13: Chapter 13 BOSS! The Dead Tree Spirit

"Train Master, that is..."

Zhang Man, who had just escaped death, followed Su Chen's gaze and also discovered the seed emitting a verdant green light.

"A clue to the seed of life."

Su Chen strode forward, reached into the pile of foul-smelling green liquid without a hint of disgust, and picked up the seed.

[Item: Inferior seed of life fragment.]

[Description: A fragment containing weak life energy. Collect ten to synthesize one complete 'seed of life'.]

Looking at the system prompt, Su Chen frowned slightly.

"It seems that activating the ecological carriage won't be that easy; we need to head deeper."

Su Chen put the fragment into his backpack and turned to give instructions to the group.

"Continue moving forward, maintain formation. If you encounter any glowing plants, open fire immediately. Don't give them a chance to ambush us."

Having learned their lesson, the girls dared not relax in the slightest.

Zhang Man acted like a guardian deity, holding the polished steel pipe and taking the lead at the very front of the team.

Although her [Steel Body] had a cooldown, the improvement in physical fitness brought about by awakening her talent had completely transformed her.

In the center of the team, Lin Momo finally recovered from the shock.

She looked at the faint red mark on Zhang Man's thigh left after being healed by Liu Ruyan, her heart filled with self-reproach.

"I'm sorry... Sister Man, it's all because of me..."

Lin Momo's eyes reddened, her voice choked with sobs.

"Silly girl, what is there to be sorry about? I am the leader of the combat group; protecting you is my responsibility."

Zhang Man waved her hand without looking back, her forthright tone warming Lin Momo's heart.

"I... I want to help too!"

Lin Momo took a deep breath, wiped away her tears, and clasped her hands together in front of her chest.

"In that distant horizon..."

The crisp, melodious singing voice rang out once again in the toxic, smog-filled botanical garden.

Pink-gold notes turned into streams of light and merged into everyone's bodies.

Under the buff of [Vitality Notes], the girls' footsteps, which had been heavy due to nervousness and the toxic smog, instantly became light.

The team's advancement speed increased significantly.

Along the way, they encountered a few more waves of mutant plant attacks.

But under Su Chen's insight and the violent firepower of the thunder-fire roarer shotgun, these bronze-tier trash mobs posed no threat at all.

About half an hour later.

The thick green toxic smog gradually thinned, and the view ahead suddenly opened up.

The group arrived at a huge circular clearing.

This seemed to be the core exhibition area of the botanical garden, surrounded by a circle of tall, transparent glass curtain walls, though now the glass was all shattered.

And in the very center of the clearing.

A huge altar, interwoven with countless vines emitting a rich, verdant green light, stood quietly there.

At the top of the altar, there were three fist-sized [seed of life] items, crystal clear like emeralds!

"Found them!"

The girls let out an irrepressible cheer.

Three complete seeds of life—this was definitely enough to activate the train's ecological planting carriage!

Some impatient girls could no longer hold back and wanted to rush up to grab the seeds.

"Don't move!"

Su Chen's voice was like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing everyone's enthusiasm.

His gaze did not linger on those tempting seeds, but was fixed intently on the deep shadows behind the altar.

"Train Master, what is it?"

Chu Qingxue keenly sensed the gravity in Su Chen's tone; she gripped the rusty iron pipe in her hand, and frost began to condense in her palms.

"There's a big one."

Su Chen's words had just fallen.

"Rumble... Rumble..."

The ground of the entire circular clearing suddenly shook violently!

Accompanied by a teeth-gritting sound of wood tearing.

A terrifying monster, five meters tall and several times larger than the flytrap from earlier, slowly stood up from the shadows behind the altar.

This monster was made entirely of black, withered wood as hard as iron, with thick legs like two hundred-year-old tree roots deeply embedded in the ground.

Its arms were two giant tree trunks covered with sharp wooden thorns.

And on its featureless wooden head, two balls of ghostly green soul fire were leaping and burning like will-o'-the-wisps, emitting a cold aura that made one's soul tremble.

[Warning! Highest level red warning!]

[Encountered silver-grade BOSS — Withered Wood Treant!]

[Monster Traits: Possesses extremely high physical defense and abnormal Life Recovery ability. Its wooden body is as hard as steel; ordinary physical attacks are ineffective.]

[Weakness: Fears fire-attribute attacks; the core weakness is the soul fire in its eyes.]

"Silver-grade BOSS!"

Seeing the system prompt, Su Chen's pupils shrank sharply.

This was the highest-tier monster he had encountered since coming to the Wasteland World!

"Roar—!"

The Withered Wood Treant let out a roar as deep as thunder.

Its eyes, burning with ghostly green flames, locked tightly onto this group of uninvited guests who had broken into its territory.

Without any hesitation, it strode forward with its thick, pillar-like legs, carrying a violent momentum of destruction as it charged directly toward the group.

"Scatter!"

