Upon waking, Qi Lingshan was startled to see the forest engulfed in flames and quickly asked, "What have you done? Why did such a large fire suddenly break out?"
"It's all Lu Xian's fault! He was talking nonsense about setting up a bewildering formation, and now look at the mess," Jin Zijue quickly shifted the blame. In the end, it was Lu Xian's bad advice that led to the massive forest fire.
Lu Xian, upon hearing this, became furious. "Jin Zijue, you scoundrel! Without my intervention, how long would the treants have been trapped here? Do you have any basic conscience as a person? You can't even manage that?"
"It was just a joke, don't take it so seriously. Getting angry is bad for your health," Jin Zijue said with a smile, clearly not expecting Lu Xian to be so serious.
Next, Qi Lingshan, now awake, began to use his abilities. While he might not excel in other areas, extinguishing fires was his specialty. Qi Lingshan quickly had those around him step back and then unleashed his powers. Nitrogen gas has the highest concentration in the air and doesn't react with ordinary materials.
As a large amount of nitrogen gas gathered, it isolated the oxygen from the air, preventing it from reacting with the wood. It is well-known that combustion requires three conditions: fuel, oxygen, and temperature. Without any one of these, combustion cannot occur.
Thus, as Qi Lingshan began to use his abilities, the forest lost its oxygen, and the fire could no longer spread. The flames were gradually brought under control. Seizing this rare opportunity, the treants found areas where the flames had subsided and began to escape. At this point, the others were powerless to stop them.
Seeing the treants preparing to leave with their heavy steps, Xiao Sheng and Jin Zijue became anxious. They quickly said, "The treants are leaving! Hurry and find a way to stop them."
Killing the treants outside would greatly weaken the mutated plants' power, making it much easier to rescue captured ability users or defeat the mutated plants in the future. If they allowed the treants to return, rescuing team members would not be so easy.
However, the ground trembled with the movement of these enormous treants, causing the trees to shake continuously. No one dared to step forward to block them. It was no exaggeration to say that the treants' power far surpassed that of ordinary ability users. Their invulnerability to blades and spears rendered the treants unstoppable. Moreover, the treants could resist flames to a certain extent. Such powerful treants were not easily halted.
Shen Feng, seeing the treants about to leave, said helplessly, "Alright, let these treants go. We can't defeat them out here anyway. Instead of wasting time, it's better to focus on rescuing the captured people."
Shen Feng clearly realized that under the current circumstances, eliminating the treants was no longer easy. Perhaps burning down the entire forest could kill the treants, but the cost would be too great, and it might even harm themselves. Therefore, instead of watching the treants helplessly, it was better to let them leave.
After Shen Feng stated his opinion, Xiao Sheng and Jin Zijue considered it seriously and found it to be true. Since they were no match for them, and neither fire nor ultraviolet light had any effect, the only way to achieve victory was to find other weaknesses of the treants.
"Alas, times have changed so much. Once, treants would die when exposed to sunlight. These current treants are not afraid of sunlight at all. How can we eliminate them?" Jin Zijue couldn't help but sigh.
Shen Feng pondered, unsure of any other weaknesses the treants might have. Perhaps powerful firepower could directly eliminate them, but in a sparsely populated place like Siberia, finding such firepower was impossible, especially since tanks and rocket launchers couldn't be brought underground.
After much thought, he could only focus on rescuing Xu Xing first.
...
When Xu Xing woke up, she quickly noticed the mess on the ground. The island in the lake, which should have been orderly, was now in disarray. Xu Xing had previously hidden in a marmot's burrow and seen the island's appearance. It wasn't exactly tidy, but it was clean, and under the illumination of the luminous fruits, it looked beautiful.
But now, as Xu Xing looked down at the ground, she saw a chaotic scene. There were scattered stones and soil, fallen leaves, and luminous fruits that had dropped to the ground. Some of the fruits on the ground had been crushed underfoot. It was clear that the place had recently experienced chaos. However, Xu Xing had been fast asleep and had no idea what had happened. She quickly looked around.
"Hey, why have you all changed positions? How did you move around on the trees?" Xu Xing couldn't help but ask. Upon waking, Xu Xing noticed something abnormal: many people on the trees had moved positions, even though they had been tied up earlier.
Lu Yizhen said listlessly, "You should ask your City Lord about this. If he hadn't cut the ropes binding us, we wouldn't be in this situation. I was almost crushed to death by a treant at that time."
Then, Lu Yizhen recounted what had happened the previous night. Xu Xing had been fast asleep at the time and was unaware of anything happening outside.
Hearing this, Xu Xing felt a surge of gratitude. She hadn't expected the City Lord to come to her rescue after she had become a burden. It was truly not easy. Shen Feng had stated his objective earlier, which was to return to Yuzhou directly if he couldn't find her. Yet now, the City Lord had risked danger to rescue her. Such care was truly rare.
