Everyone on the truck was wearing wristwatches, and there was even a young man who appeared to be eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing an improved wristwatch around his neck. Xu Song wondered if that was a special fashion statement or if it was related to his abilities.
What also piqued his curiosity was how they would operate the device when it was hanging around their necks. Did they take it off every time they needed to check something? And then put it back on afterward?
The two of them were sitting near the rear of the vehicle, with the two military officers inside, near the back, engaged in hushed conversations with the two members of Panlong, occasionally exchanging words with a seemingly dozing member in the middle, his eyes half-closed, as if asleep.
Both Panlong’s team leader and deputy team leader were present at the base and hadn’t been stranded by the sudden snowstorm. Huijiang’s situation was a bit worse off, as the team leader was leading a mission outside, so it was their deputy team leader who had come this time.
As the only two D-class teams for a long time, Panlong’s team leader, Fan Wenbiao, seemed to have long since adapted to this situation, occasionally exchanging a few words with the two military officers with an expressionless face.
On the other hand, his deputy team leader seemed quite comfortable in this situation, wearing a friendly smile on his face and chatting with them from time to time.
“…There are at least two to three hundred people trapped there. With this much snow, they’ll probably have to walk for several more days to get back to the base.”
“Yes, indeed. The base is really short on these supplies, or they wouldn’t have urgently dispatched teams to collect resources.”
“Ah, our second squad, which is under our team, is also stuck there. They were preparing to go and assist them after the snowfall…”
One of the officers quickly chimed in, “The members in the cotton fields are all experienced from various squads. They were just temporarily trapped by the snow, and they should be able to return safely. Maybe when we complete our mission and return to the base, we’ll run into them.”
“That would be the best.”
Yue Zheng glanced outside the cotton curtain, and at the front of the convoy, two snowplows took turns clearing the way. It had been snowing heavily for two full days without stopping, accumulating a thick layer. As a result, the convoy’s progress was slow.
He took out his phone, accessed the map, and confirmed their current location. “At this rate, it will probably take more than a day to reach the destination.”
Xu Song nodded. “With such heavy snow and damaged roads, plus the fact that we can’t see the ground, it’s already quite impressive if we can make it there within two days.”
The previous earthquake had caused a lot of damage to the roads, with many buildings collapsing, blocking the roads. Now, the heavy snow had covered the surface, making it impossible to see anything underneath and causing even more trouble.
After about an hour, the convoy finally entered the city.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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These brief sentences conveyed the current situation. Since the convoy was heading east today, this was a route that Yue Zheng’s team had not previously traveled. It appeared that there were some mutant plants buried in the snow ahead, but it was unknown whether they would launch an attack on their own.
After a short while, gunshots could be heard from the front of the convoy.
Immediately, everyone on the truck became alert, some of them getting up to pull back some waterproof fabric covering their surroundings to see what was happening outside.
The walkie-talkie inside the officers’ vehicle crackled, and a voice came through, “Mutant plants buried in the snow! They’ve already entangled two vehicles. We urgently need fire-based abilities and other abilities for support!”
Whether they had fire-based abilities or not, this time they all had to go and provide support. After all, this group of people in the truck could be considered a special forces team, and wherever there was a need, they had to rush to it.
They opened the car doors, and one by one, people got out, some struggling as they ran forward through the snow.
This vehicle was relatively close to the front of the convoy, so as soon as Xu Song and the others got out of the truck and turned around, they saw several green vines curling around a snowplow and a truck as if trying to see if they could gnaw on them.
Gunshots rang out, but for these mutant plants, as long as their roots weren’t damaged, the bullets weren’t powerful enough to pose a real threat.
The abilities users also drew their weapons and ran forward, those who were close had to rush to the plants and prepare to cut off the vines.
“Spread out!” Suddenly, someone shouted loudly, leaving several abilities users who had just run up to the vines stunned for a moment. Just as they hesitated, a burst of orange light flashed, and the high temperature rushed toward one of the vines. Those who were nearby had their hair partially singed.
Xu Song widened his eyes, looking in astonishment at the man – the leader of Panlong. What was his name again?
No matter what his name was, Yue Zheng and Xu Song exchanged glances – a Level 2 fire ability! And the color was indeed somewhat different from Xu Song’s!
Xu Song’s Level 2 flames were bright orange, very pure, and clean in color. However, the Level 2 fire displayed by the Panlong leader still had a hint of red in it.
