Park Su and Xu Nuo had long anticipated their decision, so they didn't say much and simply led the group deeper into the area.
As they ventured further, they realized that Park Su's abilities were far beyond what they had imagined. Though Park Su had told them he was a third-tier wood element ability user, they could see now that his control over the ordinary vines along the path seemed effortless. He had been manipulating them for quite some time, yet he didn't appear fatigued in the slightest. In fact, he handled it with ease.
This left Ge Qing in awe of them. It made him admire them even more. From the way Park Su controlled the plants, he seemed far more capable than the freshly advanced Lu Shang. He didn't even seem like a typical third-tier ability user. His abilities were far more impressive than what they had expected.
As they went deeper into the forest, the vegetation became more densely packed, just as they had been warned. But to their surprise, they hadn't encountered any threats or attacks along the way.
They finally made it through a narrow path, only to find themselves in a vast, overgrown meadow. The grass and plants were already growing to over a person's height, making it nearly impossible to see what was lurking within. It was hard to tell what dangers the dense grass might conceal. The once-clear path through the vacation area had long been overtaken by thick, climbing plants.
With their unfamiliarity with the area and no clear path ahead, it seemed like they had no choice but to make their way through this overgrown meadow. Despite all this, they hadn't encountered any second-tier zombies yet. Although they trusted Ge Qing and Lu Shang's analysis, the fact that they hadn't seen any zombies yet made them wonder if there might be a reason for that, like the zombies being deeper inside, or some other factor keeping them at bay.
Park Su glanced over the meadow, wondering if there could be any zombies hidden among the tall grass. But the possibility didn't seem high. After all, second-tier zombies didn't have complex thought processes—they were more instinct-driven.
Yet, despite his reasoning, Park Su couldn't shake off an uncomfortable feeling. He turned to Xu Nuo, wanting him to make the decision. He wasn't sure what to expect next, but it seemed like it was time to decide whether to proceed through the meadow or approach the situation in another way.
However, Xu Nuo did not respond to him but instead said, "Stop overthinking. Since it's all about plants, I think you should be able to handle it. Besides, don't you have a helper with you?"
Encouraged and reminded by Xu Nuo, Park Su's motivation immediately returned. He summoned Green Ivy and allowed it to explore using its vines.
It didn't take long for a response. The results were surprising. Indeed, something felt off about this patch of grass. Green Ivy had detected a similar entity, but its level didn't seem to be as high as Park Su's.
Green Ivy was able to detect the location of this plant-like entity and also monitor the surroundings within its range.
What Park Su found out next astonished him—his previous suspicions turned out to be true. There were indeed zombies in this grass patch, and there were at least ten of them.
However, despite hearing human movements, these zombies didn't actively attack, which made Park Su wonder. According to his knowledge, second-tier zombies were faster, stronger, and had tougher bones, but they lacked intelligence and couldn't lay traps.
But now, it seemed these zombies were different from what he had imagined. Could they be third-tier zombies?
Third-tier zombies already had rudimentary intelligence. Though not as developed as human thinking, they were much more difficult to deal with than second-tier zombies. They often set traps and actively hunted down prey.
Moreover, some third-tier zombies even had their own abilities, though not as strong as those of human third-tier powers. Still, they were tough and much harder to deal with.
But Park Su had only encountered third-tier zombies after about a year in the previous life. Now, in this apocalyptic world, it had only been a little over a month. It didn't make sense that there would be third-tier zombies already.
If there really were so many third-tier zombies, things would be even more dangerous. After all, there were only two third-tier ability users among them, and the place was filled with second-tier zombies. There were only four of them, and even if Xu Nuo was extremely capable, he couldn't handle everything alone.
Feeling uneasy, Park Su glanced at Xu Nuo, then immediately shared his theory with him.
Upon hearing this, Xu Nuo furrowed his brows and asked, "I remember you told me that zombies are suppressed by tier levels, right?"
At Xu Nuo's hint, Park Su immediately understood, "You mean that the zombies in this grass patch are probably not third-tier zombies, but rather second-tier ones that are being led by a higher-tier zombie, perhaps as part of a hunting pack?"
"Exactly," Xu Nuo nodded. "There should indeed be high-tier third-tier zombies here, but they are dangerous. Since this place is secluded, no living humans come here. The zombies, lacking food, send second-tier zombies out to hunt. If second-tier zombies are hunting here, then the highest-tier zombies around are definitely not second-tier ones. However, the boss-level zombie probably won't reveal itself easily."
