novelraw Chapter 240: The Garden's Mild Retribution
Chapter 240: The Garden's Mild Retribution
The tremor rising from deep within the earth came suddenly, and it was only natural.
The Siwa Oasis, an independent living organism that had maintained its unique ecological cycle for thousands of years, finally ran out of patience with these intruders who desecrated its tranquility with cold muzzles and steely resolve.
"What's happening? An earthquake?"
"Maintain formation! Stay alert!"
Although the well-trained German investigators were startled by the sudden anomaly, their ingrained military discipline made them react correctly at once.
They quickly contracted their perimeter, forming a back-to-back, no-dead-angle defensive circle centered on three steam armored vehicles, their black muzzles vigilantly aimed in every direction.
Their captain, Heinrich Schneider, however, retained the Prussian officer's calm that never changed expression even if the sky fell.
He adjusted the monocle on the bridge of his nose, and the eyes behind the lens shone with the excitement of spotting prey.
"Our specimen doesn't seem to like our welcome party," Schneider sneered with a mocking tone. "Prepare to deploy the Spiritual Suppression Stakes! I want to see which is tougher, its roots or the steel from the Krupp Armaments Factory!"
At his command, several investigators responsible for technical operations immediately hauled four heavy metal devices off the armored vehicle. They resembled small obelisks.These were the Munich Branch's most prized containment implements—the Spiritual Suppression Stakes.
Once those four stakes were successfully activated, they would form a powerful energy field capable of disrupting and suppressing specific spiritual frequencies, rendering most Town-class UMAs unable to resist for a short time.
It was a crude, efficient, and arrogant method of beast-taming.
But just as the investigators were about to drive the first stake into the ground,
the plant symbiont at the oasis core, which had been motionless until that moment, was enraged!
"Shhhh—shhhh—shhhh!"
A dense, eerie rubbing sound suddenly came from beneath everyone's feet.
Under Schneider's astonished gaze, hundreds of tough, emerald-green vines, each as thick as a baby’s arm, burst from the soft sand.
Their targets were clear and they moved with astonishing speed, accurately coiling around the German soldiers attempting to plant the stakes.
"Hostile! Open fire!"
Schneider managed only an angry shout.
But it was too late.
The vines executed their assault with division of labor and seamless coordination.
Some vines silently wrapped around the soldiers' ankles and yanked upward, making them lose balance instantly.
Other vines lashed at the rifles in their hands, the force making it impossible to maintain a grip.
And the last group acted like a net, tightly bundling the disarmed, off-balance soldiers one by one into immobile bundles.
The whole sequence flowed like water, completed in one continuous motion.
In barely a dozen seconds, the well-equipped, disciplined German exploration team—except for their commander Schneider, who could still barely stand—had all been hoisted high into the air by those tenacious vines.
"…Worthless!"
Schneider watched the humiliating scene with a face that had been composed now showing anger.
He drew his service Mauser Pistol from its hip holster and aimed at a thick vine that was flaunting itself as it bound his men, preparing to pull the trigger!
Before he could fire, several even thicker, tougher vines shot silently out of the sand at his feet!
They moved extremely fast.
Schneider, relying on countless battle-hardened instincts, managed to leap back a step.
But still, it was too late!
One vine struck his wrist at a vicious angle!
Smack!
With a crisp sound, the German Mauser flew from his hand, spinning far away.
Other vines coiled his limbs and torso, tightening inward.
"…Ugh!"
Schneider emitted a muffled grunt of pain, his hard muscles straining as he frantically wrestled against the vines trying to lock him up!
But the plant UMA drew its power from the earth—limitless—while his human strength was finite.
Just as he was about to follow his useless subordinates into the same humiliating fate, being suspended by these damned plants,
a flash of ferocity glinted in Schneider's eyes!
"…Don't… underestimate me! You root… that only knows how to tie people up… rotten tuber!"
He forced the words through his teeth, and his left hand, wearing a black tactical glove, suddenly shot straight out.
An incredible sight happened!
The seams at the knuckle connectors of that special leather glove split open!
From those gaps burst several streams of high-pressure air vibrating violently!
"Vzzz—!!"
A piercing high-frequency hum rang out, like tens of thousands of wasps vibrating their wings at once.
Schneider's entire left arm, including the forearm wrapped in vines, became a blurred, vibrating echo under the high-frequency motion.
Hummingbird's Judgment!
This peculiar armament had been custom-made by the Munich Branch's eccentric master Essen for Schneider, designed for precise destruction;
its core material came from the wing-root tendons of an Andes giant hummingbird.
Its core ability was Ultra-High Frequency Resonant Cutting.
It allowed the wearer's arm to vibrate at such speed that the naked eye couldn't track it, producing a cutting effect.
"Ssss-sssss-sssss!"
Against that Ultra-High Frequency Resonant Cutting, the vines were as fragile as rotting straw ropes.
In only two seconds they disintegrated into a flurry of green shreds!
Schneider broke free from the vine-constructed cage.
"Hmph, that's all?"
He flexed his somewhat numb left hand and sneered with disdain.
To him, although this UMA's attack methods were bizarre, their essence still lay within the realm of physics.
And anything physical could be destroyed by stronger physical force!
As he reached to retrieve his pistol to teach the impudent plant a lesson,
a thick floral pollen with a sweetly cloying scent began to waft through the air from who-knew-where.