Nevertheless, the current situation made it clear that Xu Song’s fire ability was similar to a typical fire ability, with the difference being that his flames were purer and had a stronger burning intensity. Yue Zheng clearly saw that when the vines were burned by the fire, most of them turned into charred remains, unlike Xu Song’s ability that instantly turn them into ashes.
With the addition of a fire-based abilities user, the battle became much easier. The Panlong leader controlled the orange flames to rescue the two vehicles entangled by the vines.
Other abilities users also drew their weapons to eliminate the other plant that had emerged.
However, what nobody expected was that there were a total of six of these mutant plants lurking nearby, not just the two vine-like plants that everyone saw now.
“Pupupupu—” A series of whizzing sounds echoed, hitting the car doors, windows, and wheels, causing several vehicles that were relatively close to having their tires deflated. Several abilities users who were relatively close also had the misfortune of being pierced by thorns.
“Cacti! Mutant cacti!” One of the abilities users, though close to the mutant Cactus, was lucky to be covered by a large rock that blocked the attacks from the mutant cacti, shouted.
Two mutant Cactus, with bodies nearly as tall as a person, were vigorously shooting their thorns at the crowd! What was even more frightening was that every time they shot a thorn, another would grow in its place, seemingly inexhaustible!
“Ah! My eyes, my eyes!”
“Damn! It’s numb and itchy, poisonous!”
In the crowd, some abilities users and soldiers were hit, and Yue Zheng, in the instant the whizzing sounds began, hugged Xu Song around the waist and brought him to the back of a vehicle, avoiding the first round of attacks.
Not far away, the teenager who had the wristwatch hanging around his neck now had his arms transformed into large shields, blocking his head and body, bending down to block this round of attacks – so that’s why he had to wear the watch around his neck, because his arms could transform?
“Find cover quickly!”
“Damn! Even plants can launch long-range attacks now! Are they trying to kill us?!”
Xu Song muttered to himself in his stomach, “Xiao Shu has been using dates as weapons for a long time, but hardly anyone has seen it…”
However, Yue Zheng confirmed that the two mutant vine-like plants were indeed common ivy that was more commonly seen in the city. But what about the other two, besides these two mutant Cactus?
Xu Song turned his head and looked in the direction he sensed. On the road to the north at the intersection, thick layers of snow covered a large tree. The entire tree crown was dense with snowflakes, making it impossible to see its original appearance. Another entity seemed to be hidden in a nearby building, perhaps a mutant creature or even a zombie.
“How do we deal with this? We can’t even aim!” Someone shouted. The two plants were having a great time shooting their thorns, making it impossible for anyone to risk coming out to fight.
Some abilities users with physical mutations hid behind buildings, holding their guns and shooting, but they couldn’t aim accurately, and the bullets had limited effectiveness against the plants. What was even more frustrating was…
“Darn! They can actually twist their bodies!” Fan Wenbiao, the leader of Panlong, risked getting hit by thorns as he sent a burst of orange fire toward the two Cactus. However, because the fireball was relatively small, the two Cactus twisted their bodies and dodged it!
Xu Song almost burst out laughing, reaching into his pocket to touch the little tree that was twisting around. He looked at Yue Zheng.
Yue Zheng furrowed his brow and nodded at Xu Song.
Although they didn’t want to get into trouble, it didn’t mean they would stand idly by when everyone faced such a great risk.
An orange fire dragon flew out from behind the truck, avoiding the buildings in front and roaring toward the two Cactus.
*Foosh!*
One of the Cactus was entangled, instantly turning into a plume of smoke and a pile of ashes. Soon, the orange fire dragon turned in mid-air and flew toward the other Cactus…
“So impressive! When did Panlong’s leader learn to summon a fire dragon?!”
“A Level 2 fire ability is this powerful? If it weren’t for these two mutant Cactus, he might not have revealed his full strength…”
Some people who hadn’t seen where the fire dragon came from were whispering in awe, looking at Panlong’s leader with envy.
However, Fan Wenbiao stared blankly in the direction where the fire dragon had flown – there were several abilities users hiding behind the truck, large rocks, and buildings nearby, but he hadn’t seen clearly who had summoned that fire dragon just now.
Fan Wenbiao and the deputy team leader, Xu Ming, exchanged glances and asked in a low voice, “Did you see who did it?”
Xu Ming shook his head, also looking shocked, “No… I didn’t catch it.”
In fact, Xu Song’s movements were quite noticeable because he had to manually control the fire dragon’s actions and direction when it flew in the sky. However, since he and Yue Zheng were hiding behind the truck, no one except a few nearby junior soldiers had seen it clearly.
