The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH170

Chapter 170 — Devil Vine

After the entire team reached an agreement, the sled convoy adjusted its direction once again. They packed up everything from their temporary campsite, climbed back onto their sleds, and continued toward their destination.

The snowy landscape ahead still looked mostly flat, with only slight rises and dips here and there.

As they drove forward, turning around a taller snow mound, Zhang Su’s voice suddenly came through the walkie-talkie.

“There’s movement ahead.”

“Movement? What kind?”

“Not sure. But it’s probably alive.”

Alive?!

Ever since leaving the base, Zhang Su had continuously used his wind ability to spread ahead of the convoy, probing the road through feedback carried by the air currents.

But honestly—

In this frozen world, that method was almost useless.

There were indeed zombies out in the wilderness, but most remained buried beneath the snow. Usually, only when the sleds passed close enough for vibrations to travel through the snow would they slowly crawl out.

And Zhang Su’s wind could only investigate what was exposed above the surface. It was nearly useless against things hidden under the snow unless the entire snow layer melted away.

Still, despite knowing Zhang Su’s scouting ability wasn’t ideal for current conditions, Luo Xun insisted on maintaining constant surveillance for safety reasons.

Which was exactly why they detected something now.

“Up ahead. About seven or eight hundred meters past that snow slope,” Zhang Su said.

Luo Xun slowed down until his sled aligned with Zhang Su’s vehicle. Looking toward the indicated direction, his brows immediately furrowed.

That was exactly where they were headed.

Judging by distance and travel time, they were already very close to their destination.

“What could it be?” Luo Xun asked uneasily. “Can you estimate its size or numbers?”

Zhang Su closed his eyes again.

Wind swirled around him before streaming forward.

After five or six minutes, he finally reopened his eyes.

“It’s big… doesn’t seem like zombies. Only one creature. But something’s attacking it. I can’t tell what.”

After brief discussion, the convoy cautiously advanced toward the snow hill.

They had no intention of rushing directly into some unknown battle.

But hiding behind cover to observe from a distance? That should be manageable.

The sleds carefully approached the far side of the hill. After confirming the mound concealed a cluster of low buildings, everyone parked and quietly climbed onto the rooftops.

The moment they reached the top, they saw the battlefield Zhang Su mentioned.

Some kind of mutated animal was fighting desperately against something unseen.

The creature was fairly large, but because its back faced them and it seemed pinned to the ground, thrashing violently, nobody could identify what kind of animal it originally was.

The surrounding snow had been torn apart during its struggle, exposing whatever lay beneath. But the distance was too great for them to see clearly.

Luo Xun lifted his binoculars and stared carefully.

Then his expression changed drastically.

“Mutated plants! Offensive mutated plants—Devil Vines!”

“What?”

“Mutated plants?”

“Plants? Something can survive in weather this cold?!”

Everyone focused on different parts of the statement, but one thing became very clear—

Their target area already contained mutated plants.

And if mutated plants existed here…

Were the surrounding farmlands still safe?

Luo Xun immediately pulled out the hand-drawn map they’d brought.

Their target building—the experimental laboratory—was clearly marked right in the center of eight separate fields.

And now one of those fields already contained Devil Vines.

Those were mutated plants. The farmland plots weren’t exactly close together either. If the vines had spread beyond their original fields…

Who knew how far they’d reached?

“This bad?” Yan Fei quietly asked after noticing Luo Xun’s grim expression.

Luo Xun nodded slowly.

“Once these things catch prey, they never let go… and they’re resistant to fire.”

These plants were among the most troublesome mutated plants in the apocalypse.

Worse still—

They were relatively common.

Devil Vines looked almost like the monstrous tentacles from horror fiction, except far more dangerous.

Their vines were dark brown-black, covered with sharp spikes and blood-sucking suction cups. These suction cups lined the entire plant, intertwined with the spikes.

Anything caught by them rarely escaped alive.

Even worse, Devil Vines were incredibly durable and full of moisture, making them highly resistant to fire.

Even if flames burned through parts of them, the immense water content prevented large fires from spreading. And these plants possessed primitive survival instincts—when burned, they actually used their own vines to extinguish flames.

