The bark of its gigantic trunk carried a colour similar to mahogany, unlike normal oak trees.

Running along the surface of the trunk were dark red lines. Looking closer, they seemed like swollen veins with red blood coursing through them. Due to its magnified size, Long Yu was even able to notice a faint throbbing on the veins. It was an extremely unsettling sight.

The lush palm sized leaves on the branches were also dark red in colour, matching the horrid veins on the trunk. Due to its size and height, the drone's vision was not able to cover the entire tree at such a distance.

After reaching about 100 feet from it, Long Yu had yet to notice any abnormalities.

*Bang* *Bzzt*

Suddenly, his vision in the telepresence headset turned pitch black. Long Yu completely lost connection with the drone.

He realised that the drone had ran into something. More precisely, it was actually hit by something!

Luckily, the headset included a playback function. Everything within the drone's sight was recorded in detail.

'Hmm, a whip? No, it's seems to be some sort of red vine?' Long Yu quickly a.n.a.lysed the recording.

In the recording, the corner of the drone's vision had captured a thick red vine smas.h.i.+ng towards it from the side. Afterwards, it was sent flying by the impact, destroyed upon hitting the ground. None of its cameras survived.

Without doubt, entering within a certain distance of the vampire tree had triggered this attack.

Long Yu accessed the exchange system and purchased a few more surveillance drones. Facing such a strong enemy, he has to carefully investigate it.

Although he could exchange for relevant information through the system, it could not predict the actions of the redwood vampire plant. Otherwise, it would be just like reading the future.

He had long realised that although the system was powerful, its worth was reflected through the necessary price paid. This meant that Long Yu who was considered a pauper in terms of mutant cores, had yet the ability to unleash its true power.

Only when he obtains more currency, will he be able unlock more powerful strength and items to support himself in doomsday. This was why the mutant seed within the vampire plant was so important to him.

After sending out a few more drones, Long Yu was able to verify some things. The plant could detect objects, either through vision or instinct within a distance of 100 feet. More importantly, it did not matter if the object approaching was on the ground or in the air.

Moreover, it was impossible for the drones to dodge the red vines. This was not because they weren't flexible or fast enough. Rather, the amount of vines that the tree could send out was ridiculously many. They were like the bountiful long hairs of a woman.

Only a single drone was barely able to make it back, and this was only due to luck. One of the vines had sc.r.a.ped the side of that drone, sending it out of the vines' reach, thus it survived.

In contrast to its gigantic size, its ability to detect presence was certainly surprising.

Since it was impossible to get anywhere near it with the drone, Long Yu decided to take another approach. As he pressed a few b.u.t.tons on the screen of the dashboard, a joystick appeared behind the gear s.h.i.+ft.

*Whirr*

Outside, some changes also occurred to the Black Shark. A trio of silver grey cylindrical objects revealed themselves from under the vehicle on both sides. They were shaped like mini torpedoes, with multiple fins on their end. These were mini anti-tank missiles included in the Black Shark's weapons system.

Long Yu used the targeting system to lock on to different areas of the redwood vampire plant. Six crosshairs on the screen flashed red as he pulled the trigger on the joystick.

He held no expectation for this attack to destroy the plant on the first try, he only planned to observe the effects of the missiles.

Moments later, six trails of smoke could be seen flying towards the gigantic vampire plant.

*Bang* *Boom* *Boom*

Consecutive explosions rang as the missiles. .h.i.t their targets. Deadly clouds of smoke and fire bloomed like flowers all around the tree.

Chunks of barks blew up into pieces as they were forcefully ripped from the trunk.

Once the smoke lifted, Long Yu was finally able to see the aftermath of the attack. The explosion from the missiles had created 1 to 2 meter deep craters on the trunk. The surrounding of the craters were also marred with black scorch marks.

'Hmm?' Long Yu's brows knitted, feeling unsatisfied with the result.

Compared to the scale of the entire plant, the damage could be considered minor.

"Tch, it seems this tree is more durable than I thought," Long Yu clicked his tongue and said.

Additionally, he also discovered that out of the six missiles, there were actually two that didn't successfully hit their target. Rather, they were actually blocked by cl.u.s.ters of red vines.

Through the drone, he could see that these vines were heavily damaged and burning with fire. There were even several of them that had completely blown off, becoming charred remains on the ground. However, the two areas the vines protected remain unscathed.

'Why would the vampire plant only protect those places?' This sight left him puzzled.

When Long Yu fired those missiles, two of them were aimed near the crown of the tree, while the rest were aimed at different spots of the tree trunk.