I Have a Post Apocalyptic Online Friend C22.1

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Chapter 22. Part 1

In the extreme cold of the Doomsday era, where nothing grew, plant data stored in the Base and information about plants from movies were extremely rare. Therefore, when Zhou An’an mentioned “dodder,” Lu Yuan’s mind remained blank.

“What is dodder?”

“It’s a plant,” Zhou An’an replied. “Also known as Bean Parasite or Rootless Vine. It’s said to be medicinal. Its most distinctive feature is that it doesn’t need to root in the soil; instead, it attaches itself to other plants, stealing their sunlight and nutrients. There used to be a large tree at our elementary school that died after being infested by it.”

“Do they only parasitize plants?” Lu Yuan asked.

Zhou An’an nodded. “And usually leguminous plants.”

Zombies had absolutely nothing in common with leguminous plants. Moreover, the dodder before them seemed less like parasitism and more like murder. It had completely enveloped the zombies in a suffocating embrace, and the scene beneath the tangled stem filaments was anyone’s guess.

“Looks like another mutated plant.”

“Driving through might get us entangled. Should we take a detour?”

As she spoke, Zhou An’an began flipping through the map. She soon shook her head in disappointment. “No, this is the only road towards the desert. A detour would add more than 300 kilometers.”

The longer the journey, the greater the dangers they might encounter.

They might avoid the dodder only to run into other, even more dangerous plants.

Lu Yuan pondered for a moment before saying, “Let’s test its power first.”

“Okay, how do we test it?”

He parked the car, casually grabbed a stainless steel plate from the kitchen, and climbed onto the roof.

Zhou An’an followed him up.

Lu Yuan estimated the distance and tossed the plate.

Being light, the plate flew seven or eight meters through the air before landing and rolling a short distance, coming to a stop right at the feet of the nearest zombie.

The two of them stared intently at the plate, watching for any reaction from the dodder.

Several minutes passed, but nothing happened.

“It’s not interested in inanimate objects,” Lu Yuan said.

Zhou An’an said, “But there are no other living things in the car. We can’t just walk over and test it ourselves, can we? What if we don’t make it back?”

She didn’t want to take any risks, and even less did she want Lu Yuan to take any.

He had no intention of doing so either. After a moment’s thought, he raised his gun and fired at a zombie outside the dodder’s range.

The bullet missed its head, only wounding its arm.

The zombie, which had been wandering aimlessly, noticed them, growled, and charged forward.

Zhou An’an couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up. “You’re so clever.”

Lu Yuan smirked. “Remember to give me an extra portion tonight.”

“No problem.”

The zombie was getting closer and closer to the dodder. Just as it was about to pass one of the infected zombies, a stem filament suddenly “swam” out from beneath the road and wrapped around its ankle with lightning speed.

The zombie strained with all its might, but only managed to take one step forward before the filaments coiled around it from foot to head, immobilizing it completely.

Another infected zombie had been added to the road.

“It’s moving too fast… Even if we floor it, we won’t make it in time.” Zhou An’an felt a wave of despair.

“If we can’t get past it, we’ll have to kill it,” Lu Yuan said. “Find the bottled drinks in the car, pour out the contents, and I’ll take the empty bottles.”

Though Zhou An’an didn’t understand his plan, seeing his confident demeanor, she immediately returned to the car and followed his instructions.

They had brought several cases of drinks from the mall. After a moment’s hesitation, she chose the grape juice she disliked the most. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to throw it away, so she saved it in a basin to drink slowly later. Soon, she had gathered twelve 500ml empty bottles.

As Zhou An’an poured the drinks, Lu Yuan was rummaging through the car. He returned with a thin plastic tube and asked, “Ready?”

“Do you think these are enough?” Zhou An’an handed him the empty bottles from the box.

He glanced at them and said, “They’re enough. Come with me.”

Lu Yuan first cleared out the zombies outside the car, then helped Zhou An’an out and led her to the fuel tank.

She suddenly understood his plan. “You want to burn the dodder with gasoline? Will it even catch fire?”

“It’s just a plant. No matter how much water it contains, it can’t be 100% water. If the temperature is high enough, it’ll definitely catch fire.”

As he spoke, Lu Yuan had already opened the fuel tank, inserted one end of the plastic tube, and taken a deep breath through the other end. He quickly transferred the tube to a bottle, and the pale yellow liquid began to gush out.

He filled twelve bottles in one go. Then he had Zhou An’an fetch a towel, soaked it in diesel fuel, and tied a rope to it.

The two returned to the car roof. Lu Yuan tossed the diesel-filled bottles one by one at the feet of the infected zombies.

Finally, he took out a lighter, ignited the towel, swung it around a few times, and tossed it near the nearest bottle.

The diesel fuel ignited, instantly spreading in all directions.

Plastic bottles exploded, sending sparks flying that landed on nearby containers, triggering a chain reaction of explosions.

The road transformed into a sea of flames. The dodder’s stem filaments crackled as they burned, twisting and writhing in the intense heat.

The filaments wrapped around the zombies loosened, and the corpses collapsed one after another. Some had withered so severely that only skin clung tightly to their skeletons, while others remained relatively intact—likely due to the varying duration of their entwinement.

Suddenly, one of the “corpses” stirred, crawling weakly and crying out, “Help… save me…”

Zhou An’an exclaimed in surprise, “That person’s still alive?”

Lu Yuan remained silent, his brow furrowed as he observed the figure.

It was a man, tall and burly, dressed in a jacket and work pants. He appeared uninjured.

Lu Yuan noticed an overturned car by the roadside. The man had likely been driving past like them, failed to notice the dodder, and drove straight into it, getting entangled.

It was unclear how long he’d been trapped. The flames were closing in, and with his speed, he stood no chance of escaping. Without intervention, he was doomed.

“His clothes are on fire!” Zhou An’an cried out.

“You want to save him?” Lu Yuan turned to ask.

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