Su Chen roared.

The girls immediately scattered in all directions like a startled flock of birds.

But the Withered Wood Treant's size was too large; its attack range covered almost half of the clearing.

"I'll block it!"

Zhang Man, who had just awakened her talent, had the ruthless streak in her bones completely ignited.

She did not retreat but advanced, roaring as her entire body erupted with brilliant silver-gray light once again.

[Steel Body] fully activated!

Zhang Man gripped the rusty steel pipe tightly with both hands, her legs planted in a lunge, like an immovable metal tower, meeting the Withered Wood Treant's sweeping giant tree trunk head-on.

"Bang—!"

An extremely dull, loud noise.

Zhang Man's Steel Body, which was enough to withstand the flytrap's strangulation, appeared so vulnerable in the face of the silver-grade BOSS's violent power.

The steel pipe in her hand was instantly smashed into a "V" shape.

Her whole body was like a baseball being hit, flying backward violently along with the metallic luster on her body.

"Pfft—!"

Zhang Man spat out a large mouthful of blood in mid-air, crashing heavily onto the debris of the glass curtain wall a dozen meters away, life or death unknown.

"Sister Man!"

Lin Momo and Liu Ruyan exclaimed at the same time.

Liu Ruyan rushed toward the direction where Zhang Man landed without hesitation, her hands glowing with intense green light, desperately pouring life energy into her body.

"This monster's power is too terrifying; physical attacks are useless!"

Chu Qingxue looked at Zhang Man, who had been killed in one hit, her cold face full of gravity.

"Everyone back off! Don't get close to it!"

Su Chen's cold voice echoed in the clearing; he remained absolutely calm.

"Chu Qingxue, control its lower body!"

Hearing Su Chen's command, Chu Qingxue did not hesitate.

She knew that in the face of this level of monster, ordinary ice cones wouldn't even scratch its skin.

Chu Qingxue gritted her teeth and put her fair, slender index finger directly into her mouth.

"Hiss—"

She bit her fingertip hard, and bright red blood instantly surged out.

Using blood as a medium to forcibly overdraw her mental energy!

"Extreme Cold Frost — Icebound Miles!"

Chu Qingxue's stunning face instantly turned as pale as paper, but a light of unprecedented determination erupted from her cold eyes.

She slammed her hands onto the ground.

"Crack, crack, crack, crack—!"

An extremely terrifying low temperature spread wildly in all directions with Chu Qingxue as the center.

The moisture in the air instantly condensed into a layer of hard frost half a meter thick, like ice dragons, crazily winding along the ground toward the roots of the Withered Wood Treant.

This power of frost was more violent than any time before, almost draining all the mental energy in Chu Qingxue's body.

"Roar!"

The Withered Wood Treant sensed the anomaly under its feet and roared angrily, wanting to lift its legs to stomp the frost to pieces.

But under the full eruption of the S-rank talent, that thick layer of frost actually forcibly froze its thick, pillar-like legs in place!

Even with its terrifying power, it couldn't move an inch at this moment.

"Well done!"

A bright light flashed in Su Chen's eyes.

At the same moment the Withered Wood Treant was frozen.

"Thunderclap Step!"

Accompanied by the piercing sound of electric current, Su Chen turned into a purple thunderous afterimage, instantly crossing a distance of over ten meters and appearing in front of the Withered Wood Treant.

"Die!"

The Withered Wood Treant furiously swung its two giant arms covered with wooden thorns, like two scythes of death, bringing terrifying wind pressure as it smashed heavily toward Su Chen.

If hit by this, even though Su Chen's constitution far exceeded that of an ordinary person, he would definitely be smashed into a pulp.

But under the buff of [Thunderclap Step], Su Chen's reaction speed had reached an incredible realm.

His figure twisted at an extremely strange angle in mid-air, dodging the two giant arms by a hair's breadth.

Not only that, he even took the opportunity to kick off the Withered Wood Treant's rough trunk.

Borrowing this recoil force, Su Chen, like an agile cheetah, leaped directly onto the Withered Wood Treant's massive trunk!

"Roar!"

The Withered Wood Treant was completely enraged, shaking its body crazily, trying to shake off this flea-like human.

But Su Chen's hands were like iron pincers, gripping the crevices in the bark tightly.

His right hand suddenly pulled out the [explosive combustion iron staff] carried on his back.

"Pfft!"

Su Chen thrust the high-temperature iron staff fiercely through a piece of cracked bark and into the Withered Wood Treant's body!

"Explode!"

As Su Chen moved his mind.

The micro-explosion effect attached to the iron staff triggered instantly!

"Boom!"

A huge gap was blown into the Withered Wood Treant's chest, and black wood chips splashed everywhere.

Although this did not cause a fatal injury, the intense pain and high-temperature burning caused its massive body to become momentarily stiff.

"Now!"

