Lin Yuan's heart tightened at the words of the Jiuchong Ring. He glanced around. The grayish sky outside the window and the deathly silence after the thunderstorm exuded a sense of oppressive danger.
Lin Yuan tried to calm down. He turned on the faucet to boil some hot water, but as soon as he did, he smelled a faint strange odor. Lin Yuan immediately frowned, brought the water to his nose and sniffed it carefully. Sure enough, there was a problem. It seemed to be contaminated.
He turned and walked to the windowsill, reaching out to gently touch the cactus placed there. The surface of the cactus branches felt rough but had a strange moistness. Lin Yuan suddenly had a strange idea. He broke off some cactus pieces, sliced them open, got the juice, and dripped it into the smelly water.
After a while, the strange odor noticeably weakened. Lin Yuan squinted his eyes and then used the Jiuchong Ring to test the water quality. It was drinkable!
"As expected, it can purify," Lin Yuan murmured. However, he soon noticed that the cactus seemed to have undergone some strange changes: Tender green shoots quickly emerged at the cut branches at a visible speed, and the rest of the cactus also began to give off a strange dark green luster.
"Is this... mutating?" Lin Yuan reached out and gently stroked the cactus. Suddenly, a faint consciousness entered his mind through his touch. The plant sent a message, which was vague yet clear: "Danger. The water is poisoned."
Lin Yuan was stunned, and then he excitedly clenched his fist.
The Jiuchong Ring said in a flat tone, "As time goes by, the host will discover more possibilities."
Lin Yuan secretly made up his mind that he must make good use of this ability and prepare for the upcoming doomsday.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the city, in a dark alley, a terrifying scene took place.
A young man carried a bag of bread and tried to rush home while the rain had stopped. His steps were hasty, and his face was full of exhaustion. But as soon as he turned to a corner, a low growl sounded from behind.
He suddenly turned around and saw a figure staggering towards him. The person was wearing soaked clothes, had messy hair, and bloodshot eyes. The young man instinctively asked, "Are you okay? Do you need help?"
However, the figure didn't answer. Instead, it pounced on him at an incredible speed and bit his shoulder! Screams immediately echoed through the alley.
In less than a minute, the young man fell to the ground, twitched, and gradually stopped struggling. And that figure, no, that "zombie", squatted and began tearing at the young man's body.
No one witnessed this in the alley. However, this was just the beginning. With the appearance of the first zombie, more people would gradually fall victim, and people were completely unaware of it.
In the next dozen or so days, the situation in the city became even more chaotic.
Due to the continuous rainstorm and flood, the power supply had long been cut off, and the TV and radio lost their signals. People could only obtain intermittent information through battery-powered radios. And even so, the news that came was despairing: the flood spreading, the shortage of supplies, and the outbreak of diseases.
Some remote areas began to report cases of disappearances and "unknown attacks". Some witnesses mentioned that those who were bitten would become extremely irritable. But because of poor communication, most of these messages were regarded as rumors.
The residents in the city were still struggling for survival. Although the rainstorm had stopped, the flood still hadn't receded. The flooded areas had become deathly silent, and the smell of decay gradually spread.
Lin Yuan felt the uneasy atmosphere too. By communicating with plants, he found out that toxins in the water and air were rising.
Lin Yuan was busy purifying the water source with the cactus, and Cao Yuwei's body was slowly recovering. She used her spatial ability to store some purified water and supplies for emergencies.
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九重戒的话让林远心头一紧.他环顾了一下四周,窗外灰蒙蒙的天色以及雷雨后的死寂无声却透露出一股压抑的危险感.
林远试图冷静下来.他打开了水龙头想煮些热水,但一扭开就闻到了一股轻微的异味.林远立刻皱起眉头,将水放到鼻尖仔细嗅了嗅,果然有问题,似乎被污染了.
他转身走到窗台,伸手轻触放在那里的仙人掌.仙人掌枝条的表面摸起来粗糙却透着一股奇异的湿润感.林远忽然心生一个奇怪的念头,将那几根仙人掌掰下,用刀划开,取出仙人掌的汁液,用其滴入一杯异味的水中.
片刻后,异味明显减弱了.林远眯了眯眼睛,又用九重戒检测了一下水质,可以饮用!
"果然可以净化," 林远喃喃道.然而,他很快就注意到仙人掌似乎发生了一些奇异的变化:那些被切掉的枝条处很快有嫩绿的新芽在以肉眼可见的速度冒出,而其余的部分也开始泛起了一丝诡异的深绿色光泽.
"这...不会是变异了吧?" 林远伸手轻抚仙人掌,突然间一股微弱的意识通过他的触碰传入脑海.那是一种植物传递的信息,模糊但清晰:"危险.水有毒."
林远愣住了,随后兴奋地握了握拳.
九重戒语气淡淡:"随着时间推移,宿主将会发现更多可能."
林远暗自下定决心,必须利用好这个能力,为即将到来的末世做好准备.
与此同时,在城市的另一端,一个阴暗的小巷里,发生了一起骇人的场景.
一个青年背着一袋面包,试图趁雨停期间赶回家.他的脚步匆匆,脸上写满了疲惫.然而,就在他刚穿过拐角时,身后传来一阵低沉的嘶吼.
他猛地回头,看见一个人影摇摇晃晃地走来.那人穿着湿透的衣服,头发凌乱,双眼布满血丝.青年下意识地问了一句:"你还好吗?要不要帮忙?"
然而,那个人影没有回答,而是以不可思议的速度扑了上来,一口咬住了青年的肩膀!尖叫声顿时响彻小巷.
不到一分钟,青年倒在地上,抽搐着逐渐停止了挣扎.而那个人影...不,那具 "丧尸" 则蹲下身,撕咬着青年的尸体.
小巷中没有人目击这一.然而,这只是一个开端.随着第一只丧尸的出现,更多人会逐步沦陷,而人们对此却浑然不知.
在接下来的十几天里,城市内的状况变得愈发混乱.
由于持续的暴雨和洪水,电力供应早已中断,电视和广播失去了信号.人们只能通过电池供电的收音机获取断断续续的信息.而即便是这样,传来的也是令人绝望的消息:洪水蔓延,物资短缺,疾病爆发.
一些偏远地区开始报告失踪和 "未知袭击" 的事件.某些目击者提到被咬伤的人会变得暴躁异常,但因为通信不畅,这些消息大多被认为是谣言.
城市中的居民们仍在为生存而挣扎.暴雨虽然停了,但洪水仍未退去,被水淹没的地方已经成了一片死寂,腐烂的气味逐渐弥漫开来.
林远也感受到了不安的气息.他通过与植物的沟通,得知水中和空气中的毒素在逐渐增加.
林远忙碌着利用仙人掌净化水源,而江雨薇的身体也在慢慢恢复.她用自己的空间异能保存了一些净化好的水和物资,以备不时之需.