Astral Cockroach

Oil Tea led the way, and the journey was not what it called "a bit far," but rather quite distant.

A light trot covered a journey lasting nine days.

The terrain was the common subtropical, slightly northern hilly type, with various walnut trees dominating the vegetation, mainly mountain walnuts, cotton walnuts, and iron walnuts, interspersed with oak, pine, cypress, maple, and other trees.

Amidst countless hills and dense forests, the raw stone mine was located on a very ordinary small ridge.

Banbu found it hard to understand how Oil Tea, in the space of two years, had traversed over 3,000 kilometers to find such an inconspicuous place.

"Banbu, there used to be warriors living near here, but it was later abandoned." Oil Tea wagged its tail slightly and pointed to the entrance of a cave in front of it, saying:

"I thought it was a residential cave, so I went in to take a look and unexpectedly found it was a mine... I searched the surrounding area, and all the residential caves and mines had collapsed."

"Well, it's probably because the era was too long ago, and it was abandoned and forgotten before the mainland's original power was exhausted."

The mine passage had collapsed, but not completely. Oil Tea had dug through it according to its size, entering the depths of the mine.

Without needing to be told, Little White Bamboo was the first to burrow into the mine.

Banbu couldn't fit inside, so it examined the surrounding soil.

"Well, it's mainly red shale and gray sandstone, a bit prone to collapse." Banbu circled the hillside, making another judgment.

"Banbu, there are a lot of walnut trees nearby," Oil Tea reminded.

"I know," Banbu said, "But the tree species don't look good."

The Northern Hemisphere's subtropical zone has a lot of cypress, eucalyptus, and evergreen oak trees.

The Southern Hemisphere's subtropical regions are dominated by walnut, cherry blossom, and ash trees, all of which are undomesticated native species. They have strong survival abilities in the wild, but the number of fruits, the size of the fruits, the sweetness of the pulp, etc., are all lacking.

Generally, ordinary tree species no longer catch Banbu's eye.

Oil Tea added, "Banbu, I also found a chestnut forest, and the trees are particularly tall."

Oil Tea doesn't like learning knowledge and doesn't know much about plants. When it comes to practical use, it can only use vague words to modify and describe them.

Banbu casually asked, "How tall are they?"

Oil Tea thought seriously and said, "100 meters, maybe..."

"What? Are you kidding me? That's an exaggeration!" Banbu asked repeatedly, "Is it far?"

Oil Tea said, "It's not very far."

"..." Banbu waved its antennae, pointed to the entrance of the mine passage, and said, "Go in and ask Little White Bamboo how the situation is."

"We can let it search carefully," Oil Tea muttered, then burrowed into the mine passage and, after a while, came out with Little White Bamboo.

Banbu asked, "How is it?"

Little White Bamboo replied, "Only a few inferior ores were found. The ore vein should have been abandoned before the original power of this continent was exhausted. The inferior raw stone mine was formed later."

Banbu said, "Then it can't be ruled out that, due to later geological movements, this ore vein may have new high-quality raw stone ore formed."

Little White Bamboo said, "There's none nearby. I'll go look in other places."

Oil Tea immediately said, "Search carefully."

Banbu nodded its antennae, indicating agreement.

The concentration of original power on both sides of the canyon was too low. A wedge-thorn cherry bestowed by the gods, and 10 destiny seeds, all needed raw stones to replenish their original power in order to grow well. Transporting them from the Myriad Kingdoms Continent would not only be costly but also exhausting. It would be good to be able to dig up some scraps from this abandoned mine.

"Little White Bamboo, take your time searching."

"Oil Tea, where is the chestnut forest you mentioned? Lead the way, let's go take a look."

......

Oil Tea's concept of "distance" and "length" was extremely inaccurate. What it called "a bit far" was, in Banbu's concept of distance, "very, very far." What it called "not very far" was definitely "very far."

It took three days and two nights to arrive.

It was still the common hilly terrain, but what was different was that the chestnut forest in front was generally much taller than common chestnut trees.

However, it wasn't as exaggerated as Oil Tea had said.

100 meters tall? In subtropical regions, only a few special trees can grow to a height of 100 meters, and chestnut trees are not among them. Chestnut trees can definitely not grow to this height. No matter how good the growing environment or how long the growing time, it would be useless. It was a limitation of the tree species' genes.

