Chapter 400: Flower of Death

Surrounding the factory building now was a forest of the dead.

These dead people resembled those from the observation post and the Information Gathering Team only their condition was far more severe.

The people from the Information Gathering Team and the observation post hadn’t been influenced by other wills yet. So even after death they still did what they wanted. But the ones surrounding him now were a group of dead people whose own wills had vanished completely.

So what were they?

Batteries using their own suffering to create mental monsters?

Lu Xin was reluctant to think about how these people would feel if they still retained their perception.

He had seen the tears on that girl’s face which already provided all the answers.

It seemed the Research Institute’s previous worries weren’t entirely baseless.

Living people could be turned into batteries, so how could the Abyss not possibly descend upon the human world?

…

“Brother what do you want to do?”

His adorable Sister leaned on Lu Xin’s shoulder her fine black hair gently brushing against his cheek in the wind.

Beneath his feet the dim lights from all around stretched Lu Xin’s shadow into a distorted elongated shape.

Like a ferocious centipede.

Lu Xin could feel the excitement within the shadow. Father at this moment was like a… oh like a righteous chef eager to intervene upon seeing injustice impatient to bring the ingredients back to the kitchen and let them accept their fate.

Mom stood quietly to the side a smile on her face sighing softly, “What a great opportunity…”

Lu Xin took a deep breath closing his eyes then opening them again.

His pupils constricted slightly his voice softer and gentler than usual, “The higher-ups said I’m the only living person left in the wasteland right?”

“If the higher-ups said it then it must be true…”

“So let’s make sure I’m the only living person left in this wasteland…”

…

*Rustle…*

As he spoke his figure suddenly stretched out. Pushing off the metal roof with both feet he lunged forward rapidly.

At the same instant countless chilling gazes from above the black forest of the dead surrounding the entire factory building shot towards Lu Xin’s position.

Pale mental monsters formed from countless overlapping figures emanating a suffocatingly thick aura of hatred and pain underwent a strange transformation.

Their forms suddenly unfurled the overlapping pale mental entities extending outwards.

This made them look like flowers blooming one after another growing out from the dark forest of the dead.

Each pale mental entity was a delicate petal.

In the center of the petals was an eye with countless pupils each pupil radiating intense emotion.

Pain sorrow regret despair helplessness.

One had to admit these flowers possessed a strangely perverse beauty.

…

*Buzz…*

As Lu Xin charged forward the shadow beside him rapidly expanded outwards enveloping the area around his body in darkness. As he ran closer to the forest of the dead the shadow grew deeper and deeper.

It suddenly surged upwards like a cold dark tide crashing heavily towards the forest of the dead.

*Swish!*

Simultaneously in the direction Lu Xin charged a pale flower blooming above the forest of the dead flew out.

This flower exquisitely brilliant emerged from the forest and collided with the black shadow.

The moment it contacted the shadow the ground was suddenly gouged by an invisible wave creating a deep pit.

Loose soil flew high into the air like crashing waves.

Even the raindrops in the air paused momentarily before suddenly shattering.

Pale petals and the black tide tore at each other a tremendous roar echoing through the air.

Lu Xin’s forward momentum was abruptly halted and his figure stumbled backward.

He flipped in mid-air landing lightly on the factory roof.

His pupils instantly constricted.

*Grind grind grind…*

Lu Xin heard the sound of teeth grinding beside his ear. It was his angry Sister her pretty little face contorted. Her small hands gripped his shoulder tightly feeling as if her fingernails had pierced his flesh her body trembling with rage.

*Crash!* A piece of metal sheeting was ripped off crumpled into a ball by an unseen force while still in the air.

That was Father losing his temper. Lu Xin could even hear him cursing, “Damn it! Damn it! Bastard! Bastard!”

Lu Xin considered trying to calm them down but held his tongue.

Because he realized he was angry too.

“That flower was actually that formidable formidable enough to…”

“Push me back?”

“So infuriating…”

…

Angrily looking up he saw the pale flower in that direction had vanished.

Along with it large swathes of stiffly standing dead people toppled like rows of silent wooden planks.

It seemed that single clash had exhausted all their mental entities.

“Things like this might not be easy to deal with…”

Mom spoke softly, “Did you gauge the psychic power level of such a soul flower?”

Lu Xin frowned deeply and nodded.

When he first saw the observation post staff who mutated after he revealed the fact of their deaths he had already reached a rough conclusion.

Each deceased person could generate approximately 200 to 300 units of psychic power.

This psychic power could stack and rapidly merge into a mental monster possessing terrifying psychic power levels.

Just ten such dead people could create a mental monster with 2000 to 3000 psychic power.

Such a mental monster if placed within the high walls would be enough to cause major chaos and be classified as a Level 2 threat.

