[1] Genius Mechanic

Chapter 8

Vine whip

At this moment, a sudden strong wind swept through the forest.

Ying Chenlin suddenly felt a sense of crisis coming from behind him. He instinctively collected the entire body of the high-level fang rat and took a step back. The ground beside him was cracked open, and a massive green, thorny, vine-like object emerged from deep within the forest.

Due to the sudden turn of events, the people around him only reacted later, looking towards that thing.

It was a mutated giant vine, with thorny spikes growing on its green stems. It burst out from the forest with incredible speed, bringing gusts of wind. It pounded the ground, causing it to crack open in several places, but the vine retreated back into the ground a few seconds later and loomed over several mecha from above.

The mecha visual displays warned of severe pollution levels, and the red display indicated that the pollution value of this mutated vine was as high as 3500!

Nick was left in shock. "A pollution level of 3500? What kind of monster is this?"

The vine didn't give them time to react. It quickly assessed the situation and charged towards Ying Chenlin's mech. He barely dodged the vine's attack, and the ground next to him was cracked again.

"In the woods!" Nick shouted.

Ying Chenlin, having avoided the vine's assault, looked in the direction Nick had pointed. He saw several more vines emerging from the dark forest, coming straight towards them.

These things seemed to have emerged from deep within the pollution zone, and it was clear that their roots were not here. They appeared to have chased something from deep within.

Ying Chenlin immediately thought of the recent rat swarm. It was likely that these creatures were the real reason the rats had fled from the periphery.

The attack had come suddenly, and Nick and the others had not reacted in time. They were thrown against a building in the back by the vine, and their mecha immediately displayed damage warnings.

"Are you guys okay?" Ying Chenlin asked.

Nick replied with difficulty, "This thing hits like a truck. The front armor of my mech is damaged!"

Ying Chenlin's expression tightened. The creature's attacks were extremely powerful, on a different level from the high-level fang rats they had just encountered. With his current mech, he was unlikely to withstand three more attacks from the vine.

He quickly assessed the remaining energy in his mech.

This was getting tricky. While he could handle it alone, there were three mecha with dwindling energy levels beside him. The remaining energy was only sufficient for half an hour of full-on offense or defense.

Just as Ying Chenlin was contemplating how to proceed, a stranger's voice suddenly came over the distress channel, quick and stern: "Mecha JD1456, fall back."

Without hesitation, a beam of energy from behind Ying Chenlin shot over him and struck the vine right in front.

Ying Chenlin immediately seized the opportunity, using his railgun to control the vine, which couldn't retreat. It absorbed two railgun shots.

"At twelve o'clock," the voice on the distress channel sounded again.

Ying Chenlin activated his energy blade and struck the vine that was controlled, then immediately ordered, "Continue."

The man in the distance wearing a grey mech had stopped atop an abandoned building in the Banute Deep Zone. The area around him was covered in overgrown vegetation, and he switched weapons, raising his sniper rifle while watching a battle scene unfold in the forest through his scope.