to blame

This is Ming Xia's second visit to Nine Mu Umeda.

He now has a certain understanding of the terrain of the Western Mountain Formation, especially the terrain around the northern peak of Leather Mian Mountain.

The valley where Umeda is located is abbreviated as North Sixth Valley by the "Sixth Group", also known as Plum Blossom Valley.From the geographical point of view, it is not very far from the No. [-] supply station and the valley where the monsters have their classes, but because of the complicated terrain, it insists on making itself a place that everyone wants to walk around.

This is exactly what makes the "sixth group" dissatisfied.

It is said that when these monsters were sealed at the beginning, the reason why the seal of Gu carvings was set at Nine Mu Umeda was because it was very close to the No. , which is convenient for everyone to monitor.As a result, Umeda was still raised as a place where no one could enter.

Even if the Eagle King did this unintentionally, it would still make people think it was a provocation.

There were water scorpions and beauty pine before, and then Zhu Huai wanted to learn culture. Mr. Hu and the others had limited resources, so they could only put aside the matter of Umeda.

As a result, the person in Umeda probably thought that everyone didn't dare to care about it, so he started to act like a monster with joy.Regarding its ignorant approach, the members of the second team agreed: This is not a demon, it is a death.

Ming Xia also felt that the Gu carvings sealed in Umeda had a spirit of death.

One of the most obvious manifestations is that the area of ​​Umeda has expanded.When they passed by here for the first time, the area of ​​Umeda was about one-third to half of the valley, but over the past few months, the area of ​​Umeda has expanded to cover the entire valley.

The hillsides near the exit of the valley are already covered with plum trees. At this rate, it will take only a few months for the nine acres of plum fields to cover all the surrounding hillsides.

Ming Xia couldn't figure it out, "Can plants expand so fast?"

Li Youran crossed his arms and guessed together next to him, "Maybe it's not all true? Like when I met Zhu Huai, those bison in the valley... No, Zhu Huai's body is actually a lot of phantoms in one nature?"

"It's possible." Ming Xia thought, Diao Wang didn't intend to cultivate more plum trees, it wanted to expand its territory.

Now that the terrain of Nine Mu Umeda has changed, the map they looked at last night obviously has no reference value.Li Youran took out the map that Mr. Hu had brought up from the reference room and handed it to Ming Xia, asking him to make some marks on the map, and specially circled the places where the surface had changed.

There are two red lines on the map, the starting point of the line is where they are staying at the moment, and the ending point is the special spot where the Eagle King is sealed.In order to facilitate the connection, the distance between the two lines is not far.

Their task is to break through two passages in Umeda along the red line.

This is just the beginning.

To be precise, they have to clean up the entire Umeda, and break through the particularly dense areas to ensure that all kinds of beasts that may be hidden inside, or... monster beasts are not missed.As for the areas that were screened and confirmed safe by them, Mr. Hu would arrange engineers to do further cleaning.

Ming Xia agreed with this task from the bottom of her heart.Because there are too many unsafe factors hidden in the Xishan formation, Jiumu Umeda is the closest one to the No. [-] peak. If this den is not taken away, he can't feel at ease to follow everyone to change the guard.

The machine that opened the way was produced by Wenliang Workshop.

The machine was developed for the special landform of the nine-acre Umeda. It looks like a miniature version of a bulldozer.The crawler structure and the outer casing are made of new composite materials, and the combat resistance is comparable to that of a chariot.Especially the knife edge on the extension part of the bucket is very sharp.The flexibility of the bucket is also far beyond that of a general tool cart.It is most suitable for Umeda's complex terrain full of thorns and shrubs.

Ming Xia and Qing Qiu were divided into the second group.

It was Tang Xun who drove the way, and Lin Su sat in the passenger seat with her medical kit.Mingxia Qingqiu and the other four team members followed behind the driving car, while Nanjiang led Li Youran to retreat.

They planned to withdraw from Merlin before dark, join the first team, and then return to No. [-] Supply Station for the night.

According to Mr. Hu's estimation, the cleaning task will take about three to four days, and then the follow-up work will be handed over to the engineers.

The valley was filled with a faint morning mist, and a light veil shrouded the top of the plum forest.There is a light green in the mist, which is the fresh and tender spores that have just grown from the plum tree.

Not only are the plum trees turning green, but the bushes under the trees are also pulling out delicate new leaves in the warm and cold spring breeze.

If this situation is accompanied by a few crisp birdsong, it will really be like walking into the picture scroll.It's a pity that the inside and outside of the valley are almost eerily quiet. There are no sounds of animals, birds, or insects.

The fog blocked the morning sun, and it was cold and disturbing.

It's as quiet as a dead place.

Ming Xia held a bow in his hand, with a long arrow on the bowstring, and looked around vigilantly with his eyes.In order not to affect his vision, he put Qingqiu in a backpack and carried it behind his back.Just keep an eye on what's going on behind them.

The terrain in the valley is uneven and has not been maintained for a long time. There are thorny shrubs everywhere, and these low plants cover the open space between the trees densely.

The grass in spring, withered and yellow, reveals new green. The longer you look at it, the more complicated and messy it is visually.

Ming Xia always felt that there was something hidden in the grass.This intuition, which was similar to a premonition, pushed him, causing him to turn his eyes to the grass at his feet again and again.

