Chapter 782: Crisis at the Greenhouse: The Thorn Acacia Threat

As the captain of the Inspection Team, Tan Junjie knew all too well just how dangerous a Thorn Acacia could be in battle. “Aggressive Thorn Acacia is classified as a high-risk plant. Anyone within a two-hundred-meter radius is inside its attack zone. All Section Four personnel, evacuate from the danger zone immediately and wait for the Inspection Team to handle it.”

“Copy that.” Zhao Ze’s voice was trembling, nearly in tears. “There’s a greenhouse inside the attack zone.”

Hearing Zhao Ze, Xia Qing instantly figured out which aggressive Thorn Acacia had evolved in Section Four.

Just earlier this month, those in the Alliance had enjoyed coarse mantou steamed by Zhao Ze’s mother, using yellow blossoms that grew from this very Thorn Acacia.

If this had been the old Tang Huai, he’d definitely give Zhao Ze a hard time, grilling him over whether his life or the crops mattered more. But now, with Tang Huai focused on farming and raising insects, even he felt a pang hearing that Section Four was about to lose an entire greenhouse.

If Tang Huai felt that way, it went without saying the other lords were worried too.

Tan Junjie, determined to protect both his people and their crops, asked, “How many meters is the greenhouse from the aggressive Thorn Acacia?”

Zhao Ze, still sounding close to tears, replied, “It’s about 180 meters away. Captain Tan, can my people enter the greenhouse wearing Level-Three Protective Suits and clear out the Devastation-Evolved crops? There’s an acre of Green Lantern mung beans in that greenhouse and they’ve already blossomed and started growing pods.”

Tan Junjie pressed further, “What’s the current canopy radius of the Thorn Acacia?”

“From what I can tell, about eight meters. Definitely under ten,” Zhao Ze answered.

Already inside Greenhouse Six, Xia Qing kept clearing out the Devastation-Evolved plants while quickly calculating the Thorn Acacia’s attack metrics.

The Thorn Acacia’s roots spread out horizontally about twice the width of its canopy. That meant the 16 meters—or to be safe, the 20 meters—surrounding the tree was a high-risk zone. No one should enter it. Stepping on a root could trigger an attack.

One hundred eighty meters away put the greenhouse inside the attack range, but the risk was relatively lower.

Relatively lower didn’t mean no risk. Even if no one triggered it on purpose, a branch could snap in the wind or a spike might stab through by itself, setting off the Thorn Acacia. If that happened, the rain cover of the greenhouse would be torn to shreds, and the arched supports would collapse.

The danger for anyone inside was obvious.

Tan Junjie responded with caution, “There’s not much wind right now, so as long as your people wear Level-Three Protective Suits and carry shields, they can enter the greenhouse. But be on guard—the Thorn Acacia could attack at any moment.”

Zhao Ze snapped out of his panic. “Copy that!”

Next, Tan Junjie called out to Yuan Rui in the Inspection Team channel, asking him to take three people into Section Four and set up a perimeter at two hundred meters from the Thorn Acacia.

It looked like Tan Junjie had decided on a careful approach. Since the greenhouse was within the attack zone, clearing the tree now would destroy it. He wanted to wait until the Devastation Rain stopped, then blast the tree with heavy weapons.

Could using Yi Stone drive out the Devastation Element and prevent the Thorn Acacia from growing further?

Even if they wanted to use Yi Stone, setting up a rain shelter big enough for such a huge tree couldn’t be done quickly. Plus, Yi Stone didn’t work well at expelling Devastation Element deep in the soil. Even with a shelter, it wouldn’t stop the giant tree from growing.

If anyone accidentally stepped on the sprawling roots while building a shelter, the tree could launch spikes longer than a palm at any moment.

Setting up a perimeter was easy work, so there was no need to send in any evolved fighters from the territories.

Still, Xia Qing thought this plan had its flaws. This was the second round of Devastation Rain, and the Thorn Acacia was loaded with mature bean pods. If they let it keep growing and the pods ripened and fell during the rain, they’d just be spreading high-risk plants even further.

So it was better to deal with the Thorn Acacia now. Xia Qing already had a solution in mind. She kept quiet on the Inspection Team channel, though, and instead messaged Tan Junjie directly.

Tan Junjie was the Inspection Team captain. Whether he used Xia Qing’s idea or not was out of her hands.

With her message sent, Xia Qing went back to clearing Devastation-Evolved plants.

When the second wave of red-level Devastation Rain ended, Xia Qing immediately started checking the buffer forest inside her territory.

Section Three’s buffer forest covered 4,500 acres and held over a hundred mature, spiny trees. After a thorough patrol, Xia Qing felt confident that none of them showed signs of aggression or Devastation Evolution.

Back when she was opening up the fields, Xia Qing had already planned ahead—she left no spiny trees within five hundred meters of her farmland, just in case any of them turned aggressive. Even if a tree did evolve, physical attacks couldn’t damage her rain shelters.

After finishing up in the buffer forest, Xia Qing was about to visit Territory Nine when Tan Junjie called out to her on the Lords’ channel. “Xia Qing, are you there?”

Xia Qing pressed her walkie-talkie. “I’m here.”

“If we put up a wall made of rain cover on the west side of Section Four’s greenhouse, how many layers do you think it would take to block the Thorn Acacia’s spikes?”

So Tan Junjie had decided to go with her plan after all. Once they built a defensive wall to shield the greenhouse, removing the Thorn Acacia wouldn’t be so tough.

“Three layers of rain cover will keep the greenhouse safe,” Xia Qing replied right away.

Tan Junjie said, “Got it. Zhao Ze, we need to clear out that high-risk tree now. Before you do, build a four-meter-tall rain cover wall to protect the greenhouse inside the attack zone. Do you have enough materials in your territory?”

“Not enough,” Zhao Ze replied on the Lords’ channel, making an open request. “Brothers, sisters—anyone got two spare pieces of rain cover, or sturdy wooden poles or iron bars around five meters tall I can borrow? I want to set up a defensive wall.”

Xia Qing was the first to answer. “I’ve got fifteen steel bars, fifteen millimeters thick, each between three and eight meters long. I’ve also got a whole piece of rain cover we replaced in March, and twenty-five hardwood poles, each five meters long. I’ll send them over with my rotary tiller.”

“Thanks, Sis Xia Qing.” Zhao Ze sounded choked up.

Then Huo Lei spoke up. “I’ve got thirty-three steel bars between three and eight meters, thicker ones—thirteen to twenty-three millimeters. I’ll carry them over now.”

Qi Fu, Kuang Qingwei, and a few others quickly chimed in with what they had. Soon enough, they had all the materials needed to build the defensive wall for Section Four.

The closer territories brought their supplies over by hand, while those farther away waited for Xia Qing’s rotary tiller to haul things in. Once the materials arrived, everyone pitched in and helped build the wall for Section Four.

While they worked, the sound of the wind rustling the leaves made everyone’s skin crawl. Just the thought of one of those Thorn Acacia spikes—longer than a hand—suddenly shooting out and striking someone was enough to make them shudder, even in Level-Three Protective Suits.

Even Xia Qing, with her special protective suit layered over a snakeskin jacket, couldn’t shake the creeping fear. Her left arm, once pierced by those spikes, seemed to throb with phantom pain all over again.