Chapter 114.1
Xiao Tangqiu, âf.u.c.k!â
Tang Mianmian, âf.u.c.k!â
They actually witnessed a living person turn into a tree right in front of them!
The middle-aged man had completely turned into a tree in an instant with not even a trace of being a human left.
Bai Yushan sneered, âSure enough! Everyone in this village became a tree!â
Tang Mianmian hesitated, âBut he didnât seem to be lying just now.â
Xiao Tangqiu frowned, âMaybe this guy really didnât know that he would become a tree. Didnât he say it before, every time he ate the Sacred Treeâs bark, he would sleep until the next morning⦠Maybe he became a tree without his knowledge and didnât regain consciousness until the next morning.â
âItâs indeed possible, maybe he didnât even know that he was a tree,â Xue Junli nodded, âBut⦠Why did he become a tree? He should have been a normal person originally. He was from outside the island, so whatâs the reason for his change?â
Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian glanced at each other, and said in unison, âThe Sacred Treeâs bark!â
âThere is no food on the island, everyone can only rely on the Sacred Treeâs bark to sustain themselves. A gradual mutation must have happened because he has eaten the bark!â Tang Mianmian quickly reacted, âHe said that everyone on the island gathers under the Sacred Tree in the evening and asks the Sacred Tree for food, indicating that everyone should get their food around the same time. Then they would all go back to their houses to eat, so they would mutate around the same time. If this guy had eaten with the others, he would have become a tree with the others, so he wouldnât realize that he became a tree⦠But if he doesnât eat with the others and secretly goes out to feed his wife, the others had already all turned into trees by the time he comes back, so he a.s.sumed the others had disappeared.â
Duan Hongzhen sneered, âSo the trees around the village are actually made up of the people on the island?â
âMost likely, yesk2026;â Xiao Tangqiu frowned, âActually, thereâs another strange point. Where did the water come from? If thereâs no food on this island, there should be no water sources either. Maybe the water is also provided by the Sacred Tree.â
âThe Sacred Tree gave them everything in order to turn them into trees?â Tang Mianmian touched his chin, âThis is reallyk2026; hard to put into words. Then, what should we do next?â
Xiao Tangqiu stared at the big pit left behind by the Sacred Tree, seeming to be asking Tang Mianmian or just muttering to himself, âWhere did the Sacred Tree go?â The most important thing was, how was the Sacred Tree related to their instance mission? What did it have to do with Shen Yuanâs resurrection?
âLetâs search around here, and then⦠wait until dawn,â Xue Junli looked up at the dark night sky. âDidnât that person say that he woke up after dawn? It seems that these trees should become humans again after dawn. â
âA person during the day and a tree at night? How interestingâ¦â Tang Mianmian touched his chin.
They began to search the vicinity of the giant pit. Since Bai Yushan had already gone to the bottom of the pit, they only searched around it. But all they found were the black thorn trees that were suspected to be people of the island. There was nothing on the whereabouts of the Sacred Tree.
âForget it, letâs wait until dawn.â Xue Junli said lightly. Since they had searched for a long time without finding anything useful, it either meant that the time had not come, or that there was nothing to find.
Everyone turned around and returned to the village. Although the conditions in the village were not much better, there was at least a place to sleep compared to the wilderness.
When the newbies saw them coming back, they collectively breathed a sigh of relief, as if worried that they would leave them behind and ran away.
The village was completely silent and everyone spent a quiet but sleepless night like this.
Xiao Tangqiu recalled the things written in the
Book of Light,
tossing and turning all night. He felt that he had just closed his eyes and it was dawn.
When the first ray of morning light fell on Xiao Tangqiuâs face through the primitive window, his eyes shot open. He heard a rustling sound.
The rustling sound was very light, like the sound of the wind blowing through tree leaves. He turned and got out of bed and walked to the window to witness an amazing scene. A dozen or so trees slowly moved in from the village entrance. The way they moved was very strange. First, they uprooted a few tree roots up into the air, then the exposed tree roots took root on the ground in front, and then the remaining section of the roots would also do it.
They just kept pulling roots and re-rooting, advancing in such a strange yet seemingly normal way.
When the strange black thorned trees entered the village, they gradually changed. The original rough and hard bark became human skin and the roots became human legs. By the time they returned to their own homes, they had completely become humans. Everyone had their eyes closed, as if they were sleepwalking.
Xiao Tangqiu saw that the middle-aged man also returned, changing from a tree back to a human when he stepped into the door of his house. He was not wearing any clothes but he walked into the house as if sleepwalking, and he automatically found and put on clothing. It was as if the same action had been done hundreds of times before.
If this guy really turned into a tree every night unknowingly, his body habitually took off his clothes before turning into a tree and then rooting himself, then after daybreak, he turned back into a human and returned home. If he did all of that, then he would definitely remember to put his clothes back on automatically.
Except for a couple of newbies with low vigilance, the others also woke up one by one. They silently looked at the middle-aged man who seemed to be sleepwalking with his eyes closed, then looked at each other for a while. Finally, Duan Hongzhen stepped forward and stretched out his hand to pat the middle-aged man on the shoulder with some strength, âHey! Wake up!â
The middle-aged man snapped awake in an instant. He looked at Duan Hongzhen in shock, then turned to look at Xiao Tangqiu and others, then looked down at his hands and legs with a look of disbelief. In just one night, his eaten arm grew back; just like a tree, no matter how many branches were lost, it would grow back soon.
Xiao Tangqiu said lightly, âIt seems that you still remember what happened last night.â
The middle-aged man blurted out subconsciously, âNo! Impossible! Thatâs impossible!â
He subconsciously resisted, wanting to refute Xiao Tangqiu, but also questioning himself, âHow is this possible? How could I become a tree? No! This is impossible! This must be a nightmare! Itâs just a nightmare!â
âWhy is it impossible?â Xiao Tangqiu said lightly, âYou can accept that your wife has become a tree, so how can you not accept that you have also become a tree?â
âNo! Thatâs impossible!â The middle-aged man reacted strongly, âIf I really became a tree, why can I change back? If I can change back, why canât my wife change back? Why is she still a tree!â
This was indeed a question. Xiao Tangqiu pondered for a while and said, âAre you⦠not the same species of trees?â
The corners of the middle-aged manâs mouth twitched violently. At this moment, Xue Junli suddenly said, âYou have turned back, but your wife canât. Isnât it because your wife is dead?â
The middle-aged man choked suddenly, but he still shook his head frantically, âNo! Impossible! How can I become a tree? I cannot become a tree!â
âWhy?â Xiao Tangqiu felt that the att.i.tude of the middle-aged man was off, and immediately asked, âDo you know something? Or is it that you were normal at first, and the mutation happened recently? Do you know what happens after the mutation?â
The middle-aged man fell to his knees with a thud and s.h.i.+vered, âNo⦠Impossible⦠I canât become a tree⦠Iâve seen⦠Iâve seen those peopleâ¦â
âWhat do you mean? Go on.â Xiao Tangqiu said coldly.
âThose who are over 30 years old⦠They will return to the Sacred Tree the day before they die.â The middle-aged man hugged himself and shook, âThey will change into a tree, then⦠be absorbed by the Sacred Tree⦠and ultimately become part of the Sacred Treeâ¦â