I told you to plant peas, and you summon Mordekaiser?

Sitting on Lexus's back, Chen Yang sped along, getting closer to the mountain shrouded in green poisonous gas.

When Rex was more than 20 meters away from the poisonous creature, he stopped, his claws digging into the ground, the gravel making a faint scraping sound under his feet.

It let out a low growl and cast a disgusted glance at the mountain peak shrouded in green poisonous mist ahead.

Chen Yang jumped off its back.

The outline of this mountain peak is faintly emerging.

The entire mountain was shrouded in thick, green, poisonous gas, as if draped in a dark green curtain.

The poisonous gas writhed slowly like a living thing, occasionally churning out dark green wisps of smoke, like venomous snakes slithering through it.

The rocky mountain, already barren of vegetation, seemed to have had its vitality completely plundered.

Compared to Chen Yang's last visit, this toxic gas had spread even further, to the point that even Rex instinctively didn't want to get any closer.

Chen Yang frowned slightly.

"This garlic definitely didn't spread here before, what on earth is going on?"

He took a deep breath, and with a thought, tried to rekindle the connection between himself and the alchemical garlic.

It felt like plucking an invisible string.

The poisonous gas seemed to sense his presence and began to slowly dissipate.

The green mist receded from the hillside, as if driven away by an invisible hand, revealing the original appearance of the mountaintop.

Chen Yang started walking towards the top of the mountain.

When he climbed to the top of the mountain and saw what the alchemical garlic looked like, he was dumbfounded.

The alchemical garlic was almost unrecognizable as a normal garlic clove.

Its body swelled up to almost half a person's height, and the originally smooth garlic cloves were covered with bluish-black spots, like some kind of strange veins.

Several grayish-green tentacles extended from its base.

Each tentacle is long and thin like a whip, with its end open and covered with sucker-like structures, gently wriggling on the ground as if sensing everything around it.

The tentacles move in a highly rhythmic manner, like a complex breathing rhythm, occasionally twitching suddenly and making an eerie writhing sound that sends chills down your spine.

At the top of the garlic, the originally smooth bulb has split open with a deep slit, through which one can vaguely see flowing green liquid, which emits a pungent odor.

Chen Yang stared at the strange alchemical garlic with complicated emotions, a strange and inexplicable excitement rising within him.

"This...is it a self-mutated mutation?" he murmured to himself.

This garlic is evolving in an unpredictable direction.

......

......

On the other side, the main battlefield of the Nanshan Military Region.

A month has passed since the ascension ceremony ended.

The standoff between the Nanshan Military Region and the zombies has gradually reached a stalemate.

The zombie army kept surging in, but it could not break through the defenses.

The clown zombie did not launch another attack.

The key to this balance lies in the eighth-tier plant at the rear—the King Steel Tooth Flower.

The eighth rank represents the pinnacle of the battle; once a fight breaks out, it becomes a life-or-death struggle.

That is why this level of power is carefully preserved, waiting for the opportunity of the final battle.

The ongoing battles were left to low-level zombies and humans to fight each other.

On the front lines of the battlefield, on the largest plain in the Nanshan Military Region.

Huang Aotian stood behind the defensive line, his cold gaze sweeping over the surging tide of corpses ahead.

The air after the rain was filled with the smell of gunpowder and decay, making one feel nauseous.

This wave of zombies wasn't large in scale, but its numbers were still astonishing, densely covering the entire field of vision.

He clenched his fist, a few drops of sweat sliding down his forehead, and began to direct the battle.

A month ago, Huang Aotian and other ascendants were transported here by a train from the Nanshan Military Region—the main battlefield on the front line of the Nanshan Military Region.

This plain is vast and open, with no natural barriers, so a defensive line can only be built by relying on plants and tactics.

For the past month, Huang Aotian's life has consisted of nothing but fighting.

The newcomers to the Ascendant were initially filled with novelty and excitement, but they were quickly brought back to reality by the cruelty of the battlefield.

"This is not a game."

"If you hold others back, you'll die."

The ironclad rules of the military relentlessly slam into everyone's mind.

Initially, a few players were defiant and even tried to incite other players to resist this inhumane behavior.

After these players vanished overnight, no one dared to do anything outrageous again.

The ascendants stopped complaining and simply gritted their teeth and obeyed.

Fortunately, the main battlefield defense line was solid, so they only needed to defend their own area.

The zombies didn't break in, so there were no casualties.

So, aside from enduring the fatigue, the players just got through it.

With the experience he gained in the army during the first half of his life, Huang Aotian quickly established himself and rose to the position of company commander.

During wartime, the capable are given positions.

No one suppressed Huang Aotian because he was not a local.

Even after becoming a company commander, the month of intense fighting left him feeling utterly exhausted.

Every day they face endless hordes of zombies, and the non-stop battles leave their nerves never able to relax.

If even a company commander with more breathing room is like this, one can only imagine how it is for other ordinary players.

Having repelled this wave of stagnation, Huang Aotian breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shift handover."

The next company commander stepped forward.

Huang Aotian nodded and waved to signal his company to retreat from the front line.

The team members dragged their exhausted bodies and turned away from the trench one by one, their steps as heavy as lead.

"Finally, I can take a break..."

Huang Aotian let out a long breath and looked up at the gray sky.

The clouds after the rain had not yet dispersed, and the sky was so gloomy that it was oppressive.

He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his face and casually leaned against the cover.

Several team members gathered around and sat down by the trench. Some started smoking cheap cigarettes, while others just stared blankly in silence.

"Brother Aotian, how about we get something hot to eat tonight?"

Someone asked.

Huang Aotian tugged at the corners of his mouth, revealing a weary smile: "I don't know if there's anything fresh tonight, but I have a few fresh slaps here, do you want them?"

A few dry laughs rang out from around them.

From the first day they arrived, they ate only cold, pre-cooked meals; a hot meal had become a luxury.

"Do you think there are any locals on our front lines?"

"What the hell are you thinking? I've already asked around. The players on the front lines right now are all players who ascended a few years ago."

"Sigh, apart from those few potential ascendants, everyone else can only come to the front lines as cannon fodder."

"Yes, I reckon Zhao Changming, Chen Yang, and the others are already living a good life in the capital."

With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Huang Aotian listened silently to the other soldiers' idle chatter.

A chilly wind blew across the plains.

Looking at the darkness covering the mountains and fields, his brows furrowed involuntarily.

The zombie horde surged wave after wave, their attacks chaotic yet endless, suffocating them.

Even with eighth-tier plants to keep things under control, this constant pressure will eventually break everyone's spirit.

"These locals really don't treat us like human beings..."

He muttered to himself, a deep weariness flashing across his eyes.

......

......