Chapter 783: The Assault of the Thorn Acacia

Once the anti-thorn wall was finished, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. After a few reminders, the lords who weren’t joining the cleanup took their hired workers and headed back to their own territories. Some prepared for night watch, others went off to rest.

Xia Qing, Shi Du and Yu Shou all took on the task of clearing out the aggressive thorn acacias. The three of them made up the main force when it came to chopping down those dangerous trees.

Huo Lei and Qi Fu also stayed behind, keeping watch over the anti-thorn wall with Zhao Ze. They were ready to patch up any trouble on the spot. Of course, Tang Huai, who loved a bit of excitement, stuck around too.

During Devastation Rain, evolved aggressive acacia trees grow at a terrifying speed. The branches bristle with thorns, so dense you can barely see the wood. Between the leaves, the bean pods have already grown as long as a finger. In just a few more hours, they’d be ripe enough to drop. The urgency to clear them out was real.

Once Tan Junjie confirmed everyone was out of range, he gave a sharp order: “Yuan Rui, take the shot! Everyone else, stay under cover!”

“Roger!” Yuan Rui aimed for the trunk, which was more than twenty centimeters thick, and fired.

The bullet punched through the bark and inner layers, burying itself in the tough wood. The towering acacia, standing over twenty meters, shuddered. Suddenly, countless razor-sharp thorns—each more than twenty centimeters long—shot away from the branches in every direction. Just watching it made people’s skin crawl.

“Thwack! Thwack!” Thorn after thorn flew toward the anti-thorn wall, which stood more than five meters tall and 180 meters away.

As the needle-sharp tips punched through three layers of rain cover, Zhao Ze—wrapped in his level-three wilderness protective suit and clutching his shield—felt his heart sink. That was it. Game over…

Qi Fu patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, it held.”

The thorns were wickedly sharp at the tip but thick at the base. After piercing through the rain cover, only two or three centimeters of thorn jut out. The whole spike couldn’t make it through the anti-thorn wall.

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

No matter which way the thorns flew, they all ended up lodged in the ground. In the shallow soil beneath the tree, the roots of the aggressive acacia tangled with its own thorns, triggering another wave of attacks as fresh spikes exploded from the trunk.

Judging by how deep the bullet had gone, Xia Qing quickly reported to Tan Junjie, “Hardness evolution’s about average. Shi Du, Yu Shou and I can bring it down in three minutes.”

“Understood.” Tan Junjie signaled Yuan Rui for a second shot. Another storm of thorns erupted from the acacia. There were fewer than before, but new ones were sprouting before their eyes. As long as the tree stayed standing, it would keep attacking.

“Chopping team, advance! Stay protected!”

“Copy!” Xia Qing stood, opened her iron umbrella and readied her shield, then charged forward, storm of thorns be damned. The spikes hammered her shield and umbrella, shrieking with the impact until her ears rang.

Once beneath the tree, Xia Qing tossed her shield aside and started hacking with her blade. The tree, under assault, threw out even more vicious spikes.

“Ah!” Tang Huai couldn’t help but shout as he saw a thorn shoot straight at Xia Qing’s arm, exposed beyond her umbrella. “Xia—”

Before he could finish, the thorn that struck Xia Qing’s arm bounced right off and landed on the ground. Tang Huai switched gears, blurting, “Damn! That’s some special protective gear. Badass!”

At that moment, Shi Du and Yu Shou, shielded by Inspection Team members, dashed to the tree. While the team covered them from the rain of spikes, they teamed up with Xia Qing to chop down the trunk.

Watching Xia Qing’s every swing through his binoculars, Huo Lei finally let out a relieved breath. “She’s got it. Three minutes, easy.”

Still rattled, Zhao Ze gave Huo Lei a shaky thumbs-up. “Uncle Huo, your skills are amazing, and Sister Qing’s black blade is the real deal!”

Tang Huai chimed in, “Obviously! The black blade Uncle Huo made for me is great, too.”

Huo Lei grinned. “It’s really thanks to Xia Qing—her blade weighs fifty-five pounds. Only someone with her level of strength evolution can truly wield that kind of power.”

