The three ents ran vigorously in the dense forest under the dark moonlight.
They shook left to right and jumped up and down. They had a flexibility that did not fit the sizes of their bodies.
During the journey, birds would get frightened by the ents’ movements and take off into the sky, chirping one wave after another.
Suddenly, when they were going through a lower pit, the ents skillfully swung their bodies up the high slope with their branches.
Their vision was suddenly blurred, and a new scene slowly emerged in front of them.
“Huh? This must be Lord Su Mo already waiting for your return!”
They were still about two kilometers away from the basin’s border. Under the night sky, several tall giants could be clearly seen in the distance.
They had massive bows and arrows that were longer than two meters hanging on their backs and held torches that were the size of a giant pillar. The sight was intimidating, as if an ancient god or demon stood before them.
Zhu Chuan, who had already seen such things before, could easily accept the scene, and he did not have much reaction to it.
Meanwhile, the other two ents, both Level 5, subconsciously trembled as they saw the giants that were much more massive than the ordinary weak humans.
“Don’t be nervous. These people are on our side!”
“Haha. The warriors must have returned after stabilizing the situation on the other side!”
Su Mo performed the whole play till the end.
Based on the information they deliberately used to hint at the ents and the help of the virtual reality camouflage, Sun Di did not leave any loopholes in the last moments of their plan. He stood up and comforted the other two ents, passionately acting out the final scene of his performance.
Hearing the intentional disclosure, Zhu Chuan immediately took the chance and followed up with a question.
“War?”
“Yes, it’s almost winter. The enemies that we have to face aren’t just the Light Empire and Demon clan, but there are also a number of hungry wolves coming from different directions.”
“These wolves have greedy appetites, and if you’re not careful enough, they will attack and bite off a few pieces of meat on you!” Sun Di pointed toward the direction of Great Mountain.
Sun Di’s expression was full of fear, but he tried to calm himself down as he continued to speak.
“It’s easy to let your guard down and not consider the other possibilities because the dense forest protects the ents.
“However, Elder Zhu Chuan. You’re the only one that I’m warning. You must be prepared to fight at any time to avoid becoming a…
“Sacrifice!”
Ba-dum!
Although Zhu Chuan was prepared, his heart still dropped when he heard Sun Di’s serious “warning”.
“Is it that serious?”
“Yes, according to the information we’ve collected. This group of hungry wolves isn’t from the same batch as us. Elder Zhu Chuan should know about them…”
Zhu Chuan was shocked when he heard the words.
“Are you saying they’re the survivors from the past…?”
“Yes. I don’t know what means they’ve used to survive, but that’s all the information we’ve been able to collect from what we’ve seen so far…
“These foreigners were able to survive through the previous batches. They are definitely much more ruthless in means, temperament, and the other incomprehensive powers they’ve shown. The consequences will be immeasurable if you’re targetted by them!”
In order to deceive another, it would not be effective to tell only lies since if the other party thought about it carefully, it would be easy to find dozens of logically contradicting facts.
The ents were not newbies on a new planet, and it would be a bad idea to bluff them with complete lies.
You would have to change your tactic and use 60% to 70% of truth and 30% to 40% of lies. The effectiveness would be much higher than the other method.
Especially with the scene displayed by the virtual reality, even if Zhu Chuan was still doubtful, in the current situation he could only mutter, “Is the Heavenly Court unable to defeat them?”
“We can’t do anything. Their strength isn’t at its peak right now and they won’t be our opponents in a direct attack, but they’re not stupid enough to rush toward us to die.
“Furthermore, they’ve various powers that we simply don’t understand yet. I’m sure Elder Zhu Chuan should be able to understand why we’re not in a rush to launch an attack.
“We’ve already prepared in advance to stay hidden. We would’ve taken severe damage if we were spread out like the ents.”
Zhu Chuan and the two ents’ footsteps were much slower than when they started the journey.
Despite the shock in their hearts during the conversion, the two-kilometer journey had come to an end.
Seeing that giant nodded slightly, no matter how many questions Zhu Chuan had in his heart, he could only instruct the other ents to lean down and put the five people down.
“In short, we haven’t clearly understood the matter and aren’t sure where these people came from, so everything is highly confidential right now.
“I’m only telling Elder Zhu Chua because you’ve been a great help to us. We’re not the type to be ungrateful, so we wanted to reciprocate your help.
“Please keep it a secret for us. Otherwise, chaos will definitely break out if too many learned about it!”
Zhu Chuan nodded quickly. “Of course, I understand, Lord Su Mo and Mr. Sun! Thank you for informing me!”
Full of worry, Zhu Chuan took out the plants he had packed and the several ordinary seeds he had bought. He watched as the giant easily picked them up and carried them on his back.
Zhu Chuan’s heart was uneasy as he took two steps back and forced out a smile to bid them farewell again before he rushed back to the ents’ territory.
On a typical day, with the strength of a Level 6 and 2 Level 5 ents, they would not be afraid of an invasion of outsiders in their own territory.
