Chapter 223 - 209: Counter Build (3)

Chapter 223: Chapter 209: Counter Build (3)

A moment ago, it had only been a meter deep, but the wind blowing in from outside couldn’t be faked.

Watching as Ye Qingniao hacked "Jiang Jing" into a pile of shredded flesh, only for its maximum Life Value to begin slowly rising again, Lin Fan let out a wry chuckle.

"Go on then, let’s see you break ten thousand health..."

He didn’t know the exact nature of its connection to the tree, but from what Lin Fan had observed, it was less an individual entity controlled by the tree and more like one of the tree’s own organs.

Lin Fan leaned against the armored vehicle, his mind racing as he pieced together the fragments of information:

’An organ that shares some kind of energy flow with the tree, but can move about freely.’

’The destruction of the Jishan isolation zone was clearly the work of a coordinated group of high-level Mutated Zombies. I never heard Ye Qingzhou mention any humanoid monsters showing up...’

’But this bit of information and this single specimen aren’t enough to draw any useful conclusions. This monster... if you could say it’s trying to imitate a person, it can’t fully replicate a personality. It’s basically just a parrot.’

’I haven’t seen any ability to command Mutated Zombies, either. The ones that rushed in all felt feral.’

’This tree’s skill allocation is a complete mess...’

Lin Fan suddenly had a feeling. Perhaps what happened at the Jishan isolation zone was the result of the tree being left to grow unchecked.

And this thing right here... ’Looks like this one’s my fault...’

’Apparently, I blew it to kingdom come when it was in the middle of some critical growth stage...’

’It was forced to pivot.’

’First, it developed an endless tentacle assault to counter my "invisibility." Then, the moment it detected my presence, it whipped up a regenerating cage to trap me and prevent me from using my Great Flame Burst Skill.’

’Then it created an adaptive combat puppet to wear me down inside the cage.’

’It even sent the puppet out to get some practice on a few people...’

Although Lin Fan knew it sounded narcissistic, it was the most plausible explanation.

’This is a build designed specifically to hunt me.’

The "tree" had a certain level of intelligence, but it clearly wasn’t smart enough. Even though its measures were highly targeted and had successfully captured him, neither the cage nor the puppet were perfect.

The success of this whole enterprise depended on just how much "blood" the tree could funnel into this "Jiang Jing."

’Following that line of reasoning,’ he thought, ’as long as Ye Qingniao keeps up the pressure and forces the parent body to keep transfusing blood to this monster, it will have to start shrinking the cage—robbing Peter to pay Paul.’

’Unless it somehow gets to a hundred thousand health overnight...’

’Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey.’

Lin Fan quickly spat on the ground. ’Don’t want to jinx it, knock on wood.’

’This is no time to be jinxing myself.’

...

Cheng Qi was pressed against the window, watching Lin Fan leaning motionlessly outside the vehicle. Lin Fan’s expression kept shifting, and Cheng Qi had no idea what he was looking at, but he didn’t dare ask.

But as he watched the "strapping warrior" in front of them swing her giant axe, chopping the monster up like firewood, he couldn’t resist tapping lightly on the window.

"Colonel Lin... uh... what happened to Cyan Bird? Can she change back...?"

"Huh?"

Lin Fan was in the middle of devising a countermeasure. Hearing Cheng Qi’s question, he gave a casual, dismissive reply.

"She’ll be back to normal in ten minutes. It’s fine, I was just messing with her..."

"Oh, okay, that’s good, that’s good..."

Cheng Qi let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Her combat power was off the charts like this, but if she were stuck that way forever, and if Lin Fan just up and left one day, they’d be in serious trouble.

"So... what’s our plan? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Cheng Qi asked Lin Fan, his voice low.