162 part 2
The giant face on the devil pine's trunk gradually disappeared, replaced by a completely naked human form slowly emerging from the trunk. Soon, the human appeared fully before them. He looked just like the giant face they saw earlier, around thirty years old, with a pale and handsome face. His long black hair cascaded down to the ground, and he stared blankly at them with pupils devoid of white, giving an expression that could be well represented by a symbol commonly used on the internet years ago (--).
The man's back was still connected to the devil pine's branches, extending all the way from high above and landing on the ground.
Everyone nervously looked at this person. Was this the human form of the devil pine?
The devil pine turned its head, looking around left and right, and finally fixed its gaze on Abu.
Everyone held their breath, afraid to make any noise.
Suddenly, the devil pine raised its arm, which unexpectedly extended to a length of five meters. Apart from the root and hand, the rest of the arm transformed into brown tree branches. The hand directly touched Abu's chest, startling everyone. Abu was also frightened and let out a "meow," trying to move back, but found that its four paws were entangled by roots that extended from the ground, rendering it unable to move.
Zhuang Yao anxiously asked, "What are you doing?"
"Touching." The devil pine said calmly, and indeed, as it had stated, it proceeded to touch Abu's fur back and forth. After a while, it withdrew its hand and said, "So, this is how it feels."
Everyone's faces contorted with bewilderment.
The devil pine turned to Cong Xia and asked, "Do you want this?" It suddenly inserted its hand into its chest, and the skin around the chest sank, revealing wood-like patterns. From its chest, it pulled out a black, translucent jade piece. It was the Puppet Jade they had seen several times before, but this one was visibly larger than the ones they had encountered previously.
Cong Xia had long felt the immense energy emanating from the Puppet Jade. He swallowed hard, as it was within arm's reach, but if he dared to reach for it, he might not live to see another day. He restrained his emotions and nodded, "Yes."
"I can give it to you. However, you must help me with a few things."
Cong Xia's face lit up, "Please tell us."
"First, I want to go with you to the outside of the forest, to see if what you said about the army, weapons, and humans is true."
Zhuang Yao asked, "Aren't you unable to leave this place?"
"As long as my roots are connected to this body, it's possible. My roots have already extended 170 kilometers in a straight line, and they are still growing. If I choose linear evolution instead of diffuse evolution, in just a few months, my roots can reach Beijing. Now, this body can freely move within a 170-kilometer radius." The devil pine lifted its foot, and everyone saw a thin root connected to the sole of its foot.
"So, this body is not your true form; it's just a physical manifestation of your roots," Zhuang Yao nodded.
"That's right," the devil pine confirmed.
"Does this body possess attacking power?" Zhuang Yao inquired.
"Yes, the farther away from here, the weaker it becomes. But don't even think about taking advantage of me. This entire forest belongs to me, and I am this forest," the devil pine declared.
Cong Xia quickly replied, "We dare not, we dare not."
"Secondly, I need some things, and you have to bring them to me."
"What things?"
"Many things—books, human food, clothes, entertainment items—all of which this human desires. Tsk, so troublesome," it complained. "Also, I need a cat, a black cat. I'll tell you about the rest later."
"Alright, no problem."
"Thirdly, you have to bring this human's home here."
"What? Moving a house?"
"Yes, in Yunnan, he has a fully wooden two-story villa. He misses that home very much. You need to bring the villa here, along with everything inside." The devil pine took out a slightly worn-out paper from its body, on which was written an address, and handed it to Cong Xia.
Cong Xia blushed and said, "Bring... the entire villa? What if the villa is no longer there?"
The devil pine replied firmly, "Then I won't give you the Puppet Jade."
Zhuang Yao quickly said, "We will definitely bring it here."
The devil pine nodded satisfactorily and said, "Fourthly."
And there was a fourth...
"No one is allowed to monitor or disturb me with any human machines again," the devil pine demanded.
"No problem," Zhuang Yao replied.
The devil pine nodded and said, "Let's go. He has been wanting to see the outside of the forest."
Only then did everyone feel a sense of relief. Although the devil pine's request meant they had to return to Yunnan, avoiding a conflict with the devil pine was the greatest victory. They had all witnessed the devil pine's power, and no one believed that their mere human strength could stand against such a super life form.
