’This is all I can do for you, Bai Guishou...’ Su Ze scrolled through the list of group members and was rather disappointed to find Feng Bqing wasn’t among them.

After Su Ze sent the screenshot to the "Heart Devoted to Darkness" group chat, it was as if he’d activated a group-wide mute, plunging the entire chat into a dead silence.

After a long moment, Mr. Kang was the first to break the silence.

Mr. Kang: Who are you? Su Ze or Chen Suifeng?

’Just call me a good Samaritan...’ Su Ze simply turned off his phone, not bothering to reply.

’Who knows if this phone can be tracked? There’s no point in talking any longer, and it’s risky.’

Su Ze took a lead box from his Storage Pendant, placed the phone inside, sealed the lid, and put it away.

The phone had some research value. Su Ze planned to take it back and have Liou Wenxin see if she could reverse-engineer it.

Not finding Feng Bqing in the "Heart Devoted to Darkness" group meant he definitely hadn’t recovered his sanity. Su Ze guessed that Feng Bqing’s mental state was, in all likelihood, still unstable.

He put away the phone and turned to examine another item. It was clearly an electronic device that looked a lot like a phone with a large screen, but it was as thick as a brick.

Su Ze pressed the power button. The screen lit up, showing a blue dot.

Next to the blue dot was a constantly pulsing red dot.

A distance was marked between the blue and red dots: 141 meters.

’A tracker?’

Su Ze took two steps forward. He immediately saw the blue dot on the screen move slightly, and the distance display changed to 140 meters.

’Does the blue dot represent me? Then what’s the red dot?’

Clearly, this was a tracking device. The blue dot represented the device itself, while the red dot was the target it was tracking.

’What was Bai Guishou tracking?’

’Could it be the secret base of the Filth Earth Organization?’

Su Ze looked in the direction of the red dot, but his view was blocked by dense trees and undergrowth.

Just then, Su Ze noticed the red dot on the screen also move slightly. The distance between them had shrunk to 138 meters!

’It’s moving. It’s a living creature!’

That ruled out the possibility of it being the Filth Earth Organization’s base.

Su Ze weighed his options. Should he turn and run, putting more distance between himself and the red dot, or should he satisfy his curiosity and see what it was?

After a moment’s thought, Su Ze decided to use his Perception Tentacles to investigate from over a hundred meters away.

Under Su Ze’s control, the Perception Tentacles extended toward the red dot’s location, covering the hundred-plus meters in an instant.

’What’s over there?’

Su Ze carefully swept the area with his Perception Tentacles. An image of the location instantly formed in his mind, but there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

It was just one tree after another.

’One tree, two, three...’ Su Ze counted them off one by one, trying to find any living creature lurking among them.

Huh?

’Wait, something’s strange about this tree.’

’Why does this tree... have a face?’

A jolt of fear shot through Su Ze. His Perception Tentacles transmitted a clear image of the bizarre tree into his mind. It was a strange tree with a head, from which countless aerial roots sprouted, dotted with green leaves, resembling human hair. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The tree was lush with branches and leaves, but its trunk split in two at the very bottom, as if they were a pair of human legs.

A closer look revealed that the verdant leaves weren’t actually leaves. The texture of human skin was clearly visible on their surfaces, threaded with a network of tiny blood vessels.

’Feng Bqing!’

Although the Feng Bqing before him had changed greatly since Su Ze last saw him, becoming much more tree-like and growing considerably taller.

Su Ze still recognized him instantly.

After all, you probably couldn’t find a second "plant person" like him on the entire Blue Star.

Su Ze was surprised to find that Bai Guishou had been tracking Feng Bqing. What was even more shocking was that the Wind-Rolling Grass had deposited him just over a hundred meters away.

’What kind of luck is this?’

If Feng Bqing discovered Su Ze, and if his sanity returned for even a single second, he would kill him on the spot!

Luckily, though, one glance was enough to tell that Feng Bqing was still insane... because he was pretending to be a tree.

He stood among a grove of trees, stretching his arms (two thick branches) and spreading his foliage to ensure every single one of his leaves was bathed in sunlight.

’Can he really photosynthesize?’

Su Ze was skeptical—not that Feng Bqing couldn’t, but that he actually *could*!

He wasn’t even sure if Feng Bqing counted as an animal or a plant anymore. ’Maybe the guy really can photosynthesize.’

Just then, a hint of lucidity flickered across Feng Bqing’s face, which looked like a crude carving on a tree trunk. Several vines extended from his arm, produced a phone out of nowhere, and began tapping on the screen as if typing.

Unfortunately, the Perception Tentacles worked by "feeling" rather than "seeing," so Su Ze had no way of knowing what he was typing.

But after only a few seconds, a dazed look returned to Feng Bqing’s face. He put the phone away and resumed his Sunbathing.

’Lucid one moment, confused the next...’ Su Ze had a theory about Feng Bqing’s condition.

’Whatever. Time to get out of here...’

Su Ze retracted his Perception Tentacles and decisively prepared to retreat.

The fact that Feng Bqing had just replied to Bai Guishou’s message proved his mind was lucid at times. It was too dangerous to stay here where he might be discovered.

Su Ze planned to run a safe distance away and find another place to rest.

