novelraw Chapter 88 : Sultry Red Forest
Chapter 88 : Sultry Red Forest
Chen Sui flashed backward as Xie Chunshi and Puluo moved forward from both sides. The fireballs struck the blue light screen and golden light, spreading into a burning fire wall.
"I didn't want to dig it up, but it wants to attack me?"
Chen Sui's tone was calm as she tilted her head, suddenly twisting her wrist: "Then it's finished."
She carefully examined the meteor tree. From the cracked bark flowed a lava-like red liquid, and the light from the lantern fruits transmitted along the trunk to all the branches.
The meteor tree was as if bathed in fierce flames, filled with fiery energy. Its core flashed with red light, the source of the energy fluctuations.
Chen Sui suddenly thought of a rare material.
A fire-attribute energy body that reportedly had to parasitize plants from birth, capable of assimilating its host.
This energy body's evolution process was incomplete. After extracting the energy crystal, it would drop many fire-tempered mineral crystals.
These mineral crystals had a very resounding name in the materials world, as they were extremely sensitive to fire attributes and could be activated by fire-attribute energy, amplifying energy concentration.
Repair technicians called it Fierce Fire Star Stone.
She gripped her long spear tightly. Originally she hadn't planned to dig up this meteor tree, but now it seemed she had no choice but to cut it down.
"The energy body's core is inside the tree. The surrounding meteor tree is just its puppet. First, split the tree open!"
Chen Sui pulled out her spear. Xie Chunshi and Puluo watched as she leaped from behind, pushing the energy wall forward. The rolling blue tide broke through the fire waves, clearing a path in front of Chen Sui.
The blue-green mecha charged directly toward the meteor tree. The surrounding branches seemed to capture the mecha's trajectory and swung toward her.
Chen Sui held her spear, deflecting the meteor tree's attempts to close in. Whenever flames touched her weapon, they immediately spread upward. Chen Sui swung her spear with such force that the strong wind extinguished the flames.
Seeing her contain most of the branching tendrils, Xie Chunshi and Puluo immediately rushed from two directions. Puluo's dual scythes cut through the remaining vines, attracting the meteor tree's firelight to fall in his direction.
On the other side, the water screen around Xie Chunshi pressed down. The flames burning toward him were suddenly compressed by the high-humidity air, making the fire smaller and allowing him to pass through the meteor tree's fire protection.
He whisked out that circular energy-reducing knife with a "swoosh" and stabbed it into the cracked bark of the meteor tree.
As the blade entered the tree, it seemed to hit a solid stone, causing the stabbing motion to pause. Immediately, heavier flames exploded around the meteor tree, blasting all nearby mechas away.
Chen Sui's long spear forcefully tore off the meteor tree's branches.
She swung her spear, clearing away broken branches and fallen leaves. Seeing the large area of red light exposed at the wound Xie Chunshi had cut, she confirmed her theory.
"It's Fierce Fire Star Stone. This stuff is very expensive."
Chen Sui and her two teammates stabilized themselves simultaneously as her voice rang out in the team channel.
She rarely used the words "very expensive" to describe a material.
Even the To-Water Fish Bone only received a cold "five hundred thousand" from her.
Zhou Chen pondered this as he rushed toward the Silent Monument after the red rain stopped, afraid he would be too late.
"Wait for me! Let me fight with you!"
He anxiously said in the team channel.
Meanwhile, Gu Qinxue moved like a swift wind, rapidly passing through the forest, truly a giant in motion. Both had coordinates on the outskirts of the Silent Monument.
At this moment, new coordinates refreshed. The three members of Zhu Jing Fu, outside the meteor tree at the Silent Monument coordinates, had no time to listen.
All three flew out, feeling the fire waves gradually weaken. Chen Sui looked toward Puluo: "Puluo, block its branches."
The soldier gripped his dual scythes and nodded solemnly. Since his shield had been converted into scythes, he'd lost the protection of the energy shield, and this fire-attribute energy greatly constrained Chen Sui.
