novelaction Chapter 536 Strangler's Banyan
Chapter 536 Strangler's Banyan
"Stop praising her, just throw her a handy weapon," Bai Mengyan reminded him.
Niu Erzhu picked out a double-edged blade with a flat tip, resembling a woodcutter's knife, and paired it with a handy short handle.
"This is specially designed for clearing the way; it's guaranteed to work well."
Upon hearing Niu Erzhu's description, Bai Mengyan turned around and glanced at it. The blade was very long, and the handguard was designed very reasonably. It would be no problem to use it to cut through thorns, but to use it to chop these vines was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
After all, this was a special double-edged knife with a short handle, so Bai Mengyan used her spatial abilities to wrap it up and personally delivered it to Black Hawk to prevent any mistakes when throwing it in the air.
Black Hawk initially planned to use the short sword he carried with him, combined with his shadow-type abilities, to cut the vines rushing towards him to shreds.
Their eyes lit up when they saw the machete enveloped in silvery dust.
After he grasped it, he simply stopped using his supernatural abilities and boldly became a diligent gardener on the open ground.
Whether emerging from under the moss, brushing against the surface, or hanging down from the tree canopy, all the delicate vines vanished before this machete.
Cheng Kaixi observed the development of the situation and said, "It seems that areas covered by moss and vegetation can be sensed by the mutated vines and trigger autonomous attacks."
He looked up at the mummified corpse hanging overhead, then at Zhang Zhiheng. "If we don't use destructive abilities, we won't threaten the very foundation of the mutated vines. Since we're going to muddy the waters, let's make them even muddier."
“I can add a layer of light-based protection to Zhang Zhiheng. Brother Zhang can just rely on brute force to destroy things at will and attract the attention of the mutated vines even faster.”
After a moment's thought, Bai Mengyan agreed to Cheng Kaixi's suggestion.
"Alright, we don't know yet what kind of climbing plant this vine belongs to. If it's the kind that's good at hiding, it will be even harder to find out the source. It's good that we can force it to show itself sooner."
A hint of excitement appeared on Zhang Zhiheng's face. He looked at Cheng Kaixi and then at Su Jiancheng, as if he had finally gotten her approval.
Su Jiancheng nodded, picked up his weapon, stepped on the edge of the fire circle, and rose a few inches higher, easily leaping out of the outer flames.
Cheng Kaixi quickly activated her supernatural power to cover Zhang Zhiheng with a light armor, watching him brush past the black eagle and head straight for the area near Leng Yuexiu's tree trunk.
Snow Leopard watched Zhang Zhiheng walk away and was astonished. "Why is he heading straight for the boss!"
It was clear that the giant cocoon of roots that entangled Leng Yuexiu was very important. Before Zhang Zhiheng even got close, at least three vines, ten times thicker than before, hung down from the tree canopy.
These vines were much faster and more resilient, unlike the hair-thin ones that Black Hawk had to deal with.
Zhang Zhiheng was very clever. Seeing the fierce aura pressing down from above, he quickly ducked to avoid it, rolled several times on the ground, and repeatedly moved his feet in that open space, testing the area with Black Hawk.
Within three meters of the giant cocoon of roots lies a forbidden zone spontaneously created by the mutated vines. Whenever they sense any living intrusion, those deployed on the canopy will launch an attack.
Without exception, they all appeared from the tree crown; none of them came from the ground.
As Su Jiancheng watched the two constantly testing and destroying things, the relaxed expression on his face gradually disappeared. He felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
The rabbit's expression remained serious. His Eagle Eye enhancement was always activated. He wanted to ignore the growth pattern of the mutated banyan tree and focus on tracing a particular vine, then following its growth to find the root, thus distinguishing one or several trees as the main ones.
However, the energy dynamics transmitted by these plants are too similar, with the massive scale of the mutated banyan tree as a framework, making them easy to confuse during the tracking process.
Especially within the area probed by Black Hawk and Zhang Zhiheng, the thicker and stronger vines hanging down from the tree canopy had their energy concentrated in a jumbled mass, making it impossible to discern any more significant details.
From his perspective, the rapidly rotating veins of plants, all he could see, were green, and he almost vomited from looking at them.
But he couldn't give up at all, because apart from him, no one else in the team could distinguish between them, and if they didn't keep an eye on things, the team would be even more passive.
Since the rabbit hadn't provided any useful conclusions, Su Jiancheng decided she couldn't just keep waiting.
He completely entrusted the task of maintaining the flames to Niu Erzhu, while he himself used the smart wristband to quickly retrieve information.
Although there was no signal coverage from the teleportation array, the wristband's own database was still barely sufficient. He input one instruction after another, trying to find a breakthrough.
Amid Zhang Zhiheng's savage acts of destruction, Black Hawk, providing cover, inadvertently severed several vines binding Leng Yuexiu.
Seemingly distracted by the two, the empty space left by Leng Yuexiu was not filled.
A few minutes later, after dealing with the attacks coming from all directions at high intensity, the speed and strength of the two decreased.
Su Jiancheng stared at the smart wristband for a long time, then put the wristband away and stared at the giant cocoon formed by the roots and the upper part of the tree trunk.
He said to Bai Mengyan with a serious expression, "I need to go out for a check-up. Please take me inside."
Bai Mengyan frowned. "Explain clearly, what are you checking?"
Su Jiancheng's gaze fell on the lower canopy of the tree. "I suspect there is more than one species of vine. I need to confirm."
"Okay, I'll take you there."
Just in case, Cheng Kaixi attached another layer of light armor to Su Jiancheng, and Bai Mengyan lifted Su Jiancheng into the air with her ethereal hand.
Su Jiancheng did not walk on the vegetation and moss piled with weeds and humus, so she naturally did not trigger the attack of some vines.
He directed Bai Mengyan straight to the treetop, where she carefully examined the tree before moving to another location to continue her search.
If it weren't for the fear that Su Jiancheng might bump into the vines intertwined in the lower canopy, Su Jiancheng might have wanted to continue looking up.
After bringing Su Jiancheng back safely, Su Jiancheng finally had an answer.
"I suspect the other plant that produced crystals is a strangler fig!"
The few people who had no knowledge of plants were confused. Cheng Kaixi paused for a moment before asking, "The ecology of common banyan trees and strangler figs does overlap, but they usually don't appear at the same time. Strangler figs tend to choose camphor trees or palm trees to reduce competition from the same species. Deputy Captain Su, are you sure you didn't make a mistake?"
Su Jiancheng shook his head, his gaze fixed on the huge root cocoon that was binding Leng Yuexiu, and his voice turned cold.
"At first I wasn't sure either, but based on the characteristics of the canopy, I couldn't think of any other possibility besides the strangler fig."
As Su Jiancheng finished speaking, Rabbit suddenly spoke up, "If it's a strangler fig, then it makes sense. No wonder I couldn't see anything wrong with it; it almost completely overlaps with the mutated fig tree."