HP Bar is the Universal Law

Plants vs. Zombies 8

The ground was littered with Mogu mushrooms. If Emily hadn’t been bored and picked one up to examine it, nobody would have known that these so-called “ingredients” were actually treasure chests in disguise, scattering themselves shamelessly for all to see.

When Daniel Carter finally crouched down beside his daughter and plucked a Mogu mushroom himself, the three of them exchanged glances. Because Daniel’s mushroom stayed just a mundane fungus—no little chest appeared.

Lyra dared not venture over. She feared that her sky-high Luck of 100 might accidentally get wiped out by a tiny mushroom. After all, there was no “fixed” or “cursed” suffix attached to her Luck to protect it.

“Uncle Daniel, Emily, try picking a few more,” Lyra said, pursing her lips. She didn’t dare touch the mushrooms herself—she’d leave the risky experiments to the Carters.

Without a word, Daniel and Emily crouched down and started plucking at random. And, of course, trouble ensued.

Emily picked three Mogu mushrooms in a row, each one transforming into a little treasure chest the moment she dropped it. Daniel plucked five: the first two remained ordinary fungi, but the next three awarded him with nasty debuffs—minus 5 Stamina, minus 10 Spirit, and a three-minute immobilization. The father-and-daughter duo thus became a stark contrast to one another.

Lyra breathed a sigh of relief at Daniel’s Luck of merely 30. She wondered, if it had been below 10, would he have suffered five consecutive negative statuses?

“See? My theory holds—Luck really matters in these instances. Emily, pick a bunch more,” Lyra remarked.

Emily bent down again. With her Luck of 90 (not the max 100), she missed sometimes, so she ended up gathering 12 mushrooms before stopping.

She lined up ten little chests on the ground and sighed. “Sister Lyra, the system says each person can only open ten small treasure chests. I’ve hit my limit.”

With so many mushrooms strewn around, a limit made sense.

By then Daniel’s immobilization had worn off. He and Lyra conferred briefly. Unable to bear leaving treasure chests behind, Daniel—bolstered by Lyra’s healing spells and a quick sip of a small blue potion—grimly picked up every last mushroom. He kept getting frozen or paralyzed, and each chest he opened was a battle. In the end, he managed to open only five.

“I can’t do it—low Luck really isn’t cut out for treasure-chest looting. Miss Lyra, you give it a try?”

Lyra felt torn. “I—I think I’ll pass…”

Her hesitation sparked a sudden idea in Daniel’s mind—he feigned understanding.

But Lyra caught the pity in his eyes and felt none of that solidarity. A character with 100 Luck who’s too afraid to open a treasure chest—what a tragedy.

Daniel assumed Lyra’s Luck must be even lower than his. To avoid rubbing salt in her wounds, the Carters tactfully dropped the opening-chests topic and moved straight to the experimenting phase.

Daniel came to appreciate his Luck even more. As a true “unlucky” player, he needed some metaphysical aid. He scooped Emily into his arms, rubbed her little hands, and—with trembling fingers—opened another chest.

Whether it was Emily’s “lucky touch” or not, Daniel’s chest turned out pretty well: three small blue potions and two plant fragments (Jet Mogu and Smoke Mogu).

Daniel handled his chests cautiously, but Emily breezed through hers—ten at once—unearthing five plant fragments: Sunlight Mushroom, Hypno Mogu, Timid Mogu, Chilled Mogu, and the long-coveted Tombstone Moss.

Besides plant fragments, Emily also got five items: two medium red potions and three medium blue potions. Lyra couldn’t help but marvel: “90 Luck doesn’t lie!”

Holding the seven plant fragments the Carters had opened, Lyra was overjoyed. In the single-player Plants vs. Zombies, only mushroom-type plants are available at night. With seven Mogu-class fragments in hand, even if they didn’t complete the entire night-plant roster, they could easily defend the Night mode.

“It seems plant fragments can drop from combat or from treasure chests. But this Mogu patch only yields night-mode fragments—other modes’ fragments must be in chests elsewhere.”

“Then shall we keep hunting for chests?” Daniel asked enthusiastically. Seeing his daughter’s usefulness warmed his heart. Lyra, having unlocked the fragments she needed, was no longer in a hurry.

“We’ve been out two hours. Mogu chests are rare; no telling how other chests manifest or where. There are surely others exploring this dungeon. Let’s head back to our home base—maybe we can exchange intel. That’s far more efficient than stumbling around ourselves.”