Chen Sui glanced sideways at Xie Chunshi. Before she could speak, the Commander immediately nodded, "I'll block the lantern fire."
"Good!"
Chen Sui swung her spear in front of her, the spear tip drawing an arc on the ground, cold white light flickering.
The moment the three scattered, in the control room, hearing Chen Sui mention the Fierce Fire Star Stone, Mo Qiu'an was somewhat between laughter and tears: "This analyst really is... sharper than a dog's nose. Can't hide any materials from her."
"Fierce Fire Star Stone that might not appear even once in a decade in the Sultry Red Forest, sigh."
Director Mo spread her hands, thinking to herself that she should have acted faster and cleared the Sultry Red Forest.
Now they hadn't gotten the Fierce Fire Star Stone, the Purple-Winged Golden Butterflies, or the Snow Bud Branches.
It seemed Zhu Jing Fu would benefit from all of them now.
Perhaps having prepared herself mentally, Mo Qiu'an now watched very calmly as Chen Sui's team dealt with the meteor tree, even commenting a few times.
"Zhu Jing Fu's analyst has a wood-attribute energy body, which is very disadvantageous in this environment. The red rain just stopped, and fire-attribute energy is now concentrated."
Mo Qiu'an pointed out the key issue, which was also why Chen Sui had avoided the flames twice. The Fierce Fire Star Stone's fire-attribute concentration was very high, comparable to SSS-level energy bodies, although it was only SS+ level itself.
The energy body's energy crystal was valuable, and the dropped Fierce Fire Star Stone mineral crystals were also valuable.
Puluo was now handling the dual scythes very well, not only cutting trees and throwing the blades, but also spinning both flying scythes together, effortlessly dancing around the meteor tree branches in mid-air.
Xie Chunshi's water flow was like an invisible tidal wave, breaking through the spinning fireballs from the lanterns layer by layer, directly enveloping the charging Chen Sui's mecha.
The blue energy formed a protruding drill head through the fierce flames, heading straight for the meteor tree trunk.
As the blue water drill approached, the meteor tree seemed to sense the threat and began wildly swinging its branches.
Its energy turmoil was so violent that the branches frantically lashed the ground, creating vibrations and huge noises that directly awakened the sleeping Stele Mushrooms.
Chen Sui sensed the frantically rising energy fluctuations from behind. Her forward motion suddenly paused, then she immediately turned back to Xie Chunshi and Puluo: "Commander, Puluo, fire cannons at the position I'll mark!"
Xie Chunshi's hand controlling the energy paused, then he took out his energy cannon. Puluo quickly threw his dual scythes, cutting off the vines in front of him, withdrew, and fired directly from mid-air.
Hearing the sounds behind her, Chen Sui directly reported the position.
Both teammates were startled because the position she reported was her own location.
Although Puluo didn't know what Chen Sui had discovered, he had developed a habit of following her coordinates. Before Xie Chunshi fired, his glance swept over the Silent Monument Forest, his gaze understanding.
The energy cannon and quantum cannon drew fiery streaks through the air, directly impacting toward Chen Sui.
As the heat wave approached, the water drill in front of Chen Sui suddenly, with extreme pressure, suppressed the surging impact of the lantern fire.
This weakened the fire in front of Chen Sui, and the analyst raised an eyebrow, thinking she would have to charge through directly—after all, fire burns were only painful for a moment, and she was used to it.
But unexpectedly, Xie Chunshi had cleared the flames for her.
This Commander's coordination was quite good! Chen Sui thought with satisfaction.
Following Xie Chunshi's energy path, she flashed away from her original position, already leaping into mid-air.
Below, the two cannon blasts combined, creating a thunderous noise. Amid the shaking ground, a towering mushroom cloud exploded from the meteor tree's position.
The blue energy beneath Chen Sui surged like a wave, pushing her upward, completely removing her from the mushroom cloud's range.
Below was burning fire, above was Chen Sui safe and sound.
