Seeing the serious expressions on the faces of the three of them, Doctor Farlo immediately took them to another room.
"What is it?" Doctor Farlo asked.
Serena took out the pale green stone from her bag and showed it to Doctor Farlo.
"We found this inside the mutated Devil's Trumpet plant today," Serena said, handing the stone to the doctor and telling him about their conjectures.
Doctor Farlo's expression deepened as he examined the stone.
"If mutated plants and humans all have this type of stone inside them, then we need to do a full-body CT scan of the bodies of awakened humans to confirm it, so that we know whether this stone is found only inside mutated plants or in humans too," Doctor Farlo said.
"But we don't have the required machines here for CT scans, so we can't confirm it at the moment," Doctor Farlo said, handing the stone back to Serena.
"Since this stone resonates with you, try to figure out how to use it, and if you succeed, inform me immediately. We will need to run a few tests on you to make sure everything is okay with your body," Doctor Farlo instructed.
"Doctor Farlo, I don't understand one thing. This stone only resonates with Serena, and Sylas and I don't feel any connection or resonance with it. It looks like this stone is useless for us. But why was the plant targeting all of us, especially the awakened humans? Can mutated plants absorb all kinds of ability stones, but humans can only absorb those that share the same ability trait?" Dylan raised the question that had been bothering him for quite a while.
"I think it has to do with absorbing flesh and blood from us humans. It also absorbed the zombies," Sylas said.
Doctor Farlo nodded at Sylas's answer and explained, "Plants need nutrition to grow, and the flesh and blood of humans are great nutrition for them. So it absorbed all the zombies and humans. For the mutated plant, it's like food. And if I am correct, the flesh and blood of awakened humans are like top-grade food for mutated plants, since awakened humans have undergone drastic changes in their bodies. So humans with plant abilities have a great allure to mutated plants, as it might elevate their strength drastically if I am not wrong. At the same time, the rest of the ability users are also a great source of nutrition for it."
"This…," Dylan uttered, taking a deep breath.
"Apart from zombies, we now have mutated plants to be careful of," Serena said with a frown.
"You guys are forgetting another enemy," Sylas said with a chuckle.
Both Dylan and Serena looked at Sylas and immediately asked, "What?"
"Animals," Doctor Farlo replied.
"If humans and plants can mutate, why not animals?" Sylas said in a serious tone.
Hiss!!!
The room went silent for a few seconds.
The peaceful world they had once known had now turned into an unknown purgatory for humans.
Dealing with zombies alone was already hard enough, and now they had to guard against both mutated plants and animals. Although they had yet to come across and confront a mutated animal, all of them knew that sooner or later they would have to face all kinds of horrors one by one.
The weak would be eliminated, and only the strong would remain. It would be the survival of the fittest.
"And if we can use this stone to strengthen our abilities, I am afraid we will be fighting against not only zombies, mutated plants, and animals but also against fellow humans," said Sylas as he folded his hands and leaned back in the chair. He really didn't want to think about all this.
"Humans with similar abilities, in order to get stronger, will fight against each other. Plant ability versus plant ability, fire versus fire, healing versus healing, and who knows, there will be water, ice, and so on. Many kinds of abilities will start to awaken one by one. This is only the beginning, and if you want to survive in this apocalypse, you need strength. Murders, theft, betrayals, and all kinds of ugly human nature will unfold right in front of your eyes. Life will only get tougher," said Doctor Farlo, shaking his head.
…
The next day, all the ability users once again gathered together. Major Kyle was also present. Now there were six awakened humans in the safe zone: Major Kyle, Leo, Dylan, Serena, Sylas, and Dudu.
Doctor Farlo told them the things he had discussed with Sylas and the others yesterday.
"Does that mean we can also elevate our strength if we find a mutated animal sharing the same ability as us?" Leo asked.
"Yes, but only if you encounter one and have the ability to kill it. We still don't know anything about mutated animals. If you encounter one, you need to be careful," replied Doctor Farlo.
"We have already encountered a mutated plant, and I am afraid our encounter with mutated animals won't be far away," Major Kyle said with a grave expression. He had already experienced the horror of the mutated plant, and he knew that it wouldn't be easy to deal with mutated animals. If he hadn't awakened his fire ability, no one would have returned to the safe zone yesterday.
Everyone knew in their hearts that they would continue to face unknown dangers and would continue to brush past death.
"We will train again for one week before heading out. We need to spar with each other and train our abilities," Major Kyle said.
No one had any objections, as they all wanted to get stronger. Strength was the greatest asset at the moment.
"Any results with the stone?" Doctor Farlo asked Serena.
"Not yet," Serena shook her head dejectedly. She was still trying to figure out how to use the stone. She had even thought of directly putting it in her mouth and consuming it but held back. Everything was unknown at the moment, and she didn't want to take risks.