Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 1254 - 8 Man-eating Vine

Chapter 1254: Chapter 8 Man-eating Vine

The heart-eating cage, originally two meters high with a radius of one meter, suddenly trembled after absorbing fresh blood. It shrank by a quarter as if it contracted from the cold.

Tang Zheng, standing over one meter eight tall, had to lower his head and squat down to avoid hitting the top of the cage. Not clear about the origin of these plants, he tried to make as little contact as possible.

"Be careful, don’t touch these cages!" Tang Zheng’s warning wasn’t slow, but sadly, the newbies’ curiosity was too strong. Moreover, they hadn’t yet realized they had entered the deadly Trojan Horse Game and one after another touched the heart-eating cages, resulting in a heavy price.

The cages trembled violently, contracting and generating a strong suction force. The areas covered by protective clothing were fine, but the capillaries on their faces burst, and blood seeped out, forming a blood mist that clung to the cages. The plants, like living blood vessels, pulsed, devouring the blood.

Piercing screams instantly filled the dark cave. Some of the newbies who couldn’t bear it struggled severely, resulting in the cages contracting faster and the blood being absorbed more quickly.

"Don’t move, nobody move! These plants will defend themselves and retaliate. As long as you stay still, they won’t suck blood," Tang Zheng yelled, trying to calm the newbies down.

The Conquerors, after all, had seen their fair share and had already calmed down. They began to observe the surrounding situation. A careful look would reveal that the heart-eating cages were originally umbrella-shaped vines. Once their prey flew inside, the vines would suddenly close, completely enveloping them. Since they were continuously feeding, they weren’t very hungry. Upon capturing prey, they wouldn’t immediately digest them but store them instead.

The more violently the prey struggled, the greater the reaction of the plants would be; the cages would shrink until they completely crushed the prey. The vines that touched them would drain the blood, consuming the body.

Not all newbies could keep their composure; a few of them, disbelieving, moved about, trying to pull apart the vines.

"Help, it hurts so much, someone save me, Group Leader, please!" A female university student touched her cheek and found her hand covered in blood. She froze in terror, grabbing and shaking the vines, calling out Mu Nianqi’s name.

"Don’t panic, try to stay calm!" Mu Nianqi’s attempt at comforting was futile.

The extreme contraction of the vines made the interior space shrink, forcing the female university student to bend over. This contact only sped up the absorption of blood. The pain made her even more terrified as she frantically struggled in a panicked frenzy.

Lu Fan, holding a tactical flashlight, shone it on her. Under the light beam, the newbies witnessed the scene. After her body touched the vines, they secreted a sticky fluid from the gaps, which quickly corroded the protective clothing. The vines, like leeches, tightly clung to her skin and began drawing out blood.

The female university student struggled, but to no avail. Her complexion grew increasingly pale, and signs of drying skin appeared. In less than two minutes, her organs and muscles were dissolved into a liquid and absorbed by the vines, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell.

The newbies all shivered in unison. Such a method of death was too horrifying. The university students who had been moving about hastily ceased, their faces filled with sheer terror.

The dark cave, reeking of foul stench, fell into a temporary silence. However, death did not stop just because they had calmed down.

The plants began to feed. Three university students became the unlucky ones, and the heart-eating cages containing them began to contract. Then the survivors watched helplessly as they were drained into empty husks.

"We can’t just wait here; we must hurry and escape!" Lin Weiguo pulled out his bloodstained dagger, observing the state of the plants before preparing to cut the bottom of the heart-eating cages.

"Don’t be rash, wait a bit longer!" Tang Zheng quickly stopped the Old Soldier, "Let’s see if we can attack the plants directly at their roots!"

Tang Zheng, with the Queen’s Scream in hand, aimed at the plant’s root through the gap between the cages and fired a shot. The light beam hit, and green juice splattered. This stirred up a hornet’s nest; the plants trembled, and all the cages contracted a bit.

"You’re insane, we’re going to die!" A university student yelled out, resenting Tang Zheng’s interference.

"Shut up, do you prefer to wait for death?" Teng Yuangxiang stood by Tang Zheng, not missing the chance to curry favor with him.

Tang Zheng ignored the newbies and carefully searched for the plant’s weaknesses.

No one dared to move, and so the plants also quieted down. Time ticked by, every second adding to the oppressive darkness of the cave.

"Can we talk? I’m really scared," a female university student started to cry. More and more people began to cry as well.

The survivors were all separated, each confined in their own cage. The newbies fully experienced the feeling of complete isolation, as if they had been left alone in the ocean. With the threat of death looming, all sorts of negative thoughts flooded their minds.

"Lin Jing, don’t be scared, I’m here!" Lin Fachan turned on his flashlight, illuminating his face as a way to comfort his girlfriend.

"I’m not scared, you stay still and be careful not to get drained," Lin Jing didn’t want her boyfriend to worry. She braved her fears, hugged her arms, and squatted in the cage.