"It's a pity the City Lord came while I was still asleep, otherwise, I could have helped him," Xu Xing felt regret. If she had been conscious when the City Lord came to rescue her, she could have fought alongside him.
"Come on, even after Shen Feng appeared and many people regained their freedom, they were still unable to move freely. Even if you were awake, it would have been useless," Chai Kefu said bluntly, stating the situation at the time.
Xu Xing replied, "You don't understand. I have my own trump cards. As long as I regain my freedom, I can act again."
"Enough, you don't need to brag about yourself. You won't be free. Let's not talk about anything else, just how you will recover your strength. Without strength, you can't even escape. It's useless even if you don't eat the fruits. The mutated plants will directly inject liquids with hypnotic effects, so your situation is a false premise to begin with," Chai Kefu attacked Xu Xing without mercy.
Xu Xing didn't want to bother with these people because it was clear that most of them had given up and had no desire to make an effort. Although current efforts might seem like futile struggles, being able to not give up and to struggle a bit was also good.
Fortunately, Xu Xing was not alone in her efforts. At this moment, Qi Yunfang also spoke, "Sister Xu Xing, wait for a couple of days. I will help you break free. Just wait a little longer, and don't fall asleep."
Seeing someone with similar aspirations, Xu Xing became happy. She quickly said, "Okay, if you can help me gain my freedom, Sister, I will definitely protect you as we leave here."
When their conversation reached the ears of others, it immediately drew a lot of mockery. "The two of you are dreaming bigger and bigger. You're still tied up, and you're already thinking about what to do after you're free."
"Exactly. We strong men can't escape. Do you two weak women think you can achieve this? Isn't that just wishful thinking?"
"Shh, don't argue. Let them continue their dreams. These two are probably still not fully awake."
"We should wait for Xiao Sheng and the others to rescue us. If we don't get rescued, it will be our doom."
While mocking Xu Xing and Qi Yunfang's wishful thinking, the others expressed their pessimism, showing no spirit of self-reliance. Perhaps all of them had been so beaten by the treants that they had lost their will, and at this moment, they hadn't even considered how to escape from here.
Facing everyone's ridicule, Xu Xing calmly said, "How can a sparrow understand the ambition of a swan? Just because you people can't do it doesn't mean we can't."
Xu Xing believed she would definitely escape because she still had a hundred-year-old orchid seed hidden on her. She knew that as soon as she ate the hundred-year-old orchid seed, it would be much easier for her to use her abilities.
However, the prerequisite was that Xu Xing could break free from her current predicament. If she couldn't escape, nothing else mattered.
Xu Xing could only trust Qi Yunfang now. Since Qi Yunfang said it would take two more days to find a way to gain freedom, Xu Xing had no other options and could only choose to believe Qi Yunfang. She just didn't know what means Qi Yunfang had to break free from control.
Helplessly, Xu Xing could only persevere. Every day, the mutated plants would bring unknown fruits to Xu Xing's mouth. Xu Xing had no choice; if she didn't eat, she would be injected. This was unavoidable. After eating the fruits, although she still felt weak all over, she at least wouldn't fall asleep easily. Between the two evils, she had to choose the lesser one and eat the fruits.
During these two days, Xu Xing also noticed something strange. Marmots seemed to frequently appear in the cave, and the treants showed no reaction upon seeing them, as if they hadn't seen anything. This made Xu Xing confused. Logically, it wasn't easy for mutated plants hidden underground to obtain energy. Yet, upon seeing marmots appear, they ignored them. Weren't they walking protein? Why didn't they want them?
Xu Xing couldn't figure this out and could only keep her doubts in her heart, planning to investigate the matter later.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and Qi Yunfang finally revealed her true appearance. Previously, her face had been obscured by her disheveled hair, preventing Xu Xing from seeing it clearly. But now, Qi Yunfang slowly raised her head, and her long hair parted to the sides.
"Xu Xing, are you ready?" Qi Yunfang asked directly.
Xu Xing quickly replied, "I'm ready, Sister Qi, please don't worry."
Xu Xing looked at Qi Yunfang with anticipation. Qi Yunfang had fair skin. After being hung on the vines for over a month, she looked somewhat disheveled, but even so, Xu Xing could still see the confident expression on Qi Yunfang's face.
However, after looking at the treants below, Qi Yunfang said, "No rush now. Let Shen Feng and the others make the first move. There are simply too many treants now."
Xu Xing looked at the numerous treants below and nodded seriously, saying, "I understand. We'll wait until the treants leave, right?"
Facing the treants, Xu Xing had no good countermeasures. She didn't believe she could defeat over fifty treants. Night was also approaching, and many treants would go out hunting then, which would be an opportunity to escape. She believed Shen Feng had already made preparations.
Qi Yunfang looked at the cave where she had been confined for over a month, feeling many emotions. But thinking that she was about to leave this place, Qi Yunfang's gloom vanished.