Huang Jinghe answered at once, "Alright. You all be careful too."
After running a while longer, their group reached the exit. Once Huang Jinghe and Brother Zhang were sent out, the others plunged back into the dense forest.
As another deafening explosion rang out, the plants inside the forest grew even more aggressive than before. It felt as though every tree had transformed into a blade, their killing power far from ordinary.
But they had to keep going. Still, even with their unusually strong bodies, each of them was beginning to feel weak. Thankfully, Lan Jin carried spring water. The three of them could not wait and immediately drank it down.
Ling Jiang rubbed her arm and said, "I've boxed before, but I never felt this tired. Too tired. Really too tired. My arms don't even feel like mine anymore. Without spring water, I would have gone down the mountain with them."
Lao Gao felt the same. "I pulled the trigger so much my hand hurts. If we had to load detonators on the way, we'd never have made it this far. We'd have been dragged down already."
With no time to waste, the three quickly split into two groups. Lao Gao and Ling Jiang paired up to install the detonator deeper inside the side forest. Lan Jin stayed near the entrance and bound another detonator in place.
Because she was closer, Lan Jin finished first and waited for them. But when Lao Gao and Ling Jiang finally returned, their faces were filled with terror.
Lan Jin's heart sank. She shouted, "What happened?"
Before they could answer, she saw what was behind them and froze in disbelief.
The plants—the roots and stems of enlarged plants—were crawling out of the soil. These massive roots were chasing them. If Ling Jiang had not been able to teleport at the last moment, both she and Lao Gao would have been caught already.
Once Lan Jin saw they were safe for the moment, she turned and sprinted toward the exit.
Brother Zhang had once said that these plants could never leave this place, or the entire region would already be in chaos.
They thought once they ran out, they would be safe. But to their shock, the plants followed them out of the boundary as well.
Lao Gao's eyes went wide. "I thought they couldn't get out?"
Thinking carefully, Brother Zhang had never said plants could not leave. He had said animals could not leave. Perhaps their bombs had disrupted the balance, letting the plants escape.
But was that really the point now?
Lao Gao spun around and unleashed his fire ability on the advancing plants. The roots shrank back, frightened of the flames, but the fire was not nearly strong enough to burn them completely. After barely one or two seconds of reprieve, the plants surged forward again.
Plant roots had countless branches. Together they ran like a swarm. Even with Ling Jiang's teleportation, there was no way she could carry two people at once.
As the plants closed in, Lan Jin summoned her lightning. Just as they were about to be swallowed, she electrocuted the mass of roots, making them writhe and convulse on the spot. If they had mouths, Lan Jin was sure the air would have been filled with screams.
She had no time to measure her output. She did not unleash her full power, but it was enough. The plants twitched a final time and collapsed to the ground.
But it was too early to relax. That was only one group. More plants poured in from behind. At the exit itself, a thick mass of roots was already piling up. Lan Jin's skin crawled at the sight.
Lan Jin shouted, "Lao Gao, press it! Blow them up first!"
Without hesitation, Lao Gao slammed his thumb on the detonator. Then he turned his head and realized how close they were to the blast. His heart dropped—he thought the three of them were finished.
At that moment, Lan Jin flashed forward. In the blink of an eye, all three of them disappeared into her spatial pocket.
The roar of the explosion, the shockwave, the destruction outside—it all passed them by. Inside the space, everything was calm and peaceful.
Lao Gao turned to Lan Jin and gave her a big thumbs up. "What can I say, Sister Lan really is the best."
Lan Jin's voice was steady. "At a moment like this, where else could we hide? If Brother Zhang hadn't been there before, I would have already hidden in the space while setting off the bombs."
Hiding in the space meant not even the blast waves could touch them.
…
Inside the space, little Lan Qiaoqiao had been playing on the open ground. When she saw Lan Jin and the others appear, dirty and disheveled, she ran over at once. Lan Qiaoqiao circled Lan Jin several times, checking her up and down. Luckily, Lan Jin was only filthy but not injured. Still, seeing her mother like that made Lan Qiaoqiao's face scrunch with worry.
"Mama, hurt?" Qiao Qiao asked softly.
Lan Jin bent down, her voice gentle. "No hurt. Just now, Brother Gao played firecracker. He threw it by our feet. Mama was afraid it might explode on us, so we hid here."
Lao Gao nearly choked on his own blood. "Firecracker, seriously?"
But as expected, the moment firecrackers were mentioned, the child's eyes lit up. The worry vanished, replaced by excitement. Qiao Qiao said loudly, "Firecracker! Qiao Qiao want play! Brother Gao, Qiao Qiao's?"
Lao Gao glanced at Lan Jin helplessly, then replied, "That one wasn't ours. Just one piece. Already gone."
Qiao Qiao's face fell. "Ah… gone?"
"Gone," Lao Gao confirmed.
Ling Jiang struggled to hold back laughter. Grandma Ling asked in a low voice, "What happened to you three? Why do you look like this?"
"Big job," Ling Jiang answered quickly. But the details could not be shared yet. She added, "We need to get out fast. There's cleanup outside."
Whatever it was, those precious seconds should have been enough for everything to be destroyed. If they waited too long, someone might see them reappear out of nowhere.
Lan Jin understood. She soothed Qiao Qiao briefly, then led everyone out of the space.
Children really were much easier to coax.
…
They reappeared at the same spot they had vanished. Now, looking back at the forest, "devastation" was the only word to describe it.
Lan Jin peered in from a distance. The terrain blocked much of her view, but smoke was rising everywhere. She could see no plants rushing out anymore, which meant the danger should have passed. Their mission was likely complete.
The three of them, exhausted, dragged themselves up the mountain path. Before leaving, they turned back one last time to look at the shattered, once-dreamlike forest.
Lao Gao muttered, "That almost cost us our lives. If the reward wasn't worth it, I'd never take a job like this again."