"Where's the researcher's position?" Zhou Yu didn't seem to be moved by the scene in front of him.
Wu Yun raised his wrist and glanced at it, changing the angle seems to be correcting the position.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Yu asked.
"Based on the distance and direction... He seems to be inside Elpis..." Wu Yun's brows furrowed tightly.
Did Elpis swallow the researcher
Are they the food that Elpis calculated to be lured here
"Put on a mask." Zhou Yu put on the breathing mask.
Wu Yun immediately understood what Zhou Yu meant, and he clasped Zhou Yu's wrist: "Even if the anaesthetic bullet is useful for those blue-light fireflies or saber-bone butterflies, it may not be useful for Elpis!"
"Just try and find out. Wu Yun, don't forget your daughter. It's impossible for us to go back the same way, so let's try it out. And I have a hunch that you'll get the recorder on that researcher, and Unexpected harvest, go back safely."
"...a hunch like this... Then do you have a hunch, what will happen to me?" Wu Yun asked helplessly with a smile.
die here
Or... can I still see my daughter
"Don't think about the future. The future can be changed, and the 'after' is bound to come."
After speaking, Zhou Yu suddenly threw out the only anesthesia grenade he was equipped with.
The grenade exploded in mid-air, and the anaesthetic gas spread out.
This is a closed underground space, which is extremely beneficial for the effect of anesthesia bombs.
Zhou Yu counted the time in his heart: one second, two seconds, three seconds... nine seconds, ten seconds!
The sword-bone butterflies attached to the El Niño flowers fell one after another, followed by those blue-light fireflies, like blue rain and fog, the scene was extremely spectacular.
Like the torrent of time, like a mighty hallucination.
The ground was quickly covered up.
Moreover, this anesthetic is soluble in water. If it is useful for blue-light fireflies and sword-bone butterflies, it should also be effective for aquatic dragons in the pool, but the effect will not be long.
Zhou Yu made a "forward" gesture.
They must race against time.
The closer they got to Elpis, the more they felt the magic of the tree.
It seems that every vein is a creature that thinks independently, the moment Zhou Yu raised his head and glanced, there was an inexplicable piety in his heart.
Elpis, as if seeing all the elders in the world, lowered his eyes and looked at them with sympathy.
At that moment, Zhou Yu's heartbeat seemed to merge with the flow between the Elpis veins.
Wu Yun looked at the locator on his arm and walked towards Elpis step by step. What surprised him was that the researcher was lying under the tree in Elpis, neither injured by scabbard butterflies nor blue-light fireflies, nor suffocated by devil vines.
Wu Yun stretched out his hand to hold his neck and found that his pulse was steady.
This is almost impossible to happen.
Wu Yun can confirm Zhou Yu's conjecture, Elpis deliberately let them in here, and this researcher is the bait!
What is its purpose
At this moment, the sleeping researcher suddenly opened his eyes, causing Wu Yun to step back.
And he stood up slowly, with a smile on his face that Wu Yun had never seen before.
Calm, calm, and noble.
"Welcome to my world."
The voice was ethereal, echoing in this huge underground world, like a star falling into a cup.
"Who are you! This is not Zhao Xiaoping's voice!"
Although Wu Yun was not familiar with the researcher named Zhao Xiaoping, he had done several missions with him. Wu Yun remembered Zhao Xiaoping's voice and demeanor.
But now this person is definitely not Zhao Xiaoping!
Zhao Xiaoping looked at Zhou Yu through Wu Yun's shoulder: "What about you? Who do you think I am?"
Zhou Yu's expression was much calmer than Wu Yun's.
"You are Elpis." Zhou Yu replied.
Wu Yun was dumbfounded, and then he understood the way Elpis controlled these creatures.
Although it does not mimic the appearance of a human like an S-class creature, its thinking can enter other creatures and control their behavior.
"Why did you invite us here?" Zhou Yu held his own gun in his hand and stared at Zhao Xiaoping coldly, but was ready to shoot Elpis at any time.
No matter if he is doing this, he will do his best as long as he can win a chance for Wu Yun.
"Don't be like this, Zhou Yu. The bullets fired by your gun are not strong enough to penetrate my body." Zhao Xiaoping turned his face to the side, his eyes were full of playfulness, and more of a detachment above humans.
