Chapter 224: Dangerous Hostile-Evolution Tree

Xia Qing immediately retreated, used her peripheral vision to check the green light on the air-toxin detector strapped to her right arm, and only after confirming that the hostile-evolution creature attacking her had not released any toxin did she grip her machete in both hands and meet it, slicing the black shadow in two.

It was a hostile-evolution tree vine; the severed portion lost its attack power, and the half still attached to the root system thrashed in the air, lashing out at the hostile grass—strange to look at.

Although hostile evolution had appeared, the vine's hardness and speed only qualified as low-danger—not worth fearing.

Wait—

There are no large trees within a hundred meters of here. A tree whose vines can extend this far and still launch attacks of this level absolutely cannot be low-danger!

Every muscle in Xia Qing's body tensed instantly as she rapidly scanned her surroundings. It was the Hostile Rain period; she could not let this tree continue evolving—she had to find its location as soon as possible and eliminate it completely.

Unable to pinpoint the tree's location, she could only follow the vine to its source. Xia Qing grabbed the thrashing half-vine with both hands and yanked it outward.

She had only meant to straighten the vine to locate the tree, so she hadn't used much force—but to her surprise, this "tree" was actually pulled out of the ground and came flying at her, vines flailing.

It wasn't a tree at all, but a section of wooden stake that had taken root and grown vines. She had cut it from the wild paulownia grove a few days ago when fencing in the new chicken run!

If a single cut-off stake could evolve to this extent, then the tree itself was even more dangerous.

Xia Qing immediately pressed the button,

"Captain Hu, in the wild paulownia grove two hundred meters northwest of the southeast side of the wasteland, a tree has undergone hostile evolution. Danger level unknown. I need assistance."

"Copy. Report your position—I'll bring a team and rendezvous with you immediately."

After calling for assistance, Xia Qing began walking along the chicken run, clearing the hostile-evolution wooden stakes.

She had only taken two steps when she heard Shi Du urgently calling for rescue. "Captain Tan, are you there? A medium-danger hostile-evolution tree has appeared in Territory Ten. Need support immediately, need support immediately!"

Tan Junjie replied at once, "Copy. Fall back to the safe zone immediately. The Investigation Team will be there in five minutes."

Territory Ten was very close to the Investigation Team's barracks, which was why Tan Junjie and his men could arrive in five minutes.

Xia Qing seized the lashing vine and yanked the stake out by its roots and vines, but her heart sank.

Tan Junjie had already led his team to Territory Ten, meaning that even if a medium-risk situation appeared here, she couldn't call on the Investigation Team for support anytime soon.

Of course, according to regulations, Lord Xia Qing had the right to call the Investigation Team for rescue; if the Investigation Team couldn't provide support, they had to immediately contact headquarters, who would dispatch people.

But distant water won't quench a nearby thirst—relying on herself was more reliable. Xia Qing sped up.

When Beard Feng arrived at the chicken run with four team members, Xia Qing had already cleared four rooted, vine-grown stakes and tossed them onto the chicken run's netting to isolate them from the soil.

After hearing Xia Qing's account, Beard Feng immediately led the team at full speed toward the wild paulownia grove.

The venomous snakes and poisonous insects that leapt up to attack them along the way couldn't slow the squad's pace at all—low-attack ones were simply ignored, and high-attack ones were taken out with guns.

The gunfire had barely rung out for ten seconds when Tang Huai asked over the lord channel, "Xia Qing, you madwoman—what's going on? Why are you firing guns?"

Xia Qing smashed the head of a three-meter-plus berserk snake and had no time to deal with Tang Huai. But Tang Huai soon found a way to eavesdrop on the commotion in Territory Three, because dense gunfire had also erupted in Territory Ten.

Tan Junjie was leading the Danger Investigation Team, beginning to clear the medium-danger hostile-evolution tree in Territory Ten.

When Xia Qing and Beard Feng's squad sprinted at full speed to the edge of the wild paulownia grove, they saw an enormous tree canopy that nearly enveloped the entire grove!

This grove was one Xia Qing kept for firewood; she regularly pruned it, never letting the wild paulownias grow taller than three meters.

By rights, even if a tree under three meters underwent dangerous hostile evolution, it shouldn't pose much danger. When Xia Qing had patrolled here before dark, everything had been normal.