Cong Xia tried to please the devil pine, "Mr. Pine, would you like to sit on a cat?"
The devil pine turned its head and said, "No, I don't like animals with fur. Do you think I need something to comfort my soul, like humans do?"
Cong Xia felt deflated and murmured, "Then, shall we go?"
The devil pine walked to San'er's side and suddenly kicked him without warning. Its seemingly thin leg kicked San'er's 400-pound body flying. The devil pine glanced at him indifferently and said, "You urinated on my trunk. You're not delicious, so I'll spare you."
San'er was so scared that he almost couldn't get up.
Suddenly, roots emerged from the soil under the devil pine's feet. The thick entangled roots formed an arch, lifting it off the ground. The devil pine said, "Let's go." Then, the root arch moved like a dragon, diving into the ground and surfacing repeatedly. The entire root bridge-like structure extended forward, always keeping the devil pine seated at its peak. They moved at a rapid pace, and the ground was continuously upturned, creating a magnificent and marvelous scene.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then quickly jumped onto their mounts and chased after the devil pine.
The journey back was many times easier than when they entered. All the birds and beasts fled in panic when they saw the devil pine, not daring to approach. It seemed that the devil pine had spoken the truth; this entire forest was its domain.
They didn't take much time to reach the outer circle of the forest, where Tang Tingzhi had promised to meet them.
As expected, they saw several disguised military vehicles not far away, equipped with machine guns and rocket launchers at the ready. Even though they were 90 kilometers away from the devil pine's true form, there were still many mutated animals here, though not as terrifying as in the inner circle of the forest.
Upon seeing a naked man with disheveled hair, sitting on the undulating tree roots ahead, Tang Tingzhi immediately realized that this was likely the devil pine's human form. He and Shan Ming jumped off the military vehicle, followed by a group of fully armed soldiers, all on high alert.
The devil pine stopped in front of them, looking down on them as if observing a group of ants.
The rest of the group caught up, and Zhuang Yao shouted, "Colonel Tang, tell your men to lower their guns."
Tang Tingzhi turned and nodded at Commander Zhang, who then ordered everyone to put down their guns and return to their vehicles.
Tang Tingzhi looked at the devil pine and asked, "Are you the Great Pine?"
The devil pine tilted its head, looking at him, "Were you waiting for me, human?"
"I was waiting for my companions. I didn't expect you to come."
"The human child told me a lot about the post-apocalyptic situation. I wanted to confirm it."
"How do you want to confirm it?"
The devil pine's gaze swept over their old military vehicles and relatively crude equipment. "It seems that humans are indeed in a poor state."
Tang Tingzhi said in a deep voice, "More than just poor. In the past year and a half, 67% of the human population has disappeared. 4 billion people vanished from this world in just over a year. It's a catastrophic disaster. If we don't stop this evolution, humanity will be completely wiped out from this planet."
"The human's disaster have nothing to do with me. Do you care about the life or death of a tree species?"
Tang Tingzhii said, "We don't care. We know you don't care about human affairs, but it's not just a human disaster. All beings will eventually be destroyed due to excessive evolution."
Tang Tingzhi and Zhuang Yao used a mix of truth and half-truths to confuse the devil pine. What they said was partly true; if the Cambrian consciousness was not stopped, animals would indeed be destroyed due to excessive evolution. However, this required those animals to survive long enough to reach that point. In reality, many animals didn't have the chance to evolve significantly before they died, but their offspring would continue the species.
However, humans were different; they were rapidly losing their fertility, and eventually, only humans would go extinct. The devil pine wouldn't care whether there were humans or elephants on this planet, but they wouldn't tell it that. Their goal was to make the devil pine hand over the jade out of fear of the puppet jade's side effects.
Sure enough, the devil pine was starting to believe their words. It said, "I want to see that recording. The human child said you have videos of animal experiments."
Tang Tingzhi had important data on his computer, and he immediately took it out and showed the devil pine the video of animal experiments where the puppet jade had accelerated evolution.
The footage showed one animal after another exploding, a gruesome and bloody sight.
After watching for a while, the devil pine said, "There are no plants involved."
Tang Tingzhi and Zhuang Yao's approach matched perfectly, and they immediately connected their response. "Due to the large size of plants, it is difficult to conduct experiments and film them. Therefore, the progress has been slow. However, we have obtained some preliminary results. The outcome of reaching the ultimate stage of evolution is similar to animals. If you want to see more detailed data, you can come with us to Beijing."
