It was a squirming forest.
It was a bone-chilling rain.
It was surrounded by thick, black fog. Occasionally, lightning would tear through the clouds, and the indistinct figures of the monsters could be seen.
The group trudged through the depths of Graveyard Forest.
It was a typical primitive forest. Towering trees were rooted to the ground, and there were countless caves and swamps hidden under the thick layer of humus. Forget about main battle tanks and crawler carriers, even spider fighting vehicles could not pass through this place.
The only vehicle the hunters and mine explorers could rely on was a four-legged military robot known as a "mule".
The weight of a mechanical mule was no more than three hundred kilograms, but it could carry goods that weighed half a ton. At a speed of twenty kilometers per hour, it could travel more than one hundred kilometers. It had solar panels to replenish its energy, crystals to provide energy, and during emergencies, superhumans could even send spirit energy to its power source.
Humans did not have satellites in the Other World, so they naturally did not have global positioning systems. However, biochemists and machine engineers had worked together to implant a large number of monster nerves into the "mule", so it had a certain degree of low-level intelligence. It could understand humans' special commands and follow their masters.
Lu Siya's mine exploration team brought a total of fifty mechanical mules with them to carry most of the resources, so the mine exploration team members could travel light.
But this did not mean that their journey was much easier, because Lu Siya chose a path that was rarely visited by humans. Or rather, it was a path that did not exist at all. Everyone, including the crystal experts and mine explorers, had to swing their sabers and cut down vines, weeds, and strange, twisted trees to move forward with great difficulty.
Quite a number of mine explorers grumbled about how long they were going to stay in this stupid place and where they were going.
Every few kilometers, Lu Siya would stop and have Professor Ye, the Blood Flower expert, collect soil samples to search for signs of a Blood Flower settlement.
She would also focus and calm down. Clusters of bewitching spirit tattoos would appear on her temples. They surrounded her eyes and gathered at the center of her brows. It was as if she had opened her third eye made purely of spirit energy to explore the depths of the forest. Then, she would point them in a new direction.
"Professor Ye has found traces of a Blood Flower settlement that used to exist. I can also sense that spiritual energy is gushing out from the ground not far away from us. It's as intense as a volcanic eruption. There must be an extremely rich mine there!"
Under Lu Siya's guidance, they gradually left the areas where humans frequented and entered an unknown world.
Even though the area had been cleared repeatedly by Heaven Realm superhumans, it was inevitable that some of the Hell Beasts would slip through the net. There were also pests lurking in the dark and staring at the moving pieces of meat with greed.
However, compared to pests and fish that escaped the net, the most common dangerous creature in Graveyard Forest was —
"Snake Vine!"
The captain of the Sharp Blade battle team, Scimitar, who was walking at the front of the team, suddenly let out a roar. His scimitar was unsheathed as fast as lightning, and a bone-chilling cold light shone above everyone's heads. In an instant, seven or eight vines hanging down from the branches were cut off.
Then, the "vines" gushed out a liquid that was as red as blood. When they fell on the ground, they squirmed and curled up like venomous snakes. It was only then that the group noticed that they were not normal plants. Instead, they were carnivorous etherealized plants with incredibly high activity.
Snake Vines were etherealized plants that ate monsters. They were huge creatures that could form a forest on their own, just like the banyan tree. One Snake Vine tree could split into thousands of vines that could move freely. There were poisonous spikes on the vines, and once they touched their prey, they would immediately coil around their prey like pythons and tear them to shreds. They were one of the main culprits that turned the forest into a graveyard of death.
Snake Vines would never appear alone. In an instant, a series of rustling sounds that made people's skin crawl rose. Countless vines shot out of the darkness and went to bind the mine explorers.
The fighting-class superhumans from Sharp Blade stood at the outermost perimeter. Layers of cold light instantly surged out of their bodies and formed an impenetrable wall of sabers that cut down hundreds of Snake Vines.
But there were just too many Snake Vines. Scimitar and the others had to worry about the safety of more than ten crystal experts and mine explorers, so it was inevitable that they would lose sight of the others and panic.
At that moment, a worm that was even thicker than a python jumped out of the humus under their feet. Its head split into four, and it turned into a gaping mouth that pounced on one of the mine explorers!
Slit-mouthed Anaconda was a Grade Two superbeast. It often wandered around Snake Vines and helped them deal with prey that were too big to kill. It was a typical symbiotic relationship.
Even though it was as big as a python, in truth, it was not a snake-type monster. Instead, it was a mutated insect that was similar to a gigantic earthworm. Its racial talent was digging holes and hiding. It loved lurking in the depths of the humus in the forest. Even Hell Beasts or Heaven Realm superhumans who were much stronger than it found it difficult to sense its existence.
Once it succeeded in its surprise attack, it would immediately burrow into the hole under the humus under the cover of the snake vines. Following the cracks in the ground, it would instantly disappear without a trace. It was a wretched and troublesome hunter.
The dumbfounded mine explorer was about to be bitten at the waist by a Slit-mouthed Anaconda.
