Awakening

"I am a bamboo; I only need to strive to grow tall and strong."

A stalk of bamboo thought this to itself in the mountain forest, surrounded by nothing but weeds and shrubs, save for one dead bamboo stalk nearby.

Spring passed and autumn came; the bamboo lost many leaves, but during this time, its roots had already extended several meters to both sides.

When winter arrived, the cold wind howled, causing the bamboo to sway unsteadily, yet it persisted, wishing only to settle down and remain here.

"I want companions, I want companions; I do not wish to be a lone bamboo."

Thus, several buds sprouted from the bamboo roots. These buds gradually grew, and by spring, they had poked their tips out from the soil.

The bamboo observed these tender shoots and thought to itself once more: "You must grow quickly, grow quickly."

And so, the bamboo waited for these newborn shoots to slowly mature into bamboo.

Year after year, the bamboo grew more numerous, gradually occupying nearly a hundred square meters.

That year, a Wild Boar ran into the Bamboo Forest and began to root through the ground, digging up and eating the Bamboo Shoots one by one.

The bamboo felt immense sorrow, yet it was powerless to do anything but watch.

Another year passed, and the Wild Boar returned to the Bamboo Forest, followed by six or seven piglets, once again beginning its search for Bamboo Shoots.

The bamboo still had no way to stop it, though it had grown accustomed to the situation and felt only helplessness.

Another year later, three or four Wild Boars appeared in the Bamboo Forest again, but this time, they were not so lucky.

A Brown Bear emerged from the deeper parts of the forest and charged directly at the Wild Boars.

In its reckless rampage, the bamboo in the forest was snapped and broken.

The Brown Bear rushed in front of a Wild Boar and struck it down with a single swipe of its paw, causing the remaining boars to scatter and flee.

The Brown Bear opened its blood-stained maw and bit down on the Wild Boar; the boar's blood flowed onto the ground, and right beneath the surface, a young Bamboo Shoot was growing.

Within the blood, the Bamboo Shoot absorbed a certain amount of nutrients, nutrients that were slightly different from the normal kind.

Contained within them was the RR Virus, which was constantly spreading throughout the human and animal worlds.

The virus permeated the Bamboo Shoot and traveled along the bamboo roots to the other stalks.

At this moment, the bamboo began to change; some stalks withered and died, while the remaining ones began to turn increasingly verdant.

After this Bamboo Shoot gradually grew into a tall stalk, the mutation of the Bamboo Forest began.

The leaves of this bamboo became sharp and hard, and as the wind blew, a crisp, melodic clashing sound emanated from them.

Later, when winter came again, the figure of a Wild Boar appeared in the Bamboo Forest once more. These boars were becoming more numerous, and this time, nine of them arrived.

The bamboo that had bathed in blood remained perfectly still, waiting for the Wild Boar to come beneath it.

The bamboo leaves began to drift down, landing on the Wild Boar; its hide was sliced open, and fresh blood flowed onto the ground once again.

In its pain, the Wild Boar began to run wildly, but it remained trapped within the forest.

Before the Wild Boar bled to death, its footprints were left all over the forest, and its blood was scattered throughout the grove.

These bamboo stalks had already adapted to the blood containing the RR Virus, and furthermore, they had altered their own traits due to this virus.

Day after day, whenever an animal came beneath this bamboo, it would gradually lose its life and become nourishment for the Bamboo Forest.

Gradually, this Bamboo Forest became a taboo for the animals in the nearby forest, and few animals dared to approach this area voluntarily.

The Bamboo Forest returned to peace, which caused the bamboo to gradually abandon the idea of absorbing animal blood.

With no external animals interfering with the growth of the Bamboo Shoots into mature stalks, the Bamboo Forest began to expand once again.

This time, another year passed, and finally, the RR Virus arrived.

The animals began to change, becoming stronger and more distinct, and because of this, they began to test the Bamboo Forest once more.

The animals returned to the Bamboo Forest, occasionally bumping against the bamboo and clawing at the ground.

The Bamboo Forest was truly enraged, but because it had no way to attack these areas, it could only wait—waiting for these animals to come beneath the stalk that possessed the ability to attack.

However, after one animal was attacked, the others did not flee; instead, they continued to close in on this stalk.

Under the assault of these animals, this bamboo stalk was snapped.

The Bamboo Forest thus lost its ability to attack.

After losing this crucial stalk and the subsequent bamboo damaged by those animals, the Bamboo Forest fell silent once again.

But the thousands of bamboo stalks were actually one entity, all connected through their roots; the other stalks simply had not evolved as quickly as that one.

The animal that had been attacked still died within the Bamboo Forest, its blood flowing onto the ground.

This time, it was no longer passive absorption; the Bamboo Forest had changed during its previous evolution and began to actively absorb the blood that seeped into the soil.

Under the promotion of the RR Virus, the Bamboo Forest underwent a earth-shattering transformation; every stalk gained the abilities of the one before it, especially the very first one.

Consequently, the lethality of the Bamboo Forest toward those animals reached a breakthrough; no longer could any animal act as it pleased within the forest, and the Bamboo Forest became a taboo for the animals once again.

A few months later, because it lacked the stimulation of animal blood, the Bamboo Forest's rate of evolution and expansion began to slow down.

The Bamboo Forest began to take action; its leaves drifted along the wind into the nearby mountain forests, driving some animals into the Bamboo Forest to be killed.

The bamboo leaves drifted further and further, eventually alarming the strongest monster in the vicinity—a mutated Brown Bear. Yes, this Brown Bear was the very same one that had first appeared to kill the Wild Boar.

The Brown Bear arrived at the edge of the Bamboo Forest, let out a roar, grabbed a tree beside it, pulled it straight out of the ground, and hurled it into the bamboo grove, causing yet more damage to the forest.

The Bamboo Forest gathered all of its bamboo leaves to launch an attack against the Brown Bear, but it had absolutely no effect.

After the Bamboo Forest ceased its assault, the Brown Bear roared at it once more, swiped its paw to snap a stalk of bamboo in two, and then swaggered away.

The Bamboo Forest understood the Brown Bear's meaning: every ten days, the Brown Bear would have its underlings deliver some food, but the Bamboo Forest was forbidden from attacking the area outside the woods, nor could it continue to expand.

Under the Brown Bear's combination of grace and might, the Bamboo Forest decisively complied.

And so, time arrived at the moment when Lin Chenxing brought his squad to the Bamboo Forest.

The Bamboo Forest had discovered these delicious morsels on the very first day, but having no immediate need for them, it did not launch an attack.

However, it could not stand having the food dangling before its eyes every single day; eventually, the Bamboo Forest waited until the time for the Brown Bear's food delivery, only to find these morsels had appeared once again.

Unable to restrain itself any longer, the Bamboo Forest began its attack.

All these memories converged with Lin Chenxing's own, and he finally succeeded in merging all the memories within this void of space.

At this moment, Lin Chenxing felt as though he were about to wake up, as if he could sense the flow of air from the outside world.

Thus, through constant effort, Lin Chenxing finally saw a glimmer of green light once again.