The guys lasted exactly forty-three minutes before deciding the jungle needed to die.

Personally? I thought they were very optimistic... given everything.

We currently had a jungle in our front yard, and this wasn’t one of those things that was just going to disappear through intentions alone.

I sat on the front steps eating barbecue chips while watching Chenghai hack through a thin vine the width of my finger with a chef’s knife he found somewhere in the kitchen. The blade sliced clean through the plant, sending green liquid splattering across the driveway.

And for about three seconds, it looked like he had accomplished something.

Then the cut end split in half.

Two new vines immediately started growing from the severed section.

Chenghai stared at them in horror, but that didn’t stop the vines. If anything they seemed to enjoy his disbelief, growing even faster and even waving at him as they did it.

"...Well," Lingyun said after a long moment. He then paused for a second before shaking his head. "You know what? Not even I have a smart ass comment about all this. We’re fucked."

I crunched another chip between my teeth. "You guys wanted visibility," I reminded them. "You thought it was more important than anything else."

None of the men looked at me.

Mostly because they were too busy watching the vines continue crawling across the pavement like someone had hit fast forward on plant growth.

Zhenlan crouched near another section of overgrowth closer to the driveway entrance, studying the roots twisting through cracked concrete. "The roots are connecting underground."

"Plants tend to do that," I replied nodding my head. "I think I’d be more concerned if they were able to just get up and walk wherever they want to."

"That’s not going to happen, right!?" demanded Lingyun, turning to look at me, his eyes wide as if he couldn’t tell if I was joking or not.

I was not about to relieve any of his concerns. That look on his face was just too funny.

"This is different," interrupted Zhenlan, bringing us back to his point.

"Yes. Normally they don’t try to eat people."

Yuche walked past me carrying another gas can toward the section Lingyun had already burned earlier.

Or tried to burn.

The fire itself had worked fine.

For about three minutes.

Then the ash-covered soil started sprouting tiny green shoots almost immediately afterward.

Now the burned section was somehow growing back thicker than before.

Honestly?

I thought nature was just being dramatic.

Lingyun flicked one hand lazily toward the overgrowth near the fence line. Flames rolled outward instantly, blackening leaves and vines while smoke curled upward into the air.

For a brief moment, the vegetation actually retreated.

Then the seedpods hanging beneath several flowers burst open from the heat.

Tiny white strands exploded outward into the air.

"Oh, that can’t be good," Chenghai muttered.

Zhenlan reacted instantly.

Wind slammed outward around the property, catching the floating seeds before they could drift toward the house.

Unfortunately, that mostly just launched them further down the street instead.

Everyone froze.

Slowly, all four men turned to look at me.

I popped another chip into my mouth.

"What?" I asked around the crunch.

Lingyun narrowed his eyes. "You knew this would happen."

I shrugged one shoulder. "You all looked very determined. I didn’t want to ruin the learning experience."

Yuche rubbed one hand across his face while Chenghai stared down the street where several white seed strands had already disappeared into the jungle beyond the neighboring houses.

"...We made it worse."

"Probably," I agreed with a bright smile on my face. "But we might as well share the joy of nature and all that."

The silence that followed felt deeply judgmental.

I didn’t know why.

I wasn’t the one throwing fire at mutant plants.

The baby vine wrapped around my shoulders lifted its head proudly toward the jungle like it was personally winning some kind of competition.

Another loud crack split through the air as thick roots pushed upward beneath the driveway. The concrete shifted slightly before a cluster of bright purple flowers bloomed directly through the broken pavement.

One of the flowers slowly turned toward Lingyun.

Then opened a mouth full of teeth.

Lingyun pointed immediately. "See? This is exactly why I’m setting things on fire."

The flower hissed.

The baby vine hissed louder.

The flower immediately closed its mouth again.

Good choice.

Chenghai finally lowered the chef’s knife with a long sigh. "If we can’t cut them down and burning them spreads the seeds, then what exactly are we supposed to do?"

I looked up from my chips.

"Nothing."

Four identical stares met me immediately and I felt like I was surrounded by people who kept trying to fistfight hurricanes.

"The plants aren’t going anywhere," I continued. "They’re already established. Trying to clear all this would be like trying to mop up the ocean."

"We can’t just leave them here," Chenghai argued.

"Why not?"

"Because they’re dangerous."

"So is pretty much everything in this world."

"That isn’t the same thing."

I looked out toward the jungle swallowing the neighborhood one street at a time.

"It kind of is."

The world had changed.

Again.

Humanity just hadn’t realized yet that it wasn’t at the top anymore.

Not that I was going to waste time explaining that.

People got weird when you told them they weren’t special.

A loud rustling sound suddenly came from the backyard and everyone went still immediately.

Then, the four guys regrouped around me like they had just encountered yet another threat. Lingyun flames vanished instantly while Yuche stepped forward slightly in front of me on pure instinct.

I stayed seated. Right now, my porch was the safest place in this world. Whatever threat had the guys freaked out about would not survive the jungle in front of me.

The guys followed the sound cautiously around the side of the house while I continued eating chips and debating whether I wanted to get up or not.

I really didn’t, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t curious about what had made the noise.

Then again, I should have remembered that curiosity killed the cat.

A few seconds later, while I was still debating about whether I should get up or not, I heard Lingyun shouting.

"What the fuck..."

That was probably dramatic enough that I should go look.

With all the suffering of a woman being forced to exercise against her will, I finally pushed myself upright and wandered toward the backyard.

The second I stepped around the corner, the massive tree came into view.

Even I had to admit it was a little ridiculous now.

The thing towered over the backyard like it had been there for centuries instead of a single night. Thick roots twisted through the grass while the trunk itself was wider than a car. Dark bark spiraled upward into massive branches covered in heavy green leaves that blocked out huge portions of sunlight beneath it.

Not even the surrounding jungle touched it.

The plants nearby curved around the massive tree instead.

Like they knew better.

The baby vine immediately retreated deeper into my shirt.

Huh... that probably wasn’t a good sign.

Zhenlan stared upward silently while Chenghai slowly lowered the big knife at his side.

"What is that?" Yuche asked quietly.

I shrugged. "A problem for future Rouxi, I imagine."

As if hearing me, one of the branches shifted slightly overhead.

Then a wooden vine shot downward with terrifying speed, spearing a bird directly out of the air before retracting back into the tree.

Crunch.

Silence.

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

I looked up at the tree.

The tree ignored me completely.

"...Well," I said eventually. "The good news is that at least it isn’t interested in my snacks."