CHAPTER 215: CHAPTER 215: DISCOVERY

Zerra hurriedly looked away, but Alaric had seen it. With a worried face, he asked, "What’s wrong with Zee’s eyes?"

Cassias glanced at Zerra, who was now clutching his hand tightly. Anyway, even if she spoke, her dad wouldn’t understand her, so Cassias explained, "She might have stepped into a mutated plant, causing her eyes to lose her sight temporarily."

"Will it recover?" Alaric closed the gap between them and leaned forward to inspect Zerra’s tiny figure. He didn’t even dare to snatch his daughter from Cassias’ embrace in case it might worsen her condition.

"I suppose so, but it might take a while." Cassias frowned, his voice filled with concern. "That’s why I want to bring her outside the base for a while. She might not be able to shift to her human form too."

"She can’t shift to her human form?" Alaric was taken aback.

Zerra perked her ears when she heard that. Really? She couldn’t shift? So, she tried to shift, and...

She really couldn’t do it! Usually when she was either human or fox form, she could forcefully shift into the other form forcefully with time limit, but now she couldn’t!

Anxiously, she tapped Cassias’ hand with her paw. How could he know?!

"Zee, are you hurt anywhere?" Alaric gazed at his daughter worriedly. "Your eyes feel hurt?"

She immediately shifted her position to face her dad, shaking her head. "I am fine! The light is just making my eyes feel uncomfortable currently, but I do not feel pain."

Cassias immediately translated her soft yips to Alaric.

There was a look of reluctance on Alaric’s face. However, they also had no other choice. Zerra had gotten her eyesight impaired, and she would need a while to recover.

It would be safer if she stayed outside the base. There wouldn’t be a risk of anyone discovering her other form. Speaking of other forms, Alaric brought up the matter about Cassias’ wings.

"How come you possess a pair of wings on your back? Is it similar to Zee’s transformation?" Alaric revealed a thoughtful look on his face.

If that was the case, it explained why, of all of them, Cassias knew her the best. He could accurately guess what she needed and even became the only person who could communicate with her in her fox form.

Things do not seem so simple anymore.

Cassias shook his head, keenly aware that news might soon reach the Research Institute, even if Darren had strictly forbidden people from revealing it to outsiders. He didn’t even seem to be worried about it. "I am not sure if I can transform like Zee does."

"Currently, only your wings appear?"

"That’s for now, but for sure, we don’t know what will happen in the future," Cassias muttered, and didn’t seem to be that concerned about it at all.

"That’s true." Alaric nodded. He turned to Zerra, who had her head lowered and sighed. A lot of accidents always happen to her...

A roar sounded from a hospital room, and a tiger dashed toward them. It inspected Zerra’s current condition, circling Cassias.

"Bring it with you," Alaric told them. "Return as soon as she recovers."

"Of course, Mr. Sylvaris. I will protect Zee with my life." Cassias made an oath.

Zerra tugged on his hand again.

"Zee is asking about Mrs. Sylvaris. How is she now?" Cassias conveyed Zerra’s words.

Alaric answered with relief. "She is fine, just a little shocked. She needed a while to process what had happened. But it’s alright. You two should go without worrying about her. Take care of yourselves."

After he confirmed the place his daughter and Cassias would go, only then did Alaric go back to his wife’s room.

It was surprisingly really smooth. Zerra didn’t even question it since it was Cassias. Her parents really trusted him a lot.

Cassias didn’t delay any longer. He climbed onto the gigantic tiger’s back and they ran toward the buildings outside. He quickly found a decent one and went in.

It was a house. He quickly cleaned the place of any zombies and dirt. The tiger hadn’t stopped looking at her since earlier.

"The plant is black... do you think that’s the reason my eyes are uncomfortable with the light?" She pondered.

The tiger let out a growl, conveying something. Thus, the fox and the gigantic tiger were engaged in a conversation while Cassias was cleaning the room.

