The Pitcher Plant's Opening

At Riko's strong suggestion, Zhou Qing decided to spend an hour enjoying the Tree Hot Spring on the Third Layer to see what it was like.

"Yay!"

Riko jumped up.

Zhou Qing looked down at his feet and noticed that the Black Pillar was connected to the ground of the Third Layer without any holes at the edges. He then asked, "How do we get to the Fourth Layer? It seems there's no direct elevator from the Third Layer to the Fourth Layer?"

"Yes."

Riko confirmed, "Because the Third Layer is tightly connected to the pillars and cannot be drilled through, we can no longer go down directly from here. We need to go down the Waterfall at the edge of this Third Layer."

"Waterfall? Vertical?"

Zhou Qing remembered that the Third Layer was 2,000 meters from the ground and the Fourth Layer was 4,000 meters from the ground. So, the distance between the Third Layer and Fourth Layer was 2,000 meters.

Let alone ordinary people, even a Soul Douluo- level powerhouse would be smashed to pieces if they jumped off such a high mountain.

As for the Waterfall...

What's the difference between a two-thousand-meter-high Waterfall and jumping right down into it?

"It's vertical, but the Waterfall descends at a constant speed of about ten meters per second," Riko said, explaining what she knew.

A constant speed of 10 meters per second?

Zhou Qing asked in disbelief, "How did you do that?"

However, as soon as he asked the question, Zhou Qing realized that he had asked in vain. The technological content and mystery of this Abyss Ruins were such that the Abyss People had only explored up to the Seventh Layer in the past 20,000 years. In fact, the number of people had been decreasing from the Third Layer downwards. It was already fortunate that they could summarize some useful experience. It was simply impossible for them to explain the phenomena of each level.

"I'm not sure, but the Third Layer and Fourth Layer are connected by Waterfall. The Waterfall along the entire edge has two layers: the inner layer flows upstream and the outer layer flows downstream. To travel between these two levels, you have to go through this Waterfall."

Sure enough, Riko n't know, but she could always describe the phenomenon of the Waterfall, and it seemed that the Waterfall had two layers, an inner and an outer one.

However, Zhou Qing and the others couldn't quite imagine what Waterfall with an inner upper layer and an outer lower layer looked like; they would have to see it with their own eyes to understand.

Riko then used her knowledge to explore the Holy Cup Fruit Forest.

Although the forest was dense, there were very few weeds on the ground, and the trees were all bottle-shaped or cup-shaped, which was quite strange.

Finally, Riko found a tree that was nearly fifty meters tall, with many small bottle-shaped branches, each of which had a bottle-shaped diameter of more than three meters, from which Sisi of mist emanated.

"This tree will do. It's the Holy Cup Fruit Tree, and the fruit grows inside the bottle opening, so you can eat it while taking a bath... Abel says it's the ultimate indulgence!"

Riko explained, "With so many bottle openings, even if we each take one, there will still be some left. Why don't we all take a bath together? At school, we all bathe together!"

Together?

Romantina's face immediately turned red: (#^.^#) She didn't expect Riko to be so open-minded, actually wanting to bathe in a mixed-gender environment! But Riko looks young, but she's actually fifteen years old, isn't she?

"Let's keep the men and women separate." Zhou Qing didn't want Romantina to take advantage of him, but then, remembering something, he asked, "Is your teacher, Abel, also taking a bath with you?"

"He likes to shower," Riko said, adding that she only bathes with other students at Ruozhi Primary School. Then, she suddenly slapped her forehead and said, "I remember now! Abel said that you outsiders seem to be more shy and don't like to be naked in front of others."

"(⊙o⊙)..."

Everyone was somewhat bewildered.

But Zhou Qing could tell that Riko herself didn't have those lewd thoughts; she was just naturally naive.

The rest of the residents of Abyss Town seem pretty much the same... Odin, he looks bored, but now that I think about it, apart from being a bit paler and having a lower voice, he's not that different from Abel.

Thinking about it this way, Zhou Qing suddenly realized that the residents of Abyss Town all retained a childlike heart, and even after the passage of time, they always had a cute and innocent side to their personality.

Separate men and women —

Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Wang Sheng went to the left side of the Holy Cup Fruit Tree, while Xiao Wu, Romantina, and Riko went to the right side.

While using the protruding leaf at the bottle opening to cover her view, Xiao Wu shouted, "You boys can't peek!"

"Pshaw, who likes looking at a washboard?"

Zhou Qing, being sarcastic, retorted, and before Xiao Wu could get angry, he pulled Tang San and Wang Sheng through the leaves to the branch where the three bottle mouths met.

Each bottle opening is over three meters in diameter and filled with clear liquid. Around the opening is a dark red ring, and inside the ring grow fist-sized fruits in green, yellow, and red.

Tang San squatted down first, extended a finger, and gently tapped the water's surface, saying, "The water is warm; it really can be called a hot spring."

Then, he put his finger in his mouth, tasted it carefully, and exclaimed with surprise, "A natural medicinal bath!"

"Third Brother, does that mean I can take a bath without worry?"

As soon as Wang Sheng finished speaking, a series of sounds, including thuds, splashes, and laughter, rang out from not far away. The three girls had clearly stripped naked and were getting ready to soak.

Zhou Qing took off his clothes, but tied the Gray Pouch around his waist—just in case, and to ensure that the internal space of the Storage Soul Tool wouldn't get wet.

Tang San and Wang Sheng also took off their clothes and pants and jumped into the hot spring at the bottle mouth.

The warm spring water immediately made all three of them relax.

"Third Brother, you said this is a natural medicinal bath, so where does the medicinal power come from?" Wang Sheng asked in confusion.

"I don't know. Perhaps the plant absorbed sunlight at noon and continuously heated the water inside, causing the medicinal properties to dissipate."

Tang San thought of a possibility, but he didn't really believe it. After all, if the water was too hot, it would harm the plant itself. So, wouldn't the plant be "committing suicide" by heating the water?

How could a creature without intelligence, whose Life activities are all for survival and reproduction, possibly evolve such an ability?

Then, Tang San touched the inner wall and found it to be quite resilient, not at all like a wound caused by the hot spring.

"Qing Ge, what do you think is the reason? It can't be that this plant was planted just to make it easier for humans to soak in hot springs, right?" Tang San wanted to hear Zhou Qing's opinion.

"I don't know much about medicines or plants, but I did see a plant called Pitcher Plant in a book."

Zhou Qing slowly explained, "The stems and leaves of this plant, like the peculiar plant itself, are also bottle-shaped. The leaves secrete a kind of nectar that attracts insects. When an insect lands on the leaf, it slides into the bottle's opening, which is filled with water. In the water, there is a liquid secreted by the Pitcher Plant that can dissolve the insects, turning them into nutrients, which are then absorbed..."