40: Chapter 40 The Demise of the Swamp

"Plants?" Su Qingqian stood to the side, holding her Tang sword, her brows slightly furrowed.

"How can a plant sing?"

"It uses vibrating leaves and air sacs to simulate human vocal cords, specifically using this sound to lure prey into its root range, and then..."

Luo Yao made a swallowing gesture.

"As fertilizer."

"Fertilizer?" Lin Xiao sneered and walked to the weapon control console.

"Then I'll send it some 'fertilizer' first."

"Train turn! Target two kilometers to the left!"

"Full speed ahead!"

Ten minutes later · Deep in the swamp

The massive tracks of the Black Iron crushed countless dry bones, rumbling to a stop in front of a huge clearing.

Through the searchlights, everyone finally saw the true face of that "singer."

It was a giant dead tree, at least thirty meters tall.

But looking closely, one would realize that it wasn't tree bark at all, but countless gray-brown vines entangled together.

At the top of the canopy, a huge, enchanting red flower was in full bloom.

In the center of the pistil, an organ resembling a human face actually grew, and that eerie singing voice was coming from that "mouth."

Under the tree, it was piled with the white bones of various mutant beasts, and even quite a few human remains.

Seeing the prey come to its door, the Enchanting Demon Flower was clearly very excited.

"La... la..."

It tried to sing again, but because of the existence of the mental shielding field, this had no effect on Lin Xiao and the others.

Seeing that its "magic attack" was ineffective, it got angry.

"Hiss—!!"

That woman-like singing voice instantly turned into a sharp hiss.

The earth began to tremble.

Countless thick vines drilled out of the mud like pythons, rolling towards the Black Iron in a sky-covering manner!

"Physical attack?"

Lin Xiao stood on the firepower platform on the roof of the train, the corner of his mouth curling into a look of disdain.

"Playing tentacle play with me? You're still a bit too green."

"What's the best way to deal with this kind of plant?"

He turned to look at Su Qingqian beside him.

Su Qingqian's cold eyes reflected the demon flower in the distance, and she spat out a single word faintly:

"Fire."

"Correct."

Lin Xiao snapped his fingers.

"The electromagnetic cannon is reserved for hard targets; it's too much of a waste to use it on this kind of squishy thing."

"Xiao Tang! Push out my 'big treasure'!"

"Coming!"

Zhao Xiaotang ran over excitedly, pushing a modified small cart.

Loaded on the cart was an exaggerated-looking [Heavy Flamethrower (Vehicle Modified Version)], connected to a thick fuel pipe leading directly to the train's fuel tank.

Although the train had been converted to nuclear power, the original diesel and gasoline reserves hadn't been thrown away; they were just right for this kind of "barbecue party."

"Su Qingqian, you are responsible for cutting off the approaching vines."

"Zhao Xiaotang, you are responsible for protecting the fuel pipe."

"I'll... light the fire!"

Lin Xiao gripped the handle of the flamethrower and aimed it at the overbearing demon flower.

"Sing? Why aren't you singing anymore?"

"Since you're not singing, let me accompany you."

"The name of this song is—'A Fire in Winter'!"

"Whoosh————!!!"

A fifty-meter-long dragon of fire, carrying scorching high temperatures and Lin Xiao's fury, roared out!

This special napalm flame would never extinguish once it touched something; it could even burn on the surface of water!

"Hiss-ow!!!"

The flames instantly engulfed the incoming vines.

The plant's instincts made the demon flower let out a shrill scream.

It frantically waved its tentacles, trying to extinguish the flames on its body, but those flames were like maggots on bones, burning all the way up the vines to the trunk!

"Want to run?"

Seeing that the demon flower seemed to want to shrink its root system back into the ground to escape, Su Qingqian moved.

"Frost · Freezing Ten Thousand Miles!"

The Tang sword in her hand slammed into the accumulated water on the roof of the train.

A stream of extreme cold spread along the train body, instantly freezing the surface of the swamp within a hundred meters of the train!

Although it couldn't completely freeze such a massive monster, it was enough to slow its movements and seal its retreat!

"Add some more ingredients!"

Lin Xiao picked up the M320 grenade launcher and loaded a few incendiary grenades.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A few grenades drew arcs and landed precisely into the huge red flower in full bloom at the top of the demon flower—that is, into that "mouth."

