Chapter 1026: The End of the Universe Is a Foodie

Chapter 1026: The End of the Universe Is a Foodie

It was fine as long as it stayed quiet.

Han Mingyue was stunned for a long moment, then a helpless, almost amused expression spread across her face.

"Ah... well, my apologies then. Please tell it we're sorry."

Dora nodded lightly, then closed her eyes again, spreading the invisible psychic network to establish a connection with the nearby hive mind of Baiyue Province.

This time, it took her a bit longer.

Professor Sun Zewen stared at her for a while, then turned to Ye Shi, who was standing nearby, and urged him.

"Aren't you capable of that psychic power too? Why don't you give it a try?"

Ye Shi made a helpless face.

"Just because I can talk doesn't mean it wants to talk to me."

Sun Zewen: "..."

That was such a valid point that Professor Sun found himself momentarily at a loss for a rebuttal.

And indeed, it was true.

Even without psychic power, simply using a "psychic interference device" could allow a highly intelligent mutant slime mold hive mind to understand what humans were saying.

But the more intelligent a creature, the more independent its will. So far, aside from Xiaoyu, the Alliance had never truly tamed any mutant slime mold hive mind with that device.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that they couldn't locate the hive mind of Baiyue Province, and considering the crop-boosting buff it provided, Ye Shi suspected that A-Guang back in the shelter might have already persuaded Xiaoyu to make a move on this hive mind.

Aside from the hive mind in Qingquan City, Xiaoyu had already killed several others.

But then again, it was hard to say.

After all, thanks to the investigation of the survivors of the Gemini and his own role as a psychic messenger, the Alliance now had a new understanding of the nature of Gaia planets and mutant slime molds. The "Gaia Seed" technology was actually a prototype of the "Planetary Ecological Maintenance System" from the Precursor civilization.

Who would want to mess with a "sacred relic"?

With this thing, the Alliance might even be able to create a few more habitable planets.

And the hive mind of Baiyue Province, among all the hive minds on Earth, had developmental traits most similar to the system called the "Tree of Insov" on the Gaia planet.

Ye Shi suddenly realized that this creature's strategic value was through the roof!

Time ticked by, and Dora finally opened her eyes again.

Seeing the expectant gazes fixed on her, her face was full of embarrassment. She spoke softly, shyly.

"It says... it doesn't need your insincere apologies. You wouldn't change anyway. But if you really feel bad, you could give it some of those colorful granules that were spilled on the ground... It wants to try them too."

"...Uh, colorful granules?"

Han Mingyue was completely baffled by this. She looked blankly at Professor Sun Zewen beside her, but he was equally stunned.

Dora didn't know how to explain.

That was the limitation of psychic power.

The bridge of the mind could only be built between people who mutually understood each other, and the information transmitted had to be concepts both sides could comprehend.

That was also the prerequisite for "resonance."

She could only look helplessly at the people around her, hoping that those who lived here might understand what the familiar consciousness hiding in the forest was trying to say.

Just then, Ye Shi suddenly cleared his throat and said in an uncertain tone.

"Could it be... fertilizer?"

"What?!" Professor Sun Zewen stared at him, eyes wide as if they might pop out.

It wasn't just Professor Sun; the others in the group also shot him strange looks, clearly caught off guard by the sudden twist.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm just guessing randomly," Ye Shi said with a helpless shrug. "How about we give it a try?"

It was the fastest way to verify.

"I'll report this to the research unit first..." Han Mingyue nodded with a strange expression, then turned to Dora and continued asking, "Did it say anything else? Just this?"

She felt that such a trivial matter shouldn't have taken that long to convey.

Sure enough, Dora's face showed the look of being caught.

Han Mingyue narrowed her eyes slightly, as if she had stumbled upon some significant clue, scrutinizing the evasive gaze with amusement.

This one was hiding something from her!

Facing those sharp eyes, Dora didn't realize the gravity of the situation. She blushed and confessed awkwardly.

