After Qi Yunfang finally left, Shen Feng and the other two breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the Ability Administration would not be suspicious. They had already made thorough cover-ups, even erasing the footprints in the snow. Under such circumstances, the other party would not be able to find any reason to accuse them.
Shen Feng, Lu Xian, and Qi Lingshan immediately retrieved their clothes, which had been soaked by the wind and snow, from under the side cypress branches and began to dry them by the fireplace. Maintaining air circulation underground was also very important. Fortunately, Shen Feng was a wind-element ability user, and with a simple use of his ability, he could refresh the air in the cellar. The three of them had no risk of suffocation staying in the cellar.
Moreover, on the way back, Lu Xian and Qi Lingshan had been walking in front, with Shen Feng following behind. As the two walked ahead, although the snow had been compacted quite a bit, their calves were still submerged in the snow. Shen Feng, staying at the rear, was responsible for erasing these footprints.
After Shen Feng activated "As the Wind Follows," he walked on the snow. Walking on the snow hardly left any footprints, reaching the level of "treading snow without a trace." If this were in a martial arts novel, he would undoubtedly be a paramount figure with unparalleled lightness skill.
Su Dongpo once said: "Life is like what, everywhere? It must be like a swan goose treading on snow."
Speaking of which, this was probably the earliest use of "treading snow without a trace." What is life like? It's probably like a swan goose stepping on snow. A swan goose that steps deeply leaves a deeper footprint, while one that steps lightly leaves no trace at all on the snow. But in the end, these footprints will all be buried by the flying snow, leaving no trace behind.
At this moment, after everyone saw Qi Yunfang off, Qi Lingshan knocked forcefully on the wall with his fist. This was a secret signal.
Xu Xing's ability was of the nature element, allowing her to sense vibrations. Shen Feng had already figured out how to quietly contact Xu Xing. Xu Xing slept directly on the ground in the ice house, so as long as they knocked the signal, the vibrations would be quickly sensed by Xu Xing, allowing her to respond.
Upon returning to the camp, Xiao Sheng first asked Qi Yunfang if she had noticed anything unusual, such as whether anyone from Shen Feng's group had quietly left the cellar. If such a thing had happened, Xiao Sheng would suspect that Shen Feng was doing something bad behind their backs.
At this time, Xu Xing was already asleep, leaning against a fox, with the campfire nearby, looking very comfortable.
The conversation, however, took place in the wind and snow outside. It seemed that Qi Yunfang was worried about Xu Xing overhearing the conversation, so she chose to speak outside.
Qi Yunfang quickly patted her chest and said, "I can guarantee that Shen Feng and the other two did not leave the cellar at all tonight. I personally checked before."
Upon receiving this answer, Xiao Sheng was relieved. He then said to Jin Zijue beside him, "Are you relieved now? I told you long ago that Shen Feng would never betray me. Besides, during such heavy snowfall, why would Shen Feng and the others go out unless they had nothing better to do?"
Jin Zijue shrugged his shoulders and said, "Then consider me overly suspicious. I just found it strange that Shen Feng never helped us in combat. But now it seems that Shen Feng is simply indifferent to our affairs. Shall we discuss how to capture the mutated plants next?"
Xiao Sheng was already intoxicated by the victory that night. Killing over thirty treants in one go was something that Shen Feng and Jin Zijue had failed to achieve before. The treants that these two couldn't deal with had now been resolved by him in one go. From now on, he would definitely be able to defeat the treants and bring the plant heart back to the country.
At this moment, Xiao Sheng confidently said, "What else is there to discuss? With the enormous size of the mutated plant's main body, it's impossible for it to come out from inside. The mutated plant cannot escape. We just need to deal with the treants one by one."
In Xiao Sheng's view, capturing the mutated plant was now a certainty. It was the season of heavy snow sealing the mountains, and the mutated plant absolutely could not come outside in such low temperatures. He, on the other hand, could defeat the treants that emerged from the cave one by one. If the treants didn't come out, they would inevitably consume their stored energy.
Therefore, whether in the short term or long term, Xiao Sheng was confident of victory.
Jin Zijue saw Xiao Sheng's current demeanor and realized he was clearly getting ahead of himself. He had only managed to ambush more than half of the treants using traps, yet he felt invincible. People like Xiao Sheng wouldn't learn their lesson without suffering a bit.
However, to be safe, Xiao Sheng still discussed with everyone how to target the treants. Zhang Zi seriously said, "Before, there were too many treants, and I was no match for them. But now, the number of treants has been greatly reduced. If treants still appear, this is my home ground again. I can control the ice giants to attack the treants, and I can directly win."
When Zhang Zi revealed her ability, everyone's eyes lit up. Back in Yanjing, Zhang Zi had previously demonstrated her ice giants. In the icy and snowy environment, giants made of ice and snow, tens of meters tall, could directly rise from the ground. At that time, even tens of thousands of mutated zombies couldn't do anything to the ice giants.
