Chapter 99 destroyed it? Dude, you've gone a bit too far with that joke!

The air was deathly silent.

Zhou Jue's brain completely shut down at that moment.

Destroyed?

What was destroyed?

That "Heart of Life" that sounds like a rare and precious treasure, the origin of the planet, and can make people live forever.

Did she damage her brain during the teleportation and start hallucinating?

She subconsciously looked at Cheng Gan, hoping to find the same surprise on his face.

Cheng Gan was not surprised.

The moment Cheng Gan heard the words "destroy it," her muscles, which had just relaxed slightly, snapped back into a state of combat readiness. Her hands had already moved off the gun handle, her fingers slightly bent, hanging at her sides, her entire being poised and ready to deal with any possible emergency.

For a top-tier warrior, any illogical request means danger.

The demands of this tree-man are not just illogical, they are utterly absurd!

"You...you're not kidding, are you?" Zhou Jue asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

In her mind's eye, the Starry Sky Box emitted an instinctive longing upon seeing the 'Tree Man,' frantically transmitting it to her.

Eat it!

Eat that "Heart of Life"!

But this guy who called himself "Old Tree" made her smash this feast that was already on the table.

What else could this be but a joke?

"A joke?" The two swirling green light patterns on the old tree seemed to flicker, carrying a hint of self-mockery.

"Little girl, look at me. Do I look like someone who can joke around? If I could joke around, I wouldn't have gone hundreds of years without finding someone to talk to."

Its voice, transmitted directly through consciousness, carried an indescribable sense of vicissitude and weariness.

“I hope that thing will be alright more than both of you combined. If it is alright, this forest will be a true paradise. The flowers will never fade, the trees will always be green, and the creatures living here will never even know what it feels like to be sick.”

"But now? It's sick. Seriously sick."

The old tree raised its "arms" made of vines and roots, pointing towards the dark depths of the distant forest.

"You haven't reached that point yet, you haven't seen it. This forest is no longer as wonderful as you imagine."

Have you ever seen... a tree where both carnivorous plants and highly poisonous mushrooms bloom at the same time?

Have you ever seen... a leopard covered in hard scales, yet spitting out spider silk from its mouth?

Have you ever seen... a river that is crystal clear during the day, but flows with acidic liquid that can corrode bones at night?

The old tree's voice grew heavier with each sentence.

"That thing, that 'Heart of Life,' is like the ancestor of a family. When the ancestor was healthy, he protected the house, ensuring a prosperous family and good weather. But now, the ancestor has gone mad!"

"Not only is it insane, but it also can't stand seeing its family members doing well. Today it tries to change the appearance of a cat, tomorrow it tries to take a bite out of a snake. It thinks this is a 'gift,' making its offspring 'stronger.' But in reality? They are all deformed, twisted, monsters that won't live long!"

Zhou Jue and Cheng Gan exchanged a glance.

They both sensed seriousness in each other's reactions.

These words sound too mysterious.

But coming from the mouth of this ancient monster who has lived for countless years, it carries an undeniable sense of truth.

"Why is this happening?" Zhou Jue pressed. "Isn't it the source of life force? How could this be..."

"The source?" The old tree scoffed, as if mocking Zhou Jue's naiveté.

"The faucet is the source of water, but if the water pipes are rusty, what flows out is poisonous rusty water! If you drink it, you'll be severely injured, if not killed!"

“The ‘heart of life’ is good in itself. But now, it has been ‘polluted’.”

A blurry image flashed through the old tree's mind.

It was a chaotic void, within which a faint green light shone. Beyond the green light lay endless "black mud," exuding an aura of decay and decay.

The green light was trying its best to purify the black mud, but there was too much black mud, it was endless, and it began to slowly erode the green light.

“This land, long, long ago, buried something unclean. A… germ from outer space.”

"The function of the 'Heart of Life' is to suppress and purify it. But millions of years have passed, and the 'germs' have not been completely eradicated. Instead, they have slowly grown together with the 'Heart of Life'."