However, no matter how brave Zhu Chuan was, he subconsciously speeded up his pace after hearing Sun Di’s close to “intimidating” reminder.
Compared to their journey to the basin, they traveled back much faster.
They disappeared into the dense jungle incredibly fast in less than a minute.
“Ah? Did I do too much and scare them with my act?”
Sun Di scratched the back of his head and walked in with a silly smile as he glanced at Su Mo, who was already talking to the giant inside the territory.
He stepped inside, and the illusion flashed. There was no longer any trace of a giant warrior on the ground.
There was only the small single-arm excavator, King Kong that had flames burning inside its shovel, as well as the ecstatic leadership and a few militiamen!
“Well done, Sun Di! I think that coward was terrified!”
“Right? They were running so fast. They probably won’t be able to sleep well tonight! I’m dying from laughing!”
“What a complete waste of their huge figure! I didn’t expect them to be so cowardly. Even a half-year-old kid in our village has more guts than them!”
“Compared to our shelter leader who went into the tiger’s den, these ents are afraid even in their own territory. I’m worried about how they will fight when the war breaks out.”
“Our shelter leader is not like anybody else! Do you know that in New World…”
This was the basin’s first official mission.
In the villagers’ hearts, as long as the group of five returned safely, then the mission was considered a great success.
After hearing the news, everyone was excited to express their opinion on the matter, from ridiculing the ents to prospects for the future and eventually their praises for Su Mo.
Su Mo knew the people’s hearts and allowed them to rejoice for a while.
Su Mo coughed lightly and interrupted them. “Okay, okay. It’s getting late, don’t stand here and celebrate. Everyone should go home quickly. We will also return now.”
“Hurry back! Starting tomorrow, we’ve got a tough battle to fight!”
“Okay!!!”
As soon as the crowd noticed the smile disappear on Su Mo’s face, everyone understood and stopped.
They carried on with their tasks. Some went through the items, and some cleaned up the traces.
After a while, the plants that were brought back from the ent’s territory were loaded into the truck and took off.
On the other side, Earth Tiger’s engines started.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Su Mo finally relaxed and enjoyed the scenery that passed by him.
“Shelter leader, how’s the city of the ents compared to… the Demon clan’s Freedom City?”
Everyone riding in Earth Tiger was loyal to Su Mo.
Su Mo paused as he saw Chen Shen, who turned his head curiously to him while driving, and decided not to hide it from these people.
“The city of the ents is called Thousand Trees King City. It’s not comparable to the Demon clan’s Freedom City. After all, they are different life forms that cannot be equally compared.
“However, I can guarantee that if the two were to fight head-on, the chance of the ents winning is higher than 90%.”
Chen Shen was surprised. “Are they that strong?”
Su Mo shook his head.
“No, it’s not that they were stronger, but their location gives them a geographical advantage!
“This is an advantage that belongs solely to the ents, and it’s not something that can be learned!”
Based on his memory, Su Mo described the plants, their functions, and the environment and surroundings of the Thousand Trees King City to them.
The magical land flower could be used to improve the fertility of the land and the special properties of the rafflesia flowers.
The discovery that the ents were recruiting humans into their territory.
Su Mo did not hide anything.
As if they physically experienced the mission themselves, everyone on the Earth Tiger nodded excitedly for a while and pictured it in their minds.
It was not until Su Mo finished speaking that Li Hu, who was seated in the backseat, asked tentatively, “Shelter leader, according to what you said, we should put the mutated plants to good use and make the ents dependant on them, so that when the time comes…”
“When the time comes, we can make the plants paralyzed at a critical moment. This will make the ents pigs and sheep waiting to be slaughtered, and their fate will be in our hands!” Pei Shao, who was beside him also chipped in his thoughts.
“Ha!”
Hearing that the two’s thoughts coincided with his own, Su Mo smiled then shrugged his shoulders calmly.
“We’ll see how it goes. I’ll definitely do so if the situation gets to that point in the future!
“Right now, the biggest problem is how to induce these plants to work effectively.”
After speaking, Su Mo realized that his words ruined the enthusiasm of everyone.
“Don’t worry though! We can research a thing or two during the long winter!” he quickly added.
“It’ll only take a short period for us to gain experience if we can cultivate the land flower and rafflesia! The ents will have nothing to be arrogant about, and we can totally suppress them with our resources and economic operations!
“Moreover, when we solve our food shortage crisis, we’ll have enough room to recruit even ten thousand people, let alone recruit one or three thousand people or three to five thousand people!”
“Ha…”
Hearing Su Mo’s rhetorical statement, everyone in the car could not help but suck in a deep breath.
When you were not the head, you would never understand how expensive food was.
There were currently more than 1,000 people in the basin, and the material consumption these days was exorbitant.
The basin’s problem could be solved if the number of people multiplied by ten times…
“This is an opportunity. Whether we can seize it or not depends on our subsequent performance.”
Su Mo interrupted their imminent fantasy and surmised a conclusion.
