CHAPTER 178: CHAPTER 170: CLEANING THE BACKYARD

The group of people in [Explorers] kept a close watch on Zhao Xiaochuan’s movements.

Finally, after a few minutes, Zhao Xiaochuan spoke.

Zhao Xiaochuan: "Everyone, it worked! The ants couldn’t cross the firewall and were all burned to death! Most of them fell into the fire pit and turned to ashes on the spot, only a few could crawl out, but the fire from the vines has a sticking effect; even if they make it out, they catch fire and die within two meters!"

free\NovelBin.c o(m)

Ji Chaoyang: "Do these ants keep charging towards the treehouse even like this?"

Zhao Xiaochuan: "That’s right, the ants that got past the vines seem completely oblivious to the firewall and swarmed towards the treehouse. However, the firewall has stopped them entirely.

Wow, the points are adding up like crazy, gaining points while sitting! I just wonder how long these vines will burn, I hope they last until the ant attack ends.

No more talking, I need to head back to the treehouse to clean out those ants that got in earlier!"

Xu Xin was suspended in mid-air, observing the movements of the ant swarms and monitoring Zhao Xiaochuan’s responses.

Keke was sent back to the treehouse to play with the two little ones; having it grip onto his shoulder while suspended in mid-air was too dangerous.

After hearing Zhao Xiaochuan’s words, Xu Xin was pretty sure these ants were just a swarm crawling out from the tunnels, remorseless machines gnawing at the treehouse, making them easier to deal with. At least they wouldn’t panic and retreat, causing a jungle fire.

Wen Guixin: "Do you guys need more? I have plenty of unexplored vines here."

Li Wenxi: "I need them! My treehouse is full of large ants, so disgusting!"

Ji Chaoyang: "Since it won’t trigger a fire, you can use this method too. I have plenty of bloodthorn vines here, more than enough."

Upon hearing their discussions, Xu Xin decided to temporarily disregard the others in [Explorers] because the ant swarms around his treehouse began moving again!

All the ant swarms seemed to have received orders, acting like a well-trained army of ants, collectively surging towards Xu Xin’s treehouse!

The speed of the ants was much faster than before.

Within the ant swarm, Mimi Silver King and the concubine were caught off guard, forced to fight and kill the ants surrounding them.

"Awoo—" Silver King howled, but it did not stop the march of the ant legion; they seemed to have discarded all feelings of fear, becoming complete war machines with only one target in sight, Xu Xin’s treehouse!

The vines emerging from the ground threaded through the tree clusters, piercing countless ants and absorbing them.

However, the piercing attack range wasn’t large, and with the increased speed of these large ants, the area within fifty meters was quickly overrun, with countless vines swirling amongst the ant swarms, unable to halt the frenzied advance of the ants.

"Afu, attack!" Xu Xin ordered.

Suspended upside down from the treetop, Afu spread its wings, without descending, emitting a piercing scream!

Afu’s sound waves were different from Silver King’s howls; they were aggressive. So, even if the ants lacked fear, they were still stunned by the scream.

Those close by had their bodies and heads shattered from the shock.

Ants further away recovered quickly and continued their assault, leading to the originally orderly attack turning chaotic due to Afu’s scream, with several trample incidents occurring.

The vines seized the opportunity, starting to harvest the ant swarms in the jungle.

Mimi Silver King and the concubine fought ever more valiantly in the jungle.

Mimi Silver King were intermediate mutated beasts; their nature was bloodthirsty, becoming more excited as they killed. The concubine, though not at an intermediate level yet, wasn’t bloodthirsty but couldn’t resist the feast spread before her.

"Well done!" Xu Xin praised Afu. Afu’s sound wave attack was highly effective against the ant swarm.

Afu responded with a soft call.

Seeing the vines continue their piercing attack, Xu Xin rubbed his chin.

The efficiency of this method was just too low; he wondered if his vines could execute a sweeping attack?

The vines seemed afraid of damaging the forest, always avoiding the trees during their attacks. Over this long duration, the trees remained untouched, only losing a few leaves.

Perhaps the vines refrained from sweeping attacks to avoid harming the trees? Could he perhaps order the vines to let loose...?

He had to try.

Descending to the root of the treehouse, he pondered and then addressed the location where he planted the plant heart seed: "Plant heart, can you hear me? I know you’re alive. Besides the blue-class pine tree, which mustn’t be touched, disregard the other trees; they are meant to be felled anyway, unleash your full attack!"

His plan was to clear all trees within a hundred-meter radius and turn the area beneath his treehouse into a garden. Protecting these trees during battle was pointless.

The plant heart clearly heard Xu Xin’s words. As soon as he finished speaking, a tremendous transformation occurred within the mass of vines.

Numerous vines suddenly erupted from the ground, forcefully embedding themselves into the trunks of these green-level and white-level poplars.

Under Xu Xin’s stunned gaze, the poplar leaves began to yellow and fall rapidly.