Of course, isolated Devil Vines weren’t too difficult to deal with.

But they almost never grew alone.

They spread in clusters.

Anyone unlucky enough to wander into one of those patches…

Would never return alive.

“Brother Luo, what did these things mutate from?” He Qiankun asked curiously.

Luo Xun’s expression darkened further as he pointed toward the dying animal ahead.

“That’s farmland.”

“Huh?!”

Zhang Su laughed suddenly.

“Isn’t it obvious? What grows in farmland? Crops.”

These Devil Vines were mutated grain crops.

The reason Luo Xun recognized them instantly was because they evolved from rice, wheat, and similar plants.

In his previous life, these things occasionally appeared in the base’s agricultural zones, ruining entire fields.

Fortunately, they usually grew sparsely and were often destroyed before fully maturing. Immature Devil Vines hadn’t yet developed suction cups, making them much less dangerous.

Luo Xun had seen them several times before.

But things outside the base were completely different.

Some farmland had never been planted before the apocalypse, while other crops simply died from neglect after mutation.

But once huge agricultural areas became infested…

“Well… can we still go in?” someone asked nervously.

They came here specifically for the experimental facility.

But if the laboratory was blocked by those plants…

Luo Xun had just begun estimating the farmland’s size when the mutated animal finally stopped moving.

Then the vines began feeding.

The process was horrifyingly efficient.

The vines tore apart the corpse with terrifying speed, ripping away chunks of flesh like professional surgeons dissecting a body.

Within less than half an hour, the creature vanished completely.

Not even bones remained.

Then the disturbed snowfield suddenly began writhing.

Snow from surrounding areas flowed back in waves, gradually covering everything beneath it until the entire area looked completely normal once more.

As though nothing had ever happened there.

Everyone stared in stunned silence.

Then all together, they sucked in cold breaths.

“…Are we still going?”

“My god… from now on we absolutely can’t cut across flat-looking areas. Who knows what’s hidden underneath?”

Luo Xun nodded grimly.

Whenever they traveled, they usually stuck to roads because he already knew the wilderness likely concealed far worse dangers.

But even he couldn’t always determine whether they’d strayed off course.

And now…

“We’re still going to the factory,” Luo Xun said after a deep breath. “But before that, we need to estimate the full area occupied by these mutated plants. Otherwise someday we might accidentally walk straight into a minefield.”

“How do we estimate it? Isn’t it marked on the map?” everyone asked.

Luo Xun pointed around them.

“The experimental field isn’t the only farmland nearby. There are lots of surrounding fields too.”

Experimental farms were naturally built in areas suitable for agriculture. Usually they were simply sections carved out from existing village farmland for universities and researchers to use.

So although the experimental zone itself only consisted of around eight small plots, the surrounding region contained much larger ordinary farmland stretching along both sides of the roads.

Their job now was determining exactly how many fields contained mutated plants.

After all, the snow hadn’t melted yet.

Everything looked uniformly white.

If they accidentally stepped into one of those fields while leaving…

Nobody would survive.

Fortunately, while the task sounded complicated, the actual method was simple.

Just exhausting.

Luo Xun had detailed maps copied from computer data before they left the base.

The group used ranged attacks—crossbows, stones, and long-distance abilities—to provoke the fields from safe distances.

Devil Vines were terrifying once someone became trapped within their range.

But once their territory was known, avoiding them was easy.

After all, these plants couldn’t move from their rooted positions. As long as you stayed outside their attack range, they could only wave their vines uselessly at you.

At the same time, Devil Vines were extremely aggressive.

Even tiny disturbances triggered attacks.

So by throwing stones or firing projectiles into the fields, they could quickly map the vines’ territory.

Compared to mutated plants that stayed hidden until prey fully entered their kill zones before striking suddenly, Devil Vines were actually much safer.

Other mutated plants often had weaknesses like fragile bodies, fire vulnerability, or easily severed stems.

In the end, although humanity’s chances of survival grew slimmer and slimmer after the apocalypse…

As long as people remained cautious enough,

There was always still a path to survive.

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