Shanghai.
Hidden in an office somewhere underground.
The head of the government, the Principal of Beijing University, was looking at a piece of information sent from Changling City.
[the Fair Association in Changling City has been suppressed.]
[But there are about 12 tons of Wood Conversion Powder that are missing.]
[The President of the Fair Association is missing.]
[Chen Yu has entered the alien realm of Changling and is missing.]
Staring at these messages, the Principal of Beijing University stroked his white beard and pondered for a long time. Then, he picked up his pen and replied to them one by one.
[1. Stabilize the situation in the surrounding area. Leave behind three or more intermediate martial artists and restore the legal rights of the local authorities. Also, radiate the power to the surrounding area.]
[2. Do not investigate the whereabouts of the missing huge amount of Wood Conversion Powder for the time being.]
[3. Gather one advanced martial artist and four intermediate martial artists, form a rescue team, and enter the alien realm to search for Chen Yu. If he has already turned into wood, bring him out to recover.]
After writing, the Principal was about to pass the document to the female assistant, but he seemed to have thought of something and added another paragraph.
[The President of the Fair Association is likely to be hiding in the alien realm. Be careful.]
“It’s done this time.”
He sealed the document and handed it to the female assistant.
The female assistant received it respectfully, took the seal on the side, and sealed it. After completing the authorization, she said, “There’s another matter.”
“Speak.”
“Recently, all the cities and major express delivery companies have discovered that a large number of exotic beasts have appeared in the wild.”
The Principal of Beijing University asked, “Have they sent a team of experts to investigate?”
“The branches of the universities have been investigating for half a month.”
“Are there any results?”
“Not yet.”
“…Then we’ll continue to send more investigators. If we don’t have enough people, we can transfer professor resources from a few universities in Shanghai.”
“Yes.”
“You may leave.”
“Yes.”
The female assistant took her leave and closed the door.
The Principal of Beijing University was left alone in his office in silence.
After a long time, he got up and locked the door.
He walked to a wall and solemnly pushed open the secret door.
Hu hu…
The secret door opened.
A small space was revealed.
There was only one bookshelf in the space.
There was only one book on the bookshelf.
The Principal of Beijing University reached out his right hand, which was trembling due to his old age. He grabbed the book and wiped the dust that was not there.
On the cover, there were seven big words.
“The core outline of the Fair Association”
The Principal of Beijing University pursed his lips.
This book was the real top secret of the country.
Qinghai Li left it for him…
“Sigh…”
He sighed deeply.
He opened the cover, took out a necklace from the book, and put it on his neck.
The necklace was pure silver.
A pocket watch was hanging.
The familiar line of words was clearly engraved on the dial — fight for fairness.
Hiding the necklace deep in his collar, the Principal of the Beijing University looked up at the ceiling.
“How can I find the President of the Fair Association?”
“Even if I do, it’s just a puppet.”
“Because…”
“The real President…”
“Is me.”
…
Changling Alien Realm.
In the depths.
Chen Yu stood rooted to the ground and looked ahead.
The reason why he used the word ‘look’ was because that ‘thing’ was really too big…
It was a giant tree that was more than 500 meters tall.
The trunk was as thick as a city wall.
What was even stranger was that in the middle of the trunk, there was a face that looked like that of a middle-aged man.
The face was so ferocious that it made people shudder.
“This is… your main body?”
“Yes.”
The giant face opened its mouth.
Its voice was like thunder.
“Your main body is a little awesome. Eh? You can talk?”
“I have a mouth.” The face on the tree trunk was distorted, and his mouth opened and closed. “Of course I can speak.”
“Your main body is here. How did you monitor other places?”
“All the spores released are my eyes.”
“Oh…” Chen Yu probed. “Then do you know the world outside this world?”
“What world?”
“Looks like your eyesight isn’t that good. You can’t see anything outside of the space-time gateway.”
“What is the space-time gateway? Human, what are you trying to say?”
Chen Yu didn’t answer. Instead, he quickly walked forward and raised his head to carefully observe the majestic posture of the giant tree. The more he looked, the more he felt that it was huge. “It’s a bit too tall. Did you eat Jinkela?”
“What’s Jinkela?”
“Jinkela… Hmm? Wait a minute!” Chen Yu’s gaze focused. “There’s still a face on your face?”
As he finished speaking, a strong wind blew.
The lush branches and leaves parted, revealing a face on the upper half of the tree trunk.