"It told me there were lots and lots of treasures in this tribe, and it urged me to steal some and hide in the forest. It said it could protect me, make sure no one could find me, as long as I brought it some of those... 'colorful' granules? Ah, of course, I refused! Really!"

Han Mingyue raised an eyebrow, intrigued, and pressed on.

"Oh? What treasures?"

Gaia people really weren't good at lying. The one hiding in the forest probably never expected its fellow countryman to be so straightforward.

Either way, she felt she was getting closer to the truth!

From the start, Ye Shi thought she might be overthinking things. After all, what could that hive mind do with a few bags of fertilizer—blow up Fries Harbor?

Moreover, for people connected by psychic bonds, distinguishing malice from goodwill was easy.

At least he didn't sense any ill intent from Dora.

And indeed, that was the case.

Under the relentless pressure of that gaze, Dora finally caved. She tried to describe something she had never seen before, using her index finger to gesture vaguely, and whispered.

"Like that... a yellow fruit, covered in a milky white liquid."

Han Mingyue, who had been eagerly anticipating some clue, was completely dumbfounded. Her voice even cracked.

"What?!"

Startled, Dora shrank back and looked pleadingly at the "Progenitor" who understood psychic powers.

Ye Shi sighed, rubbed his forehead, and said.

"She might be talking about... uh, coconut milk mango?"

Han Mingyue snapped out of her daze, blushing furiously as she hastily explained.

"Of course I meant coconut milk mango!"

Ye Shi: "..."

Why are you blushing like that?!

Dora wasn't sure if that was the name, but she couldn't help swallowing.

"Is it good?"

Domaran food wasn't very varied—either sweet or tasteless.

She remembered telling that hive mind earlier that food was just for filling the stomach, and it had mocked her mercilessly.

That was why she suddenly became curious about what the Progenitors usually ate.

"Hahaha! That stuff's pretty popular, though I prefer the beer here," Captain Chen Jianhong, who had been silent until now, let out a hearty laugh and chimed in to smooth things over. "Speaking of which, it's already noon—you haven't eaten anything since coming down from the space elevator, have you? I happen to know a nice restaurant nearby; this meal's on me!"

Only then did Ye Shi suddenly remember that he'd been so focused on business the whole way that he hadn't yet taken this guest from Nánmén Èr out for a proper meal.

Looking at Dora, whose face was full of anticipation, he said with a smile.

"True enough, let's eat first."

...

Around the outskirts of Fries Port, there were plenty of plantations and farms producing cotton and sugarcane for the factories in Golden Port.

Since local vegetation grew extremely fast, and to keep the soil fertile, these plantations and farms used large quantities of various types of fertilizers.

Otherwise, the crops would just shoot up tall without bearing fruit, or wilt and lie flat on the ground.

Colorful granules...

That was all Ye Shi could think of. The only thing he hadn't expected was that the slime mold hive in Bǎiyuè Province would crave this stuff.

The key point was that hives elsewhere didn't act like this!

Suddenly, Ye Shi remembered something else.

Many versions ago, the Institute of Biology had issued a report on the mutated slime mold hive in the Bǎiyuè Strait.

The report mentioned that the hive in that area seemed to exist in a dispersed form resembling the original strain of the Nàguǒ, and had established a symbiotic relationship with the local forest.

Not only that.

Through this special symbiotic relationship, the hive could integrate the DNA of foreign species into other organisms in the forest, maintaining ecological balance and making things tough for invaders.

This incredible ability once made players afraid to relieve themselves anywhere, terrified that their genetic sequences might be "stolen" by the forest's monsters.

Thinking about it carefully, this thing might actually be the most like "Gaia"—or rather, "Yīnsuǒfū's Tree"—among the hives.

First, like Yīnsuǒfū's Tree, it wasn't confined to a single form of mutated slime; it blended subtly into the environment, without a specific shape yet omnipresent.

Second, it could fuse two completely different organisms together, not just integrate them into itself like other hives.

The original little green people on the planet Gaia were, in fact, the product of human DNA merging with other species' DNA...

