Chapter 2947: Purple Stone and Hidden Danger
Xu Huo looked down and realized he had cut open a tree root, beneath the bark of which was wrapped a light purple stone the size of a human head. It was very similar to the Subclass Stone found earlier in the animal nest, only much larger and faintly glowing.
He picked up a piece of bark to examine it, only to find that a layer of metal-like substance had grown beneath the skin, capable of interfering with the penetration of Spiritual Power to a certain degree.
The roots of the trees in the jungle were often knotted and bulging, which had been clear when cutting down the mutant trees parasitized by the purple vines. Xu Huo hadn't paid much attention to it before, but he never expected this tree to be different, with a Subclass Stone wrapped inside its root.
"This is good stuff!" Jin Xiang's eyes lit up as he leaned in to look.
"Subclass Stone. A piece this big—who knows how many props it can make. You've hit the jackpot," Xu Huo said.
"Forget it, forget it. I didn't find it." Jin Xiang quickly declined, then his eyes sparkled again. "I'll dig some more—maybe there's more!"
With that, he called the others over, and they dug into the ground with great enthusiasm. "I knew my luck couldn't be that bad. After taking such a big loss, the heavens have to repay me!"
Xu Huo released his Spiritual Realm, sinking it underground to inspect the roots. There were quite a few large and small knots, but a quick cut with Space Power showed that most of them didn't contain stones. However, since a Subclass Stone had appeared here, there was likely a Primordial Stone nearby.
The "Angel's Eyes" Primordial Stone was quite large, and the suspected Primordial Stone found in the space that appeared in Zone 014 was similarly sized. But the Nuwa Stone and the Primordial Stone picked up in the high-energy zone and made into props were very small. Perhaps different types of Primordial Stones varied greatly in size.
By the time Jin Xiang and the others dug up a second Subclass Stone, Xu Huo had already found what he was looking for inside the tree's core. Manipulating Space Power, he opened a hole in the trunk and slightly raised his hand. A stone shaped like a slingshot, embedded in the wood, flew out.
Removing the outer woody material revealed a stone only half a finger long, deep purple in color. Like other Primordial Stones he had seen, its energy was dense. Even this small piece made Spiritual Power completely unable to penetrate it, though it differed somewhat from the Spiritual-type Primordial Stone he had picked up earlier.
It seemed this Primordial Stone, like the Nuwa Stone, had an effect on promoting plant mutation.
Caressing the sharp edges of the stone, Xu Huo placed it into the luggage compartment. Although the Primordial Stone had caused the giant tree's mutation and might even be the source of the purple vine's variation, it was hard to say whether its energy could indiscriminately cover the entire space.
Perhaps the thing that could cause people to inexplicably fall asleep wasn't these mutant plants or the Primordial Stone. The Primordial Stone might not be the source of the environmental change; rather, the environmental change might have caused the Primordial Stone to be born.
Like Zone 014, some zones might give birth to Primordial Stones while others didn't. Most people believed that both Primordial Stones and other mutant species were the result of a zone beginning to evolve—that their changes occurred simultaneously without any difference in sequence. But now it seemed that spaces and the things within them didn't necessarily evolve together; it was just that other zone spaces didn't have such extreme effects as the Purple Vine Space.
The period from zone evolution to zone fusion seemed more like an observation phase.
Xu Huo's gaze darkened slightly. After calming himself, he turned to Jin Xiang and the others. "How's the rescue going?"
"We haven't found everyone yet," Jin Xiang replied. "Hundreds of thousands of people—it'll probably take a while... Brother Xu, are you leaving?"
Xu Huo took off his gloves and lightly tapped the tree trunk beside him. The giant tree and the purple vines clinging to it vanished in an instant. Light descended from the sky, enveloping his entire figure and blurring his features.
Jin Xiang shielded his eyes. "Brother Xu?"
Xu Huo walked out of the light and said, "I'm going to find the Instance Authorization now. You all take these Subclass Stones back."
"Hey..." Jin Xiang wanted to say something more, but before he could open his mouth, the person in front of him had disappeared.
"Instance Authorization... where do we find that?"
Where to find it? Xu Huo wanted to know too. Finding the authorization was just an excuse. His real intention was to destroy the instance site. The authorization wouldn't be found anytime soon, and clearing the instance in a short time was impossible, so the most direct method was to dismantle the site. That was also the fastest way to collapse the instance.
Earlier, he had discussed with Nie Xuan how the Eerie Sound Knights might try to destroy the foundation of Zone 014, making the entire zone a target for some major power. But now he suddenly realized that the consequences of such an operation might be far more severe than imagined.
When a zone was first born, the Game Government should have assessed its value and potential. This potential wasn't just reflected in the number of players; the proportion of zone evolution wouldn't be small either. Why did some zones suddenly become farming zones shortly after evolving? It was probably because of this.
And this kind of potential assessment and subsequent handling likely wasn't a one-time thing, nor could it be prevented by simply dealing with some major power that plundered a zone. The loss of a zone's potential was probably an evaluation given by the entire game system. Under this evaluation, various game factions would act. One batch would plunder resources, and after the resources were stripped clean, a second batch would come to take over. At that point, the zone might become an experimental zone. Once the experimental value was lost, the zone could directly degenerate into a farming zone or even a complete wasteland.
Major events like those in Zone 017 had left too deep an impression on players, leading many to believe that a zone being abandoned by the game and quickly becoming a farming zone was the end. In reality, this was a round of the entire game high-level scraping the marrow from zones without potential. Even if such a zone eventually gave birth to one or even multiple Super Players seeking revenge, they wouldn't be facing just some major game power, but the entire game high-level.
Seeds planted in spring would only yield a harvest in autumn. To strike at Zone 014, there was no need to accomplish everything in one go during this fusion, no need to go through the trouble of wooing some major power as a backer, and no need to worry about offending certain zones or Super Players. As long as the hidden danger in Zone 014 was planted, once it erupted, the series of actions to destroy the zone would run automatically like a program!
The game had its own set of methods for dealing with zones without potential. It wasn't, as outsiders speculated, that the A-level wormhole points couldn't be bothered or disdained to compete for resources in newly born zones, or that major powers were locked in a stalemate of mutual contention. Rather, the game had datafied everything in this world—what should be preserved and what should be put out for families like Pu Yu to divide up had clear standards. Personal interference was the exception and deviation for the game high-level, because they simply didn't need to do this...
At least so far, Xu Huo had never seen or heard of a zone that had managed to rise again.