That was the face of a woman.
Pa.
The woman opened her eyes and looked at Chen Yu with a gentle gaze. “Hello, human.”
“Don’t use honorifics on him!” The man’s face shouted.
“Hello.” Chen Yu nodded politely and said to the woman, “Are you its old woman?”
“No.” The woman shook her face. “I, am it. It is me.”
“Oh! Right, the plants seem to be anthropomorphic.”
“Yes.”
“Then your anthropomorphic form is quite interesting.”
“This is not what we want, but…”
“Shut up!” The man under the tree roared, “Humans are not good. Just kill him.”
Hu…
With that, the 500-meter-tall tree shook!
Black powder that blotted out the sky floated down from above.
[Contact with unknown substance.]
[Lignification -453; -473; -477…]
Hearing the electronic synthesized sound reverberating in his ears, Chen Yu’s spirit slightly shivered.
‘With such a strong lignification effect, even a Level 8 martial artist wouldn’t be able to withstand it, right?’
Layers of layers of ‘black fog’ fell.
Chen Yu was unharmed.
“Impossible!”
The male face roared and continued to shake the tree crown, scattering the powder.
[Contact with an unknown substance.]
[Lignification -502; -511…]
Chen Yu wiped away the Wood Powder on his face, which was even darker than the ashes at the bottom of the pot. He opened his arms and said, “Stop messing around, you can’t… Ptui, you can’t do anything to me.”
“Why?”
“Why didn’t you turn into wood?”
“Don’t you have any protein on your body?!”
The expression on the male face on the tree trunk became more and more ferocious, gradually showing signs of hysteria.
“It’s useless,” the female face above said. “Give up. This human is not ordinary.”
“Give up.” Chen Yu pointed at himself and agreed. “This human is too awesome.”
The male face: “…”
Perhaps the female face’s words of comfort had taken effect.
The black Wood Powder that blotted out the sky gradually dissipated. The blue sky was once again revealed.
“Why?”
The man’s voice sounded like thunder. “Human, why won’t you be turned into wood?”
“That’s not important.” The woman’s gaze was gentle as she looked into Chen Yu’s eyes. “Human, can I know your name?”
As the saying went, one should never hit a smiling face.
Since the other party had a good attitude, Chen Yu naturally became much more polite. “Just call me Dad.”
“Hello, Dad.”
“Hey.”
“He’s insulting you!” The male face looked up.
“A form of address is just a form of address. To you and me, it has no other meaning.”
After saying that, the female face continued to smile. “We don’t have a name, so you can call us as you wish. I also roughly know what you want to ask me. But before that, I want to ask you a few questions.”
“Okay, okay, tell me everything you know.”
“Thank you. First question, may I ask… You and your companions are not humans in this world, right?”
“Yes.” Chen Yu nodded.
“What?” the man roared. “There are humans outside the world? I’m going to kill them!”
“Dad, just pretend that you didn’t hear it,” the woman said.
“Okay.” Chen Yu nodded. “I’ll pretend that it doesn’t exist.”
The man: “…You’re the most annoying human I’ve ever met.”
“Second question. From what I’ve observed, you humans who entered after you didn’t use firearms very often. Instead, you can skillfully control a special type of energy.”
Bang!
Chen Yu exploded with energy and spread his hands. “This kind of energy?”
“Yes.” The woman nodded. “I can’t understand this kind of energy, and I don’t want to understand it. I just want to ask, are you still humans now?”
This question made Chen Yu ponder for a long time before he finally gave a half-joking and half-serious answer.
“In our world, yes.”
“…Thank you.” The woman closed her eyes. “Perhaps our birth was not an accident.”
“What are you talking about?” The man frowned.
“Dad, it’s your turn now.” The woman opened her eyes. “What do you want to ask? I will tell you everything I know.”
“What exactly are you?” Chen Yu went straight to the point.
“We, or rather, I, am a tree.”
“No tree can grow to look like you.”
“Everything has changed since more than 6,000 years ago.”
“6,000 years ago, this world was not what you see now.”
“Humans were its rulers. They wantonly controlled the ecosystem of this planet.”
“Countless creatures were wiped out.”
“Countless forests were wiped out.”
“Other than food, fruits, and vegetables, the rest of the plants that were useless to humans gradually disappeared.”
“There were so many of them.”
“So many that the resources of the entire planet couldn’t support them.”
“They tried to emigrate to other planets, but because the speed of light was unbreakable, they were locked here forever.”
