Chapter 61: The Perfect Weapon

If this series of traps is already astonishing, then the traps Zhan Xia Ge later set undoubtedly elevated the "Tricky Thunder" tactic to a true "philosophical" level by using his intelligence and creative thinking.
Still during a break, Zhan Xiaoge chose another sea buckthorn tree. This time, he unceremoniously cleared all the sea buckthorns, tossed some to Zhao Haiping, then put the rest in his mouth. Then Zhan Xiaoge grabbed a shovel and dug two or three feet deep along the plant.
Plants growing in the desert share a trait: perhaps the exposed parts of the desert surface are only short, small, and inconspicuous, but to adapt to the desert's drought, water, and high temperatures, their underground rhizomes are very well developed. In terms of proportion, a tree over two feet tall might have massive roots nearly two meters deep.
Zhanxiage grabbed a branch and spent a long time writing and calculating on the sand, before finally tying a piece of cotton cloth to a certain section of the sea buckthorn tree's roots!
Seeing Zhanxiage carefully sprinkle the "Holy War No. 1" agent on the double-rolled cotton cloth, the 800 million viewers in front of the TV, including over a hundred thousand special forces soldiers worldwide who were wide-eyed watching his "tricky mine" tactics, all shivered in unison after a brief thought.
After tying the cotton cloth again, Zhanxiage suddenly turned to Zhao Haiping and asked, "Let's play a little psychological test game." Suppose you pass by a building and suddenly a bag of garbage falls on your head, what would you do first? ”
Zhao Haiping said, "Of course I should look up immediately and see which bastard is so unethical, actually throwing the trash bag downstairs." ”
"But when you look up, you find that all the residents' windows are closed. In other words, it seems as if no one could possibly throw trash down at all." Just as you give up searching for that immoral guy and are about to keep going, another bag of trash hits your head. You quickly look up, and the residents' glass windows are still tightly shut. What will you do? ”
Zhao Haiping's eyes widened and he said, "This is obviously bullying people. If someone really did this prank, I wouldn't leave!" I kept my head up, watching who would still dare to secretly throw trash at me and shut the window so fast! ”
"Well, if this trash bag hits you twice, and you look up for a long time but no one throws it away, what will you do next time you pass by here?"
"Then every time I lift my head, I'll always have a chance to catch that guy!"
Zhanxiage nodded repeatedly, then as if enlightened, he tied a grenade with the safety bolt off the plant root strip tied to it. Perhaps finding the trash bag he threw down from upstairs a second time wasn't heavy enough, he simply took out another magazine filled with bullets from his backpack and tied it to the plant's roots.
Zhao Haiping kept watching Zhanxiage use a single sea buckthorn tree to make a big deal out of it, setting a series of traps. Finally, he couldn't help but ask, "The desert is so vast, and although vegetation is sparse, along the way, we've seen at least several hundred sea buckthorn trees. Master, how can you be sure that the enemies chasing us must be collecting fresh water from this sea buckthorn tree?" How can you be sure they will definitely dig open the roots and stems of this sea buckthorn tree? ”
Zhan Xiaoge used a single shovel to put the dug sand back in place, then grabbed a handful of sand from elsewhere, scorching hot over sixty degrees Celsius, and evenly scattered them above the trap. Only after confirming there were no traces left did he say, "That's right. In the desert, there are sea buckthorn trees, cacti, jujube trees, cacti pillars—there are at least forty or fifty kinds of plants. But you have to be careful—there are only two of us, and they have two hundred of them!" In the desert, unless you encounter pools unique to alpine deserts or oases rich in water and grass, the methods for collecting fresh water are very limited. Those guys have been following us all the way, and most of the places where they can collect water have been destroyed by us. After a few days like this, the fresh water they carry is probably almost gone. Now, even the slightest way to collect fresh water is something they won't miss. ”
Zhao Haiping had followed Zhanxiage for so long that he could be considered well-traveled. Staring at the sea buckthorn tree with a piece of cloth wrapped around its roots, he suddenly widened his eyes, slapped his own thigh hard, and shouted wildly, "I get it now!" ”
Zhanxiage smiled and said, "What do you understand? Tell me." ”
"Master, this move is ruthless!" At that moment, Zhao Haiping's eyes were shining as he pointed to the sea buckthorn tree that had been first poisoned with deadly poison and then planted landmines, shouting, "The reason you wrapped it in a piece of cloth is because it absorbs water, allowing it to continuously accumulate moisture in the sand that contains water veins, until the poison between the two layers of cotton fabric gradually melts, and finally, through the tree's photosynthesis, the toxins are delivered to the entire tree!" ”
"Hmm, not bad, not bad!" Zhanxiage nodded repeatedly, "And then?" ”
"There's little water in the sand to begin with, and that cloth needs a long time to absorb enough water underground to dissolve the antidote. Plus, the toxins are gradually transported along the sea buckthorn tree's meridians throughout the body, which also takes some time. Adding it all up, the terrorists might have extracted the first or even the second and third portions of water without toxicity, or only contained trace amounts of toxins. Just as they were confidently collecting the fourth portion, no one expected that it would suddenly contain deadly poison! Just this alone is enough to cost them their lives! ”
"Hmm, not bad. Any more?"
"And then there's the grenade you left behind. Even if those guys aren't curious, to avoid dying mysteriously next time, they'll definitely dig up the entire sea buckthorn tree to see what kind of trap Master has set. That way, the grenade and magazine you buried under the tree can cost them at least one more life!"
"That's right!" Zhanxiage's eyes lit up as well. He suddenly clapped his hands and shouted, "Besides, if you can say one more thing, I'll make you see me in a new light!" ”
Zhao Haiping stared at the sea buckthorn tree, racking his brains for a long time, and finally scratched his head and said, "Hehe...... There's really nothing else I can tell. You're my master, aren't you? If I could say it, wouldn't I be a master too? ”
Zhanxiage couldn't help but sigh inwardly. To analyze the traps he set to this level was already quite difficult for Zhao Haiping. Expecting Zhao Haiping to put himself at a high level and analyze problems with a strategic perspective on the big picture, rather than obsessing over short-term gains and losses, seemed too difficult.