97: The secret medicine of burning vines lures thieves to spy, the mother tree of demons harbors deadly intent.

Chapter One Hundred: Vine-Burning Secret Medicine Attracts Thieves, Mother Monster Tree Hides Killing Intent

The smoke of war at the southern border had not yet dissipated, yet cheers of victory already echoed across the peaks of the snow-capped mountains.

The rescued survivors of India, watching the melting vine remains scattered across the ground, saw the fanaticism in their eyes gradually fade, replaced by the daze and lingering fear of surviving a disaster. They huddled around the Dawn Army soldiers, clutching the distributed dry rations and clean water, sobbing out words of gratitude, completely forgetting that not long ago, they had worshipped the Spirit-Devouring Tree as a deity.

Zhao Shanhe stood in the temporary command tent, watching the research personnel count the remaining "Vine-Burning" agents, his brow furrowed the entire time. This battle had been too close; if the Research Team hadn't developed the agent in time, the southern defensive line would likely have been swallowed by the sea of trees. What left him with even more lingering fear was the sight of those controlled survivors, who fought without fear of death, looking exactly like string-pulled puppets with their souls removed.

"General, all remaining Spirit-Devouring Trees have been cleared, and the border defense line is being rebuilt." A staff officer walked quickly into the tent and handed over a battle damage report, "Only... we found something unusual."

Zhao Shanhe took the report, his eyes scanning the last line, and his pupils suddenly constricted. "What did you say? A Skeleton Serpent signal transmitter was found in the core area of the tree sea?"

"Yes." The staff officer nodded with a solemn expression. "The transmitter has been cracked, and only one piece of data was transmitted—the complete formula for the 'Vine-Burning' agent."

Zhao Shanhe suddenly clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white. "Damn it! We fell for the Skeleton Serpent's scheme after all! They never intended to turn South Asia into a pasture; they wanted to use the Spirit-Devouring Tree to force us to reveal a countermeasure, and then reap the benefits themselves!"

Before he could finish, the encrypted communication from the Central Hub Base was urgently connected. Lin Zhou's voice, carrying a trace of chilling coldness, rang out through the speakers: "Zhao Shanhe, have your men evacuate the core area of the tree sea immediately! Intelligence shows that the Skeleton Serpent has buried a 'Mother Seed' deep within the Spirit-Devouring Tree! That is their true killing move!"

"Mother Seed?" Zhao Shanhe's heart skipped a beat. Just as he was about to give the order, a cry of alarm from a soldier came from outside the tent.

"General! Look! Those stumps... they've come back to life!"

Zhao Shanhe rushed out of the tent, and what he saw made the blood in his body nearly freeze.

The destroyed Spirit-Devouring Tree stumps were swelling and deforming at a speed visible to the naked eye. Dark green granulation sprouted from the stumps, quickly intertwining into thick trunks, and in just a few minutes, they grew into a giant tree a hundred meters tall. This giant tree was completely different from the previous Spirit-Devouring Trees; its trunk was an eerie dark red, with no leaves on its branches, only dense nodules. When the nodules split open, they revealed pairs of crimson eyes staring fixedly at everyone on the battlefield.

Even more terrifyingly, the roots of this Mother Monster Tree were frantically extending underground. Wherever they passed, the earth trembled violently, and bottomless cracks spread out, with countless skeletons surging forth from the fissures—the remains of humans and Mutants swallowed by the Spirit-Devouring Tree.

"Roar—!"

The Mother Monster Tree let out a deafening roar, the nodules on its branches exploded one after another, and countless dark green spores fell like rain. When those spores hit the ground, they instantly grew into half-meter-tall saplings, which then grew at an extreme speed, turning into small Spirit-Devouring Trees in the blink of an eye, pouncing toward the crowd.

"All units, retreat! Fast!" Zhao Shanhe roared the order. "Carrier-based fighter squadrons, blow up the main trunk of that monster tree! At all costs!"

The falcon fighter jets squadron immediately took to the air, missiles raining down on the Mother Monster Tree. But when those missiles hit the trunk, they only blew open small pits that were quickly filled by granulation. The monster tree's branches swung violently, several thick vines lashing out like whips at the jets; two jets that couldn't dodge in time were entangled by the vines and instantly shredded into pieces.

"Conventional weapons are useless!" a pilot roared into the communicator. "Its main trunk has a layer of hard shell!"

Zhao Shanhe looked at the retreating defensive line, a flash of determination in his eyes. He grabbed a man-portable rocket launcher from beside him and gritted his teeth. "The Research Team said the Vine-Burning agent is most effective against the Mother Seed! Get me a few rockets filled with the agent! I'll go blow up its core myself!"

"General! No! It's too dangerous!" The staff officer held him back tightly.

"Dangerous?" Zhao Shanhe sneered, brushing off the staff officer's hand. "In my, Zhao Shanhe's, dictionary, there is no such word as 'danger'!"

He climbed onto a heavy tank and shouted into the communicator, "All armored units, charge with me! Tear open a path to the monster tree's trunk! Magneto Shock Trooper Brigade, cover me!"

The tank tracks ground over the earth, letting out a sky-shaking roar. The armored units charged toward the Mother Monster Tree like a steel torrent, their main guns firing frantically at the newly grown Spirit-Devouring Trees. The Magneto Shock Troopers' electrical currents wove into a giant net, incinerating all the falling spores.

Zhao Shanhe drove the tank, forcing his way right under the monster tree's main trunk. He looked at the slightly protruding core on the trunk—the location of the Mother Seed—and without hesitation, shouldered the rocket launcher, aimed, and fired!

A rocket filled with Vine-Burning agent, trailing a tail of flame, accurately struck the core area.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!"

The agent reacted violently with the Mother Seed, making a piercing sound. The dark red trunk withered and blackened at a visible rate, the crimson eyes on the branches exploded one by one, and the dark green spores stopped falling.

The Mother Monster Tree let out a shrill wail, its massive body trembling violently before finally collapsing with a crash, turning into a puddle of dark green juice.

Those newly grown Spirit-Devouring Trees also withered and dissipated along with the death of the mother body.

The battlefield finally regained its peace.

Zhao Shanhe climbed out of the tank, covered in dark green juice, and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. He looked at the clouds gradually dispersing in the sky and let out a long sigh of relief.

But what he didn't know was that within that puddle of dark green juice, an extremely tiny seed was quietly burrowing into the ground and disappearing.

In the undersea base deep in the Pacific Ocean, Zhulong watched the image of the Mother Monster Tree collapsing on the screen. Instead of being angry, he smiled even more eerily.

"The effect of the Vine-Burning agent is even better than I expected." He lightly stroked his chin, a flash of madness in his eyes. "The fragments of the Mother Seed have already scattered; before long, they will take root and sprout all over the world."

He turned and looked at the even more hideous plant in the incubation chamber, a cold smile curling on his lips.

"Lin Zhou, Zhao Shanhe... this game is getting more and more interesting."

Meanwhile, on the southern border battlefield, Zhao Shanhe watched the research personnel collect juice samples from the monster tree, his brow furrowed. He had a faint premonition that this war with the Spirit-Devouring Tree was far from over.

On the distant horizon, dark clouds gathered once more, and a new storm was quietly brewing.