The grass not far away swayed slightly.

Ming Xia stared slightly, he wasn't sure if the slight shaking in the grass just now was his illusion.Just as he was about to remind Qingqiu to use his consciousness to sense it, he saw a khaki-colored figure jump out of the grass and rush towards him.

In desperation, Ming Xia acted completely according to instinct.The arm holding the bow was raised, and the long arrow left the string, piercing through the khaki body like lightning.

The small animal that appeared suddenly let out a short scream and fell into the grass.

A cloud of fresh blood splashed in mid-air, Ming Xia smelled a very strange smell, like the smell of blood, and seemed to have a little rot.

The flavor dissipates quickly.

Ming Xia took two steps forward, retracted the long arrow from the grass, and carefully picked the khaki thing with his toes.Its body is slightly larger than that of an adult civet cat, and it has short, oily fur.There is also a pair of palm-sized antlers growing on its head.

The advancing team was alarmed by the sudden change, Nan Jiang signaled the car on the road to slow down, and ran towards Ming Xia.

Li Youran, who was walking on the other side of the driving car, didn't dare to leave her position easily. While looking around vigilantly, she asked in a low voice, "Is it a Gu carving?"

Before Nan Jiang ran to Ming Xia's side, he saw the corpse at his feet.

It was an adult Gu carving, it had shed the brown-red lanugo hair of its infancy, and had grown a khaki-yellow body that was more camouflage.The horns on its head are as thick as a grown man's thumb.The nail protruding from the tip of the claw is long and sharp. If it accidentally catches it, half of its face may be torn off by it.

Empress Nanjiang was terrified, but felt relieved, "Your reaction was quick."

Ming Xia didn't think he had anything special to praise, he was always on guard.He turned his head and glanced at Qingqiu behind him, "Qingqiu?"

It's not normal that Qingqiu didn't notice anything beforehand.

Qingqiu shook his head, and looked at Nanjiang beside him anxiously, "I heard some voices just now, but they disappeared when I listened carefully. I suspect that I have hallucinations."

Nan Jiang asked, "What kind of hallucination?"

"It seems that there are many small animals sneaking around." Qingqiu didn't know how to describe this feeling in detail, "rustling sound. I have met a large number of mountain mice moving in the wild before, and they moved in groups. Passing by on the hillside, one chasing the other, the footsteps are very light... that's the feeling."

Ming Xia was a little surprised at Qing Qiu's sensitivity, because he couldn't hear anything amidst the noise of the tracked vehicle moving forward.Especially in such a quiet valley, the sound of the caterpillar was amplified.

Nan Jiang's face changed slightly, and he thought of another possibility.

He took off the walkie-talkie on his chest and started to contact another team, but amidst the noise of the car's engine, the other end of the walkie-talkie was quiet without any fluctuations.

Nan Jiang raised his hand to signal Tang Xun to stop.

Once the noise stopped, the valley became more and more unbelievably quiet.This time, Ming Xia also felt something was wrong.It stands to reason that the distance between the two groups is not far. At such a distance, the sound of the tracked vehicles should be able to hear each other, and the sound of shouting can also be heard-if they encounter any unexpected situation, they will definitely not There was no sound.

Qingqiu suddenly shouted, "Listen!"

Because of the quietness, this time Ming Xia also quickly noticed Qingqiu's voice signaling to them: the soft rustling sound, like a breeze blowing through a bamboo forest, it was the sound of light and small animals passing by in groups on the grass.

The voices came from all directions, gradually converging towards the direction where they were standing.

They were surrounded.

Ming Xia began to rejoice that he brought a longbow into the mountain this time.With a longbow, he can shoot at least two arrows at a time.For him, the bow is more practical than the crossbow when there are many enemies.

"Here we come." Nan Jiang quickly glanced at Ming Xia.

Considering the particularity of Jiumu Umeda, all members of their second team are equipped with special-performance net guns. The advantages and disadvantages of net guns are equally obvious: they are suitable for dealing with such groups of targets, but they have requirements for distance .Once the effective distance is exceeded, it may bring danger to oneself.

And Ming Xia's role is remote assistance.

The rustling sound became clearer and clearer, but in the blink of an eye, Merlin's distance was covered by a layer of earthy yellow.And this khaki wave is still approaching where they are.

Ming Xia climbed onto the roof of the driving car.

Under the existing conditions, this is the most suitable position for him.

Plum trees are generally not tall. Standing on the roof of the driving car, Ming Xia's upper body basically exceeds the general height of plum trees.However, looking further afield doesn't seem to be a good thing for him at the moment.

He saw the encirclement outside Merlin more clearly. There were so many Gu sculptures densely packed together. You were next to me, and I was next to you. The antler-like horns on their heads were also densely packed together. At a glance, it looked like A black and yellow undergrowth suddenly appeared from the bushy plum grove.

The vanguard of these ethnic groups is ready to move, as if waiting for their leader to blow the horn of attack.

Ming Xia's scalp felt numb.He thought of the criminal records of those Gu sculptures that his teammates had mentioned, and felt an urge to escape.

However, after experiencing the battle with the monster clan, he knows that in the situation of confrontation between monsters, the most applicable rule is: the brave wins when they meet on a narrow road.

Once you get short of breath, you lose.