The groundhog Fugui, standing at the entrance of the cave in the stone wall, was so shocked by what he saw that he was speechless.
He imagined what the place the groundhog family would take him to would look like: it could be a huge cave, or the location of an underground river; the best guess was an underground cavern that was unaffected by surface heat and still had water and ferns growing there.
But even with all his imagination, he could never have imagined that he would see such a "world".
Yes, the world.
Except for the absence of blue skies and sunshine, this world seems to have everything.
He was still lost in thought when he suddenly heard the familiar squeaking of a family of groundhogs coming from below the waterfall. Looking down in the direction of the sound, he saw eight groundhogs of varying sizes swimming happily in the deep pool below the waterfall, occasionally raising their heads and waving their paws at him.
It was clearly intended to make him jump down and have some fun with them.
Fugui the groundhog looked down, then looked down again, and finally raised its tail and squeaked excitedly before jumping down from the cave entrance in the stone wall!
When the slick, shiny groundhog, Fugui, plunged into the pool with a splash, the icy-cold river water instantly enveloped him, and the splashing water droplets resembled joyfully bouncing pearls.
"Aaaaaahh ...
This time, Fugui the groundhog's scream wasn't due to negative emotions like danger, anger, or collapse; it was a hearty laugh filled with joy and hope.
Fugui the groundhog was splashing around in the water, trying to maintain his balance and avoid choking on water. He felt uncomfortable, so he stretched out his two short paws used for digging holes, slapped his right paw against his left paw, and then in a flash of light, a round, chubby sea otter with a diamond-shaped nose and white fur on its face appeared on the surface of the deep pool!
After two worlds apart, sea otter Yuan Yuan has finally made a comeback!
Then, excited Haita Yuanyuan darted around in the pool, wagging its tail and rubbing its face around the astonished groundhog family.
Even the adorable Otter Fugui turned around and darted rapidly into the depths of the pool. What mischief was Otter Fugui up to? He just wanted to see if there were any big crabs or seashells in this underground pool!
Then, the charming little otter, whose luck is never bad, actually found two river crabs and a large seashell in the depths of the pool. He even saw "glittering starlight" on the riverbed in the depths of the pool!
"Holy crap, gurgle gurgle!"
Shocked, Otter Fugui choked on some water and quickly floated to the surface, clutching the large crab in his pocket and the clam in his hand.
Then, with his little belly sticking out, he lay on his back on the water's surface, using a clam to stun a large, clawing crab while recalling the scene he had just witnessed at the bottom of the deep pool—
Those are countless gold and colorful mineral deposits in the deep pool at the bottom of the river.
What a magical and beautiful world this is!
Otter Fugui lay on the pool, gazing up at the sky above the cave, and sighed inwardly once more.
However, the groundhog family soon swam ashore and stood on the bank, chirping at him with a hint of nervousness and fear in their calls.
Just as Otter Fugui was about to eat the dizzy crab, he froze for a moment. Then, his fur stood on end as he saw a long, large black shadow appear at the bottom of the pool. Before he could react, the shadow rushed toward him at lightning speed!
"Holy crap!!!"
At the critical moment, relying on his battle-hardened intuition and buoyancy, Otter Fugui rolled backward on the water's surface! He narrowly escaped the enormous snake with its gaping maw, body covered in blue scales, and even a small golden horn on its head!
Otter Fugui smashed the large crab in his hand directly at the giant snake, and then rushed ashore at the fastest speed he had ever been.
The giant snake, which even resembled a legendary dragon-like creature, bit the giant crab in one gulp. Its golden snake eyes then turned to the shore, looking at the furry sea otter that was trembling all over and still frantically groping.
Gou Fugui felt that this was the first time in all his time living in the post-apocalyptic world that he had ever felt such suffocating fear from an animal.
When this serpent targeted him, he didn't dare to move an inch!
How is this possible?! How is this possible?! How is this possible?!
How could there possibly be a real serpent in the world!
The dragon has always been just a mythical creature in Huazhou. If there is a dragon in this deep pool, then... does that mean there are dragons in this world?!
This isn't just fantasy, it's downright surreal!
The sea otter, frozen on the shore, screamed and cursed wildly in its mind while forcing itself to stare at the large snake with scales and horns on its head. Its gaze even tried to look down into the deep pool to see if this "big snake" had four claws!
But to his relief and disappointment, the azure serpent watched him silently for a long time before slowly disappearing into the deep pool.
Looking at the pool where the waterfall cascaded down, Otter Fugui plopped down on the ground and rubbed his face in lingering fear. He thought to himself that he probably wouldn't swim in that pool again for a long time.
I was so scared!
Just then, the big crab in his pocket snapped and pinched the otter's belly, making the otter shudder. It then reached out its claws, pulled the crab out, and slammed it to the ground.
"That serpent bullied me, fine, but you, a crab, want to bully me too?!"
So the round sea otter took out another clam from its pocket and started smashing the crab like crazy, each blow representing the otter's anger!
Finally, the river crab entered Otter Rich's belly.
Even the river mussels couldn't escape it.