But just now when that flower was torn apart how many people fell?

A hundred? Or two hundred?

So just one flower like that could instantly unleash tens of thousands in psychic power?

No wonder it could push him back.

As Lu Xin pondered this question he looked up again.

Then he saw pale flowers blooming one after another above the forest of the dead.

They were particularly striking in the deep night.

Those pale flowers woven from agonizing mental entities seemed to possess an extraordinarily stunning allure at this moment.

Making one want to kneel before them and weep silently.

…

The surrounding air began to feel incredibly heavy.

As if the density of the air was infinitely increasing becoming like water of the same volume like metal of the same volume.

It pressed in from all directions crushing Lu Xin at the very center.

Even the spot where Lu Xin had charged through and destroyed a pale flower had already been filled by others.

*Ding ding ling ling…*

The gentle music continued to play crisp and soft simple and monotonous.

The singing voice however grew increasingly fervent and agitated:

“Devote yourself to truth await the gods. Feel the pain transform to eternal life.”

“The gods descend the world watches. The gods descend the masses prostrate.”

…

A whimpering female voice drifted continuously in the air like background music for the slowly blooming flowers of death surrounding them.

*Thump thump thump…*

Lu Xin felt his own heart pounding heavily.

There was a very strange sensation.

It seemed his heart was beating in time with the rising and falling rhythm of the song speeding up speeding up endlessly speeding up.

“Humans truly are intelligent creatures…”

Mom praised with a smile sighing softly, “It’s merely a simple stacking of mental energy yet they can create such beautiful flowers. I think whether it’s the person who researched using people as petri dishes for pain or the person who researched this mental entity fusion technique or even the person who thought of this method to create a field… they are all quite remarkable beings.”

Lu Xin frowned slightly. When would Mom ever change this habit of making sarcastic remarks?

Looking up he saw the pale flowers blooming in the forest of the dead beginning to detach from the rows of bodies. As if weightless they floated two or three meters above the ground like clusters of will-o’-wisps slowly drifting towards the factory building.

Layers upon layers of mental fluctuations emanated from around them.

Sensing these mental fluctuations Lu Xin subconsciously felt a surge of pain and negativity.

There was a feeling of wanting to abandon everything to embrace those pale flowers.

Simply put those dazzling flowers held a strange allure making one want to draw near.

But this closeness was dangerous.

Lu Xin thought carefully recalling a similar feeling.

Standing on a high floor looking down that feeling of both fear and the urge to jump was just like this.

However the allure of these flowers was clearly much stronger.

Crucially this pollution was inescapable.

*Swish…*

A Flower of Death floated to about seven or eight meters away from Lu Xin its petals simultaneously curling inward.

At the tip of each petal was a human face.

These faces old and young bore different emotions the only similarity being their extreme pallor.

They seemed greatly displeased with the sole living person within the envelopment of this forest of the dead their gazes filled with extreme malice.

After contracting sharply they suddenly shot outwards.

Seven or eight elongated white shadows simultaneously coiled towards Lu Xin.

Also as these “petals” unfurled Lu Xin saw the center of the flower. Inside was also a face.

It wore a vacant smile staring fixedly at him.

…

Lu Xin frowned his figure blurring into a long line as he shifted three or four meters sideways dodging the “petal” attack. Simultaneously he pushed off forcefully with his feet crumpling the factory’s metal sheeting as his body shot off in another direction.

Clashing head-on with these Flowers of Death was clearly disadvantageous. Lu Xin chose to leave this place first.

But he hadn’t expected that at this moment at one end of the factory building deep within the Forest of the Dead.

A red-haired woman was gently placing a music box on the ground.

Inside the music box was a globe with swirling snow. In the center of the globe a woman sang softly along with the music.

Watching Lu Xin rushing towards the east she slowly bent down and turned the music volume to maximum.

…

Those pale flowers formed from the fusion of countless suffering mental entities contained terrifying psychic power but their speed wasn’t fast. Lu Xin had more than enough time to dodge their attacks and rush out of this big pit into the Forest of the Dead.

He just hadn’t expected that after rushing only seven or eight meters forward his shadow suddenly slanted out behind him.

*Swish!*

The shadow directly collided with the previous Flower of Death.

Father’s power was extremely formidable.

Upon impacting the Flower of Death immense power instantly penetrated inside it.

This flower originally formed from the fusion of various painful mental entities was like blocks of different shapes and colors barely holding together. As Father’s power seeped in the entire flower instantly collapsed releasing chaotic streams of mental turbulence.

*Whoosh…*

Lu Xin who was charging forward at full speed suddenly sensed something amiss turned sharply and raised his hand defensively.

A powerful mental turbulence surged towards him. Lu Xin felt like he’d been hit by a tidal wave sliding back three or four meters.

