Chapter 59

A deafening roar erupted in the otherwise quiet night, waking many people up. The sight they saw upon waking was even more terrifying.

Dense vines sprouted from the side of the tree trunk, their slender branches swaying as if they were sentient, relentlessly pursuing and attacking the figure.

Liu Wanqi jumped out of the cabin, picked up a dagger and slashed the branches binding the man's ankles. The vines behind him crawled over him, but he dodged them with his experience.

"What, what are all these things!" Someone turned on their flashlight and scanned the area. All the soldiers had been mobilized. Some were using military knives, and some were using daggers. They were protecting the civilian boats and fighting against these ghostly vines.

Wen Shaocheng's hands emitted a green light that only he could see, and he crushed a branch with his bare hands. However, there were just too many of them. As soon as he finished dealing with one, another would emerge from his feet. They were countless and impossible to defend against.

"Help! Help! My child is being strangled!" A woman's scream pierced the eardrums, and nearby soldiers rushed over to slash her.

"This can't go on! There are so many vines!" Zhu Cheng, protected by two young community workers, hid by the supply ship. He slapped his forehead, frantically trying to think of a solution. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck him. He shouted to Wen Shaocheng, who was fighting ahead, "Major Wen! Use fire! Light a fire! Trees are afraid of fire!"

Wen Shaocheng turned around, nodded to Zhu Cheng, tore off his coat, and lit it with a lighter. The dry cotton cloth burst into flames upon contact with the fire. Wen Shaocheng threw it nearby, next to an elderly couple whose waists were bound by vines. When the roots touched the scorching flames, the branches above them shuddered and suddenly pulled back a few inches, finally saving the elderly couple.

Others followed suit, setting everything they could burn on fire and throwing it out to scald the damned vines. In an instant, flames rose everywhere on the encampment. In the ensuing chaos, someone accidentally set fire to the wooden boat they were on. The boat was already loaded with a lot of things, and it burst into flames as soon as it came into contact with the fire, raising the surrounding temperature by more than ten degrees.

"Ah! My supplies!" someone cried out in despair.

"My things are all in there! And my parents' portraits too!" A middle-aged man collapsed to the ground and cried loudly.

...

The luggage of five people on the boat was completely burned. The surrounding vines were too strong for the intense flames to approach, creating a safe zone of about ten meters in radius. The people looked on with sympathy, but each had their own thoughts, and one by one they carried their belongings toward the burning wooden boat.

In the chaos, Liu Wanqi had his men arrange the cut vines into a circle, creating a small encirclement. They then lit a fire along the edge to protect the group of elderly, weak, women, and children.

"Cut some more durable wood from those trees nearby. The fire must not go out before dawn," Liu Wanqi instructed.

The soldiers nodded and went. Among the crowd, the young and strong also spontaneously took torches to cut tree branches and build their own safety zone.

Zhu Cheng took out an enamel cup from his backpack, poured in some ice water, heated it over a fire, and fed it to the frightened child next to him.

"I thought it was just a giant tree, but I didn't expect it to have such a vicious vine. If someone were walking outside at night, they would probably die instantly," Liu Wanqi said, standing next to Wen Shaocheng.

Even though he had anticipated this, Wen Shaocheng still felt the situation was quite troublesome: "These trees are growing taller and taller, and their growth rate is extremely fast. With the cover of the giant trees, these deadly vines will grow even more recklessly. We don't even know if, in addition to these vines, more plants that can attack people will continue to grow."

Hearing Wen Shaocheng's concerns, Liu Wanqi felt his scalp tingle. Today's bizarre attack had already overturned his understanding of most of his life. If anything more beyond his imagination were to appear, it would be impossible to guard against.

"No matter what, prepare for the worst. Light fires tonight and double the number of patrols to ensure the safety of the people," Wen Shaocheng instructed.

Liu Wanqi left anxiously, while Wen Shaocheng stood there, gazing at the crowd of people nearby, lost in thought.

I wonder where Tong Shu and her family went, and whether they were also attacked. It took them a lot of effort to get rid of these deadly vines. I wonder how Tong Shu and her family are doing.

He knew about Tong Shu's game system situation. If their family needed to travel, Tong Shu would definitely not be able to hide in the game space. It was very likely that she would have to camp outdoors alone or with two other people.

I hope she'll be safe and sound. Wen Shaocheng thought to himself.

In the mountains, Tong Shu and Wang Jie frantically sprayed pesticides around the campsite. Still feeling unsafe, they dug a ditch around the perimeter to use for firewood.

"This is terrifying. Should we go in and tell them? Anyway, it looks like no one will come from this deep mountain forest. We'll just go back for a bit and come out right away," Wang Jie said timidly.

It was already past midnight. Tong Shu checked her surroundings and realized that her family was all fast asleep on the island. She didn't want to wake them up and make them worry unnecessarily. "They're all asleep now, but we can go back to the island from the tent and rest for the night."

