Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

Liu Zhen made a gesture to Meng Zhaowen, who took a deep breath and poured all her remaining spiritual energy into the ground.

The next second, eight tree roots as thick as a wrist simultaneously pierced through the ground in the southeast corner, their angles so cunning they seemed to have eyes, precisely passing through the gaps in the shields and instantly piercing the calves of the three shield bearers at the front.

"ah--!"

Screams pierced the night as the three men, shields and all, fell to the ground, tearing a nearly three-meter-wide gap in the tight shield formation.

Almost simultaneously, Liu Zhen burst out from behind the crater, his right hand outstretched, two blinding arcs of electricity erupting from his palm, precisely striking two flamethrower soldiers behind the breach who were preparing to ignite their weapons.

The electric current traveled through the gun barrel into the fuel tank, and the two men convulsed and collapsed to the ground. The flamethrower slammed into the pile of rubble with a dull thud.

In less than five seconds, the defensive line in the southeast corner was breached.

"Go!" Liu Zhen grabbed Meng Zhaowen's arm and rushed towards the gap with his last bit of strength.

The wind rushed into his collar, carrying the shouts of mercenaries in the distance. Bullets whizzed past his ears, but he was oblivious, his eyes fixed on the approaching gap. If they could break through, if they could get into that dense forest, they could survive.

"Southeast corner, cover! Quickly!" The commander's stern shout came through the walkie-talkie to every mercenary.

The reserve team in the back row moved immediately. Two mercenaries holding shields practically stepped over the bodies of their fallen comrades and pounced on them. With a loud "clang," the heavy shields collided violently, and the gap that had just been torn open was instantly sealed back up, leaving not even a crack.

As Liu Zhen rushed to the edge of the breach, he bumped right into the two cold shields.

He gritted his teeth, and the arc of electricity in his palm slammed hard onto the shield. Blue and white lightning exploded, and the mercenary holding the shield trembled and took a half step back. But another person immediately stepped in, and a third person had already flanked from the side, the dark muzzle of his gun aimed at Liu Zhen's chest.

"Watch out!" Meng Zhaowen suddenly grabbed him. The bullet grazed Liu Zhen's arm, cutting a deep gash on his upper arm that revealed the bone. Blood gushed out instantly, soaking his sleeve.

The bullets from the flanks had blocked all routes of advance, forcing Liu Zhen, supporting Meng Zhaowen, to retreat and shrink back behind the shell crater.

This time, however, the encirclement had shrunk from sixty meters to forty-five meters, leaving them with even less room to maneuver. Their crawling routes were completely blocked by crossfire, and any attempt to peek out would attract a barrage of shots.

……

Inside the command vehicle, Zhong Lin watched the two men retreat back to cover on the screen, a cold smile playing on his lips. He grabbed the walkie-talkie and ordered, "Speed ​​up the advance. They won't hold out for long. The people on the perimeter, don't move. Seal off all the gaps. Don't give them a second chance to break out."

He glanced at the countdown; the red number had jumped to "04:57," meaning the officials would arrive in less than five minutes.

"Don't worry, they can't escape." Wang Hongyuan stubbed out his cigarette, his fingertips still trembling slightly. "Sixty people surrounding two people, unless they can pull off that evil trick of summoning lightning to strike the tree again."

Zhong Lin sneered: "That kind of evil technique? It looked extremely damaging when they used it last time. I reckon it would shorten their lifespan. Do you think it's like a cabbage that you can just throw away? I'd like to see how long they can last."

……

The encirclement continues to tighten.

The commander ordered the first echelon to retreat and reload, while the second echelon of thirty men flanked from both sides, their flamethrowers firing alternately. The orange-red fire swept back and forth in front of the two men's cover, ensuring that a wall of fire could block their escape route at any time.

The sniper moved to a higher firing position, overlooking the entire ruins from the mountaintop, his crosshairs firmly locked onto all the exits of the shell craters.

Liu Zhen leaned against the broken wall, his right arm shaking more and more violently, the electric arcs at his fingertips coming and going, each discharge requiring a longer charging time.

He tore off a corner of his shirt and used it to roughly bandage the wound on his left shoulder. The fabric was quickly soaked with blood, sticking to his skin and causing a painful tearing sensation.

Meng Zhaowen's breathing became more and more rapid, and his chest hissed like a broken bellows.

His palms remained pressed against the ground, trying to sense the enemy's movements, but his mental strength had weakened to the point that he could only vaguely determine the general direction, and he could barely even catch the footsteps of the mercenaries in the distance.

"They're wearing us down," Liu Zhen said in a low voice. "They want to wait until we're exhausted before rushing in and capturing us alive."

Meng Zhaowen nodded without speaking, but closed his eyes and let his consciousness slowly extend outward along the root system underground.

He knew his spiritual energy was almost depleted, but the roots of the ancient tree were still there. Those old guys who had been sleeping underground for hundreds of years had just had their fill of lifespan and lightning, and hadn't completely fallen asleep yet.

The roots slowly probed downwards, passing through the scorched soil, through the twisted steel bars, through the broken concrete blocks, and finally touching a piece of equipment that was still in operation deep within the ruins.

A faint hum of electricity and regular vibrations traveled through his roots into his consciousness. It wasn't a normal power supply; it was actively emitting some kind of interference signal.

He continued to probe along the roots and found three more sets of the same equipment, arranged in a triangle in three corners of the ruins. These were the devices that had been blocking Liu Zhen's connection to the power grid.

When Lei Mu descended to earth, the grounding stakes underground were torn apart by tree roots, and the power supply lines running through metal pipes were also twisted off. Most of the power confinement was destroyed, leaving only these three deeply buried active filters still in operation, continuously injecting reverse harmonic current into the power grid to suppress abnormal frequency power absorption.

"Most of the things that prevent you from sensing electricity have been destroyed. Only the last three filtering devices are buried in the ruins and are constantly emitting interference signals." Meng Zhaowen opened her eyes, her voice was very soft, but it made Liu Zhen's eyes light up instantly.

"Can it be dismantled?" Liu Zhen asked.

Meng Zhaowen closed his eyes, estimated his remaining mental energy, and looked at his palm pressed on the soil.

No need to consume any more lifespan; just the precise control of the last bit of mental energy is enough.

"Yes." He took a deep breath, and his consciousness sank back into the ground.

The root system, like the most flexible tentacles, spreads towards the nearest set of equipment.

The rubble was buried very deep, with steel bars and concrete fragments blocking the way. The roots slowly seeped in through the cracks, taking nearly a minute to reach the outer shell of the first piece of equipment.

He didn't use brute force to destroy it—that would have triggered the circuit breaker and made the interference signal even stronger.

The roots, as precise as a scalpel, located the heat dissipation holes on the side of the device, drilled in, and severed the three most critical lines on the core circuit board.

The humming of the equipment suddenly stopped.