Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Jungle Fire!

Should we provide them with lightning rods?

Xu Xin personally is willing. Each of these people possesses exceptional skills, and if they were to die in this storm, it would be a great loss.

However, the key point lies with Li Wenxi, whether she is willing, after all, the black gold is in her hands.

Xu Xin sent a video to Li Wenxi.

She answered almost immediately. At this moment, Li Wenxi was leaning against the window, looking at the dense black clouds outside, exclaiming, “Xu Xin, it’s starting to flash over here! So many bolts of lightning just struck the lightning rod on my treehouse! I’ve never seen lightning so thick, it’s terrifying!”

Although she said so, there wasn’t a trace of fear on her face, and she even looked a bit excited.

Xu Xin shared his thoughts with her.

Li Wenxi looked a bit troubled: “Actually, I really want to help them, but it takes ten black gold ores to smelt one black gold block, and it takes an hour to smelt one, it’s really difficult to make them. I’ve even built an extra furnace solely to smelt black gold blocks, and up until now, I have only twelve blocks, and one lightning rod requires five blocks…”

Li Wenxi’s meaning was clear. She had spent so much time and effort, even went through the trouble to collect more, and burned all night to have only a dozen black gold blocks. The quantity is too small, and she doesn’t want to let others use them.

Xu Xin quite understood her thoughts. Even he didn’t have many resources, and helping others would be irrational. One should help others only when there is abundance; now, even one’s own needs aren’t met, so focusing on oneself is enough.

“I didn’t expect black gold blocks to be so hard to obtain. I hadn’t considered this,” Xu Xin felt a bit embarrassed and apologized, realizing his earlier words sounded a bit sanctimonious.

“We can help them when we have more black gold blocks in the future. After all, we’re part of the same organization, and I’ve benefited from the information they’ve provided.” Li Wenxi said, “But with the weather outside, who knows when we’ll be able to go out mining again.”

During their conversation, the thunderstorm outside showed no signs of stopping and was growing more intense.

When Xu Xin first woke up, there were only two or three strikes a minute, but now one strike was heard every few seconds.

“I can’t hear what you’re saying.” Li Wenxi rubbed her ears, the thunder was really too loud, “I don’t even know when it will stop. Isn’t today supposed to be the rainy season? Why is there just thunder and no rain… huh?”

She suddenly widened her eyes and looked out the window, taking a sharp breath: “There’s a fire! A fire has started in the distance! Lightning caused a fire!”

“What?” Xu Xin immediately looked out his window; despite the constant strikes, there was no trend of starting a fire for now.

However, with the lightning so frequent, it’s probably only a matter of time before forest fires start.

Thinking quickly, Xu Xin instantly suggested, “Quick, go and cut down all the trees around your treehouse to create a firebreak. This way, the fire won’t be able to spread over! Don’t worry about the lightning, the rod will draw the nearby strikes away!”

“Oh, okay! I’ll go right away!” Li Wenxi hastily hung up the video call.

At this moment, Ji Chaoyang also sent a message in the group.

“Everyone, this lightning storm before the heavy rain could very likely cause forest fires.

My treehouse was also hit several times just now, and some things inside were destroyed by the electric current from the strikes. The lightning can destroy items inside the house, but it doesn’t seem to affect us, nor set the treehouse on fire.

But don’t let your guard down just because of this and wait inside the treehouse. Trees in the distance could very likely catch fire.

It’s best to take important things and get out of the treehouse now, then cut down the trees near the treehouse to form a circle of firebreaks. This way, if a forest fire does occur, we can minimize the losses.

Nearby the treehouse, we don’t need to worry too much about being struck by lightning, as the treehouse is tall and will attract the strikes to itself. But be careful when leaving the treehouse, and don’t be struck accidentally. Do it quickly, there is already a fire in the distance here, we just need to hold out until the heavy rain arrives.”

Additionally, he posted this message in the regional channel, but with an added line.

“Survivors with low-level treehouses that haven’t been elevated should be careful. Your treehouses aren’t tall enough to attract lightning, so it’s up to you to decide whether to go down and cut a firebreak.”

From his message, Xu Xin learned that being struck would damage items inside the treehouse, but it’s not too serious of an issue.

This guy actually thought of so much in just a few minutes and immediately organized a strategy to post. Xu Xin couldn’t help but admire him for it.

Just a moment ago, Xu Xin thought the increased height of the treehouse was a disadvantage for those without lightning rods, but Ji Chaoyang hit the nail on the head.

The greatest danger from this lightning storm isn’t the strikes themselves, but the potential forest fires! After all, lightning can’t harm those inside the treehouse, but forest fires can!

“Ji Chaoyang is right, we must immediately clear the area around us. It’s not even seven o’clock yet; judging from past events, the heavy rainy season is likely to start at nine o’clock. Two hours is enough for a forest fire to spread far and wide. Everyone should take this seriously!” Xu Xin also posted a message in the regional channel.

The top-ranking leaders both spoke, bringing strong credibility, and suddenly the regional channel was filled with words of gratitude.

“Thank you, esteemed leaders!”

“There’s a fire in the distance here too! I’m going down to chop trees!”

“Haha, all the trees around have been chopped down ages ago. Less hassle!”

“Oh no, I planted birch and pine trees around here!”