“The increasingly powerful strategic weapons also made the human forces wary of each other. They were always at the edge of war and peace.”
“This stalemate has lasted for more than three hundred years.”
“The atmosphere had been polluted.”
“The seawater had been irradiated.”
“The desertification of the land could no longer be stopped.”
“This here…”
The female face looked at the sky. “Is the last primitive jungle.”
“…And then?” Chen Yu narrowed his eyes.
“And then we had consciousness.” The male face interrupted and said angrily, “We also want to live. In this world, all the endangered lives want to live. So we must kill all the humans and completely wipe out this vile race.”
Chen Yu: “…”
“We want to turn the humans into wood!” The male face went crazy. “Let them feel the taste of being cut down, polluted, and exterminated!”
Rumble…
The male face’s voice shook the sky, causing faint thunder sounds to reverberate.
“Dad, it’s a little extreme.” The female face said, “But that’s the general situation. Through the infection of the seeds, we have turned all the humans in the world into wood. Only those hidden in the sealed space are slowly exterminated.”
“No! Not completely extinct,” the man said. “And those plants that are emitting fluorescent light! Only by killing them all can we be considered as truly extinct.”
Chen Yu raised his head and asked, “What’s with those plants that are emitting green light?”
“That’s what remains of humans.”
The woman replied, “Most of the humans that have turned into wood are just a piece of lifeless wood. However, due to some kind of fortuitous coincidence, some of the wood has regained its ‘function’. It blooms and bears fruit, scattering seeds. Slowly, it has reached its current scale.”
“…It’s too magical.” Chen Yu’s thoughts were hazy.
“That’s why we’ve been fighting against them for the past few thousand years. We estimate that we’ll be able to eradicate all these remnants of humans in another five hundred years at most. Then, you guys appeared.”
“They’re in cahoots!” the man roared. “We have to kill them. Otherwise, this world will be destroyed by humans sooner or later!”
“Now, we are no longer the strong side,” the woman said calmly. “You should think about how not to be killed by Dad.”
“What?” The man was furious. His eyes were wide open as he waited for Chen Yu. “You? Want to kill me?”
Chen Yu rubbed his chin. “I have such thoughts. Unless you can control yourself and stop releasing Wood Conversion Powder in the future.”
Obviously, this world was more suitable for ‘immigrants’ than the Qingcheng Alien Realm.
As long as this giant tree stopped scattering Wood Conversion Powder, the humans in the real world could live here safely.
Unfortunately…
“Impossible!”
The male face shouted at the top of his lungs, “I will not give up on destroying the humans!”
“I’m sorry.” The female face sighed. “We can’t do that. Because we need to exchange gas, we can’t control ourselves to release spores. The Wood Conversion Powder you’re talking about can’t be stopped.”
“Then there’s nothing we can do.”
Chen Yu shrugged, picked up the sharp dagger, and walked toward the giant tree.
The reason he came to the northeast was not only to resurrect the Bahuang Yao, but also to find an alien realm suitable for human immigrants.
Based on this point, the giant tree had to die.
If it didn’t die, humans couldn’t enter.
Although taking the example of the alien realm in Qingcheng as a reference, killing this giant creature might result in the so-called ‘timeline closure’ and the dimensional door being shattered.
But he had no other choice.
He could only try.
If the ‘timeline sealing’ really happened, it could at least increase the progress of the ‘Curse’…
“Don’t come over!”
The man’s face looked at Chen Yu who was getting closer and closer, and the entire tree crown shook violently.
Crash —
Batches of black Wood Powder attacked.
Naturally, they couldn’t harm Chen Yu.
“Stop struggling.”
Pfft!
Chen Yu swung his knife and plunged it deep into the tree trunk. “Just like you said, I’m on the same side as those fluorescent trees. The buttocks decide the brain. Humans… will only help humans.”
“A dagger can’t kill us.” The male face roared. “My self-healing ability is beyond your imagination.”
“Oh?”
Chen Yu pulled out the dagger.
As expected, the gap in the tree trunk was restored in half a minute.
“Bad move.”
Chen Yu clicked his tongue. “If I bring BB’s longsword, I can take you away in one wave.”
“Hahaha…”
The man’s laughter shook the sky and earth. “Inferior humans! There’s no way, right?”
“No way?”
Chen Yu threw away the dagger. “Your workman father will have no way?”
As he spoke, he slowly unzipped his backpack…
