The journey to purgatory deviated greatly from everyone's initial expectations.
An unattractive small-displacement private car was driving briskly and silently on the green grass field, and the gust of wind that rolled up left a faint layer of ripples on the grass behind the car. The whole world is so vast and small. The car looks like a small bug as it speeds across the prairie. If it were not for the occasional black rock formations seen through the clouds, no one would be able to imagine another crust hanging above the sky.
The car stopped slowly in front of a black "big mountain". This is another "Tianzhu giant tree" supporting the dome. It seems that a huge cliff-like trunk stands straight on the ground. The lower part is The upper part of the nearly thousand-meter-high mountain has been lost in the depths of the clouds. Hao Ren pushed the door and got out of the car, took out some equipment that looked like measuring racks from the portable space, and assembled them on the spot.
The data terminal connects itself to the device, and then a set of rough planet cross-sections are projected above it, while several small, cicada-like machines fly out of the cylindrical container below the device. The little machine flew towards the "Tianzhu giant tree", and nimbly got into the latter's rock-hard black skin. After a while, the data was sent back, and on the scanned image of the data terminal, the holographic image representing the giant tree in front of him showed an icy blue color.
"The third tree is also a dead individual, and its life reaction has completely stopped," the data terminal reported calmly while displaying the data. "Ligninous fibers can be found in the deep layer, but the outer skin has basically been petrified. It is a mixed mineral. Probably a reinforced shell evolved from the hardening of tree trunk secretions over time. These 'petrified' parts give these hollow columns unimaginable strength...almost as rigid as a starship's armor plate."
"So they can support the world above." Hao Ren looked up at the lower layer of the earth's crust covered by clouds. "Are these tree trunks evenly distributed?"
"That's right, evenly distributed, and the number is huge." The data terminal replied, and its screen showed the distribution of the "Tianzhu Giant Trees" between the first and second floors of Purgatory Planet. The data is not very detailed, but it is enough for a rough analysis. It can be seen from the screen. The first layer of purgatory is completely suspended over ten kilometers above the planet's deep crust, without any geological connection between the two. A large number of Tianzhu giant trees are the only support to maintain this double-layer structure. These giant trees are evenly distributed under the earth's crust, one every one hundred kilometers: far more than the number of purgatory entrances on the surface.
"Not all giant trees are hollow. In fact, most giant trees are solid. They are stronger," Terminal explained. The 'Purgatory Second Floor Entrance'."
Lily asked curiously: "This hollow structure is... a lesion?"
"No. It should be intentional," the terminal gave a negative answer, "The distribution of the hollow giant trees is very uniform. On average, one of every hundred Tianzhu giant trees is hollow, and the entire atmospheric activity in the underground space Also in conjunction with these 'chimneys', this machine analyzes that this hollow special tree trunk should be something like a breathing tube, which is used for atmospheric exchange with the surface world—it should also have the function of a sensor, and this machine scans There is a strong electrical signal surge under the hollow giant tree, if it is correct. It should be... "
"It's the nerves of the eldest son," Hao Ren interrupted without waiting for the terminal to finish speaking, "These trees evolved from the tentacles of the eldest son, right?"
Hao Ren is no longer a rookie who relies entirely on equipment analysis to make judgments. According to the environment of this underground world and the landscape he saw in the surface world, he can easily deduce that only the eldest son can create such a miracle. Those "Tianzhu giant trees" supporting the upper crust are undoubtedly part of the firstborn. The only problem is - this part has evolved so that the shape of the tentacles of the eldest son can hardly be seen, and even its internal physiological structure is quite different from that of the eldest son.
The data terminal did not answer directly, but directly released a set of holographic projections. It was the structure of the underground part of the Tianzhu giant tree that was just scanned by the deep radar. Everyone could clearly see that there was a An even larger and frighteningly complex world. Countless and complex roots that look like brain nerves grow entangled in the depths of the earth. Became the appearance of tentacles. And it extends to the deeper part of the earth: that is a place that even radar can't detect, at least the few low-power sensors that Hao Ren carries with him can't scan so deep.
"These giant trees evolved from the tentacles of the eldest son. However, based on the analysis of physiological structure alone, these trees have completely deviated from the life form of the eldest son," the voice of the terminal was a little confused, "they are really woody, wrapped in a layer more than The petrified shell of the superalloy is very different from the tentacles. It feels like a flesh and blood body has grown titanium alloy limbs, and it is not grafted."
"It is understandable that the eldest son is the source of life. If the situation requires it, it is also possible to change part of its limbs into other species. What it can do with its original blood, there is no reason why its tentacles can't do it. Hao Ren was not too surprised. "You can confirm these things with Zhuo Mu at that time. The key now is whether the eldest son is alive or dead... You said it has nerve impulses, but these giant trees are obviously dead."
"It is impossible to judge. For a creature of the eldest son level, it is difficult to define its life and death by the standard of conventional species: its body and soul, every tissue, organ, and even every fragment may have an independent definition of life and death , a part of it is obviously withered, but these withered parts support a whole world, and there are still some signals coming from its deep layers, but there are only a little bit of electrical signal."
Lily thought for a while, and a word popped up: "vegetative?"
Hao Ren glanced at Lily with a strange expression. He said to himself that there should be no more inconsistent description in the world than this, but these three words are really suitable for the current situation like a thunderbolt!
"If... if I'm not mistaken, the upper layer should not be the crust," Vivienne looked up for a long time, and suddenly said thoughtfully, "It's impossible for this planet to grow a new crust out of thin air." .the top of the trunk can only be one thing..."
The data terminal immediately switched to the screen, showing further scan results of the outermost layer of the planet Purgatory, which is the desolate and vast place that everyone saw when they first arrived here, full of poisonous hot springs and monsters. A solid and seamless spherical shell of rock, but after detailed scanning by probes, its underlying veins finally emerged.
"You're right, it's the crown of the tree. The first crust of Planet Purgatory is the petrified tree crown."
These canopies are continuous, without gaps, completely covering the original planet below. The peculiar "petrification" process of the Tianzhu giant tree is not only reflected in the trunk, but also in the canopy, so after countless years of changes, once The canopy of plants turned into a rock formation several kilometers thick, and above that rock formation was a harsh world that could be called purgatory.
In the process of carrying out this series of transformations, all the giant trees of Tianzhu died. I don’t know if it was part of the eldest son’s plan or something happened in the middle. In short, these "black mountains" that everyone can see now are just dead plants. The wreckage is the pillar left after the tentacles of the eldest son withered. They are fossils, holding up the canopy crust that is also fossilized.
Nangong Sanba pinched his chin thoughtfully: "That is to say, the place we are standing on now is the real 'primitive surface' of Purgatory Planet?"
"That's right, at least it was the original land before these giant trees completely closed the sky," Hao Ren nodded, his eyes extending upwards along the majestic black trunk, "I think this is some kind of protective measure to ensure that the original land The ecological circle on the ground was built only if it could survive. Coupled with the outermost cloud top, this planet has layers of protection, which has persisted until today without the sun.”
At this time, the data terminal suddenly received an emergency communication from a certain probe, and it immediately shouted: "Hey! Don't study the tree, the probe has found something!"
Vivian ran over immediately: "Is it Baptiste's whereabouts?"
"No—it's other traces of man-made objects." The projection of the data terminal showed a picture from afar. On the vast prairie, a large ruin covered by plants and soil was clearly visible. "A city! Intelligent creatures A city built!" (to be continued~^~)