Just before lunch, Dr. Han Mingyue reported the situation of "the first contact between Gaians and the Seeds of Gaia," which quickly caught the attention of the Alliance's Institute of Biology.

Almost as soon as the group started eating, Ms. Chen Yutong, who had been giving a report in Dawn City, flew over with a few researchers from Vault 79.

The hive in Bǎiyuè Province had always been her research subject.

Even though her focus had temporarily shifted to developing the "Death Dose" vaccine recently, her study of the Bǎiyuè hive had never stopped.

"How interesting... A mutated slime hive taking an interest in fertilizer—we've never heard of that before."

After learning the specifics, Chen Yutong rubbed her chin with interest and looked at Dora, continuing.

"We have quite a few types of fertilizer here. Did it specify which kind?"

At that moment, Dora was holding a bowl of shaved ice drizzled with brown sugar syrup, shoveling spoonful after spoonful into her mouth with a blissful expression, unable to stop even as the brain freeze hit her.

Right then, she finally understood why that hive had told her that once you tasted this flavor, there was no going back.

Forget going back...

She even felt the urge to stay here forever!

As for the edge of the universe, the ruins of the god who planted "Yīnsuǒfū's Tree"—let Little Koala go find them with the esteemed Ancestor!

"F*ck... Strawberry flavor!"

Seeing Dora's brain-frozen state and Chen Yutong's bewildered look, Ye Shi cleared his throat lightly and reminded her.

"She's asking about the fertilizer."

"Ah!" Dora snapped back to reality, put down her spoon, and said sheepishly, "Well... it didn't specify."

Chen Yutong stared at her for a long moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahaha... Interesting! Then let's get a bit of everything."

After all, this stuff was cheap.

Finishing with a teasing tone, Chen Yutong shot a glance at the researcher waiting nearby, who immediately understood and went off to make arrangements by phone.

It didn't take long.

Two rookies from the Goblin Corps soon appeared at the agricultural market on the outskirts of Fries Port.

Following the mission requirements, they bought fifty tons of various fertilizers—both organic and inorganic—in equal measure, then trucked them over to a nearby military base, where they loaded them onto propeller planes and sprayed them all over the nearby forest.

The drifting granules swept across tens of thousands of acres of woodland in no time, even catching some players who were doing missions nearby.

Covered in the falling granules, the player [Just Want to Be a Quiet Dog] looked up angrily, only to see the culprit already flying away.

Brushing off the dust, he grumbled curses.

"MMP, what the hell is this stuff?!"

[Just Want to F*ck a Quiet Dog] bent down, picked up a granule, and tossed it into his mouth, but spat it out within a second.

"Pfft! Bitter!"

This smooth sequence of actions left a random teammate in the party dumbfounded, blurting out.

"Damn, you'll put anything in your mouth!"

[Just Want to F*ck a Quiet Dog] grinned.

"What's the big deal? It's not like I'll die—"

Before he could finish, rustling sounds suddenly came from the surrounding bushes.

The group, who had been joking around, instantly tensed up, their hands reaching for the weapons at their waists, pointing toward the nearby shadows.

After all, this was the forest of Bǎiyuè Province!

Officially recognized as a level-30 map!

Encountering any kind of bizarre mutant here wouldn't be surprising—in some ways, it was even more dangerous than the Great Wasteland!

Because dying in the Great Wasteland might go unnoticed, but losing your head on your own doorstep could get you mocked by your buddies all day long.

The rustling grew louder, and the surrounding vegetation swayed more violently. Unease crept onto the faces of the group.

"Bro, maybe we should bail?" [Just Want to F*ck a Quiet Dog] was starting to get scared; he wasn't good at dealing with hidden enemies.

[Just Want to Be a Quiet Dog]'s expression shifted uncertainly, but he finally made up his mind and waved his hand.

"Fall back—"

The moment he spoke, something unbelievable happened!

The forest before them seemed to come alive, twisting and growing upward at an incredible speed, spreading outward.

Never having seen such a bizarre sight, the three players standing in the forest were dumbfounded, their rifles rendered useless.