The devil pine shook its head, "No need."
The devil pine was just an ordinary human intelligence; no matter how smart it was, it couldn't compare to a cerebral evolution human. Zhuang Yao had successfully implanted a complete image of the post-apocalyptic world into its mind. A marketing master once said that the best way to gain your customer's trust is to break their inherent views on something, establish a new one, and then they will completely believe you. Zhuang Yao did just that. He used language combined with subtle brainwave suggestions to make the devil pine believe completely in the external world he described. Then, he made it relatively easy for the devil pine to accept the description of the puppet jade.
Zhuang Yao said, "This is the common crisis faced by all global species. We are collecting puppet jades everywhere in an attempt to bury them completely. Humanity is currently facing the most challenging situation, but we will still gather our last strength to challenge the Cambrian consciousness. We hope that Mr. Pine can also help us."
The devil pine indifferently shook its head, "I won't help humans. You fulfill the conditions I mentioned, and I'll give you the puppet jade, that's it."
Zhuang Yao smiled faintly, "That's already a great help to us."
The devil pine looked at them and then at itself, "Find me some clothes."
Tang Tingzhi immediately had someone find some clothes for the devil pine.
Holding the clothes, the devil pine examined them and eventually awkwardly put its legs into the pants. Muttering to itself as it wore the clothes, "Why do I have to wear this fake skin? It's so uncomfortable."
Tang Tingzhi frowned as he looked at it.
Zhuang Yao whispered, "It's communicating with the human consciousness within it. That human hasn't disappeared."
Tang Tingzhi's eyes showed a hint of surprise.
After putting on the clothes, the devil pine seemed dissatisfied and said, "He wants to go outside the forest to take a look. He wants to eat human food, drink human beverages, sleep in a human bed, and have humans play mahjong with him."
Author's Note: I always feel like I'm writing something strange →_→
*********************************
Translator's note: Late update. Sorry. I was so drained and had to sleep the entire day yesterday. I slept like the dead from morning to evening.
162 part 2
The giant face on the devil pine's trunk gradually disappeared, replaced by a completely naked human form slowly emerging from the trunk. Soon, the human appeared fully before them. He looked just like the giant face they saw earlier, around thirty years old, with a pale and handsome face. His long black hair cascaded down to the ground, and he stared blankly at them with pupils devoid of white, giving an expression that could be well represented by a symbol commonly used on the internet years ago (--).
The man's back was still connected to the devil pine's branches, extending all the way from high above and landing on the ground.
Everyone nervously looked at this person. Was this the human form of the devil pine?
The devil pine turned its head, looking around left and right, and finally fixed its gaze on Abu.
Everyone held their breath, afraid to make any noise.
Suddenly, the devil pine raised its arm, which unexpectedly extended to a length of five meters. Apart from the root and hand, the rest of the arm transformed into brown tree branches. The hand directly touched Abu's chest, startling everyone. Abu was also frightened and let out a "meow," trying to move back, but found that its four paws were entangled by roots that extended from the ground, rendering it unable to move.
Zhuang Yao anxiously asked, "What are you doing?"
"Touching." The devil pine said calmly, and indeed, as it had stated, it proceeded to touch Abu's fur back and forth. After a while, it withdrew its hand and said, "So, this is how it feels."
Everyone's faces contorted with bewilderment.
The devil pine turned to Cong Xia and asked, "Do you want this?" It suddenly inserted its hand into its chest, and the skin around the chest sank, revealing wood-like patterns. From its chest, it pulled out a black, translucent jade piece. It was the Puppet Jade they had seen several times before, but this one was visibly larger than the ones they had encountered previously.
Cong Xia had long felt the immense energy emanating from the Puppet Jade. He swallowed hard, as it was within arm's reach, but if he dared to reach for it, he might not live to see another day. He restrained his emotions and nodded, "Yes."
"I can give it to you. However, you must help me with a few things."
Cong Xia's face lit up, "Please tell us."
"First, I want to go with you to the outside of the forest, to see if what you said about the army, weapons, and humans is true."
Zhuang Yao asked, "Aren't you unable to leave this place?"