But he hadn’t taken more than two steps before he froze. He saw seven or eight chunks of flesh falling from the sky, hurtling toward him.

’Will this ever end!’

’Goddamn it, Pope!’

’What are you, a damn GPS? Global tracking? Can’t I shake you no matter where I run?’

He thought he’d shaken off the pursuing chunks of flesh with the Wind-Rolling Grass, but he never expected them to have locked onto him. They would cross mountains and rivers to reach him. They might be delayed, but their arrival was guaranteed!

Su Ze’s mind raced. ’What should I do?’

’Use the Wind-Rolling Grass to escape again? Not to mention whether my body could take it, the grass has a cooldown.’

’Besides, doing it again would only buy me time. It’s a temporary fix, not a permanent solution.’

’Self-destruct?’

’Not a reliable option.’

Seeing the chunks of flesh about to slam into his face, Su Ze decisively turned, bolted, and shouted:

"Feng, save me!

"I’m Qiangzi!"

...

Hearing the name "Qiangzi," the Sunbathing Feng Bqing instinctively drew in his foliage and looked toward the source of the sound.

Now over three meters tall, Feng Bqing moved his two thick, stump-like legs, running toward the source of the sound with a THUMP, THUMP, THUMP that made the ground tremble with each step.

He spotted Su Ze bursting out from the bushes, and a joyful light flashed in his clouded eyes. "Qiangzi!"

’It worked, he still recognizes me...’ Su Ze was secretly delighted and hurriedly shouted, "Quick, save me! Stop those chunks of flesh!"

Feng Bqing’s gaze shifted to the chunks of flesh chasing Su Ze. With a wave of his arms, his two branch-like limbs extended endlessly, sprouting vines that wove into a net and captured all the pieces of flesh.

Feng Bqing’s arms had become two cages, trapping the chunks of flesh within.

The chunks of flesh rammed against the cages, making loud THUDDING sounds, but they couldn’t break free.

Just then, a hint of lucidity returned to Feng Bqing’s eyes.

He could only remain lucid for about six hours a day, and crucially, those six hours weren’t continuous but occurred at random intervals.

He could be lucid one second, lost in a daze the next, and clear-headed again a moment later, with no discernible pattern.

This made it incredibly difficult for him to use his lucid moments to accomplish anything.

For instance, he had tried to kill Su Ze several times, but the farthest he’d ever gotten was just outside Fengshui Pass before his mind would cloud over, and he’d run back into the depths of the Blood Earth Forest.

He looked at Su Ze, who was fleeing without a backward glance, and let out a low, chilling roar: "Su Ze!"

The voice was brimming with hatred and killing intent. If it weren’t for Su Ze, he never would have become this... this thing, neither human nor monster.

Feng Bqing turned to hunt down Su Ze, but his expression suddenly stiffened. The chunks of flesh he had trapped, unable to break free, had started burrowing directly into his arms!

Feng Bqing’s face fell in horror. He stopped in his tracks and desperately tried to seal off the chunks of flesh that had invaded his body.

Once inside Feng Bqing’s body, the chunks of flesh seemed disoriented, as if they had lost their way.

The Pope’s Blood and Flesh Parasite Skill could only affect creatures of flesh and blood, like humans and exotic beasts; it couldn’t parasitize Spiritual Plants.

Feng Bqing’s current physical state was bizarre—a hybrid of flesh and plant. After entering him, the Pope’s "living flesh" seemed incompatible with the new environment, and for a moment, it didn’t know where to begin.

The chunks of flesh could only try to contaminate and assimilate the parts of Feng Bqing’s body that still retained the characteristics of flesh and blood.

"Damn it!"

Vines sprouted from Feng Bqing’s arms and pierced through his own bark-like skin. A mixture of red and green blood flowed from the wounds, but he felt no pain.

The vines burrowed into his body; he was trying to dig out the chunks of flesh.

Sensing the danger, the chunks of flesh desperately tried to integrate themselves into Feng Bqing’s body.

Su Ze kept an eye on Feng Bqing’s condition but never stopped running, fleeing at top speed.

He didn’t dare to fly, for fear of attracting powerful exotic beasts.

As he fled, he even found himself a little worried that Feng Bqing might be parasitized by the Pope.

Although Feng Bqing and the Pope were both his enemies, and letting the Pope kill Feng Bqing would mean one less enemy for him.

But this particular enemy, Feng Bqing, was just so useful. Su Ze was almost reluctant to see him die.

Su Ze took out the Wind-Rolling Grass but found that the wondrous item resisted the infusion of his evolutionary power, meaning its cooldown wasn’t over.

He could only run as fast as possible, not daring to stop for even a second.

He knew full well that regardless of the outcome—whether Feng Bqing resisted the Pope’s parasite or the Pope successfully took over his body—he would be hunted down.

’What was I even trying to do on this trip? How did I end up getting chased all over the place by a bunch of psychos?’

Su Ze was starting to regret his whole "lure the snake from its hole" plan. If he had just kept a low profile and hunted a fourth-tier exotic beast with Chen Suifeng, he’d probably be done by now. None of this would have happened.

As he ran, Su Ze suddenly heard a hysterical cry from behind him: "Qiangzi! Don’t go!"