Wilderness Age

"It's you! You stole Doblin's gold!"

"No! I didn't, I really didn't, I didn't steal it, believe me!" The drifter explained in a panic, with cold sweat on his face, "I really don't know, I've been staying here!"

"Treacherous human beings, stop sophistry! Everyone has stolen goods, and you must pay the price for your theft!"

"No, no... Please..."

"Compensation! Ten times the compensation! According to the law, ten times the property will be confiscated as compensation for the victim!" Doblin waved his fists and shouted, grabbed the drifter's leather bag, rummaged through and took away the supplies inside , and then threw the empty bag back, and finally said viciously, "This is your punishment, human drifter! I warn you not to be greedy for petty gains, especially not for Doblin's! We Doblin are not to be trifled with!"

The drifter knelt and sat on the ground exhausted, murmuring, not daring to speak loudly.

The other three drifters were also frightened, and none of them dared to resist.

This is a farce that Yu Ze and the others saw when they passed by the cave where the four new drifters were on the way to the "mother tree".

These drifters did not steal anything. Yu Ze saw it with his own eyes. It was Doblin who stuffed the gold coins into their pockets and packages with his own hands, and took away a small mirror. "Rules" snatched ten times their supplies.

Suo Tianyou: "Tsk, so why pay a lot of money to get down here? Wouldn't it be more comfortable to stay up there?"

There is an independent rest area in Bailu Valley. There are simple beds, pillows and blankets in the tents. It is very safe there. You can sleep quietly for a night to restore energy without being disturbed or frightened.

Those who come to the main city, if they don't have other purposes like Yu Ze and the others, are eager to use Doblin's tricks to suspend drifting and take a breath here.

Yu Ze looked at his wrist, it was the blade of grass bracelet, on which was Doblin's secret.

That Doblin who planted and robbed was walking towards them, with his money bag hanging on his body, muttering in his mouth: "The drifter can't be found, Doblin will be punished, and the gold coins that Doblin lost Make it up! Gold coins, gold coins, gold coins!"

Gold coins gold coins gold coins.

Suo Tianyou: "Tsk tsk tsk!"

Ding Sheng shook his head: "What a bad thing."

They continued to move forward, and after walking for a long time, they actually entered a dead end ahead.

"Did you go the wrong way?"

Suo Tianyou didn't figure it out either. He walked up to the rock wall and tapped to see if there was a hidden path ahead.

"Vivi, is this here?"

Xi Wei raised her head and looked at a corner of the cave roof.

Yu Ze followed her gaze.

There was a long grass-blade stalk there, poking out of the rocky soil, and it looked the same as the grass rings on their hands.

Yu Ze pointed to the tendril to show others: "The way is right, we should be there soon."

Suo Tianyou also looked up: "That's it. When you see the 'mother tree', you won't be able to guess what it looks like."

These words naturally aroused their imagination.

Chu Xingzhou: "Is this the root of the 'mother tree'? It looks like a deep root of a big tree buried in the soil."

Suo Tianyou: "Guess is half right."

"What about the other half?"

"The other half is for you to watch for yourself. I won't spoil the suspense, so that it will be shocking for you to watch."

"... Do you think we are going to the movies, or to the haunted house?"

"This is much more real than a haunted house in any movie, with 360-degree panoramic surround sound... But how is it going now, Weiwei?"

Suo Tianyou walked to Xi Wei's side: "Wei Wei?"

Xi Wei didn't know whether she was thinking or doing something, but she just looked at the stalk with straight eyes.

The string in Yu Ze's mind moved again.

He looked at Chu Xingzhou. He and Ding Sheng were groping in the passage and didn't notice this side.

Suo Tianyou flew up with the wind power, stretched out his hand and tugged at the long stalk, the blade of grass was tough and hard to break, Suo Tianyou used the wind blade to cut back and forth, and finally cut off a thin piece, to the length of the arm.

He fell back to the ground with the blade of grass, and just about to say something, Xi Wei suddenly stepped forward and took the blade of grass from Suo Tianyou's hand.

