Xu Xin didn't rashly step out of the safe zone; he took out the energy core fragment from his backpack.

Even though it was daytime, the sky wasn't very bright. Countless white and heavy clouds piled up in the low sky, casting shadows over the entire forest, making the already barren forest even more melancholic.

But at the moment the energy core fragment was taken out, the surroundings were illuminated by white light, and the temperature, originally only five or six degrees, began to rapidly climb, reaching over twenty degrees.

Xu Xin, holding the energy core fragment, planned to step into the area to test it out.

"Hmm?" Keke looked at the glowing core and then at the dangerous zone, tilting her little head in confusion.

"You all stay here and don't move; I'll go check it out."

Xu Xin dismounted the wolf and advanced towards the dangerous zone.

Keke didn't stop him, suggesting there might truly be no danger.

Xu Xin concentrated on the map as he stepped into the dangerous area.

At the moment he stepped in, a red dot suddenly lit up beneath his feet!

Danger?!

He immediately jumped back, returning to the safe area.

The ground cracked slightly under the tremor, but what surprised Xu Xin was that the mutated creatures underground didn't emerge from the fissure. On the map, the red dot quickly faded until it disappeared without a trace.

Mimi leaped forward when the red dot was at its brightest, aiming to attack the vine about to emerge, but ended up swinging at empty air.

She landed on the ground and let out a puzzled sound.

As before, these underground mutant creatures, sensing the light of the energy core fragment above the ground, withdrew before emerging.

However, this time the ground did crack.

Last time, when he rode past the area on Silver King, the ground showed no abnormality, only red dots rising and falling like waves visible on the map.

It's normal to think so; after all, this is a dangerous area. Although the other side is a deterrent-type protection zone, it's still considered a protection zone.

Despite those mutant creatures being unable to emerge from the ground under the energy core fragment's illumination, Xu Xin didn't intend to delve deeper.

According to his speculation, the closer to the culprit, the stronger the underground mutated creatures become. The ground is already cracking; if he goes further, they might emerge to attack him.

Let's stay here. Preparations for tomorrow's impending cold and beast tide.

He put away the energy core fragment.

Holding this thing prevents those underground creatures from emerging, making it impossible to kill them.

Xu Xin pondered for a moment. Maybe he could let Mimi run around to draw out the mutated vines, then take out the energy core to kill them collectively.

But he abandoned the idea immediately.

In the cave's lake, Xu Xin experienced the thrill of using the core to kill Blood Patterned Piranhas. But that was because the piranhas were deep in the lake, and the exit was narrow, so when Xu Xin took out the core, the piranhas crowded around the exit, unable to escape quickly, resulting in most of them staying behind.

The energy core fragment's white light takes at least five to ten seconds to kill a mutated creature.

That amount of time is enough for the mutated vines to retract back underground.

Moreover, the critical point is that using the energy core fragment to kill mutated creatures doesn't earn him points!

That's unacceptable; this time, he wants both the mutated vine sap and points, not missing either.

"Mimi, run along the edge of the protection zone for a few dozen meters," Xu Xin instructed Mimi.

Mimi immediately dashed off, stepping outside the edge of the protection zone, then began running along its boundary.

A red dot suddenly lit up on the map, the ground cracked, and thick Blood Patterned Vines burst violently from the earth!

Mimi's speed wasn't fast, or rather, compared to her fastest speed, she seemed to be strolling leisurely, as if teasing the vines emerging from underground.

Each vine nearly struck Mimi, but after circling back to Xu Xin, not a single hair was scratched; she even casually killed one vine before leaving.

[Killed Blood Patterned Vine, earned points: 50.]

Yes, that's right, the vines here are indeed enhanced.

Xu Xin looked at the vines swaying back and forth at the protection zone's edge, yet not entering to attack, and pulled out his long spear.

The vines here won't actively enter the protection zone to attack. Last time, a vine attacked inside the protection zone at Li Yajun's zone's edge, where the vines were stronger, and the points were higher.

Moreover, over there, Silver King is also affected by the blood markings, but not here.

According to his inference, that spot should be closer to the culprit causing all of this.

But caution is necessary here too; last time, the vines here also attacked once in the protection zone, but the markings suddenly lit up, protecting and causing them to retreat.

Now, at the protection zone's edge, a row of vines swayed in the wind, their dark green bodies adorned with blood markings or blood thorns, seeming eerily terrifying amidst the bleak, dim surroundings.

Xu Xin immediately swung the long halberd at the roots of the vines.

