The short, chubby man had no better solution and could only grit his teeth, "Fine, we'll do it your way. When I catch those two inside, I'll tear them to pieces."
The tall, skinny man gave a cold laugh, "You're all talk. Let's see if you can even walk out first!"
Annoyed by his words, the short, chubby man retorted, "Then come up with a real solution if you have one. If not, stop complaining."
Seeing the argument about to escalate, the tall, chubby man quickly intervened, "Alright, alright, stop it. If we fight among ourselves, we're just playing into their hands. Let's move, get out of here first."
With those words, the other two glared at each other but stopped arguing. They followed the tall, skinny man's suggestion, closed their eyes, held hands, and walked in what they believed was a straight line.
But the short, chubby man didn't get very far before he felt something was off, a sensation like sinking, especially with his left hand, which felt sticky and gooey as if he were holding not a human hand but some animal's tongue. The sensation was so unnerving that he almost lost the courage to keep his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and glanced towards the tall, skinny man.
What he saw shocked him to his core, instinctively causing him to let go of the hand he was holding and shout, "F*ck!"
He was face-to-face with a giant zombie dog, and he had just been holding its tongue, pulling it out. The dog now had its eyes fixed on him, preparing to attack, its tongue hanging out, drooling, ready to pounce at any moment. If he hadn't opened his eyes, the dog might have already bitten his hand.
Faced with this, he instinctively yanked his hand back.
The moment he let go, the dog retracted its tongue but kept its eyes locked on him, dripping saliva, ready to charge at any second. He had no choice but to pull the tall, chubby man back with him. He knew from experience that mutated animals were faster than humans unless you were a speed-type ability user. Their attack power was nothing to scoff at either. He regretted not smashing the dog's head while he had the chance, as now confronting it directly seemed daunting.
Meanwhile, the tall, chubby man, with his eyes still closed, felt something odd about the sensation in his hand but kept telling himself it was just an illusion, not to be deceived by it. He continued walking forward, eyes shut, refusing to believe anything bad could happen.
But then he suddenly heard the short, chubby man beside him shout, "F*ck!"
Then he was pulled back rapidly, and he had no choice but to open his eyes to see what was happening. He saw the short, chubby man, covered in sweat, looking tense at something in front of them.
In front of them was a zombie dog, not small by any means, probably a large breed that had undergone some mutation after the apocalypse. The zombie dog was staring at them intently, which explained the short, chubby man's tension. However, he looked around and didn't see the tall, skinny man anywhere.
Frowning, he pulled the short, chubby man closer and asked, "How did this zombie dog suddenly appear? Where's the skinny guy?"
The short, chubby man, irritated, responded, "How the hell would I know where he's dead or gone? We were walking fine, then suddenly something was off, and the person beside me turned from the skinny guy into this zombie dog."
The tall, chubby man felt something was wrong and quickly asked, "Did you let go of his hand before?"
The short, chubby man shook his head, "No, I didn't let go. But if I hadn't let go, I might have become a zombie myself. You have no idea how disgusting it is to hold a zombie dog's tongue."
The tall, chubby man frowned, "If you didn't let go, how could the skinny guy suddenly turn into a zombie dog? Could this be an illusion? Maybe this zombie dog is actually the skinny guy, but we're under some kind of illusion to think it's a dog. Maybe the person inside has awakened an ability related to illusions?"
The short, chubby man looked at him in disbelief, then at the zombie dog ready to attack, thinking the tall, chubby man's guess was outlandish. However, he had to admit there was some logic to it, especially since the transformation from human to zombie dog was too bizarre.
If the person inside could make the door seem close yet unreachable, they could certainly make them see a human as a dog. With this speculation, they hesitated to attack, leading to a standoff, just staring at each other. But they couldn't just wait to die, as the zombie dog seemed increasingly restless, growling as if ready to pounce at any moment.
Although they suspected the dog might be the skinny guy, neither was willing to risk their life to confirm it. Who knew what the skinny guy might see or do to them? Thus, they couldn't let their guard down.
As for the tall, skinny man, he was suddenly thrown aside, landing on his butt. Just as he was about to curse, he noticed a strange plant in front of him. It resembled a rose but wasn't quite one; its branches were spread out chaotically, covered in numerous thorns that glinted coldly as they swayed.
What was most alarming was seeing the short, chubby man entangled in those vines, his body riddled with wounds from the thorns, blood flowing from them only to be absorbed by the plant.
He couldn't even think about whether it was the short, chubby man or this mutated plant that had thrown him; after all, the short, chubby man had strength-based abilities and should have been able to break free from the vines if he couldn't defeat them. But now, he was lifeless, his body increasingly entwined until only his head was visible.
This sight truly frightened the tall, skinny man, and what frustrated him more was that he couldn't see the tall, chubby man anywhere. It was the tall, chubby man who had suggested they walk forward with their eyes closed.
Now, he was left alone with a dead short, chubby man and this bizarre, rose-like mutant plant, making him feel a chill. Could it be that the tall, chubby man knew about the danger here and intentionally led them into this trap so he could escape, leaving them to die while he took over the entire ability users' team?
As a conspiracy theorist, he naturally suspected others, and this thought scared him, though he was reluctant to think this way about his teammates, especially since they had been together from the start. Despite their occasional disagreements, they had always come together because of the tall, chubby man.
He felt that although the three of them managed the team, the tall, chubby man was always the one with the most say; he shouldn't be capable of such betrayal.
Watching the terrifying mutated rose, he instinctively began to retreat to avoid being touched by the vines, shouting for the tall, chubby man, hoping he would show up. However, instead of seeing the tall, chubby man, the mutated rose in front of him started to stir, making him even more uneasy. As a water-type ability user, he knew water wasn't very effective against plants.
If the tall, chubby man were here with his fire ability, they might have been able to deal with this plant. But no matter how much he called out, there was no sign of him, increasing his doubts about his earlier suspicions.
The plant, perhaps having absorbed the short, chubby man, now turned its attention to him. Seeing the thorn-covered vines rushing towards him, he instinctively lashed out with a water whip, wrapping it around the vine, then struck it hard with another whip before retreating quickly, cursing, "D*mn it, this is hell!"
He knew continuing to fight the vines would be futile; with the short, chubby man dead and the tall, chubby man missing, regardless of whether this was planned by the latter, he needed to get out of this cursed place first, or he might end up dead too. He had felt from the start that this yard was too strange and warned against entering, but they didn't listen, leading to this disastrous outcome.
As he was retreating rapidly, a fireball suddenly flew towards him, causing his eyes to widen in shock. This was clearly an attack from a fire-type ability user.
"So, the tall, chubby man was nearby all along? My suspicions were right; he knew all about the dangers in this yard. He waited for me and the short, chubby man to come in and then took us both out!"
While retreating and fighting, he shouted loudly, "Tall, chubby, you better show your face! Stop playing these dirty tricks. If you want to be the boss, just say it to your brothers, why play these underhanded games?"