Suo Tianyou didn't take it seriously, and pointed to the leaves of grass: "Look, this is the material used for the Doblin bracelet. It looks like this when it's not made into a bracelet. Compare it yourself and see if it's the same."

Xi Wei moved while speaking.

Without giving an explanation, she turned around and walked out of the passage—of course she couldn't speak, so although it was strange, no one questioned her.

"Weiwei, have you figured out the way?" Suo Tianyou asked as he followed, and he didn't forget to turn around to greet them, "Come and follow."

Xi Wei walked a little fast, Chu Xingzhou took a look, came over and took Yu Ze's hand: "Xiao Ze, let's go."

Yu Ze put his doubts back silently.

This time, they quickly saw a different scene.

"Ha, let's get it back!"

They were standing in the middle of a huge cave that had never been seen before, and in front of them was a tree that could not see the edge.

The crown of the tree covers the sky and the sun, and the body of the tree is more towering than the mountain.

At the bottom of the bottomless cave, the tree trunk was sunk into darkness, and the roots could not be seen.

People stand so small in front of it.

"Go, go down." Suo Tianyou waved his hands first, "I can't wait to see how you see the tree roots!"

Yu Ze, Chu Xingzhou, and Ding Sheng looked at each other, foreseeing that they might see an incredible scene—hope it wasn't Suo Tianyou's exaggerated exaggeration to mislead them.

Along the winding stone path along the edge of the cave, they stepped into the abyss step by step.

It is so peaceful and quiet here. There are streamers flickering among the luxuriant trees. It is not a firefly, nor is it a young Doblin. It is just light, the light of the branches and leaves of the "mother tree".

Layers of green portraits have been carefully rendered by the painter with the most beautiful oil paint, and the huge tree trunks present a thick brown color.

They finally reached the bottom of the cave.

Or go to the bottom of the tree.

This is the core hinterland of the Doblin Central Mountain Range. They can't judge the current location. It may be below the valley, it may be inside the mountain, or it may be in a certain mountain peak.

The "mother tree" is rooted here, as tall as its tree is, as deep as its roots.

At the bottom of the tiankeng, there are densely packed honeycomb-shaped pits, into which the thick rhizomes of the "mother tree" are inserted.

Xi Wei's movements became faster and faster, she came to one of the potholes and jumped directly.

"Oh, slow down, Weiwei." Suo Tianyou jumped in after him.

The rest followed suit one by one.

The passage in the pothole is narrow, and only one person can pass through it. When walking in it, Yu Ze realized that they were walking between the huge roots of the "mother tree" and the inner wall of the cave.

This discovery made several people couldn't help but even breathe lightly.

The trend of the passage is obliquely downward. As they walked, the passage became steeper and steeper, and in the end they almost fell straight down.

Chu Xingzhou walked in front of Yu Ze, and when he realized that the situation was not right, he habitually threw out the vines and tied Yu Ze and himself together, so when he finally fell, Yu Ze fell directly on Chu Xingzhou's body.

The two snorted, checked each other to make sure they were all right, and then stood up.

Doblin's secret unfolds before them.

The picture in front of me was shocking, unexpected, and I couldn't help but tremble in my heart.

Chu Xingzhou: "Is this the root of the 'mother tree'?"

In front of them was another huge cave, and inside the cave was the root system of a "mother tree" that was even bigger than the canopy.

The strong root system supports the dome of the cave, the tree roots hang upside down, and the long grass-like stems seem to hang in the air from the sky, forming a dense root forest.

And each of the main rhizomes is connected to a heart, they are still beating and beating vigorously, as if they are still alive, the rhizome of the "mother tree" is inserted into it, with the beating of the heart , the blood is continuously sent to the roots of the tree.

Suo Tianyou: "This is the root of the mother tree."

Ding Sheng took a breath: "They... what kind of creature is Doblin?"

There are countless hearts stuck on the root of the tree. Judging from the shape and size, there are human beings, merman's, rhinoceros, and various beasts.

Most of the blood in the heart is red, and a small part of it is green.

"Is this Doblin's?" Yu Ze guessed.