"Ka! Ka! Ka!"

The side blade of the halberd effortlessly severed the roots of four vines in succession.

The four stiff vines stopped swaying and fell rigidly to the ground.

Xu Xin slightly turned his body, dodging a vine that swung at him. The vine crashed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust and fallen leaves.

[Killed Blood Patterned Vine*2, Blood Thorn Vine*2, Score acquired: 160 points.]

The score for each Blood Patterned Vine is thirty points, slightly less than that of the Blood Thorn Vine.

The vitality from the halberd's shaft boosted Xu Xin's condition to the best, making him feel invigorated. He didn't pause and continued to run while swinging the halberd at the row of mutant vines.

"Ka! Ka! Ka!"

Several more mutant vines were directly sliced at their roots by him, their thick bodies crashing heavily to the ground.

"Ying!" Keke stood on the Silver King's head, waving her little paws to cheer Xu Xin on.

The remaining mutant vines no longer remained idle; some quickly retracted beneath the ground, while the rest launched direct attacks on Xu Xin within the protective zone!

Indeed, the vines here can still attack the inside of the protective zone! They just don't attack proactively!

"Mimi!" Xu Xin sidestepped to dodge the whip of a Blood Thorn Vine, raising his halberd to split it in two.

Mimi instantly leapt forward, her claws already extended.

Two flashes of cold light passed, and two Blood Patterned Vines were immediately shredded into multiple pieces by Mimi's claws.

Suddenly, the nearest vines to Xu Xin paused slightly, their blood glow intensified, and then they simultaneously attacked Xu Xin!

Stabbing, whipping, one vine even tried to bind his foot to drag him into the danger area!

Xu Xin was caught off guard, swinging his halberd to sever the thickest Blood Thorn Vine that came at him, but his foot was already caught, about to pull him into the danger area!

At this moment, Afu's screeching rang out, freezing all the vines momentarily.

Seizing this chance, Xu Xin promptly cut off the Blood Patterned Vine binding his foot, while Silver King lunged forward to bite one, and Mimi, who was dodging and teasing the vines nearby, also noticed Xu Xin's peril, bursting forth instantly.

Several flashes of cold glimmer passed, and all five of the vines surrounding Xu Xin lost their vitality, crashing to the ground, twitching slightly before gradually returning to stillness.

Xu Xin and his contracted beasts joined forces, swiftly sending the remaining vines directly to Western Heaven.

"Ying!" Keke, who had been hiding behind, ran up only after seeing them completely clear the vines, jumping into Xu Xin's arms with some concern, "Ying..."

"What was... just happening?" Xu Xin murmured incredulously, stroking Keke's small head.

The attacking tactics of those vines just now were entirely different from the vine groups he had encountered before!

Whether back near the salt mine caves in the Red Mist or during the treehouse defense battle, the attacking style of the vine groups was chaotic, lacking any order.

That's why Xu Xin could charge out from the vine groups during the defense battle.

If they had organized discipline in their attacks, their chances of breaking through the vines would be nearly zero.

The combat power difference between a ragtag army and a real army is huge.

Yet, just now, those five vines actually coordinated with each other!

A Blood Thorn Vine tried to bind his ankle, while two others speared at him from the upper left front and lower right front, and two Blood Thorn Vines flung directly into the protective zone, whipping at him from both sides!

Almost blocking all his escape paths, even retreating would lead to being pierced by the Blood Thorn Vines coming head-on!

How did they suddenly become organized?!

Could it be that these vines are under some kind of control?

The thing controlling them, giving their attacks form, could it be the culprit for their enhanced capabilities?

For some reason, Xu Xin thought of Ji Chaoyang's mention of the tool-wielding mutated humans from the prophecy.

Could these people possibly control the actions of mutated creatures?

If that's the case, the attack power of this beast tide might raise another notch.

This crisis is truly tough for ordinary survivors.

Xu Xin isn't worried about himself being engulfed in the snowy beast tide; after all, he has the Plant Heart, the control panel-repeating crossbow exploding bolts, and an energy core shard capable of killing mutated creatures, sufficient to resist the beast tide.

He's most concerned about the giant anaconda in the lake, and other possible attacking giant beasts.

Shaking his head, Xu Xin pulled out the energy core shard, instantly lighting and warming the surroundings.

With the illumination from the energy core, even entering the danger zone won't cause mutated vines to emerge from underground, so he easily stored all the vine corpses in his purple-grade backpack.

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