The air tasted of placental fluid and betrayal. Chu Feng descended through the Blackwater Auction's sub-levels, where Host 455's biotech empire festered. Walls pulsed with vascular membranes, each throb releasing mutagenic spores. Ling'er's phoenix core flickered erratically as her detox systems overloaded.
"Remind me why we're babysitting a war crime?" She coughed blood-black phlegm.
Chu Feng adjusted his rebreather's gene-lock. "Because the Seed chooses where it sprouts."
Ahead loomed the auction's true prize: A cathedral-sized womb nurturing the Bloodvine Seed. Its umbilical cords connected to seven crucified mutants—Fang Kun's failed prototypes.
[System Alert: Biometric Mimicry at 89% (Duration: 17min)
[Warning: Fetal Pulse Patterns Detected (Progenitor Host Resurgence Likely)
Flashback: The First Bud
Five years pre-collapse
Fang Kun's scalpel trembled over the pregnant volunteer's swollen belly. The System's voice purred:
[Inject Strain HK-7 Now = 83% Survival Rate]
"Her contractions are starting!" Nurse Li protested.
"Not until the Seed takes root." Fang Kun's syringe plunged. The woman's scream harmonized with the sprouting vines in her uterus.
When the infant emerged—a perfect hybrid of flesh and chlorophyll—he named her "Xia", meaning "summer's first bloom".
The memory shattered as alarms blared.
The Seed's nursery throbbed to a heartbeat older than language. Chu Feng's boots stuck to floor membranes that whispered:
"Father is watching."
Ling'er's dagger carved through a sentient placenta. "Host 455's consciousness is imprinted in the mycelium network. Don't let it—"
The crucified mutants spasmed. Fang Kun's voice boomed through fungal speakers:
"Welcome to Evolution's Cathedral, Host 12491. Let me show you true transcendence."
The womb's walls extruded bioluminescent tableaux:
Mural α: Xia picking flowers in a corpse-fertilized garden
Mural β: Fang Kun dissecting his own mutated heart
Mural γ: The System's tendrils strangling a greenhouse
[Empathic Overload: 120% (Memories Not Your Own)
A child emerged from the Seed's amniotic sac—Xia's clone, vines coiled around her DNA helix spine.
"Father says you're here to steal my birthday present." Her voice was wind through autumn leaves.
Chu Feng's System interface split:
[Council Directive: Harvest Seed (Activate Termination Code 2/7)
[Host 455's Legacy: Protect Xia (Unlock Botanical Empathy)
Ling'er gripped his arm. "That's no child—it's a photosynthesis bomb."
Xia extended a hand blooming with nightshade. "Will you play with me? Father always loses at hide-and-seek."
The game began. The womb reconfigured into a labyrinth of:
Flesh Topiaries: Screaming faces sculpted in boxwood
Pollen Mines: Exploding into paralytic pheromones
Symbiotic Traps: Carnivorous orchids linked to Xia's laughter
"Found you!" She materialized inside Chu Feng's ribcage, roots probing his organs. "Your liver has such pretty enzymes."
Ling'er's phoenix fire scorched the invasive flora. "We need to—"
"Don't hurt her!" Chu Feng's cry triggered a mycelium quake. "She's just a scared seed."
Fang Kun's laughter shook spores loose. "How poetic—the System's hound defending my masterpiece."
Chu Feng embraced Xia, channeling Host 722's agricultural empathy. "Let me show you real sunlight."
Through their connection, he flooded her with:
Wheat fields swaying in unison
Orchards heavy with unpicked fruit
Vines embracing without suffocating
The Seed's destructive impulses inverted. Xia's chloroplasts began synthesizing antidote aerosols.
[Paradox Detected: Nurture Override Consumes 30% Soul Integrity]
Fang Kun's rage manifested as a thousand scorpion thorns. "You corrupt her with weakness!"
The womb birthed Fang Kun's final form—a colossal mycorrhizal network with Xia's clones as node fruits.
"All life is my laboratory," his voice boomed through fungal megaphones. "Even you, Host 12491."
Ling'er launched aerial strikes, but each phoenix fire blast only fertilized new growth. Chu Feng's Temporal Redaction ability flickered:
[6-second Window: Reverse Pollen Spread]
[Cost: 1 Year of Ling'er's Lifespan]
As he hesitated, Xia's main body whispered: "Prune me... before the fruit ripens."
The Seed detached with a scream that germinated forests in its wake. Chu Feng's hands now bore wooden knuckles, his blood chlorophyll-green.
[Bloodvine Symbiosis Achieved:
Regenerative Pollen Secretion (Healing +300%)
Photosynthetic Dependency (Sunlight Starvation Penalty)**
Ling'er stared at the Seed's crystalline core pulsing in his chest. "What did you trade?"
"Nothing permanent." He avoided her gaze. The System's detection counter ticked:
[∞% Exposure in: 29 Days]
As they exited, the crucified mutants disintegrated. Their ashes formed a message:
"The Harvesters are pleased with your cultivation."
Xia's final gift sprouted in Chu Feng's palm—a black lotus containing Fang Kun's consciousness fragment.
"Father left you an invitation," Ling'er decoded the genome petals. "To the Garden of Ten Thousand Hosts."
The System's alert was almost gleeful:
[Progenitor Host Germination Detected: 47% Match to Jiang Yue]