Chapter 259: 175, this is a trap

“The trees moved?!”

“What’s going on?”

“What happened?”

“Retreat quickly!”

As soon as the tree cage formed, all the special trainees panicked.

They all ceased fighting.

Hurriedly, they widened the distance from the followers of the Divine Plant Cult.

With the greatest speed, they retreated to the position of instructor Lu Tianrong to seek shelter.

At the same moment.

Lin Zichen emerged from the bamboo building, but didn’t join the others right away.

Instead, his figure flashed, and he charged at those Divine Plant Cult followers attempting to retreat.

“Bang!”

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

“Bang! Bang!”

Only to hear six shots ring out in rapid succession.

The seven retreating Divine Plant Cult followers instantly fell, six of them, all shot in the head and killed.

Only the one with the highest Biological Level remained, shivering in place.

“Bang!”

Following that sound, the surviving member of the Divine Plant Cult also took a punch.

Knocked to the ground by a single punch, he curled up in agony and moaned painfully.

Lin Zichen shook the fresh blood off his fists and looked down from a superior position at the Divine Plant Cult follower, saying coldly, “Explain this tree cage, and I may spare your life.”

As he asked this, Lu Tianrong and the other special trainees came over.

They looked at the six headless bodies on the ground and the curled-up, painfully grimacing survivor, all completely taken aback.

In the blink of an eye, six Divine Plant Cult followers had been killed, and he specifically left one alive for questioning?

Lin Zichen’s strength was too powerful, even stronger than imagined.

He would probably even manage to hold his own in a fight against that still-unseen Sect Hierarch…

While others were shocked by Lin Zichen’s great strength,

Instructor Lu Tianrong was additionally astonished by Lin Zichen’s mindset.

When the incident occurred, as an instructor, he was somewhat unable to react right away, his mind going blank.

Whereas Lin Zichen, a special trainee, was able to make the best decision immediately.

He killed the Divine Plant Cult followers who wanted to escape and deliberately kept alive the one with the strongest power for questioning.

Keeping the strongest alive because those with power within the Cult might hold higher positions, know more information, which would be convenient for interrogation.

Powerful strength.

Unafraid in the face of danger.

A meticulous mind.

This genius from Shan University was truly remarkable…

Lu Tianrong highly appraised him in his heart.

Lin Zichen paid no mind to the shock of those around him.

Seeing that the Divine Plant Cult follower on the ground remained silent, he raised his leg and stomped down, a “crack” sound as he crushed the man’s right hand.

“Ahhh—”

The Divine Plant Cult follower let out a painful scream.

Lin Zichen said calmly, “Please explain what’s going on with these giant trees around us, or my next step will fall on your head.”

The Divine Plant Cult follower didn’t want to die and eventually chose to betray the organization, beginning to explain, “These giant trees are… Ahhh!”

The Divine Plant Cult follower had just started to speak, not even finishing a sentence, when his mouth suddenly emitted a tortured scream.

Then, numerous roots crawled out of his mouth, worming onto the ground like worms, quickly burrowing into the soil and drilling deeper.

Within a moment, the screaming ceased.

The Divine Plant Cult follower on the ground had no signs of life left.

His body was turned into nourishment for the roots, leaving only bones and skin.

All who witnessed this scene felt a chill in their hearts, their skin crawling.

“Clap! Clap! Clap…”

Suddenly, a series of loud applause came from a towering tree in front.

Lin Zichen followed the direction of the clapping.

Then, two masked figures caught his eyes.

One male, one female.

The female’s mask bore the pattern of a clover leaf.

The male’s mask displayed a twin-leaf clover pattern.

Lin Zichen had a thought and sensed the Biological Levels of the two masked figures.

The female masked figure was an Ordinary Ninth Order Grand Perfection, and if nothing unexpected happened, she should be the Sect Hierarch of the splinter group targeted in the mission.

The male masked figure’s Biological Level was extremely high, reaching High-Level Sixth Order, the same level as Instructor Lu Tianrong.

However, an Ordinary Ninth Order Grand Perfection combined with a High-Level Sixth Order did not surpass their combined strength on his side.

As long as nothing unexpected occurred, they were sure to win…

With that thought, Lin Zichen couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

At this moment, the male masked figure in the trees stopped clapping.

Looking down at Lin Zichen from his high vantage point, he said with an admiring tone, “Genius, a peerless genius unmatched among your peers.”

“Not even twenty years old, and your physical body is already so strong; it’s truly unheard of.”

“The prejudice the world has against the Pureblood Human Path may, indeed, be doomed to be broken by you.”

With that, the male masked figure extended an olive branch to Lin Zichen, “A genius of your caliber should join the Divine Plant Cult to gain a bright future and pursue higher echelons of life’s evolution.”

Upon hearing these words, Lin Zichen’s brow furrowed slightly.

He realized a terrible possibility.

The two masked figures in the tree might have come for him.

Knowing that he would appear here, they had specifically set a trap in advance.

What did this imply?

It meant there was either a traitor in the military zone or among the special training students present.

A mole had tipped off the masked figures, allowing them to set their trap in advance.

It also meant that he had been completely marked by the Divine Plant Cult!

There was no worse news than this…

Lin Zichen’s eyebrows knitted tightly together.

By his side, Lu Tianrong’s brows were equally furrowed.

He sensed the strength of the male masked figure and felt that trouble might be brewing.

Stabilizing his emotions slightly, he spoke seriously to everyone, “The situation is very dangerous right now. Everyone, leave this place quickly; I’ll hold off those two.”

“Follow me, everyone!”

Lin Zichen didn’t hesitate. Dropping those words, he turned and ran towards the direction of the bus.

With one enemy’s Biological Level reaching High-Level Sixth Order, the upcoming battle was not something an Ordinary Ninth Order student like him could get involved in.

Even if this Ordinary Ninth Order’s strength was extremely close to High-Level Third Rank in terms of quality, he was still not qualified to participate.

Staying would only add to Lu Tianrong’s troubles.

The right move was to quickly get out of this shadow-casting tree cage and then call for reinforcements.

“Let’s go!”

Seeing that some were still frozen in place, Lin Zichen immediately raised his voice and shouted loudly.

His shout was very loud.

The few who were stunned were immediately jolted awake.

After snapping back to reality, they quickly followed his lead and left.

“Think you can escape?”

The male masked figure laughed with a mocking look in his eyes.

He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

The next second!

Countless thick vines surged from the towering trees around them, winding towards the fleeing people like venomous snakes.

“Save me, I’m entangled!”

A cry for help from Shangguan Yueying came from the back of the group.

Hearing her voice, Lu Tianrong instantly appeared by Shangguan Yueying’s side and with a hand chop, he severed the vines, setting her free.

However, no sooner had he rescued Shangguan Yueying than a new cry for help arose, “Instructor, I’m entangled too!”

Just as Lu Tianrong was about to rush to save them, someone else shouted from another direction, “Instructor, save me!”

He saved one person, only for two more to get entangled.

There were too many vines.

Lu Tianrong simply couldn’t save them all.

So, he made a decisive decision to abandon the rescue and turned towards the male masked figure in the tree.

Then, a loud “bang” sounded!

His calves powered up fiercely, and his explosive force created a large pit in the ground; he shot towards the male masked figure in the tree in an instant.

The only way to break the deadlock now was to kill the male masked figure in the tree.

Once the male masked figure died, the vines around them would naturally lose their vitality, and everyone could be rescued.

…

PS: I’ve come down with a high fever; I can’t go on. This is just a short chapter for now, I’ll make it up tomorrow.