Apocalypse: Reborn with a Soul Sync Farming Space System-Chapter 169 Simple Instruction

Back in the woods

"Everyone, stay alert." Ling Xuan commanded.

"Yes, Commander." The soldiers all replied in unison.

Tina ran towards her side. "Aunty Laurel, did you sleep well last night? I didn’t see you for a long time and it made me wonder if you are truly no longer mad at me." She looked at her, blinking her eyes.

A look of amusement flickered through Ling Xuan’s eyes. She patted Tina’s hair. "Why would I be mad at you? Consider this trip as gaining experience..." She lowered to Tina’s level. "That is how a real soldier is made." She paused. "Did you bring the dagger I gave to you?"

A mischievous smirk formed on her lips. She bent over raising her gown slightly, revealing the white dagger in her boot. "I know this trip might be dangerous so I came with the dagger."

Ling Xuan nodded, like a shifu proud of his student. "Well done. You are really worth my fondness."

"So doesn’t mean you like me?" Tina beamed as she rose again.

Ling Xuan cleared her throat. "That doesn’t mean you can be naughty."

However, Tina took that as a yes. Her lips almost reached her ears as she smiled brightly. "I like you too Aunty Ling Xuan."

Chris’s gaze remained on Ling Xuan. He wondered how he could gain her trust, and become closer to her.

"Keep looking and I might gouge your eyes out," Alexander muttered beside him.

But that only made him smile...a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "You can try."

Suddenly, the soldier at the front stopped, raising his hands to signal a halt. "Everyone stop." He shouted.

Everyone stopped in their spot. Ling Xuan frowned. "What is it?"

"There is something wrong with the ground." The soldier replied with a shaken voice.

"Stay where you are." Ling Xuan said, gesturing to Tina to stay with Alexander.

She walked forward, her eyes scanning the surroundings. Meanwhile Jake and his mother held each other’s hands tightly, with fear evident in their eyes.

"Commander, be careful," Gabriel shouted, his hands tightening around his rifle.

Ling Xuan stepped forward, her foot pressing into the soil as her gaze lowered, and the moment her weight settled, the ground gave way slightly beneath her. It was not enough to throw her off balance but enough to make her pause as her brows drew together.

The soldier took a cautious step, but the moment his boot landed on a darker patch, water seeped up around it, spreading slowly across the surface as his expression tightened. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Commander... there’s water here," he said, his voice no longer steady.

"Don’t move," Ling Xuan replied, her tone calm but firm.

The soldier froze immediately, but the man beside him shifted instinctively, and the ground beneath him gave way without warning, his leg sinking past the ankle as he grabbed onto the nearest person to support himself. "Ah...!"

"Hold your position," Ling Xuan said, irritation laced in her voice.

’Simple instruction!’

The soldier forced himself to stop struggling, his breathing uneven as he tried to pull his leg out slowly, but the soil around him sank further. More water pooled around him, as almost half of his body stuck beneath the earth.

Chris frowned, his gaze dropping to the ground. "There is too much water in this area. Everyone, be careful."

"We can see that," Alexander interjected, his hands tightening over Tina’s.

Ling Xuan’s eyes swept across the area as she took in the uneven patches of soil, some darker, some sinking slightly under pressure, and the more she looked, the clearer it became that this was not limited to one spot.

Another step landed somewhere behind them and the ground dipped again.

"I said stay where you are!" Ling Xuan turned around angrily, ready to snap at the person.

But then something broke through the soil.

Dark vines shot out from the soil near the soldier’s foot, snapping upward before striking sideways, forcing him to stumble back as a sharp shout escaped him.

"Ahhh!"

"Everyone move back towards the solid land!" Ling Xuan’s voice cut through the tension, as she moved forward to help the soldier who was stuck in the soil.

More vines shot from the earth, dragging loose earth with them as the ground around them collapsed slightly, forming a split.

"Fire!" Gabriel shouted.

Gunshots rang out as the soldiers reacted immediately, bullets tearing through the vines as some snapped and fell while others continued pushing upward, twisting violently as they lashed out.

"Fall back!" Ling Xuan ordered.

A vine lashed toward a soldier and wrapped around his arm, pulling him off balance as he struggled, but before anyone could reach him, the ground beneath him collapsed further, dragging him down as another vine struck, cutting off his cry.

The soldiers fired again, retreating as they pulled back, their formation breaking under the pressure of the collapsing ground.

"Stefan!" Ling Xuan called.

"Yes, Commander!"

"Take the children and move. Don’t stop."

Stefan nodded and moved immediately, grabbing Jake and pulling his mother along, while Tina hesitated for a brief second before following, her expression no longer bright as she tightened her grip and kept close.

"Everyone, hold onto me," Stefan said urgently.

The moment they touched him, they immediately vanished into thin air.

Ling Xuan drew her sword in one smooth motion. A vine shot towards her, and with an effortless swing of her sword she sliced it cleanly, the severed piece falling to the soil and writhing briefly before going still.

Another came from the side.

She turned and cut again, her movements precise despite the shifting ground beneath her feet.

Her gaze drifted to the soldiers who were trying not to panic as he sank further into the earth.

"Hold on!" she said again, her voice overlapping with the gunfire.

Grabbing one of the vines, she used her weight and the momentum of the vine to fly overhead the soldier who was trapped.

She reached out her hand, and the soldier immediately grabbed it. As the vines twisted, trying to attack her.

Ling Xuan tightened her hold on it before using the vine’s movement to drag the soldier out. More vines shot towards her.