Chapter 783

After setting up the anti-spike wall, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. After exchanging a few words of caution, the lords who weren't participating in the clearance mission took the hired workers who had come to help and returned to their own territories; those who needed to stand night watch did so, and those who needed to rest went to rest.

Xia Qing, Shi Du, and Yu Shou all received the task of clearing the aggressive locust tree; they were the three main forces for felling it.

Huo Lei and Qi Fu also stayed behind to guard the anti-spike wall with Zhao Ze, repairing it in time if problems arose. Tang Huai, who loves to join in the fun, of course stayed behind as well.

Aggressive Qi-evolved plants grow extremely rapidly during the Qi rain period. The locust tree was densely covered in thorns, and the locust pods between the branches had grown to the length of a finger. It was estimated that they would mature and fall off in a few hours, so the clearance work had to be a race against time.

After confirming that everyone had withdrawn from the locust tree's attack range, Tan Junjie immediately ordered, "Yuan Rui, fire. Other personnel, take cover."

"Received." Yuan Rui aimed at the locust tree's trunk, which was over twenty centimeters thick, and fired a bullet.

The bullet penetrated the locust bark and phloem, lodging into the wood. The twenty-meter-tall locust tree shuddered, and then countless sharp thorns over twenty centimeters long grew out and shot off in all directions, making people's scalps tingle.

"Puff! Puff!..." One by one, the thorns shot toward the anti-spike wall, which was over five meters high and 180 meters away.

When the sharp tips of the thorns instantly pierced through the three layers of rainproof cloth, Zhao Ze, who was wearing a level-three field protective suit and holding a shield, felt his heart go cold: It's over, it's all over...

Qi Fu patted him on the shoulder, "It's fine, it blocked them."

The tips of the thorns were indeed very sharp and thin, but the ends were thick. After piercing the three layers of rainproof cloth, only three to five centimeters of the tips were exposed; they couldn't penetrate the anti-spike wall entirely.

When Zhao Ze opened his eyes and saw this scene, tears streamed down his face.

Regardless of the direction the thorns flew, they all eventually landed on the ground and stuck into the soil. The roots of the aggressive locust tree in the shallow soil were pierced by its own thorns, triggering the attack mode again, and another wave of thorns left the tree, launching an attack.

Based on the depth of the bullet's penetration into the trunk, Xia Qing reported to Tan Junjie, "The hardness evolution is moderate. Shi Du, Yu Shou, and I can cut the tree down in three minutes."

"Received." Tan Junjie ordered Yuan Rui to fire the second bullet. The locust tree erupted in an attack again. This time, the number of thorns shot out was significantly less than before, but new thorns were growing at a speed visible to the naked eye. As long as the tree wasn't cut down, the attacks wouldn't stop.

"Tree-felling team, advance. Watch your protection."

"Received." Xia Qing stood up, opened her iron umbrella, held her shield, and rushed forward against the thorns. The thorns hit her shield and iron umbrella, making sharp, ear-piercing collision sounds, and Xia Qing's ears were buzzing.

After reaching the tree, Xia Qing threw away her shield and swung her blade to cut. The tree was attacked and shot out thorns even more violently.

"Ah!" Seeing a thorn head straight for Xia Qing's arm, which was exposed outside the iron umbrella while she swung the blade, Tang Huai couldn't help but exclaim, "Xia..."

Before he could finish shouting, he saw the thorn that had stuck into Xia Qing's arm roll onto the ground. Tang Huai changed his words, "Damn, as expected of a special protective suit, badass!"

At this moment, Shi Du and Yu Shou, protected by the shields of their respective investigation team members, rushed to the tree. With the team members holding shields to block the thorns, they joined Xia Qing in cutting the tree.

Huo Lei looked through his binoculars at the depth of each of Xia Qing's cuts and breathed a sigh of relief, "It's stable. It will definitely be down in three minutes."

Zhao Ze, who had been terrified by the scene, gave Huo Lei a thumbs up, "Uncle Huo's technique is top-notch, and that black blade of Sister Qing's is indeed easy to use."

Tang Huai immediately followed up, "That's for sure, the black blade Uncle Huo forged for me of the same style is also very easy to use."

