29: Chapter 29 The Thorn Beast Attacks

Although the Vine Town floor did not have as bright light as the Scarecrow Farm floor, in this gloomy sky, there were still changes between day and night.

As time passed, the sky of Vine Town gradually darkened, and Wei Dong piled up several huge bonfires around the temporary stronghold.

The burning firewood consisted of wood directly dismantled from the wooden walls and fences of the surrounding houses. The wood crackled and popped in the fire, the crimson flames leaped higher than a person, and the scorching heat wave almost struck the faces of the guards nearby.

The firelight illuminated the entire temporary stronghold, reflecting the appearance of all Guard Team members within it. The Guard Team members stared with vigilant expressions at Vine Town hidden in the darkness.

During the day, they had clearly cleaned up the houses around the stronghold once, but after nightfall, everyone could still feel that monsters were peeking at them in the dark.

Cold gazes full of hostility locked onto them like chains, making their spines chill.

The Floor World during the day and night were two completely different worlds. Many abnormal monsters would become restless at night, so whether they could hold their ground at night was the key.

"The stronghold has just been established, and there is no way to clear all the surrounding monsters. I'm afraid the night will be extremely difficult, and I hope we can hold it."

Zhao Hu had also entered the Vine Town floor together at this time, learning about what happened during the second exploration today, and his expression was solemn as well.

Abnormal entities were prone to restlessness at night, and the number of incoming monsters was proportional to the number of remaining monsters around.

If there were too many monsters to hold tonight, they would likely fall into a protracted war of attrition. They would need to clear the surrounding monsters bit by bit during the day, lower the monster density, and finally build the stronghold.

Wang Ting asked, "Was the stronghold of Scarecrow Farm opened up like this back then?"

"Scarecrow Farm is different."

Zhao Hu was slightly startled, then subconsciously glanced at Zhao Kun in the distance, lowering his voice a bit.

"This Infinite Building of Scarecrow Farm was actually opened up by Jumu City. When it was developed back then, it didn't need that many people at all. After the transcendent lord entered the floor, he was just a single person leading a tactical squad, and with a single move, he overwhelmingly defeated the gathered Scarecrows. The monsters were completely pierced through, so the stronghold could be built however one wanted, and there would be no monster harassment in a short period."

"Jumu City?"

Wang Ting's face carried a bit of surprise, not expecting that Scarecrow Town and the Scarecrow Farm floor had such an origin.

He asked with puzzlement, "But isn't the Shelter managed by Boss Zhao and the others now?"

"Jumu City has no way to control all the Infinite Buildings. Those Infinite Buildings scattered in remote places are all handed over to subordinates or people who want to go out and expand to handle. As long as you can pay the taxes and hold the Infinite Building, then there is no problem at all."

Wasteland feudalism...

An absurd idea floated into Wang Ting's mind, but thinking of the immobility characteristic of the Infinite Building, this seemed to dictate that development must be based on its location.

Aside from the most concentrated distribution in the abandoned cities and ruins of the old era, the distribution of Infinite Buildings was mostly scattered like stars in the sky. Even a Level 3 Shelter city couldn't personally manage every single Infinite Building and maintain absolute control.

Therefore, it was better to cede these Infinite Buildings out, becoming a superior entity waiting only to collect resources.

The scattered small Shelters would instead become Jumu City's natural protective belt.

Unless it was an Infinite Building with very important resources, a Level 3 Shelter city like Jumu City would definitely not easily station itself there personally.

Zhao Hu's explanation made Wang Ting figure out the crucial trick behind it.

He also realized that Jumu City's control over Infinite Buildings and the location where the Infinite Building descended determined that valuable Infinite Buildings were not common, especially those with such well-timed distances were even rarer.

'No wonder Boss Zhao attaches such importance to it.'

Deep within his gaze, a flame seemed to have ignited, ambition was quietly taking root, and he had a few more thoughts in his heart.

'Since a brand new outpost is to be established, someone must naturally garrison here. Is it a twice-limit-breaking warrior like Boss Zhao or Boss Fan? Or will it fall into the hands of the captain level?'

Wang Ting pondered in his heart, and soon had the answer.

No matter how important a new Infinite Building was, its non-livable floor characteristic dictated that it must rely on Scarecrow Town as its foundation for a quite long time.

Although resource refreshing was important, its instability characteristic was also very obvious. Before having the ability to completely capture Vine Town, no one knew how many resources would actually be refreshed.

Zhao Kun and Fan Da were both the core of Scarecrow Town, and right now the wheat had just been harvested, and trade was approaching, so I'm afraid the two of them couldn't easily free up their hands.

Not to mention that the current temporary stronghold was only initially established. To truly manage it and form a fully functional outpost, the time required was probably not a day or two.

The outpost needed people to build and maintain it, so this task would only fall upon a captain-level figure.

'This might be an opportunity for me.'

The several captain-level figures in the camp all had their own subordinates, but they also bore important tasks for the camp's operation.

Judging from Zhao Kun's performance today, he probably wasn't inclined to transfer a mature team here to waste a large amount of manpower.

He didn't know whether Zhao Kun wanted to cultivate a new captain-level person or simply considered it from the aspect of camp operation.

However, judging from what Zhao Kun said to him and his intention to let Zhao Tianhao also undertake exploration tasks, what he favored in his heart was probably a once-limit-breaking warrior outside of the existing captains.