“Just chop them. You get less material from undergrown trees, but it’s not like there’s none. I’ve tried chopping before.”

“Got it, heading down now!”

Those who didn’t gain higher treehouse tiers in the last event were also discussing among themselves.

“What should we do? Should we go down? What if lightning strikes us…”

“Maybe it won’t catch fire?”

“What are you thinking? With thunder this frequent, the chances of a fire are too high!”

“Shit, there’s a fire on my side! It’s over, it’s over!”

“Damn it, I can’t be a coward anymore, I’m going down. It’s better to be struck by lightning than burned to death! At least it would be quick and painless!”

“Makes sense, I’m going down too!” “Me too!” “Let’s go together!”

Meanwhile, on Xu Xin’s side, as a lightning bolt struck, a fire suddenly ignited about a kilometer away.

Fortunately, there wasn’t much wind in the forest just now, so the fire didn’t spread quickly.

Seizing this chance, Xu Xin quickly arrived under the treehouse. To speed up the clearing process, he made an iron axe (blue) and also crafted an iron shovel (blue).

[Iron Axe (Blue): A high-grade iron axe, extremely sharp and durable, capable of cutting down trees up to the highest purple grade and some special types of trees. Durability: 3000.]

The iron axe (blue) boasts a durability of up to 3000 and can cut down green grade trees with just one swing, doubling the efficiency of a stone axe, and it can also chop down some special types of trees. However, Xu Xin has yet to encounter a tree that a stone axe couldn’t handle.

As for the iron shovel, it has a 50% chance of transplanting trees, which he prepared for the apple tree below.

During the novice protection period, he had already cleared the area under the treehouse. Now, he needed to expand this clearing to prevent the flames from reaching the outer tree crowns if a forest fire broke out.

Under the treehouse, the apple trees he planted were bearing fruit, while the pine and birch trees had grown tall.

“By timing, the apple tree is just right, but the pine and birch trees should fully grow tomorrow, right?” Xu Xin had a moment of doubt, but now wasn’t the time to ponder these things.

The efficiency of the iron axe was remarkable. Xu Xin went to the pine and birch grove, chopping down one tree per swing, collecting all the timber, and then began madly chopping around the treehouse.

The dark clouds above seemed to press lower and lower, making him hesitant to look up at these almost mountain-like clouds.

The oppressive thunderstorm clouds hung overhead, combined with the sticky, humid air, making it hard for him to breathe. He could only swing his axe following the persistent lightning strikes, his head spinning from the deafening thunder rumbling every ten seconds or so.

Luckily, the surrounding lightning was drawn towards the treehouse and its lightning rod, causing him no harm. On the contrary, the lightning rod atop his treehouse was glowing brightly, indicating it was about to be fully charged.

On another side, the sky was painted red by the forest fire, and the rolling wave of heat was already approaching, prompting Xu Xin to speed up his chopping.

The area Xu Xin had to clear was considerably larger than others, though 100 square meters wasn’t too large.

He walked back and forth to deposit timber at the treehouse several times, eventually clearing a zone of around twenty meters wide around the treehouse as a firebreak.

Generally, a forest firebreak is forty to sixty meters wide, depending on the surrounding vegetation type. If it’s all lawn, ten meters might suffice, but for shrubbery, it’s usually sixty meters.

Xu Xin had already removed all the shrubbery from the ground, so twenty meters would barely do. What mattered most was that he could already see the fire spreading in the distance and the red-tinged sky — he couldn’t continue any longer.

The apple tree (blue) was also planted outside the treehouse area. Xu Xin went to the fruit tree, harvested all the fruits, and resolutely dug into the tree’s roots with a shovel.

He already had an apple tree in the top-floor plantation of his treehouse, so this fruit-bearing tree wasn’t as important.

The three-meter-high sapling slowly toppled over.

[Obtained Apple Tree Seed*1]

[Obtained Apple Tree (Blue)*1, can be transplanted into green grade or higher soil. Please transplant within 24 hours.]

Success! The 50% chance paid off for him!

Of course, thanks to the koi effect, the actual probability wasn’t really 50%. He’d experimented before and found that the 50% odds on him were about two out of three.

Returning to the treehouse, standing by the window on the third floor, Xu Xin looked towards the direction of the forest fire, which had turned from one or two burning trees into a sea of flames. Even from a great distance, he could feel the heat coming at him.

Fortunately, the wind speed wasn’t high, and the air was also very humid, so the fire wasn’t too severe.

“Good thing there’s no strong wind, this fire isn’t spreading too quickly,” Xu Xin breathed a small sigh of relief.

If it kept spreading at this pace, it might take a while to reach him. He picked up the axe, considering whether to go down and chop a few more trees, since it would be a shame if they burned.

However, as if responding to his thoughts, just as he was about to turn, the gentle breeze outside abruptly turned into a fierce gale!

The wind roared, bending the thinner poplar trees as the sound of the wind roared like a passing train, mixing with the increasingly frequent thunder to play a death march.

Fueled by the wind, the distant flames surged instantly, even sparking new fires from the areas where lightning had recently struck. Multiple fires erupted in the jungle, spreading rapidly with the wind!

Wind, thunder, lightning, forest fire, the scene before him was like the end of the world.

Xu Xin’s cheek was scraped by a small stone carried by the headwind, stinging badly.

His eye twitched.

Damn, turned out the jinx was me!