Chapter 173: Hidden Underground
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Tang Susu had simply traveled in the winds for less than ten minutes before she saw her big brother and the others in a small forested area.
She had been purposefully looking for them.
She landed quietly, but Tang Mingqi turned around vigilantly. “Who is it?” In an instant, they met again, and their burning emotions surged like a tide! The two men rushed up to her, no longer as calm as they used to be. One of them patted her head while the other pressed her into his arms.
“Where have you been? You’ve been gone for so long and you lost weight again!”
Cheng Cheng’s face brightened too when she saw her.
“We’ll talk about it later. Did you guys find anything?” Tang Susu looked at them.
“You came at the right time. We searched for a long time but found nothing.
But on our way back, we found this.”
Tang Mingqi opened his palm and revealed a handful of candy.
In such a serious and urgent situation, the dozens of small and cute colorful candies seemed out of place, but it made Tang Susu’s heart skip a beat.
“This is my twin brother’s!”
“As we all know, Mingchu is willing to part with anything except these candies.
He won’t drop even a single one.” Tang Mingzhou said.
Even Cheng Cheng, an outsider, knew that Tang Susu loved sweet things.
She liked candies, and Tang Mingchu liked to collect candies. Even Xiaoyuan would shiver in excitement when she saw candy, as if she had found treasure. “So, this is a sign from my twin brother?” As Tang Susu spoke, she was stunned for a moment. Then, she slowly revealed an astonished and courageous expression.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“He’s nearby!”
The few of them were shocked and immediately started searching without hesitation.
However, this forested area was tiny, and it was mainly made up of banyan trees. One could see the entire area at a glance, and there wasn’t a place to hide anyone at all.
“What? Underground?” Tang Susu mumbled to herself. Cheng Cheng was too far away to hear her. Tang Mingzhou, who was beside her, suddenly looked at the ground under his feet.
He stepped around and found that the soil was particularly soft. It was covered with a layer of dead branches and leaves, and the humidity was high.
When they were looking for him, they had thought that it was vines and had been observing the surrounding trees, especially those plants with vines. No one had thought to pay attention to the ground!
“What’s wrong?” Noticing their strange behavior, the other two quickly ran over.
“Look underground. There might be something there.” Tang Susu cut off a branch and started digging through the broken leaves on the ground.
The others hurriedly did as they were told, and soon, there were gasps!
It was because there were several places under the thick layer of sand and leaves that looked like fresh soil that had been dug out from the depths, as if something was resting in them.
“There’s blood…” Tang Mingqi’s eyes were sharp. He picked up a leaf wrapped in the soil.
Thanks to the System’s information, Tang Susu gave an affirmative reply. “It’s human blood, but not my twin brother’s blood.”
The few of them did not know if they should heave a sigh of relief. Tang Mingzhou sighed emotionally. “No wonder Mingchu would sprinkle the candy here.”
Cheng Cheng was surprised. They didn’t seem to be worried.
From what they could see, the vines had likely dragged the people underground. It was unknown how deep it was, which was equivalent to burying them alive. The vines might even eat them…
In fact, when Tang Mingzhou and Tang Mingqi saw their younger sister’s reaction, they already knew the general situation.
After Tang Susu finished talking to the system, her face turned radiant.
Because 008 just told her that not only was Tang Mingchu alive, but he was also well protected by the body armor she gave him before this.
Not only did the vine not hurt him the slightest, but because it had to go out continuously, the space below was not completely sealed, and there was a thin layer of oxygen underneath.
She couldn’t help but look serious. “Mingchu might run out of oxygen. We have to dig him out as soon as possible!”
Cheng Cheng volunteered immediately. “I’ll go back and call for an excavator. I remember that the shelter has an excavator. The driver is there too. Maybe it’ll be more efficient that way.”
Once she was gone, Tang Susu and the rest could do whatever they wanted.
But now that she knew Cheng Cheng’s personality, she didn’t mind revealing some of her secrets.
Just as she was about to take out her tools, the ground suddenly bulged up and moved forward at an extremely fast speed!
With a plop, something quickly bounced out of the ground, sending a large amount of soil flying!
“Be careful!”
The three of them immediately took out their weapons and prepared to fight back. Unexpectedly, Cheng Cheng’s scream came from in front of them.
Tang Susu turned her head abruptly and saw that Cheng Cheng had already been wrapped up by a pink vine and brought up to a height of over ten meters and it was shaking her violently!
It looked like it wanted to knock her out.
Without a point of focus, Cheng Cheng couldn’t even use her ability normally. She finally threw out a fireball, but it hit the air, and her struggle became weaker and weaker…
Tang Susu and the others immediately launched their attacks at the bottom part of the vine!
Each of them had used a five elemental talismans, and they used the powerful Fire, Thunder, Ice, and Wind talismans. However, they didn’t even damage the surface of the vines. Their attacks were hardly scratching it.
This directly angered the vines, and they heard the sound of vines drilling out of the ground one after another!
Tang Susu finally understood what was going on after seeing what was happening.
Those weren’t vines at all, they were tree roots!
The Banyan Tree’s aerial roots were very well-developed and were large and long. After its mutation, the roots were no longer exposed to the outside, but hidden deep underground to absorb nutrients.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIt was no longer providing for the branches and leaves. Instead, all the nutrients were used to grow the roots. The source of the nutrients was most likely humans and various animals!
Seeing that the five elemental talismans were quickly used up, Tang Susu immediately waved her hand again and revealed a stack of talismans. Her confident presence made her two brothers look at her.
Then, they saw a few large bags of salt appearing beside her.
“Susu?”
“I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’ll give it a try.”
Tang Susu remembered that the mutated animals and plants in the game all had weaknesses. What were the roots of a plant afraid of?
High salinity? She had a lot of salt in her inventory, so they might be useful for this!
While her two brothers were helping her to draw away the roots’ attention, Tang Susu silently and quickly sneaked to the side of these swaying tree roots.
Then, she poured over a hundred kilograms of coarse salt on it and shouted, “Use the water talisman!”
Tang Mingzhou and Tang Mingqi were already prepared.
Most of the five-element talismans that Susu had given them were water talismans. They took action almost as soon as she had spoken!
The two sides connected perfectly, and one after another, the water balls exploded on the thick layers of coarse salt.
In an instant, the salt and water combined and soaked the roots of the Banyan Tree, and it actually began to sizzle and smoke, as if some kind of strong chemical reaction had occurred.
And those Banyan Tree roots that danced wildly in the sky also seemed to be greatly affected and instantly retracting back in pain!
The one that was wrapped around Cheng Cheng had the most intense reaction because Tang Susu had paid “special attention” to it. In the end, it hurled Cheng Cheng far away. As it retracted, the long vine was almost coiled into a ball.
“Not good!”
Tang Susu placed the talisman quickly. In the blink of an eye, she flew into the air and caught Cheng Cheng who was falling from the air.
When she landed, she put her down and ran towards the Banyan trees.
When she came back, her two brothers were already taking the opportunity to release the five-elemental talismans at the vulnerable parts of the root.
The plant debris flew like rain, and finally, even the trunk was blown out of the ground….