The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

Su Mu noticed that the hunter's gaze kept drifting towards Xiao Jiu. It wasn't looking at Xiao Jiu's face, but at her feet... at the roots of the vines sprouting from the ground. He was searching, looking for the points where the vines connected to the ground.

Then he found it.

The hunter's body suddenly sank, not because he was entangled by the vines, but because he deliberately crouched down. He gripped his knife with both hands, the tip pointing downwards, and plunged it fiercely into the ground.

"Snap...!"

A crack appeared in the ground. It wasn't a natural crack, but rather the spot where the blade tip had pierced through. A visible black shockwave erupted from the crack, as if something had exploded underground.

Xiao Jiu's body trembled violently, and the frantically attacking vines froze for a moment.

The hunter drew his sword and sprang out from the crack, heading straight for Xiao Jiu.

Old Wei suddenly raised his shield, Zhao Cheng gripped his Tang sword, and Bai Liuxi leaned forward... but they didn't move. Not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't have the time. The straight-line distance from the hunter's position to Xiao Jiu's was less than thirty meters. At his speed, he could reach them in two seconds. But they were standing a hundred meters away; even if Bai Liuxi sprinted at full speed, it would take her four seconds.

Two seconds. Four seconds. Half the time.

Xiao Jiu raised her head and opened her eyes.

In those large, deep brown eyes, the pupils had turned an eerie deep purple, like the potted plant in his arms. Blood was still flowing from his nose, and blood was seeping from his ears, and from the corners of his eyes... blood was flowing from all seven orifices. His face was covered in blood, but there was no fear in those purple eyes.

He pulled his hands out of the soil and lifted them up sharply.

The ground cracked.

It wasn't the crack pierced by the hunter, but rather a dense network of fissures extending forward from Xiao Jiu's feet, like a spiderweb. Thick vines surged wildly from each crack, not "drilling" out of the ground, but "spurting" out, as if something had exploded underground, blasting all the vines into the air.

The hunter rushed in front of Xiao Jiu, his knife already raised above his head.

Then he was engulfed by the vines.

Not just one or two, but dozens, even hundreds, of vines erupted from the ground simultaneously, like a giant, plant-based hand grasping the hunter in its palm. The vines coiled around his limbs, torso, neck, and head, layer upon layer, circle upon circle, tightly packed.

The hunter's knife was still raised in mid-air, but he couldn't bring himself to strike. His arm was tightly bound by vines, and he couldn't even move his fingers.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something.

Xiao Jiu didn't give him a chance.

The vines binding the hunter tightened suddenly. "Crack...!" The sound of bones breaking came from the gaps in the vines, dull and dense, like something being repeatedly crushed. Dark red blood spurted from the gaps in the vines, splashing onto Xiao Jiu's face, body, and the soil beneath her feet.

The hunter's body twisted, deformed, and shattered under the strangulation of the vines.

His head peeked out from between the vines, his empty eyes staring at Xiao Jiu. His lips moved, but no sound came out. It wasn't a plea for mercy, nor a curse, but something Su Mu couldn't quite put his finger on... like a smile.

Then his head drooped down.

The vines have loosened.

The hunter's corpse plummeted from mid-air, crashing to the ground and raising a cloud of dust. His body was no longer human; his limbs were twisted at unnatural angles, his chest was caved in, and his head was lolling to one side. Dark red blood seeped from beneath the corpse, staining the deep purple vines a dark crimson.

Xiao Jiu stood still, staring at the corpse, motionless.

His face was covered in blood, indistinguishable between nosebleed and the hunter's blood. Those purple eyes stared at the hunter's face for a long time. Then, slowly, slowly, he crouched down, hands on the ground, head bowed, his shoulders trembling violently.

The vines began to wither. The purple glow faded from their veins, the leaves turned yellow from the edges, curled, and fell off, the branches shriveled and dried up, as if all life had been drained from them. In a few seconds, that dense, suffocating sea of ​​green had turned into a patch of grayish-brown dead branches. A gust of wind blew, and the dead branches crumbled into powder, scattering into the night sky.

Xiao Jiu squatted amidst the ashes, head bowed, shoulders still trembling.

Old Wei was the first to move. He walked towards Xiao Jiu, his steps heavy, each step crunching on the dry twigs and debris. He reached Xiao Jiu, squatted down, and placed his rough, large hand on Xiao Jiu's head.

"Your father will be proud of you," he said, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible.

Xiao Jiu didn't say anything. His shoulders trembled even more violently, but he didn't cry out.

Zhao Cheng stood at a distance, holding his Tang sword, his head down, his expression unreadable. A Qi took the monitoring equipment off his shoulder, held it in his arms, his eyes red-rimmed.

Bai Liuxi stood at the farthest point, watching Xiao Jiu's back, something flickering slightly in her light-colored eyes. She didn't walk over, nor did she speak; she simply stood there, like a tree.

Su Mu holstered his gun and jumped off the roof. He didn't go to Xiao Jiu's side... that was a moment for outsiders to be involved in. He walked to the hunter's corpse, squatted down, and examined it. The body was cold, but there was nothing of value... any usable equipment and items had probably been torn to shreds by the vines during the battle.

He stood up and dusted off his hands.

Bai Liuxi walked over and stood beside him. She looked at the hunter's corpse, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Thank you."

Su Mu shook his head: "I didn't kill him."

"But without you, we wouldn't have found him," Bai Liuxi said. "Without you, those eight survivors would have died, and he would have become even more difficult to deal with after killing them. Xiao Jiu might not have survived until we arrived."

Su Mu did not respond.

Bai Liuxi turned around and looked at Su Mu. There was something new in her light-colored eyes that she hadn't seen before... It wasn't gratitude, but a deeper emotion that seemed more like "acknowledgment".

"You are very strong," she said, "but you lack systematic combat skills."

She pulled something out of her tactical bag... a thin booklet with a dark blue cover, devoid of any text or illustrations, only some blurry, flowing lines resembling water. She handed the booklet to Su Mu.

"This isn't a skill book, it's a summary of combat techniques. Basic moves, movement techniques, and power generation methods. Once the system shop opens, you can use exchange points to buy more advanced ones."

She paused, then said, "Survivors like you who came down from the cable car are too reliant on the system. Skills, weapons, and talents are all given by the system, but combat techniques are not. The system can't give them to you; you have to train them yourself."