“Fifty-five pounds? The machete Uncle Huo just made me is only six and a half!” Zhao Ze marveled.

Tang Huai zipped up quick—after all, the black long blade Huo Lei made for him weighs almost ten pounds, and using it wears him out fast.

Watching all this, Qi Fu—also a strength evolver—got greedy. “Uncle Huo, after we’re through with this round of Devastation Rain, can you make me a blade set too?”

Zhao Ze hurried to add, “Me too, Uncle Huo! I want a set!”

Huo Lei was only forty-eight—just nine years older than Zhao Ze and thirteen years older than Qi Fu. Still, with his amazing skill at forging weapons and farm tools, they all followed Xia Qing’s lead and called him ‘Uncle.’

Huo Lei nodded. “Sure, but I’m out of new ore blocks. If you want the same blade material as Xia Qing, you’ll have to find the ore yourselves.”

Unlike Tang Huai, these two weren’t hung up on getting a ‘Xia Qing edition.’ “Anything sharp and reliable works for me.”

Qi Fu asked, “Uncle Huo, can you make the kind of iron umbrella Xia Qing’s got? I want to order two.”

Just having one of those umbrellas on your head made you feel so much safer.

“Easy. Those are simple to make.”

Tang Huai piped in immediately, “I want three iron umbrellas.”

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

Tan Junjie’s loud voice cut their conversation short. “The acacia’s about to go down! Third team, get ready!”

Huo Lei, Qi Fu, Zhao Ze and the rest of the third team grabbed their shovels, ready to dash in as soon as Xia Qing, Shi Du and Yu Shou felled the tree and dragged it clear of the roots. Then they charged in to dig up the roots.

“Third team—”

Not even waiting for Tan Junjie’s signal, Tang Huai—joining the mission for the first time and still a rookie—rushed ahead shovel in hand. Huo Lei yanked him back by the collar and snapped, “Don’t you see spikes are still flying? You trying to get yourself killed?”

“Everyone listen up! Move only when ordered—no solo acts!” Captain Tan bellowed after seeing Tang Huai take off.

Tang Huai stared wide-eyed, cold sweat pouring down his back.

They waited until the fallen tree stopped launching spikes. Only then did Tan Junjie give the order: “Third team, move out!”

Huo Lei finally let go of Tang Huai and charged ahead, shovel in hand, with Zhao Ze and the others.

With so many hands, the job was quick. They dug out the tree’s main root in no time and finished off the aggressive acacia.

Amid endless thanks from Zhao Ze, each team headed to their next assignments. Xia Qing drove her off-roader to patrol Territory Nine, clearing out any lingering threats.

Zhao Ze announced on the Lords’ channel, “The aggressive thorn acacia in Section Four has been cleared! Huge thanks to everyone for their resources and help—those thorns bounced off the anti-thorn wall and my mung bean greenhouse survived!”

Kuang Qingwei replied, “Glad to hear it’s cleared. While it’s not raining, let’s all get some rest while we can.”

Yue Haiying added, “Make sure to schedule night patrols and deal with any risks in your territory quickly.”

Walking into Territory Two with Tang Huai, Huo Lei sighed, “Surviving Devastation Rain inside a territory is way tougher than in the Safe Zone. I haven’t been this tired or on edge in years.”

Tang Huai reminded him, “Uncle Huo, the Safe Zone was bombed by Devastation Explosions this time. They’re even more tense than we are here—rumor has it there’ve already been over 2,300 deaths and more than a thousand injuries. Who knows if they’ll make it through.”

The heavy number hit Huo Lei hard. He slowed down. “Can’t get through on the phone, either. Who knows if my family’s shop got hit.”

Thankfully, he’d called his apprentices over to the territory before the Devastation Rain started. Even if the shop was gone, at least the people were safe.

Tang Huai knew Huo Lei’s forge was in the West Outer City, so he tried to reassure him. “I heard the worst was in the North Outer City. West side should be mostly fine.”

“Hope so. I’m heading back,” Huo Lei said as he left Territory Two through the south gate, taking the passage into his own Territory Eleven.