In fact, Doblin is generally believed to have no heart.

Their larvae are just a ball of light. Although they appear to have flesh and blood on the outside after differentiation, they will only leave a lot of juice after being killed, just like the juice of leaves, grass leaves or fruits that are mashed.

And those organs that are suspected to be Doblin's heart are also different from ordinary hearts. They are small in size, like immature blue fruits, and some have black spots.

Suo Tianyou: "Shocked, right? When I just fell here, I also took a deep breath."

He is bold, rather heartless, and he can walk freely in this root forest full of hearts, and even point and point.

"Did you see it? The tiny roots next to the main roots are the blades of grass used to weave bracelets. These are not ordinary blades of grass. They are the roots of the "mother tree"."

The implications of this statement are simply chilling.

Ding Sheng tugged on the bracelet, but he couldn't take it off with his own strength.

Doblin said that in order to ensure the drifter's pass qualification is valid, only Doblin can take off the bracelet after wearing it, or it will fall off automatically after the time is up.

I didn't think much about it at the time, but after changing the environment, the same words made people think differently.

Because he was chased away by Doblin, Suo Tianyou didn't stay at the "mother tree" for too long in the morning.

Now they have penetrated the root system, and at a closer distance, they have a closer look at what they look like.

These hearts are alive, and the "mother tree" is alive.

But not completely alive.

They stood for a long time under the root system of the mother tree.

If it weren't for the lack of conditions, Ding Sheng would really like to smoke a cigarette.

"Where's Vivi?"

Suo Tianyou didn't expect that Xi Wei disappeared just because he didn't pay attention.

Normally, she would always silently follow the man's side, and she could see him as soon as she turned her head.

Because Xi Wei walked away, they had already left the invisibility mask.

But at this time, no one is concerned about this issue.

Ding Sheng stroked the bracelet on his wrist: "For the mother tree, what are we wearing the bracelet, a heart that can move freely?"

Yu Ze suddenly thought of something, he grabbed Chu Xingzhou's wrist and asked, "Do you know what these tree roots are for?"

Chu Xingzhou: "...I don't know if he knows."

Yu Ze looked solemn: "Can you contact him?"

Chu Xingzhou: "Yes." After a pause, he said, "I told him to come here."

Suo Tianyou went to look for Xi Wei.

They wait for the wood spirits under the roots of the mother tree.

Unlike the beautiful colors and light on the tree body and crown, the roots of the "mother tree" do not emit light, only the dark red and green flows in the roots connected to the heart, and the fluorescent ore on the rock wall of the cave is the only light source in the cave , So the whole cave is dark and gloomy, revealing a terrifying and depressing atmosphere.

Yu Ze began to count how many hearts were attached to the roots of the "mother tree".

When he counted to more than 900, the wood spirit came.

Labrador: "Wow, how did you get here? I didn't even know this place existed. It's so hard to find. There are many detours!"

Doblin is unimpeded in the central mountain range, especially the juvenile Doblin, they can ignore the obstacles of rocks and trees in the form of light clusters, and go directly through it. Duoduo came to the "mother tree" faster than they found it. Much sooner.

Yu Ze and Chu Xingzhou looked at him with serious expressions and didn't speak.

Labrador realized later: "What's wrong with you?"

After a while of silence, Chu Xingzhou asked, "Do you know what these are?"

He looked around and motioned the wood spirit to look.

"I don't know, it's my first time here." Labrador's voice was innocent, as usual, he flew back and forth between the roots, "Is this the 'mother tree'? Me and other Doblins Let’s go to the tree to see it together, it’s not the same as here, but they have a similar aura…”

Labrador wasn't so sure.

"This is the root of the 'mother tree'."

"Really!" Labudoduo was a little happy when he heard this, and flew around twice excitedly, sticking it on the root, "It's the root of the 'mother tree'!"

Chu Xingzhou: "...Don't you think there's something wrong?"

"Huh? What's wrong?" Labrador really didn't understand, he looked at Chu Xingzhou and then at Yu Ze.

Chu Xingzhou didn't speak.

