Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 1464 - 719: Overwhelming Advance

The two sides exchanged information.

Their world tree had indeed fallen, almost swept aside with ease.

Those ground vehicles, akin to tanks, were unstoppable by any means.

Even under the onslaught of nuclear weapons, those vehicles remained unscathed, steadily advancing towards the world tree.

However, their only drawback was their lack of power.

The speed was truly too slow.

At a speed of twenty to thirty kilometers per hour, it was similar to that of small electric vehicles.

Additionally, the relentless bombing by Ji Chaoyang and his team turned the once relatively flat jungle into a crater-ridden, rugged terrain, further limiting the speed of these vehicles.

Consequently, the task of those controlling the weapons within the world tree shifted from bombing the vehicles to bombing the ground that the vehicles were about to pass through.

"Using nuclear weapons purely to alter the terrain, you guys are... really smart!" Zeng Tao clapped her small hands, tilted her head back, and laughed, "Did you use my technology?"

"Well, for longer distances, we’re using the large nukes you developed," Ma Hongwei explained, "and within fifty kilometers, we’re using small nukes."

This situation persisted for four or five hours.

Because even their most powerful weapon, the nukes, caused no harm to the vehicles, Ji Chaoyang and his team began evacuating the people inside the world tree early on.

Although the vehicles were slow, they would eventually reach this side.

Instead of scrambling when they arrived, it was better to take action first.

So, they had already relocated the majority of the thousands of people to this sea-borne world tree.

Only a group of people controlling the weapons remained inside the world tree.

When the vehicles approached within ten kilometers of the world tree, they stopped their attack.

Because at such a close distance, continuing to use nuclear weapons, even the small ones, would impact the world tree here!

Although they had released countless nuclear bombs, turning the surroundings of the world tree into a defensive outpost with a thick gray fog hanging over the sky, at least the world tree’s edge remained unaffected by radiation.

However, if nuclear weapons were used at close range, there would indeed be an impact.

"So, at that time, did you abandon the world tree and retreat entirely to this island?" Wen Guixin said, "That’s a rather wise choice... But that means you didn’t see the world tree being destroyed."

"Of course not." Qi Xuefei gently shook her head, "Don’t forget, around our world tree, there is still the last line of defense, and..."

There was also a giant insect that, for some unknown reason, came to help them.

That giant insect had already started reproducing when the vehicles appeared.

The Insect Mother’s reproductive ability was truly astonishing to those within the world tree.

Every minute, countless insects of various shapes crawled out from beneath the Insect Mother.

When these insects crawled out, they were still covered in mucus, clearly newborn "little insects."

The so-called "little insects" were only small compared to the mountain-like Insect Mother.

In reality, each one was as massive as a ground beast.

Some were even larger, with body heights of three to four meters not being unheard of.

These insects, as soon as they were born, were very... disciplined.

The insect swarm grew larger and larger, yet they showed no signs of spreading outward to attack, but instead gathered around the Insect Mother.

Their numbers kept increasing, until there were countless giant insects, densely packed.

As the Insect Mother reproduced, its form was gradually withering.

Yes, withering.

Its body seemed to be hollowed out from the inside, slowly collapsing.

Eventually, most of its body was entirely hollowed out, becoming an insect skin membrane lying limp on the ground.

Although it was just an insect skin membrane, because it was the skin of this giant insect, the "membrane" had a thickness of two to three meters.

This scene caused quite a shock to those within the world tree at the time.

They thought that this giant, protective Insect Mother had died just like that.

"I’ve heard that most insects die after reproduction. Could this giant insect be the same..."

"No way? It’s so big and strong..."

This was basically what everyone inside the world tree thought at the time.

However, the final outcome surprised them even more.

Because as the giant insect’s body withered, it wasn’t dead, it was...

Shedding its skin.

When the entire giant insect ceased reproducing, a much smaller, elongated giant insect emerged from the already withered insect skin.

At this point, it resembled its previous form but had shrunk to a length of just... a few hundred meters.

Even at a few hundred meters long, although still astonishingly long, one must remember, before breeding the little insects, it could completely encircle the Crystal City!

Its length at the time exceeded twenty kilometers, over twenty thousand meters!

After breeding and shedding, it was now less than a few hundred meters.

Its thickness also reduced by half, with a height of only about thirty meters.

Of course, even as a smaller version, it was still the second largest giant beast they had encountered.

The largest giant beast was the Insect Mother before it shrunk.

"Perhaps, that is its normal size," Xu Xin suddenly said, "We’ve seen this Insect Mother in the underground world."