Chapter 520 - 8: Strange Tree, Part 2

Chapter 520: Chapter 8: Strange Tree, Part 2

’But... something isn’t right.’

’According to the information from those Feiming People, this was supposed to be one of their major cities. Why is it all just giant trees?’

After disembarking from his spaceship, Lin Yu was surprised to find that the scene presented by the forest was in stark contrast to the information he’d received.

However, he didn’t suspect the Feiming People of providing false information. They had been forced to leave their home planet and were now wandering among other stars. If they ever wanted to return, they couldn’t afford to give him fake intel.

Puzzled, Lin Yu cast a large-scale magic spell, bringing the surrounding plants under his control and synchronizing their senses with his own.

Soon after, Lin Yu discovered the ruins of buildings hidden beneath the forest floor.

He pushed aside the grass and ran his hand over the architectural remains beneath, analyzing their composition.

’What a strange building material. Its hardness and toughness are both decent, but its structure is like mycelium!’

’However, it doesn’t react to my magic. It’s inanimate, a bit like coral polyps.’

’I could consider bringing this back to the territory.’

Lin Yu was intrigued by this building material, so he took out a special sample container from his personal storage space. He collected a few pieces of the ruins, placed them inside, and then put the container back into his storage space.

Back in the main territory, he would hand these materials over to the research institute. After rigorous inspection, they would conduct experiments to try and replicate the material.

’What a great place. I found something useful right after landing. I should take more missions like this in the future; I might be able to find some other great stuff.’

Lin Yu stood up and looked around, feeling as if he had stepped into a treasure trove. From now on, while clearing out the viral organisms, he would need to pay close attention to his surroundings. There might be other good things hidden here.

’Right, what about the viral organisms I was told about? How come I haven’t seen a single one?’

Lin Yu extended his senses, but he couldn’t detect any viral organisms. Besides the surrounding plants, he didn’t sense anything moving at all.

’No way, not even a single insect?’

’This is too strange!’

Lin Yu felt that it was impossible for an entire ecosystem to evolve plants without also evolving animals, so he decided to explore further.

He extended his senses, chose a direction where the forest wasn’t as dense, and transformed into a bird to fly that way.

...

"CHIRP CHIRP~"

The little bird that Lin Yu had become flew freely through the forest. The vegetation was incredibly lush. Dappled sunlight shone through the interlocking branches, providing energy for the grass and shrubs on the ground.

However, in such a lush forest, Lin Yu hadn’t found a single animal.

His senses were filled with vigorous life force everywhere, but none of it possessed the vitality characteristic of animals.

Here, he saw many plants he had never even heard of before. With no animals present, their competitors had become each other, and as a result, some plants had evolved extremely aggressive traits.

They would attack anything that came near.

After dodging entangling soft vines, volleys of hardened leaves, splashes of corrosive sap, and other such attacks, Lin Yu came to a stop.

’This feeling...’

Amidst the waves of stationary life force, Lin Yu sensed a presence brimming with vibrant energy.

’This must be a living creature!’

Excited, Lin Yu changed direction and flew swiftly toward it.

Soon, Lin Yu arrived at the location he had sensed.

However, he didn’t find anything moving there.

Before him were still just various plants. The only thing special was a large, unusual tree.

The tree was tall, about a hundred meters, but that height wasn’t particularly remarkable in a forest full of giant trees.

But its diameter was huge—a full 50 meters—making the whole thing look like a giant tree stump.

It didn’t have many branches, and its leaves were needle-shaped, completely out of place with the leaves of the surrounding trees.

Lin Yu focused his senses and realized that the vibrant life force he’d detected was emanating from this very tree.

He flew a few circles around the tree before landing on it in confusion, as it seemed to be just an ordinary tree.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~

He transformed into a woodpecker and pecked the large tree a few times. There was no reaction. So, he cast the magic to communicate with plants, wanting to have a conversation with it.

Through the magic, he sensed a consciousness.

Unlike ordinary plants, this large tree’s consciousness was significantly stronger.

"Hello!"

"Hello! Can you hear me?" Lin Yu called out to the great tree continuously with his mind.

"Who... who... are... you?"

After a moment, the tree’s consciousness haltingly responded.

"I’m the bird next to you. Can you see me?"

"Bird..."

"I... see... you!"

"Are you a bird?"

"I think I remember seeing creatures similar to you before."

After a few exchanges, the tree’s consciousness began to respond more fluently.

"You’ve seen other creatures?"

"Yes, but I haven’t seen them for a very long time."

"Do you remember when they disappeared?"

"I don’t know, but it must have been a long time ago."

"How did they disappear?"

"I don’t know... My memories from that time are very blurry. My memory was still very poor back then."

"Then you..."

Lin Yu asked it a few more questions. The great tree remembered recent events fairly well, but it only had blurry memories of the time before the animals disappeared.

While it retained some information about animal activity, its intelligence hadn’t fully developed back then, and its perception of its surroundings wasn’t as clear or sensitive as it was now.

"It’s a shame, Great Tree. If you remembered what happened before, I’d be able to figure out what went wrong with this world."

"Why do you want to know what happened before?"

"There are many benefits to understanding history. Knowing the mistakes they made can help me avoid similar ones in the future, think about how to improve, and devise countermeasures."

"Use history as a mirror, and you can understand the rise and fall of nations. Use people as a mirror, and you can understand your own strengths and weaknesses."

"Use history as a mirror, and you can understand the rise and fall of nations. Use people as a mirror, and you can understand your own strengths and weaknesses? Is history really that important?"

"Yes!"

...

"Great Tree, what’s your name? I can’t just keep calling you ’Great Tree,’ can I?"

"What is a ’name’?"

Lin Yu felt this great tree was like a curious child, questioning everything he said.

"A name is a designation for a living being. For example..." At this, Lin Yu changed back into his human form. "See? I’m a human. ’Human’ is the name of my species. The animal I just turned into was a bird. ’Bird’ is also a species name, a general term for a type of creature."

"My name is Lin Yu. No matter what form I take, you can call me Lin Yu, because ’Lin Yu’ refers specifically to me."

"So, I need a name to refer to me specifically?"

"That’s right. I can’t just keep calling you ’Great Tree.’ That’s a general term that refers to you and all the other trees around you."

"But I don’t know what I should be called. Lin Yu, you seem to know a lot. Why don’t you help me think of a name?"

"Let me think... What kind of tree are you? I’ve never seen a tree like you before."

"I don’t know. I’ve never seen another tree like me either."

"Alright, how about I call you Baining?"

"’Bai’ is for ’Baishu,’ the cypress tree. It’s a very long-lived tree from my homeland. I can see you’ve lived for a long time, and your leaves are quite similar—both are needles."

"’Ning’ represents tranquility. You’ve been staying here so quietly, so you must have a tranquil heart."

"It sounds very nice. From now on, I’ll be Baining."

Hearing Lin Yu’s words, Baining was overjoyed. It began to tremble with excitement, its trunk shaking so violently that it knocked Lin Yu right off its branch.

Lin Yu cast a Floating Technique on himself in mid-air to stabilize his body.

Then, watching Baining twist and writhe like a snake, he couldn’t help but exclaim, "Whoa, you can move?"

"Of course I can move!"

"Then can you travel from place to place?"

"I can! I didn’t used to live here. I just moved here recently."

"Then can you move for me?"

Baining hesitated for a moment, then said, "I can! But you’d better turn into a bird and fly up into the sky. Otherwise, it could be dangerous."

"Alright!" Although he didn’t know why Baining said that, Lin Yu did as it asked, transforming into a bird and flying up into the sky.