Wu Yun sensed the danger, Elpis could read their minds... and he could control himself and Zhou Yu at any time, causing them to kill each other.
"What do you want? If you take Wu Yun and me as prey, you don't need to talk so much with us."
"You should know that as Elpis, the fruit of my offspring will only have one in thousands of years. But I gave that fruit to a creature of higher rank than me."
Zhao Xiaoping's words surprised Wu Yun and Zhou Yu.
Creatures higher than Elpis are S-class creatures.
"So I lost the possibility of continuing the bloodline."
Wu Yun subconsciously took a step back.
If the Elpis' goal wasn't to use them as food, it might as well be nutrition for their offspring!
It wants to give birth to life again, so it needs to…
"Let's play a game. In three minutes, the anaesthetic in the air will expire. My subjects will wake up. If you climb up fast enough, you can get out of here."
"Climb up?" Wu Yun was completely puzzled.
However, Zhao Xiaoping smiled and pointed to the top of his head.
Zhou Yu and Wu Yun looked up together, the branches and leaves of Elpis moved, and there seemed to be a trace of sunlight falling on Zhou Yu's face from the gap. It was the noon sunlight, which was very dazzling, and Zhou Yu decided to recognize it.
In other words, this huge underground space is not closed. It's just that the branches and leaves of Elpis are too lush, covering the space on the top of the cave!
"We are not like humans who are deceitful and cunning and always break their promises. Once a promise is made, it will be fulfilled. Time is boring, give me a little fun. Time is ticking! Move fast or my children will die. to wake up."
In the next second, Zhou Yu put one end of the rope into the launcher and shot it to the heights.
"Let's go! Wu Yun!" Zhou Yu let out a low growl, making Wu Yun wake up.
The two quickly climbed along the rope and went up. They climbed up desperately.
They were all too small for Elpis, like ants on a tree.
It took almost a minute, and they had just climbed into the branches of Elpis.
Sweat fell from Zhou Yu's forehead, he stepped on the flower of Elpis, jumped up, stepped on the devil's vine, and then continued upward.
Wu Yun is also very neat, at this moment they have no time to think about whether Elpis is playing tricks on them or is really too boring to take them for fun.
Two minutes later, they hadn't even reached the midsection of Elpis.
But can't give up.
Three minutes are up, and the sleeping creature is gradually waking up.
And they had just climbed over the middle of Elpis, and they could see a clear daylight.
Zhou Yu saw countless sword-bone butterflies and blue-light fireflies flying towards them through the gaps in the branches and leaves.
Time is running out!
Zhou Yuhuang came to Wu Yun: "Give me your rope!"
"what?"
"Hold tight!" After Zhou Yu finished speaking, he tied his rope with Wu Yun's, tied one end tightly around Wu Yun's waist, and shot the other end at a high branch.
But the metal claws were not embedded in the branches, but hung down from the other side.
Zhou Yu grabbed the metal claw, and Wu Yun suddenly understood what he was going to do.
"Zhou Yu! No!"
"Take care of Zhou Qing for me! Elpis's goal is me!"
After speaking, Zhou Yu jumped down.
"Zhou Yu!" Wu Yun stretched out his hand to grab him, but was pulled up by the rope, and watched helplessly as Zhou Yu, who jumped down, was dragged down by the winding devil vines.
The greater the power of the devil vine, the faster Wu Yun rises.
Zhou Yu's eyes widened, watching Wu Yun let go of the rope when he grabbed the branch.
"Don't waste my life!" Zhou Yu reminded Wu Yun loudly, and was soon overwhelmed by the branches and leaves of Elpis.
Wu Yun's tears fell vertically and horizontally, and he gritted his teeth, unable to fight back in the face of this even more powerful creature.
He regretted telling Zhou Yu about his daughter. If he hadn't said it, maybe Zhou Yu would not have sacrificed himself to save him.
The sun shines on him, although there is still a long distance from the top of the cave, but under the sun, the blue light fireflies will not come. The creature would only live in the dark, and sunlight would crack its body. The Sword Bone Butterfly targets with fear, and the inhibitor in his body has not been metabolized. As long as Elpis doesn't really kill him, he will not be attacked.
Zhou Yu's words "Don't waste my life" echoed in Wu Yun's mind constantly. No matter how much hatred he felt in his heart, no matter how much he wanted to jump down to find Zhou Yu, he had to work hard to climb up.
