49: Chapter 49 The Wall of a Thousand Vine

On the roof of the stronghold in the Vine Town floor, Wang Ting held a crude telescope and swept his gaze across the residential area outside the stronghold.

The sky was frighteningly gloomy, as if it wanted to crush the entire small town.

In the residential area close to the town, single-family houses were much denser, distributed side by side along the street. Many crooked vehicles were parked on the road and by the roadside.

Whether it was the single-family houses or these abandoned vehicles, they were all covered by a thick layer of vines, as if they had become natural climbing frames for the vines to grow on.

Just with this simple check, Wang Ting had already noticed that Parasitic Fungus Vines were hidden among the roofs, courtyards, and roadside bushes.

Wang Ting had the deepest impression of the few houses closest to the stronghold; those were the houses that Zhao Tianhao and he had cleaned up separately when they first explored, and the Parasitic Fungus Vines and vines had already been cleared once back then.

But as the noises generated by the stronghold's construction attracted the attention of the Parasitic Fungus Vines, coupled with the fact that the Guard Team couldn't split their attention to manage them for a time, those monsters spread out once again, glaring covetously at the stronghold.

"When will the new batch of ammunition and supplies arrive?"

Wang Ting looked at the residential area before him, revealing a thoughtful expression.

Ren Chuan, who was at the side, heard Wang Ting's inquiry and immediately replied, "Boss Fan recently exchanged a large amount of food and supplies from the black market, and the bullets should have been exchanged back by now."

"Take fifty percent of the spoils back to the Shelter, and collect a batch of bullets and medicine from Boss Fan and Boss Zhao and the others. We will be exploring the things inside Vine Town next."

"Understood."

Vine Town was not a complete town. Compared to the vast wilderness on the suburb side, its other three directions did not extend much further. The edges of the three sides seemed to be directly cut off, enveloped by an invisible, transparent light curtain that directly wrapped the entire Vine Town inside.

The exploration of the town had been put on Wang Ting's agenda.

There were many houses and buildings in the entire Vine Town, and from the perspective that resource floors could randomly refresh supplies, every place actually had exploration value.

But Wang Ting knew that the place with the most core exploration value was actually the central area of the town. The vines were densest there, but the buildings were also the most important.

Among them, the Hospital, the supermarket, the municipal building area, the library, and the Industrial Zone were all places that had to be explored.

The Industrial Zone was located in the northeast, opposite to the stronghold where he was. To get there, one needed to cross the town center, which couldn't be explored in a short time.

However, places like the Hospital and supermarkets near the town center had to be explored as soon as possible.

For resource floors, the more special a place was, the more likely it was to refresh special supplies. If these places could definitely refresh a large number of supplies, then the value of the Vine Town floor would increase significantly.

To take a step back, even if supplies couldn't be refreshed, if supplies still remained in these two places, the huge quantity would be a massive fortune, enough to exchange for a large amount of resources on the black market.

[Collector: Wang Ting]

[Life Rank: Tier 0]

[monster points: 210 points]

[Recorded Monsters: Scarecrow, Rot Soil Hound, Sand Scorpion, Zombie, Lizard Hound, Parasitic Fungus Vine, Thorn Vine Beast]

Wang Ting came out of the stronghold, passed through the stair passage, and returned to the Outpost Camp.

After more than ten days of continuous construction and with the help of a large amount of timber, Dong Hu's speed in building the wall had greatly increased. The wall was actually nearing completion.

What appeared before Wang Ting's eyes was a yellowish earthen wall about 4 meters high.

At this time, the wall was not completely dry yet, and the rough surface of the earthen wall still had a dark brown color, but the overall structure of the earthen wall was complete.

The corner towers, walkways, and the huge, thick city gates made of wood had all been put into use by this time.

The residents in the camp were now putting all their effort into building their true dwellings. They erected tall roof beams, secured them well, and then laid the wooden boards and tiles dismantled from Vine Town onto the roof bit by bit. At this point, the houses were beginning to take shape.

Wang Ting's residence was naturally the first one to be built.

"Captain!"

"Hello, Captain!"

Wang Ting passed by the people who were working. Everyone who saw him wore a smiling face and immediately greeted him.

Although working here at the Outpost Camp was very hard, the treatment was not bad.

Wang Ting did not keep any of the supplies scavenged from the Vine Town floor, especially those sporadically refreshed fresh items; instead, he factored them into the meals. Getting to eat a bite of fresh food, especially those fresh meats, was not ordinary treatment.

Coupled with the fact that Wang Ting's strength was also witnessed by many, even though the work was hard, everyone had something to look forward to in their hearts, so his prestige grew day by day.

Wang Ting looked around and found that Dong Hu was not at the house-building construction site.

"Where is Dong Hu?"

At this moment, Huang Han, who was in charge of organizing the workers to build houses, pointed at the corner tower on the city wall.

"Brother Dong hurried up there just now."

Hearing this, Wang Ting looked at the corner tower next to the city gate. The corner tower was constructed from rammed earth walls, but the interior was a solid wooden skeleton, resembling a polygonal tube with openings for shooting and scouting.

Wang Ting strode up to the city wall. When he stepped into the corner tower, what he saw was Dong Hu with furrowed brows observing the situation outside the outpost.

Hearing the sound, Dong Hu turned his head to look, and seeing that it was Wang Ting, he immediately greeted: "Captain."

Seeing his expression, Wang Ting had already guessed in his heart that there was a new situation outside, and immediately asked: "What happened?"

Dong Hu said in a solemn tone: "Captain, we must find a way to put the formation of the patrol team and the delineation of the patrol range on the agenda. Even if it's just a group of three Guard Team members plus male residents. Otherwise, if the outer monsters sneak up to us, we won't be able to react at all."

