Chapter 224: Rain of Danger: The Evolving Wildwood Attack

Xia Qing instantly jumped back, sneaking a glance at the Greenlight on her Portable Toxin Detector strapped to her right arm. Only after confirming the Xiang-infused evolved creature hadn’t released any toxins did she grip her machete with both hands and charge forward, slicing the shadowy figure clean in half.

It turned out to be an aggressively evolved Xiang-infused vine. The severed part lost its strength, while the half still attached to its roots thrashed in the air, lashing at the Xiang Grass. The scene was eerie and unsettling.

Though an aggressive evolved threat had appeared, the vine’s hardness and speed ranked it as only a minor risk—not enough to really worry her.

Wait, something’s off!

There weren’t any big trees within a hundred meters. For a vine to stretch that far and attack with such force, its parent tree could not possibly be low-risk!

Every muscle in Xia Qing’s body went rigid as she scanned the surroundings. With Xiang Rain pouring down, she couldn’t let this tree keep evolving. She had to find it fast and wipe it out completely.

Since she couldn’t spot the tree, she’d just have to follow the vine to its source. Grabbing the lashing half of the vine with both hands, Xia Qing gave it a sharp tug.

All she wanted was to straighten the vine and track it to the tree’s location, so she didn’t pull that hard. But to her surprise, the so-called ‘tree’ came flying up from the ground, thrashing wildly.

It wasn’t a tree at all—it was just a stick, rooted with trailing vines. She’d chopped it from the wild tung grove a few days earlier when fencing in the new chicken enclosure!

If even a cut branch could evolve this much, the tree it came from must be far more dangerous.

Without hesitation, Xia Qing pressed the button.

“Captain Hu, I’ve got a tree showing aggressive Xiang evolution in the wild tung grove, two hundred meters northwest of the southeast side. Danger level unknown—requesting backup.”

“Copy that. Tell me your location, I’ll bring the squad and meet you right away.”

After calling for help, Xia Qing started circling the chicken enclosure, clearing out all the evolved, aggressive sticks.

She’d barely taken two steps when Shi Du’s urgent voice crackled over the radio. “Captain Tan, you there? We’ve got a mid-risk Xiang-evolved tree in Territory Ten! Requesting immediate support. Repeat, urgent support needed!”

Tan Junjie responded at once. “Copy. Fall back to the Safe Zone right now. Inspection Team will reach you in five minutes.”

Territory Ten was just a stone’s throw from the Inspection Team’s dorms, so Tan Junjie and company really could be there in five minutes.

Xia Qing yanked out another stick, root and all, heart sinking.

Tan Junjie’s squad was already headed for Territory Ten. If mid-risk threats appeared here, she wouldn’t be able to call the Inspection Team for backup any time soon.

Of course, according to protocol, as Territory Lord Xia Qing could request help from the Inspection Team; if they couldn’t assist, the headquarters would send reinforcements.

But relying on distant reinforcements was useless in a crisis. For now, she’d just have to take care of things herself—so she moved faster.

By the time Hu Zifeng led his four-man squad to the chicken enclosure, Xia Qing had already dealt with four rooted, vine-wrapped sticks, tossing them onto the chicken enclosure’s wire mesh to keep them from touching soil.

After hearing an update from Xia Qing, Hu Zifeng immediately led his squad at full speed toward the wild tung grove.

Venomous snakes and poisonous bugs leapt out to attack along the way, but they barely slowed the squad down. Weak attackers got ignored, stronger ones were shot on the spot.

Barely ten seconds after gunfire rang out, Tang Huai sent a message in the Lord’s Channel. “Xia Qing, hey crazy one, what’s going on? Why are you firing guns now?”

Xia Qing smashed the head of a berserk three-meter-long snake, too busy to even respond. Not that it mattered—Tang Huai quickly found a way to eavesdrop on developments in Territory Three, since a storm of gunfire erupted in Territory Ten as well.

Tan Junjie was leading the Hazard Inspection Team to clear out a mid-threat Xiang-evolved tree in Territory Ten.

Xia Qing and the squad raced up to the edge of the wild tung grove—only to see an enormous canopy almost covering the whole woods!

This little grove was Xia Qing’s firewood stash. She chopped it back regularly, never letting the tung trees grow taller than three meters.