In a matter of seconds, the hundred-meter area was covered with withered fallen leaves, almost all the trees had turned into barren dead trees, and every tree appeared completely dead, except for the blue-grade pine tree he forbade anyone to touch, which was still standing strong.

"...Really? Even plants can absorb energy?" Xu Xin’s eyes widened and he murmured to himself.

Then he burst into laughter.

The vines were indeed a great help to him. These dozens of acres, if he were to cut down the trees himself, it would be too time-consuming and waste the durability of his blue-grade axe. Who knows how many axes would be worn down.

Now, they’re directly cleared by the vines, saving him a lot of effort.

He’s not at all distressed about these green-grade trees, after all, green-grade timber resources are everywhere, and he already has an abundance of them in his hands.

Besides, the heart of the plant absorbing these plants and animals is likely in order to accumulate energy or for future upgrades, not a waste.

Even Mimi Silver King and his beloved companion paused their actions, stunned by the change around them, and Mimi even directly clawed and broke a vine, intending to attack the vine along with the ants!

"Mimi, don’t attack the vines!" Xu Xin hurriedly shouted, "I asked them to do this!"

The three beasts heard and relaxed, continuing to immerse themselves in slaughter or feeding.

At the same time, the vines stopped their piercing attacks and began a large-scale sweep. Although not as prickly as the blood-spike vines, under the powerful force, they still destroyed everything in their path.

The dead trees were already withered and couldn’t resist the powerful lashes of the vines; countless "crack, crack" sounds rang out as all the surrounding dead trees were snapped by the vines, crashing to the ground, presumably killing countless ants.

All the trees within a hundred-meter radius fell, yet the vines did not stop, continuing their sweeping attack. Wood chips and ant carcasses flew, the deadwood shattered into countless pieces by the vines.

In less than half a minute, the vines controlled by the plant heart cleared the hundred-meter area around the treehouse into a blank field.

Although the absence of obstructive trees accelerated the ants’ progress over the open terrain, the vines’ attack methods changed, featuring cooperation that left Xu Xin somewhat astonished.

Some of the vines carried out large-scale sweeping, killing most of the ants directly, while others continued piercing attacks to handle the stragglers, piercing and consuming the then-sweep-killed or severely injured ants.

It seems those trees truly were hindering their prowess!

Because they can continually absorb the energy of enemy units, the vines showed no fatigue; piercing attacks grew increasingly fierce, sweeping attacks speedier and stronger, coupled with constant cooperation, boosting attack efficiency significantly, leaving the ant army restricted to the outermost twenty-meter perimeter.

The central vines, due to not spotting attackable units for several dozen seconds, slowly started to retract toward the ground.

"This... This is too strong!"

Xu Xin now truly felt an overwhelming sense of security! With such formidable vines guarding, unless it was a giant beast, there was essentially nothing that could harm his treehouse!

.

After observing for a few more minutes and confirming that these rampaging ants posed no threat, Xu Xin prepared to go up.

He shouted to the three beasts still amidst the exhilaration in the distance, "Whenever you want to come up, just give me a call, and I’ll come down to get you!"

"Awoo—" Silver King let out a long howl in response, then continued the battle.

The sound alerts for killing ants still occasionally rang in his ears.

[Killed Mutant Ant*100, Points Earned: 20.]

[Killed Mutant Ant*100, Points Earned: 20.]

Luckily it rings only once every hundred kills; if it dinged for each kill, he’d be driven crazy by the incessant points alerts.

Nevertheless, these ants were so easy to kill this time, they only targeted the treehouse, completely ignoring the survivors, so it seems everyone would likely net a heap of points! Although ants killed by the blood-spike vines don’t count toward their totals, even relying solely on their own kills, gaining a few hundred points seemed quite feasible.

Back inside the treehouse, Xu Xin immediately noticed Keke rolling around on the floor with two small pangolin pups. Keke’s size was just slightly larger than the little pangolins, and the three little ones were completely engaged in play together.

Seeing Xu Xin return, Keke lay on the ground and "whined" at Xu Xin, then continued rolling around.

"...These two little guys, are they slightly bigger?" Xu Xin suddenly noticed something different; though the day hadn’t passed, his visual acuity enhancement was still active—although the change was subtle, he managed to notice it.

He picked up the slightly smaller pangolin prince, who had already eaten and obediently blinked his watery eyes at him, as if saying, "Playing here, why pick me up?"

Feeling the weight change, Xu Xin raised an eyebrow.

No wonder, possessing the bloodline of giant beasts, these creatures only drank a meal’s worth of milk, and within one or two hours, changes in their bodies were already perceptible.

"Keke, better bully them now while you can; in a few days, they’ll probably be bigger than you." Xu Xin put down the little one in his arms and teased Keke.

"Whimper?" Keke tilted his head while lying on the floor.

Indeed, if they continued to grow at this rate, it’s likely they’d surpass Keke in size in just a few days.

By the way, how old were these little creatures? Could they really have been born only a few days ago? Growing a sturdy coat of scale armor within a few days?

Xu Xin truly became more and more eager for them to grow up.