Inside the Great Tree Cave

The seventh day.

God said, "You must die."

As the voice rang out, despair spread through the entire area.

The numb people obeyed God's will, ending their lives in all manner of ways.

Others still clung to hope and tried to make someone else die instead.

But it was useless. God wanted them to die themselves.

That day, God slowed the pace of the punishment. The voice only continued urging them in their minds, without making them vanish immediately.

Some people seized the chance to escape the voice's range.

But after six days of torment, most people were no longer thinking about how to escape, but how to fulfill God's command.

They had been tamed.

God's punishment did not arrive until the very last second of that day.

In that instant, every living creature in the entire area that had not yet died vanished.

There were no survivors.

The Voice of God had ended. After those seven days, only those who had escaped the area could survive.

The incident was far too dangerous and filled with too many unknowns.

In the end, researchers could only classify it as a Relic Phenomenon.

What had happened in that region also spread throughout the world, and people gradually realized how terrifying Relics were.

After reading the record, Mo Ling could not forget it for a long time.

He looked at Li Luo again and wrote several words on the Electronic Screen: "Is what you're hearing now the Voice of God?"

Li Luo nodded with absolute certainty, then took a few steps onto the platform.

"It disappears here. The range is very small."

Mo Ling let out a sigh of relief.

Thinking of the words "you must change," Mo Ling immediately formed a guess.

Could the Voice of God be making the Theseus Cells mutate randomly?

Li Luo suddenly remembered something as well and said to the Cube, "The Voice of God has different ranges of influence on different creatures."

Mo Ling suddenly understood.

The Voice of God's influence on Theseus Cells was actually so extensive.

And Theseus Cells, which originally had no self-awareness at all, could actually be affected by the Voice of God?

Metamorphic Tree had previously said that the Theseus Cells would not follow commands. It must have been because their commands had been overridden by the Voice of God.

In other words, the Voice of God had caused a problem with their recognition function.

Li Luo quickly took out the Electronic Screen and recorded the matter.

"We can't keep going deeper. I'll be affected too."

Li Luo planned to return to the Tree Transformer Tribe first and wait for Captain Su to arrive with others before deciding what to do.

However, at that moment, a long howl came from the bottom of the Great Tree Cave.

What kind of creature was that?

The entire Great Tree Cave began to shake along with the howl.

The tree roots surrounding the platform snapped in an instant, and the cart still on the platform slowly slid toward the Abyss.

Li Luo hurriedly controlled the cart to move upward, but it was no use.

Mo Ling could only watch helplessly as Li Luo grew farther and farther away, eventually vanishing from sight.

It's over.

Mo Ling fell downward, accelerating continuously.

The scenery around him rose without end, while Mo Ling, trapped inside the Cube, could do nothing.

The Cube struck an outcropping tree root, leaving Mo Ling inside thoroughly disoriented.

In his daze, he had no idea how long he fell.

Mo Ling felt gravity suddenly reverse. What had been downward became upward.

The high-speed Cube was flung upward again and again before finally being tossed onto a patch of level ground.

The Cube slammed heavily into the ground, and Mo Ling lost consciousness as well.

When he woke again, he was already surrounded by a group of jelly-like people.

Metamorphic Trees?

How did I get back up here?

Mo Ling rubbed his bruised head, unable to make sense of it no matter how hard he thought.

The Metamorphic Trees crowded around the Cube, chattering all at once.

"It's a Holy Object!"

"Quick, carry the Holy Object back to the tribe!"

The Metamorphic Trees lifted the Cube and slowly moved toward the tribe.

What did these Metamorphic Trees mean? A Holy Object?

And where had Li Luo gone?

After traveling along familiar paths, Mo Ling soon returned to the Tree Transformer Tribe.

The Cube was carried before a speaking platform, where a Metamorphic Tree was gesticulating animatedly.

The Metamorphic Trees carrying the Cube hurried over and said, "Chief! We found the Holy Object!"

The chief's eyes lit up. He came before the Cube, his face brimming with excitement, and gave the Metamorphic Trees who had found it a thumbs-up.

He turned to his fellow tribesmen below the platform and said, "This is the Holy Object of our Cube Tribe! Its arrival before us means it is time for us to resist!"

Cheers erupted from below the platform.

What was wrong with these Metamorphic Trees?

Only then did Mo Ling realize something was off.

Square totems could be seen everywhere in the Tree Transformer Tribe, but he had not seen them in the previous Tree Transformer Tribe.

Mo Ling carefully examined the details of the tribe again.

There were no creatures kept in cages, and the features of the buildings did not quite match either.

This was not the Tree Transformer Tribe from before!

"Where exactly have I come?" Mo Ling looked at these familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar Metamorphic Trees, his heart full of doubt.

The chief looked toward another Metamorphic Tree and asked, "How are the recent Newborns doing?"

The Metamorphic Tree being questioned replied, "There are many of them, and they're all very healthy."

The chief was filled with satisfaction. "Take me to see them."

"Alright."

The Cube was carried along behind them until they reached a forest.

The sight before him shocked Mo Ling even more.

Within the forest, countless trees were undergoing strange transformations.

First, ripple-like rings appeared on their Tree Trunks and gradually softened.

Then the ripples grew larger and larger, continuously spreading outward in waves.

Next, jelly-like matter constantly pushed outward from within against the liquefied Tree Bark.

Finally, a creature emerged from the tree.

It was a Metamorphic Tree!

After being born, the Metamorphic Tree wandered dazedly toward the Great Tree Cave.

Only after a group of companions stopped it and kept saying something to it did it cease moving toward the Great Tree Cave.

It was like a sleepwalker suddenly being awakened.

This was where Metamorphic Trees were born?

They were born from trees?

Mo Ling instantly connected the entire life cycle of the Metamorphic Trees.

At the beginning, they were merely trees. They were born from trees in this place, then wandered dazedly toward the Great Tree Cave.

They passed through the Great Tree Cave to another place and, after striving throughout their lives, eventually turned back into trees.

The Great Tree Cave was a gate connecting two regions!

Mo Ling was now certain that he had passed through the Great Tree Cave and arrived somewhere strange.

It seemed that the Metamorphic Trees here were in the midst of a war.

Just as Mo Ling was still thinking, a Metamorphic Tree ran over.

"Chief, they're here again!"

The chief's expression instantly turned solemn. "Move! Defeat them! Defend the Great Tree Cave!"

"Yes!"

The chief led a group of Metamorphic Trees to the battlefield. Several enormous Lizard Creatures were currently assaulting the Metamorphic Trees' encirclement.

With a sweep of their sharp claws, several nearby Metamorphic Trees were sliced directly in half.

Creatures as helpless in battle as Metamorphic Trees could only win through numbers, constantly swarming toward the lizards like moths to a flame.

The gap in combat strength was simply too vast.