However, after finishing his meal, Otter Fugui's mood finally calmed down. After declining the groundhog family's invitation to dig a burrow together, he began to seriously observe this "underground world".
Upon closer inspection, one discovers that this place is more than just "beautiful"—
Earlier, he had seen a ferocious praying mantis fly out from the flowers and grass on both sides of the river. The mantis easily killed a brightly colored poisonous insect, but quickly died from being pecked by a small bird swooping down. But the little bird did not have the last laugh either; it died from a beautiful but highly poisonous man-eating flower.
Otter Fugui instinctively took several steps back to keep himself away from the riverbank.
Just then, a beautiful little mushroom that looked like a tiny warm light fell from the "sky". If it were before, Otter Fugui would definitely have reached out his paw to pick it up, but now, looking at the bright green mushroom, he took a step back.
Three minutes later, Otter Fugui saw the little mushroom suddenly burst open, and then many tiny, almost invisible fluorescent particles floated upwards into the "sky".
Otter Rich: "..."
The otter wanted to scream again.
Then, Otter Rich tremblingly stretched out its two little paws and transformed once again.
After transforming into a white-haired, silver-cloaked, powerful, and poison-resistant honey badger, the wealthy beauty finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, this beautiful and dreamlike underground world was labeled with "unknown" and "danger" in the heart of the wealthy beauty.
Then Honey Badger Fugui pulled out his communication wristwatch from his spatial pocket.
He wanted to check the time and temperature, measure the air quality, and tell Xie Tianlang that he had found such an underground world, which might be the "core and turning point" of this world.
But when he saw his wristwatch, his body stiffened. The hands on the dial were wobbling back and forth and left and right without moving in circles, and the small compass below the hands was twisted into a pretzel.
Gou Fugui quickly pressed other functions on the watch, but the communication button remained bright red no matter how many times it was pressed, and the positioning, photography, and video recording functions were all unusable.
The only thing still functioning properly is probably the thermometer that displays the temperature.
The temperature in the underground world is 16 degrees Celsius.
The ideal temperature for all things to grow.
However, Gou Fugui couldn't laugh at all. He looked around and finally focused his gaze on the most eye-catching giant tree in this underground world, whose branches and leaves emitted a white light.
He took a deep breath and walked forward. The closer he got to the giant tree, the more awe he felt.
Its branches and leaves are lush and layered, and the shapes of the leaves on the tree vary from oval to fan-shaped to maple-leaf-like, yet they are arranged randomly and without overlap. The thick trunk is so thick that it would take dozens of people to encircle it, and even the bark, which should be mottled and unsightly, has the appearance of white jade.
When a gentle breeze blows through its branches and leaves, the rustling sound it creates has a faint, metallic quality.
There's a legend that the world was born from a giant tree before the creation of heaven and earth, a legend Gou Fugui once scoffed at. How could it compare to the awe-inspiring grandeur of Pangu creating the world?
However, if it is such a giant tree as the one in front of us, perhaps the world really did originate from it.
The little honey badger cautiously approached the giant tree, wary of any potential danger, and also wary of this seemingly harmless giant tree.
But he was not attacked by a ferocious beast that suddenly pounced down from the tree, nor was he suddenly whipped by the lush branches of the giant tree. Even the shimmering white fallen leaves under the tree were so quiet and beautiful.
The honey badger waited under the tree for a long time.
Then a little rabbit appeared out of nowhere and left with a leaf in its mouth.
Then a few small birds casually landed on the branches.
Only when the family of groundhogs, having dug their burrow, brought a potato as an offering and actually used the giant tree to sharpen their claws, did he truly believe that the giant tree in front of him posed no danger.
He thought for a moment, then walked step by step toward the giant tree.
Finally, the little honey badger came to the giant tree and gently stretched out its little paws to press on the tree.
The next instant.
Golden light burst forth from the honey badger, and then a young man with long, dark hair stood under the tree, his phoenix eyes filled with astonishment.
[Congratulations, Saviors, on finding the core of the world. Do you wish to retrieve the core?]
[Because of a solar eruption in this world, causing gravitational shifts, the world is being pulled off its original orbit and is heading towards its star. It could be swallowed by the sun at any moment.]
The long-haired youth didn't know why his transformation automatically ended as soon as he touched the giant tree, but he was more concerned about the words of the world consciousness that echoed in his mind.
Should we reclaim the world's core?
His true intention was naturally to prioritize saving and reclaiming them.
But the words of the World Consciousness made him uncontrollably stiffen and tremble.
Can this world really be saved?
How can we stop the scorching sun? How can we return to where we started?
If it cannot be saved in the end, wouldn't it be better to take it back before this world is swallowed up by the scorching sun at any time?
The young man looked at his palm, but in the end he slowly lowered his hand.
He turned and sat down against the tree trunk, closing his eyes to listen to the rushing river, the birdsong and insect chirps, and the gentle breeze brushing his cheeks.
"The world is beautiful, and life is precious."
So let us do our best again.
The giant, gleaming white tree rustled, while in the deep pool in the distance, the serpent that had once again emerged from the water stared at the youth beneath the tree before sinking back into the pool.
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