After Shen Feng unleashed his special ability, a fierce wind swept across the ground, blowing away the pollen from the cypress forest. It was winter, and a northerly wind should have been blowing, but under Shen Feng's control, the wind direction instantly changed. A southerly wind arose, lifting the pollen from the ground and tree branches, and spreading it towards the north.
A vast expanse of yellow mist stretched for several kilometers. Wherever it passed, mutated beasts that inhaled the pollen immediately collapsed to the ground, falling into a deep slumber from which they could not be woken.
Shen Feng's sudden inspiration led him to a completely new way to break through, turning a disadvantage into an advantage. All the mutated beasts on the battlefield fell asleep. As for his own people, they were all equipped with oxygen masks and were unaffected. In this way, as long as all the mutated beasts on the battlefield were asleep, his side could complete the mission and leave safely.
After dispersing the pollen in the cypress forest, the original appearance of the forest was finally revealed.
Shen Feng and his two companions emerged from the cave, passed through the forest, and prepared to leave the area. Pollen began to fall again from the trees, and although it was not as dense as the previous mist, it still obscured the vision of the group.
Li Keyi intended to remove her mask, but upon seeing the cypress trees begin to shed pollen again, she immediately abandoned the idea. Inhaling the pollen would cause even ability users to be hypnotized. It was said that these pollen possessed strong sedative properties, affecting most mutated beasts.
Within the forest, many decaying corpses were found, and on these corpses, plant roots had already begun to grow. It was likely that the reason the cypress trees grew so thick and tall was due to the energy from these mutated beasts, which allowed them to reach such heights.
Li Keyi couldn't help but remark, "From what I see, these mutated beasts basically died in their dreams. After inhaling too much pollen, their nervous systems couldn't handle it, and they died while dreaming, perhaps their breathing suddenly stopped, and their consciousness vanished shortly after."
Shen Feng considered the image and found it rather pleasant. "Then these mutated beasts are considered fortunate to die in pleasant dreams, without feeling any pain."
However, Qin Kewei, upon hearing the description, couldn't help but retort, "I find it terrifying. Merely inhaling pollen causes them to fall into a deep sleep, and that's not all; they actually die in their sleep because they inhale too much pollen. This method of killing animals is far too efficient and cruel!"
At this moment, many of the mutated beasts that had fallen asleep in the forest suddenly awoke. Perhaps it was due to the mist in the forest being blown away, allowing the mutated beasts to reawaken without inhaling pollen. Upon waking, the mutated beasts spotted the three figures in the distance holding flashlights. These mutated beasts dared not approach the humans and immediately fled.
Qin Kewei pointed at the fleeing dark figures in the distance and exclaimed, "See, even the mutated beasts fear this eerie place. They woke up and ran away!"
Li Keyi shrugged and said, "I think these mutated beasts are fleeing because they were scared by us. Think about it, as soon as they woke up, terrifying bipedal creatures appeared, holding glowing objects. It's no wonder they're scared."
After blowing away the mist, Shen Feng continued to observe the forest but still couldn't find the sapling. Perhaps he had come at the wrong time.
Meanwhile, the mist that was blown away by Shen Feng's strong winds began to fall as it drifted in the air. Wherever it passed, the ground was stained yellow by the mist. The mutated beasts on the ground that inhaled the pollen fell into a deep sleep on the spot and would not wake up for a considerable time.
The pollen drifted southward for kilometers, from the southern valley all the way to the area where Ke Yiming was fighting. Originally, countless mutated beasts were still attacking the humans who had charged into the beast tide. Although thousands of mutated beasts had been killed on their side, there were still four hundred thousand remaining. The sheer number of mutated beasts charging forward put pressure on everyone. Therefore, Shen Feng had also set a time limit before leaving: three hours.
By now, the three-hour limit was almost up. The group attracting the attention of the mutated beasts on the battlefield was beginning to feel fatigued, especially Ke Yiming. He hadn't conserved his energy during the fight, and the three fire dragons swirling and tearing around him, while looking impressive, consumed a tremendous amount of energy.
Fortunately, pollen began to drift in from the south. The yellow mist spread through the air, and as it did, pale yellow powder fell. Wherever it landed, the mutated beasts that inhaled the hypnotic pollen fell into a state of sleep.
"Bang, bang..." The heavy bodies of the mutated beasts fell to the ground. Despite still being in combat, the mutated beasts could not resist the inhibitory effect from their brains and fell into a deep slumber, their bodies hitting the ground with dull thuds.
"The reinforcements have finally arrived! I was almost unable to hold on!" Ke Yiming said with lingering fear.
Ke Yiming had never participated in a large-scale battle before, so he didn't know how to conserve his energy. As a result, he felt fatigued after only a short period of fighting. Moreover, the surrounding mutated beasts did not retreat and continued to swarm forward, leaving Ke Yiming struggling. Fortunately, Shen Feng's reinforcements had arrived.
Everyone had put on oxygen masks, completely isolating themselves from the outside air. Yellow pollen rained down from the sky, posing no threat to the group. Instead, the mutated beasts, unaware of the danger and unable to dodge, were covered by the pollen and immediately fell into a stupor, thus removing the threat around the group.
Ke Yiming breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Hou Xiaohua behind him. He was also covered in injuries. Although his defense was strong and his skin's keratin layer was thick, after several hours of continuous combat, he had still been wounded by the dense swarm of mutated beasts around him. Fortunately, they were only superficial wounds that would heal within two days.