The muddy ground was directly plowed into two deep grooves by him.

Although this level of mental impact wasn’t enough to injure him its force clearly couldn’t be ignored.

“What are you doing?”

After blocking the mental impact Lu Xin immediately looked towards Father.

He already knew the danger of these Flowers of Death and had dodged them specifically to get out first.

But who would have thought Father would actually act on his own?

This was just like traveling through a forest with a bratty kid who suddenly pokes a hornet’s nest for no reason.

“Heh I should be asking you what you’re doing!”

Father’s eyes were bloodshot extremely dissatisfied, “These wastes are worth you running away from?”

“Destroy them! Utterly destroy them!”

…

“Destroy my foot…”

Lu Xin almost laughed out of anger saying, “Didn’t you see how many of these things are here?”

He felt his choice was correct. This forest of the dead contained far more than he had encountered earlier. Lu Xin had no idea how many dead people the enemy had mobilized but it was clear their numbers were increasing.

If every Flower of Death possessed a level of pressure that even he felt then clashing head-on with them was certainly unreasonable.

Temporarily leaving this encirclement and finding the mastermind was the proper course of action.

Who’d have thought Father would get stubborn now?

“Heh heh so what?”

“Destroy them all…”

Father sneered. Lu Xin’s shadow moved on its own suddenly surging expanding as it rushed towards a distant Flower of Death.

“Come back!”

Lu Xin was startled quickly standing up clenching his fist.

He used this method to forcibly restrain Father preventing the shadow from spreading wildly.

“What are you doing?”

Father was clearly exceptionally furious, “I’m helping you and you’re actually holding me back?”

“Brother isn’t holding you back you’re causing trouble.”

Sister joined the fray leaning on Lu Xin’s back yelling at the shadow on the ground, “You’re not behaving.”

“You damned girl you deserve to be chopped up alive!”

Father raged his shadow rising as if solidifying into a human form advancing towards Sister.

Sister hid behind Lu Xin shouting, “Come at me! I’m not afraid of you…”

“What time is it to be arguing?”

Lu Xin was also getting angry unable to waste time persuading them.

His body tilted strangely to the side dodging a petal attack then quickly dashed left.

But now he had to prevent Father from angrily attacking those Flowers of Death dividing his attention. His dodging became somewhat strained a petal almost wrapping around his calf.

“Listen to me first…”

Lu Xin glanced down whispering, “Let’s get out first then…”

“Heh heh it’s precisely because we listen to you that people always look down on us…”

Father roared furiously his body seeming to rise from the shadow itself letting out a sinister shout, “Take this chance kill them all! Kill every single one! From now on no matter what they are no one will dare look down on you! They will only fear you forever…”

“By then you will be…”

…

“Enough.”

At that moment a voice sounded beside him. It was Mom frowning, “Don’t you feel you’re being very abnormal?”

“Me abnormal?”

Father roared, “The most abnormal one is you! Meddling in everything every day yet being all secretive yourself…”

Mom’s expression turned cold glancing at Father.

Father’s following words instantly stopped but the anger radiating from him clearly intensified.

“Trying to scare us again!”

Sister hiding behind Lu Xin grew angry instead, “You run off to play by yourself every day never taking me with you…”

Mom glanced at Sister whose voice immediately lowered muttering softly:

“You’re a bad woman…”

…

“Ah this…”

Lu Xin’s head started to ache.

He didn’t dare stop moving at this moment only by maintaining constant motion could he dodge those Flowers of Death which seemed drawn to him relentlessly floating closer.

His feeling of helplessness was worse than the situation itself. This should have been a time for the family to work together yet unexpectedly they started arguing and so fiercely at that.

“Let’s not argue…”

He could only try to mediate neutrally saying to Mom:

“Of course I’m not targeting anyone specifically but in such an intense battle you do seem rather passive.”

“Look the three of us are already giving our all but you’re just standing aside making sarcastic comments…”

“And Father your temper is so bad completely uncontrolled…”

“And Sister why are you still so immature so thoughtless…”

…

Silence suddenly fell around them. From within the shadow Father’s eerie gaze turned towards him.

Sister tilted her head observing Lu Xin with a strange look.

Mom had a faint smile on her face her gaze gently landing on Lu Xin’s face.

…

Lu Xin’s heart trembled feeling a bit guilty.

How did those words just slip out?

But amidst this guilt he suddenly realized something.

Something’s wrong.

There’s a problem!

He himself had actually started venting dissatisfaction.

But this was his family. They had always accompanied him taken care of him.

Clearly in his heart he only felt endless gratitude consideration tolerance understanding and affection… right?

But why at this moment did he actually feel some dissatisfaction towards them?”