"As long as my roots are connected to this body, it's possible. My roots have already extended 170 kilometers in a straight line, and they are still growing. If I choose linear evolution instead of diffuse evolution, in just a few months, my roots can reach Beijing. Now, this body can freely move within a 170-kilometer radius." The devil pine lifted its foot, and everyone saw a thin root connected to the sole of its foot.
"So, this body is not your true form; it's just a physical manifestation of your roots," Zhuang Yao nodded.
"That's right," the devil pine confirmed.
"Does this body possess attacking power?" Zhuang Yao inquired.
"Yes, the farther away from here, the weaker it becomes. But don't even think about taking advantage of me. This entire forest belongs to me, and I am this forest," the devil pine declared.
Cong Xia quickly replied, "We dare not, we dare not."
"Secondly, I need some things, and you have to bring them to me."
"What things?"
"Many things—books, human food, clothes, entertainment items—all of which this human desires. Tsk, so troublesome," it complained. "Also, I need a cat, a black cat. I'll tell you about the rest later."
"Alright, no problem."
"Thirdly, you have to bring this human's home here."
"What? Moving a house?"
"Yes, in Yunnan, he has a fully wooden two-story villa. He misses that home very much. You need to bring the villa here, along with everything inside." The devil pine took out a slightly worn-out paper from its body, on which was written an address, and handed it to Cong Xia.
Cong Xia blushed and said, "Bring... the entire villa? What if the villa is no longer there?"
The devil pine replied firmly, "Then I won't give you the Puppet Jade."
Zhuang Yao quickly said, "We will definitely bring it here."
The devil pine nodded satisfactorily and said, "Fourthly."
And there was a fourth...
"No one is allowed to monitor or disturb me with any human machines again," the devil pine demanded.
"No problem," Zhuang Yao replied.
The devil pine nodded and said, "Let's go. He has been wanting to see the outside of the forest."
Only then did everyone feel a sense of relief. Although the devil pine's request meant they had to return to Yunnan, avoiding a conflict with the devil pine was the greatest victory. They had all witnessed the devil pine's power, and no one believed that their mere human strength could stand against such a super life form.
Cong Xia tried to please the devil pine, "Mr. Pine, would you like to sit on a cat?"
The devil pine turned its head and said, "No, I don't like animals with fur. Do you think I need something to comfort my soul, like humans do?"
Cong Xia felt deflated and murmured, "Then, shall we go?"
The devil pine walked to San'er's side and suddenly kicked him without warning. Its seemingly thin leg kicked San'er's 400-pound body flying. The devil pine glanced at him indifferently and said, "You urinated on my trunk. You're not delicious, so I'll spare you."
San'er was so scared that he almost couldn't get up.
Suddenly, roots emerged from the soil under the devil pine's feet. The thick entangled roots formed an arch, lifting it off the ground. The devil pine said, "Let's go." Then, the root arch moved like a dragon, diving into the ground and surfacing repeatedly. The entire root bridge-like structure extended forward, always keeping the devil pine seated at its peak. They moved at a rapid pace, and the ground was continuously upturned, creating a magnificent and marvelous scene.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then quickly jumped onto their mounts and chased after the devil pine.
The journey back was many times easier than when they entered. All the birds and beasts fled in panic when they saw the devil pine, not daring to approach. It seemed that the devil pine had spoken the truth; this entire forest was its domain.
They didn't take much time to reach the outer circle of the forest, where Tang Tingzhi had promised to meet them.
As expected, they saw several disguised military vehicles not far away, equipped with machine guns and rocket launchers at the ready. Even though they were 90 kilometers away from the devil pine's true form, there were still many mutated animals here, though not as terrifying as in the inner circle of the forest.
Upon seeing a naked man with disheveled hair, sitting on the undulating tree roots ahead, Tang Tingzhi immediately realized that this was likely the devil pine's human form. He and Shan Ming jumped off the military vehicle, followed by a group of fully armed soldiers, all on high alert.
The devil pine stopped in front of them, looking down on them as if observing a group of ants.
The rest of the group caught up, and Zhuang Yao shouted, "Colonel Tang, tell your men to lower their guns."
Tang Tingzhi turned and nodded at Commander Zhang, who then ordered everyone to put down their guns and return to their vehicles.
