Garden of Eden || Apocalypse Paradise #2 [Complete]

168: Lin Sanjiu Likes

As the hole in the ground got deeper, Lin Sanjiu's efforts gradually seemed insufficient. After all, she was just a one-man team with one pair of hands. She needed time to rest. When she stopped to eat and sleep, Green Melon and the others would operate her [Bubbles Blowing Girl], blowing up the ground with some small explosions.

That task wasn't that easy either. They had to be always mindful to avoid blasting any possible survivors in the roots. On top of that, they could only maneuver around walking on the tall makeshift platforms they had planted on the ground. After four days, they saved a few strangers, but they didn't find a single trace of B. Rabbit and the rest of their companions.

As time passed, the possibility that they were still alive grew smaller and smaller.

"We can't continue like this... There are too many roots, and they're too deep. There is no end to this," Lin Sanjiu commented despondently. She leaned on a large root and slipped to the ground, sitting. She felt physically and emotionally exhausted.

After four days of digging and blasting, this area of almost a kilometer radius had completely changed.

The spot where Lin Sanjiu first started digging was now an entrance that could fit two people. Past the entrance, the path sloped downward steeply.

If someone were to walk down this path for a few hundred meters, the person would suddenly feel as though he or she was in a forest. Perhaps the word 'forest' wasn't the right description. Until today, no human has coined a term to describe a forest created by large intertwining snake-like roots. Looking up, a network of large roots blocked a large portion of the sky. Thus, the path was always dark. Both sides of the path were covered by roots that had not been destroyed. Each of these roots had a girth of approximately the circumference of ten people in a group hug. They crisscrossed and intertwined. Once they sensed any movement, the walls of roots would start vibrating rapidly, sprouting wave after wave of long, thin, probing roots, eager to engulf any surrounding living creatures.

In such an underground mine-like environment, there was barely any natural light. To solve this, Lin Sanjiu hung her [Ability Polishing Agent] on a slender tree root, letting it serve as a lamp. Though that root was thinner than the rest, its girth was almost her size.

Under the [Ability Polishing Agent]'s dim silvery light, both the huge robot doll and the piece of grey cloud floating mid-air sunk into silence as they faced Lin Sanjiu's dejection.

"But-but..." Bai Xiaoke hesitated for a while, not knowing if what she was about to say would encourage or discourage Lin Sanjiu, "we really can't do anything else now."

The two men sitting on the robot doll's shoulders exchange glances, also feeling rather disheartened.

"Have you guys ever considered how much effort we use?" Lin Sanjiu suddenly questioned them. "Every day, we can only dig about 100 meters or so in one direction, right?"

The grey cloud shook a little as Bai Xiaoke nodded.

"Right now, we have only been putting those 100 meters downward, ignoring roots that go in other directions. Well, also, because we don't have the manpower for that." Perhaps the few days of repetitive physical activity helped Lin Sanjiu clear her mind. Her anxiety over the missing companions gradually ebbed as her rationality slowly took charge again.

"But what if the roots aren't transporting their 'prey' downward? Three of you were in a life-or-death situation at that time; it isn't surprising that you guys might have made a mistake in the direction that you were heading in." She raised her brow and continued, "Logically speaking, it shouldn't head downward. Nutrients from the roots are usually transported to the phloem. Even though we don't see the tree trunks yet, shouldn't it go upward?"