Chapter 31: Spring Season, Day 4: Mutated Vines and Plants
This tree and vine were merely larger in size; the aboveground portion wasn't large enough to reach the base. Ignoring the scent for now, Yu Luowei decided to first examine the underground portion.
After digging just a shallow layer, Yu Luowei's shovel could no longer penetrate. Pushing aside the surrounding dirt, Yu Luowei was shocked by the sight before her—the ground beneath was completely occupied by layers of tree roots, one on top of the other, leaving no space between them.
Even the thinnest of these roots were thicker than the trees on the ground, and their lengths were endless. Let alone the base, Yu Luowei suspected the roots here could even reach directly to the cave.
Yu Luowei dug up the dirt outside the fence again. Sure enough, underneath was a dense mass of tree roots, completely blocking the roots of the shrubs. Yu Luowei even suspected that the shrubs were still alive because of the spring's beneficial effects on the plants.
He tried to attack them, but the roots weren't particularly aggressive and didn't fight back. They were simply too large, and some of them pushed directly into the ground, damaging the base's defenses. However, due to their size, Yu Luowei couldn't do much damage to them unless he used a skill.
With no other options, Yu Luowei dug up the ground around the fence and sprayed the tree roots below with a growth-inhibiting solution. Fortunately, the soil above was only a thin layer, and in some places, there was no soil at all, so digging didn't take long, and the workload wasn't heavy. However, the growth solution consumed quickly, leaving only 300ml left by the time he finished.
Having temporarily dealt with the tree roots, Yu Luowei continued on her way. She wore long sleeves, leaving only her hands exposed. To prevent the flowers from getting on her hands, she had formed a layer of ice around her hands, creating a protective ice glove to shield them from the blossoms.
While making the gloves, flowers kept floating towards Yu Luowei on the wind. Yu Luowei nimbly dodged them. Only after the gloves were finished did Yu Luowei dare to take a peach blossom in her hand and carefully check the prompts:
[Peach Blossom (Spring Limited Edition): Toxic but not severe. Inhaling or touching the pollen can cause chronic poisoning. (If you're reading this, you may have already been poisoned. Remember to check your information and detoxify as soon as possible.)]
This is a blatant conspiracy. To see the item's hint, you must touch it. While gloves are recommended, most people don't usually remember to do so. However, touching this flower can lead to poisoning. Given the current situation, most people should be aware of the potential problems with this flower and will carefully avoid it. Unless they accidentally touch it, the number of people poisoned by this is likely to be small.
But I definitely couldn't take this flower back to use. Luckily, I had picked a lot of normal peach blossoms before. Yu Luowei burned the flower in her hand with fire magic and continued to explore.
A few days ago, Yu Luowei had to determine whether the plants had mutated, but today was different. As soon as Yu Luowei entered the deeper part of the forest, several vines came towards him.
The forest had long been filled with trees. Yu Luowei had finally managed to create a little space to walk. Now there was nowhere to hide, so he could only quickly condense a flaming shield in front of him to block the attack of the vines.
The vines' intelligence had clearly not yet evolved, and they continued to attack the flame shield, and were, as expected, reduced to ash. However, as one batch burned to ash, the next batch followed. Yu Luowei was not a supernatural being, and could not handle so many vines for the time being, so he could only temporarily withdraw from the area.
The vines weren't that long, so after Yu Luowei retreated, they could only swing helplessly and furiously in the air. He looked around and saw that only the area ahead had vines flying around, so he decided to get rid of them all.
There wasn't enough inhibitory fluid left. As for controlling the temperature, firstly, the area was too large, and secondly, she didn't know what temperature would be enough to kill the vines. If it was too high, she would be doomed. So after thinking for a long time, Yu Luowei finally decided to use her skills.
After clearing a slightly larger area around him, Yu Luowei focused his Qi into his Dantian, aimed at that area, and directly used Lion Soul Blazing Slash. The huge flaming blade covered the entire area. Even if the vines tried to hide, their roots could not move. After a while, all the plants began to burn fiercely.
Using the skill is just a matter of a moment, but afterwards one has to be careful to control it so that it doesn't burn other places, which really took Yu Luowei some effort.
After controlling the burning of all the vines, Yu Luowei stepped back into the area. After the vines were completely burned, Yu Luowei noticed that the surrounding trees had become much thinner. He took a closer look and saw that the trees had already begun to wither, many of them cracked and dry, some even breaking apart the moment he touched them.
Yu Luowei found a nearby tree similarly entangled in thick vines and pulled the vines off it. Sure enough, like the other trees, it had begun to wither, though not as severely. Some of the vines in the forest were thinner, and Yu Luowei carefully pulled one aside. The tree inside was different, not only vibrant but even pulsing with bark, just like the tree from a few days ago.
Yu Luowei also took care of the tree and discovered a pattern: vines and other native plants compete with each other during the mutation process. If a vine mutates quickly, it will absorb the nutrients of the plant it's attached to, preventing the plant from mutating and causing it to gradually wither and die. Conversely, if the plant mutates quickly, the vine will gradually become smaller.
However, this also indirectly shattered the idea that "there might still be normal trees in this forest." After all, if the trees were normal, they would be absorbed by the vines. However, the trees evolved more slowly than the vines, so at least for now, they wouldn't actively attack her.
Looking at the forest again, Yu Luowei's eyes were no longer filled with beautiful scenery, but rather with hidden dangers. She stopped wandering around in the forest and used her skills to reach the edge of the cave. Other resources were plentiful, except for the stones and copper ore, which were relatively scarce. She'd gather some more today, and then try not to leave the house unless there were activities or to spray suppressant.
