Chapter 311: The Real Lesson Could Begin
Zhou Chenghai opened the front door, and the four of us stepped onto the porch like we were going to go out for a stroll.
The plants closest to the mansion shifted aside as soon as I crossed the threshold. The thicker vines pulled away from the front steps, their branches lifting from the lawn, and several flowers lowered themselves until the road beyond the gate came clearly into view.
The men outside had been firing blindly into the greenery, but now there was nothing blocking their view of us.
There was also nothing blocking Gu Han’s people from seeing what happened next.
Across the road, vines crept along the outside walls of the workers’ houses. They didn’t attack the men hiding inside, but they pulled curtains away from windows and pushed loose branches aside until every observation point Yuche had noticed faced directly toward the porch.
One of the figures holding binoculars jerked backward when a vine curled around the edge of his window.
It left him alone.
Apparently, the plants understood that he was supposed to keep watching.
Lingyun stopped beside me and looked toward the houses. Flames still covered both of his hands, sliding lazily between his fingers as though they had nowhere better to be.
"That’s considerate of them," he murmured.
"They came for a show," I replied with a shrug. "It would be rude to block their view."
Yuche moved to my other side with the metal bat resting across one shoulder. His attention remained on the armed men near the road, although the slight curve of his mouth told me he approved.
Chenghai stayed closest to the steps.
He didn’t draw a weapon.
He didn’t need one.
Beyond the plants, several men had stopped firing. Their eyes moved from the four of us to the flowers lining the road, then toward the bodies already disappearing beneath the vines.
One man still hung upside down from a tree. Blood ran from his nose into his hair while he struggled with the vine wrapped around his ankle.
The plant shook him once and he stopped moving.
A man near the first vehicle recovered before the others. A wide band of white paint stretched across the front of his coat, and the rifle in his hands looked cleaner than anything else he wore.
He stepped forward, raising his voice so it carried over the property. "This estate belongs to the East River settlement now. Anyone living here will come outside without weapons."
Lingyun glanced down at the flames covering his hands, then looked at Yuche’s bat. "I think we misunderstood the instructions."
Yuche adjusted the weapon on his shoulder and gave a lazy smile. "It’s too late to go back inside now. They’re just going to have to live with it... or not. I don’t really care either way."
The man in white stared at them before turning his attention toward me. His gaze travelled over my face, my clothes, and the baby vine curled around my wrist.
He dismissed me almost immediately.
That seemed to be a common mistake.
"You have one chance to surrender," he shouted. "Open the gate, hand over your supplies, and no one else has to die."
A wet cracking sound came from the nearest flower as it finished chewing, and the man’s expression tightened.
I rested one hand against the porch railing. "You might want to explain that to your friends."
Several of the men behind him raised their rifles again, but their leader lifted one arm to stop them.
"We have more people coming."
"Perfect," I replied, a bright smile on my face. "Then the plants won’t need dinner tomorrow either."
Lingyun’s flames brightened as he laughed, while Yuche lowered the bat from his shoulder and tapped the end against the porch boards.
The metal made a soft, hollow sound.
Every rifle outside answered it.
Barrels rattled. Magazines shook inside weapons. Knives pulled against sheaths, and the doors of the four vehicles groaned as though someone had twisted their frames.
The attackers looked down at their weapons.
Yuche’s expression remained relaxed. "You should probably drop those."
One man fired instead.
The bullet left the barrel, crossed half the distance toward the porch, then stopped.
It hung in the air for a heartbeat before turning around.
The shooter barely had time to widen his eyes before the bullet tore through his thigh. He collapsed beside the vehicle, screaming as his rifle ripped itself from his hands and flew toward Yuche.
Yuche caught it by the barrel, glanced at it once, then tossed it onto the lawn. The plants swallowed it like a snack, and that was enough to break whatever restraint the others still had.
Gunfire erupted across the road, but they might as well have been shooting Nerf darts, for all the good they were doing.
Yuche lifted one hand, and the bullets scattered away from the porch. Some buried themselves in the pavement. Others curved upward and disappeared into the trees, while several turned back toward the men who had fired them.
At the same time, Lingyun stepped forward.
He didn’t throw fire at the plants. Instead, thin streams of flame travelled over the road and climbed the attackers’ boots. Men shouted and stumbled away from the heat, only to find vines waiting behind them.
Lingyun tilted his head while he watched one man try to tear off a burning coat. "You should stop, drop, and roll," he called out helpfully.
The man immediately dropped and a flower rolled him the rest of the way into its mouth.
Lingyun’s grin widened. "See how helpful that was? Beautifully executed."
The leader in white shouted for his people to spread out, but the plants had already begun moving them where I wanted them. Vines closed along both sides of the road, forcing the attackers into the open space directly in front of the porch.
Directly in front of Gu Han’s audience.
A broad man near the second vehicle pushed through the panic and raised both hands. The air around him bent before an invisible force slammed into the outer line of plants.
Several vines tore apart and one of the smaller flowers hit the ground with half its stem split open.
The smile disappeared from my face.
Yuche noticed before I said anything. His grip tightened around the bat, and the metal buckles on the power user’s coat twisted hard enough to drag him backward.
The man clawed at his throat as the top buckle tightened beneath his jaw.
"I want him alive," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion. Yuche glanced at me like he hadn’t heard me right. I shrugged my shoulders. "For now," I added.
The pressure released enough for the man to breathe.
He dropped to his knees, coughing as vines wrapped around both wrists and pulled his arms apart.
Behind him, three attackers broke away from the main group and rushed toward the porch. They avoided the flowers and used the damaged section of greenery as an opening.
Zhou Chenghai finally moved.
The first man fired directly into his chest and his shirt tore beneath the bullets, but Zhou Chenghai didn’t slow down. He caught the rifle in one hand, crushed the barrel, and drove his other fist into the attacker’s stomach.
The man folded around the blow before Chenghai threw him back into the road.
The second swung a machete at his neck but just like before, the blade struck Chenghai’s skin and snapped in two.
For several seconds, the attacker stared at what remained in his hand. Chenghai took the broken weapon from him, bent it in half, and dropped it at his feet.
Then he pushed the man off the porch.
A vine caught him before he reached the ground.
The third attacker stopped at the bottom step and Zhou Chenghai looked down at him, the look on his face making the man slowly lower his knife.
"That was smart," Lingyun called from behind us.
The attacker turned and ran.
I allowed him to make it three steps before roots wrapped around his ankles and dragged him beneath the lawn.
Gu Han’s watchers hadn’t moved.
I could feel their attention from across the road, fixed on the porch and everything happening in front of it.
Good.
The leader in white staggered backward toward the vehicles while the few men still standing tried to gather around him. Blood covered the road, weapons lay scattered between the vines, and several flowers had begun arguing over the same body.
He grabbed the radio attached to his coat.
"We need everyone at the estate," he shouted into it. His face had gone pale, but he kept his eyes on us as he spoke. "Send the rest of the fighters. Send all of them."
Static crackled through the radio before someone answered.
Farther down the road, engines roared to life.
Lingyun rolled his shoulders while the flames spread higher along his arms. Yuche returned the bat to his shoulder, and Chenghai stepped back onto the porch beside us.
None of them looked concerned.
I turned toward the houses across the road, where Gu Han’s men remained hidden behind the windows the plants had opened for them.
The first group had only been the introduction.
Now the real lesson could begin.