Su Chen seized this fleeting opportunity, exerted force with his legs, and leaped directly from the Treant's chest onto its shoulder.

In mid-air, Su Chen raised the violent [thunder-fire roarer shotgun] with both hands.

The thick muzzle, emitting a dark red high temperature, was pressed mercilessly against the Withered Wood Treant's featureless wooden head.

Aimed directly at the two balls of ghostly green soul fire!

"In your next life, be a piece of good wood."

A bloodthirsty and cold arc curled at the corner of Su Chen's mouth.

His finger pulled the trigger hard.

"Bang—!!!"

A terrifying, eardrum-shattering loud noise.

Violent purple lightning and thousand-degree crimson flames intertwined at the muzzle into a destructive beam of light.

This terrifying energy poured directly into its skull through the Withered Wood Treant's eye sockets!

"Boom—Crack!"

Under the absolute restraint of the dual thunder and fire attributes.

The Withered Wood Treant's iron-hard, massive head, like an ignited powder keg, burst apart in a violent explosion!

The sky full of black wood chips mixed with scattered ghostly green sparks, like a grand and cruel firework, bloomed over the botanical garden.

"Rumble—!"

The massive Withered Wood Treant, like a toppled skyscraper, crashed heavily onto the hard concrete ground.

The entire abandoned botanical garden trembled, and the sky full of dust and green toxic smog was instantly dispersed by this shockwave.

Su Chen landed steadily from mid-air, took a deep breath, and calmed the surging blood in his body.

[Ding! Over-level kill of Withered Wood Treant (silver-grade BOSS), obtained Survival Points: 200!]

[Ding! Dropped items: silver-grade treasure chest * 1, silver-grade wood core * 1, premium black iron wood * 50!]

Listening to the wonderful system prompt in his mind, a satisfied arc curled at the corner of Su Chen's mouth.

High risk really does mean high reward; just these 200 Survival Points were enough for him to exchange for quite a few good things in the Heavenly Dao Store.

Not to mention that treasure chest flashing with dazzling silver light, and that green crystal emitting a majestic aura of life.

"Long live the Train Master!"

"The Train Master is so cool!"

The girls hiding in the distance saw this scene and erupted into cheers of survival.

The way they looked at Su Chen could no longer be described as simple adoration; it was pure fanaticism, like looking at a god.

Especially Chu Qingxue, who had just been saved by Su Chen; her cold eyes were now rippling with strange waves, staring tightly at that back like a god of war, her heartbeat accelerating involuntarily.

"Don't just stand there!"

Su Chen turned around, shouldered the thunder-fire roarer shotgun, and waved his hand dominantly.

"Su Xiaoxiao, take your logistics team over and collect all the [seed of life] items on the altar for me."

"And all the scattered seed fragments on the ground, don't leave a single one behind."

"Zhang Man, take the combat team and hack this Treant's trunk to pieces. These premium black iron woods are good stuff; move them all back to the train!"

Hearing Su Chen's command, the girls immediately sprang into action as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

Su Xiaoxiao pushed up her glasses, trotted up to the altar, and carefully held the three green-glowing [seed of life] items in her palms; her eyes were even more affectionate than seeing her own father.

Although Zhang Man had been slapped away by the Treant and injured a bit, she had recovered seven or eight-tenths under the treatment of Liu Ruyan's [Life Recovery].

She let out a roar, took a few strong girls, and brandishing axes and steel pipes, began to frantically hack at the Withered Wood Treant's remains.

With Su Chen, this anchor of stability, present, the remaining low-level mutant plants in the botanical garden dared not act recklessly.

In less than an hour, the entire core exhibition area had been completely looted by this group of wolf-like girls.

When the group returned to the train with their full load of spoils, there was less than twenty minutes left before the forced stay time ended.

"Close the doors, start the train."

After Su Chen gave the instruction, he did not return to the master bedroom to rest but walked directly to the very back of the train.

That was originally a place for stacking sundries, but after upgrading to a Level 1 Armored Train, an interface for attaching a new carriage had appeared.

Seeing this, the girls, not even bothering to change their dirty clothes, curiously followed him.

Everyone knew that the Train Master was about to start that magical "magic modification," and this time, it concerned their future meals!

Su Chen stood at the interface at the rear of the carriage and opened the system backpack.

He first took out the [ecological planting carriage mounting module] that had been opened from the military factory silver treasure chest.

This was a palm-sized metal block similar to a container model.

Immediately after, he took out the three [seed of life] items that Su Xiaoxiao had just handed over, as well as the [silver-grade wood core] dropped by killing the Treant.

As soon as this wood core was taken out, a life aura so rich it was almost tangible instantly permeated the entire carriage.

The girls, who had been feeling exhausted from continuous fighting, felt their whole bodies lighten upon smelling this aura, as if all their fatigue had been swept away.

"System, magic modification fusion!"

Su Chen pressed these materials onto the mounting interface with both hands and gave the instruction in his mind.