On the way, he also picked up two supply treasure chests (green), so it wasn't like he didn't get any treasure chests at all. However, Yu Luowei wanted to complain again. These plant-mutated monsters were much more difficult to deal with than ordinary level 2 monsters. But the treasure chest drop rate was about the same, and the level was not even improved.
The environment near the cave had been damaged by a battle between two level five monsters, and subsequently burned. As a result, there were few trees, only some ordinary flowers and plants, none of which looked mutated. Yu Luowei finally had a chance to catch his breath and then entered the cave to start mining. The nearby copper mines had been nearly exhausted, so Yu Luowei ventured deeper. After just a few steps, he keenly heard several heavy breathing sounds and smelled the scent of blood.
Putting down the hoe in his hand temporarily, Yu Luowei gripped the torch tightly and slowly walked closer, ready to see what it was.
After a few more steps, Yu Luowei saw several different legs. Gradually, he looked upwards. Wow, there was a monster meeting ahead. All sorts of monsters Yu Luowei had seen and hadn't seen before were gathered together, at least five or six different kinds. But there were only two or three of each kind, and most of them were wounded. Otherwise, Yu Luowei would have turned around and left.
These monsters were probably injured in the battle with the mutant plants and vines outside. The seriously injured ones were used as food by those plants, while the less injured ones escaped and found such a plant-free place to recuperate. However, their luck was really bad, and now they encountered Yu Luowei again.
There was no need to use the Ma Tuan. Yu Luowei threw the torch in his hand over first. After all, the monsters' ability to move was greatly limited due to their injuries. This way he could catch them off guard and locate their position at the same time.
The torches were, after all, level three flames, and they also accidentally burned a few small monsters. Yu Luowei took advantage of the monsters' panic and quickly drew his bow, striking down a large one with each arrow. After six or seven arrows, there were still nearly ten left. Having used several skills today to clear the way, Yu Luowei's mental power was running low. He happened to have the Soul Thorn skill card with him today, which didn't require any mental power and seemed to be a group attack. Yu Luowei took this opportunity to test the power of the Soul Thorn.
After all, it was originally obtained from a psychic monster, and this Soul Thorn is also a psychic skill. As soon as Yu Luowei used it, she saw the monsters that were originally staring at her suddenly seemed to be hit on the head by something, wailing in pain and falling to the ground. After a while, even the sound of breathing disappeared.
Yu Luowei approached cautiously, testing the area and finding the monsters dead. She dismembered the bodies without even glancing at the spoils. She quickly began digging. It wasn't until after four o'clock that she threw away her battered axe and left the cave.
In just a few hours, the path we'd cleared on our way here was already overgrown with weeds, and vines occasionally swayed tentatively in the air. Fortunately, we left early, otherwise we might not have been able to get back on time.
Back at the shelter, Yu Luowei didn't bother checking her spoils. She let Ma Tuan out first. The forest was too dangerous today, so Yu Luowei didn't dare let him out. Ma Tuan spent the entire day in the pet space, feeling scared, aggrieved, and angry. As soon as he saw Yu Luowei, he pounced on her, whimpering and complaining.
Yu Luowei comforted Ma Tuan for a long time, and finally comforted him by taking out jade bamboo, bamboo shoots, and several peaches, apples, and pears. When Ma Tuan was finally willing to return to its own nest, Yu Luowei began to check on the day's harvest.
The monsters generously contributed 20 kilograms of level 2 beast meat, 10 kilograms of level 1 beast meat, and 10 units of level 3 beast hide to Yu Luowei. The treasure chests included two blue and five green supply chests.
Yu Luowei had been wearing that orange suit for the past two days, and now its durability was almost at its limit. Today, she finally got a new hide. It was only level three, but it was better than nothing. Yu Luowei immediately made another set.
As soon as he took off the old one, the system prompted him to fuse the two sets of equipment. This would repair the durability of the higher-status equipment without affecting the original equipment's effects, but the effects of the two sets wouldn't stack. The new set's attributes were indeed lower than the original, so Yu Luowei fused them directly.
Today's treasure chest is mostly filled with materials. Besides five gas masks, five bottles of new growth inhibitor, and two pairs of thick gloves, there's also various other materials like iron blocks, cement, and red bricks. There are about 50 of each. This saves time on packing up supplies.
Yesterday, Yu Luowei noticed her period had arrived. It was a little early, but considering that the glutinous rice balls here typically grow at a 1:10 ratio, her 1:2 ratio was about right. Tonight, Yu Luowei made herself a pot of brown sugar ginger tea with bread. She didn't have period cramps, but she worried the smell of blood would make it easier for the monsters to find her or make them more aggressive. However, the plant monsters weren't showing any signs of this today, and the normal monsters were already injured, so it wasn't obvious.
Yu Luowei took out the manual while eating. Lin Zhixia and the others were in a similar situation. Even Fang Min was a special case. Many vines had grown out of nowhere in the desert, but they were yellow and hidden under the sand. They would occasionally hit Fang Min, scaring her. She asked Yu Luowei to buy her a flaming sword and a torch, planning to burn the sand before walking.
The chat room had calmed down, as everyone had gradually grown accustomed to the changes in the plants. Everyone was actively discussing how to deal with the vines and mutated plants, and they all agreed that fire was the most effective. As a result, fire was once again fetching high prices on the market. Although Yu Luowei's matches had already been sold, she still had a flame cloak and torch, which she took the opportunity to put up for sale, determined to use this opportunity to gather the materials needed to upgrade her base and shelter.
But there are always some people who like to disrupt this peace. As soon as Yu Luowei put the good stuff on the shelf, she received complaints from Fang Min in the small group.
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