Chapter 335: Carboniferous Period 7

The man checked the surroundings one last time. After confirming there was nothing there, he left, somewhat reluctantly.

Meanwhile, Perry Yates was following the guidance of the plants to her next destination.

“Why are all the plants in this area dead?”

Perry Yates surveyed her surroundings.

Although the surrounding trees were still standing, their leaves had withered, and even their trunks had shriveled as if they’d been drained dry.

The shriveled trunks were one thing, but the state of the undergrowth was even more telling. All the plants on the ground were dead. Not just the plants, but the insects too. It was as if she had stepped into a land of death.

Moreover, this death seemed to be spreading.

Just moments ago, she had personally witnessed the fronds of a fern turn yellow, then wither and fall.

Seeing this, Perry Yates was certain there had to be a Card nearby—a very powerful one at that.

‘Could it be a Poison Attribute Card?’

With that thought, Perry Yates popped an Antidote Candy into her mouth and headed toward the center of the area.

The farther she walked, the more horrifying the scene became. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the ground was littered with corpses.

After walking for about ten more minutes, she still hadn’t reached the culprit’s location, which showed just how terrifyingly large this circle of death was.

If she hadn’t sensed the presence of a Card within, Perry Yates would have turned and left without a second thought the moment she saw this death zone.

She mentally reviewed all her cards. The only ones capable of this were likely the Abyssal Roots and the Dodder Seed.

One of those two cards was a pure Wood Attribute, capable of causing widespread plant death by absorbing energy from the ground through an extensive root system. As for the Dodder Seed, it was even simpler: a Wood Attribute plus a Devouring attribute.

However, the Dodder Seed’s ability was more geared toward single-target attacks, while the Abyssal Root System was an area-of-effect Skill. So, if she had to pick one, Perry Yates leaned more toward the Abyssal Root System.

With that in mind, Perry Yates quickened her pace. After another ten minutes or so, she finally found her target.

It was an ordinary-looking plant, not particularly large. If it were on the side of a road, one might even mistake it for a weed.

But Perry Yates recognized it at a glance as the Abyssal Root System. Its appearance was identical to the one on the card…

Perry Yates was about to say the plant’s form was identical to the Abyssal Root System, but the next second, she saw something different on it.

‘More than one.’

Perry Yates twitched a finger, and instantly, three items flew toward her.

When she got a clear look at the three Cards, a flash of understanding crossed her eyes.

“No wonder the plants and insects here all look like they’ve been drained of their life force. So it was you three, gathered together.”

In Perry Yates’s hand, besides the Abyssal Roots and Dodder Seed she had anticipated, there was also a Seed of Life card.

Any one of these three could drain a person’s life completely, let alone all three together.

After absorbing the three Cards, Perry Yates jumped for joy a couple of times.

She now had five Cards in her possession: Bicolor Sunflower, Moon Shadow Stealth, Abyssal Roots, Dodder Seed, and Seed of Life.

Compared to her original fifteen, she had already found one-third of them.

‘Hm, not bad, not bad. I’ll keep it up.’

Seeing that it was getting late, Perry Yates decided to rest here for the night.

The area was full of dead things, so it was unlikely anything would come by.

Inside her Safe House, Perry Yates cooked herself a bowl of crossing-the-bridge noodles. She’d had a sudden craving for carbs but didn’t feel like eating steamed buns.

After eating and drinking her fill, Perry Yates lay on a fluffy carpet, gazing up at the moon and the star-filled sky. As she watched, her eyelids grew heavy, and she gradually drifted off to sleep.

「The third day of the game.」

After waking up, Perry Yates went straight outside. Once she dispelled the barrier above her, the moisture in the air quickly hydrated her skin, making it look as if she had just washed her face.

Choosing a random direction, Perry Yates quickly left the area. She then found a living plant and, after communicating with it, learned that a large number of people who looked like her were gathered at a location far away.

Upon hearing this, she immediately began to travel swiftly between shadows in the direction the plant had indicated.

‘I didn’t expect Moon Shadow Stealth to be this fast.’

Perry Yates marveled at the speed and convenience of Moon Shadow Stealth. However, because she needed to keep an eye out for surrounding plants or strange creatures that might suddenly appear, this was the first time she had used the Skill.

Perry Yates darted quickly between the shadows. As she passed a certain spot, she shot past it but then quickly doubled back.

On a nearby tree, about two meters off the ground, a blue mushroom was growing, emitting a faint fluorescent glow.

She was certain this mushroom was definitely not a species that belonged in the Carboniferous Period.

After she picked the mushroom, it transformed into a Card in her hand as expected.

[Card Name: Mushroom King

Card Level: Two-Star

Card Ability: Can spawn various types of mushrooms. The types are random, with a very small chance to spawn Lingzhi or other higher-grade fungi.]

‘This is good stuff, real good stuff. If I use Ascension on it, I might be able to achieve Lingzhi freedom.’

‘Or maybe not Lingzhi freedom, but something even better than mushrooms.’

‘Speaking of which, there’s another auction after this game ends. The Penglai Immortal Ship has brought in a lot of good stuff from other planes.’

‘It’s been a while since the last auction, so everyone has probably stockpiled a lot of Cards. Time to make a killing.’

‘Maybe I can get some high-potential Cards.’

A few minutes later, when Perry Yates emerged from the shadows again, she had arrived at the location the plants had pointed out.

Upon arriving, she found that the number of players here was even greater than she had expected.

There were ten people in total: six men and four women.

However, the ten of them didn’t seem to be a single group. They were fractured into eight different factions.

It was clear that most had chosen not to form alliances. There were only two pairs, each a man and a woman who looked like they were couples.

Perry Yates hid in the shadows, not revealing herself rashly, because she realized the Card these people were about to confront was not one of her own.

A black bear, over twenty meters tall, was currently fast asleep.

According to Perry Yates’s perception, the black bear’s level was very high—above four-star, but not yet five-star.

Just then, the man from one of the male-female pairs spoke up. “It seems none of us is the owner of this Card. Why don’t we all work together?”