Tang Tingzhi looked at the devil pine and asked, "Are you the Great Pine?"
The devil pine tilted its head, looking at him, "Were you waiting for me, human?"
"I was waiting for my companions. I didn't expect you to come."
"The human child told me a lot about the post-apocalyptic situation. I wanted to confirm it."
"How do you want to confirm it?"
The devil pine's gaze swept over their old military vehicles and relatively crude equipment. "It seems that humans are indeed in a poor state."
Tang Tingzhi said in a deep voice, "More than just poor. In the past year and a half, 67% of the human population has disappeared. 4 billion people vanished from this world in just over a year. It's a catastrophic disaster. If we don't stop this evolution, humanity will be completely wiped out from this planet."
"The human's disaster have nothing to do with me. Do you care about the life or death of a tree species?"
Tang Tingzhii said, "We don't care. We know you don't care about human affairs, but it's not just a human disaster. All beings will eventually be destroyed due to excessive evolution."
Tang Tingzhi and Zhuang Yao used a mix of truth and half-truths to confuse the devil pine. What they said was partly true; if the Cambrian consciousness was not stopped, animals would indeed be destroyed due to excessive evolution. However, this required those animals to survive long enough to reach that point. In reality, many animals didn't have the chance to evolve significantly before they died, but their offspring would continue the species.
However, humans were different; they were rapidly losing their fertility, and eventually, only humans would go extinct. The devil pine wouldn't care whether there were humans or elephants on this planet, but they wouldn't tell it that. Their goal was to make the devil pine hand over the jade out of fear of the puppet jade's side effects.
Sure enough, the devil pine was starting to believe their words. It said, "I want to see that recording. The human child said you have videos of animal experiments."
Tang Tingzhi had important data on his computer, and he immediately took it out and showed the devil pine the video of animal experiments where the puppet jade had accelerated evolution.
The footage showed one animal after another exploding, a gruesome and bloody sight.
After watching for a while, the devil pine said, "There are no plants involved."
Tang Tingzhi and Zhuang Yao's approach matched perfectly, and they immediately connected their response. "Due to the large size of plants, it is difficult to conduct experiments and film them. Therefore, the progress has been slow. However, we have obtained some preliminary results. The outcome of reaching the ultimate stage of evolution is similar to animals. If you want to see more detailed data, you can come with us to Beijing."
The devil pine shook its head, "No need."
The devil pine was just an ordinary human intelligence; no matter how smart it was, it couldn't compare to a cerebral evolution human. Zhuang Yao had successfully implanted a complete image of the post-apocalyptic world into its mind. A marketing master once said that the best way to gain your customer's trust is to break their inherent views on something, establish a new one, and then they will completely believe you. Zhuang Yao did just that. He used language combined with subtle brainwave suggestions to make the devil pine believe completely in the external world he described. Then, he made it relatively easy for the devil pine to accept the description of the puppet jade.
Zhuang Yao said, "This is the common crisis faced by all global species. We are collecting puppet jades everywhere in an attempt to bury them completely. Humanity is currently facing the most challenging situation, but we will still gather our last strength to challenge the Cambrian consciousness. We hope that Mr. Pine can also help us."
The devil pine indifferently shook its head, "I won't help humans. You fulfill the conditions I mentioned, and I'll give you the puppet jade, that's it."
Zhuang Yao smiled faintly, "That's already a great help to us."
The devil pine looked at them and then at itself, "Find me some clothes."
Tang Tingzhi immediately had someone find some clothes for the devil pine.
Holding the clothes, the devil pine examined them and eventually awkwardly put its legs into the pants. Muttering to itself as it wore the clothes, "Why do I have to wear this fake skin? It's so uncomfortable."
Tang Tingzhi frowned as he looked at it.
Zhuang Yao whispered, "It's communicating with the human consciousness within it. That human hasn't disappeared."
Tang Tingzhi's eyes showed a hint of surprise.
After putting on the clothes, the devil pine seemed dissatisfied and said, "He wants to go outside the forest to take a look. He wants to eat human food, drink human beverages, sleep in a human bed, and have humans play mahjong with him."
Author's Note: I always feel like I'm writing something strange →_→
*********************************
Translator's note: Late update. Sorry. I was so drained and had to sleep the entire day yesterday. I slept like the dead from morning to evening.
