The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

After the bridge collapsed, the strange vines that were entangled with each other were still twisting and trying to crawl towards the crowd, but they were blocked by an invisible barrier.

Everyone was so shocked by this scene which was even weirder than weird that they were speechless and stood there in a daze. However, what they didn't know was that Shen Ge actually felt a trace of "pressure" at this moment.

You should know that in the past, when facing the fifth or sixth level, or even higher level monsters, Shen Ge had fought hard with the opponent's monster energy erosion more than once, and fought his way out.

But now he was unable to release the strange domain to condense an invisible barrier to block a third-level strange thing, and he felt that the strange energy in his body was drained.

It wasn't a strange "crash" of the system that caused his abilities to disappear or be affected, but rather it was a very strange state.

With this period of rest, Shen Ge could clearly feel that his body had recovered a lot. Even his strange abilities, which had been almost stagnant without any signs of recovery in the first few days, began to slowly improve.

Especially when he decided to go to Australia, he could clearly feel that the recovery speed of his strange energy had reached one-tenth or one-twelfth of the previous recovery speed.

But the strange thing is that although the strange energy in his body has clearly begun to recover, he can't feel that the strange energy in his body is increasing, and the strange energy he can mobilize is still pitifully small.

It felt like the strange energy was recovering, but was being constantly absorbed by a certain force.

Shen Ge guessed that it was a system problem. Although it was in a "downtime" state, after Shen Ge perfectly integrated with the system, the system became a part of his body, more like an organ.

As soon as the strange energy was restored, it was absorbed by the system, an organ. But the problem is that the system is the organ that produces strange energy in Shen Ge's body.

This is like the hematopoietic cells in the human bone marrow. After they produce fresh blood, they absorb it themselves.

To explain it in game terms, Shen Ge's current state is like a continuous buff, and his magic points are continuously consumed.

However, since the recovery rate of mana is slower than its consumption rate, the character is always in an "empty mana" state.

The amount of ghost energy he could use to buy time for these ghost warriors to cross the bridge has already reached its limit, and it is impossible for him to continue blocking the vines.

Shen Ge glanced at Statham and asked, "Captain Statham, do you still have the high-explosive blast bomb that you used to blow up the tree? Give one to these guys?"

"Ah? Oh!" Statham was still immersed in Shen Ge's terrifying and strange ability. After he came to his senses, he immediately asked the anti-evil warrior to bring a high-explosive e-energy bomb injected with a new e-energy inhibitor.

"Back off!"

Statham shouted and threw the high-explosive paranormal bomb directly at the area where the vines were densest. Seeing this, Shen Ge removed the invisible barrier in that area.

After the vine tentacles lost the obstruction of the invisible barrier, they immediately rushed forward and accurately caught the high-explosive paranormal bomb thrown by Statham.

boom--

With a loud bang, a big hole was blown out of the vine tentacles gathered on the bridge, but just like after the big tree was blown off before, the surrounding vine tentacles collapsed to the ground as if they had lost control.

At this moment, the explosion failed to stop the vine tentacles from advancing, but instead made them rush towards the other side of the mountain even more ferociously.

Only then did everyone notice that these tentacles seemed to be climbing up along the mountain wall.

"retreat!"

Statham shouted, signaling everyone to immediately retreat to the inside of the mountain and away from the cliff.

Although the vines were extending infinitely, their speed was obviously not as fast as the retreat of the ghost warriors. In addition, with the help of Statham and other ghost agents who took the initiative to cover their retreat, everyone was able to escape smoothly.

Halfway up the mountain, Statham asked a team member to take out a map to see how far they were from the first outpost.

When most people thought about the mountain roads being blocked by these strange vines, they actually gave up their expectations for the outpost.

The outpost was in a "lost contact" state a few hours ago. After seeing these strange vines, one can imagine the situation there.

Since Elvis and others were able to escape into the blockade zone from this direction, there is no need to explain their relationship with the Monster Organization.

Now only by catching these traitors can we find out the reason why the strange disaster in Australia spreads.

"Rest for five minutes, then we'll continue moving forward. The outpost is just ahead." Statham sat on a big rock, took out some dry food and ate while talking.