His tone changed. “Now that we’ve reached an alliance with the ents, tomorrow’s plan to conquer Black Stone Base Camp must succeed no matter what!”
“By the way, what’s the progress on the information I asked you to collect?”
Li Hu hurriedly took out a piece of paper when Su Mo asked the question.
“It’s done! We’ve already figured out the dwarves’ route and schedule for transporting coal.”
“Fantastic!”
Su Mo took the paper that Li Hu handed over and turned on the lights at the front seats of Earth Tiger. He took advantage of the long journey home and started to read the note carefully.
The plan to conquer Black Stone Base Camp was not difficult, whether they used force or curtain tactics with the current state of the basin.
At most, it would cost some time and resources to achieve their goal easily and make a fool of the dwarves.
However, there was a condition that they could not allow the ents to participate!
Having their so-called “ally” participate in the Black Stone Base Camp attack would significantly constrain the basin as they had to maintain a strong impression of the Heavenly Court to the ents.
First of all, they would have to take down the base camp effortlessly at the speed of light if they decided to conquer them by force.
Any slight hesitation would arouse their ally’s suspicion.
Secondly, if they outsmarted them, they would also have to let the dwarves fall into the trap effortlessly.
Otherwise, the alliance relationship that had just entered the honeymoon phase was bound to crack because of distrust!
‘The number of defending guards in the dwarf camp is about 500, plus the city defense forces whose strength we’re still clueless about. It would be extremely hard to conquer by force!’
Su Mo looked up and down at the defense forces and gave up the idea of a direct attack immediately.
Su Mo changed his chain of thought and continued to think of another plan.
‘The dwarves transport coal to their territory twice a day.
‘The transporting schedule is around twelve noon and four in the afternoon. There will be some inconsistency, but the difference does not exceed half an hour.”
‘The transporters are divided into two shifts. There are four captains in total, and they rotate shifts. There’s currently no specific rotation, and it’s highly likely to be a random selection.
‘The transportation group consists of one captain, one deputy captain, and thirty team members…
‘Two teams per shift, one team’s trucks are loaded with stones while the other is loaded with coal. God, what kind of weird tricks are they playing?!’
It could be seen from various data that after the last sudden interception, the dwarves’ vigilance had improved greatly.
The two teams would go together and in different directions, which made it difficult for the basin to kill both teams simultaneously.
Once they realized that someone had invaded, it would be easy for them to close the city gates and recreate the previous drama.
Su Mo thoughtfully looked through the data again and asked softly, “What’s the update on the identities of these defenders in the city?”
“Because of that eye, we could not direct the distribution of the dust inside the city, so we could only hastily collect them when they left the city,” Pei Shao replied.
“We currently have information on the dwarves that did the physical work, but the captains moved really fast on their mounts, so we only managed to collect…one!”
Not good news, but not bad news either.
After listening to Pei Shao’s description of the difficulty of collecting information, Su Mo remained silent and lay down halfway, closed his eyes, and started to think.
They could simply use a disguise technique and seamlessly replace the dwarves if they had information on all the captains. They would be indistinguishable and it would be absolutely hard to take notice of them.
However, if they were to take action and could not stop a captain from warning others of an attack, it was bound to cause a chain reaction.
‘We can only try to fight! We should have a high success rate with the firepower of the ents to distract them.’
It was hard to do anything without taking any risks in the doomsday wasteland.
Su Mo was afraid there would be a decrease in population. He wanted to pursue ultimate perfection in everything to ensure that there would be no mistakes.
However, despite his wishes, there would always be some unexpected situations.
After realizing that there was a problem with his own thinking, Su Mo took a deep breath and quickly changed his mind!
‘We have information about the dwarves in charge of the transportation. I could import the information and create templates.
‘Then, I’ll have the previously qualified villagers equip the templates, and then we can disguise ourselves and replace the transportation dwarves on duty.
‘The remaining three captains that we’ve not collected information are not really a big problem either.
‘As long as we can subdue the opponents immediately or kill them instantly, we can proceed with our plan without worrying.’
“Chen Shen, go back and select 60 people from those that we screened last time. Make sure they have high loyalty to the basin. We can’t allow for any mistakes!
“Li Hu will be the captain of this operation. You will lead our team into the city and bunker down there for our follow-up plan.
“The others will be responsible for coordinating from the outside. Remember, we can’t allow the ents to figure out our plan and capabilities. We need them to be confused and deceived into thinking that we completed the tasks without difficulty!
“Is everyone clear?”
Everyone replied in unison, “Yes!”
Compared to the mission to the ents’ territory, the plan to conquer Black Stone Camp was easy.
They had Su Deben, the “cunning fox” who had been secretly planning for a long time, and they encountered very few major problems.
There were only minor details that they had to pay attention to.
“We have to act fast, and as long as the start of our plan goes smoothly, with the IQ of these dwarves, they’ll never find out what went wrong.
“By the time they react, the basin will have already collected enough coal for the winter!
“As long as we can get through the winter, with our current state, we won’t have to worry about achieving great things!”