"Boom! Boom!"

The flames exploded inside its body!

This time it was truly a refreshing feeling, heart-flying (physically speaking).

The demon flower's eerie human face instantly twisted and charred, letting out a final wail like a baby crying.

Then, its huge body collapsed with a crash in the raging fire.

The raging fire illuminated the entire swamp.

The originally eerie and terrifying atmosphere was forcibly turned into a bonfire party.

"Done."

Lin Xiao released the trigger of the flamethrower, looked at the monster gradually turning into ashes, and clapped his hands.

"Shen Man, make a note."

"The weakness of this kind of monster is fire, and it's afraid of mental shielding."

"Also..."

He glanced at the girls behind him who were watching the fire outside through the carriage windows, their eyes filled with admiration.

"Give Tian Yuanyuan a chicken leg tonight as mental damage compensation."

Half an hour later, the fire gradually extinguished.

Only charred remains and still-scalding muddy water were left.

"Squad leader! Look at that!"

Sharp-eyed Luo Yao pointed at the center of the ashes.

There, a faint emerald green light looked particularly dazzling in the darkness.

Even after experiencing such intense fire, it remained crystal clear, as if containing infinite vitality.

"I'll go get it!"

Tian Yuanyuan, who had just recovered, perhaps to make up for her previous mistake, or perhaps out of the "Minister of Agriculture's" instinctive response to plant essence, didn't care about the mud on the ground and was the first to run down.

When she ran back holding the fist-sized emerald green crystal, her face was flushed with excitement.

"Squad leader! This is [Plant Life Essence]!"

"I can feel the strong vitality inside!"

"With this, the tomatoes and potatoes in the greenhouse... just scrape a little powder and mix it with water to irrigate, and they can mature overnight! And the yield will double!"

"Even... even Shen Man can use it to make 'Life Potion' that instantly restores physical strength!"

Lin Xiao looked at the crystal, then at the excited Tian Yuanyuan.

"Good, it's yours."

He smiled and patted her head.

"From now on, the dining table of our Black Iron depends on you, Minister Tian."

Tian Yuanyuan nodded vigorously, like a little girl who had received the most precious gift, carefully holding the crystal in her arms.

After this battle, the somewhat timid and weak girl seemed to have a bit more firmness in her eyes.

In this apocalypse, everyone is growing.

Whether it's fighting or protecting.

The Black Iron started up again, its tracks rolling over the ashes of the demon flower, heading deeper into the swamp.

Ahead, there was still unknown fog.

But the singing in the carriage was no longer eerie; instead, it had been replaced by popular hits that the girls, having survived the ordeal, were singing together.

This, this was the sound of humanity.

Black Iron · All-Terrain Track Mode

Location: Deep in the Death Swamp · Unknown Area

Time: Third day in the swamp, afternoon 14:00

The gray-green fog still shrouded this land of death, but the fearsome "Enchanting Demon Flower" had already turned into a pile of yesterday's ashes.

The massive steel beast crushed the rotting soil, its tracks churning up black liquid, emitting a dull and powerful roar.

Since burning that demon tree, the surrounding mutant creatures seemed to have learned their lesson; occasionally, a few swamp lizards that didn't know any better would poke their heads out, only to be instantly torn to pieces by the automatically guarding machine gun turrets on the roof.

"Squad leader, the terrain ahead is starting to rise."

Luo Yao's voice came through the broadcast, carrying a hint of novelty.

"Radar shows that after passing through this mudflat, there is a relatively dry rocky highland ahead. And... I detected a heat source signal."

"Not cold-blooded animals, but warm-blooded animals. The number is roughly... about two hundred."

"Warm-blooded animals?"

Lin Xiao was sitting on the captain's chair, enjoying the grapes peeled by Liu Ruyan. Hearing this, he raised an eyebrow, pushed away the pair of soft hands handed to his mouth, stood up, and walked to the observation window.

"In this ghostly place, there are still warm-blooded animals that can live in groups? Could it be monkeys?"

"No... the thermal imaging profile shows..."

Luo Yao paused, her tone becoming strange.

"They are walking upright. They are humans."

"Humans?"

This time, even Su Qingqian, who was resting with her eyes closed, opened her eyes.

In the center of this Death Swamp, full of toxic swamp gas and level-three monsters everywhere, there were actually human survivors?

