A faint crease ford between Ivy’s brows. "Who told you that?"
Susan replied quickly, almost eagerly, "Aren’t you searching for a woman with a plum-shaped mark?"
She took a small breath. "I have one."
For a mont... Ivy froze.
Her mind went blank, as if her thoughts had been violently cut off. "What...?"
Her voice trembled slightly. "Susan... show your back."
Susan nodded without hesitation. Slowly, she lifted her shirt, exposing her shoulder.
The air felt still. And then... Ivy saw it.
A plum-shaped mark, resting just behind her shoulder.
Her pupils shrank. ’It’s... her ...’
All this ti, the woman she had been desperately searching for...was right in front of her.
In her previous life, this woman had been extraordinary. She had the ability to grow plants at an unbelievable rate, turning barren land into thriving greenery.
Right now, Ivy didn’t urgently need vegetables... But she needed sothing else.
Greenery. Life.
If the base was filled only with buildings and concrete, it would suffocate people... not just physically, but ntally.
She had once considered using artificial plants.
But real plants... their vitality... their presence...
It was irreplaceable. Taking a breath, Ivy looked at Susan seriously.
"I want you to help grow trees across the entire base," she said.
Susan blinked, stunned. Ivy continued,
"I’ll pay you well. Very well."
She nad the amount... Five hundred points. For a single tree.
Susan’s eyes widened. She was completely dumbfounded.
After all... She hadn’t awakened any powers.
In this apocalypse, she was practically useless.
Her lips trembled slightly.
"I think... you’ve found the wrong person," she said hesitantly.
Ivy froze.
Then realization hit her. ’This tiline ...’
In this life, Susan hadn’t awakened her abilities yet.
Things were different. Circumstances had changed. Letting out a slow breath, Ivy said,
"For now... try getting in contact with zombie crystals."
She looked at Susan seriously.
"If you develop an affinity with one of them... you might awaken your power."
She added, "Focus on plant-type crystals."
Susan frowned slightly. "I don’t have any crystals."
Ivy sighed softly before smiling. "Then it’s simple."
She reached into her belongings and took out a few plant-type zombie crystals, their surfaces faintly glowing with an eerie light.
"Take these."
Susan accepted them carefully, her fingers trembling slightly as she held one.
She stared at it. Waited. Seconds passed. Nothing happened.
She forced a small smile and looked at Ivy. "See... nothing’s happening."
Ivy felt a slight disappointnt settle in her chest, but she didn’t show it.
"Take them ho," she said calmly. "Practice with them."
Susan nodded. Days turned into weeks. For two entire weeks, she tried.
Again and again. But nothing changed. Frustration slowly turned into quiet despair.
’Maybe... I really am useless ...’
Even Ivy began to doubt. ’Did I find the wrong person...?’
But just as hope was fading... sothing happened.
One day, while Susan was holding a plant crystal, completely focused...there was a sudden movent.
A shadow lunged at her. Her instincts scread.
She moved without thinking. And in that instant...a vine shot out.
It twisted through the air, wrapping around her body and pulling her aside, shielding her from the attack.
Susan’s eyes widened in shock. ’What... was that...?’
Before she could process it...she saw the attacker. Her breath caught.
It was her mother-in-law.
The woman’s face was twisted with fury, her eyes burning with hatred.
"How dare you!" she shouted. "You think you can hit my son and get away with it?"
Her voice echoed with venom. "Slut!"
She lunged again... but before she could even get close...another vine lashed out.
In the next second, she vanished. Teleported away.
Susan stood frozen, staring at the space where she had been.
Her heart pounded violently. Then slowly...
She looked at the vine in front of her.
It swayed gently, as if responding to her presence.
A realization dawned. Her lips trembled.
"I... awakened ..."
A smile broke through her tears. She burst into sobs...not out of fear...
But relief. ’I didn’t disappoint her.’ ...’
When Ivy heard the news, her eyes lit up instantly. "You did it?"
Her voice carried excitent. "Start practicing imdiately."
Susan didn’t waste ti.
For the next two weeks, with the help of plant crystals, her abilities grew rapidly.
Vines beca stronger. Control beca smoother. Growth beca faster.
Ivy even considered finding a proper cultivation manual, but none existed.
So they relied on trial and error. On persistence. On instinct.
Susan pushed herself, trying to grow as many plants as possible.
At first, the base only had a few scattered patches of green.
But gradually...more plants appeared.
Then more. Then trees.
With Susan and a few other plant-type superhumans working together, the transformation beca visible.
Just as everything seed to be moving in a good direction, at least from everyone’s perspective, a disaster finally struck, and it did not arrive quietly.
The rain thickened, its relentless drumming turning heavier and heavier until the ground could no longer bear it, until it transford into sothing monstrous, sothing that resembled a flood swallowing everything in its path.
This flood was not ordinary.
It crept forward like a living beast, slowly eradicating nearly half of humanity, swallowing people whole without hesitation.
Those who were far away from Ivy’s base were rcilessly swept away, their screams drowned beneath the roaring waters.
Yet, thanks to Ivy’s aura, those standing near Ivy’s base, those lining up, desperate to enter and hide, remained relatively safe, protected by an invisible force that held the chaos at bay.
But compared to them, those who were far away... those trapped in other bases like the Talon base... they were suffering.
They were suffering so much that, for fleeting monts, death seed like rcy.
The floodwaters crashed directly into the newly established Talon base, tearing through it with violent force, and when Ian saw this, his face twisted as despair clawed at his chest.
"Dammit...!" he cursed under his breath, his fists clenching tightly, ’It would have been better if I had never moved the Talon base near the Ivy’s base."
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