Logically, even a three-meter tree evolved aggressively shouldn’t pose much danger. She’d checked the place before nightfall—everything was normal then.

But in just a few short hours, one tung tree had shot up past eight meters.

On closer look, the canopy was still visibly spreading. The branches hung thick with long, snake-shaped vines, unmoving in the rain—but at the slightest trigger, they would snap into a frenzy.

This tree was going to be trouble.

Liangzi, a Level 6 Hearing Evolver, reported in. “I can hear roots growing rapidly beneath our feet.”

If it kept this up, it wouldn’t just be a mid-risk for long. Xia Qing spoke in a low voice. “Captain Hu, can we use the grenade launcher?”

“Firing a grenade launcher during Xiang Rain will trigger a red-level downpour. Guns and physical attacks are our only options.” Hu Zifeng, ever the veteran, rolled out a plan. “The tree’s got fierce attacks on the perimeter, but once we get under it, those attacks will weaken. So we’ll rush beneath the branches. Four of us hold defense—Xia Qing and Guan Tong, you two give it all you’ve got and bring down the tree as fast as possible.”

“Got it.”

No chainsaws in the rain—so felling the tree would have to rely on the Strength Evolvers.

The grove was small but packed tight with trees. The squad of six crept forward, dodging vines, until they were twenty meters away—then inevitably brushed up against one.

The vine quivered, and Hu Zifeng immediately cut it down with a burst from his submachine gun. But hundreds of others hung overhead, all thrashing like the arms of some wild demon.

With attacks this relentless, there was only one way through: pure firepower to blast open a path.

Gunshots from Territory Three were even denser than those in Territory Ten, echoing all the way to Territory Two. Tang Huai nearly jumped out of his skin. “Xia Qing, what is happening out there? The tree’s this close to Territory Two? Can you handle it? Crazy one’s squad is better geared than Tan’s, right?”

As gunfire from both Territories ramped up, Yuan Rui checked in from the Inspection Team. “Territory Three, report status! Need any support?”

The six-person squad in Territory Three stomped over broken vines and charged beneath the giant tree. Sure enough, the vine attacks were lighter now—they just needed to fell the tree quickly.

Xia Qing pressed her button. “Mid-risk Xiang-evolved tree in Territory Three. We can handle it—no support needed.”

“Copy that!” Yuan Rui’s voice was louder than usual, barely heard through the constant gunfire.

Hu Zifeng and three others held off the vines with gunfire while Xia Qing and Guan Tong switched to blades, making quick work of the saplings choking the base. Wild tung wood was soft, so clearing them took barely any effort.

With the little trees gone, the two of them aimed for the main trunk—now a massive forty-centimeters thick—and hacked away with all their strength.

“Clang!”

Guan Tong, a Level-Five Strength Evolver, swung his machete and only managed to shave off the bark and a two-centimeter chunk. Xia Qing’s machete snapped clean in two.

Everyone froze. They’d realized from the vine toughness this tree had hardened, but no one expected it to be like this.

Damn it!

Xia Qing tossed her broken machete aside and drew the heavy black long knife strapped to her back—the knife Huo Lei had crafted just for her. It was heavy, tough, and razor-sharp.

“Clang!”

Xia Qing, now tapping into Level Six Strength Evolution, brought the knife down in a powerful diagonal stroke, then cut upward, hacking out a chunk as big as her palm.

The tree lashed out even more furiously, and the wounds she’d made started healing and growing back at a speed visible to the naked eye. To make things worse, the rain picked up.

Holding off the vines, Hu Zifeng ordered, “Three minutes. If we can’t take it down, we retreat and wait for Xiang Rain to end before finishing the job.”

Once the rain let up, they could blast it with heavy weapons. The tree only used physical attacks, so as long as they stayed out of its range, it’d be safe enough for now.

But Xiang Rain would last dozens of hours, and with the tree’s relentless growth, it had already gone into full attack mode. Xia Qing’s house was less than three hundred meters away.

That was her home, a place she’d spent half a year fixing up. Every supply she owned was inside, and the basement storage was built with a fortune.

If she let that tree go wild, by the time the rain ended her house and the rack-filled storeroom would be nothing but splinters.

“Not a chance!”