pertwk Chapter 294 Mutant Herbs
Chapter 294 Mutant Herbs
Three kilometers away from the nuclear power plant, there is a secluded plantation.
This plantation covers at least twenty acres and is filled with neat rows of cannabis plants.
When the disaster struck, the plantation workers hid in a nearby tin warehouse and survived on the stockpiled canned food and water.
But just a few hours ago, the once peaceful plantation underwent an unprecedented change.
Those cannabis plants, which were originally only a little over a meter tall, grew to four or five meters in just a few hours.
If this happened in peacetime, the people on the plantation would be very happy, since it would be considered a bumper harvest.
But now, the changes in these marijuana products are terrifying.
The ordinary cannabis leaves had transformed from their normal palm shape into huge fan-shaped membranes, with dense, fine thorns growing along their edges.
The originally slender stems have swelled to the thickness of a calf, and a sticky green sap has seeped from their surface.
Of course, these aren't the scariest things. The scariest thing is... these mutated marijuana plants can actually move.
The marijuana plants seemed to have come to life; their roots were pulled out of the soil and slithered across the ground like snakes.
Furthermore, the blades will suddenly close towards the heat source, and the fine thorns on the edges can easily pierce the skin in an attack.
And what's even more devastating is...
These mutated cannabis plants also release large amounts of strong gas when attacked.
That smell...
"Cough cough cough... Fuck! I inhaled it again!"
A white man with a full beard covered his mouth and nose and staggered away from a row of burning plants.
He was carrying a red gasoline can, which was almost empty.
"Jack! Don't stop! Keep burning! Burn these monsters to death..."
The one shouting was another man, bald, wearing a dirty Hawaiian shirt, holding a propane spray gun, and spraying flames at a mutated marijuana plant that was approaching him.
The moment the flame licked the plant, it emitted a sharp hissing sound, its leaves trembled violently, and then…
A thick plume of green smoke billowed from the burning leaves.
"Hold your breath!!" the bald man shouted upon seeing this.
But it was too late.
A tall, thin man next to him took a big drag of green smoke, froze on the spot, and then gave a strange, silly grin.
"Hey guys... don't you guys feel like... that tree is waving at me?"
"Shit, you bastard, Tom! Wake up! That thing's going to eat you!"
The bald man grabbed Tom by the back of his collar and dragged him away from a mutant marijuana plant that was stretching out its leaves.
The plant's leaves folded up and missed, the tiny thorns on the edges making a teeth-grinding scraping sound in the air.
"Fuck, fuck—"
Jack threw away the empty gas can, turned and ran.
"I quit! This is fucking more disgusting than zombies!"
"Run to the warehouse!"
The bald man dragged the already high Tom and ran wildly toward the tin warehouse.
But they soon discovered that the direction to the warehouse had been blocked.
Several giant mutated cannabis plants had somehow moved to the warehouse entrance, their roots intertwined to form a living plant wall.
The enormous leaves slowly unfurled in their direction, as if opening their arms to welcome their prey.
"It's over." Jack stopped, his face pale. "The road ahead is blocked too."
The bald man looked around.
To the east, the burning plants were still emitting green smoke.
To the west, more mutated marijuana is converging on them.
To the south, the warehouse was blocked.
Now there's only one way out, and it goes in one direction...
"North! Run north quickly!"
The bald man noticed that the plants on the north side were relatively sparse and immediately made a judgment.
Three people, or rather two and a half, because Tom was basically in a half-asleep state, running desperately northward.
As he ran, the bald man used a propane spray gun to spray fire at the plants on both sides, clearing a path that was barely passable.
However, as the pressure of propane decreased, the flame became smaller and smaller.
"It's out of air!" He threw down the spray gun. "Run!"
Just then, a thick root emerged from the ground and wrapped around Jack's ankle.
"Ah—! Help me!"
Jack fell to the ground, and the tendrils began to pull him back.
He gripped the ground desperately, his fingernails carving deep grooves into the soil.