"What did you talk about so animatedly?" He raised his eyebrows. Her little face was all scrunched up, and sometimes astonishment flashed in her eyes.

"The tiger told me something." She jumped toward him. "It also found the black tendrils and flowers, but they didn’t hurt it. The tiger was even entangled with them briefly before it ripped them apart."

Cassias revealed a thoughtful look. He rubbed her fur. "Zizi, do you want to try something?"

She raised her eyes to look at him.

With that, he went out briefly. When he returned, he carried two mutated animals. One was a zombie, and the other was a normal mutated animal.

He put them in front of her and took something from his space. A glass container with the flower and tendrils inside. She wasn’t surprised anymore at seeing them. He actually had the method to preserve these cursed things.

The tiger was quick to drag Zerra toward the sofa, evacuating her from any potential danger. It must have sensed that the flower was a threat to Zerra.

She was about to protest, but unexpectedly, Cassias agreed. "Stay there, Zizi. Just watch from your current position."

With that, Cassias opened the glass container and brought the flowers surrounding the tendrils close to both animals.

The zombie rat slowly twitched in its cage, and a layer of white covered its eyes. The same effect it had on Zerra. Meanwhile, the normal mutated one didn’t show any reaction at all.

The little bird was still chirping in a lively manner, perhaps wondering where it was. Occasionally, it would shake its cage, wanting to be let out.

Cassias pushed the glass container close to the bird. It even took a peck out of curiosity. The bird still showed no reaction at all, very healthy.

On the other hand... the rat’s state was quite worrying.

"Its condition is very strange," Zerra commented from the sofa.

The severe effect of the flower, however, didn’t manifest instantly. In a few hours, they checked the rat again. Its fur looked somewhat darker than before.

Every few hours, they always checked on the rat’s condition. The rat didn’t receive spring water like Zerra did, so its condition kept on deteriorating.

Just in a few days, as Zerra’s eyesight gradually returned, her skin crawled as she witnessed the effect the flower had on the rat.

Apparently, they seemed to affect only zombies. Why is that? She knew it had affected her because even if she was in human form, she couldn’t be considered 100% human.

There were bound to be some small zombie characteristics.

"Do you think I would be like that if you hadn’t given me the spring water, Cassias?" Zerra asked as Cassias lifted her up with both his arms, letting her observe from above.

Cassias stayed silent, seemingly unwilling to answer.

So, she answered the question herself, gulping. "I might decay faster. My skin would rot since its state resembles that of a corpse. The flower might have accelerated it."

She pondered further. "Actually, I wonder what would happen if this world would have only zombies left. Will this place conduct some sort of purge of the zombies? The flower might be such a case..."

The rat had only its bones and fur left at this moment. All its rotten flesh was gone. Puddles of black liquid drenched some spots, which appeared to be its blood.

"Don’t talk anymore." Cassias stuffed her chattering mouth with a crystal core. She turned to him, just realizing he had an unhappy look on his face. A deep frown marred his forehead, and his lips pulled into a thin line.

Was she being too noisy?

Soon, she understood the reason.

Cassias exhaled and knitted his eyebrows. "Don’t make yourself an example like that. Your skin will not rot..."

She blinked at him and nodded, lowering her head, hiding the brimming emotions in her eyes.

They had stayed outside of the base for a few days for Zerra’s recovery. Cassias was very diligent, dabbing spring water in Zerra’s eyes once few hours.

Now, it was time to go back to the base. If she used her enhanced senses with spiritual power, her eyesight would still be as good as before.

Alaric and Nerith sometimes visited her too, and updated them with news from the base. Darren had quickly taken the reins of base leaders after Henry disappeared.

However, it seemed that the ability users under Henry became crazy because he was gone. Like brave soldiers unafraid to march to death, they made trouble again at the base.

Unlike last time, where they solved the trouble quite well... despite their small number, Zerra sensed an ominous premonition from Henry’s men.

Something bad was about to happen.