Chapter 218
Congratulations on accumulating 800 kills of mutated beasts
"Alright, Researcher Xie, we'll head back now."
Liang Bo also needs to seize the time to study the piglets.
Jiang Li also came to see them off.
Upon seeing Jiang Li arrive, Zhu Cuihua clung to the car window, her eyes brimming with tears, trying to awaken Jiang Li's conscience.
But it forgot that Jiang Li had no conscience at all.
"Oh, right, remember to tie Zhu Cuihua up properly. This little piglet is very clever; she might run away if we're not careful."
Jiang Li spoke in a flat tone, yet her words were almost cruel.
"Okay, we'll be careful, we definitely won't let it get away."
As he spoke, he pulled out a rope and tied up the piglet's hooves.
Zhu Cuihua cried even harder.
It had never been so disappointed in anyone before, and it vowed that it would never speak to Jiang Li again.
"..."
On the other side, Lu Mingjue delivered the seeds given to him by Jiang Li to Song Changqin.
Lu Mingjue instructed, "Master Jiang's idea is to plant this plant near the area that needs to be cleared, and then wait patiently."
After he finished speaking, the group of people began to discuss the dodder flowers in the wooden box.
"Can this flower hunt mutated beasts like a vine?" someone asked skeptically.
Lu Mingjue shook his head, "It's not clear what it does yet, but Farm Master Jiang said that if this seed doesn't work, she'll find another way to give you a seed for an active vine."
"Captain Tan, the task of planting dodder flowers is entrusted to you."
Song Changqin handed the item to Tan Xin and said to her, "Please be sure to transplant this plant seed to the vicinity of the mining site. Dodder is a parasitic plant, so when transplanting, please choose a place with many plants as much as possible to ensure that it can obtain sufficient nutrients from other plants."
"In addition, we are unsure of its growing range, so we will choose to plant it in a location as close as possible to the target location."
This was the first time Tan Xin had received such an assignment, which involved planting a dodder flower.
But she had witnessed aerial views of the fields taken by drones, and it was said that the wildly growing vines in the fields originated from a small seedling. And this flower seemed to have something in common with that vine.
After Song Changqin made the arrangements, the entire military camp was discussing it.
"It's just a flower. Can it really hunt mutated animals for humans?"
"I heard that it's not an ordinary flower; it was cultivated by a wood-type ability user."
Some people scoffed, "It's just a plant, why make it sound so magical? To deal with mutated beasts, we still need to rely on humans. We can't pin our hopes on a plant."
"Exactly! Besides all this fancy stuff, what else can these superhumans do? On the battlefield, they need to fight for real!"
"..."
Tan Xin and his group walked out of the military camp.
Song Yu: "Captain Tan, what do you think?"
Tan Xin took out the wooden box, opened it and took a look. The little white flower was still lying inside. When it saw her looking over, it actually waved to her with golden silk threads.
Tan Xin: "..."
This is truly bizarre.
Is that correct?
Close the lid to block the view.
"Since Commander Song has assigned us the task of planting dodder, we will do as he says."
Upon hearing this, Song Yu opened the military map. "The mine occupied by the alien beasts is on the mountaintop. The mountain is covered with lush vegetation, which meets the planting requirements of dodder flowers."
Just as they got on the bus and were about to leave, Tan Xin saw Wei Zheng, the team leader, walking towards them with a cigarette between his fingers. He came over to find out what they were thinking.
"Tan Xin, do you really believe their claims that plants hunt mutated beasts?"
Tan Xin: "What can we do if you don't believe us? Commander Song went to great lengths to get the seeds. Now that we have them, let's give it a try."
Wei Zheng scoffed at this, "Song Changqin has gone mad, and so have you."
He looked at Tan Xin with some sympathy and shrugged, "These days, people actually have to pin their hopes on plants."
Tan Xin: "The world is constantly changing. Just because we haven't seen some things doesn't mean they can't happen. Ten years ago, we never imagined that people could travel thousands of miles a day."
These words made Wei Zheng's expression turn somewhat unpleasant. He stubbed out his cigarette, frowned, and said, "Then I hope you don't leave empty-handed."
Tan Xin didn't say anything more, and led his team into the car to the mine.
Along the way, Tan Xin felt the wooden box in his arms moving. Dodder Flower frequently used golden silk threads to pry open the lid and peek out through the crack.
Although it has no eyes, Tanshin can sense that it is exploring its surroundings.