The bald man rushed back, picked up a rock from the ground, and smashed it against the cord.
After being hit three or four times, the roots broke, and green sap splattered all over the ground.
"Get up! Quickly!"
Jack got up and continued running, limping.
The three stumbled and fell off the edge of the plantation and onto a broken asphalt road.
But before they could even catch their breath, they discovered that the mutated marijuana behind them hadn't abandoned them.
The roots of those plants slid rapidly across the ground, almost as fast as a person running.
"Fuck, they're still chasing us!" Jack screamed.
"Run! Run along the road!"
The three people ran as fast as they could along the road.
Tom was slightly more awake by this point, but his legs were still weak, and he was half-dragged and half-pulled forward by the bald man.
Behind them, the mutated marijuana's pursuit slowed noticeably after leaving the plantation, but it didn't stop completely.
A few smaller plants are still stubbornly trying to catch up.
"Shit, they... why are they still chasing us?"
Jack, panting, glanced back at the marijuana plants still chasing after him. "Didn't they say plants don't move?"
"You fucking ask me? Who the hell am I supposed to ask?"
The bald man cursed, "You insisted on staying to watch over your precious marijuana, and now look what happened!"
"How do I know they'll mutate!"
"The whole world has mutated, but your marijuana hasn't? Has your brain been fried by marijuana?"
The two ran and argued, with Tom being dragged along in the middle, muttering, "Guys... I think I can fly..."
"Shut up, Tom!"
The three ran for their lives, and their strength gradually became exhausted. Just when they were about to run out of energy, the roar of an engine suddenly came from the bend in the road ahead.
The bald man subconsciously looked up.
Soon, he saw a dark green armored personnel carrier rush out from around the corner, with a soldier in camouflage standing on the machine gun mount on the roof.
"Someone's there!"
Upon seeing the suddenly appearing troop transport, Jack waved frantically as if he had seen a savior.
"Here! We're here!"
At the same time, the armored vehicle spotted them and braked sharply about fifty meters away.
The troop carrier had just come to a stop when the doors were quickly opened. Miller was the first to jump out of the vehicle, followed by fully armed soldiers.
Miller jumped out of the carriage and quickly glanced at the three people opposite him.
One had a full beard and smelled of gasoline, another was bald and wearing a floral shirt, and the third was clearly in some kind of "ascension" state.
Looking behind them, there were several mutated plants still slowly chasing after them.
Miller's expression was subtle.
"You are... survivors?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The bald man didn't care about anything else at that moment; he rushed forward shouting and yelling.
"Brothers, are you in the military? Help! Those things behind us are going to eat people!"
Miller glanced at the few mutated marijuana plants that had caught up with them, then turned to the soldiers behind him and said, "Flame guns."
Upon hearing his words, the soldier stepped forward with a portable flamethrower, aimed at the approaching plants, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Orange-red flames erupted, engulfing the mutated cannabis plants.
The plants writhed violently in the flames, hissing, before quickly withering and collapsing.
At the same time, a thick plume of green smoke rose up.
Miller immediately covered his mouth and nose, took two steps back, and instinctively warned, "Don't inhale that smoke!"
However, his warning came too late.
The soldier operating the flamethrower took a drag, paused for a moment, then turned to look at Miller with a憨厚 (honest and simple) smile:
"Sir... I think the weather is really nice today."
"..."
Miller sighed.
He turned to the bald man: "What will those plants release when burned?"
The bald man scratched his head awkwardly: "Uh... well... these used to be marijuana, these gases should only have hallucinogenic effects, right..."
Miller's expression froze upon hearing this answer.
"marijuana."
"Yes. Before the mutation, it was marijuana. After the mutation, the smoke from burning it... seems to be much stronger. Many times stronger."
Miller took a deep breath, then immediately realized he shouldn't have, and quickly held his breath and took a few steps upwind.
"Get in the car."
He says,
"Everyone get on the bus and close the windows."
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