"You are in me, and I am in you; we are inseparable."

"The current 'heart of life' is both the source of life and the root of distortion. It gives life, but also sows madness."

Zhou Jue's heart sank little by little.

She finally understood why those two people had failed.

That old man in white robes probably wanted to repair the "Heart of Life" and separate the "germs." But his cultivation was insufficient, and he was assimilated by that twisted power, becoming fertilizer for the flowers.

That girl with the long braid was arrogant and proud. She probably tried to forcibly seize the power of the "Heart of Life," but ended up detonating the "germs" inside and taking herself with her, thus "living" in a different way.

This is not some rare and precious treasure at all; it's a deadly poison bomb disguised in sugar!

"Then... what would happen if we destroyed it?" Cheng Gan, who had been silent all along, finally asked the most crucial question: "Would this rainforest die?"

This is the issue that Cheng Gan cares about most.

She is a soldier, and protecting is her sacred duty etched into her very bones.

She couldn't accept that her actions had caused such a vast forest to die completely.

"Death?" The old tree shook its head, and the vines that made up its body made a rustling sound.

"In a short time, yes. Ninety-nine percent of the living creatures in this forest will wither away the moment the 'Heart of Life' is destroyed. Because their lives have long been intertwined with that thing."

"This rainforest will become a dead land. No life, no sound, just desolation."

Cheng Gan's body visibly stiffened for a moment.

“But,” the old tree changed the subject, “that’s like scraping the bone to remove poison, cutting away all the rotten flesh! It hurts, but it saves your manhood!”

“If the ‘heart of life’ is destroyed, the ‘germ’ from outer space will lose its anchor and will be annihilated along with it. This land will become ‘clean’ again.”

"Perhaps a hundred years, perhaps two hundred years, new seeds will drift in from elsewhere, and new life will take root here anew. Only then will healthy, normal trees grow. Only those that survive will truly belong to this land."

"Do you choose to let a vibrant patch of 'cancer tissue' continue to spread until it destroys your entire body, or do you choose to endure the excruciating pain for a truly healthy future?"

"Girls, which one do you choose?"

The problem of the old tree weighed heavily on the hearts of Zhou Jue and Cheng Gan, like a boulder.

Zhou Jue fell silent.

The scales in her heart were swinging wildly.

On one hand, there is the immense temptation of spatial upgrades and a surge in one's own strength.

On the other side, there is the plea of ​​an ancient life, and the future of a continent.

If what the old tree said is true, then is devouring this contaminated "heart of life" a tonic or a poison for the space?

If the space also gets "contaminated," then things could get really messed up.

"Why...us?" Zhou Jue asked the final question: "You've waited all these years, why did you choose us?"

"Because of the 'key' you have," the old tree replied, just as before.

"That old man in white robes tried to 'block' the way, but he failed."

"That girl with the long braid tried to use the method of 'sparse' hair, but she failed."

"After all these years, I've figured it out. This thing can't be blocked or cleared. It's become one with the 'heart of life,' and the only way is to... completely erase it from this world!"

The two green streaks of light on the old tree were fixedly "staring" at Zhou Jue.

"And your 'key,' that little box, has this function."

"It does not belong to this world, and it does not follow the logic of this world. It can 'swallow' that 'germ', not by transferring it to another place, but by completely decomposing it and turning it into the most primordial nothingness."

"This is the only chance. And the last chance."

The old tree's voice carried a hint of pleading.

"Because it sensed you. Especially...you."

It points to Zhou Jue.

"You carry the scent of its 'kin' on you. That iron lump made of energy and runes that you swallowed was a great tonic for it."

"It's excited right now. And also... hungry."

"It has already begun to awaken. If we don't act now, it will be too late once it fully wakes up. At that time, it will come and 'eat' you, along with this entire forest."

The words had barely left his mouth.

"roar--!!!"

A roar filled with madness and pain, unlike anything any known creature could utter, suddenly came from the depths of the rainforest!

The entire ground trembled violently at the roar!