"Because it definitely wants to occupy the most resource-rich areas, like near that thing you mentioned, so we don't need to worry about it for now.
However, since Green Ivy discovered there are mutated plants here, didn't you ask it what kind of ability plants it detected? Do we need to go check it out?"
Park Su suddenly remembered that he had forgotten something crucial. He quickly made Green Ivy investigate again, and the results were truly surprising. He immediately told Xu Nuo, "It's Illusion Dandelion. This plant has a hallucinatory effect.
It doesn't affect zombies, those living dead, at all, but it works great on regular humans and animals that can inhale air. Thankfully, we didn't rush forward, or else we could have been trapped by the hallucinatory effect of the Illusion Dandelion.
We would have been surrounded by these lurking ten-plus zombies and might have been killed here today, possibly without even being able to fight back!"
Xu Nuo smiled when he saw Park Su's look of relief. He said, "The effect of this Dandelion is interesting. In fact, I think it's quite suitable for you. After all, when facing zombies, your abilities should be fine, but when dealing with other ability users, you're a bit helpless. If you had this ability, trapping them for two or three days would be no problem.
And since the Illusion Dandelion has hallucinatory effects, perhaps it could help you resist its own hallucinatory effect, or maybe even let you frequently use this illusion skill on yourself, making you immune to it over time.
Or, it could even create some training scenarios for you using illusions, allowing you to become more efficient. How about it? Why not try to subdue the Illusion Dandelion?"
Park Su couldn't help but feel a little awkward. "Do you really trust me that much? Do you think I can definitely subdue this Illusion Dandelion?" He knew he didn't have much confidence in himself. After all, when he first heard about the Dandelion's effect, he thought it was useless since zombies were their biggest threat in the apocalypse.
If the Illusion Dandelion didn't work on zombies, then having it wouldn't be of much use. However, after hearing Xu Nuo's suggestion, Park Su suddenly felt that the Illusion Dandelion might be quite useful, and he became somewhat interested in it.
Xu Nuo saw through Park Su's lack of confidence and, in his usual manner, patted his head before using his mental power to communicate, "Since you feel this way, and I've specially brought you here, then it must succeed. You can't fail."
"More importantly, I was only telling you half of it. Since this Illusion Dandelion can affect living creatures with intelligence, and from what I've heard from you, zombies seem to develop their own intelligence as they progress, doesn't that mean that in the future, this Illusion Dandelion might also affect high-tier zombies?"
"If that's the case, you should realize how important this Illusion Dandelion could be. So no matter what, you must subdue it."
In the eyes of Ge Qing and Lu Shang, this scene clearly showed Xu Nuo trying to encourage Park Su by patting his head because he was worried Park Su lacked confidence.
The gentleness in Xu Nuo's eyes made Ge Qing swear that Xu Nuo definitely had feelings for Park Su. However, when Park Su heard Xu Nuo's slightly threatening words, he didn't feel any warmth at all. Instead, he felt like Xu Nuo was putting pressure on him.
Translated directly, Xu Nuo's words meant, "I've already come this far with you, and you're still hesitating about whether you can succeed? Do you want to die? Since you've already decided to go after the Illusion Dandelion, you better get it for me!"
Park Su just wanted to cry, feeling that he hadn't even enjoyed the benefits of having a mentor before he experienced his mentor's strictness. However, he had to admit that Xu Nuo's guess really tempted him.
After all, his ability to attract graves (Grave Absorption) was indeed quite lackluster in the later stages. It was not enough to deal with high-tier zombies, making it really difficult.
But if he had an illusion skill that could confuse high-tier zombies, he could easily kill those confused high-tier zombies in his range. Wouldn't that significantly increase his survival rate?
Seeing Park Su's renewed determination, Xu Nuo's lips curled into a smile. "Since you've decided to subdue the Illusion Dandelion, then let's take care of these zombies hunting around first! Only by clearing our rear will we be able to fight better!" With that, he gave Park Su a signal.
Park Su immediately ordered, "Little Green, go!"
At once, Green Ivy extended its vines and pulled out all the zombies that had been hiding in the grass. Some of the lower-tier zombies were immediately strangled to death, while a few of the second-tier zombies were injured, though their wounds had no impact on their movements since they didn't feel pain. They only looked a little disheveled. Enraged, they immediately charged forward.