The yellow mist enveloped the battlefield where the group was located. Everyone stopped fighting in unison, as the surrounding mutated beasts had all fallen asleep, and there was no longer any danger. Fang Qinghao retracted the water currents around him, Jiang Kui reverted his muscles to their normal state, returning to his previous frail appearance, and Yue Hengyi silently deactivated his gravity field.
Fang Qinghao took out his walkie-talkie and said, "The pollen has drifted over to our side. Tens of thousands of mutated beasts in the vicinity have fallen asleep. What do we do now?"
Shen Feng's voice quickly came through the walkie-talkie: "Withdraw immediately. The grinding stone plan is about to be restarted. Staying on the battlefield makes you vulnerable to friendly fire."
Fang Qinghao's group regrouped and prepared to leave the mist. Since the mission was complete, they should now return to the front lines.
However, at that moment, Ke Yiming suddenly noticed a mutated toad still hopping around nearby. Its skin was rough and bumpy, covered in pustules from which mucus flowed. Seeing this, Ke Yiming felt a surge of disgust.
Although he didn't understand why the toad hadn't been hypnotized by the pollen, Ke Yiming particularly disliked ugly things. He condensed a fireball in his hand and casually threw it.
Ke Yiming intended to burn the toad to death as a casual act, but he forgot that he was currently in the pollen mist. The cypress pollen was not true pollen but spores, organic matter produced by plants, and was combustible. Thus, the moment the fireball appeared, the surrounding pollen was instantly ignited.
"Boom..." Flames instantly spread from Ke Yiming's side. The entire area, which had been covered in yellow pollen, was now engulfed in flames.
"Holy crap!" Ke Yiming hadn't expected such a change and was stunned. Could pollen be ignited?
Before Ke Yiming and the others could react, the flames had already enveloped the five of them. Fang Qinghao reacted the fastest, quickly spreading water over his head to resist the flames.
The air was filled with pollen everywhere. When the flames appeared, the entire mist began to burn fiercely. In the central area of the mist, oxygen was consumed first, and with such intense burning, the gases began to expand rapidly, leading to explosions.
"Boom..." Consecutive explosions occurred, and the powerful airflow sent the surrounding mutated beasts flying. As for the people in the center, they likely hadn't anticipated such a turn of events and were caught off guard by the explosions around them.
With a "boom," a massive explosion generated a powerful airflow that sent the five ability users flying. Yue Hengyi, who was closest to the explosion, didn't expect the explosion to happen so suddenly. By the time he reacted, he had already been blown into the air.
The battlefield was filled with the sounds of explosions, the crackling of burning flames, and the roars of mutated beasts. The mutated beasts in the distance were stunned by the towering flames. Within a radius of several kilometers, explosions continued to occur, turning the entire battlefield into a sea of fire. Everywhere one looked, there were flames and explosions.
Suddenly, the startled mutated beasts no longer hesitated and fled in all directions, no longer caring about humans; escaping with their lives was the priority.
The pollen burning lasted for twenty minutes, with explosions occurring one after another. Tens of thousands of mutated beasts were killed by this massive explosion. After all, most of the mutated beasts on the battlefield had been hypnotized. By the time they were awakened by the explosions, their surroundings had turned into a sea of fire, and they had no way to escape.
Dust explosions had occurred before, but not many people had paid attention. In fact, in places like kitchens, when combustible powder filled the space, even a small flame could cause the powder to burn violently, followed by a rapid expansion of gases, ultimately resulting in an explosion.
When all the pollen had been burned by the flames, the battlefield finally calmed down.
In the communication vehicle on the northern front line, Lu Kaiyang had been listening to the frontline reports, and the conversations Shen Feng and the others had on their walkie-talkies were all heard by the communication vehicle.
Suddenly, Lu Kaiyang heard a massive explosion from afar. He walked out of the vehicle and saw faint flames in the distance. The distance was at least eight or nine kilometers, but such flames could be seen even in the military camp, indicating the immense scale of the fire in the distance.
Chang Haojie also saw this and couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"
Lu Kaiyang frowned and spread his hands helplessly, saying, "How should I know? I have no information from the frontline. I'll contact the City Lord. Hopefully, I can get an update on the battle situation. Logically, they shouldn't have any explosive weapons besides their handguns."
Just as Lu Kaiyang was about to contact Shen Feng to clarify the situation, the radar detected mutated beasts from the south, issuing an immediate alert: "Mutated beasts are approaching! Prepare for defense!"
Lu Kaiyang no longer had time to figure out what was happening ahead and could only instruct his soldiers, "Fire illumination flares, aim searchlights forward, everyone to the battlefield, defend against the mutated beast onslaught!"
Chang Haojie was eager to get involved. With his brother-in-law not in the military camp, he was the only ability user, and it was his time to shine.
"Brother Lu, what about me? What about me?" Chang Haojie quickly asked.
Lu Kaiyang thought for a moment and said, "Young Master, please go up and provide support from the sky. Just throw grenades. Oh, and be careful not to get hit by the illumination flares!"
Having received his orders, Chang Haojie immediately took a backpack full of grenades and flew into the sky. Illumination flares were also being fired into the sky, and searchlights on the front lines were constantly illuminating the ground, making it as bright as day. He could clearly see the many mutated beasts charging forward.
"Go to hell!" Chang Haojie pulled the pin and threw a grenade, causing explosions on the ground. The charging mutated beasts stumbled and fell, many of them killed by the explosions.