!"

Looking at the black fruit, which was about to reach level five, Jiang He clenched his fist again!

After all that effort, was he going to fail at the very last step?

The petals were still opening. The longer he waited, the farther apart he and the fruit would be!

Jiang He now had only two choices:

1. Descend with the petal to a safe height, then escape before the arum completed its ascension.

2. Leap onto the base of the flower, then look for a chance to snatch the fruit.

The first path would get him nothing but his life.

If the second succeeded, the rewards would be enormous. If it failed, he could die!

Jiang He made his decision with barely any hesitation!

He pushed off with his right foot and shot straight toward the base of the flower.

Damn it!

I've come this far. It would be too much of a waste to give up!

I dared to assassinate a Weird as an ordinary person right after I was reborn. How could I chicken out now?!

In this apocalypse, if you don't fight for yourself, you can only become someone else's stepping stone!

Thud!

He slammed heavily onto the platform at the base. Even with Jiang He's powerful body, falling from such a height made his blood churn.

But he had no mind to pay attention to his body now. He looked up at the top of the pistil.

[Level 5 Demon Seed: Spore Fruit]

[Level: Lv5]

Seeing the system's notification, Jiang He's anxious mood eased considerably!

It was too late to climb up. He needed to find another way...

He stepped forward to a giant cocoon.

Jiang He was no stranger to this thing!

It was exactly what Liu Lu had looked like before she was swallowed!