Armed Train in the Apocalypse

The Traveler’s Tree was babbling about its own advantages.

Su Huan listened while cross-checking the information, and unexpectedly heard something different.

”What is a Clan?”

This time the Traveler’s Tree did not answer, merely remaining silent.

Su Huan didn’t urge, chewing on a Banyan Fruit, when he finished he pulled another one from the branches beneath him. This thing was sweet, with a slightly sour taste, high in energy, and very filling, but it could irritate flesh and blood, so it couldn’t be eaten when there were wounds, or it could cause severe bleeding.

Until he finished eating an entire branch of Banyan Fruits, a squirrel the size of a basin came running from afar, with its two small paws clinging to its chest, glaring warily at Su Huan in the tree.

Its ears twitched, and with its paws hugging the trunk, it climbed swiftly, standing before Su Huan in the blink of an eye.

Its big tail flared out behind it, resembling a pine cone.

But no matter how you looked at it, it had a blustering appearance with a cowardly core.

Su Huan bared his teeth, scaring the big squirrel into scrambling and rolling directly behind the banyan tree.

Su Huan said speechlessly, ”Is this your pet?”

The Traveler’s Tree replied, ”Not just one, but an entire group. It’s the leader and the strongest among them; usually, it can help me with some small tasks, and in return, I can provide them with some protection.”

Su Huan mused upon hearing this, reconsidering this ability. If it was just one Tier One squirrel, then this ability wasn’t of much use, but if it was an entire group, there were many ways to utilize it.

”So, they all live within the vicinity of your aura?”

”Yes, their nests are near my aura, but they carry my scent, so occasionally going out doesn’t lead to attacks by other plants.”

Su Huan’s eyes lit up, ”How long can your scent last?”

”Three kilometers is just my core aura, the general aura extends about eight kilometers, ten kilometers is probably the limit, beyond this distance, my scent would dissipate.”

”Clap!”

Su Huan slapped the trunk, ”Why didn’t you say it earlier!”

Earlier he was calculating how many Traveler’s Trees he would need to cover a few hundred kilometers corridor if it could only encompass three kilometers. Who knew if there were even that many Traveler’s Trees in the entire Plant Zone.

It seemed that the Traveler’s Tree established a symbiotic relationship with the Evolution Beast through this kind of protection.

So the Clan doesn’t necessarily have to be squirrels, right?

Kangaroos would work too, right?

If kangaroos can work, then why can’t humans be part of the Clan?

As for the eight to ten kilometers range where the aura is weak, that’s not a problem at all. He only promised Longxi High-speed Rail to create a relatively safe corridor, not an absolutely safe one.

If they can’t bear a little risk and still want to do business?

Might as well go home to nurse kids.

With that in mind, Su Huan directly asked, ”Let’s discuss something, can you fix at a position and help shelter some people for me?”

The Traveler’s Tree understood that ”people” referred to the group represented by this Tier Four creature in front of it.

Does such a group still need protection from a little Tier Two tree?

”What, you’re unwilling?”

Seeing the hesitation, Su Huan raised an eyebrow.

Feeling the faintly joyous energy around, the Traveler’s Tree hurriedly replied, ”I am very willing to help you, but my Clan suffered heavy losses yesterday, I need some time to cultivate again...”

Su Huan generously said, ”As long as you go, we’ll provide you with resources; anything within the Plant Zone, I can find for you.”

Hearing this, the Traveler’s Tree could only comply, ”So where is this location?”

Su Huan pointed in the direction of the Armed Train, ”About twelve kilometers that way.”

The Traveler’s Tree looked in the direction and was dumbfounded; wasn’t that the direction it ran from last night?

After finally running away overnight, now it had to climb back today?

”...My Life Force isn’t enough to sustain a trip that far.”

”Can’t or won’t?”

The Traveler’s Tree urgently replied, ”Truly can’t, even at my peak I can’t run ten kilometers, not to mention the energy lost yesterday.”

”How long to recover?”

”At least ten days...”

Su Huan, feeling a bit frustrated, pinched the bridge of his nose, finally settling one, and now couldn’t even pull it over.

Besides, this was already the strongest nearby, if they had to switch to a Tier One, it would be even harder to manage.

Might even take longer to recover.

Had he known this, he would have captured them last night.

But it’s pointless to say that now, what was he going to do, waste another ten days?

While Su Huan pondered, the Traveler’s Tree extended another branch, with a peculiar ”Banyan Fruit” hanging on it.

”Perhaps you could take my seed back.”

It was a pink fruit, the size of a basketball, carrying a rich fragrance.

Su Huan paused, considering this method wasn’t bad either.

Given the Traveler’s Tree’s mobility, relying on migration wasn’t very reliable. If they had seeds, they could set the route at will.

”How long to grow a Traveler’s Tree sufficient to generate an aura?”

”About a month, enough to protect a few hundred meters of range. At this stage, the Traveler’s Tree is very fragile and needs protection from the Clan, but with you, it wouldn’t be a problem. More resources could also shorten the time.”

”What are the growth conditions?”

”High-density energy, water, sunlight, fertile and vibrant land.”

Su Huan carefully grasped the concepts conveyed by the Traveler’s Tree, which were not simple words but compressed memory segments akin to compressed files. Since he wasn’t accustomed to this communication method, it took some time to decompress and read.

After a moment, he understood.

A month’s growth time seems much longer than the ten days recovery period, but Su Huan can plant as many Traveler’s Trees as possible at once since his movement isn’t limited.

Plus, they could use abundant resources to reduce the Traveler’s Tree’s growth time.

Overall, planting seeds was more time-efficient.

”How many seeds do you have left?”

”Only three; they grew when I advanced.”

The Traveler’s Tree handed the other two over.

Su Huan plucked them off with a gesture, tapping the trunk, ”From now on, you’ve got my protection, next time I’ll bring you some good stuff.”

As his words fell, Su Huan’s body vanished from the trunk.

Seeing him leave, both the Traveler’s Tree and the Tier One squirrel simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. Just halfway through, they saw the tall figure reappear, and both the tree and the squirrel froze, standing bolt upright.

Su Huan came back, picking Banyan Fruits by the handfuls, saying as he did:

”Your Banyan Fruit is pretty tasty, don’t be so stingy, I promise I’ll bring you good things next time.”

The Traveler’s Tree, intimidated by his tyranny, dared not voice its anger, only watching helplessly as Su Huan stripped its canopy bare.

Luckily, these Banyan Fruits only wasted some energy and didn’t affect the fundamentals, just considered it sending off the deity.

Returning to the train, Su Huan didn’t hurry to plant but took a large bag out again.

Searching door to door according to marked locations.

In total six to seven markers, four of them other mutated plants, only two were Tier One Traveler’s Trees. This time Su Huan didn’t bother with words, going straight to force them, either comply or perish.

Fortunately, Traveler’s Trees, naturally desiring life more than others, agreed without much hesitation.

Each offered a seed and several Banyan Fruits.

And consented to migrate to the spot Su Huan designated.

Were it not for the inability to carry these things while flying, Su Huan would’ve dragged them over himself. The Cultivation Pod could be moved, but it wasn’t feasible to repeatedly dismantle the valuable Crown Pear Tree for this.

Although he was no longer in a life crisis, having traveled through so many territories, there was only one Crown Pear Tree that could replenish Life Force; its value even surpassed the train itself.

A Tier One Traveler’s Tree’s coverage was half as much; the core area only a mere eight hundred meters.

Meaning two Tier Ones and one Tier Two together could protect a twenty-kilometer route.