Even if he did not die, his flesh would be torn off by the Slit-mouthed Anaconda.
Scimitar wanted to save him, but dozens of Snake Vines shot at his vitals at the same time, causing him to slow down by half a second.
One of them was surrounded by electric arcs, and the other by flames. Two chains appeared out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around the Slit-mouthed Anaconda's gaping mouth. Then, as if they were reining in a horse, they bound it tightly.
The runic symbols on the chains shone, and through the vibrations of the atomic energy layer, they released electricity that was more than ten thousand volts and thousands of degrees Celsius. They cut into the Slit-mouthed Anaconda's body as easily as cutting through tofu.
No matter how slow the Slit-mouthed Anaconda's reflexes were, it could still sense the piercing pain, and it hissed.
The chains shuddered and relaxed a little, allowing it to catch its breath for a moment.
But this was just the prelude to a fatal attack.
At the end of the chains were two arc-shaped sabers that shone with a hazy and strange light that looked like a bloody moon. They crossed each other and cut into the Slit-mouthed Anaconda's gaping mouth, which looked like a chrysanthemum, and cut the front half of its body, which was several meters long, into four pieces.
The mine explorer was still in shock as he watched Meng Chao calmly pull back his chain sabers.
Scimitar's eyes shone with surprise and admiration.
Meng Chao went forward and knelt down on one knee. He did not care about the Slit-mouthed Anaconda's struggling. Sparks shone between his fingers, and he stabbed the lancet knife and the probe into its body. Then, he said to Scimitar, "There's a unique acid in the Slit-mouthed Anaconda's digestive gland. It's a very valuable material. Can you buy me some time? I want to harvest it."
"… Alright."
Scimitar instinctively agreed to it. Then, he thought about it and added, "How long do you need? The Snake Vines are still active. We can't keep waiting for you."
"I'm already done."
As Meng Chao spoke, he brought out the shivering and thin Slit-mouthed Anaconda's digestive gland and tossed it into the mithril-based stabilizing fluid.
"…"
Scimitar's whiskers curled up. He did not even turn his head around as he grumbled and cut down another eight Snake Vines.
"It's useless for you to keep cutting them like this. The Snake Vines are like the aerial roots to the banyan trees. No matter how many you cut down, you won't be able to deal a heavy blow to the main body. They can regrow at any moment."
Meng Chao used the searchlight to point into the depths of the forest. "If my guess is correct, the ninth tree from this side is the one that looks like a crooked pine tree. I'm using the searchlight to lock onto the Snake Vine Tree, which has disguised itself very well.
"It's the core of the Snake Vines. As long as you destroy it, the Snake Vines will naturally die."
Scimitar frowned. "How did you know?"
"I can smell it and see it," Meng Chao explained.
"Once the Snake Vines bind their prey, they will send them near the Snake Vine Tree to be digested and absorbed. That's why there's a bloody smell around the Snake Vine Tree that you can't get rid of. It's not the fragrance of normal plants and the smell of mud.
"And even if some of the larger monsters are bound by the Snake Vines, they won't be able to kill them with poison. While they are being dragged, they will struggle nonstop and leave behind traces on the brambles, trees, and rocks.
"I'll use my sense of smell to narrow down the area of suspicion. Then, I'll observe which plant has the most traces of friction. That's naturally the main body of the Snake Vine."
Scimitar cast Meng Chao a deep glance.
A few veteran hunters from Sharp Blade pounced on the etherealized plant Meng Chao had pointed at.
Countless vines screeched, and the etherealized plant started to burn.
While it burned, it let out a screech that sounded like that of a beast, and a large amount of blood-like liquid gushed out. It was a terrifying sight.
Once Scimitar cut it in half, the rampaging Snake Vines around it withered and rotted away at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"As expected, someone who is valued by Ms. Lu isn't a simple person."
Once they broke free of the Snake Vines, the members of Sharp Blade treated Meng Chao with friendliness.
"Lin Chuan's junior brother is definitely extraordinary," Lu Siya said with a grin.
Lu Siya said with a grin.
During the night, they were ambushed by etherealized plants and low-grade superbeasts three more times.
But with the three Heaven Realm superhumans and Sharp Blade working together to suppress them, they managed to survive without any danger.
As for the Grade Four to Grade Six Hell Beasts, they had a certain degree of intelligence. When they faced this group that was clearly not to be trifled with, they did not dare to attack recklessly.
When dawn was about to arrive, they hunted down a Blood Flower parasite and extracted fresh Blood Flower bacterial flora.
This meant that they were heading in the right direction.
Professor Ye also used the Blood Flower parasite to conduct a suppressant experiment on the spot.
Just as they expected, after the monster was injected with the suppressant, it did not turn into an undead. Instead, it died with the Blood Flower sclerotia in its body.
Under the guidance of a veteran hunter like Lin Chuan, they soon found the nest of the Blood Flower parasite.
They also discovered a primitive Blood Flower settlement that had yet to find a host nearby.
It was like red moss growing in the shadows of the bushes. It was so thick that it looked like it was about to drip blood. It spread all the way to a sparkling lake.
— —
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