Seeing Wang Ting fall into deep thought, a flash of light crossed the depths of Zhao Hu's eyes. A clever person like Wang Ting should have guessed Boss Zhao's thoughts; whether it would work depended on himself.

A large number of sounds came from the dark, and the vines on the ground swayed, as if something had crawled over them.

Zhao Hu's expression changed slightly, and he lowered his voice to say, "The monsters are coming. Whether we can hold it depends on tonight."

As soon as the voice fell, a loud booming sound suddenly came.

In the dark, the Parasitic Fungus Vine began to rush quickly towards the firelight. Their vines intertwined and churned, looking like writhing earthworms, making one's hair stand on end.

Just a moment later, at least thirty or fifty Parasitic Fungus Vines were seen converging into a torrent. What was even more terrifying was that within that group of Parasitic Fungus Vines, there was actually a tall monster figure.

It was also covered with vines all over its body, yet it possessed a tiger's back and wolf's waist, an ox's head and leopard's teeth, and a single eye that was particularly eerie.

[Thorn Vine Beast archiving progress 15%]

Wang Ting instantly became alert. It turned out that this was the thing peeking at him in the depths of Vine Town.

"Wei Dong, you are responsible for sniping the monsters coming from the town center direction. Zhao Hu, you are responsible for keeping a close eye on the suburban direction in the back, don't let the monsters encircle us. Everyone else, be alert and drive all these motherfucking abnormal entities away for me!"

The Guard Team members in the temporary stronghold reached as many as 30 people, all fully armed.

Everyone had made sufficient preparations during the day. Although they were suddenly attacked by monsters now, they weren't that nervous.

Everyone exerted all their strength to open fire, bullets shooting into the darkness. Muffled sounds came from the dark one after another—that was the slight sound made when bullets hit the bodies of the Parasitic Fungus Vines.

Holding a rifle in his hand, Zhao Kun directly aimed at the Thorn Vine Beast hidden among the Parasitic Fungus Vines, pouring bullets toward its body.

Wang Ting acutely discovered that most of the bullets landing on the Thorn Vine Beast were actually blocked by the hard spikes on its body.

Even when hitting the tentacle-like vines, it was far from as neat and clean as hitting the bodies of the Parasitic Fungus Vines; it only injured the vines rather than breaking them.

'What strong defense.'

Zhao Kun was also frowning at this moment. He knew that mere bullet attacks were not enough to completely defeat it.

A trace of ruthlessness flashed through his gaze. Immediately afterwards, he felt for a grenade at his waist, pulled the pin, and threw it directly over.

With a thunderous explosion, flames soared into the sky.

The grenade exploded violently in front of the Thorn Vine Beast, and shrapnel shot out. The Thorn Vine Beast failed to dodge in time, and its massive body was blown flying away.

However, accompanied by an enraged low roar like a beating drum, that terrifying dark shadow actually stood up again.

The Thorn Vine Beast did not die despite suffering such heavy injuries; it only broke a large number of vine tentacles and suffered severe damage to its body, with sticky blood dripping all over the ground.

Revealing an angry and hateful gaze, it rushed straight toward Zhao Kun's direction, followed by a tide-like group of Parasitic Fungus Vines behind it.

Seeing this, Zhao Kun wanted to take out his remaining grenade, intending to completely kill this monster.

However, before he could act, he heard Wang Ting's shout and immediately stopped the movement in his hand.

"There is a monster of the same size in the suburban direction too!"

In Wang Ting's Vibration Perception, the Parasitic Fungus Vines in the suburban direction were constantly converging, their quantity at least twice as much as in the daytime battle.

If there were only Parasitic Fungus Vines, the situation would still be within a controllable range, but he had already discovered that another Thorn Vine Beast was hidden among the group of Parasitic Fungus Vines.

That heavy sound of footsteps was like a beating drum in the Vibration Perception, and it was already extremely close to their temporary stronghold.

Zhao Kun still wanted to continue fighting with the Thorn Vine Beast, but upon hearing Wang Ting's reminder, his expression changed instantly.

Powerful as he was, it was impossible for him to simultaneously block two or even more Thorn Vine Beasts.

This place cannot be held anymore.

He made a decisive judgment: "Retreat!"

The Guard Team members who heard the command quickly retreated toward the flanks of the stair passage. The retreat plan was already among everyone's alternative plans.

But everyone had not expected that they would start retreating so quickly.

The Parasitic Fungus Vines had already rushed in front of the bonfires, throwing themselves forward regardless of consequences like moths to a flame, directly crashing down the large bonfires.

The burning firewood scattered all over the ground, and sparks scattered around like shooting stars.

The Parasitic Fungus Vines crossed the defense line and jumped high, wanting to launch an attack. Zhao Kun took the lead and stepped forward directly, his pistol accurately hitting the core part.

Wang Ting was also facing the siege of the Parasitic Fungus Vines in the suburbs at this time. The rifle in his hand constantly switched gun muzzles, shooting down all the Parasitic Fungus Vines that wanted to cross the defense line one by one, with extremely fierce methods.

He almost pushed Vibration Perception to the extreme, perceiving the positions of abnormal monster entities in the dark night.

"Let's go..."

[Thorn Vine Beast archiving progress 47%]