Fearing that some other deadly plants might suddenly emerge and attack, Tong Shu dared not stay any longer and decided to take Wang Jie back to the island to hide for the night.

Wang Jie was more than happy to oblige. The two went into the tent and turned off the lights. The firelight outside was so bright that it couldn't illuminate anything inside the tent. The two tiptoed back to the island villa and finally closed their eyes in peace on the bed.

Tong Shu had only slept for three hours when she was woken up by the alarm clock. She rubbed her swollen eyes, yawned wearily, and went to the living room listlessly.

Shu Hua didn't sleep well that night either, only managing to close her eyes for a short while in the early hours of the morning. She was very worried about Tong Shu and Wang Jie outside, her heart pounding nonstop. Now she was thinking of getting up early to make breakfast and waiting to see if the two of them would come back.

Seeing Tong Shu come out of the room, Shu Hua was both surprised and worried. She pulled Tong Shu up and down to check her over, asking, "Are you alright? Why did you come back to the island? Did something happen last night?"

Tong Shu told Shu Hua about encountering the Killer Vine. Shu Hua was shocked and quickly went inside to call Tong Songming out. She also went to knock on the doors of her two older sisters and brothers-in-law.

“It’s really not safe for just the two of them to be out there. My brothers-in-law, Ah Jie, and I will accompany Shushu on her journey, and we can take turns keeping watch if necessary,” Wang Jianye said.

Those present all agreed, and the matter was settled.

"By the way, the pesticide Shushu gave us before was quite effective against these vines, so we should stock up on more," Wang Jie said.

Upon hearing this, Tong Songming quickly exchanged several large buckets of pesticide at the island's shop and had everyone put them in their backpacks.

After leaving the small island, the five people crawled out of the tent one by one. The withered vines and branches in the ditch had been burned to ashes. Tong Shu checked the tent and found that apart from the two holes that the vines had made when they slept last night, the tent had not been damaged overnight.

Although the tent was no longer usable, it couldn't just be left there. The group began to tidy up the makeshift campsite, packing up the damaged tent and putting it in their backpacks to deal with when they returned to the island.

"...Hello, excuse me..." Suddenly, a voice came from not far away. Tong Shu and the others all turned around to look at the source of the voice, their eyes filled with undisguised sharpness.

A young man emerged from beside a giant tree, holding a little girl's hand. He wore a subtle, ingratiating expression as he looked at Tong Shu and the others from a distance.

Tong Shu looked wary and asked him from a distance, "Where did you come from? How did you end up here? How long have you been over there?"

“My name is Guan Si, and this is my younger sister Guan Miao. We fled from the south of the city. We heard that there were plenty of supplies in the north of the city, so we thought we’d come here to try our luck. But we encountered a plant mutation and got trapped.” Guan Si explained, “I just heard some noise here, and I thought maybe there were other people in these mountains, so I brought my sister here. Sure enough, I saw you packing your things.”

Tong Shu didn't trust him. Even though she and Wang Jie were fully equipped, they couldn't defend against the Killing Vine's sneak attack. Guan Si even had a child with her, and it seemed they had stayed on the mountain overnight. Yet, the two of them were completely unharmed, which was too suspicious.

"Did anything happen to you last night?" Wang Jie asked first.

Guan Si suddenly realized and replied, "You mean those vines that attack people? Of course we encountered them. They come out as soon as it gets dark. Luckily, I found a few cypress trees nearby and rubbed a lot of cypress oil on myself. The two of us hid in the trees all night and escaped a disaster."

Tong Shu raised an eyebrow: "Cypress oil? You know about that?"

Guan Si smiled sheepishly: "I studied agriculture, so I only know a little bit about trees and such."

Tong Shu nodded and put the last small pot into her bag. Overnight, the trees in the mountains had grown much taller, and the dense canopy blocked out the light from the campsite. They needed to get out of there as soon as possible and escape in their RV.

"Um, could we travel with you? It would be safer if we went together," Guan Si said.

Tong Songming and his two brothers-in-law looked troubled, but Tong Shu didn't hesitate much and refused directly: "No need, our family is used to traveling on our own, you will only hold us back if you come with us."

Guan Si's expression froze for a moment, but he quickly recovered: "I understand. I wouldn't feel comfortable if a stranger suddenly appeared and wanted to accompany me in this situation. I'm really sorry to bother you." After saying that, he took his sister's hand and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute." Tong Shu called out to him. Under his questioning gaze, Tong Shu took out two packs of compressed biscuits and a bottle of water from her bag: "Here, take these. I wish you a safe journey out."

Guan Si couldn't hide his surprise. He accepted the gifts, thanked them repeatedly, bowed to Tong Shu and the others, and headed down the mountain.

"...I never expected to actually meet people in the mountains," Wang Jie said with emotion as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"So we must be careful and not be careless no matter where we are," Qin Jiaqiang said.

Tong Shu nodded, and the group covered up the traces of the campsite and continued on their way following the road signs.