And now, Siberia was a vast expanse of white. For Zhang Zi, this was absolutely her home ground. Entrusting the fight against the treants to Zhang Zi was the most perfect plan. Before, underground, there was little ice and snow, so Zhang Zi's ability couldn't be utilized. But now, on the ground, it was definitely Zhang Zi's stage, and defeating the treants would be simple.
Therefore, Xiao Sheng directly made the decision on the plan: "Since this is Zhang Zi's home ground, during the battle, the treants will be handled by Zhang Zi. Everyone else will follow me to raid the cave."
Everyone quickly nodded in agreement. Before, they didn't have absolute confidence when fighting the treants, so they couldn't guarantee victory. But now, with more than half of the treants eliminated, everyone's morale was soaring. It seemed that capturing the mutated plant would be a simple matter, so they were all excited.
Once the plan was formulated, it was time for execution. In Xiao Sheng's view, if treants emerged from the cave, they would deal with them first. If treants were slow to appear, although it would consume the mutated plant's stored energy, at a critical moment, they could only attack the cave.
As a result, after a few days, the treants underground made no movement at all. It was certain that there were at least twenty treants in the cave. These treants did not come out, likely having received orders from the mutated plant, and refused to come out.
"A bunch of cowards, scared stiff a few days ago, and now they won't come out. I'd like to see how long you can last underground." Xiao Sheng and the Ability Administration personnel waited near the new exit for four days. The snowfall had stopped, but the treants still did not come out, regardless of whether it was day or night.
Logically, during the day, with the interference of heat from sunlight, treants would only choose to hunt at night. The surrounding mutated beasts would run far away at night, even going into the city of Qiu Ming, which originally belonged to humans, to stay. But now, with no movement from the treants, there was only one explanation: the mutated plant hiding deep in the cave had been scared stiff.
During these four days, Shen Feng and his team had moved over ten tons of crude oil into the marmot's burrow, ready to be ignited at any time.
When not busy, Shen Feng would also take Lu Xian and Qi Lingshan to observe the treants' movements from the cave entrances on the side walls of the cave.
Originally, there were twenty-one treants left in the cave. These treants had no intention of leaving the cave, only guarding it. After all, venturing outside would easily lead to their home being attacked. The mutated plant was quite clear on this point.
But today, Qi Lingshan was counting the number of treants in the cave when he was suddenly surprised and couldn't help but ask, "Look quickly, haven't the number of treants increased? I counted, and there are twenty-five treants."
Upon hearing this, Lu Xian couldn't help but question, "How is that possible? We've counted the treants several times before, and it's always been twenty-one. How can we count twenty-five today?"
Lu Xian didn't believe Qi Lingshan's report at all and then counted them himself, only to find that the number of treants had indeed increased to twenty-five.
"Huh, strange. Where are the other four treants hidden? Why haven't we discovered them before?" Lu Xian muttered to himself.
Shen Feng, however, was more vigilant. Upon hearing that something abnormal had occurred, he immediately looked down and said, "The treants haven't gone out for several days. Even if the mutated plant wants to breed treants, it wouldn't be able to obtain energy. Where did these treants come from? Or rather, where did the mutated plant get its energy in the past few days?"
Shen Feng believed in the law of conservation of energy. Energy in the world neither disappears nor is created out of nothing. Energy only transfers from one object to another, and the total amount of energy remains unchanged. This is the law of conservation of energy.
Therefore, in the current situation, treants could not be produced casually. To produce treants, energy must be obtained.
Just as Shen Feng was wondering, a treant on the side of a stone cave suddenly extended its vines into a crack in the wall and actually grabbed many mutated mice. After catching the mice, the treant walked towards the central large tree and placed the mutated mice in a cage. With the continuous infusion of digestive fluid, the mutated mice were directly digested by the digestive fluid.
Upon seeing this scene, Shen Feng immediately felt a sense of foreboding and quickly said to the two people beside him, "I understand. I finally know why there were vines with fluorescent fruits in the marmot's burrow. These underground marmots are actually the reserve food for the mutated plant."
Now, Shen Feng had figured out why there were so many fluorescent fruits underground. The appearance of these vines was not to illuminate the cave. When food was scarce, the groundhogs in the cave were the food for the mutated plant. Treants indeed could not enter narrow burrows, but the vines were thin and long, and they could definitely catch the marmots.
After figuring this out, Shen Feng immediately realized that Xiao Sheng's plan to wait for the treants outside the cave was in vain. Even if the treants did not hunt outside, with the large amount of reserve food underground, the mutated plant's energy would not be depleted in a short period.
Shen Feng didn't know how many marmots there were near Qiu Ming, but he knew that there were too many marmot burrows in the wild. As reserve food, they could indeed support the mutated plant through the winter.
"No, Xiao Sheng doesn't know about this. We need to find a way to inform Xiao Sheng, otherwise, this fool will continue to waste time foolishly." Shen Feng realized the problem upon seeing the current situation. He had accidentally learned that the mutated plant caught marmots, but Xiao Sheng didn't. If the opportunity was missed, they might not be able to win next time.