Using the height gained from the blast, she could see from her bird's-eye view the surrounding area of the Silent Monument Forest. The broad leaves were spread out, obscuring the ground situation, but she could observe that the Stele Mushrooms' tentacles had already extended beyond the forest boundaries, rapidly rushing toward the meteor tree.
The meteor tree trunk was also striking at the Stele Mushrooms.
In this plant infighting, the sound of Chen Sui's mecha propulsion seemed insignificant.
The huge noise drove the Stele Mushrooms to frantically pierce toward the sound source. The flames traveled along the Stele Mushrooms' tentacles, all the way from the bottom of the meteor tree to the Silent Monument Forest. The moist black soil was dried by the fierce fire, the meteor tree's vines were constrained by the Stele Mushrooms, and the Stele Mushrooms' tentacles were burned by the meteor tree's flames.
Chen Sui landed behind the meteor tree, and her two teammates quickly left their cannon firing positions, gathering toward her.
As the two energies fought, the meteor tree trunk was pierced by tentacles, and red light shot out like arrows.
Seeing that the meteor tree was too preoccupied to deal with them, Xie Chunshi seized the opportunity. Just as he landed, he saw Chen Sui nod to him, so the black and gold mecha raised its long knife and chopped down at the meteor tree trunk.
"Swoosh!"
The entire meteor tree twitched once and quickly struggled, but constrained by the Stele Mushrooms, it couldn't spare any energy to deal with the mechas behind it. Only flames spread outward.
But Xie Chunshi's energy covered the surface of all three, and the long knife and dual scythes constantly chopped, directly peeling away all the outer bark of the meteor tree, exposing the red mineral crystals grown together with the wood fibers inside the tree core.
While her teammates pried open the bark from both sides, Chen Sui's long spear was poised to strike. When the fire-red minerals inside the meteor tree were completely exposed, before the energy body's fierce flames could surge forth...
Chen Sui directly pulled out her spear. The four-edged spear tip rapidly rotated, breaking through the hard crystal layer outside the mineral, shattering the core inside, and along with the internal energy crystal, quickly withdrew from the meteor tree trunk as she pulled back the spear.
With the energy crystal separated from the Fierce Fire Star Stone, the surrounding flames were carried along the spear's trajectory, scattering in the process as they were blown away by the surrounding energy storm, merging into the energy field.
The meteor tree, having lost its energy support, visibly slowed in its branch swinging, completely outmatched by the Stele Mushrooms. Finally, it was battered by a barrage of Stele Mushroom tentacles, with corrosive juices spraying everywhere, completely breaking the meteor tree. The tree body split from the center, with one half falling directly, while the other half was still being beaten by the Stele Mushroom tentacles.
After retrieving the energy crystal, Chen Sui and her team retreated far away. They paused their mecha propulsion, waiting for the Stele Mushrooms to pound the meteor tree's remnants to pieces. Only when they could no longer hear any sound and the tentacles gradually withdrew did they emerge from the hidden forest on the other side.
The huge meteor tree was reduced to ruins, with broken branches and fallen leaves everywhere, as if struck by a devastating natural disaster.
Countless shattered red minerals were scattered under the broad leaves.
Before Chen Sui's team could approach, they heard rapidly approaching signals from the surroundings.
"Zhou Chen's energy fluctuation."
Chen Sui looked toward the northwest.
Puluo and Xie Chunshi also looked in that direction. The branches in the distant forest swayed, obscuring any mecha traces.
But immediately after, with a swooshing sound approaching, a black and gold mecha came running from the broad leaves. The mecha leaped through the forest treetops, using its Four-sided Mace to clear the leaves in front.
Zhou Chen's view revealed three mechas, causing his heart to skip a beat, thinking they might be another team. As he got closer and identified the mecha shapes, he became excited.
"Why are you all standing here? Are you welcoming me?"
He asked somewhat narcissistically as soon as he landed in front of the three.