"Banbu, there's an especially tall one over there," Oil Tea wagged its tail, pointing in the direction.

"No need to look. That should be an old chestnut tree that has been growing for over a hundred years. You got the height wrong a bit. Oil Tea, when we go back this time, you need to re-recognize the units of length. You can't always be so ignorant and confused, not even as good as White Bamboo and Big Bear," Banbu simply reprimanded, then began searching on the ground.

It was winter, and the chestnut fruits had naturally ripened and fallen to the ground not long ago, and had not yet sprouted.

The exterior was a bur-like outer wall covered with dense, sharp thorns. When peeled open, the inside was a smooth chestnut. The outer shells of common wild or cultivated chestnuts are brown-red, with a few being brownish-black.

This chestnut forest looked unusual, and the fruits were also unusual. The chestnuts produced had shiny black outer shells with a metallic texture, and were also a size larger than regular chestnuts.

Banbu picked up one, pinched its toes together, and slowly cut open the outer shell.

The shell was very hard and thick.

Oil Tea noticed that Banbu's mood was not quite right and asked, "Banbu, what kind of chestnut tree is this?"

"A premier chestnut, the top tree species among chestnut trees. It seems that no race in the Myriad Kingdoms Continent has mastered this tree species. Our Jinping Mountains can vigorously develop a chestnut tree forest." Banbu replied solemnly, and then said:

"It should have been cultivated by a certain insect tribe. This is a native species. Oil Tea, identify it carefully and look around. Maybe there are still high-quality derivative species that have continued to this day."

"I will bring White Bamboo and Little White Bamboo here to search for traces of warrior settlements. If we're lucky, we might find the buried 'divine-grade' remains."

"Then I..." Oil Tea asked, "What about the abandoned mine? Are we still digging?"

"A top-tier tree species can support a tribe and is worth ten ore veins. What are we digging it for?" Banbu calmed down slightly and instructed in detail, "Oil Tea, focus on searching for chestnut tree derivative species, and look for warrior settlements along the way. Just mark the general area. Bamboo rat warriors are the best at underground detection and excavation."

"Understood," Oil Tea acted quickly.

Banbu directly flapped its wings and ascended into the air, flying at low altitude.

After crossing two ridges, its gaze was immediately attracted by an unusually tall ancient tree.

This should be the tall ancient chestnut tree that Oil Tea mentioned.

As it approached for a closer look, its wing veins trembled, its body lost balance, and it almost crashed into the forest.

Oil Tea's concept of length was terribly bad. This ancient chestnut tree was not just 100 meters tall, but had reached about 150 meters. The trunk was aging, the branches were mostly withered, and there were signs of insect infestation. The top of the crown should have had a long section of branches broken off, otherwise the height of the tree would have been more than 150 meters.

How tall exactly? It was hard to estimate now.

An aging, thousand-year-old chestnut tree nearing the end of its life.

Looking closely, it looked a bit like a premier chestnut, and it was hard to tell whether it was a native species or a derivative species.

Checking the other chestnut trees nearby and carefully identifying them, it was determined to be a high-quality derivative species. However, the height of the trees was within the normal range of 10 to 40 meters. The tallest one was only a little over 40 meters, and at this height, the tree began to show signs of aging.

This one in front of it was actually over 150 meters! How did it do it?

A super-high-quality derivative species? That's an exaggeration!

Unfortunately, there were no chestnuts on the ground or in the tree. This old tree was too old and could no longer flower and bear fruit.

Banbu was somewhat certain that this old tree had broken through the category of "high-quality derivative species" and should be an accidental result of "gene mutation."

"There are no descendants of the same tree species left around. What a pity. Perhaps this mutant species cannot adapt to the natural environment and cannot survive without the care of warriors."

"Maybe we can salvage it! If we take good care of it and it flowers once, we'll be rich by harvesting a batch of seeds!"

Thinking this, Banbu released the aura of a principality-level original power creature, emitting angry and threatening emotions, intending to first get rid of the various pests attached to the tree. At the same time, it pondered in its heart: Should White Bamboo be brought over to take care of it personally? The soil is compacted and urgently needs loosening, weeds are growing rampant and must be removed, and the soil fertility is also poor, so a biogas digester needs to be built for irrigation and fertilization...

Suddenly, a weak and vague thought came from underground: "Are you warriors of the Black Beetle Tribe? How many years has it been? You have finally returned."