Along the way, the flower was restless, seemingly unwilling to stay in this small space.
"Captain Tan, we've arrived."
The car stopped in the quiet mountain forest.
Looking up, you see a small mountain, but it is exceptionally rich in mineral resources. There is a mine pit at the top, but that only represents a portion of the mountain's mineral resources.
But now the entire mountain has been taken over by mutated beasts, especially the mine at the top of the mountain, which is densely packed with lurking monsters.
Humans don't even dare to go in to mine.
They need to choose a location close to the mine pit to plant the dodder.
Tan Xin took out the wooden box and prepared to go up the mountain.
But at that moment, the wooden box in his hand suddenly exploded.
The golden threads at the base of the flower burst open the lid, and the flower was ejected from Tan Xin's hand like a bullet, embedding itself in a thick, sturdy tree nearby.
Tan Xin: ?
She looked at the flowers stuck to the tree trunk and saw that needle-like suckers had grown from the bottom of the flowers, which had firmly attached themselves to the tree.
Then, a bizarre scene unfolded: the flower swelled and thickened instantly, and the filaments at its base multiplied at an alarming rate. These multiplied filaments then wrapped around the trunk, from one tree to another, while its originally thin vines gradually grew to the thickness of a finger.
Once this phenomenon occurs, it's like a domino effect, or a large-scale infectious disease. No plant can escape it. The yellow ivy spreads like a virus, chasing from one tree to another, chasing every living plant, and then instantly climbing all over their trunks, treetops, and even small shrubs within its range.
As the yellow vine spread, flowers bloomed rapidly in the field of vision, and countless white flowers bloomed on every plant it touched.
The speed was terrifying.
Before Tan Xin could react, the entire mountainside was already covered in white flowers.
"Wow! Is this the Flower Goddess?" Song Yu exclaimed, her eyes wide.
Tan Xin was a little confused about the situation. Had she successfully planted the dodder? Even though she hadn't done anything.
Lin An touched the large tree wrapped in golden threads and analyzed, "Although the dodder flowers are parasitizing these trees, the trees have not withered or turned yellow as a result. It seems to have become a symbiotic relationship."
Song Yu: "Could it be that it went easy on it? Because it still needs these plants to provide it with a continuous supply of nutrients."
While we were talking, we didn't know where the flowers had bloomed to, but their wild, contagious growth continued unabated.
Song Yu returned to the car, retrieved the reconnaissance drone, and piloted it to fly to its maximum altitude, overlooking the entire mountain.
Staring at the images transmitted back by the drone, Song Yu said, "Half of the mountain has been covered by dodder flowers, and it is still spreading."
Several people watched the scene on the screen. It was like a chain reaction, with fields of flowers expanding and spreading at a visible speed.
"What the hell is this thing?" Song Yu had never seen such a terrifying plant before. "Is it planning to bloom all over the mountain?"
It now seems that this is indeed their plan.
Tan Xin: "In any case, we have completed the task that Commander Song assigned to us."
"etc--!"
"What is that?"
Song Yu captured a strange scene using a drone.
There seems to be some kind of chase taking place in the mountains.
Not only did the drones capture it, but they also heard the roars of strange beasts coming from the mountains and felt the earthquake caused by the running of large strange beasts.
The entire mountain seemed to be trembling.
"Let's take a closer look."
Song Yu maneuvered the drone downwards, and only when it got closer could she see what was happening.
A large herd of strange beasts was running wildly through the forest.
"What are they running for?"
Upon closer inspection, behind them lies a sea of flowers that is constantly expanding and extending.
"They're actually afraid of these flowers? What's the principle behind that?" Song Yu couldn't understand.
But when the drone paused briefly, Song Yu saw that one of the last mutated jackals was entangled by countless golden threads covering its body. The threads of the dodder flower burrowed into its body, and then, dark red flowers bloomed on its body.
The process was swift; the mutated jackal was instantly corrupted, becoming part of the nutrients that nourished the dodder flower. However, the flowers that bloomed from its corpse were not white, but dark.
Song Yu was dumbfounded.
"Goodness, this guy's all bark and no bite."
Tang You's eyes widened. "What a vicious way to kill someone."
Those fine threads burrowed into the beast's body, then coiled inside, absorbing nutrients, and blossoming. The beast's corpse became the nutrient petri dish for the flowers.
However, the flowers that bloom in this way will not continue to spread, but will fall on the corpses of animals, becoming eternal and unchanging flower clusters.