The pollen seemed harmless to the plant itself, but to humans it was a potent neuro-sedative that dissolved will.
Schneider felt the world tilt;
an irresistible drowsiness surged through his brain.
The scene before his eyes blurred and ghosted;
colorful butterflies seemed to dance before him.
"Damn… it's… hallucinogenic… pollen…"
He could no longer keep standing. His legs went weak and he collapsed to his knees, slipping into a semi-sleep state.
The three steam vehicles were not spared either.
The sand beneath their treads had, at some unknown time, softened like a swamp, and the multi-ton steel beasts were slowly swallowed into the earth.
There was no bloodshed.
The oasis simply cleared these uninvited pests away in a manner tinged with mild punishment.
It was a perfect defense intended to expel rather than to annihilate.
"My God…"
Julian watched the scene speechless.
Beside him, Ethan's expression was complicated as he looked at the German colleagues dangling helplessly.
There was no schadenfreude in his eyes.
Only the chilling sympathy that follows a rabbit's death and a fox's fear.
If they, like those reckless Munich men, had shown any hostility or the slightest attack against this UMA,
their fate would not have been any better than these men.
At that moment, Lin Jie made a decision that surprised everyone.
Under Julian and Ethan's puzzled stares, he deliberately walked step by step into the area now sealed off by the UMA's vines—the unknown danger zone.
"Lin Jie! Are you insane? Get back!" Julian cried anxiously.
Lin seemed not to hear;
his steps were firm and steady.
He was not mad. On the contrary, he was icy calm.
He had to do this, for three reasons.
First, no matter how arrogant Schneider's attitude or how opposed their principles, they were still I.A.R.C. colleagues.
Watching twelve association investigators be humiliated and utterly defeated by a UMA before his eyes was unbearable.
Second, although the plant UMA's mild punishment showed restraint, no one could guarantee that once the hallucinogenic pollen wore off and the suspended Germans struggled again, the UMA would maintain its mercy.
If it escalated from expulsion to destruction, pointless internal bloodshed would be inevitable.
Most crucial was the third reason.
Lin's gaze passed over the frenzied sea of vines to the still cross-legged William.
This oasis was the hope for easing William's wounds.
The capricious plant UMA in front of them was the master of that "hopeful land."
If they could not establish a stable, peaceful relationship with that master,
their subsequent treatment plans would become empty talk, easily crushed by this "garden owner's" single step.
So Lin had to risk himself.
He had to use his actions to prove to this mercurial "garden owner" and to the frightened German colleagues one thing.
That in facing land that had its own rules and will,
communication and understanding might be more effective than cold spears and iron cages.
Sure enough, as Lin stepped into the vine-enshrouded zone, dozens of emerald tendrils pivoted with a sharp rushing sound and surged toward him, the new intruder.
But Lin had prepared. He clenched his right fist and activated the Spiritual Guidance Trigger.
A soft white light radiated outward from his body.
White's Airspace!
This time, bolstered by the natural field of the Siwa Oasis's earth-cycle frequencies, Lin's domain was far more stable than on previous occasions.
The oppressive aura originating from the Upper Egyptian White Vulture collided fiercely with the incoming violent vines.
As Lin had expected, these plant tendrils, upon sensing such strong pressure, should at least slow or recoil, if not be petrified like living UMAs.
What happened next, however, far exceeded his expectations.
The highly aggressive vines did not show fear upon touching his white domain.
Instead, their fierce assault suddenly softened.
It was like an angry child whose fury vanishes the instant a mother gently strokes its hair.
All their rage evaporated in that instant.
They no longer tried to lash or bind Lin;
they gingerly touched that translucent field barrier as if in affection.
Then all the vines slowly retreated to the sides, adopting solemn postures.
They proactively cleared a path for Lin, paved with fresh tender shoots and blooming flowers.
"This…"
Lin stood stunned.
He looked in disbelief as his White's Airspace shifted from intimidating foes to a strangely soothing, pacifying effect.
"Could it be affected by this place's spiritual cycle??" he muttered to himself, and walked up to Schneider, who had collapsed onto the ground.
Then he extended his hand.
"Captain Schneider, your steel ultimately could not be harder than this garden."
"Can we try talking in a different way now?"
The fighting subsided.
After Lin pulled the iron-blooded captain of the Fourth Exploration Team to his feet, Schneider regarded him for a long time with a complex look.
In the end, the hardened man lowered his proud head toward Lin.
Both sides reached a reconciliation.
A joint report, signed by the London Branch and the Munich Fourth Exploration Team, requesting that Geneva Headquarters officially designate the Siwa Oasis as a Level-1 Ecological Protection Zone—prohibiting any form of containment or interference—was transmitted via portable Hermes telegraph to distant Switzerland.
Just as everyone breathed a temporary sigh of relief from the unexpectedly peaceful resolution of the internal conflict,
a faint but clear voice suddenly sounded from beneath the massive plant UMA.
"Lin…"
Lin turned.
William, who had been sitting cross-legged beside a tree with his eyes closed and quietly sensing something, had opened his eyes without anyone noticing.
A newborn-like clarity and understanding had appeared in his gaze.
He looked at Lin and spoke the first complete sentence since waking.
"The flow of that 'river' has slowed."