Zhou Chen scanned them, then looked around: "Xiaoshuei isn't here yet? Looks like I'm first again!"
In the team channel, the strong attacker hastily snorted. Chen Sui, hearing the wind sounds from her rapid mecha movement, couldn't help but shake her head.
These two really competed over everything.
"Since you're here, come help with the work."
Chen Sui tapped the Four-sided Mace that Zhou Chen had planted in the ground with her long spear.
Zhou Chen flinched and hurriedly picked up his weapon, cautiously saying: "What are you doing? My weapon was just repaired, it can't dig soil!"
Chen Sui glanced at him. "I don't need your Four-sided Mace. Pick up the stuff."
After speaking, she and Xie Chunshi went forward. Zhou Chen's gaze fell on Puluo—in his mind, the always honest and reliable soldier—who was showing off his dual scythes to him.
Zhou Chen's attention was indeed drawn: "Wow, Puluo, is this your new weapon? Tsk tsk, quite cool."
Puluo held his dual scythes, one in each hand. The crescent blades were the sharp edges of the shield umbrella, with a hint of gilt color. Having tossed and fought with these dual scythes, he was now accustomed to them and could fully adapt to this type of weapon.
Hearing Zhou Chen's somewhat admiring words, Puluo suddenly took a quick step forward, his right hand throwing out a scythe, directly passing Zhou Chen's left side, with the crescent swinging toward the mecha's waist.
Zhou Chen dodged to the side. The dual scythes passed the mecha but then circled behind, with the long staff end seemingly about to hammer his back, causing Zhou Chen to reverse grip his Four-sided Mace and block from behind.
Puluo waved the other scythe in his left hand. Seeing Zhou Chen's Four-sided Mace behind him, he directly broke the air in front of him, hammering down at the mecha's chest.
Zhou Chen exerted force with his Four-sided Mace, shaking off the scythe, and quickly flashed backward. Puluo's scythe didn't swing down but only pretended to scare him. Seeing him dodge, he retracted the scythe with his other hand, joining the long staffs of both scythes together to form a double-bladed weapon resembling a dragonfly.
"Well, Puluo, you're different with your new weapon, ready to fight me," Zhou Chen took several strides forward and shoulder-bumped him. Puluo bounced from the impact and chuckled, "Is it still usable? Suisui practiced with me for a long time."
"It's not just usable, it's amazing. With this skill level, you could hammer Simos above and stomp Chi Buyu below."
Simos and Chi Buyu, strong attackers from the First Academy and Fifth Academy, were among the most aggressive players in the Seven Schools.
Chen Sui, hearing their banter behind her, shook her head helplessly: "We'll chat later. There's gold everywhere and you're not picking it up. If others come, we won't have such a good opportunity."
"What!! Gold everywhere?!" Zhou Chen looked at the red crystals on the ground, quickly put away his Four-sided Mace, and carefully picked up a piece with both hands. The Fierce Fire Star Stone, even broken, was no larger than a palm, looking quite miniature. "Is this the one that's very expensive?"
Zhou Chen couldn't remember the specific name but remembered Chen Sui saying it was expensive.
Seeing Chen Sui nod: "Yes."
He immediately scurried across the ground, quickly searching for Fierce Fire Star Stone fragments among the fallen leaves and broken branches, not missing any corner or abandoning any piece.
After collecting all the Fierce Fire Star Stone, he was still seen hunched over the ground, with his mecha head almost pressed to the earth.
When Gu Qinxue arrived, she saw the black and gold mecha crawling on the black soil like a gecko, moving among broken branches and fallen leaves, looking extremely unseemly and indecent.
The comments scrolling by were all filled with laughter.
Gu Qinxue immediately recognized this as Zhou Chen.
Only he would do such a thing.
Her landing sound was very soft. Chen Sui only turned around when she sensed the energy fluctuations, quickly moving forward to give Gu Qinxue a mecha hug.
"Finally together!"
In the Silent Monument Forest, on the afternoon of the fourth day of the Sultry Red Forest competition, all five members of Zhu Jing Fu successfully reunited.