Wang Ting frowned and immediately looked into the distance. On a hillside about 500 meters away, a few swaying zombies were approaching the outpost little by little.

"Have monsters sneaked over? About how many are there?"

"Visually estimated, it should be a zombie group of about 50, and there are some more under the hillside."

In Dong Hu's tone, he was not worried about the attack of these zombies.

As long as 50 zombies formed a battle array, they could completely annihilate them, let alone now that such a tall earthen wall had been built.

What he worried about was that if a sound patrol mechanism was not established, the ones sneaking over might not just be zombies, but possibly survivors wandering in the wasteland, or even wasteland bandits who made a living by plundering.

"We have a total of 200 residents, how many men and women respectively?"

"A total of 200, 160 able-bodied men, 40 women. Most of them are young adults, with no children."

The residents of the camp were all transferred from the Shelter. Since it was to build the Outpost Camp, naturally there were no old people and children.

Wang Ting showed a thoughtful expression. Just as Dong Hu said, patrolling had to be carried out; the Outpost Camp had just been established and could not afford the slightest mishap.

"Pull out 20 men from among them, train them into militia first, and then transition them to join the Guard Team."

Although manpower was already a bit insufficient now—whether it was camp construction, outpost expansion and reinforcement, or the reclamation of farmland—they needed a large amount of manpower.

But Wang Ting knew he had to make this choice; powerful force was the root cause to guarantee everything.

Hearing Wang Ting's arrangement, Dong Hu immediately nodded and said: "I understand."

The low growls of the zombies gradually came over. Those roaming zombies crossed the hilltops and had now discovered the existence of the Outpost Camp, accelerating their paces continuously like beasts that had found their prey.

Dong Hu revealed a fierce expression and said in a deep voice: "I'll go solve this group of zombies first, and then organize a patrol team as soon as possible."

Just as Dong Hu wanted to gather people, Wang Ting's expression stirred, and he suddenly waved his hand.

"No need to deal with them. I happen to have something that needs them for a test."

Dong Hu showed a surprised look, not knowing what Wang Ting wanted to do.

Wang Ting chanted silently in his heart: "Redeem Wall of Thousand Vines."

Wang Ting had long been prepared to redeem the Wall of Thousand Vines. Now that the monster points were enough and the wall happened to be built, there was nothing to hesitate about.

Along with the decrease in his monster points, a green vine seed appeared deep in his sea of consciousness.

This vine seed was only the size of a fist, looking like jade. Green vines the thickness of chopsticks grew on its surface, exuding a trace of mysterious green light.

With just a thought from Wang Ting, the seed of the Wall of Thousand Vines appeared in his hand. The seed of the Wall of Thousand Vines on his palm was both real and false, actually in a state intertwined between reality and illusion.

Wang Ting could feel the connection between himself and the Wall of Thousand Vines. He was the master of this creation and had complete control over it.

"Start growing."

Wang Ting reached out and threw the seed of the Wall of Thousand Vines to the base of the wall. Slight vibrations came from around the earthen wall, and the roots of the Wall of Thousand Vines grew out, fiercely plunging into the soil.

After about three or four seconds, a rustling sound came from underground, and one vine after another drilled into the earthen wall, covering it.

The vines were like a green curtain, covering the yellowish earthen wall bit by bit. The spreading vines moved extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of vines of varying thicknesses had split out.

"Run, run, are those vine monsters?"

"The Captain is still on the city wall, save him quickly!"

The suddenly appearing vines frightened the working residents. Some fled in all directions, while others remembered that Dong Hu and Wang Ting were still on the city wall, and actually wanted to rescue them.

"Calm down, everyone. This is the Captain's ability."

Seeing that the situation was not good, Dong Hu immediately shouted aloud.

His voice was loud, and his booming voice overwhelmed everyone's noise, which finally allowed the camp's residents to quiet down.

However, his surface calmness formed a sharp contrast with the shock deep in his eyes. The earthen wall beneath his feet was still vibrating slightly, and the vines covered all the wall bodies like a tidal wave.

The growth of the Wall of Thousand Vines lasted for a full 10 minutes.

In 10 minutes, that yellowish earthen wall had now turned into a wall of vines. Using the hard rammed earth layer as the wall pillar, and the densely covered vines of varying thicknesses as its armor.

The city wall became increasingly thick and solid. The vines covered outward along the earthen wall, extending for about a dozen meters. The further outward, the sparser the vines became.

Dong Hu reached out and pulled a vine. The vine he grabbed was only the thickness of a little finger, but with a hard pull, it didn't move at all.

"Boss, let me try."

As he spoke, he slashed a dagger across it.

The skin of the vine turned out to be as tough as cowhide. With this slash, it couldn't even be completely cut through. Before he could react, the vine seemed to be healing slowly. His pupils shrank sharply: "It could even heal itself?"

The earthen wall was already solid enough; now with the vines becoming its armor and internal skeletal network, it had become even sturdier.

How could the Guard Team members and the townspeople have ever seen such a scene? Their gazes looking at Wang Ting were filled with respect and fanaticism. Was this the power of extraordinary items? Was this the extraordinary ability of the Captain?

Worshiping the strong was human nature; only by following the strong could one live better. Without a doubt, the current Wang Ting was truly their heaven.

At this moment, Wang Ting's gaze swept across the zombies on the wasteland. That batch of zombies had already crossed the hillside and was slowly approaching. The closest zombie was now less than a hundred meters away from the outpost.

"Open fire and lure the zombies over."