As the vines began to seal off all the paths around them, [Just Want to F*ck a Quiet Dog] was startled and screamed.

"Damn! What's going on?!"

The one with the ID [Just Want to Be a Quiet Dog] was a bit calmer, but not by much. He pulled out his combat knife and slashed at the vines creeping toward his ankles, shouting.

Forget the situation, just get the hell out of here!

The same scene was playing out all over the forest, as player squads on missions retreated from the woods one after another.

The rampant growth of the trees had even alarmed the Jungle Corps stationed at the suburban barracks.

One after another, massive figures wielding chainsaws assembled in an instant and boarded Chimera armored vehicles, heading for the lumberyard said to be hardest hit by the "Wave."

There, over a dozen NPCs were trapped in the warehouse.

According to them, it was the work of the "trees."

If he hadn't seen those maddened timbers with his own eyes, the squad leader might have doubted his own ears.

Just as the Chimera armored vehicle was about to reach the lumberyard, an accident suddenly occurred.

A tree root as thick as a thigh, like a serpent slithering on the ground, shot across the concrete road at an unbelievable speed!

Limited by the obstructed view, the driver never saw the root cutting right under the vehicle, and the front wheel slammed straight into it.

The speeding vehicle was jolted into the air!

Caught off guard, the tin cans riding the armored car were flung out like shot puts, tumbling all over the roadside.

Fortunately, these guys were all tough and resilient, and with soft soil and grass beneath them, there were no non-combat casualties.

Listening to the NPC officer shouting inquiries over the comm channel, the squad leader, finally recovering from the crash, gasped out.

"This is the Jungle Corps... Ranger Squad! You might not believe it, but we just fought a tree."

The surrounding trees and vines continued their frenzy.

And it wasn't just trees and vines!

All vegetation around the entire French Fries Port seemed to be on drugs, growing wildly at an incredible speed!

Though no casualties had occurred yet, the sudden situation caught the residents of French Fries Port and the players off guard.

The forest had been fine before—why had it suddenly gone mad?!

Not only were the residents of French Fries Port shocked, but the "perpetrators" standing at the edge of the forest were also stunned by the commotion before them.

Gazing at the forest that seemed to have come alive, Professor Sun Zewen muttered to himself, looking as if he had gone mad.

"Psionic energy! Is this the power of psionic energy..."

He had clearly misunderstood something.

But such things no longer mattered.

"Looks like we messed up..."

Chen Yutong swallowed, her face turning slightly pale.

Who could have imagined that a mere few dozen tons of fertilizer could produce such terrifying power?

At this moment, she had no time to calculate the economic losses, silently praying that no one would get hurt.

If someone died, the cost of this experiment would be far too great...

However, her worries were clearly unnecessary.

The residents of French Fries Port knew well the state of the forest at their doorstep; no one would cross the barbed wire and walls isolating the forest.

As for the players—

It was true they were startled, but being killed by a few trees was out of the question.

Including the NPCs trapped in the lumberyard warehouse, all bystanders caught up in the incident had been secured.

Ye Shi, standing beside Dora, stared dumbfounded at the madly growing trees and vines, finally squeezing out a sentence after a long while.

"Holy crap... absorption this good?!"

At least wait for some rain, right?!

Not to mention Ye Shi, Dora was equally shocked by the terrifying growth rate.

On the planet Gaia, the priests of the Doma could accelerate plant growth through prayer, but never to such an astonishing degree!

She saw with her own eyes vines that were only knee-high climb to the treetops in no time, and waist-high shrubs grow a full inch taller in just a few breaths.

But—

Now was not the time to be stunned by this.

Hearing the voice that seemed to drift into her ears from the beyond, Dora snapped back to reality and spoke hurriedly to Ye Shi beside her.

"It says... these woods are a gift for you. You can take them and use them directly, no need to be polite."

A gift, huh...

What a huge misunderstanding.

Ye Shi looked at Dora with a wry smile.

"Tell it for me, this gift is very nice, but don't send it like this next time."