This footage is enough to shock everyone.
The sea of flowers was still expanding, and wherever it went, it was no exaggeration to say that a plague had swept through. Some strange beasts looked at the threads reaching towards them without understanding why, until the threads burrowed into their bodies. Only then did they begin to convulse and struggle. After struggling for just two seconds, they turned into petrified plant petri dishes, motionless.
The beast horde went berserk, the entire mountain was in turmoil, and the mutated beasts were frantically fleeing for their lives.
However, this is only one direction captured by the drone, and the sea of flowers is not spreading in just one direction.
"Perhaps we can go into the mountains and take a look."
At this moment, this mountain is probably safer than anywhere else.
Tan Xin and Lin An led the way, while Song Yu, Tang You, and the others followed carefully behind.
"I know that dodder can only parasitize plants, how can it also parasitize animals?"
Looking at the surrounding flowers, Song Yu shivered as she hugged her arms. The thought of the animals' deaths made her worry that such a thing might happen to her.
"Could it also parasitize humans?" Song Yu asked nervously.
Lin An: "Jiang Li's vines have never harmed humans, and the dodder vines probably haven't either."
After walking a distance, they saw the corpses of several mutated beasts scattered on the ground. Even some birds in the trees had not escaped their fate, getting entangled in the silk threads without realizing it. In the end, they bloomed into clusters of flowers on the trees, becoming an eternal scene, never to fly again.
"Tsk, what a powerful weapon."
They headed towards the mountaintop, wanting to see the mine that had previously been occupied by armored beasts.
We raced all the way to the top of the mountain.
The flowers have already bloomed here.
A strong, pungent smell of blood filled the air.
Tan Xin looked at the mine pit not far away and found no signs of life; it was completely silent.
Petrified corpses were scattered everywhere, some of the strange beasts even had their eyes closed, as if they didn't know what had happened before they died.
Reaching the edge of the mine, I looked into the pit and saw clusters of dark red flowers, like death warrants, exuding an aura of death.
"They're all dead."
Tan Xin and his companions stood at the highest point, looking at the scattered corpses of strange beasts, speechless for a long time.
All the mythical beasts that ruled this mountain were killed by the dodder flower.
[Congratulations on achieving the milestone of killing 800 mutated beasts and earning the title "Great Farmer".]
Jiang Li straightened up from the ground, looking at the sudden notification on the panel with a bewildered expression.
To seize the young?
She killed 800 mutated beasts?
When did this happen?
Jiang Li from the ball club checked it out.
"The authorities sent people to successfully plant the dodder flower on the mountain. The mutated beasts on the mountain died because of the dodder flower's parasitism. However, the dodder flower belongs to you, so these kills are counted on your head."
Jiang Li's eyes widened upon hearing this. "Then what's the point of me killing so many mutated beasts?"
Ball: "Of course it's useful. Kill achievements can unlock treasure chests. You can get a treasure chest every time you reach a certain number of kills."
As soon as Qiu finished speaking, a bronze treasure chest fell in front of Jiang Li.
[Bronze Treasure Chest: Dropped by defeating 800 mutated beasts in this world. Contains abundant farming resources. This is your reward and recognition of your strength!]
Jiang Li: "?"
What are her strengths?
Her strength is truly extraordinary; even the token for exchanging the dodder flower was dug up for her by Zhu Cuihua, otherwise she might not have been able to find it herself.
Speaking of Zhu Cuihua, Jiang Li really missed it. She missed its abilities. Qiu said that the reason why Zhu Cuihua was able to dig up the goddess's lost relic was because it was different from other farmed animals. Zhu Cuihua was an evolved pig, so the system classified it as a "farmer's pet" rather than a simple farmed animal.
Opening the panel reveals a new "Pets" tab for her character, featuring a drawing of a pig nicknamed "Zhu Cuihua".
According to the system mechanism, when the farmer's pet is active on the farm, there is a chance to dig up some things, such as blueprints, tokens, and gold coins. Zhu Cuihua may dig up these items.
Jiang Li looked at the bronze box in front of her and opened it.
[Plant Nutrient Solution x10, Fish Pond Blueprint x3, Money Tree Sapling x1, Golden Resting Chair x1]
Jiang Li's eyes widened when she saw the contents of the bronze treasure chest.
Ten bags of plant nutrient solution right off the bat? Is this the true value of a bronze treasure chest?