She hadn't expected that in just a few hours, a wild paulownia had shot up to eight meters tall.

Looking closely, one could see the tree's canopy was still growing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The dense, long snake-like vines hanging from the branches stayed still in the rain, but the moment they were triggered, they would immediately launch an attack.

This tree would not be easy to deal with.

Liangzi, a Level-6 hearing evolver, reported, "I hear plant roots growing rapidly beneath our feet."

If it kept growing and getting bigger, it would probably exceed medium-danger level—it had to be cleared quickly. Xia Qing asked in a low voice, "Captain Hu, can we use the grenade launcher?"

"Using a grenade launcher during the Hostile Rain will definitely trigger a red-level rainstorm. We can only use guns or physical attacks." The experienced Beard Feng immediately produced a battle plan. "This kind of tree has strong attack power on the outside, but once you charge in under it, the attack power weakens. We rush to the base of the tree; the four of us handle defense, while Xia Qing and Guan Tong go all-out and chop down the trunk as fast as possible."

"Copy."

Chainsaws couldn't be used in the rain, so this kind of heavy chopping work had to rely on strength evolvers.

The grove wasn't large, but the trees grew very densely. The six-person squad carefully avoided the vines as they advanced to the twenty-meter mark, where they inevitably brushed against one.

The vine had barely trembled before Beard Feng's machine gun swept it down to the ground. But there were still hundreds of vines on the tree, and they all swung at once, like clawing, fang-baring demons.

An attack of this level could only be blasted open with concentrated firepower.

The gunfire in Territory Three, even denser than in Territory Ten, reached Territory Two, and Tang Huai jumped in fright. "Xia Qing, what's going on? This tree is that close to Territory Two? Can you handle it? The Madman Squad's gear should be better than Captain Tan's, right?"

The gunfire in Territories Ten and Three grew denser and denser. Yuan Rui of the Investigation Team asked, "Territory Three, please report the situation. Do you need support?"

The six-person squad in Territory Three trampled the smashed vines and charged to the base of the tree. As expected, the vines' attacks here were far fewer than at the outer perimeter—as long as they chopped the tree down quickly, they'd be fine.

Xia Qing pressed the button. "A medium-risk hostile-evolution tree has appeared in Territory Three. We can clear it. No support needed."

"Copy." Yuan Rui shouted back; gunfire was everywhere, and his voice was much louder than usual.

Beard Feng and the other three used their guns to deal with the vines. Xia Qing and Guan Tong holstered their guns and drew their blades, and in a few strokes cleared the small trees around the big one. Wild paulownia wood was soft, so clearing these small trees cost the two of them almost no effort.

After clearing the small trees, the two swung their blades with full force at the hostile-evolution tree, which had already grown to forty centimeters thick.

"Clang!"

With one machete stroke, Guan Tong—a Level-5 strength evolver—only managed to chop off the bark and a two-centimeter-thick chunk of wood, and Xia Qing's machete actually snapped clean in two.

Everyone was stunned. They had already known from the vines' hardness that this tree had hardened, but they hadn't expected it to be hard to this degree.

Damn it!

Xia Qing tossed the broken half of her machete on the ground and drew the black long blade from her back. This blade had been specially forged for her by Lord Huo Lei—heavy enough, tough enough, and sharp enough.

"Clang!"

Xia Qing, a Level-6 strength evolver, slashed diagonally downward, then diagonally upward, chopping off a chunk of wood the size of a palm.

The attacked tree lashed its vines even more frantically, and the wounded area actually grew and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. To make matters worse, the rain was coming down harder again.

Beard Feng, who was shooting at the vines, immediately ordered, "Three minutes. If we can't chop it down, we pull out immediately and deal with it after the Hostile Rain ends."

Once the Hostile Rain ended, they could shell it with artillery. This tree could only launch physical attacks—as long as they stayed outside its attack range before clearing it, they'd be fine.

But the Hostile Rain wouldn't end for dozens of hours, and the ever-growing tree had already entered attack mode. Xia Qing's house was less than three hundred meters away.

That was the home she had carefully tidied for half a year. It held all her supplies, and beneath it was the storeroom she had spent hundreds of thousands to build.

If the giant tree were allowed to go berserk, by the time the rain of blades ended, her home and the rack-building warehouse would surely have been smashed to splinters by it.

Not a chance!