The trio hurried back to their home base. Once Lyra lifted the game’s pause, the garden soaked up sunlight for three hours under her small healing spells before the system alerted them:

“Plants vs. Zombies dungeon entering Night Mode. Players, prepare yourselves.”

The in-game sky changed in an instant. Moments before it had been bright and sunny; now everything dimmed. Except for the faint lights inside the manor, the world outside was pitch black—a true blackout.

Lyra’s heart sank. In the standalone game, at least you could still make out some HUD elements. Here in the dungeon, total darkness was a bit much.

“Quick, Uncle Daniel, Emily—swap out the plants in the garden. Keep the first-row walnut wall as is. Fill the second column on the right with Jet Mogu. Replace everything else with Sunlight Mushrooms.”

Jet Mogu: Shoots bubbles at zombies at night; extremely short range

Stamina: 5

Damage: 1

Cost: 100 points

Sunlight Mushroom: Generates sunlight at night

Stamina: 5

Damage: 0

Cost: 100 points

Since Jet Mogu’s range is so short, they must sit right behind the walnut wall—otherwise they can’t detect approaching zombies. As for Sunlight Mushrooms, they function like daytime Sunflowers: only mode-specific plants work at night. Daytime-only plants, no matter how many you plant, will remain inert even if zombies chew them away. But planted-day plants can be uprooted, so swapping in night-mode plants incurs no loss.

As they swapped, the distant groans of zombies grew louder in the pitch-black garden—eerily terrifying.

“Ch-ch-ch…” Although they couldn’t see, Lyra knew from the sound that zombies were gnawing on the walnut wall. She turned off the auto-collect feature on her storage tank, paused her planting, and raised her crossbow.

“Uncle Daniel, Emily—keep swapping. I’ll hold the walnut wall.”

“Understood.” Daniel replied. Emily trembled with fear but didn’t retreat behind her father; she stayed beside him, fumbling to plant Sunlight Mushrooms.

Although they couldn’t see ahead, the wall’s health bars were visible. Lyra used small heals on each walnut based on its current HP, estimating that there weren’t yet many zombies outside.

Once Daniel and Emily finished the plant swap, the zombies’ groans swelled in the darkness.

Lyra’s crossbow fired more frequently; the walnut walls’ HP sank faster and faster. Daniel grew anxious and finally blurted out, “Lyra, should I step up to the front?”

“Not yet.” Lyra’s face was cold. She hammered healing spells into the wall mercilessly. More zombies gathered, and soon came the “thud-thud-thud” of new reinforcements.

Sure enough, the new monster entry popped up:

Football Zombie: A mighty sports-playing undead—tremble before him!

HP: 50

Damage: 5

Skill: Higher attack and defense than normal zombies

Remaining: 1,000

With Football Zombies joining, the walnut walls’ HP plummeted. Thankfully, they’d replaced the first row with wall-nuts (250 HP each), and Lyra could still heal them. But the lone Jet Mogu’s firepower was woefully insufficient.

Lyra had stronger weapons, but she had to wait for an opportunity—something to let her see the whole battlefield.

She stood still, focused on healing. Daniel and Emily dared not pressure her; they simply circled in place.

Finally, when the first Sunlight Mushroom released its first sunlight drop, Lyra exhaled a long-held breath.

“Uncle Daniel, don’t touch the sunlight—let it fall freely.”

At first Daniel didn’t understand. But as more Sunlight Mushrooms began spewing sunshine across the garden, bathing it in light, he suddenly got it.

Lyra intended to use the Sunlight Mushrooms’ drops to illuminate the garden!

Increasing amounts of sunlight covered the ground, turning the base as bright as day. Lyra checked her watch against the sky. In the standalone game, there’s always a guaranteed sun drop at dawn or dusk, but here in the dungeon after so long, none had fallen. Had Emily not found Sunlight Mushrooms in the chests, they’d be stuck in a brutal night fight.

After disabling the auto-collect on the storage tank, the sun drops from Sunlight Mushrooms lingered for a time before vanishing. With staggered timings, the old and new sun drops overlapped, keeping the garden lit. From the moment she decided to use Sunlight Mushrooms for illumination, Lyra sacrificed night-mode point accumulation. It hurt to miss out on those suns, but fighting blind would have been far worse. It was a clear trade-off—and she chose illumination without hesitation.

Before, unable to see the front, Lyra had been on the defensive.

Now, with sunlight and the points she’d banked during the day—and armed with the seven night-mode Mogu fragments—Lyra clenched her fist. It was time to show these dungeon zombies the prowess of a Plants vs. Zombies single-player champ.