Huo Lei laughed happily, "It's mainly because Xia Qing is strong. That blade of hers weighs 25 jin; only a strength evolver of Xia Qing's level can unleash the blade's power."

"25 jin?! The cleaver Uncle Huo just helped me forge only weighs 3 jin." Zhao Ze exclaimed.

Tang Huai shut his mouth, because he felt quite tired using the 4.5-jin black long blade that Huo Lei had forged for him.

Qi Fu, who was also a strength evolver, grew envious, "Uncle Huo, after this Qi rain is over, can you forge a set of blades for me?"

Zhao Ze also quickly followed up, "Uncle Huo, I want a set too."

Huo Lei is only 48 this year, only nine years older than Zhao Ze and 13 years older than Qi Fu, but his skill in forging cold weapons and farm tools is superb, so everyone follows Xia Qing and respects him as "Uncle."

Huo Lei nodded, "Sure, but I don't have any new-material ore here. If you want to forge blades of the same material as Xia Qing's, you'll have to find the ore yourselves."

These two aren't Tang Huai and don't have the obsession with getting the same style as Xia Qing, "I'm not picky about the material, as long as it's sharp and easy to use."

Qi Fu asked again, "Uncle Huo, can you forge the kind of iron umbrella Xia Qing uses? I want to order two."

That iron umbrella held over the head looked very reassuring.

"Sure, that's very simple."

Tang Huai immediately followed up, "I want three iron umbrellas."

One for him, one for his brother, and one for his sister.

Tan Junjie's loud shout interrupted the three's conversation, "The locust tree is about to be felled, Third Team, get ready."

Huo Lei, Qi Fu, Zhao Ze, and others belonging to the Third Team immediately picked up their shovels. After Xia Qing, Shi Du, and Yu Shou pushed the tree down together and dragged it away from the root area, they would rush up to dig the soil and excavate the roots.

"Third Team..."

Before Tan Junjie could issue the order, Tang Huai, who was participating in the mission for the first time and lacked experience, rushed out with a shovel. Huo Lei grabbed him by the back of his collar and cursed, "Didn't you see the thorns are still shooting out? Are you fucking tired of living?"

"Everyone, pay attention. You can only set out after hearing the order; you cannot act without authorization." Team Leader Tan was also startled when he saw Tang Huai rush out and roared.

Tang Huai stared with wide eyes, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Not until the fallen tree stopped shooting thorns did Tan Junjie order, "Third Team, begin operation."

Only then did Huo Lei release Tang Huai and rush over with Zhao Ze and the others, holding their shovels.

With many hands, the work was easy. Everyone quickly dug out the main root of the tree, and the locust tree clearance mission was completed.

Amidst Zhao Ze's thousand thanks, the mission team returned to their respective positions. Xia Qing drove her off-road vehicle to Territory No. 9 to patrol and clear dangers.

Zhao Ze posted an announcement in the lord channel, "The aggressive locust tree in Territory No. 4 has been cleared. Many thanks to everyone for providing materials and effort to help. The anti-spike wall blocked the thorns, and my mung bean greenhouse was saved."

Kuang Qingwei replied, "It's good that it's cleared. It's not raining now, everyone hurry and get some sleep while you can."

Yue Haiying cautioned, "Arrange night patrol personnel well and clear risks within the territory in time."

Huo Lei, who followed Tang Huai into Territory No. 2, sighed, "Spending the Qi rain period in the territory is much harder than in the safe zone. I haven't been this tired or tense in years."

Tang Huai reminded him, "Uncle Huo, the safe zone was bombed by Qi explosions this time, and it's even more tense than here. Preliminary statistics show over 2,300 deaths and over a thousand wounded. I don't know if they can hold on."

Hearing this heavy number, Huo Lei's steps became heavy, "The phones aren't getting through either. I don't know if my shop was bombed."

Fortunately, he had called several apprentices from the shop to the territory to help before the Qi rain, so even if the shop was bombed, the people were still there.

Tang Huai knew Huo Lei's iron shop was in the West Outer City and could only comfort him, "I heard the worst was the North Outer City; the West Outer City should still be okay."

"I hope it's fine. I'm leaving." Huo Lei left Territory No. 2 through the south gate, passed through the passage, and entered his Territory No. 11.