Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 799: Chapter 494: Swarms of Insects Dash into the Fire! (5100 words)

”Fire is useful, use fire!” Zeng Tao exclaimed excitedly.

At this moment, a shout came from the main treehouse side.

”What’s going on outside?!”

Li Wenxi also heard the sound of insects gnawing trees and saw the trees continually collapsing in the jungle. She leaned against the window and shouted in this direction.

”Eeek!” Keke also yelled in this direction, ”Eeek eeek eeek!”

The meaning seemed to be calling him to hurry back.

Xu Xin immediately shouted toward the main treehouse, ”Wenxi, tell them to turn off all the lights! No lights allowed in the treehouse! There’s a situation outside!”

”Got it!”

Within five or six seconds, all the lights in the treehouse were turned off, from top to bottom.

The surroundings of the treehouse immediately fell into darkness, leaving only the torches Xu Xin had planted in the ground still burning, emitting light.

Suddenly, the flying insects became even crazier, swarming toward the torches.

But there were so many insects rushing toward the torches that even the ones on the ground crawled up the torches, and in just a moment, the torches were surrounded and extinguished by the swarm.

However, many insects were also burned to death, and the air was filled with an unpleasant scorched smell.

Fire was very useful.

The insects, having lost their target, returned to the jungle and began gnawing away at the trees again.

”Let’s set fire to the forest! Burn those bugs to ashes!” Zeng Tao proposed.

”Are you crazy?” Lou Fei’Er instantly smacked her head, ”Do you want us all to die?”

”Don’t hit my head!” Zeng Tao brushed her hand away and carelessly said, ”Hasn’t there been a forest fire before? Didn’t the jungle grow back the next day? We didn’t die either.”

Jin Yue slightly frowned, ”I think we should not do such a thing unless absolutely necessary. Setting fire to a mountain is a huge hazard.”

”What’s wrong with it anyway?” Zeng Tao pointed to the jungle, ”If we don’t burn it, the insects will likely gnaw it clean, right? After they finish with the forest, they might come for us! It would be better for the forest to sacrifice gloriously and go down with the insects!”

Zeng Tao’s words seemed to make some sense.

But...

It’s still better not to do this.

”How long do you think a forest fire can burn?” Xu Xin turned to Zeng Tao and asked.

”Well... although a forest fire can burn for a long time, it’s because it keeps spreading,” Zeng Tao thought Xu Xin was worried the jungle would burn for a long time, so she defended, ”Around our treehouse, it can’t burn for long, can it? Besides, the forest fires in this world shouldn’t cover too large an area either.”

The rivers in the jungle are intricate and complex, the wildfire might only burn a single area, and might not affect many people.

After all, the vast majority of people around here are already on their side as explorers.

”The spread might not affect others, but just because it won’t last long doesn’t mean we should set fire to the jungle.” Xu Xin shook his head. ”The trees around the main treehouse will burn out in a few hours at most. These insects might get burned out, but what about the next batch? What if such a swarm situation occurs tomorrow night?”

”This...” Zeng Tao was stumped, muttering to herself, ”The jungle is gone, will there still be insects... And maybe the jungle will grow back...”

”You don’t know how these insects appeared, do you?” Xu Xin asked.

The three women all shook their heads, ”We don’t know.”

The insect problem still needs to be dealt with carefully.

This jungle indeed could be gnawed clean by these insects, but at their current pace, it wouldn’t be all gone overnight.

At least it can last through three nights.

It’s better to keep it.

Xu Xin spoke up this time, ”Setting fire is indeed one way, but there’s no need to burn the forest. Let’s light a few bonfires in the open area first to test the effect, if it doesn’t work... then we’ll dig a trench to set fire.”

The fire trench dug out during the previous treehouse defense battle had long been filled in by him. If he wanted to set a circle of fire, it would need to be dug afresh.

Let’s try with bonfires first.

With bonfires lit, these insects will have the fire as their target, and might not attack the treehouse.

”This method is good! But what should we use to start the fire?”

”Mutant vine.” Xu Xin said.

Mutant vine burns longer than wood, one piece could burn for the entire night.

They, the explorers, don’t lack mutant vines.

After all, mutant vine sap is needed for making explosives, so they must have an ample supply of this stuff.

Earlier, in the underground world, particularly Wen Guixin brought up quite a lot of underground mutant vines.

And yesterday, during the first day of intense heat, while Xu Xin and Li Wenxi were busy, the others were not idle.

After the winter ended, the dangerous areas in the jungle re-emerged, and Wen Guixin and her group were responsible for killing vines in those dangerous areas.

Although they only worked for about an hour before the heat became unbearable and they came back, her monster clearing speed was fast enough for them to use for a long time.

Xu Xin turned to look at the women around him.

What should be done about their treehouses now?

Zeng Tao was already indifferent, as her treehouse was pretty much beyond rescue.

While Lou Fei’Er and Jin Yue’s treehouses were both about a hundred meters from the main treehouse, very close to the lush jungle, separated with only a few meters from the forest.