When he finally reached the top, he found himself on the edge of a cliff.
He knelt down, put his hands on the ground, and the tears kept falling.
He has lost many companions, but Zhou Yu... is the one he doesn't want to lose the most.
He wiped away the tears, reoriented himself, and walked towards the base.
His footsteps swayed, and his mind was filled with all the pictures from the first time he saw Zhou Yu to this journey.
He reached out to cover his eyes.
"You bastard! How am I supposed to tell Zhou Qing all this?"
At this moment, Zhou Yu was dragged by the devil vine, and the Elpis under him opened his body layer by layer, and Zhou Yu fell into its center.
It was a golden liquid, Zhou Yu was not prepared at all, and there was a gurgling sound in his ears, which was completely submerged.
His hair was raised in the water, unable to breathe, surrounded by what looked like meridians, they were tightly intertwined, like a champagne glass.
It was as if Elpis opened his mouth and swallowed him, and these liquids were his digestive juices.
Zhou Yu swims upwards, the oxygen he has is getting less and less, and he is about to reach the critical surface with great difficulty, as if being pushed hard by a force, he sinks again.
Oxygen consumption was about to reach its limit, he coughed and swallowed a lot of golden liquid.
That liquid has no taste, but once it entered his body, it was like penetration, into his blood, his cells, and the depths of his nerves.
Zhou Yu slapped hard, but couldn't find a focus.
His body became heavier and heavier, and he could no longer struggle.
Until the very end, his consciousness seemed to be pulled out of his body, and his limbs stretched out, floating in this golden liquid.
"Zhou Yu... Zhou Yu..."
A soft voice sounded, and Zhou Yu slowly opened his eyes.
Am I dead
Am I still breathing
A hand reached into the liquid, Zhou Yu subconsciously raised his hand and held it.
Immediately afterwards, a powerful force dragged him up, rushed out of the water, and entered a vast and boundless space.
In front of him was a woman in a long white dress.
She is elegant and noble, making Zhou Yu think of the fairy queen in the movie.
"Who are you... where is this place?"
Zhou Yu didn't know if this was his hallucination before he died, or if he had already died and was heading to another country.
"I'm the Elpis who trapped you. I'm sorry to invite you into my world in this way."
Zhou Yu looked into each other's eyes, she was peaceful, without any offensive power, and her eyes were even loving.
"Invite me? Why?"
Elpis smiled: "I told you that I have lost the fruit that I have bred for thousands of years. It is my child, and I have lost the heir of my blood."
"Yes, you said it. So what? Do you want me to be the nourishment for your next fruit?"
Elpis shook his head.
"The so-called inheritance, in addition to the duplication and continuation of genes in your human concept, there is another form, that is, thought. You know that we, Elpis, are one of the few plants with brain nerves that can think."
"Yes, I've heard of it."
"I have lived for 10,000 years, observing the world. My grandparents passed on to me what they observed, and I would have passed on those memories to my children. But I lost my children and am about to Towards the end of my life. I must find a living being to receive my memory. This is the legacy of our Elpis."
"What? Why did you choose me? There are so many creatures in Nibelungen! And I'm a human from another world!" Zhou Yu couldn't understand at all.
Elpis smiled, and her smile was a detachment that saw through the past and the future.
"Because he chose you. It is my greatest honor to be able to inherit everything from me."
"'Who is he?"
Elpis walked towards Zhou Yu step by step, her fingers touched both sides of Zhou Yu's head, and slowly closed her eyes.
"It may be a bit painful to accept all this, but it will be very important for you to survive in Nibelungen."
After finishing speaking, there was no chance for Zhou Yu to refuse and question, some kind of power poured into Zhou Yu's brain like a torrent.
They were pounding, surging wildly, like a vortex.
Zhou Yu's brain was in severe pain, and it cracked.
"Ah—" he growled in pain.
Countless fragments flashed through his mind. The origins of all kinds of creatures, how they evolved and how they became extinct, swept past like a spectacle.
Zhou Yu couldn't breathe, he thought he would die.
The body seemed to be shattered by this torrent.
"Zhou Yu... you will survive... "
Elpis' voice grew farther and farther, and all the extreme pain dissipated.
Zhou Yu couldn't open his eyes, he only knew that he was sinking.
lose consciousness.
