Volume Two: To Battle! Chapter Seventy: Crisis

“Honorable Sword Immortal! This bird has destroyed our Tokyo, repeatedly committing evil deeds and causing us great losses. We are deeply grateful that you have helped us get rid of it!” Masao Nakamura bowed as he spoke.

Liu Cong did not avoid him, receiving the bow with an unchanged expression.

Masao Nakamura continued, “Fortunately, there was only one such bird. You can set your mind at ease, Sword Immortal.”

“Ask him again how many mutated creatures capable of releasing special energy have appeared in Japan,” Liu Cong said, turning to Xu Wen.

This time, Masao Nakamura did not answer immediately. He frowned and thought for a moment before replying, “Are you asking about how many high-level mutated creatures exist? At present, no other mutated creature has been found in Japan that can compare with that monstrous bird.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Cong sighed inwardly. The disaster in Japan was so severe—there should be no shortage of T3 and T4 level mutated creatures. He had only just arrived and already encountered a T3-level monstrous bird. Proportionally, there should be even more T3 or T4 creatures here.

Not having been discovered did not mean they did not exist. The only possibility was that those who had seen them were already dead.

“Captain Zhao, you and your team stay here and help them distribute the supplies from the cabin. Also, discuss evacuation plans with them. Find out how they intend to evacuate, and how many people need to be evacuated—clarify all of it. I need to go out and survey the surrounding area,” Liu Cong directed.

“Understood!” Zhao Tian replied.

After glancing at Masao Nakamura and his subordinates, Liu Cong’s body glimmered with a cyan light, and in an instant, he vanished into the air.

The crowd, who moments before had been joyfully welcoming the arrival of the Sword Immortal from Huaxia, broke into panic at the sight of him leaving.

“What’s going on? Why did the Sword Immortal suddenly fly away?”

“Wasn’t he here to help us? Why is he leaving?”

“Did the Prime Minister or someone else say something improper and drive him away?”

Amidst the skeptical and accusatory murmurs of the crowd, Masao Nakamura, helpless, asked his subordinate for a microphone. “Quiet! Please quiet down! The Sword Immortal has only left temporarily to scout the area and will return soon. There’s no need to worry, and no need to crowd here any longer. Please, everyone, disperse.”

After several repeated announcements, the crowd finally settled and gradually dispersed.

“My apologies, Mr. Zhao. I’m sorry you had to witness this,” Masao Nakamura said with resignation.

Zhao Tian nodded in understanding. “It’s all right. It’s understandable that people are anxious in a crisis. Mr. Nakamura, let’s start by sorting through the medical supplies on the plane.”

“Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Zhao.”

...

Liu Cong soared through the air, surveying the land below. The landscape of Japan was not much different from his homeland: all the green vegetation had vanished, replaced by wildly growing purple weeds. The ground was equally scarred, the corrosion from black rain far more severe than back home.

He only halted his flight when a peculiar mountain appeared ahead and descended gently at its foot.

This mountain was bizarre because, unlike other barren mountains, it was covered with black trees. These trees resembled their former shapes but had become taller, more luxuriant, with all their dense foliage turned black, and their thick trunks reaching over thirty meters high.

The entire mountain exuded a sinister aura. If a film crew were to shoot a horror movie here, they could save a fortune on special effects.

“So many vines on these trees—don’t tell me these are the man-eating trees from movies.” Liu Cong muttered as he gazed at the sea of black trees.

After some contemplation, he decided to investigate. Stepping into the eerie black forest, his feet sank into layers upon layers of black leaves, so soft it felt as if he were walking on cotton.

Slowing his pace, Liu Cong walked at a steady speed for over half an hour, only reaching halfway up the mountain. Along the way, he found nothing new; the only thing that struck him was the sheer amount of fallen leaves, as if the entire mountain were wrapped in a thick black shroud.

Another half hour later, he finally approached the summit. The forest scenery was monotonous, not even a stone to serve as a landmark, and the dense canopy above blocked out all sunlight. Were it not for his formidable strength and immunity to the earth’s rotation, allowing him to walk straight towards the summit, he might truly have gotten lost in this mountain.

The black forest was deathly silent along the way—no man-eating trees as he had imagined, no signs of any creatures. Only the rustle of his own footsteps broke the absolute stillness, not even a breath of wind disturbed the air.

At the summit, a vast black pond came into view, filled to the brim with inky water. The pond was large enough to bathe a dozen elephants, yet there were no traces of mutated creatures nearby. At the center of the pond stood a strange tree, entirely jet-black, with even its branches a deep, lustrous black. The lower half of the trunk was submerged in the black water, while the exposed branches above were laden with black fruits, plump and heavy as ripe plums, hanging thickly from the tree.

Liu Cong kept a wary distance from the dark pond, standing aside in deep thought.

Black water was irresistibly enticing to mutated creatures. For such a large pond to remain untouched was baffling. And that mysterious tree at its center—this could well be humanity’s first discovery of a mutated plant capable of producing useful fruit since the apocalypse began.

The forest was thick with an ominous silence, danger lurking in every shadow. After a moment’s hesitation, Liu Cong decided against risking further exploration and chose to leave. His mission was not yet complete. It would be unwise to court unnecessary trouble, and besides, the mountain would remain—there would be time to investigate it later.

Just as he was about to depart, his sharp eyes caught sight of a small mutated snake coiled on a tree across the pond. Motionless, it blended perfectly with the branch, nearly impossible to detect.

“I knew it—there’s no way a pond of black water like this would go unnoticed by mutated creatures. Here’s a snake already,” Liu Cong remarked with a faint smile.

The snake hesitated for a long time, seemingly confirming there was no danger in the pond, then tensed, ready to spring across. The moment its body left the branch, disaster struck: a long black vine suddenly shot out from the fallen leaves beneath the tree, snaring the airborne snake with lightning speed and dragging it into the leaf-littered earth below. The pile of leaves quickly settled, as if nothing had happened.

Moments later, the tree began to shake violently. Countless black leaves dropped from its branches, blanketing the disordered scene of the attack.

In shock, Liu Cong finally understood why there were no other mutated creatures here, and why the ground was so thickly layered with leaves. The trees really were man-eating.

But why had they not attacked him?

Kneeling, Liu Cong carefully brushed aside the surface layer of leaves. Beneath, stark white bones emerged. Steeling himself, he dug deeper, only to find more bones underneath, densely packed and piled in layers difficult to count.

When he uncovered a skull, Liu Cong drew a sharp breath.

Just in this patch of ground beneath his feet, there were so many corpses—how many mutated creatures had the entire mountain consumed? No wonder even the branches had turned black. But why was he still unharmed?

The thought of this black forest, like a gaping maw, silently devouring all living things that entered, filled Liu Cong with unease. He wanted to leave immediately, yet could not bring himself to go.

This terrifying forest had swallowed countless lives. If left unchecked, who knew what horrors might be bred here. With that in mind, Liu Cong’s gaze shifted back to the tree at the heart of the pond. He decided to pick a few of its fruits for research, then set the whole forest ablaze, lest it bring further calamity to the world.

With a wave of his hand, an invisible wind swept over the tree, plucking several fruits and bringing them to him. But just as Liu Cong took hold of the fruits, before he could rejoice, he sensed fierce winds whipping at his feet.

Swish, swish, swish!

Several black vines shot up from below, wrapping tightly around Liu Cong and dragging him down with irresistible force.