Five minutes later, the second wave of feeding began, and three more unlucky guys became sacrifices. This time, one of Zhang Chun’en’s bodyguards was the heaviest.

"I don’t want to die!" This retired special forces soldier had no way to deal with the man-eating plants and struggled desperately until he was drained to just a husk of human skin.

"Group Leader, weren’t you going to save us?" Some university students lost their composure. After failing to come up with a solution themselves, they began to point the finger wildly. It was inevitable. Watching a living person being killed in front of them by a death method comparable to the ten most cruel punishments of the Qing Dynasty, it was already good that they did not suffer a mental breakdown from merely complaining.

"Stay calm, there must be a way," Mu Nianqi’s voice was very calm. She didn’t rashly try to attack the plants, because it was too dangerous. Besides, she believed that surely there were other survivors who couldn’t keep their cool and would act prematurely. Then she could analyze their attacks to find the plants’ weaknesses.

Of course, she herself could also be eaten in the next few feedings. By that time, it would be a do-or-die situation.

"Cough, everyone, don’t panic. Since we can’t forcefully dismantle it, we have to look for flaws. Every animal or plant should have a natural enemy. Everyone, take a good look around and see if there are any discoveries!" As time passed, everyone’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and could vaguely make out some things. However, searching was still impossible. Tang Zheng said this merely to give them hope, because low morale could lead to many problems.

"Tang Zheng, do you have any ’Summoning System’ ability users? Send out a servant to check outside the cave!" Mu Nianqi had begun to see Tang Zheng in a new light for his calmness.

Before Mu Nianqi could finish speaking, Daylily appeared in the cave, still clad in that tight-fitting nurse uniform that just covered her buttocks, with red garter stockings on her two long white legs, very tempting.

"Master, what are you doing in a cage? Playing a shame PLAY?" Daylily covered her nose. Thwack, a tactical flashlight struck her on the head.

"Go look for something that restrains these plants, and be careful of wild beasts. This place seems to be some kind of monster’s lair!"

Tang Zheng, being confined in a cage, had too small of a search range, so he had to leave it to Daylily.

"Yes, sir!" Daylily saluted in a Patton-style, quietly exploring along the cave.

"Uncle Dantai, you are our team’s sage. Why are you silent today?" Lu Fan noticed a little problem and was surprised.

"Thinking!" Dantai explained briefly and then fell silent again.

"The Trojan Horse wouldn’t put survivors in a desperate situation. It does not fit their original intention. So there must be a way to solve this!" Mu Nianqi had been through many ’Trojan Horse Games’, and her understanding of the Silver Trojan was indeed more thorough than Tang Zheng’s.

"What is the solution?" Teng Yuangxiang challenged, "I can also talk big!"

"It must be that we have overlooked some details!" Mu Nianqi glanced at Tang Zheng, saw him in deep thought, and smiled, "It seems your Group Leader has an idea!"

Hearing this, the newbies all turned towards Tang Zheng, filled with anticipation.

"Are you deliberately making Tang Zheng look bad?" Ruan Feifei gave Mu Nianqi a sidelong glance with a displeased expression. If Tang Zheng said there was no solution, his image among the newbies would surely drop. Even if he kept silent, it was no different than admitting it.

After witnessing Yu Manli’s death, the female broadcaster also tried to change, getting along better with the rest of the team. However, for her proud nature, it was very difficult.

"Ignored some details?" Tang Zheng sat in the cage, feeling he had caught a glimmer of inspiration, but it was like a slippery loach, always slipping away just as he thought he grasped it.

"Stop playing dumb. We know you have no solution, and we won’t blame you!" a university student sighed, not targeting Tang Zheng, but resigning to reality.

"Be quiet, Uncle will definitely have a way!" Lu Fan growled lowly. She had blind faith in Tang Zheng.

"Details, man-eating plants, cage, wormwood, cave, excrement... I always feel there’s a thread that connects them all!" Tang Zheng took out a camping lamp, turned up the power, and lit up the entire cave clearly, scrutinizing everything carefully.

"That’s not right. Why would someone plant these man-eating plants in the cave? If there’s excrement, it means that some creature lives here. Aren’t they afraid of being eaten?" Tang Zheng noticed some larger cages on the plants, big enough to imprison an elephant.

"Bi Yun, do you see that pile of grass? Release your puppet to bring it here!" Tang Zheng saw a pile of yellow plants in the corner of the cave that seemed out of place, clearly brought in from outside.

"Could it be for fumigation?" Mu Nianqi was the quickest to react, her eyes lighting up with a suggestion. Lu Fan also realized immediately, "Quick, call Daylily back. Set them on fire. She’s good at these kinds of things!"

The ground bulged with soil forming a puppet which strode towards the wormwood, picked up a bunch, and returned.

The Conquerors immediately got excited because, as the puppet approached, the plants showed clear signs of discomfort, the vines retracting, trying to keep away from the yellow plants. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)