Wu Yun took a helicopter and returned to the base.
He looked embarrassed, and as he walked towards Song Zhi's office, the other team members passed by and looked at him.
When he walked into Song Zhi's office, the first question asked by the other party was: "Have you got the fruit of Elpis?"
Cold, always walking on the established track, without the slightest deviation.
For the first time, Wu Yun had the urge to beat this man.
"No, the Elpis said it had no fruit."
"No fruit? How is that possible? We've been watching it for three years! Wait... what do you mean it says it has no fruit?"
"Elpis are plants with thoughts. They cannot mimic other creatures, but their thoughts can enter other creatures. One of the researchers, Zhao Xiaoping, was controlled by its thoughts and became its spokesperson. Zhao Xiaoping said, Its fruit was taken by an S-class creature."
Wu Yun put the recorder he took back from the researcher on Song Zhi's desk.
"Very well, I know you've done your best. The information you brought back, if true, would be of great significance to the study of a Class A creature like Elpis. You can go back to rest. Although you didn't Bring back the fruit of Elpis, but our group will still pay your employment fee in full according to the previous agreement."
Song Zhi's answer was like a machine.
"That's it? Don't you know that Zhou Yu is dead?" Wu Yun clenched his fists.
He has never been an impulsive person, and has even been pessimistic about life and death. But at this moment, he really wanted to pull out the gun and break Song Zhi's head.
"He's dead, and all I can do for him is give the pension to Professor Zhou and fully support Professor Zhou's research. Maybe before Professor Zhou's life comes to an end, he can find a way to heal himself. And you can What I did was to protect what Zhou Yu wanted to protect. Besides, do you think it would make any sense for me to cry and eat without thinking?"
Song Zhi looked at Wu Yun coldly, as if he was looking at a childish and vexatious child.
What he said was completely reasonable, and Wu Yun could not refute it.
"Do you know why you feel so emotional about me at the moment?" Song Zhi asked again.
"Oh? Why? Can't you see that Mr. Song still has research on psychology?"
"You don't blame our Juli Group for sending you to carry out this mission. Because before you received the mission, you knew how dangerous it was and how likely you were to die. You were just guilty of yourself. Those who sacrificed their lives to save the other party at that time, Why not you."
Wu Qiong closed his eyes, and he knew deep down that Song Zhi was right.
"Wu Yun, don't you know what Zhou Yu is like? People like Zhou Yu have no compassion for the heavens and the world, and only those who are important to him will risk their lives. And he trusts you to spare no effort to protect Zhou Qing, That's why he will save you with confidence. Don't betray his trust in you."
Wu Yun's throat choked badly.
"You can go out. I have to explain to Professor Zhou why Zhou Yu didn't come back for you."
Wu Yun didn't speak and went out the door. He was leaning against the wall, and it all weighed him down.
How he wished Zhou Yu was still alive, they were drinking beer in the restaurant and chatting about all the insignificant things.
Song Zhi in the office connected to the intercom: "Is the Alpha team still there? I want you to go on a mission to confirm the cave where Elpis grows. If you can, please find Zhou Yu's body. No matter life or death , I want a clear result."
"Yes, sir."
In the quiet office, Song Zhi put his hands together and pressed his eyebrows.
"Why do I think you won't just die like this? Show me another miracle, give me a little surprise... Zhou Yu... "
At this moment, Zhou Yu opened his eyes tiredly.
The sun was setting in the west, and the sun slanted from overhead and just shone on the pool at the bottom of the cave.
Zhou Yu took a deep breath, feeling the blood flowing from his brain to his fingertips, his fingers trembled slightly, and his thoughts returned at that moment.
Where is this place
Zhou Yu moved, turned around and lay down, looking at the sky.
What about Elpis? Don't its branches and leaves completely cover the hole? How can you see the sky
Zhou Yu lowered his head and found that his knees were immersed in a piece of clear water.
He shook his head, clearly remembering that he was dragged into the golden liquid in the center of Elpis by the devil vine!
Looking around, Zhou Yu saw that the branches and leaves belonging to Elpis were spread out across the bottom of the cave, and the nerves that were originally flowing seemed to be dead and lifeless.
All the white flowers withered.
The leaves also take on a pale color.
Zhou Yu stood up and stepped out of the center of the liquid.