Labrador flew and slowed down, feeling a little uneasy.

Yu Ze: "Have you seen these hearts?"

Labrador: "Huh?"

"Heart, human, merman, and beast." Yu Ze pointed to one by one, pointing to a green fruit-like one, "This, maybe it belongs to you Doblin?"

He looked back at Labrador, "Doblin's 'mother tree' eats people?"

Before the wood spirit could answer, he shook the grass-leaf bracelet on his wrist again, with straightforward inquiry and questioning in his eyes: "Those of us who are sent to the main city with the bracelet on are the food reserves of the 'Mother Tree'. ?"

"These, do you know?"

The repeated questioning made Guangtuanzi panic.

"I, I don't know!" Rabdo explained stutteringly, "If I knew, I would definitely not let them do this, and I wouldn't let the 'mother tree' eat you!"

"You, don't be angry..."

Labrador flew to Chu Xingzhou's side, and then to Yu Ze's side, flashing and flashing anxiously, but the light dimmed.

The turquoise light balls flew in the root forest full of hearts.

"Is this true... I never knew the roots of the mother tree were like this. They never brought me here. We flew high in the canopy and listened to them tell the legend of Doblin there. But I really don't know what the mother tree is like, I know too little..." Labrador's voice was full of frustration.

Chu Xingzhou asked: "What is the 'mother tree' to you?"

"'Mother Tree' is, is Doblin's mother..."

Labrador looked a little confused.

"The 'Mother Tree' is the source of Doblin's life. We are all children of the 'Mother Tree'. She gives us life... No one will ask what their mother is, right?"

Yu Ze: "Where does the life of the 'mother tree' come from?"

He looked at the huge tree root system, thousands of beating hearts, and the blood flowing to the roots, and continued to ask: "Does 'she' have a mind?"

Labrador was stopped by the question: "No, I don't know..."

With a weak tone of voice, the voice gradually faded away, and then suddenly lit up, like a small light bulb, and an idea came to mind.

"I, I will find someone to ask. I know a Doblin. He is very knowledgeable. He should be able to answer your questions."

Chu Xingzhou was not so angry anymore, he now felt that if Doblin really wanted to cheat them, this stupid gold coin must have been knifed along with them: "Are you sure that after you called the man over, he came to We answer questions instead of taking us all?"

If Labrador was a human child, his face would be flushed at this moment.

But Labrador is a light ball, and it is green, so he just drums and drums, and eagerly promises in a crunchy child's voice: "No, he is an enthusiastic Doblin, he taught me a lot, But if...if he wants to catch you, then I will definitely help you!"

It didn't take long before a 1.2-meter-tall elder Dobrin came here very quickly. He came here much faster than when Rabdodo came. Why did the 'mother tree' come here? This is not a place where you can come here casually."

"Jaraquel!" Rabdodo flashed with excitement, and floated to the side of Dablin named Jaraquel, and introduced him with a flash of light, "This is my Doblin friend, Jacqueline El, Jacquil, these are my human friends."

Jacquel: "Oh, hello."

Mostly Brin waved in a friendly manner.

Labrador looks like a polite and good kid: "Jacquell, my human friend has some questions, but I don't know, so can I ask you for advice?"

"Oh, what kind of questions do you have? Let me guess, since you are here, it should be related to the 'mother tree'?" Da Brin's eyes swept over the three of Yu Ze, and there was a light in his eyes, " You're not welcome here, drifters, though you're Doblin's guests with your bracelets on."

"Why, are you afraid that we will discover Doblin's secret?"

"Haha, afraid? What are you afraid of? Drifter, Doblin is not afraid of anything. Doblin is fearless. You are not allowed to come here because noisy humans will disturb the rest of the mother tree. Of course, the benevolent mother tree will not care about you , but your behavior is still extremely impolite. Drifters, if you don’t listen, Doblin can even file a claim against you, asking you to pay the price for offending the sacred Doblin mother tree, and compensate you in gold coins!”

"..."

Compensation.

gold.

Really very Doblin-like.

And who can compare to Doblin in terms of noise?