After the horror of the Canyon Tower Bridge, many of the Ghost Warriors sat on the ground gasping for breath. However, they knew very well that the real challenge was still to come...

After a short rest, the team continued towards the outpost.

Shen Ge noticed that the status of two team members was particularly eye-catching. If he remembered correctly, one of them was called Mark Wilson. According to Statham, he was once a mercenary of an anti-evil organization in Europe and the United States. Later, he was recruited by the government and became an anti-evil agent.

Another one is Emily Chen, a young but experienced Asian biologist who later joined the International Anti-Specialty Organization to conduct anti-spectrology research.

Because of the strange phenomenon of "plant" alienation that occurred during this disaster, she was sent with the team to the blockade area to investigate.

The reason why Shen Ge noticed these two people was very simple. Mark had been working very hard, whether in the previous incident with the weirdo in the banquet hall or in the battles against the monsters along the way.

Apart from Statham, he was the fastest.

Botanist Emily even asked her assistant to take pictures of the movement of the vine tentacles when retreating, and even went to the "front line" to find Statham and asked him to find a chance to capture some samples.

Statham looked at the dense tentacles that looked like a snake's nest, and wanted to say, "I'll give you my head in this situation." However, considering that Emily, a female researcher, was willing to risk her life to follow the team into the blockade area to investigate the cause of the spread of the disaster, he still had some admiration for this female researcher.

Mark walked beside Statham, checking the weapon as he said, "Sir, those vine tentacles...the way they move reminds me of a tentacle weirdness I encountered in the Amazon."

Statham nodded and said, "Go on." Mark recounted in detail his time as an anti-evil mercenary. During a battle against elves in the Amazon jungle, he saw a strange tumor made of flesh and blood. The tentacles on its body were very similar to the vines that were just wrapped around the canyon bridge.

Emily at the side took over the conversation and said, "I've also heard of this weirdness he described. Although the tumor formed by flesh and blood is the main body of this weirdness, these vine tentacles seem to have some kind of collective consciousness, just like an ant colony. If we destroy a part of it, the others will immediately adjust their strategies. As long as their 'brains' are not damaged, these vine tentacles will continue to attack."

Statham said thoughtfully: "Like the big tree I blew up before? Because I blew up their 'brains', I succeeded in stopping those tentacles? And those vine tentacles on the edge of the cliff are extending from the bottom of the cliff, and their bodies are underneath?"

"That's right." Emily stated her judgment, and then continued, "From the latest drone footage of the outpost, some dark shadows were entangled on the outpost building. The entire outpost looked like a giant symbiotic organism, so I suspect that this flesh and blood monster has successfully parasitized the entire outpost. When thinking about the vines growing up from the bottom of the cliff, I even suspect... are we standing on a giant monster."

After a pause, Emily said solemnly: "In other words, what we are facing is not a group of weirdos, but a super weirdo!"

Statham took a deep breath when he heard that. The highest level monster he had dealt with since he became a monster detective was only level four. If, as Emily said, the mountain they were standing on was a super monster, then this monster must be at least level six or seven, right?
With their strength, can they deal with level six or seven monsters?

Shen Ge on the side glanced at Emily. He obviously did not expect that there would be people with real talents among this group of "rabble". This is why he only looked up to these few people.

However, this huge weirdness may be a little new to everyone, but it is nothing new to Shen Ge.

In general, the situation of the "big mountain" is the best reflection of the current phenomenon, but this mountain is obviously not yet at the scale of a "big mountain".

Statham pondered and said, "Dr. Emily, if we want to solve this strange incident, we must find the core of this giant strange thing and destroy it. Only in this way can the vine tentacles that are wrapped around the entire mountain stop moving?"

"Yes, according to my inference, it is indeed necessary." Emily nodded.

Mark swallowed his saliva and said nervously: "Oh my God, the biggest monster I've dealt with was only six or seven meters high. I've never seen a giant monster like this that is dozens or hundreds of meters tall..."

Emily looked at Shen Ge and said, "As far as I know, Captain Shen Ge should have rich experience in dealing with this kind of giant weirdness, right?"

