The process of passing through the trees and high walls was very smooth, and there was no other interference except the crying of the baby.
As the distance got closer, Yi Chen became more and more proficient. He only needed to stretch out one hand in front of him to make the tree trunk in front of him move away by itself.
And in this process, Yi Chen gradually discovered the differences between these high walls and trees.
The sap flowing through the tree trunks does have a bloody smell, which must be directly related to the nutrients absorbed by their roots... It is precisely this special nutrient that allows them to form such an extraordinary 100-meter-high wall.
As for Jin, he seemed to be here for tourism, following behind leisurely, and even had time to chat.
"I didn't expect that a man like you could control plants so well... Are you planning to open a clinic in the future?"
“I don’t have such plans for the time being.”
“It would be best if you don’t have this plan in the future. Clinics are something that organizations use to constrain talent.
I will try to reduce contact with Zion as much as possible, and when Zion's value is fully exploited, I will leave here. Then will we be together?"
"Focus on the task at hand, Jin."
"Boring man."
After walking through the tree wall for more than 300 meters, we finally peeled off the innermost layer of the tree trunk.
What greeted the two was not some paradise, nor was there any comfortable feeling of seeing the sun after the clouds had cleared... Not only was there no sunlight, but they were brought to an even darker inner area without a single ray of light.
At the top of the nearly 100-meter-high wall, the growth of tree branches is also abnormal, dense, intertwined and overlapping.
Countless branches and leaves formed a cover, covering everything inside the high wall.
At the same time, there is also a fog component brought by graying, which fills the gaps between the leaves and prevents any sunlight from penetrating, forming an absolutely dark enclosed area.
If an ordinary person walks in such a forest for two or three minutes, the feeling of claustrophobia will creep over the whole body like a crawling insect.
Yi Chen lowered his head to observe the grayed aura flowing between his leather shoes. The concentration was comparable to that of the Dusk Clinic and had reached the late stage... except that the coverage area here was larger and the affected area was deeper.
There may be abnormal patients like the female doctor who gives intravenous drips and the nurse who applies bandages.
Under the influence of graying,
The trees growing in the inner area no longer stand tall, but grow randomly at all kinds of weird and twisted angles.
The branches look like human arms, and the dull dark leaves stick to the surface of the branches like skin, or even embed in them, which looks quite strange.
Some trees appear extra 'fat' due to graying, with the middle of the trunk becoming swollen.
Streams of thick light green liquid continued to flow out and eventually seeped into the soil and turned into nutrients again.
also,
Fungi grow in large and dense numbers on the tree bark and on the ground around it.
Some of the larger fungi have openings on their tops, and can breathe like humans... Every time they wriggle, they exhale spores that deepen the graying effect, promoting mutations in the forest.
These gray spores floating in the forest can further obscure the field of vision. Even the light of kerosene lamps will be limited, and the visible range is restricted to about ten meters.
Due to the presence of small grapes, Yi Chen's visual range can be doubled.
Little Grape suddenly sent a message: "It's very strong~ This place is not much worse than the Twilight Clinic, William, you have to be careful. If you are unlucky and meet another open source patient later, it will really be fatal."
"Don't be such a pessimist. I'll pay attention."
Yi Chen walked up to a diseased tree that was oozing pus, and tried to put his palm on the bark to feel the specific situation inside.
"Hmm? A tumor?"
There was actually a flesh-red malignant tumor growing under the bark, and it was this tumor structure that caused the trunk to swell and ooze pus.
Moreover, the surface of the tumor is connected to the fluid transport structure of the vascular bundle, which leads to the base of the tree.
"The lower root seems to be connected to something."
Who knows,
Jin also followed over, dipped his fingers in the thick juice, and put them on the tip of his tongue to taste it carefully.
"It smells like blood and flesh! Is it really related to the roots? Let's see what's going on."
Without any discussion with Yi Chen,
Jin hugged the trunk of the tree with both arms, and red threads covered her arms... Using explosive strength, she pulled the tree out of the ground.
Yi Chen did not stop him, but looked at the roots carefully.
The scene that came into his eyes made him frown and feel uncomfortable.
At the roots of the pulled out trees, the plump and lubricated roots were actually twisting on their own. Rather than being roots, they looked more like octopus tentacles.
The roots were as active as if they were alive, and they even wanted to turn around and pierce into Jin's arms, but unfortunately they were not long enough...
"What are these roots sucking?"
Yi Chen moved the kerosene lamp to the hole in the ground and looked down.
A drop of cold sweat overflowed from the forehead.
In the field of vision, a kind of "larva" that cannot be classified into current biology is buried below.
They have limbs similar to those of humans, but they are of different lengths and have structures such as hooves and pads.
It has black hair on its body, rudimentary goat horns, and a pig-like nose.
The whole thing is coiled together like a mosquito coil, curled up at the bottom.
The holes all over its body kept opening and closing with the larva's breathing, as if it wanted to insert roots into its body.
Just then,
The eyes of the larva suddenly opened,
The eye children are in a straight line, staring at the peeper above.
The crooked mouth opened and closed, making strange noises, as if it was in pain from the loss of roots.
"This guy is not a nutrient, but maintains a symbiotic relationship with the trees, providing each other with the nutrients they need.
Jin, put the tree back and don't alert the enemy for now. Our exploration has just begun."
However.
Jin rubbed his fingers gently.
A simple red lotus woven from blood is pinched at the fingertips.
As the fingers loosened, red lotus fell and landed on the surface of the strange young creature's body.
Rooted in the body
Red line invasion,
All over the body,
Bang!
The larva exploded like a bomb, and its flesh and blood evaporated.
Not long after,
The trees that were pulled out of the ground began to wither and shrivel up from the roots, and the whole tree died of old age in less than five minutes.
"For such a poor fellow, death is the best gift. Don't you think I am being very gentlemanly, William?"
…
At the same time.
Deep in the forest, in a secret and completely gray secret room.
An old man wearing religious attire and a bishop's mitre inlaid with gold and green patterns woke up between the seats.
As he slowly raised his wrinkled, skinny hand,
A mysterious man in a black robe appeared in the darkness and knelt in front of him.
"My Lord Bishop, what do you want me to do?"
"We have a visitor..."
"Can you continue to send us nutritional supplements? These humans are really generous."
“This time is a little different… Let’s let the inferior villagers go to greet them first, test their abilities, and start testing if necessary.
Our plans are still in progress, so please proceed with caution, Theodore."
"yes."
The man called Theodore quickly retreated into the shadows and disappeared.
The bishop, who had just woken up from his dream, seemed to be feeling unwell from sitting for a long time and wanted to adjust his sitting posture.
After he finished moving his body with great difficulty,
He reached out and lifted up his robe, revealing his fat and wrinkled belly.
The strange thing is,
There was actually an equally wrinkled umbilical cord extending from the bishop's belly button, with the other end connected to his chair.
It seemed to hold him here.
It was as if relying on the transmission function of the umbilical cord, it continuously absorbed nutrients from under the seat for the bishop.
Through the gap at the bottom of the seat, one could faintly smell the stench of a corpse.