"Slow down, approach and take a look."

Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes, his fingers tapping lightly on the window sill.

"If it's a raider, then just wipe them out; if it's the indigenous people... maybe we can ask something."

Rocky Highland · Outskirts of the Tribe

As the Black Iron slowly drove onto the highland, the fog ahead thinned a bit.

Through the high-powered binoculars, Lin Xiao finally saw the true face of those so-called "survivors."

It was a group of tattered... no, accurately speaking, almost naked humans.

They were only wrapped in simple animal skins and loincloths woven from dead grass, and their skin presented a strange gray-green color—this was obviously a mild mutation caused by living in a poisonous fog environment for a long time, just like a chameleon, not only able to adapt to poisonous gas, but also providing natural camouflage in the swamp.

But at this moment, the situation of this group of "Swamp Survivors" was not good.

They were forced back to a steep rock wall, holding rough bone spears and stone axes, waving them in despair.

And around them, hundreds of disgusting creatures were wriggling densely.

Mutant Swamp Leech.

Each one was as thick as an adult's thigh, over a meter long, purple-black all over, and covered with mucus. They had no eyes, only a circular sucker mouthpart covered with barbs. Once attached to a person, it could instantly suck an adult's blood dry.

"Ah!!"

A scream came.

A strong male survivor slipped, and three or four leeches immediately pounced on him.

Even though he desperately waved his stone axe and chopped one off, the remaining ones still bit his thighs and arms tightly. Visibly, his body quickly withered, and his gray-green skin turned pale white.

"Dad!!"

In the crowd, a petite girl let out a sorrowful cry.

She held a short dagger ground from some kind of animal bone, desperately wanting to rush out to save people, but was pulled hard by an old man with a wrinkled face beside her.

"Don't go! Aman! Going there is just sending yourself to death!"

The old man roared, his eyes full of despair.

These leeches usually only operate in deep water areas; today, for some reason, they suddenly rioted and surged onto the highland.

Could it be that heaven wants to destroy our "Totem Tribe"?

Just when this group of survivors thought they were doomed and were preparing for a final desperate fight.

The earth suddenly began to tremble.

"Rumble————!!!"

A sound they had never heard before, like thunder rolling, came from the depths of the fog.

All the survivors, and even those greedy leeches, paused their movements for a moment.

Immediately after.

A beam of light (searchlight) a hundred times brighter than the midday sun violently tore through the fog and shone on this bloody battlefield.

Then, that steel beast (Black Iron) that exuded a cold metallic luster, had no feet but could run on the ground, crashed in with peerless pressure!

"What... what is that?!"

The girl named Aman widened her eyes, forgetting even to cry.

In the murals passed down from generation to generation in their tribe, only gods possessed the power to command such a giant beast.

"Swish—"

The Black Iron stopped fifty meters away from the battlefield.

The side door opened.

There was no army of thousands as imagined.

Only one man walked down leisurely.

He was wearing a stiff black windbreaker (which looked out of place in this swamp full of mud), holding an exquisite cane in his hand, followed by two women who were too beautiful to be mortal.

"Tsk tsk, so disgusting."

Lin Xiao glanced at the leeches that were still wriggling, his trypophobia almost acting up.

"I hate these soft-bodied animals the most."

Those leeches seemed to sense the scent of fresh flesh, and it was a more delicious scent than these withered survivors.

They gave up surrounding the tribe, turned their heads, and surged towards Lin Xiao like a tide.

"Careful!!"

Aman subconsciously shouted in an obscure and difficult-to-understand language.

Lin Xiao certainly didn't understand, but he didn't need to understand.

He just snapped his fingers.

"Hum—"

The swarm drone recovery slot on the top of the train opened.

Twenty palm-sized suicide attack drones, like killer bees out of their nest, flew out with a sharp buzzing sound.

"Add some seasoning for them."

Lin Xiao ordered faintly.

The drone swarm swept over the heads of the leech swarm.

They didn't drop bombs, but sprinkled a piece of white powder.

That was [Industrial Grade High Concentration Dehydrating Salt]—this was one of the strange supplies Lin Xiao got from signing in; he originally thought it was useless, but he didn't expect it to become an artifact here.

For soft-bodied animals, salt is concentrated sulfuric acid!

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle————!!!"