Chapter 457: Wormhole Flower
"We haven't encountered any large animals since we came ashore. What was making those strange roars we heard about?" Miao Yu also asked Dr. Deng.
"Maybe the animals took shelter from the rain too," Chu Yuan said. "That rain was coming down like hail. Any animal with half a brain wouldn't go out in that."
"That could be considered a reason," Dr. Deng said with a smile. "But it's also possible that because we're right in the middle of it, we can't see these wonders for what they are."
"Some things that seem miraculous are actually pretty ordinary once you get close to them. Not much technological sophistication."
Dr. Deng, in his scholarly manner, explained a few of these naturally occurring phenomena to the group, also pointing out which plants were valuable or had unusual functions.
Xu Huo wasn't interested in most of it, but he was very interested in a small red flower. "This flower looks familiar. I think I've seen it somewhere before."
He thought carefully and said, "It looks like a science illustration I saw online, but that flower wasn't pure red. It changed colors from time to time."
"You're talking about the wormhole flower," Chu Yuan said, chiming in. "Wormhole flowers look similar to this, but they're smaller. Sometimes they turn purple, but most of the time they're half red and half purple."
"Wormhole flower?" Xu Huo had a vivid memory of the purplish-red flower he'd taken from the Red Red Building, the one mixed in with the same-colored mutant plants. After he brought it back and planted it, the red had faded considerably and the purple had increased. The Painting Woman had seen it, but she didn't know what it was.
"A wormhole flower is a plant that can visually show the evolution level of a game zone," Dr. Deng explained. "The more red pigment in its roots, stems, flowers, and leaves, the higher the evolution level of the players in that game zone."
The other two, like Xu Huo, were hearing about wormhole flowers for the first time. Gan Qing asked in confusion, "Can plants really be linked to player evolution?"
"You can think of it this way: evolution first appeared because of environmental changes. A special substance in the environment caused changes in those who could adapt. The better the environment, the better the evolution. Just like plants—those facing the sun grow better than those in the shade. The better a game zone's environment, the more suitable it is for player evolution."
"The wormhole flower is a kind of mutant plant. That's where its value lies," Dr. Deng said.
"In those A-level wormhole points that entered the game early on, would the wormhole flowers be completely red?" Miao Yu couldn't help asking.
"Close to it," Dr. Deng said.
"Then the wormhole flowers in E-level wormhole points definitely wouldn't be that red," Gan Qing said with some concern. "Do wormhole flowers change?"
"Didn't I already say that?" Dr. Deng replied. "They change according to the environment. If the overall evolution of a game zone improves, they'll naturally become redder."
"There are game zones that regress too," Xu Huo said, glancing at the similar mutant plant.
Dr. Deng nodded but seemed reluctant to discuss the matter further. He changed the subject. "If you can find one of these flowers, you should keep it. If a game zone becomes unsuitable for survival, you can always move to another one."
"Then let's look for it right away!" Chu Yuan immediately turned around to search.
Xu Huo walked alongside Dr. Deng. "Under what circumstances would the game abandon a new game zone?"
Dr. Deng looked somewhat helpless. "I'm not really sure."
Xu Huo glanced at him. Dr. Deng shivered for no reason, and meeting Xu Huo's calm gaze, he unconsciously swallowed. "A gap in new players. The players in a new zone usually come from two sources: natural evolution, or artificially induced evolution in ordinary people. Many game zones take a considerable amount of time to reach the second step. The stages of questioning, research, and experimentation waste a lot of time. Although naturally evolved players will keep appearing, if the zone suffers a devastating blow at the very beginning, it's very difficult to reach the second step."
"Although a game zone's population isn't small, naturally evolved players are extremely rare. If this group dies or abandons their zone, the game government's computing system will determine that the zone lacks value."
"The consequences are what you'd expect: being reasonably exploited by the game government, or being annexed by other zones or forces. The former is more common."
Dr. Deng's flat voice made the matter sound even more horrifying. "This isn't anything new. It's just that your levels aren't high enough yet. Your game zone should still be relatively young. After a while, maybe you'll want to visit a new game zone too."
"What for? To kill and rob?" Gan Qing said disdainfully.
Dr. Deng glanced at him. "When a game zone's player count and levels reach a certain point, that zone's tickets will be distributed to other zones within the same wormhole point. High-level instance venues are no longer sealed off, and newly born instances often yield unexpected gains. No player doesn't want a piece of that."
"If a high-level instance is born but there aren't many high-level players in the zone, won't all the benefits be taken by players from other zones!" Chu Yuan exclaimed.
Dr. Deng advised, "Others rob you, you rob others. The game goes round and round like this."
The group had nothing to say. After a moment, Chu Yuan finally cursed, "Damn! So it never ends!"
That was the truly despairing part of the game.
But even more despairing things were yet to come. Besides the endless instances, defective evolution agents would eventually become a ticking time bomb for players.
"There are footprints here." Xu Huo stopped and looked at the trunk of a nearby tree.
"So there really are other people on the island!" Chu Yuan immediately shouted into the forest, "If you've got the guts, come out!"
The only responses from the woods were the chirping of birds and the sound of the wind.
"Could it be the Bolen Clan?" Dr. Deng instinctively moved closer to Xu Huo, but suddenly slipped and fell to the ground. After struggling to get up twice without success, he exclaimed in surprise, "There's glue on the ground!"
Xu Huo turned around and saw that his hands and coat were covered in a sticky, viscous liquid. The glue was connected to the ground, hidden beneath the fallen leaves, and only revealed when he'd scraped against it.
Chu Yuan used a wooden stick to poke around nearby. "There's some here too!"
"Mine too!" Miao Yu called from another direction.
At that moment, they realized the glue had already surrounded them from beneath the dead leaves, but they hadn't noticed.
"It's that player who killed Wan Yunrong," Gan Qing said. "He was probably the one who smeared the glue in the elevator too."
"The Kong siblings called him Tong Jian," Miao Yu added.
"Should we leave?" Chu Yuan was already prepared. "Even though heading to the station is dangerous, it's still better than being surrounded by the Bolen Clan players."
"Give me a hand!" Dr. Deng quickly shouted.
Xu Huo went over to help him up and said, "It's not really a surround. If there were a lot of people coming, he wouldn't need to set up traps in advance."
In June, I made many trips to the hospital, and I'll probably be making many more for a long time to come. I used to think that terminal illnesses and incurable diseases only existed in movies and TV shows. But when you actually experience it, you suddenly realize that disease is very close to everyone. And in the face of illness, people are as insignificant as small stones on the roadside, easily swept away, powerless against it—like death, except it's a countdown to death.
I hope everyone takes care of their bodies, maintains a healthy diet and daily routine, and doesn't harm themselves with bad habits. When the body's bill comes due, the price may be too heavy to bear. Life is so good now. I wish everyone peace, health, and happiness until old age.
(End of Chapter)