Chapter 237 The Bloodthirsty Vine That Devoured the Helicopter

North America, New Washington Fortress City.

Inside the Americas command center of "Global Heavy Industries," a piercing red alarm was echoing wildly in the spacious circular hall.

"Reporting, sir! The 'Viper' elite squad, which infiltrated the A-04 area of ​​the Amazon rainforest, has had all 55 members' vital signs deteriorate to zero within three minutes! All members are wiped out!"

An intelligence officer, sweating profusely, stared at the holographic screen, his hands flying across the keyboard as he tried to retrieve the last tactical footage. "The signal jamming was extremely severe; the last audio transmitted was only screams and... some kind of broken human language?"

"All killed? That's impossible!"

The supervisor in charge of the area abruptly stood up, his face ashen. That was a heavily armed squad equipped with the latest second-generation runic exoskeletons! Even if they couldn't win, at least a few should have escaped. How could they have been wiped out as a whole in three minutes?

"Immediately dispatch the 'Raptor' Army Aviation Squadron closest to Area A-04 to conduct reconnaissance! We need to find them alive or dead! And bring back the exoskeleton data cassettes they were carrying!" the supervisor roared as he issued the order.

This is not just a matter of fifty lives; it's also about face and extremely expensive equipment assets.

……

Fifteen minutes later.

Above the edge of the Amazon rainforest, three Night Owl-class psionic attack helicopters, arranged in a triangular formation, tore through the clouds and sped into this green-covered forbidden zone of life.

These are no ordinary helicopters from the old era. Their rotor blades are coated with a layer of sharp black steel, and beneath the fuselage, in addition to conventional armor-piercing missiles, two robust psionic Gatling guns are welded in place. A faint blue aura emanates from the fuselage surface, giving them far superior maneuverability in the air compared to helicopters of the old era.

"Attention all aircraft, we are about to enter the A-04 signal loss area. Descend to 800 meters and activate dual infrared and psionic scanning."

The lead pilot, "Eagle," coldly issued instructions over the radio.

He was a battle-hardened ace pilot. In the past year, he had piloted this steel behemoth, annihilating countless flying monsters attempting to take flight. In the subconscious of humanity, whoever controls the air has the right to be at the mercy of the reptiles and beasts on the ground.

The three helicopters slowly descended to a lower altitude.

The rainforest below resembled an endless green ocean, exuding a heavy humidity and a nauseating stench of decay.

"The radar shows a large amount of heat activity below, but the psionic fluctuations are very weak, unlike high-level demonic beasts," the wingman pilot reported.

"Be careful, this place has a sinister vibe."

Eagle frowned. Through the bulletproof glass, he vaguely sensed that the rainforest below seemed different than before.

It's too quiet.

The usual noisy flocks of mutated birds and the cries of monkeys had all vanished. The entire rainforest resembled a gigantic monster holding its breath, its jaws agape.

"Sir! Exoskeleton remains of the 'Viper' team have been spotted at nine o'clock! And... God, what's that?!"

The observer's voice suddenly changed due to extreme terror.

Eagle jerked the control stick, directing the helicopter's searchlight beam toward the edge of a swamp below.

Under the ghastly beam of light, more than thirty exoskeletons, crushed and torn apart, lay scattered in the mud. Most chillingly, the spiritual roots on the backs of those armors had been precisely removed, leaving not a single nerve fiber behind!

In the very center of the wreckage, a second-order mutated forest python, over fifteen meters long, was coiled up.

It neither ran away nor roared at the sky.

It sat there quietly, its head held high. Those cold, vertical pupils stared intently at the eagle in the helicopter, piercing through the air at an altitude of eight hundred meters!

His eyes were filled with an extremely anthropomorphic coldness and mockery.

"That beast's eyes... damn it!" Eagle felt a chill run down his spine; an unprecedented sense of crisis gripped his heart. "All aircraft, take off immediately! Don't engage! There's an ambush here!"

However, it was too late.

Catalyzed by the "Enlightenment of All Things" patch, not only the beasts have evolved, but also this vast plant community covering millions of square kilometers!

"Boom!!!"

The once calm green forest below suddenly began to churn violently, like boiling water.

The earth trembled, and countless ancient trees with diameters exceeding two meters were uprooted by an extremely terrifying underground force!

Then, to the utter horror of the three pilots...

A dozen or so thick vines, as thick as water vats, dark red in color, and covered with barbs as hard as steel, rose wildly from the depths of the rainforest like a dozen ancient dragons bursting out of the ground, accompanied by an extremely piercing sound as they tore through the air!

They were so fast that they broke the sound barrier, creating a series of sonic boom clouds in the air!

"Climb! Climb faster!"

Eagle frantically pulled the control stick, pushing the power of the wind-control system to its limit, and the helicopter engine roared under the strain.

"Whoosh—snap!"

An extremely thick, bloodthirsty demonic vine grazed the landing gear of the lead aircraft, and even the mere gust of wind it generated scratched a deep crack in the alloy armor at the bottom of the helicopter.

But the two wingmen were not so lucky.

These demonic vines seemed to know the helicopter's structure perfectly. Instead of lashing at the hard nose, they moved like sentient tentacles, precisely wrapping around the helicopter's vulnerable tail and high-speed rotor!

"No! My tail fin is out of control! Ah!!!"

"Sizzle!"

The tail of the second wingman was tightly wrapped by a demonic vine. Accompanied by a tooth-grinding metallic twisting sound, the fuselage, weighing several tons, was torn in two by the terrifying twisting force in mid-air!

Flames shot into the sky, and a violent explosion erupted in mid-air. But the demonic vines, like sharks smelling blood, braved the flames of the explosion, and countless tiny tendrils slithered into the crashing cockpit like venomous snakes.

"Gurgle... gurgle..."

With a chilling sucking sound, the blood from the bodies of the two pilots and the pseudo-spiritual roots in their spines were drained into dried corpses by the demonic vine in just a few seconds!

"Demons! These demons!!!"

Eagle's eyes widened in fury as he frantically pressed the weapon fire button.

"Buzz! Boom boom boom boom!!!"

The psionic Gatling gun beneath the fuselage erupted with blinding flames, and a dense barrage of psionic armor-piercing rounds swept towards the wildly swirling demonic vines like a metal storm.

The firepower that would normally be enough to turn a first-tier demon beast into mincemeat only managed to burst into clumps of green sap when it hit the dark red skin of these demon vines, failing to inflict any fatal damage!

"Alert! Third-tier wood-type spiritual energy fluctuation detected!"

The system's piercing warning tone sealed the fate of the aircraft.

A third-tier demonic plant! In this rainforest, a terrifying plant comparable to a human Golden Core cultivator has actually been born!

"Retreat! Call headquarters!! Zzzzz!!!"

Before the eagle could finish sending its distress signal, the holographic radar suddenly turned into a deathly silent expanse of static.

He looked up in horror.

The starry night sky that was once visible in front of me has disappeared.

A massive, bloodthirsty vine, its main vine exceeding ten meters in diameter and seemingly connecting heaven and earth, slowly rose from the deepest part of the rainforest. Its enormous, sky-covering vine network, like a giant demonic net, completely sealed off the sky.

It blotted out the sky and blocked out the sun!

It even knew how to use its enormous size to create a closed "spiritual energy field," forcibly cutting off all electronic and psionic communications of the helicopter!

"This is simply beyond our capabilities..."

In despair, the eagle released the control stick and closed its eyes.

The next second, countless dark red demonic vines surged like a tsunami, completely engulfing the armed helicopter, a symbol of the fusion of human industry and cultivation, into the boundless green abyss.

……