"Why don't you give me a warm hug," Zhou Chen said woefully as he crawled up from the ground, whispering in Chen Sui's ear after she and Gu Qinxue separated.
Hearing this, Xie Chunshi, at the back of the group, raised his eyes to look at the analyst in the blue-green mecha.
Chen Sui hadn't given him a hug either.
Seeing Zhou Chen speak, Xie Chunshi took a step forward, then saw Zhou Chen lining up behind Chen Sui, waiting for her to move aside so he could go forward to hug and greet Gu Qinxue.
But from the black and gold mecha in front of him came a cold voice: "Get lost."
Zhou Chen complied readily: "Alright!"
He disappointedly passed by Chen Sui's side, muttering: "Damn, both of you have double standards!"
Xie Chunshi stood beside Chen Sui, noticing she didn't intend to give warm welcome hugs to the other two teammates either, and nodded approvingly.
Just as Chen Sui finished laughing at Gu Qinxue and Zhou Chen's funny interaction, she saw Xie Chunshi nod, seemingly agreeing with Zhou Chen's words.
"Hmm?" She drawled, looking at the Commander.
Xie Chunshi coughed lightly. "Is all the Fierce Fire Star Stone collected?"
Chen Sui nodded, watching as Zhou Chen crawled back to the ground. Xie Chunshi narrowed his eyes: "What is he doing now?"
"Having a fit," Gu Qinxue sharply evaluated.
Chen Sui knew Zhou Chen didn't want to miss any bit of Fierce Fire Star Stone, but seeing him crawling darkly yet happily, she couldn't help but glance toward the live broadcast direction and explain: "This should be Zhou Chen's personal performance art, unrelated to Zhu Jing Fu or the Summoning System."
[Emperor Sui is so kind, Zhou Chen is not from our Summoning System]
[Not everyone in our Zhu Jing Fu is like this]
[I know, your Zhu Jing Fu just likes making dung balls]
[?? What did you say they like doing?]
[(Sweat) Damn, how did this get out?]
[The League special section copied your Zhu Jing Fu forum's White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain repo, you guys wrote it]
[LOL, the Competition Committee administrator even went in and posted, directly expressing speechlessness with six dots]
[Zhou Chen is really checking so seriously to see if anything was missed]
[A gram is worth gold. I'd check too. That's Fierce Fire Star Stone—rare, expensive, and very powerful]
After a thorough check to ensure nothing was left, Zhou Chen was willing to get up from the ground. He dusted off his hands, satisfied: "Good, we've taken everything."
He looked at the meteor tree, completely destroyed by the Stele Mushrooms. Seeing the tree broken but the stump still there, he looked toward Chen Sui, asking: "Should we dig up this root?"
"Let's dig it. It would be a waste not to."
Chen Sui looked at the meteor tree's root system. Worth mentioning was that the cannon blasts and Stele Mushrooms had damaged its core. Although the underground roots hadn't been directly attacked, they were also affected.
Chen Sui looked at the meteor tree. After being scorched by fire and with the tree having been dead for some time, it would be difficult to propagate and revive even if dug up.
But seeing Zhou Chen's expectant gaze, Chen Sui mischievously smiled and deliberately used a reluctant tone, nodding: "Alright then, dig it up with your Four-sided Mace."
Zhou Chen pretended not to hear and scurried off to find Puluo: "Share this with me, I dig fast!"
He eagerly grabbed one of the scythes, afraid that if he delayed, Chen Sui would take his Four-sided Mace.
Chen Sui laughed a few times watching him. "Just kidding."
"It can't be saved even if we dig it up. The core is damaged, and the stump is destroyed by energy. Even propagation can't save it."
Hearing this, Zhou Chen immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "You should have said so earlier. You scared me."
With the Fierce Fire Star Stone collected and all members of Zhu Jing Fu successfully reunited at the Silent Monument Forest, all five proceeded toward Base Station A.