Shen Ge said, "I can't say I have a lot of experience, but I have seen this kind of monsters a few times. Before we talk about how to find the core of the giant monster, I have a question. I remember Mr. Wilson mentioned before that Outpost No. 1 was built near a winery, and recently there were rumors of strange events there. Not long after that, Outpost No. 1 lost contact, right?"

Statham nodded and said, "Yes, that's right. So before we set out on this mission to hunt down the traitor, Commander Wilson specifically told me to be careful of that winery."

Shen Ge pondered and said, "I always feel that Mr. Wilson may know something. Of course, I don't suspect that he has any connection with the weird organization, but he is worried that we know that the pursuit route is so close to the winery, and even the No. 1 outpost has been lost, which will cause panic and thus refuse to accept the mission."

"But that's all for the future. The main point now is that we need to find this giant monster. At the moment, it seems that the loss of Outpost No. 1 is a foregone conclusion. If we go there, we will just have to fight a group of monsters. If we're lucky, we can take back the outpost that has been devoured by the monsters. If we're unlucky, we'll all be buried there."

"Although sacrifice is not a big deal for us, the strange detectives, but if we can't find the source and solve the strange disaster, these sacrifices are meaningless."

"So if you ask me what I think, my suggestion is to give up following the established route to pursue the traitor Elvis at Outpost No. 1, and instead go to the winery to investigate."

As soon as Shen Ge said this, everyone fell into deep thought.

The original pursuit route was set by Tang Sen, the commander-in-chief of the International Anti-Ghost Organization's Australian branch. If they changed the itinerary privately without any report, it would undoubtedly be disobeying orders on the battlefield. Even if they only came to support Australia, they might be held accountable by the International Anti-Ghost Organization afterwards.

No one dares to take on such a serious crime as disobeying orders on the battlefield.

But Shen Ge's words secretly showed his suspicion of Wilson. If they really followed the prescribed route to pursue, whether they could catch the traitor or not was another matter, but they would definitely become free cattle and horses for the international anti-terrorist organization, helping them to conquer lost outposts one after another.

It would be fine if they could successfully capture those lost outposts, but they were afraid that what was waiting for them there was a trap more terrifying than the canyon bridge.

Statham hesitated for a while, and finally chose to believe Shen Ge's judgment: "I think Captain Shen Ge is right, just like there is an old saying in the Great Celestial Empire, what is it..."

"Xixi warrior Wei Junjie?" Mark asked.

Statham glared at Mark, obviously telling him to use his pig brain. Was this the time to tell a joke?

Emily pushed her glasses up and said seriously, "I think what Captain Statham wants to say is that the generals are not subject to military orders when they are abroad, right?"

?

? ?
???

Shen Ge wanted to say it was not a "military order" but an "imperial order", but that was not important. What was important was that a few foreigners had studied the culture of the Great Celestial Empire quite thoroughly, and the moment they opened their mouths they were saying something like what the ancients said?

No matter what, Shen Ge was very satisfied that Statham and others chose to believe in him. At least it proved that these people should have nothing to do with the Monster Organization.

If the Monster Organization really wants to set up a trap at the outpost, Statham and others will try every possible way to prevent the team from changing the established itinerary.

Now that they agreed to Shen Ge's proposal so readily, it undoubtedly greatly reduced the possibility that they were spies.

Of course, there is another possibility. As one of the sources of this strange incident, the winery may be in greater danger waiting for them.

But this was exactly what Shen Ge wanted. If he could solve the problem at the winery sooner and stop the strange fog from spreading, he would also be able to enter the blockade area sooner to look for the whereabouts of Cheng's mother.

Statham did not make the change in itinerary public. He called the soldier in charge of itinerary planning and asked him to act with Mark, which was actually to let Mark monitor him.

He then took over the itinerary planning, asked Emily to analyze the route map, and led the troops towards the winery.

The strange black fog along the route to the winery is several times stronger than that towards the outpost. Once you enter the foggy area, you can hardly see your hand in front of you.

Statham ordered that everyone be connected with safety ropes to prevent anyone from falling behind.

The good news is that although the strange fog seriously affected the visual distance, the troops did not encounter any strange things while moving forward in the fog, so everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Ge felt that this was not a good thing. Not encountering anything strange in the strange area was itself very strange! (End of this chapter)