For now, the only thing between Bai Li, Yan Cijin and the upper levels was an old stairwell filled with the distant sound of claws scraping across concrete.
Bai Li placed one foot on the first step.
Yan Cijin stepped beside her.
Above them, the golden light pulsed once.
Then something screamed from the darkness.
They climbed.
The stairwell seemed to go on forever.
The walls narrowed around them as they climbed, and the golden veins became thicker. They were no longer thin lines under the concrete. They had become roots, wide enough to wrap around pipes and steel supports. Every few seconds one of them pulsed with a soft golden light.
Yan Cijin touched one of the roots.
It was warm.
"It is reacting to us."
Bai Li stopped one step above her.
"Or something above us."
"Do you think the fruit knows we are coming?"
"I doubt it knows anything."
"Then why does it feel like the whole building is watching?"
Bai Li thought about that for a moment.
