Chapter 251: 251, Crazy plants!

Ren Xiaosu crouched in the snow, the wind and snow were terrifyingly fierce, but he didn't mind, for his attention was entirely focused on the seeds he had just planted.

After planting the thorny vine, Ren Xiaosu exchanged five more seeds.

The vending machine's grid held a dozen different seeds, but after he inserted the gratitude coin, it spat out four new thorny vine seeds and one earth-yellow seed.

It seemed this thing was like the exploding poker, the more ordinary the seed, the easier it was to obtain. When he had exchanged for poker cards before, the vending machine had spat out the most 3s and 4s, occasionally a 5 or two, and he had never seen any higher cards.

The thorny vine was highly aggressive; Ren Xiaosu estimated that even transcendent beings entering its attack range would rarely survive, so he was quite satisfied with this new product.

But what use was that earth-yellow seed?

After the seeds were planted, the sprouts took much longer to grow this time, only after more than ten minutes did a tender green shoot poke out.

The slender sprout grew visibly robust, yet until now, the plant had shown nothing unusual.

The next moment, Ren Xiaosu was stunned, for he saw the plant's top form a pouch-like structure, and his spirit linked with the plant.

Ren Xiaosu's heart stirred, and within that pouch-like plant structure, a fist-sized potato rapidly shot out, like a cannonball being launched.

This was... a potato shooter!

What the hell was this? Ren Xiaosu was speechless; he now understood the plant's function through their spiritual connection—it was a plant-based automatic rifle, capable of firing thirty potatoes a day...

Ren Xiaosu found it rather uninteresting. Whose automatic rifle wasn't better than this? Firearms were faster and more lethal.

Besides its automatic alertness, it didn't seem to have any other advantages.

Moreover, wasn't the potato being wasted? That was food!

Ren Xiaosu suddenly looked at the potato shooter: "Spit them out for me."

The potato shooter went "pupupupu" and spat out the remaining twenty-nine potatoes it had hidden underground. Ren Xiaosu smacked his lips: "High-speed food production, I guess that's useful. We'll have potatoes for dinner tonight."

Probably even the palace hadn't anticipated that this attack plant was being used by Ren Xiaosu as a crop...

Just then, a creaking sound of snow being pressed came from across, and Ren Xiaosu immediately became alert—there was someone approaching from the opposite side!

The Fengyi Mountain line had already been secured by Li's other regular troops, but regular soldiers wouldn't wander into the wilderness for no reason; they took the main roads. Only the Shenji Camp, a peculiar troop, would trek mountains and cross waters.

Was it the Shenji Camp? No, they weren't heading in the same direction.

Then... it was the enemy!

Ren Xiaosu quietly retreated, his feet stepping on the snow with the tips of his toes, making no sound.

He retreated far and hid behind a large tree. The enemy probably wasn't many; they might just be the opponent's reconnaissance unit. He didn't know if they were Qing or Yang.

He saw thirty people carefully walking in the snow, their formation a long line, with some taking turns breaking the snow ahead, like a wolf pack.

Ren Xiaosu waited for them to enter the thorny vine's attack range, so he could observe its specific effects.

But the enemy was sharp: Ren Xiaosu had left not long ago, and the snow wasn't heavy enough to cover his footprints. When this reconnaissance squad saw Ren Xiaosu's footprints, they immediately stopped.

The entire team split into a fan shape on the snow to fully control the surrounding situation.

"Someone was here just now, be careful!"

"Look at the snow tracks, they left upon hearing our footsteps."

"Is the plan compromised?"

"Uncertain, search for the target's traces. The opponent should be only one person!"

Ren Xiaosu felt a bit regretful; if they had gone a little further, they would have stepped into the thorny vine's attack radius. After all, the thorny vine's attack radius could reach dozens of meters.

However, Ren Xiaosu's eyes suddenly lit up. Although the thorny vine was stationary, the potato shooter could actively attack under his control.

Ren Xiaosu willed the potato shooter to fire and test its power, but found it made no response.

Was this a fake? Why wasn't it spitting out potatoes?

Ah, no, the potatoes had been stuffed into his backpack... Not the potato shooter's fault...

From afar, Ren Xiaosu confirmed they were Qing's army. Although he was familiar with Luo Wangzi, in battle, neither would hold back. War was war.

Moreover, Qing Zhen and Luo Lan were under house arrest, and these soldiers had nothing to do with Luo Lan and the others.

Suddenly, the Qing troops turned on the flashlight attached to their automatic rifle, the beam hitting the snow, following Ren Xiaosu's footprints and locking onto the big tree where he was hiding.

In the heavy snow, footprints couldn't be hidden unless Ren Xiaosu could fly.

To be honest, Ren Xiaosu hadn't expected the Qing troops to be so vigilant. The Qing combat unit exchanged glances: "Only one person, confirmed."

"Don't let him go, lest he report back and expose our whereabouts," the squad leader said calmly. As long as they confirmed the opponent was alone, it would be easy to handle.

"Don't shoot yet, there might be garrisoned troops nearby. Refugees wouldn't appear here; it might be a nano-warrior from Shenji Camp."

The Qing troops analyzed Ren Xiaosu's identity and purpose step by step to determine their next course of action.

They had approached this area based on intelligence, which showed that Shenji Camp had disappeared after advancing here, so their presence in the wilderness was expected.

As they spoke, someone screwed a silencer onto their gun barrel. As a reconnaissance unit, they couldn't stir up trouble, so the fight had to be quick and covert!

"Advance!" the squad leader said: "Combat advance formation."

Under normal circumstances, a reconnaissance unit's combat formation was one of three types: one was the basic advance formation, with all personnel arranged in a straight line moving forward, the first person firing ahead to test aim, while the rest of the rear personnel held guns to guard the sides. Another was the defensive advance formation, mainly splitting off a combat personnel to aim backward.

The combat advance formation was all personnel advancing in a staggered arrangement, with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd persons firing ahead to test aim, while the 2nd and 3rd combat personnel were positioned to the left and right rear of the first person in a staggered manner, providing cover.