"But besides mutation, we can also rely on this place."

Jiang Ran pointed to his head.

"Oh? You mean you're going to master the Iron Head Kung Fu and take on this tree one-on-one?"

"hehe."

Jiang Ran took out the pistol from his back and first aimed it at the red tree.

"Since the rules specifically state that we should be careful of you, it means that ordinary methods won't work against you."

So Jiang Ran turned and aimed the gun at the medicinal herb they were going to pick.

Bang--!

The bullet accurately hit the root of the medicinal herb, which broke and fell to the ground under the impact of the bullet!

"Hey! What are you doing?! What if you break the medicinal herbs?"

"Whoosh—" Jiang Ran blew on the smoking muzzle of the gun, "But the result was nothing, wasn't it?"

"So what's next? What are you planning to do?"

"You see, as long as we don't get close, even bullets won't trigger a counterattack from the mangroves, right?"

Jiang Ran walked to another tree, pulled down a long vine, and then applied a kind of plant glue to the tip of the vine.

"Hmm, it feels good."

Jiang Ran threw out the vine, and after several attempts, the vine finally landed on the medicinal herbs. The stickiness of the gel-like substance allowed Jiang Ran to easily pull the herbs out along with the herbs.

In this way, there are three medicinal herbs left.

The sky had completely darkened, and the full moon hung high in the night sky.

So in the darkness, the faint light emanating from a cabin in the woods stands out all the more.

A witch in a purple robe was watering the plants in the garden, and among them happened to be one of the medicinal herbs Jiang Ran needed!

"I doubt I could take this guy down with a pistol..."

Putting aside the idea of ​​shooting her with a pistol, Jiang Ran strode towards the cabin!

"Shouldn't we think of a strategy first? The rules don't say we can't talk to her..."

Gwen suddenly realized, "Oh right, as long as we don't talk, it'll be fine, right?"

Seeing Jiang Ran approaching, the witch grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. But Jiang Ran walked up to her, grabbed the herbs, and turned to leave!

"Kid! Stay here! Hey! Wait! Did you hear me?!"

Jiang Ran left without revealing his achievements, leaving the bewildered witch standing there questioning her life.

Two more hours passed, and the sun and moon shone brightly in the sky, creating a spectacular sight. Jiang Ran finally found the two most difficult-to-find medicinal herbs.

"That means we've found everything. Let's head home!"

The two returned to the starting point with the remaining four medicinal herbs, and in the distance they saw a giant tiger covered in vines lingering where the herbs had been buried.

No wonder you can't carry too many medicinal herbs at the same time. The key point isn't "carrying," but "too many" herbs, right? Plant-animal symbiosis is attracted by medicinal herbs placed in the same location.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter, Gwen. Wait till you do that..."

Bang--!

A bullet struck the symbiote, which roared in pain and charged toward Jiang Ran with its red eyes!

Kindred's Mark - Wolf: Greatly enhances physical attributes!

Jiang Ran skillfully used the trees to dodge, while the symbiote charged around mindlessly. At this moment, Gwen took advantage of the symbiote's departure and quickly carried four medicinal herbs to the place where the herbs were buried!

When the ten medicinal herbs were gathered together, the symbiotic beast finally couldn't resist the temptation and hurriedly abandoned Jiang Ran and rushed over. Gwen stuck out her tongue at it and stepped into the dimensional gate with the ten medicinal herbs!

When the symbiotic beast turned around again, Jiang Ran had also disappeared.

"Sister, I have obtained the ten medicinal herbs."

"Wow, so fast! Put it over there." Jealousy smiled and took out his Heart of Sin, tossing it to Jiang Ran.

"Actually, you didn't have to throw it to me. In the end, I'll have to let you absorb it anyway."

“Life should always have a sense of ritual,” Jealousy said as she approached the lab bench, fiddling with the equipment. “Alright, while I’m concocting the potion, little brother, is there anything you want to ask?”

"Was that world a ghost story world? Did you create it?"

"The world of ghost stories? Hmm... maybe not. I just wrote down the corresponding hints based on the habits of the creatures in it. I don't have the ability to manipulate the rules within it."

So that's how it is. Even a bizarre creature like jealousy doesn't have the ability to create a world of ghost stories. That makes sense, she herself is already in the world of ghost stories and hasn't transcended it.

"Alright, let's get back to the point." Jiang Ran took a deep breath and asked the question that had been lingering in his mind, "What exactly is a [Dragon]?"

Legend has it that the dragon died long ago.

"legend?"

“That’s right.” Jealousy nodded. “Because the [Dragon] died before we arrived here, no [Great Sin] witnessed the [Dragon]’s death.”

"So, does that mean the [Zodiac] has existed here longer than the [Great Sin]?"

"That's correct, but the dragon came first, and then the zodiac!"

The dragon comes first, and then the zodiac? It's hard to understand at first glance, but Jiang Ran quickly figured it out.

This is similar to how the Ming Dynasty was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but there was already a person named Zhu Yuanzhang in the world long before the Ming Dynasty was born.

Is the dragon the creator of the Chinese zodiac?

There are infinitely many [zodiac signs]... because there are infinitely many floors... then are there also infinitely many [dragons]?

"In the beginning, there was only one dragon, right?"

"In fact, it's more accurate to say that initially there was only one of each of the zodiac animals!" Jealousy continued to explain. "Back then, this building only had twelve floors, and each zodiac animal guarded one floor, until the arrival of the Twisted One."

"The skyscrapers created infinite space through distortion, and the [Zodiac] species underwent infinite individual splitting, thus becoming what they are now."

"It seems... that's when [Dragon] disappeared. After that, until we arrived, no one ever saw [Dragon] again. These are all things I heard from the original [Dog]. But now it seems he hasn't appeared for a long time either. The ones wandering around the floors are just bored split bodies."

The overwhelming amount of information confused Jiang Ran's thoughts. The "Great Sins" were not the ones who had actually experienced that incident.

"So, does that mean the [Dragon] no longer exists? Then is the [Virtual Dragon] an incarnation of the dead [Dragon]?"

Jealousy frowned: "The [Phantom Dragon] is the incarnation of the [Dragon]? Are you kidding me?"

"Although I don't know much about it either, the [Virtual Dragon] is the settler of all things. He settles everything, including [Great Sins] and [Zodiac Animals]. How could such a creature be a [Dragon]? How could a [Dragon] settle [Zodiac Animals]? Who told you this?"

Jiang Ran received two completely different answers from anger and jealousy!