Chapter 19: Urgency

The moment Chen Chong cut out the mysterious thing from the golden tree’s trunk, time seemed to freeze for an instant. Visibly, the tree’s gleaming golden radiance dimmed sharply, as if some kind of spiritual nature was rapidly fading away.

Boom!

In the next second, as if it had lost something vital, the golden tree’s trunk trembled violently. Countless leaves rustled down like a dying beast. Its few dozen remaining thick roots suddenly began lashing about wildly and aimlessly in the air!

For a moment, the air howled, whip-like shadows flew everywhere, the ground collapsed, and large amounts of mud and bones were thrown up by the madly lashing roots. It was like a dance of demons!

“It’s gone berserk!”

In that instant, before he could process what change had occurred to the Main God Light Sphere in his mind, an unparalleled sense of danger rose in Chen Chong’s heart. He immediately kicked off the ground, dodged the crazily lashing root tentacles, and rushed towards the outside of the bone pool.

A bizarre tree like this was not something he could completely deal with right now. Since he had already obtained the thing that attracted the Main God Light Sphere, it was naturally time to flee.

What surprised Chen Chong was that from the moment he decisively retreated, it was as if this golden tree had gone ‘blind’. It ignored him, the one who had started it all. Its roots were aimless, lashing out purely on instinct.

Dodging the frenzied root tentacles in front of him, Chen Chong moved like an agile cheetah. In a few seconds, he escaped the tree’s vicinity, which resembled a chaotic demon dance, and retreated to the edge of the bone pool.

Chen Chong paused for a moment but did not leave immediately. Instead, he stayed at a safe distance, narrowed his eyes, and observed the golden tree from dozens of meters away.

By now, the entire golden tree had gradually darkened. The sacred, spiritual golden radiance it had before was quickly receding. Noticing this change, Chen Chong’s mind stirred:

“Could it be… that because I took that strange thing just now, it has undergone some kind of degeneration?”

If the previous golden tree had felt to Chen Chong like a top-tier predator with a trace of wisdom, then after that unknown One-Eyed object was taken by him, this tree seemed to have lost most of its intelligence and spirituality.

As if confirming the speculation in Chen Chong’s heart, the golden tree’s violent trembling began to stop. The root tentacles that were lashing madly in the air gradually ceased their movements, then fell to the ground one after another, as if turning into ordinary plants.

Everything became calm. The golden tree stood motionless. The Mist sprayed from the petals on its crown became a little thinner. The cracked ground and the scattered white bones were proof that a soul-stirring battle had just taken place here.

“It seems the reason this tree is so bizarre is most likely because of that single eye.”

The crisis seemed to have been resolved. Chen Chong slowly let out a sigh of relief.

“What exactly was that thing?”

He cast a deep glance at the giant golden tree, then focused his mind to sense the Main God Light Sphere in his mind. However, he found that no matter how he called out to or tried to activate it, the Main God Light Sphere showed no response, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep. But Chen Chong also keenly sensed that in his mental world, the Main God Light Sphere was trembling at a high frequency, as if some unknown change was happening inside it.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Chong did not leave immediately. His physical strength was too drained, and for now, the Mist Zone was much safer than the outside world. So he found a rock not far away, sat down cross-legged on it, and rested.

“Based on the time estimate, Diris still has four or five hours before he returns to the base. I still have plenty of time away from the base.”

“Once it’s completely safe, I must find a way to figure out what exactly these so-called Awakeners and Transcendents are all about, and also the meaning of terms like Life Field level and Gene Lock, and how to improve them!”

“Power. Only by possessing power will I have a greater chance of surviving!”

Gazing at the golden tree not far away, all sorts of thoughts suddenly surged in Chen Chong’s heart.

This strange world was far too dangerous. Whether it was Katherine and Johnson at the base, or this golden tree he had just encountered, they all told him that an ordinary person without power was like a fragile lamb, only able to be pitifully slaughtered, with life and death beyond their control.

Chen Chong’s idea was simple: survive in this world, and live well. However, he clearly understood that in this broken world, only sufficiently powerful strength could possibly support this idea. Figuring out the source of an Awakener’s power and how to enhance it was the very first thing he had to do.

Katherine had died at his hands. Diris, this so-called Transcendent, would certainly not let the matter rest. Thinking of the other party’s horrifying, superhuman-like strength, Chen Chong felt an extreme sense of urgency in his heart.

“Sss…”

He was still carrying considerable injuries. Coupled with the earlier intense battle where his mind was highly focused, the moment he relaxed his spirit, intense fatigue swept through Chen Chong’s entire body. His arm and ribs throbbed with sharp pain, making him involuntarily wince.

Although taking the Ultra Divine Water had helped him reach the theoretical limit of an ordinary human, Chen Chong was not a superman after all. The series of events had pushed his physical strength to its limit. Not only was there fatigue and pain, but after the series of high-intensity battles, a vague feeling of hunger was also gradually rising from his stomach.

The situation was rather bad.

Chen Chong clearly felt his body’s terrible state, and alarm bells rang in his heart.

In the Wilderness, food and water were the top priorities for sustaining survival. In this dangerously perilous situation, if he didn’t find food to replenish himself while he still had some strength, his entire body would grow weaker and weaker, and then, when danger struck, he would be slaughtered without any resistance, becoming a delicious meal in another creature’s mouth.

This Mist Zone was clearly a forbidden zone for life, a hunting ground exclusively for the golden tree. Besides Chen Chong himself, there were no other living creatures, not even other types of plants. Searching for food here was undoubtedly wishful thinking; he could only wait for his strength to recover, leave this place, and make plans then.

“Wait a moment…”

Chen Chong suddenly seemed to think of something. He leaped off the rock in an instant, then, holding his tactical knife, cautiously approached the direction of the golden tree.

There was no unusual movement along the way. Chen Chong bent down and picked up several of the tree’s thick roots that he had previously severed from the ground, then quickly returned to the rock.

Then, staring at the thick roots he had retrieved in his hands, Chen Chong frowned, sniffed them, and a thought couldn’t help but arise in his heart:

“This thing… seems like it might be edible?”

The roots in his hand were as thick as a child’s arm, with a texture like vines, but they looked very much like yams. Where the blade had cut them, faint red sap was still flowing, emitting a light, fresh plant fragrance.