……

Malone was standing in front of a tall tree, looking up at its towering canopy, obscuring a large chunk of the sky. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Malone didn't know what kind of tree it was, how many years it had taken to grow to its current height, he only knew that this tree, and the other one not far away, was the trunk that De Jong had told him to be suitable for making a canoe.

The thick trunk is nearly two meters in diameter, and it takes five or six people to hold it; The knotted roots are exposed to the ground, even more than half a man's height; The brown bark was covered with moss, vines entwined, tiny figures seemed to move between the roots, and a faint birdsong could be heard from the canopy—with this tree as the center, countless creatures inhabited it.

However, Marlon was thinking about how to cut down the tree - there were not many axes in Nighttown, and the small axes were not very good at splitting the thick bark of the giant tree - Marlon began to regret why he hadn't brought back the orc weapons.

"Sir Lothar."

De Jong walked up to Marlon's side and said softly.

"How's it going, have you thought of a feasible solution?"

Malone turned to De Jong and asked—some of these refugees had worked as lumberjacks, others as fishermen, and as canoes.

But no one had any intention of making a canoe out of such a huge tree; In the face of the unique miracles of nature, human beings can only scratch their heads and make difficulties.

"There's a way, I think it's good...... We burned the tree down with fire. ”

De Jong nodded and said - he discussed with several elderly refugees for a long time, brainstormed, and finally came up with this good idea.

"How do you burn?"

Marlon asked with some confusion - burn down the big tree? Not quite feasible, right...... How do you control the fire? If the whole tree is set on fire, isn't it time to look for a new target?

"I've sent people back to the town to fetch water, and to dig up some of the soil here, mix it into mud, and put it on the trunks of the trees, so that the fire can stop the fire from spreading upwards. It's just that such an old tree, it is estimated that there is a lot of sap in the trunk, which may be a time-consuming and labor-intensive job. ”

De Jong explained that he was going to set the tree on fire and use wet mud to stop the fire from spreading upwards; When the trunk is burned off, it will naturally not be able to bear the weight of the trunk and canopy, and the tree will fall down on its own.

"Then let's get started, we're in a hurry."

Malone nodded—he had no better way but to do what De Jong said.

"Great!"

De Jong answered, then waved to the militia and refugees behind him, and began preparations for burning the trunk.

When the cool water from the well was fetched, De Jong instructed the refugees to take the earth that had been dug up and put it into mud and carefully smeared it on the trunk of the giant tree.

"Smear some here, too."

Malone pointed to the trunk of the tree in the direction of the west and said to De Jong.

"Here? But here's the part we're going to burn! ”

De Jong asked, puzzled—the part that Malone was referring to was the lower part of the trunk, the part that the refugees were going to set on fire.

"Rub one half and burn only the other. When it can't burn, cut it with an axe, and when it loses its balance, the tree will fall down on its own, which saves effort. ”

Malone explained simply.

"That's right!"

De Jong nodded excitedly, and then shouted to the refugees, telling them to hurry up and do what Marlon said.

The militia lit torches from Nighttown, which were scarce and controlled and locked away in a warehouse, where the key was owned only by Mayor Elo Eberlock.

Some of the refugees had collected a large number of dead leaves, dead branches and withered vines from the surrounding woods, which had piled up at the roots of the giant tree - living wood was difficult to ignite, but with the help of these dead plants, the process would have been easier.

"Let's light the fire!"

De Jong drove the refugees far away before taking the torches from one of the militiamen and igniting the dead leaves that had piled up at the base of the giant tree.

The dry plants were very flammable, and soon there was a crackling sound, and the fire was suddenly brightened, and many wild mice and hares that lived in the hollows of the trees came out one after another, and fled quickly into the depths of the woods; These critters can still run, and the slow-moving bugs are unlucky, and I don't know how much has been turned into fuel.

The burning of the dead leaves sent a great deal of smoke to the canopy, and above Marlon's head, a flock of birds chirped and flapped their wings, and then they all flew away.

Of course, the eggs in the bird's nest...... I guess I can't keep it.

It was very difficult to get the growing trees to burn, and soon the dead leaves and branches were burned to fine ash, and the trunk of the giant tree was only charred and black.

"Up, up!"

De Jong took the lead in carrying an axe, rushed up with a group of militiamen, and slashed at the charred trunk.

After a slash, the charred bark turned into scattered debris, revealing the white inner stem inside.

"Go on, go on!"

De Jong commanded in a spirited manner, and the refugees re-stacked the newly collected dead branches at the base of the giant tree and set it on fire again.

As it came and went, the new tree tissue was scorched and then chopped off by the axe, and the originally thick trunk was slowly but visibly reduced towards the center.

Not far north of the tree, Robin and Paul, with another group of militiamen and refugees, were doing the same thing to another chosen tree.